The human-faced owl knew the terror of a talisman treasure. Incredibly cunning and possessing the advantage of speed, it refused to engage Qin Sang in a drawn-out brawl.
Potent as the talisman treasure was, finding another opening to grievously wound the creature like before proved exceedingly difficult.
Qin Sang did not dare recall the talisman treasure. Exposing any flaw would bring unthinkable consequences; left with no alternative, he could only grit his teeth and hold on. Yet even as his spiritual power neared complete depletion, he had achieved little.
Fortunately, his goal was never to wound the owl, but to buy Yunyouzi time.
He could not let all previous efforts go to waste.
Qin Sang swallowed a spiritual pill. Though pain wracked his stomach like twisting knives, he still frantically squeezed his sea of qi, gathering every last thread of spiritual power to drive his ebony sword.
At long last, Yunyouzi had the Flawless Pearl primed.
"Go!"
With a sharp cry from Yunyouzi, the Flawless Pearl spun at dizzying speed. Its radiance surged violently before condensing into a spear of light that shot forth like lightning!
The luminous spear was dazzling.
Sensing mortal danger, the human-faced owl let out an ear-piercing shriek, abruptly aborted its attack, and wheeled around to flee.
It moved at startling speed, streaking toward its nest like a fine black thread. But the spear of light flew faster still—a shooting star overtaking the moon—closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
*Bang!*
The spear of light pierced straight through the human-faced owl's body.
A horrific screech tore through the air as blood showered across the open sky.
Yet a formidable demon beast at the late Demon Spirit stage was not so easily slain.
At the final instant, dense black vapor had erupted from the creature's wings. Its form twisted with bizarre agility, breaking the pearl's lock just enough to steer clear of its vitals.
The owl had survived, but its wounds were severe.
After that agonized shriek, all of its arrogance was extinguished. Dragging its broken body, it fled back into the restriction.
Right then, a thought flashed across Qin Sang's mind. He urgently called out to Yunyouzi, "Senior! Save them!"
Yunyouzi immediately grasped Qin Sang's intention and rallied the pearl's remaining power. With a sweep of his arm, the pearl halted briefly, wheeling the spearhead around and hurtling it into the red mist.
The person they meant to save was certainly not Ge Yuan.
Shangguan Lifeng, however, was worth saving!
Luo Xingnan was still alive, and his intentions were thoroughly treacherous.
Yunyouzi had overexerted himself to unleash the pearl and was now drained of combat strength. The jade ruyi talisman treasure was on the verge of shattering. Their side was down to only Qin Sang and the scholar in white.
This meant that even if they escaped the human-faced owl and the hook serpents, they were far from safe.
The enemy of an enemy was a friend.
Luo Xingnan brought people ruin; they would bring salvation!
Witnessing the human-faced owl's gruesome state, the king hook serpents knew full well the terrifying might of the spear formed by the Flawless Pearl. Seeing it barrel toward them, they roared in terror and scattered in a panic.
The red mist rippled, and Shangguan Lifeng seized the chance to break free. Ge Yuan, however, was nowhere to be seen.
In truth, not much time had passed since Luo Xingnan had used the two of them as human shields. But the serpents far outmatched them in power; Ge Yuan had clearly been torn apart and devoured, while Shangguan Lifeng was in an equally wretched state.
His left arm had been severed at the shoulder—not bitten off, but brutally ripped away. Clear gouges left by venomous tail hooks scarred the jagged stump, and the blood leaking from the wound was pitch-black. Fortunately, Shangguan Lifeng knew how terrifying the hook serpents were and had promptly sealed his meridians to keep the poison from invading his internal organs, or even the gods could not have saved him.
Scarcely an inch of him remained uninjured, and his sea of qi was parched dry. Only through sheer, unyielding will and a single sabre had he held out until now.
Having grievously wounded the owl and terrified the serpents into retreat, the Flawless Pearl's power was almost entirely spent.
Yunyouzi recalled the pearl, but his body suddenly went limp, and he plummeted downward.
Quick to react, Qin Sang caught him and found the old Daoist's aura shockingly faint—so drained that he lacked the strength even to speak. With no time to examine his condition, Qin Sang slung him onto his back, transformed into a streak of sword light, and darted toward the exit.
Yunyouzi had handed the spirit bamboo flying boat to Qin Sang before his strength gave out. But when Qin Sang had tried to pilot it earlier, he discovered that without Yunyouzi's help, flying it alone drained spiritual power at a horrifying rate, no less demanding than the Nine Dragons Heavenly Chariot Talisman.
This occurred presumably because he was not the boat's true master.
Yet Yunyouzi's strike had achieved such brilliant results, buying ample time and space, that they could escape even without the boat.
As he swept past Shangguan Lifeng, Qin Sang reached down to pull him along. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Ge Yuan's storage bag, scooped it up, and tucked it into his robes.
"Thank you, Daoist..." Shangguan Lifeng wheezed, managing a strained whisper of gratitude.
Luo Xingnan stood by the entrance of the passage, watching the entire scene unfold. He had not departed, his gaze flickering as he eyed Qin Sang's group, thoughts unreadable.
Carrying two wounded men, Qin Sang kept his eyes locked firmly on Luo Xingnan as he flew, his expression cold and entirely steady.
Their gazes clashed in midair.
By then, the pack of hook serpents had come to their senses. Hissing in shame and rage, they resumed the chase.
Luo Xingnan hesitated for a fraction of a second, cast a deep, searching look at Qin Sang, and turned to slip into the cave passage, vanishing inside.
With a few flashes of movement, Qin Sang rushed into the cave. They had already studied the restrictions when entering and knew how to activate the exit.
*Patter, patter, patter...*
Outside the grand hall, torrential rain poured from the heavens.
Inside, nothing had changed, exactly as it was when they first arrived.
Back then, when they had stepped onto the rainbow bridge, Yu Kong's party alone counted seven people, and their numbers grew even larger once Luo Xingnan and Sheng Yuanzi joined them.
Now, only five had made it out alive—two of whom were wounded to the brink of collapse.
Less than an hour had passed from start to finish, yet it felt as if an entire lifetime had come and gone.
Inside the dilapidated hall, the two sides stood in confrontation.
Luo Xingnan blocked the ancient hall's main entrance, half of his body veiled in shadow.
Shangguan Lifeng slumped onto the ground, not even bothering to clean the bloodstains covering him as he focused on regulating his breath to treat his injuries. Yunyouzi lay sprawled over Qin Sang's back as though asleep; there was no telling how he would recover, though doing so now was plainly impossible.
Qin Sang stood shoulder to shoulder with the scholar in white.
"A talisman treasure, and a mysterious pearl to boot... I have truly had my eyes opened today. Your backgrounds are hardly ordinary, are they?" Luo Xingnan remarked with an amused gleam in his eye, looking Qin Sang up and down.
"What do you mean by blocking the entrance?" Qin Sang asked, his tone chilly and laced with irony. "I recall that a senior at the Core Formation stage also entered this place. Having reaped your rewards, you still linger instead of fleeing? Could it be that you feel you possess too many thousand-year spiritual herbs and wish to present them as a tribute to that senior?"
Luo Xingnan gave a cold snort, his eyes turning frigid, yet he dared not make a move.
Thousand-year spiritual herbs would tempt even Core Formation cultivators.
He had no confidence in bringing Qin Sang down in an instant. If the commotion of a fight drew others here and exposed their secret, neither side would meet a good end.
The storm outside grew heavier by the second.
Qin Sang cast a glance out of the hall.
He found the spiritual aura in the air utterly chaotic, far more turbulent than when they had first arrived. This indicated that the guardian array's period of weakness was nearing its end.
Luo Xingnan parted his lips, about to speak.
Just then, a muffled thud suddenly echoed through the vast, empty hall.
Startled, everyone snapped their heads toward the clay idol's open palm—only to see rainbow light abruptly flare to life, sending out ripples of spiritual fluctuations.
Chapter 304