Chapter 65: Sudden Change
｢Name: Lin Yue
Status: Healthy.
Age: 19/250
Slaughter Points Value: 25
Cultivation Base: Foundation Establishment level 1 (15%) || Mortal Flesh Perfection (46%)
Remarks: Lin Yue is one of the thirteen True Inheritors of the Boundless Joy Sect and a former candidate for the Saintess position. She was eliminated by Bai Ruyi due to a clever ploy, causing her to develop a twisted personality and extreme hatred for the current Saintess, often creating obstacles for her even if it meant punishment from the sect.｣
Li Ling scanned the young lady who threw shade at Bai Ruyi and was surprised to see the remarks about her. Immediately, he had an idea of what was going on, and he was partly curious about as well as partly amused that even a sect full of yang-sucking demonesses had such intense internal conflict.
Li Ling had never joined a sect, but he understood the sectarian form of governance. Within that hierarchy, the True Inheritors were like the princes and princesses, those who were next in line for ascension to rulership, which was the position of Sect Master.
If so, then the Saintess was equivalent to the chosen Crown Prince, who was ranked above the other princes and princesses and wielded actual political as well as military power, but could not easily deal with their fellow royal siblings. So while Lin Yue did not have the necessary authority to suppress Bai Ruyi, she could still make small moves to hinder and annoy.
Like now, when they called a halt to the formation to keep them here. The formation actually never stopped operating because not even the Sect Mistress of the Boundless Joy Sect could easily pass down an order that affected this array’s functioning since it affected the entire continent, much less a mere elder and true inheritor combo.
However, the goal had been achieved, and Li Ling’s group had been kept behind. Now, if they wanted to use the array, the Saintess and Elder Wen would have to deal with these two pests, but how could Elder Yan and Lin Yue easily let go now that they had gotten a good bite?
Elder Yan’s eyes roamed and noted the smiling Li Ling beside Bai Ruyi, and her eyes seemed to flash. "Oh? Has the Saintess finally caved in and decided to take on a relief cauldron to tide over the urges from the Joyful Union Sutra? If so, then your choice is a bit lackluster. Why not rely on the sect to choose an actually competent cauldron?"
Li Ling, who had been enjoying the show from the side, was suddenly dragged into the limelight, and his amused smile faded into a cold one. Before either Wen Caiyi or Bai Ruyi could speak, he raised a finger and pointed at Elder Yan.
"In at most three months, your fate will be to be used as a cauldron by my pet demon beast. This I swear on the heavens!"
The faces of everyone around changed, with those bystanders who had been watching turning to flee crazily in fear, wishing they had two extra legs. Meanwhile, Bai Ruyi grabbed Li Ling’s arm and moved backward toward the portal with constricted pupils, while Wen Caiyi stood in between them.
Elder Yan’s smile thinned greatly and became fake, her killing intent completely unconcealed. "It seems the Saintess has done poorly in educating her property, so as an elder, I will take charge of this on your behalf."
Without wasting another moment, the Nascent Soul elder on the other side made her move, unleashing a blow that formed a pink heart that shot toward Li Ling at the speed of sound. Li Ling immediately felt the aura of death, as he did not need his sealed Purple Mansion clairvoyance to tell him what his outcome would be if this landed.
And yet, his expression was still one of calmness, since Elder Wen reached out and nullified the attack in midair with a blow of her own. This caused the face of Elder Yan to become colder as she glared at Wen Caiyi.
"Elder Wen, you wouldn’t be stopping me from doling out punishment for a cretin that dares to violate the majesty of a Nascent Soul cultivator, would you?"
Wen Caiyi had a difficult expression, for inasmuch as she disliked the other party, there were unspoken rules that cultivators had to abide by, especially as fellow sect members. It was one thing to rib each other and compete for various things, but when slighted by an external party, they were to unite together to deal with the foe.
On top of that, it was almost a literal rule that lower level cultivators had to show respect to those higher than they are. Whether righteous or demonic, if a lower level cultivator slighted a higher level one, then the higher level one was in the right to kill or punish that junior.
So by stopping her, Wen Caiyi had broken the taboo, but she had no choice.
"Stop fooling around, Elder Yan. I was willing to stand by while you harassed the Saintess verbally since it is not my duty to protect against that, but you are going against the Ancestress’ order by trying to harm that young man!" Wen Caiyi explained directly, having no intention of remaining quiet and letting a misunderstanding breed.
She had witnessed with her own eyes situations that could have ended simply instead took the worst possible route just because one party could not sensibly express the truth for various reasons, which was something she swore to avoid doing when it was her turn.
However, while Elder Yan was reasonable, she was truly infuriated by Li Ling’s words. Still, hearing the name of the Ancestress forced her to become calm as she stared directly at Wen Caiyi with her full aura unveiled.
"Oh? And may Elder Wen enlighten me as to how this boy is related to the Ancestress?" Elder Yan asked coldly.
Wen Caiyi sighed deeply and gestured with her chin, speaking softly. "He’s the one we were sent to find."
Elder Yan’s pupils constricted greatly while her aura spiked crazily, causing some other cultivators who were still watching the spectacle from a safe distance to fall to their faces on the ground, panting as if someone had crushed them under tons of rubble.
"You mean... the Heaven Loving Sage’s...?" Yan Bing asked slowly with a trembling gaze.
Wen Caiyi nodded solemnly. "We’ve 100% confirmed it’s him. The Saintess has even used a heavenly oath to bind him down, and we were going to send him on his journey before you came."
Yan Bing became silent, understanding that they had likely intruded at one of the worst possible times. After all, this prophecy from the Heaven Loving Sage was predicated by her death, something which shocked and terrified the upper echelon of the sect.
That elder, though a rare divination expert, was still a powerhouse at the level of Soul Formation, just slightly stronger than their Sect Master but weaker than their Ancestress. For someone of that power to have to use her entire life and cultivation as the price of this divination, it likely meant it involved forces and powers beyond their comprehension.
Thinking that the focus of that prophecy was that young man she had just ridiculed, Yan Bing found herself feeling a tinge of regret. Not to mention the fellow had made a heavenly oath on the spot to condemn her to a fate she would never accept, so the two of them were already in an irreconcilable life and death feud.
The problem was that even if Yan Bing wanted to kill him to preserve her dignity later on, even at the risk of severe punishment from the sect, she wouldn’t be able to, as Wen Caiyi, this loyal dog, would rather die than allow her to ruin their sect’s chance to rise.
Just as Elder Yan was thinking about how to handle this terrible situation, the two elders’ faces changed as they turned to look at the group of young ones behind them.
When Li Ling had spoken roughly, Bai Ruyi expected Elder Yan to lash out, and so dragged Li Ling toward the portal to send them across first and then apologize later. Because the destination details had long been keyed in and were waiting for them to enter, Bai Ruyi did not expect any obstacles in this regard.
But who knew that it was at this moment that a beam of pink light was rushing toward the teleportation formation near the duo, forcing Bai Ruyi to wave her hand and unleash her own attack to neutralize it. With a dark expression, Bai Ruyi glared at Lin Yue, who was approaching rapidly with a crazed expression on her face.
"Oh no, Senior Sister, you aren’t escaping this! Hand over your piece of trash yang furnace to be disciplined by Elder Yan, or don’t blame me for killing him on the spot!" Lin Yue shouted with a laugh of joy.
The feeling of causing Bai Ruyi trouble was her life’s meaning, far better than any sexual act. Lin Yue did not care about the fallout of her actions, because Bai Ruyi would always clean up for her since it usually concerned the sect, which was why she could also be wanton.
Like that shot at the formation just before, if it happened to damage or delay the array, it would see her being executed at the least or suffering soul torture at the extreme, but she still unhesitatingly shot toward it because she knew Bai Ruyi would block for her.
Not just because Bai Ruyi needed the formation to escape, but also because she did not want to see the Boundless Joy Sect questioned by the Six Paths Demon Sect or the Seven Sins Demon Sect for the lapse in the operations of the formation.
"Lin Yue, are you crazy?! What the hell are you doing?!" Bai Ruyi could no longer put on her sultry guise and displayed an expression of cold fury.
"Hahaha! That’s right, I am crazy. What will you do about it, you whore of a family killer?!" Lin Yue roared with laughter, unleashing countless attacks toward the formation while approaching rapidly.
Bai Ruyi cursed and was forced to nullify the attacks rapidly, but this caused her to slow down, allowing Lin Yue to reach them quickly. Immediately, the young woman reached a hand out toward Li Ling’s face, aiming to take him down while Bai Ruyi was busy.
Seeing this, Bai Ruyi’s face changed. "Wait, Xiao Yue, you mustn’t!"
"Oh yes I mustttt!!!" Lin Yue almost screeched with joy, seeing the scene of Bai Ruyi in utter desolation due to the death of her yang cauldron, filling her with euphoria.
The only confusing thing was that the yang cauldron, who had strangely retracted his aura all this while, suddenly raised a hand in which a strangely glowing brown rock was resting, capturing her attention involuntarily.
In the next instant, many things occurred simultaneously.
First, Li Ling punched out with his left hand that was coated in both his remaining Foundation Establishment magic power as well as the full scope of his Blood Qi while Lin Yue was distracted, striking her in the head and causing her entire scalp to dent and fracture from her face to her nape.
｢System Prompt: You have gained 25 Slaughter Points.｣
Secondly, the two elders sensed the changes and turned with horror on their faces.
"Lin Yue!"
"No, Yuer’er!"
Both of them shouted out in shock, while Bai Ruyi stood there in stupefaction, seeing the still-moving corpse of her junior sister moving forward and crashing into a wall nearby due to the force of Li Ling’s blow.
But things were not done.
Li Ling, standing just slightly behind Bai Ruyi, suddenly struck out with a full-power blow again with his Blood Qi, aiming for Bai Ruyi’s dantian, causing a loud boom as he struck her lower back. The Saintess, who was unguarded and frankly never expected that Li Ling would dare to harm her with the Heavenly Oath active, was made to spit blood as her aura waned, her qi cultivation almost shattered into pieces.
Still, she had a formidable body cultivation level and immediately reacted to distance herself, but Li Ling’s hand, still on her lower back, acted like a suction palm, causing her entire yin yang balance to fall into disarray, and for someone who cultivated a yin-focused method, this was akin to pouring water on a searing hot pan.
Bai Ruyi screamed and spat out a mouthful of blood, her entire cultivation immediately corralled into a mark that formed at her lower abdomen, just above her crotch. Like Cai Dong back then, Li Ling had temporarily sealed her qi cultivation, leaving her somewhat helpless as the reaction from his insidious use of the Yin-Yang Reversal Art damaged her internal organs, making her unable to muster her body cultivation power.
Like this, Li Ling grabbed the back of her neck while leaping backward, entering the range of the teleportation array, turning to glance at the two Nascent Soul Elders with a wide grin.
"What?! The Saintess?!" Elder Yan exclaimed with terror.
"No, Li Ling, what are you doing?!" Wen Caiyi roared with disbelief.
Li Ling flicked a finger, sending the pebble he had been holding upward as his form began to warp and vanish along with a pale-faced Bai Ruyi. He then laughed uproariously, his tone full of scorn and mocking, as if witnessing the biggest clown show he had ever seen.
"Stop right there!"
"Li Ling, let go of the Saintess!"
Both Nascent Soul Elders rushed toward the teleportation formation to give chase since they knew an active transmission could not be stopped, but they could follow him over and restrain him. However, both were shocked when the tiny pebble containing a well of magic power suddenly enlarged to a size bigger than this entire hall and unleashed its power.
KRAKOOM!