"Hmm? This flying artifact is quite interesting."
The elder gazed at the trail of the Sky Shuttle, his face filled with astonishment.
This Su Meier, who didn't look old, actually possessed such a precious artifact. Seeing the direction of her escape, could she be a disciple of the Xuan Qing Sect, one of the five great sects?
The elder's eyes flickered, and his indecisive expression quickly turned decisive.
Even if she was a disciple of the Xuan Qing Sect, as long as he could intercept Su Meier before she returned to her sect and take her away, with the backing of the Zhen Tian Alliance, the Xuan Qing Sect would be powerless against him.
The elder strode forward with composure, and in an instant, he appeared a thousand miles away.
If Xu Yi had witnessed this, he would have recognized it as the divine ability of a Nascent Soul cultivator – Shrinking the Ground into an Inch.
On the Sky Shuttle, Xu Yi's thoughts raced, her eyes filled with a struggle.
Before the elder appeared, she thought she would quickly deal with the group tailing her, so she had sent messages to the three members of the Xuan Qing Sect in advance.
Now, she realized how inappropriate her actions were. She might very well drag Long Haotian and the other two into this life-or-death crisis.
However, if she were to be distracted by sending messages to the other two now, she would be caught by the elder behind her and fall into danger, unable to protect herself.
After a few breaths, she cursed softly, moved her right hand away from the Sky Shuttle, and without bothering to distinguish who was transmitting, grabbed the communication disk and roared, "Don't come over! Hurry and leave!"
After saying this, the Sky Shuttle was suddenly violently struck by an invisible force, and Xu Yi and Yang Mei were almost instantly thrown out.
Bang!
Xu Yi fell heavily to the ground, creating a pit and kicking up billowing dust.
Boom!
The next moment, the Sky Shuttle fell from the sky. Its originally pointed ends were deeply indented, covered in cracks, and its light had dimmed.
When Xu Yi initially tried to boost the speed of the Sky Shuttle to its limit, she had discarded all materials that enhanced defense, which led to it being unable to withstand even a single blow from a Nascent Soul cultivator.
"Heh! So it's just a pretty thing that looks good but is useless!"
The elder retracted his gaze with disdain, having almost been fooled by this thing.
"Senior, senior..."
Yang Mei, dizzy and disoriented, came to her senses and found herself tightly held in Xu Yi's arms. She looked up at Xu Yi, only to see her chin covered in blood, and she couldn't help but whimper softly.
"Cough, stop crying."
Xu Yi shook her slightly swollen head, hugged Yang Mei, and managed to sit up straight.
"Mmm hmm..." Yang Mei's face was streaked with tears. She knelt beside Xu Yi, obediently covering her mouth, still letting out small beast-like whimpers from between her fingers.
It's all her fault, all her fault. If she hadn't clashed with Shopkeeper Wang, Senior wouldn't have fallen into such a desperate situation today.
It's all her fault.
Yang Mei's heart was filled only with remorse and self-blame.
Xu Yi tilted her head slightly, her gaze meeting the elder's condescending stare.
"You dare not kill me?"
Xu Yi licked the blood from the corner of her mouth, her eyes seeming to seethe with something brewing.
"Dare not kill you?" The elder shook his head and laughed, "Su Meier, you probably still don't know who you offended back then, do you? Even if I don't capture you today, when you reach Sword City, someone will still make a move on you. You can't escape.
As for why I won't kill you, it's naturally because your life is more valuable than your corpse."
Xu Yi's heart suddenly dawned with understanding. So, that Master Chou was indeed a formidable "big shot."
But so what? She, Xu Yi, was not a defenseless ant to be bullied.
Xu Yi staggered to her feet, an unyielding will erupting from within her. Her initial Nascent Soul cultivation quickly climbed: mid-Nascent Soul, late-Nascent Soul, finally settling firmly at the great perfection of late-Nascent Soul, just one step away from the Nascent Soul stage.
"This is a secret technique... No, it's not. To forcibly increase cultivation with a secret technique, one must burn vital energy. But her vital energy is robust, her aura is deep. Could it be that she was suppressing her cultivation before?"
The elder was secretly alarmed, almost unable to stop himself from intervening and disrupting Xu Yi, but after thinking about it, he ultimately did not make a move.
He wanted to see how far Xu Yi could go.
When Xu Yi's cultivation stopped at the great perfection of late-Nascent Soul, he couldn't say whether he was happy or disappointed. He said indifferently, "Is this your trump card?"
He was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. Even if Xu Yi could truly break through to the Nascent Soul stage, she would not be his match.
It seemed he had overestimated her.
A sharp glint burst forth in Xu Yi's eyes. She stomped her feet, like a dragon emerging from the sea, and charged straight at the elder.
As the ancestor of the Xuan Ji Sect, how could Xu Yi not possess a life-saving divine ability?
The reason her cultivation surged was that she had unlocked the medicinal power sealed within her body.
Before leaving the sect, she had taken an eighth-grade pill called the Spiritual Power Great Return Pill under the witness of the Xuan Ji Sect elders.
The spiritual power contained in the Spiritual Power Great Return Pill was enough for a cultivator to leap across four major realms from the Core Formation stage directly to the Tribulation Stage.
And it was left behind by her master, Sect Master Yuan Ming.
As his personal disciple and currently the highest-ranking ancestor in the sect, the five elders unanimously decided to give this pill to Xu Yi.
Because the medicinal power was too potent, the five elders joined forces to set up four seals within her body. Only when she broke through to each major realm could she open the seal and refine the vast spiritual power hidden within her body.
After becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator, Xu Yi had never opened the seals. She had originally intended to save this spiritual power for when she broke through to the Nascent Soul stage.
But now, in this critical situation, she had no choice but to use it.
Dense spiritual power circulated rapidly within her body, nearly bursting her meridians. Bone-piercing pain constantly assaulted Xu Yi's nerves.
However, the more this was the case, the brighter the smile on her face became.
Her gaze was like a sharp sword, piercing fiercely into the elder, and a single thought was raging within her.
She intended to use her Nascent Soul cultivation to leave the elder here forever!
"Overestimating yourself."
The elder's expression remained unchanged. He waved his hands forward at seemingly slow, but in reality, extremely fast speeds.
One invisible spiritual light after another streaked across the sky, forming a massive magic array in the air.
When Xu Yi was about to reach him, he extended his hand and slowly pushed forward.
Buzz—
A strange force spread out.
The invisible array pattern suddenly erupted with brilliant light, and an indescribable destructive force surged down from above, sweeping towards Xu Yi.
Xu Yi murmured, a sixth-grade array master.
The next moment, she gave the elder a provocative smile.
What a coincidence, I am also a sixth-grade array master.
Her figure suddenly flipped in the air, her hands dancing, turning into streaks of afterimages.
The elder's casual expression gradually receded, replaced by a look of solemnity.
He couldn't help but take two steps forward, looking at the formed pattern in the air with shock, silently saying, "Sixth-grade Array Breaking Technique!"
As his voice fell, Xu Yi pushed back with her hand.
The black array patterns, resembling a hexagram in front of her, collided with the pattern unleashed by the elder.
At this moment, heaven and earth seemed to fall silent.
The originally imposing and mighty array, like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun, rapidly melted, devoid of any of the majesty of a sixth-grade array.
The elder's face was one of utter disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost.
Xu Yi chuckled softly again.