Xu Qing erupted with speed, using the force of expulsion to accelerate even more dramatically. By the time a single sound came out of the mouth of the young woman in red, he was already more than 150 meters away, right next to the Captain. Even from there, it was possible to see the young woman’s eyes flashing. Xu Qing felt very unsettled. However, that was when the Captain reached out and grabbed his arm.0

“Don’t move!”0

Xu Qing froze in place. With the Captain’s words in mind, he looked thoughtfully at the young woman in red.0

She stood in place, seemingly in a daze as she looked at the blood on her hands. Then she waved those hands, and the blood turned into a mist that spread out in all directions. The mist grew increasingly dense, ultimately transforming into numerous streams of blood that swirled around the young woman. More and more appeared. In the blink of an eye, there were hundreds, like snakes of blood, emanating terrifying pressure, but at the same time, a sweet fragrance.0

It was extremely bizarre! And more and more kept springing into being.0

As the dazed look in the young woman’s eyes grew stronger, the blood streams split into two main sections, but at the same time, continued to proliferate. Soon, the hundreds of streams were over a thousand in number, and they began forming ring after ring around her.0

Anyone who saw this would be shocked to the core. What was more, a sinister wind blew around her, eventually touching Xu Qing, causing his hair to stand on end and his eyes to narrow.0

Xu Qing’s years of engaging in both slaughter and battle had imparted to him an instinct related to danger. That instinct, plus the Captain’s words, left him with absolutely no uncertainty; he shouldn’t do anything right now.0

Anything he did would almost certainly result in his own death.1

It was a strange feeling that he didn’t fully comprehend. After all, this young woman in red clearly did not surpass the three-palace level. But Xu Qing still sensed incredible danger from her.0

The Captain also remained motionless, his expression serious as he stared at the young woman in red.0

“Don’t do anything,” he said via projection. “She has a holy relic from the Church of Departure plus an imperial-class technique. Beyond that, she also cultivates the most difficult blood will domain from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society.0

“That blood will domain is something that, from ancient times until now, only a handful of people in the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society have ever succeeded at. I’ve heard that someone with that blood will domain can easily kill someone in the same cultivation level as their own. Maybe that’s not completely accurate, but I don’t think we should stay to find out.0

“Beyond all of that, the blood will domain has a feature that may or may not be a flaw. And that is… that the person’s eyes can easily track the movement of living beings!”0

Xu Qing could sense the increasing urgency in the Captain’s voice.0

Meanwhile, his own eyes narrowed as he stared at the young woman in red.0

There was no sound being uttered anywhere nearby. There was only the whimper of the wind, along with cracking sounds coming from August Spirit Nethersprite’s clone. Also faintly audible were the sounds of corrosion coming from the clone’s face, like blisters forming and popping. From a distance, it was possible to see that, having taken that dao blood, the face was starting to rot.0

With the golden drop of blood having been taken away by Xu Qing, the clone of August Spirit Nethersprite started transforming into something very ugly and strange.0

The gray skin on the face started to turn pitch black.0

However, Xu Qing and the Captain weren’t paying very close attention to that, as they were focused on the young woman in red.0

Meanwhile, the young woman still seemed to be in just as much of a daze as before. She was looking in the direction of Xu Qing and the Captain, yet at the same time didn’t seem to be looking at them at all.0

“Was it you two?” she asked softly.0

Her gaze, plus her repeated words, caused the vigilance in Xu Qing’s heart to increase. The golden crow tattoo began to heat up, and the Violet-Heaven Supreme-Limitless Crown on his head started glowing brightly. His heavenly palaces trembled, and the beetles in the area started converging on each other, as if they were getting ready to fight.0

The Captain was reacting similarly. He was emanating an intense coldness, and both of his pupils had faces in them, and they seemed very unstable.0

As the two parties faced off, the young woman in red lifted her right foot. Screaming sounds rang out as the streams of blood that surrounded her proliferated and simultaneously shot toward Xu Qing and the Captain.0

Right at that time, a fierce voice rang out from above.0

“What are you people doing??”2

It crashed like a thousand thunderclaps, creating a shockwave that caused Xu Qing and the Captain to tumble backward, trembling and coughing mouthfuls of blood.0

The streams of blood surrounding the young woman whipped wildly left and right, then smashed back into her. Her face twisted and distorted, while at the same time, the blankness in her eyes turned into something fierce and aggressive. Without any hesitation, she turned and fled off into the distance.0

Xu Qing and the Captain had no time to pay any attention to her, and also fled.0

Meanwhile, one of August Spirit Nethersprite’s other clones dropped down, rage in her eyes, blood seeping out of the corners of her mouth, her clothes damaged and torn. Because of being locked in battle high above, she hadn’t been paying attention to everything below. But at a certain point, she noticed the three little humans near her clone, and had sensed that something was off. Heart pounding, she’d ignored any injuries she sustained to back away from the fighting and look down. What she saw caused her to tremble with disbelief.0

Her clone’s face was turning pitch black! She saw the melting facial features. She saw the incredible ugliness. Considering how beautiful of a woman she was, all of those things turned into a wave of heaven-shaking, earth-shattering irritation.0

August Spirit Nethersprite started trembling and panting. Her mind filled with rage that could incinerate heaven and destroy anything in existence.0

“You people!! You people… are looking to DIE!!!” As she howled madly, she shoved one hand in the direction of Xu Qing and the Captain, and the other hand in the direction of the young woman in red.0

However, that was when two swordsage elders dropped down from the dome of heaven.0

They could see the corrosion on the face of the downed clone, and in their shock, also noticed Xu Qing, the Captain, and the young woman in red, all fleeing the area.0

Although all were in disguise, the two elders could see them clearly. They could tell they were human, and could also guess that they were members of the major human powers in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. Given that, it was likely they were connected to the Swordsage Court in some ways. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have been able to determine when the Swordsage Court would carry out this plan of theirs, and thus take advantage of the moment.0

As for their actions, and what it did to the clone’s face, they weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry.0

Regardless, considering these three were humans, the elders felt a responsibility to help keep them safe. Waving their hands, they sent out powerful divine abilities to block the path of August Spirit Nethersprite.0

August Spirit Nethersprite shrieked in rage. However, because of the deadly crisis, she had no choice but to abandon her attack on Xu Qing and the others.0

Her clothes were so damaged that they had lost their defensive capabilities. She was forced to wave her hand in the direction of her mansion grotto to produce replacement clothing for use in the fighting.5

In response to her gesture, the mansion grotto rumbled, and numerous sets of clothing flew in her direction.0

A moment later, August Spirit Nethersprite’s eyes went wide with shock. Lurching through the air toward her were numerous sets of dilapidated garments. In fact, calling them dilapidated was somewhat charitable. Any bits of decoration that adorned them were long gone. In fact, they were in such a different state than before that they were basically just strips of extremely damaged cloth.0

August Spirit Nethersprite wasn’t the only one to be stunned by the sight. The two swordsage elders were equally shocked. Seeing the horrifically damaged state of the clothing, they suddenly glanced at the three young people down below. Then they transmitted messages to each other.0

“Where are these kids from? They’re completely and utterly vicious!”2

As for August Spirit Nethersprite… seeing the damaged clothing made her face turn pale. Every single one of those garments were special to her in some way, and the sight of them made her tremble. Her heart felt like it was being ripped apart and she let loose a howl of grief.0

“I’m going to take all three of you and shred your bones to dust! I’ll destroy you in body and soul!!”0

Her piercing voice echoed high into the sky, full of anger and hatred.0

August Spirit Nethersprite was so frenzied that she seemed to lose her mind, and shot toward Xu Qing and the Captain with profound killing intent. Her third clone, high above, also shrieked in anger and raced toward the young woman in red. She was absolutely dead set on killing these three interlopers no matter the cost! Unfortunately for her, this sudden action created a perfect opportunity for the three swordsage elders.0

As Nethersprite seemed to lose her mind, they tapped into the full power of their cultivation bases to block her way. Thanks to their interference, there was no way for August Spirit Nethersprite to reach the culprits. That, in turn, drove her further into madness, and forced the three swordsage elders to fight even harder. Everyone down below could see what was happening.0

The Captain and Xu Qing were numb with shock as they tried to pick up speed. The young woman in red, was still furious, but also extremely resentful considering she didn’t have anything to do with the mansion grotto situation.0

Of course, offering explanations wouldn’t do any good, so all she could do was grit her teeth and keep racing away.0 ．

The three of them moved at top speed. Thus, Xu Qing and the Captain quickly reached Yanyan, who looked terrified and confused. None of them spoke a word. Xu Qing grabbed Yanyan and pulled out his dharmaship. The Captain was right behind him.0

Instantly, the dharmaship turned into a stream of light that shot off into the distance, leaving the central part of the Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain.1

Behind them, August Spirit Nethersprite’s howls grew more intense, shrill, painful, and full of madness. To her, this day was truly a great catastrophe. Not only did the Swordsage Court show up to crush her. Not only did she lose a clone. Not only did she lose a drop of golden blood. Beyond all that, her most precious clothing was ripped to shreds. To a woman as beautiful as her, it wouldn’t matter if she had an even higher cultivation base than she did. Never before had she been so insulted.1

In fact, she hated those three thieves far more than she hated the entire Swordsage Court!