Chapter 128: The Captured Bride of the Sect Leader of the Ethereal Immortals

Long Yi had just begun to look satisfied when the furious Antelope Elder leaped up. Having been at the peak of the Great Immortal stage for many years, he would have broken through long ago if not for his desire to attain the supreme status of a Profound Immortal. However, the robbery of his one and only Rainbow Immortal Spirit Beast had incinerated his reason. As he sprang up and began to curse, Long Yi delivered a calm, effortless slash of his blade.

"How noisy!"

As Long Yi swung his blade, a team of valley deacons arriving for reinforcements stood dumbfounded. Their leader was Senior Brother Luoda, who had once playfully tormented Wuyun.

His mount, the Asking-Heaven Beast, was listless, and beside him, a fairy kept explaining the situation. Upon seeing that Wuyun’s strength had actually reached the late stage of the Profound Immortal realm, Luoda was momentarily confused by his own previous actions.

Moments earlier, he had been casually recounting how he had soundly beaten Wuyun, leaving the latter with no power to retaliate. He had even boasted about his self-created immortal technique—the Art of Manifesting Truths—and bragged to a group of admiring junior sisters and disciples who revered him.

He had come this time to slay some necromantic spirits and challenge the Immortal King Tribulation. Given his natural talent, he expected to enter the core of the Hundred Flower Valley and eventually become the Deputy Valley Master. But after the complications regarding his dual cultivation with Daoyuan, he had been feeling restless. He needed a battle to hone himself.

Regardless of how sharp the Soul-Startling Blade appeared, Luoda remained unfazed. He patted the Asking-Heaven Beast, preparing to repeat the tactics he had used against Wuyun. Unexpectedly, just as he shouted the "Three Questions of the Vast Expanse" and the portal he summoned was about to descend upon the blade-wielding Long Yi, Long Yi grew angry and roared!

A Dragon’s Roar shook the heavens!

The roar traveled through the supernatural ability the Asking-Heaven Beast had just released and struck its spirit. With old wounds unhealed and new emotional trauma inflicted, the beast was terrified by the dragon’s roar; it abandoned Luoda and vanished into the horizon.

How could Long Yi repel an enemy with a single roar?

It was all because he knew Wuyun’s tricks inside and out from their constant play-fighting, and he knew that an opponent was most vulnerable when channeling their techniques. He had struck first, and remembering how Senior Wuyun had been tossed around, he burst into laughter.

The laughter sounded like mockery to Luoda. Just as Luoda was about to strike, a figure appeared—it was Daoyuan, arriving with a book in hand. She simply could not let go of her concern for her senior brother and had come to assist.

"Senior Brother Luoda, have you forgotten what my father said? You must prepare for your Immortal King Tribulation. It is fraught with danger; it is better to avoid trouble and leave this place to wait for the Valley Master to resolve the situation!"

Facing the girl who had always loved to follow him and pry into his whereabouts, Luoda’s anger flared. His cultivation was at the peak of the Profound Immortal stage, and he was about to transcend the tribulation to become an Immortal King. Yet, the Valley Master always urged him to temper himself, suggesting it was improper to challenge the Immortal King stage at such a young age.

Then there was True Person Daoshan, who had claimed that his marriage with Daoyuan was doomed and that his tribulation would be full of obstacles—the implication clearly being that he could not become an Immortal King! To be unable to become an Immortal King was a denial of his greatest efforts.

He hated it!

He possessed the cultivation level of the Law Enforcement Hall’s Great Elder, but lacked the skills of a veteran. This was a result of his lack of time and seasoning.

The more Luoda thought, the angrier he became. Just as he was about to shake off Daoyuan’s interference, she waved her immortal book, and seven small imps holding magical artifacts appeared. They danced and frolicked, running toward the front of the Soul-Startling Blade.

They were not attacking, but rather testing the enemy’s strength. As they circled Long Yi and his blade, the blade trembled. The seven imps—tall, short, square, round, fat, thin, and regular—let out cries of alarm. Before they could escape, the blade emitted a brilliant light that engulfed them and drew them into its interior.

Daoyuan felt a sharp pain in her chest, and her Fifth-Grade Immortal Book flew out involuntarily, attempting to reclaim the seven imps!

Luoda finally moved. He stopped the junior brothers and sisters behind him who were trying to help, stepped forward alone, halted the Fifth-Grade Immortal Book, and glared at Long Yi. "Robbing in the midst of a fire—your crimes deserve death, and your soul shall be roasted in the Nine-Flame Mountains! Divine Execution!"

"Divine Execution!..."

These two words, like the most powerful of techniques, ignored the Soul-Startling Blade and struck directly at Long Yi.

This was his ultimate technique: the Art of Manifesting Truths!

Every word and phrase, fueled by the celestial energies hidden within his spiritual lake, was equivalent to the attack of a Fourth-Grade Immortal Artifact. Moreover, this attack possessed a unique effect similar to the death energy in the sky, bypassing most of the opponent's immortal artifacts to strike the body directly.

As long as the opponent’s spiritual strength was not stronger than his own, this strike would inevitably cause injury!

After the "Divine Execution," Long Yi clutched his chest and looked at Yue Qi, whose eyes were wide as a bull’s, and said with difficulty, "I’m hurt, it hurts so much!"

Yue Qi’s eyes widened, and he shook his head: "Uncle Long Yi is not acting like it; he’s not as good as Master Wuyun!"

The words of a five-year-old are always true. Hearing this, Luoda assumed this was some little monster and pointed at Long Yi again, chanting: "Soul Execution!"

"Ah!" Long Yi clutched his spirit and fell backward. The Soul-Startling Blade, left uncontrolled, fell toward the ground as well.

As it fell, the spirits it had absorbed during the slaughter began to flee, including the Antelope Elder. Only the seven imps in the immortal technique could not struggle free; they lacked the remaining strength.

Seeing this, Daoyuan hurriedly tried to rescue them, controlling her immortal book to retrieve them, but she was always just a bit short.

Once the many spirits captured within the Soul-Startling Blade had been released, Daoyuan leaped down, clutching her book. She even approached the blade, hoping to use her immortal technique to capture it as well.

The seven imps cried out "Auntie, Auntie" with increasing intimacy, and the closer Daoyuan got, the less Luoda suspected anything. After all, even the Profound Immortal spirits, which were far more valuable than these imps, had escaped from the blade; there was no reason it would hold onto a few small imps alone.

Unexpectedly, just as Daoyuan used her book to collect the Soul-Startling Blade and was joyfully recalling it, a roar came from the horizon: "I want it alive!"

The Soul-Startling Blade, which had been about to strike at Daoyuan’s neck and the many disciples behind her, came to an abrupt halt.

Long Yi, slurring his words, roared toward the direction of Wuyun in the sky: "Do you think I don't know? I wanted to catch them all in one net! Daoyuan is the wife of the Piao Yi Great Immortal Sect leader; how could I bear to kill her?"

*Slap!*

The hilt of the Soul-Startling Blade gently pressed against Daoyuan’s head, and she vanished from sight.

The many senior brothers behind were terrified by the blade's horrific power. Luoda was filled with dread; he could not understand why his infallible, invincible technique had been useless against it.

Long Yi retrieved the Soul-Startling Blade. He did not attack Luoda but instead grunted, "Thank you for helping me vent my anger earlier! In recognition of that, I will spare your life!"

Long Yi shook his head, the disguise of the three-headed snake demon—which had been maintained by a thin cord—having been shattered by the Art of Manifesting Truths. Unaware, he revealed dragon horns, shining like lightbulbs.

"A dragon, a dragon! A stray dog of a dragon! So that’s why you didn't fear my divine art—you’re a dragon!" Luoda was instantly invigorated, his previous frustration vanishing. The dragon race indeed had strange variants that could ignore such attacks!

Thinking of this, he laughed aloud: "Were you chased so stupidly by the Emperor Snake that you’ve lost your mind? Within these three hundred planets, any dragon found must be killed; kill one and claim a reward! You are dead!"

Luoda’s words were laced with the power of his techniques, but seeing they had no effect, he finally drew his life-bound weapon from his spirit.

He specialized in combat and slaughter. This life-bound weapon was square, like a box, which was truly strange. Long Yi had never seen it, and neither had the brothers, elders, or deacons watching from afar.

Bai Wan, who had arrived to support, frowned. His cultivation was inferior to Luoda’s, but his discernment was keen. He blurted out, "Could it be the legendary Light of the Departing Arc?"

The Light of the Departing Arc? Long Yi could not see clearly what was inside the box, but he knew it contained a power capable of wounding an Immortal King.

If an Immortal King did not use the power of laws to protect themselves, they would be severely injured!

"Two thousand years of tempering for a single ray of light. Once this light emerges, no grass shall grow. You loach, stay here!"

Luoda spoke calmly, but his words were like thunder, shattering Long Yi’s remaining reason and even igniting the "Wine Master" within him.

Wuyun called him an old loach, and he accepted it. His father, the Ancestral Dragon Liucai, called him a loach, and he accepted that too. But this Luoda, a mere fledgling, by what right did he dare call him that?

The true dragon’s temper after drinking was fierce, and Long Yi’s was fiercer still. He raised the Soul-Startling Blade, within which the dizzy Ancestral Dragon Liucai appeared. Upon hearing Luoda’s incessant "old loach," the artifact spirit poured all its power into the blade.

"How dare you curse us!"

The Soul-Startling Blade flashed past!

The box opened!

The Light of the Departing Arc shone once. It only shone once. The moment the gap opened, the light poured entirely into the passing Soul-Startling Blade.

A brief silence ensued. The collision between the two had been more spectacular than the techniques used by the Yangchi Immortal King in his pursuit of Dongyin Gonggong in the sky! Even the Yangchi Immortal King struck out with a law-based power through space, attempting to intervene and rescue them!

Duelists at the Profound Immortal level often exchange endless techniques. Once they reach the Immortal King level, unless there is a significant disparity, it is difficult to determine a winner in a short time.

But Luoda was not a veteran master; he was a genius, an elite in his cultivation. His youth was his greatest asset. Had he become an Immortal King and gained experience, he would have held a massive advantage in competing for the position of Valley Master against the Deaf Elder.

But now, Luoda floated in space, droplets of immortal blood slowly dripping from his crown. His entire body, including his spirit, had been cleaved in two by the Soul-Startling Blade. Furthermore, an unhealable, indelible baleful energy sealed his severed body and spirit. If not treated immediately, his split spirit would soon dissipate.

"Senior Brother Luoda!"

In the distance, many brothers and sisters cried out. But at this critical moment, without Daoyuan, no one dared to step forward.

The Soul-Startling Blade’s earth-shattering strike had chilled every immortal present.

Yangchi roared, his heart pained, and unleashed his ultimate technique. The space between heaven and earth became scorching hot, and as the power of laws emerged, Dongyin Gonggong could no longer hold his ground!

The corpse beast that had been helping him resist the heavenly tribulation was also struck down by the six idle inner-sect elders using their own magical artifacts and techniques. Combined with the incessant tribulation lightning, the red rays from the cold, staring eyes left Dongyin Gonggong exposed beneath the tribulation.

Once he was struck again by the lightning, his cultivation fell from the Immortal King realm back to the peak of the Profound Immortal realm. Surrounded by various immortal artifacts, Yangchi struck back, sending a prohibition into his body like a fire dragon. It coiled around, sealing his internal and external power and forming a solid lock.

Dongyin Gonggong did not give up struggling, but as he resisted fiercely, the heavenly tribulation slowly vanished, and the eyes that had been staring at him dissolved like mist. The sky returned to calm once more.