Chapter 257: Returning a Favor

"How dare you try to bewitch me!" Gu Jie yelled in a thunderous voice that instantly drowned out the woman's laughter.

With a flick of his wrist, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted in front of him, and an azure flying sword shot out of thin air, hurtling directly toward the woman.

The woman didn't appear to have done anything in response, but the snow lotus flower beneath her suddenly began to glow with dazzling radiance, and a pristine flower petal rose up in front of her like a shield.

A sharp clang rang out as the tip of the azure flying sword pierced about an inch into the flower petal, but it was unable to progress any further than that.

Gu Jie made a hand seal and began to chant an incantation upon seeing this, and the runes on the azure flying sword suddenly lit up, while a tiny speck of azure light the size of a grain of rice emerged the tip of the flying sword, giving off a strong wood-attribute aura.

As the speck of azure light appeared, the entire flower petal began to turn from a pristine white color to a glowing jade-like color, and all of a sudden, the speck of azure light brightened drastically, following which a translucent azure thread shot out from within.

The azure thread was as thin as a strand of hair and appeared to have been extremely fragile, but it was astonishingly fast and instantly pierced through the flower petal before hurtling into the flower itself.

The masked woman's expression stiffened slightly upon seeing this, and she swept the white flower in her hand toward the azure thread.

A pair of dull thuds rang out as the azure thread pierced through two layers of flower petals before dissipating into nothingness, while two of the white petals of the flower that the woman was holding turned black before wilting away and detaching themselves from the flower.

"Don't you know you have to be gentle with women?"

The masked woman gently stroked the white flower with a displeased expression, then rose to her feet and flicked a finger toward the tip of the azure flying sword that had pierced into the snow lotus flower petal.

The azure flying sword instantly shuddered violently as if it had been dealt a heavy blow, then flew back through the air before landing in Gu Jie's grasp.

As soon as Gu Jie closed his hand around the hilt of the flying sword, he was instantly struck by an itchy sensation in the palm of his hand, and he looked down to find that the hilt of the flying sword was covered in some type of pink powder.

Before he had a chance to let go of the sword, countless vibrant and colorful butterflies suddenly flew out of the pink powder, quickly enveloping his entire body.

Gu Jie's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and bright azure light erupted from all of the patterns on his suit of armor. A series of slender azure vines instantly emerged from his armor before spreading in all directions, swallowing up all of the butterflies and eradicating all of them in the blink of an eye.

However, he then discovered to his surprise that the masked woman and the white snow lotus flower were both nowhere to be seen, and even their auras had completely vanished.

He quickly swung around to inspect his surroundings, only to find that there was nothing around him, and even the snowland down below had disappeared.

"An illusion like this won't be enough to trap me!" Gu Jie scoffed, then closed his eyes and began to chant an incantation.

As he did so, a glimmer of azure light appeared in his hand, and all of the patterns on his suit of armor and the flying sword in his grasp lit up in unison, releasing a burst of dazzling green radiance.

Moments later, his eyes sprang open, and he gripped onto his sword with both hands before swinging it down in a forceful motion.

Seven massive azure sword projections, each of which was over 10,000 feet tall, appeared behind him in a flash, then came crashing down like falling mountains.

A string of resounding booms rang out in the air as the seven sword projections came crashing down one after another, causing the entire space to tremble violently.

However, after the tremors finally subsided, his surroundings remained completely empty, and nothing had changed.

Gu Jie's expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this, and only now did he come to realize that he seemed to have been situated in a space of absolute nothingness.

Right at this moment, the masked woman's voice rang out in the surrounding space. "I don't think there's a need for us to continue our battle any further beyond this point, Fellow Daoist Gu. How about we sit down and have a chat now?"

"What do you want to talk about?" Gu Jie asked.

"I've already gathered some information about the situation, and it seems like the people you're looking for were only carrying out a mission for the Transient Guild, so they haven't done anything wrong," the masked woman said.

"That's preposterous! They killed a True Immortal cultivator of our Immortal Palace who was extremely likely to become a Heavenly Pill Master, yet you say that they did nothing wrong? In that case, am I not also well within my rights to seek vengeance for Ping Yaozi?" Gu Jie countered in an enraged voice.

"It's true that you're not at fault, either, except they only killed a single member of your Immortal Palace, yet you've already killed far more than just one member of the Blaze Dragon Dao. Am I correct in saying that?" the masked woman asked.

"How could those people possibly compare with Ping Yaozi?" Gu Jie scoffed.

"That's your perspective on this matter. From my perspective, you've already gone too far, and it's time that you stopped," the masked woman replied in a calm voice.

"I'm not going to stop pursuing this matter until the other two perpetrators are also dead!" Gu Jie harrumphed coldly.

A cold look finally appeared on the masked woman's face upon hearing this, and she said, "I'm only willing to negotiate with you as you're a member of the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace. If you continue to be so rude and unreasonable, then even if I can't kill you here, I can at least seal 12 of your immortal acupoints and severely suppress your power.

“The Immortal Palace isn't going to declare war on both the Blaze Dragon Dao and the Transient Guild at once over a Golden Immortal like yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come here alone."

Gu Jie finally fell silent upon hearing this.

"I can turn a blind eye to the people that you've killed up to this point as long as you don't go any further than this. If you know what's good for you, then you'd leave the Ancient Cloud Continent right away."

The masked woman's voice grew fainter and fainter, and all of a sudden, a burst of light appeared above Gu Jie, following which several massive flower petals opened up to release him from the space that he was trapped in.

Immediately thereafter, the giant white snow lotus flower vanished on the spot amid a flash of white light.

Gu Jie remained hovering in mid-air for a while with a contemplative look on his face, then finally flew away toward the north as a streak of azure light.

Half a day later, on a nameless mountain range in the Blaze Dragon Dao.

Inside the belly of the mountain was a large circular altar, around which stood eight black stone pillars. There was a lit brazier on each of the stone pillars, within which some type of oil was burning, giving off a crimson glow that illuminated the entire surrounding space.

A tall and broad figure in a black cloak with an azure deer mask on his face was pacing back and forth on the altar while rubbing his hands together, appearing to be quite anxious and agitated.

It was none other than Qilin 9.

He had already heard about all of the Transient Guild members that had been killed within the territory of the Blaze Dragon Dao, and through his sources in the guild, he had deduced that the Golden Immortal Stage elder of the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace was responsible for all the killings.

He had originally planned to find an excuse to leave the sect and travel to some secluded region, only returning to the sect after making a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage, but right as he was about to set off, he received a message from a high-ranking member of the Transient Guild, instructing him to remain within this mountain in the Bell Toll Mountain Range for his own safety, and to await further news.

However, close to a year had already passed by with not a single update, and he was starting to grow quite concerned.

Right at this moment, a burst of white light appeared at the center of the altar, and a white snow lotus flower appeared before blooming to reveal a woman in a white dress.

"Dao Lord Yun... I mean, Senior Qilin 3," Qilin 9 hurriedly greeted.

"The matter concerning Gu Jie has already been settled, but I'd advise you not to set foot on the Infernal Frost Continent for the next 1,000 years," the woman declared in an indifferent voice.

"Thank you, Senior Qilin 3," Qilin 9 hurriedly said in a respectful voice as he extended a deep bow.

"I've repaid you for the favor that I owe you, and I won't intervene even if you get yourself into any further trouble from now on, so do try to be more prudent in your future decision-making," the woman said, then vanished from the spot amid a flash of white light.

Qilin 9 could only extend a parting bow with a wry smile on his face.

After that, he removed his deer mask, and his body abruptly shrank down into a short and stocky man wearing a lavish golden robe. It was none other than Xiong Shan.

……

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

To the east of the Ancient Cloud Continent was a deep blue sea that hadn't frozen solid.

Within this region of the sea was a ring-shaped coral island, beneath which was a trench that was over 100,000 feet deep.

At the bottom of the trench was a gray stone monument that was over 100 feet tall, and it was riddled with holes of different depths and sizes from the erosion of the surrounding seawater. Furthermore, it was covered in a layer of black seaweed, making it appear identical from the average rock on the seabed.

As it turned out, this gray stone monument was actually the entrance of a secret area under the jurisdiction of the Blaze Dragon Dao.

On a white stone plaza hovering in the air above a lush mountain within the secret area was Han Li, who was peering into the distance with his hands resting on the railing in front of him.

He could see a series of tall mountains that were covered in lush undergrowth, all of which were suspended in mid-air. The bases of the mountains were completely disconnected from the ground, and there were only countless lush green vines trailing down from the mountains into the gray mist below.

This secret area was filled with thousands of these floating mountains, and the entire area was filled with abundant world's origin qi. All of the mountains were laden with all types of premium spirit medicines, including ones that were ingredients required to refine various types of earthly pills.

Beneath these floating mountains was a bottomless mist-filled canyon, within which resided many strange humanoid creatures with grayish-white skin.

There were no books or records that assigned any names to these creatures, so those in the Blaze Dragon Dao referred to them as "white ghosts".

Under normal circumstances, these white ghosts wouldn't leave the canyon to venture onto the floating mountains, but once every few years, the mist within the canyon would spill over and rise up toward the floating mountains up above without any warning.

Whenever this happened, a large number of white ghosts would come rushing out of the canyon before climbing onto the floating mountains to devour the spirit plants growing upon them, and whenever any cultivators tried to stop them, battles would ensue.

These white ghosts weren't all that formidable individually, but their numbers were vast, and they had no regard for their own safety, so neither the cultivators nor the white ghosts had been able to gain the upper hand during the large-scale conflicts that had arisen between the two parties throughout history.

In order to keep these white ghosts at bay once and for all, a dao lord of the Blaze Dragon Dao who was proficient in the art of arrays had set up powerful restrictions on the bases of the floating mountains that were able to keep the rising mist at bay, thereby preventing the white ghost invasions altogether.

However, people soon noticed that without the mist rising up from the canyon once every few years, the number of spirit plants on the floating mountains steadily declined year after year, to the point that some of the more prized species of spirit plants went extinct altogether.

Only then did the cultivators of the Blaze Dragon Dao come to realize that this secret area contained a unique symbiotic ecosystem, and that it was not to be tampered with without consequences.

After that, the dao lord removed the restrictions, and an order was also released prohibiting members of the Blaze Dragon Dao from engaging the white ghosts in battle unless they appeared on the floating mountains in areas that weren't encompassed within the mist.

Furthermore, in order to prevent unforeseen mishaps, there was a large number of Spatial Tempering Stage disciples and puppets stationed in the secret area, and at least one True Immortal Stage elder was also required to be present in the secret area at all times.

Han Li was currently serving as the True Immortal Stage elder overseeing proceedings in this secret area.