Chapter 196: A Way Out

"Look, he’s hesitant." Li Xiuming sneered, but his gaze remained fixed on Mi Sheng. Unfortunately, he was currently weakened, making it difficult for him to make a move in front of Xia Yu and others.

"Hesitant?" Li Daoye chuckled, "Why would I be hesitant? Lord Fang risked his life for these spirit stones. He took the initiative to distract the man in the black robe for our safety. These are his belongings, and they have nothing to do with you."

Li Xiuming faintly smiled. "He admitted it."

Xia Yu frowned. "Did you just say that Daoist Fang deliberately distracted the man in the black robe?"

"How could he have been caught otherwise? I don't care; if you want those spirit stones, wait until he returns," said Li Daoye, snorting.

"He might not come back.” Xia Yu sighed softly. “We saw him getting taken away by that bat demon."

"Senior Brother Xia, there's no need for all these chit-chat. Since Daoist Fang is dead, we don’t need to give this Eight Trigram Sect disciple any more face." Liu Suifeng smiled, turned to Li Daoye, and said, "You were only able to come here because of Lord Fang. Otherwise, with your cultivation level, we wouldn't have brought you here. If you're sensible, hand over all the spirit stones and items that you have. We won't let you make this trip in vain; we'll give a share for your trouble."

Li Daoye took a cold breath, astonished. "You're shameless!"

"We are cultivators, don’t forget that," said Liu Suifeng lightly.

That statement’s meaning was clear as day; shamelessness didn’t mean anything to a cultivator. Their interests were everything to them.

Seeing that there was no way out of this, Li Daoye gritted his teeth and pointed at Li Xiuming. "In that case, I can give the spirit stones to you, but you have to kill that guy. He's not a good person—at least much worse than you."

Ancestor Xia Yu and the other two exchanged glances and eventually, their gaze settled on Li Xiuming.

Li Xiuming remained calm. "Hehe. I am a disciple of Wuchang Mountain. If I die, my sect won’t let this slide. The elders of my sect will surely take action to apprehend the murderer. At that time, can your sects protect you? You might even implicate your sects because of this."

Even though the three hadn't heard of Wuchang Mountain, they could estimate from the cultivation of Li Xiuming and Mi Sheng that it was at least no weaker than the Heavenly Southern Sect.

Liu Suifeng turned his attention back to Li Daoye. "I don't care what happened between the two of you, those are your grievances to settle. Hand over what you have. With your cultivation, if I make a move, you won't be able to stop me."

"Is that so..." Mi Sheng opened her eyes, gazing lightly at Liu Suifeng. "Even though I am still injured and haven't fully recovered, if I took action, you won't be able to withstand even one of my moves."

Liu Suifeng's expression changed slightly.

Li Daoye looked pleasantly surprised. "Mi Sheng, how are your injuries now? Has your spiritual energy recovered?"

Mi Sheng nodded slightly, then looked at Li Xiuming. "Senior brother, you must be rather disappointed that I didn’t die, right?"

Li Xiuming’s eyes were indifferent. "You’re the one who colluded with them to harm me first, Junior Sister."

"Shameless! I never realized you were so shameless before. It seems that the senior sisters and junior sisters of the Wuchang Mountain were deceived by you, hypocrite!" Mi Sheng laughed lightly and glanced at Ancestor Xia Yu and the others. "Kill Li Xiuming. Not only will you get a share of the spoils, but when I return to Wuchang Mountain, I'll send you a generous reward."

"Don't listen to her,” said Li Xiuming quickly. “Killing disciples of the Wuchang Mountain, regardless of any reason, won't lead you to any good.”

Just as the Ancestor Xia Yu and his company were in a quagmire, a haunting whistle of wind pierced the air above. They hurriedly looked up, only to see the silhouette of the approaching bat demon.

Ancestor Xia Yu decisively made a decision. "Run!"

Spirit stones were nothing compared to their lives!

"Let's go." Mi Sheng also turned around and fled with Li Daoye.

They ran for a while, and when they confirmed that there was no movement behind them, they both sighed in relief. However, when Mi Sheng looked at Li Daoye, she suddenly froze. "Why are you crying?"

"Crying? What are you talking about?" Li Daoye rubbed his eyes, which were still a bit red. "I just got a bit of sand in my eyes. But I couldn’t help but think that... since the bat demon came for us, it means that Lord Fang might have really been killed,” he said. “It's normal for me to feel a bit sad."

Mi Sheng fell silent for a moment, then said, "He won't die in vain. As long as I can return to the Wuchang Mountain, that man in the black robe is doomed."

Li Daoye was somewhat skeptical. "Is it true? You seem to be just an ordinary disciple. Will the elders in your sect listen to you?"

"If I were just an ordinary disciple, why would Li Xiuming approach me before?” Mi Sheng smiled self-deprecatingly. “It's just that Senior Sister Chen can bring him greater benefits."

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Li Daoye nodded subconsciously. "I see..."

Suddenly, they heard sounds appear again behind them. So, without turning their heads, they immediately made a run for it again.

Time passed quickly.

Two days later.

The two arrived back at the entrance. It had been ten days since they had entered this place, and if there were no further surprises, they should be able to leave today.

These last two days had turned Mi Sheng and Li Daoyi even more haggard than before. They looked extremely miserable, even, with dozens of injuries of varying sizes on their bodies.

Ancestor Xia Yu and the others were not in a much better condition. Li Xiuming's left arm was even broken. When he saw Mi Sheng, his expression turned extremely grim.

Liu Suifeng stepped forward to check, and his face became extremely serious. "The time should be up. Why isn't it opening!?"

Ancestor Xia Yu also took a look, and his expression changed slightly. "We may have been played by the Ji Family's Nightmare Knights."

"Played?" Li Daoye and Mi Sheng exchanged a glance, their faces turning pale. It had been challenging enough to survive until today. If the exit didn't open, there was no guarantee they could make it through another day.

The sound of wind came again. The bat demon.

Just as everyone was about to split up and flee, the exit suddenly flickered with a golden light, and the eight trigram formation began to rotate slowly.

Everyone rejoiced immediately. The exit was opened!

***

Ji Congyun stood with his hands behind his back, surrounded by a group of Nightmare Knights. "Are you sure it was them?"

"Lord, we all saw it. It was indeed them. They are sealed inside now and shouldn’t be able to come out for at least a year."

The leader of the Nightmare Knights who had guided Fang Chen and the others held some portraits of Fang Chen and the others.

Ji Congyun laughed heartily. "

Hahaha!

Good! Trapped inside for a year, even if they are all immortal cultivators, there's no way they can survive. Good,

hahaha!

"

Someone suddenly shouted angrily, "Who’s there!"

Ji Congyun turned his head to see two people rushing over with a sedan; Zhao Yan and Xu Ge.

"It’s you?" he asked, his eyes drifting toward the sedan

Who was inside?