Chapter 266: Each Trapped in a Bitter Struggle, Unable to Break Free

"You monsters, you are merely acting under orders. The Huitian Pill is here, why not follow me quickly!"

The place was already surrounded by mountains on three sides, and at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out, causing the empty valley to echo continuously in an instant.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

Flocks of mountain birds took flight in a panic, gathering in groups, a dense mass like a dark cloud.

Liu Xia had not expected that a mere Talisman would have such power; the moment he activated it, he heard such a blast, and he felt a shock in the back of his head. Even after the echoes in the valley faded, his ears kept "buzzing."

He remembered that Lingxiang didn't sound that loud when she chanted the Talisman, so how could there be such a huge commotion?

It was precisely this sudden roar that instantly silenced the shrieking in the valley. The monsters were all stunned by the roar, standing frozen in place like statues.

Once the echoes in the valley died away, the monsters looked at each other, seemingly at a loss for what to do.

At this moment, someone in the shadows waved a hand, and a group of monsters broke away from the pack, roaring as they ran toward Liu Xia's direction. It was then that Lingxiang's voice rang out again from another direction.

"Hahaha! A bunch of idiots, where are you chasing? Your mistress is over here!"

In an instant, the entire valley was filled with Lingxiang's provocative laughter, which was arrogant to the extreme, and the valley fell into another silence, as if one could hear a pin drop.

The person in the shadows frowned, pondered for a moment, and then waved a hand again, saying: "Go!"

One could see another person behind him respond in a low voice, then flash away toward the direction of the first sound, while the monsters remaining outside Ding'anju split off another group to chase the second sound.

Upon hearing the first blast, Banxia felt it was fine, assuming it was just because she was in the valley that the sound resonated so loudly. But after she activated the Sound Transmission Talisman, she realized that Lingxiang's voice was truly loud, like a thunderclap right by her ear, deafening and jarring.

Banxia even forgot to cover her ears, just staring blankly at the burning Yellow Talisman in front of her, only coming to her senses when she saw the swarms of monsters rushing toward her.

"Ancestors! I've really poked a hornet's nest!" Banxia couldn't care about the buzzing in her ears and immediately took to her heels.

It was these two blasts that seemed to affect the Wolf-Head; he remained in his sword-listening posture, but kept twisting his head as if shooing away mosquitoes by his ears.

Hanyang also frowned and asked Xin Yi: "It's Lingxiang, why is she outside?"

Xin Yi didn't know where to begin, and besides, there was a Wolf-Head in front of them; it really wasn't a good time for explanations.

However, this gave Xin Yi a chance to counterattack. With a flick of his fingers, dust swirled instantly, and he concealed his form, only reappearing behind the Wolf-Head.

At this moment, the Wolf-Head seemed not to have recovered from the impact of Lingxiang's roar; his head-shaking, brain-rattling appearance was just like a student who couldn't recite his Eight-Legged Essays for an old master.

It was then that Xin Yi swung his blade down.

"Clang!"

However, this strike was blocked by the Wolf-Head.

Seeing this, Xin Yi couldn't help but feel puzzled: logically, the Wolf-Head's performance just now meant he had been affected by Lingxiang's Witchcraft, so why could he block this strike? His own speed was now more than twice as fast as usual!

Xin Yi frowned as he looked on, only to find the Wolf-Head still shaking his head; could it be that the sword was guiding him?

Hanyang also saw this situation and immediately understood what Lingxiang meant by "the sword has a spirit." It turned out that the two of them were not fighting the person in front of them, but the sword itself, which was why the Wolf-Head had kept his eyes closed from start to finish.

"It's the sword!"

Hanyang immediately called out to warn Xin Yi, but it was too late. The Wolf-Head's figure turned, and the sword in his hand slashed rapidly toward Xin Yi at an extremely strange angle.

Even stranger was that, for some reason, Xin Yi could not pull away; the long blade in his hand felt as if it were being suppressed by the Wolf-Head's sword.

Seeing the blade already before his eyes, Xin Yi hurriedly drew another short blade to parry.

"Cling-clang!"

Amidst the flying sparks, Xin Yi was actually forced down to one knee!

It wasn't just Hanyang and Xin Yi who were in a difficult situation; Liu Xia was too.

Following Lingxiang's instructions, he was supposed to find another location to use the sound transmission again after activating the Sound Transmission Talisman. However, to Liu Xia's surprise, those monsters were so fast; he had only just landed when the monsters caught up to him.

The monsters were all ferocious, roaring as they rushed toward Liu Xia. Their momentum was like jackals hunting, and in no time, they had him completely surrounded.

Liu Xia secretly thought it was bad; given the current situation, he feared things weren't going well for Banxia either—though he didn't know how her light-body technique was, he figured it wasn't as good as his own.

Just as Liu Xia expected, Banxia had been stunned for a long time by the power of the Sound Transmission Talisman and only moved when she saw the monsters right before her eyes, so naturally, she couldn't run very far.

Moreover, Banxia had only started learning martial arts after joining the Yuanqing Sect, and it had only been about half a year; how could she compare to Liu Xia, who had been practicing Martial Dao since childhood?

Although Liu Xia only practiced the common martial arts of the military, he had some foundation, didn't he? Counting it up, he had long since reached the Body Tempering stage, and what's more, Liu Xia was now at Qi Refining, while Banxia was still only at Body Tempering.

Facing the surrounding monsters, Banxia wore a mournful face, saying she really shouldn't have waded into these muddy waters.

But it was too late to regret it now!

It was unknown if Banxia was truly lucky or what, but when she saw the monsters rushing toward her, she had taken out all the Talismans on her person. Those she could use, she either stuck on herself or on the trees along her escape route, so the situation was not as tense as it looked on Liu Xia's side.

Just as Banxia stuck the last Yellow Talisman on a tree, the trees she had marked with Talismans formed a Dharma Array, trapping most of the rushing monsters inside, where they could only spin around in circles, unable to get out.

As for the monsters that didn't enter the array, they were sniffing everywhere for Banxia's scent. The reason was none other than the fact that Banxia was now covered in Spirit-Concealing Talismans and Invisibility Talismans!

The situation now was that Banxia stood under a tree, not daring to move, while in front of her, monsters kept sniffing as they passed by, like a pack of old dogs looking for prey, looking extremely ridiculous.

Good luck can truly save one's life!

Lingxiang hadn't expected Liu Xia and the other to draw away all the monsters; she just hoped to reduce their numbers a bit. But she never imagined that after giving out a stack of Sound Transmission Talismans, she would only get two sounds.

Oh well, the monsters surrounding Ding'anju had thinned out quite a bit, so Long Qi and Zhao Wuyang shouldn't be suffocated inside. As for Liu Xia and Banxia...

"They should be able to get away..."

Lingxiang couldn't help but mutter to herself, though she didn't seem very certain, and could only comfort herself this way before looking back at Hanyang and Xin Yi's location.

It was then that someone appeared behind Lingxiang.

"Pfft!"

A folding fan opened, and she heard that person say: "What a fine diversion to lure the enemy away; Fucang Elder truly has a brilliant plan!"

Lingxiang was greatly shocked. She turned her head to look, and that person was...

Bai Wuchang!