Chapter 2852: Still Hidden

Fortunately, they retreated decisively, and six martial cultivators relied on artifacts to block the pursuit momentarily, then escaped by speed. But the rest of the people were surrounded by Lin Qing'ao's men and killed on the spot.

Lin Qing'ao immediately commanded two teams of martial cultivators, six per group, to chase after those fleeing martial cultivators. His clone then quietly followed behind.

At this moment, Lin Qing'ao noticed that Li Xinran and Pang Yuan's group were missing. He immediately sent people to investigate Pang Yuan's side and sent others to look for Li Xinran. Ye Liuyun then went after Li Xinran as well, took control of the people Lin Qing'ao had sent out, and had them return to report to Lin Qing'ao that they hadn't found Li Xinran, asking him to send more people to search.

The martial cultivators sent to find Pang Yuan's whereabouts also reported back to Lin Qing'ao that they hadn't found Pang Yuan's group, and the battlefield traces didn't look like a fierce fight.

"Could Pang Yuan have gone to pursue those people?"

Lin Qing'ao thought, but instead of going to look for Pang Yuan, he sent a few more people to look for Li Xinran.

He thought Li Xinran had been frightened because the other side hadn't followed their plan. After all, she was a woman, weak in strength, and timid—so it was normal, and he didn't think much of it.

However, all the people he sent out were individually controlled by Ye Liuyun. The two teams of martial cultivators he sent to pursue were also each controlled by his clone. Using his Golden Pupil, he had them chase up the martial cultivators of the Ninefold Sovereign and captured them all.

Now Ye Liuyun's target is only Lin Qing'ao and the few martial cultivators beside him who aren't controlled. He also wants to act against Lin Qing'ao, lest this guy be too sharp; given time, he'd see through the ruse.

However, through searching Pang Yuan's soul, he learned that Lin Qing'ao still had hidden strength.

Before Li Dao yuan arrived, he had given him an artifact for spiritual soul attack. That artifact resembled a long nail, capable of destroying the soul of a Return-to-One Realm expert, but usable only three times. For Ye Liuyun to act against him, he first had to make him expend that artifact.

Thus he caught up to Li Xinran, controlled her attendants, stored them in the Space World, then released the ten Return-to-One Realm experts who had fought Pang Yuan, having them pretend to kidnap Li Xinran.

He also released Pang Yuan's team, letting them confront those people, while sending someone to contact Lin Qing'ao for reinforcements.

Upon receiving the news, Lin Qing'ao immediately gathered all his men and rushed over.

"Pang Yuan, what's going on? How did they capture the young miss?" As soon as Lin Qing'ao arrived, he began complaining to Pang Yuan.

Pang Yuan also feigned helplessness, explaining: "These people have adapted to this environment; they can fully exert their strength, and we couldn't hold them off for a moment."

The martial cultivators opposite seized Li Xinran and began stating their terms to Lin Qing'ao and his group.

"Lin Qing'ao, Pang Yuan, let us go, and we will naturally return Li Xinran to you; otherwise, we have no way out, and we will inevitably fight you to the death!"

Lin Qing'ao thought it over; letting them go was definitely impossible. Even if he let them go, they might not release Li Xinran.

"Use that soul nail to attack, then I and the others will cooperate with you to launch a spiritual soul attack and wipe them all out!" Pang Yuan, following Ye Liuyun's instructions, made this suggestion to Lin Qing'ao.

"That's all we can do!" Lin Qing'ao, having no better option, immediately sent a transmission voice to everyone, assigning the targets for the attack.

At the same time, Ye Liuyun, according to Lin Qing'ao's deployment, made preparations for the people under his control.

"Attack!"

After Lin Qing'ao finished his arrangements, with a command, that soul nail shot out from his sea of consciousness toward the soul of the martial cultivator holding Xinran.

The soul nail's speed was incomparable, and it carried terrifying soul pressure; one strike annihilated that martial cultivator's soul, and he didn't even have time to react.

All the martial cultivators around him also released their souls, but only a few's souls rushed ahead first. The opposing martial cultivators, at that moment, also timely released their souls, clashing with those few cultivators' souls.

Pang Yuan's group's souls only then rushed in, joining the battle, but their combined effort actually killed those few souls that had rushed ahead earlier—targeting their own side.

A great soul battle erupted; those few martial cultivators who had not yet been implanted with a slave seal by Ye Liuyun could not withstand the combined soul assault and were quickly forced into signing divine soul contracts.

At this moment, Lin Qing'ao was dumbfounded; he could only recall the soul nail first. Just as he was about to speak, the souls of those opposing martial cultivators surged toward him again.

Seeing so many souls coming to attack him, he knew he couldn't block them, so he immediately released the soul nail again, annihilating all those souls.

But as soon as the soul nail returned to his sea of consciousness, the few souls that had just been forced into signing contracts surged toward his sea of consciousness again. The others' souls returned to their own seas of consciousness, and no one came to help him.

"What's going on?" Lin Qing'ao shouted, but faced with the impact of those souls, he could only release the soul nail again, annihilating them.

Suddenly, the souls of three martial cultivators behind Lin Qing'ao surged toward his sea of consciousness again.

Lin Qing'ao's soul nail had already been used three times in a row and was now ineffective. He could only rely on his own artifact for defending against spiritual soul attacks.

With a "bang," Pang Yuan, taking advantage of someone using a spiritual soul attack on Lin Qing'ao, suddenly struck out, punching him and sending him flying.

"Pang Yuan, you traitor!" Lin Qing'ao only then realized that Pang Yuan had brought these people to betray him.

However, he had now been severely wounded by Pang Yuan's sneak attack; escaping or fighting back was impossible, leaving only his soul with a final ounce of strength.

Those three martial cultivators' souls struggled to pry open Lin Qing'ao's defensive artifact, and then another three martial cultivators' souls emerged to help.

Thus, even if Lin Qing'ao's artifact for defending against spiritual soul attacks were strong, it couldn't withstand six people working together; it was finally broken. Afterwards, those six all surged into Lin Qing'ao's sea of consciousness and dragged out his soul.

Lin Qing'ao's soul wasn't weak either, but it was absolutely no match for six experts combined; he could only struggle uselessly and curse.

Ye Liuyun didn't lift a finger this time, simply waiting until Lin Qing'ao's soul was dragged into his own sea of consciousness before implanting a slave seal.

At this point, Ye Liuyun had completely subdued Lin Qing'ao's group; their souls returned to their respective seas of consciousness. Underground lay eighteen corpses of strong warriors.

"To capture you alone, eighteen people died!" Ye Liuyun also sighed helplessly, then threatened Lin Qing'ao: "If you can't help me earn back what I lost in the future, I will immediately annihilate you!"

"Rest assured, master, thanks to my relationship with Li Dao yuan, I will definitely help you earn it back!" Lin Qing'ao, under the control of Ye Liuyun's slave seal, hastily swore loyalty.

"But you must not harm my father!" Li Xinran then stepped forward directly, warning Lin Qing'ao.

(End of chapter)