Chapter 74

Shi Ran patted the trembling little shoulder of the small creature, her icy gaze sweeping toward the opposite battlefield. The frenzied demon bear's target was crystal clear; it seemed to know who had deprived its family of peace, and by instinct it locked onto those few Tianxuan Sect disciples, especially the junior sister, whose two arrows had both missed, still unaware of her mistake.

The demon bear also completely ignored other attacks, madly chasing those disciples, tearing and lunging at them, leaving the Tianxuan Sect disciples exhausted and constantly in danger.

Compared to the poisonous bees, this demon bear's obsession and strength are clearly superior, and it is also harder to quell with external force.

"Let's go!" Shi Ran withdrew her gaze, her voice calm and unruffled, as if watching a farce unrelated to her. She turned first, walking leisurely out of the battle circle—cause and effect, retribution never fails; since greed drove them to provoke what they shouldn't, they must be ready to bear the consequences. Trying to drag others down as a shield? Pure delusion.

With the near‑heaven‑defying ability of the Jinque Lingwei, leaving this chaotic core battlefield became extraordinarily easy. As the surrounding demon beasts—whether sporadic poisonous bees lunging in or other demon beasts trying to approach—were about to touch the four's hems with their ferocious claws or poisonous stingers, the Jinque Lingwei needed only to casually snap its fingers—pa‑da!

Time was precisely severed on those demon beasts! Their movements froze instantly, their charging postures locked in midair, their snarling expressions stiffened on their faces, and even the saliva dripping from their bodies hung suspended as crystal‑clear droplets.

Shi Ran and her companions walked like travelers through a still painting, steps unhurried, robes fluttering, passing through countless frozen silhouettes of ferocious beasts—truly as if walking through an uninhabited realm.

Just as they were about to completely step out of this bloody mire, someone behind finally panicked.

"Fellow Daoists, wait!" The first to speak was the kind‑hearted female Dao companion of the Yuquan Sect; her face drained of color, her voice urgent, sharp, and trembling, laden with heavy moral coercion: "Are you disciples of the Fumeng? Now demon beasts run rampant, a great foe looms—we are all fellow Daoists, we ought to watch out for each other. How can you… how can you abandon those in need and just leave?"

Shi Ran seemed not to hear, her steps unceasing; Luo Changfeng exaggeratedly flicked his ears. With a disgusted look, he lowly urged his companions: "Hurry, hurry! What a pain in the ass! You caused the mess and still want others to wipe your ass! Damn, you're hairy!"

Shi Ran's mouth twitched imperceptibly; though she inwardly agreed wholeheartedly with Luo Changfeng's view, the senior brother's wording was simply… and Ruan Xinli was still there: "Senior brother! We don't need to stoop to her level—just drop it, pretend we didn't hear."

Qi Chengshuang walked beside Shi Ran, hearing this he gave a slight nod, his handsome face calm. His thin lips parted, uttering something utterly at odds with his demeanor: "Buddhist saying?" He paused, his tranquil gaze sweeping over the gentle, quiet woman beside him, who lowered her head slightly. Qi Chengshuang pressed his lips together, then continued: "The Buddha said—nothing can be said!"

Luo Changfeng blinked, then broke into a grin, his eyes crinkling. "Who would've thought a millennium‑old iceberg could crack?" He gave Qi Chengshuang a thumbs‑up. Ruan Xinli also lifted her eyes to look at Qi Chengshuang's solemnly spouting nonsense, then at Luo Changfeng's wiggling eyebrows, then at the warm glimmer in Shi Ran's eyes—the gloom of recent days seemed to lift a little from this little interlude. Finally, a faint but genuine smile touched her lips.

Their silhouettes faded amid desperate shouts behind them and the beasts' roars, under the silent, undulating temporal ripple of the Jinque Lingwei. Gradually receding, they vanished into the twisted light and shadow deep within the forest, leaving behind only that chaos and clamor.

However, this brief tranquility did not even last the time it takes to burn an incense stick.

An eerie, scalp‑tingling mixed sound rose—like countless tiny saws scraping nerves. It swelled from afar to near, surging from all directions like a tide. It was not the roar of a single demon beast, but the low, deadly ocean formed by the high‑speed vibrations of countless wings.

Luo Changfeng suddenly halted, his face shifting. "Damn." The poisonous bees were listening to Du Jing more than before.

Qi Chengshuang had already placed his hand on his sword hilt, his true qi circulating silently. His sharp gaze pierced the dappled tree shadows ahead, seeing in the zero monitor countless black specks like boiling ink, as if a terrifying speed were converging. They were no longer the small patch of dark cloud frozen earlier over the battlefield; instead they blotted out the sky, forming an ever‑advancing black mass of lethal aura. Obviously, the Qing Dynasty's true main force had surged forth in full.

Squeak! The little boy instinctively shielding Ruan Xinling behind him burst. His black‑bean eyes filled with fear; he had only just taken shape, his strength inherently limited, and he had just repeatedly activated the time‑freeze. The battlefield demon beasts were already a strain, but now, faced with the sky‑covering swarm whose numbers made his very soul tremble, he instinctively felt an overwhelming threat and his own inadequacy.

Stop once more, the resolute sound left no hesitation; he well knew that once caught in this terrifying windstorm, let alone the four of them, even if another ten Golden Core cultivators came, they might not all escape unscathed—time was their only life.

Entering, Lin You's little face was tightly furrowed, carrying the fear from the bee swarm and a hint of unwilling stubbornness, but he still gritted his teeth and raised his little hand again; this time his movement was noticeably heavier, his tiny body trembled and seemed to swell, the crisp snap echoed sharply in the oppressive forest, yet the effect was far less than before, showing no immediate effect on the battlefield's core.

A black giant wall surged ahead; the frontmost poisonous bees indeed paused abruptly, as if blocked up block, shape's wall, their wings instantly solidified, hovering in mid-air, but this stagnant range was limited to only a patch about ten zhang wide at the forefront of the bee swarm; more poisonous bees, like an enraged black torrent, ignored their companions' solidification, boldly surged from both sides and above, chest surging Bangkok, their speed even increased somewhat.

The edge of the paused wind formed a brief and strange cliff, but it was soon filled and covered by the ensuing surge.

Precisely, Lingju Ling again let out a short, weak scream, his little face deathly pale, his body chubby, obviously exhausted greatly, his power range is limited, cannot cover such a huge cloud. Cloud. Will throw gold 06 to 10 people. Prepare to forcefully break through. I and Seventy Brother will open the way. After the wet stain is cut off, Spirit. In the middle. Interval. In the middle.. Interval. Interval. Middle. Interval. Interval.......... Interval. Interval... In the middle. Interval. Interval. Spirit. In the middle.