Chapter 908: with translation of chapter title

Three hundred li west of Great Hero City, the scorching wind carried fine black sand across the jagged rocks of the Crimson Stone Gobi.

At high noon, the sun hung in the sky, heating the rock pillars eroded by the Black Sand Storm into honeycomb holes; amid the twisting heat haze, a staggering blue-clad figure raced along the cliff wall.

Lin Qingli's plain white Daoist robe was already soaked with blood, and the gruesome penetrating wound on her left shoulder kept oozing black blood—the bone‑corroding poison unique to the Soul‑Seeking Crossbow.

She bit her tongue to force herself alert, but the Xun Wind Seal she held in her right hand grew increasingly sluggish.

A hundred li behind her, three black shadows clung like a bone‑deep ulcer; the leader's shattered‑origin mirror constantly refracted piercing golden light, easily breaking through her seven‑layer Illusion Formation.

"Wraiths that won't disperse......" she wiped the blood from her lips, her hand reaching for the storage pouch at her waist suddenly froze. The last Void‑Escape Talisman had been exhausted half an incense stick ago; now the pouch held only three recording‑evidence Shadow‑Capture Beads, and the black‑iron crossbow bolt she had snatched from the Spirit Cannon Workshop.

"Whoosh"

A shrill tearing‑through‑the‑air blast suddenly exploded, and Lin Qingli instinctively flung herself sideways into a roll.

The rock pillar where she had stood shattered with a boom, stone fragments scraping her cheek and drawing a string of blood beads.

Her pupils contracted sharply—this was no ordinary magical implement, but an armor‑piercing arrow engraved with the words "Made by Great Hero Army"!

"Why struggle, Fairy Lin?" a grim laugh came from above; a cultivator wearing a bronze ghost mask stood atop a floating blood skull: "Hand over the Shadow‑Capture Beads, and I will grant you a corporal release from reincarnation."

The other two black shadows moved in a pincer formation. The dwarf cultivator on the left unleashed the Nine‑Abyss Soul‑Binding Chain, while the gorgeous woman on the right had seven‑colored Gu‑silk coiled around her fingertips; their auras intertwined into a net that sealed off a ten‑li radius.

Lin Qingli leaned against the rock wall and gave a bitter smile: "Three Void‑Refining experts hunting a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like me—how flattering......" Before her words faded, she crushed the jade pendant at her waist, and a surge of water spiritual energy exploded into a sky‑full of ice spikes.

This was the life‑saving treasure "Profound Yin Cold Jade" bestowed by her master; now she only hoped it would block the enemy for a moment!

In the icy mist, she bit her finger and drew a Blood‑Escape Sigil on her brow.

This technique burns essence and blood as its price, allowing instant travel of a thousand li, but after use it will damage one's Dao Foundation—yet right now she could not afford to worry about that!

"You think you can escape?" the ghost‑masked man sneered, and the shattered‑origin mirror shot a golden beam.

The void shattered like glass, and the Lin Qingli who should have fled was violently slammed back into the world, blood bursting from all seven apertures.

The gorgeous woman's Gu‑silk flashed like lightning and wrapped around her ankle: "Sister, your icy jade‑like flesh would make a superb corpse‑beauty."

Excruciating pain shot from her ankle up to her celestial spirit; Lin Qingli clearly felt the Gu Worm silk Devour blood and flesh. She yanked out the black‑iron crossbow bolt and, without hesitation, stabbed it into her thigh! The arrowhead, imbued with earth‑vein killing qi, struck the silk and burst into blinding sparks.

Seizing that instant's opening, she triggered the self‑detonation of her Golden Core.

"Boom!"

In the earth‑shaking roar, the three black shadows violently retreated a hundred zhang.

When the smoke cleared, Lin Qingli was seen enveloped by a golden sutra shield—she had ignited her primordial spirit to activate the Buddhist forbidden art "Diamond Self‑Sacrifice Mantra"!

"A dying struggle." The dwarf cultivator's Soul‑Binding Chain pierced the shield, the iron chain's ghost‑head biting her right arm: "Just a mere Nascent Soul...... uh?!"

Suddenly, an anomaly arose!

A wisp of azure light flew in from beyond the heavens, lightly touching the Soul‑Binding Chain.

It appeared soft and powerless, yet the Nine‑Abyss Cold Iron capable of piercing void melted like spring snow, vaporizing half of the dwarf cultivator's body along with it.

"Who dares?!" the ghost‑masked man exclaimed in shock and rage, turning his shattered‑origin mirror toward the east.

On the mist‑filled Gobi beach at dawn, a green‑robed Daoist stood with hands behind his back. Beneath his feet, sand grains condensed into a slowly rotating Taiji diagram; within three zhang around him, the black sand hung motionless in midair, and even the scorching wind that passed through grew gentle as water.

Most strangely, no one present could sense his cultivation, as if he had merged with this heaven and earth.

"Infinite Heavenly Venerable." Yan Buji gave his whisk a light sweep, and the dwarf cultivator's remaining half‑body instantly turned to flying ash: "Three Void‑Refining exalted ones bullying a mere Nascent Soul junior—surely unbecoming."

The gorgeous woman's pupils shrank sharply; the love Gu she kept in her sleeve trembled wildly.

The ghost‑masked man covertly activated his shattered‑origin mirror, but its surface reflected not the Daoist's figure, only a mass of chaotic mist!

"Playing gods and ghosts!" the ghost‑masked man gritted his teeth, crushed a blood talisman, and the shattered‑origin mirror burst forth with piercing golden light.

This was the "God‑Light of Illusion‑Breaking" personally granted by the City Lord of Great Hero City, specially designed to counter all concealment arts.

Under the golden light, Yan Buji's figure began to turn illusory.

But the next moment, everyone heard a soft sigh:

"Obstinate and unresponsive."

The whisk's silver threads surged a thousand zhang, each strand entwined with purple lightning arcs.

The gorgeous woman bore the brunt; her protective Gu‑mist vanished in the lightning, and she shrieked horribly as she turned to charcoal. The ghost‑masked man recoiled in horror, yet saw the Daoist's form dissipate like smoke and reappear instantly within arm's reach!

"You......" the ghost‑masked man was about to activate his natal treasure when he suddenly felt his spiritual power stagnate. Looking down, he saw a fissure lodged in his chest, its tip slowly dissipating, the blood‑red rune etched on its nail‑end flickering on and off.

"Cosmic Dao Divine Ability?!" he let out his final cry, and his body exploded into a mist of blood.

As the wind and sand subsided, the Daoist of Accumulated Goodness turned his gaze to the dying Lin Qingli.

She leaned against the rock wall, the golden light of the Diamond Self‑Sacrifice Mantle faded like a candle in the wind; though her right arm, pierced by the Soul‑Binding Chain, exhaled black qi, she still clutched tightly the black‑iron crossbow bolt.

"Why cling on?" Yan Buji sighed lightly, a green glow blossoming at his fingertip as he touched it to her brow.

Pure spiritual energy surged into her meridians, forcing the bone‑corroding poison toward the wound on her left hand.

The black blood spurted like an arrow, and where it struck the sand it corroded a pit several zhang deep.

Lin Qingli strained to lift her head; through blurred vision she saw only the Daoist standing against the light.

The morning sun gilded his edges, making him seem like a savior immortal stepped down from a mural—but those eyes...... the depths of his pupils unmistakably held an indelible blood‑red hue!

"Senior...... don't!" she suddenly hoarsely warned: "They have inside them......"

"Bang!"

Three corpses exploded simultaneously, and from the blood mist surged thousands of scarlet Gu worms!

These Gu worms bore double wings, their mouthparts glowing with an azure‑blue toxin—they were the long‑extinct "Soul‑Devouring Blood Locusts".

In the air they formed a formation; the friction of their mouthparts emitted a soul‑sucking demonic tone, causing ripples even in space.

Yan Buji, however, smiled.

He took the wine gourd from his waist, tipped his head back and gulped a mouthful; the mist of wine he sprayed ignited into azure Dao fire in the air. The Soul‑Devouring Blood Locust swarm instantly turned into fireballs, their piercing screeches dying into feeble buzzes.

Even more strangely, the falling worm corpses were devoured whole before they could touch the ground, by the Reverse‑Life Candle Night that suddenly surged up from the sand.

"Reverse‑Life Candle Night?!" Lin Qingli exclaimed in astonishment. Such an ancient primeval beast is exceedingly rare!

"Could this Daoist be the recently famed Accumulated Goodness Daoist?"

"Just call the poor Daoist, the accumulated Daoist, and it will be fine." Yan Buji smiled, taking the reverse fate candle night back into his sleeve.

These days he has been traveling in the West Sand River Basin, and meanwhile secretly devouring those cultivators' desire-thoughts cultivation, already nearing the late stage of the Void Refining realm.

I originally intended to go to Great Hero City to have a look and purchase some cultivation supplies, but I didn't expect to run into this.

He squatted down and sprinkled some medicinal powder onto Lin Qingli's wound.

The excruciating heart-piercing pain instantly dissipated, replaced by a cool, warm flow of spiritual energy. Even more shocking to her was that, after the medicinal powder had absorbed all the residual poison, it actually bloomed into a crystal-clear, translucent Buddhist lotus!