Chapter 914

Inside the bronze hall of Great Hero City, three lanterns made from flood‑dragon skulls spewed bluish‑purple flames.

City Lord Xiong Tiangang crushed the seventh jade slip, the shards embedding into the forehead of the kneeling cultivator, blood seeping along the gold‑brick joints and winding into a spiderweb.

"Thirty‑seven Void‑Refining cultivators, six mid‑stage Void‑Refining guest elders, and we can't even drag back two stray dogs? \" He stroked the nine‑ring thunder whip coiled around his elbow, the thunder beads dangling from its tip scorching black marks on the blue bricks:

"I'm just curious—could that wild cultivator who calls himself Ji Dao Ren possibly have three heads and six arms? \""

The twelve coiling‑dragon pillars in the hall trembled slightly; the gray‑robed cultivator kneeling in front struck his head to the ground and said: "Report to the City Lord, the Soul‑Devouring Quick‑sand of the Endless Desert has suddenly surged, the tracking plates have all been corroded of their spell patterns......"

The thunder‑whip's crack cut off his excuse; the gray‑robed cultivator's left arm was severed at the root. Xiong Tiangang stepped on the severed arm and paced, lightning leaping from the wound to form a sealing sigil: "I don't want excuses. When the Scorpion Empress fell half a year ago, who swore they would surely die? \""

The glazed dome suddenly rained blood, and in the hall appeared an illusion of Yan Buji blood‑fighting the Scorpion Empress.

At the instant the Scorpion Empress died violently in the image, Xiong Tiangang's pupils contracted to pinpricks: "The aura of Time Sand...... no wonder he had to move that person. \""

He swept his sleeve to dispel the illusion, the nine‑ring thunder whip coiling around the gray‑robed cultivator's neck: "Go invite Lao Gui of the Western Sands and tell him I'm willing to pay three times the market price. \""

The thunder beads exploded into fine blood holes in the flesh, "If you fail again, you'll go feed the City Lord's manor's dragon‑eating sharks. \""

The Western Sands cave dwelling was built at the center of the three‑thousand‑zhang sand‑storm eye; as the gray‑robed cultivator entered, protected by his body‑guard aura, he saw a hundred cultivator corpses suspended in the blood‑colored sand dust.

The cave's master sat cross‑legged on a throne piled with skulls, threads of his own essence silk drawn from the heavenly spirits of the corpses twining between his fingers.

"Is the person Xiong Tiangang wants to kill carrying Time Sand? \" Lao Gui wove the essence silk into a spiderweb; the gray‑robed cultivator's body‑guard aura suddenly collapsed, and blood threads drawn out seeped from his seven orifices:

"Three times the market price? Have him bring five drops of Candle Dragon heart‑blood to trade. \""

The gray‑robed cultivator endured the pain of his soul and spirit being torn apart: "The City Lord said... said you broke the rules when you last took dragon blood...... \""

The withered fingers suddenly clenched, the gray‑robed cultivator's veins bulging like earthworms all over his body: "Rules? \" Lao Gui gave a sinister chuckle, and the corpse host suddenly spoke in unison:

"I am the rule of the Western Desert. \" A black shadow blotted out the sky outside the sand‑storm eye, turning out to be a flood‑dragon corpse drained of its marrow, coiling in the storm.

When the gray‑robed cultivator was swept back into Great Hero City by the sandstorm, the jade bottle in his bosom held Lao Gui's blood contract: five drops of Candle Dragon blood, plus a thirty percent share of the Time Sand on Ji Dao Ren's person.

When Yan Buji crushed the seventh sand‑scorpion, the Secret Technique of Scorching Fire and Boiling Oil suddenly gave a warning in his spiritual platform.

He grabbed Lin Qingli and lunged toward the right dune; where they had stood, a giant sand‑worm mouth bristling with barbs burst out, the foul wind corroding the sand within a hundred meters into black water.

"Change position! \" He threw out the Soul‑Suppressing Seal; the jade seal turned into a mountain‑peak phantom in midair, pressing down on the sand‑worm.

Lin Qingli's ice‑filament formed an Eight Trigrams diagram, but the frost only froze three inches of the sand‑worm's skin; the Endless Desert's Soul‑Devouring nature was wildly weakening the power of their techniques.

The Abni Sword emitted a blood‑thirsty hum, but Yan Buji sheathed his blade: "We can't get entangled in combat! \""

He bit his fingertip, drew a blood‑escape sigil on his Asura armor; the evil‑ghost patterns on the armor's surface opened their mouths and swallowed his essence blood. The two turned into a blood‑light evasion, fleeing ten li, while behind them came the roar of the sand‑worm devouring the phantom of the Soul‑Suppressing Seal.

Blood trickled from the corner of Lin Qingli's mouth: "This is the third wave today. \" She wiped the blackened blood stain on her ice‑filament: "The pursuers are growing denser. \""

Yan Buji rubbed the newly refined roller set on his Hai Kun hammer; the essence‑blood components resonated with the blood vessels in his palm: "It's not pursuers—it's the malice of the sand sea itself. \""

He lifted his gaze to the twisted horizon: "Something is tampering with the cause‑and‑effect lines of this heaven and earth. \""

Lao Gui stood atop the skull of a certain cultivator who had perished after passing his tribulation three thousand years ago, playing with a fragment of fate stripped from the cause‑and‑effect lines.

Beneath his feet, the sand board displayed the trajectories of Yan Buji and his companion's escape, each branch entwined with blood‑red threads.

"Time Sand, the Human Emperor's secret art... \" He licked his cracked lips, pressed the fate fragment into his brow: "Interesting, no wonder I could sense you. \""

"Then how will you deal with this move?! \""

The sand board suddenly boiled over; countless souls were dragged from the river of history, turned into soul‑lamps pointing the way. The Taotie pouch at his waist swelled up, the gold‑thread embroidered words "borrow luck" on its opening flashing with blood‑light.

When the soul‑lamp changed direction for the seventh time, Lao Gui's withered face twitched: "It can actually rebound and swallow my borrow‑luck technique? \""

He pin‑calculated the heavenly secrets, yet found Yan Buji's fate shrouded in chaotic mist. The sand board exploded with a bang, the backlash shaking the three guardian corpses into dust.

"Interesting. \" He tore off the jade pendant at his waist and crushed it; far away, the blood contract in Xiong Tiangang's bosom suddenly ignited: "We need to raise the price. \""

Yan Buji watched the Dao‑Mark of fortune in his palm crumble away, cracks spreading from the tiger's mouth to his forearm.

Lin Qingli was using her ice soul to suppress the rampant power within her body, and she barely managed to say: "Senior, how are you? \""

"That old ghost is probing us through the laws of heaven and earth. \" Yan Buji plunged the Abni Sword into the sand; the blade reflected the twisted constellations in the sky: "He's betting his own qi‑fortune, or perhaps employing some borrow‑luck method. \""

The Secret Technique of Scorching Fire and Boiling Oil sounded a warning again; Yan Buji narrowed his eyes and saw a sand‑storm giant forming a hundred li away.

Lin Qingli's ice‑filament automatically formed a defensive formation: "It's the Mountain‑Moving Technique! \""

Before her words finished, the sand‑storm giant swung a fist that covered half the sky; the sand‑waves kicked up by its wind bore myriad wailing souls.

"We can't dodge it. \" Yan Buji readied himself: "Let's gamble! \""

He backhanded slammed his Hai Kun hammer to the ground; the essence‑blood components burst with blinding blood light. The law‑bearing Dao‑Mark it carried instantly shattered the void, and then Yan Buji offered the Luo Zhi needle—having likewise been refined, its void‑piercing power surpassed before!

Yan Buji, bringing Lin Qingli, barely managed to pierce the void!

In Lin Qingli's scream, their forms suddenly turned into countless sand grains, scattering and reforming a hundred li away with the sand‑storm's wind.

The cause‑and‑effect lines in Lao Gui's hand all snapped; the skull throne cracked with spider‑web patterns: "A Void‑Breaking Immortal Ji? He even cultivates the Universe Dao?! \""

His cloudy eyeballs suddenly burst, blood welling in his palm to form a new divination: "So that's it... so that's it! \"."

When Xiong Tiangang crushed the sound‑transmitting jade talisman, five drops of Candle Dragon blood were boiling in the glazed cup.

Lao Gui's phantom rose from the blood mist: "Add two more drops, and I'll tell you where that brat is. \""

The thunder‑whip swept the jade cup to the ground; Xiong Tiangang stepped on the dragon blood and sneered: "Do you take me for a fool? \""

"His cultivation method is extremely odd—his body bears no Dao‑Marks, yet he carries the Great Dao in his flesh. \" The phantom's words made the hall's temperature plummet, "And he also carries...... \""

The blood mist was suddenly cut off by an invisible force; Lao Gui's last half‑sentence turned into a backfiring poison curse, and black patterns instantly crawled across Xiong Tiangang's face.

When the dragon veins beneath the City Lord's manor cried out in sorrow, Yan Buji warily looked around.

Lin Qingli clasped her innate ice soul in her palm: "Senior, did you just use the Instant Movement Technique? \""

"Pretty much. \" Yan Buji wiped away his nosebleed: "Let's hurry and run. \""

He suddenly coughed violently; blood beads leaked from between his fingers, falling to the ground and blooming into lotuses: "Lao Gui shouldn't be able to find us for the time being. \"\"