Chapter 219: The Message

"Yaa yaa yaa…" The Demon Soul suddenly brandished a large-handled hammer, instantly sweeping away the nearby flames; seeing no one appear, it realized it had fallen into an array.

Unfortunately, these were not merely simple array flames; there was also Jiang Tu's spiritual fire.

Moreover, after Jiang Yu launched a fire attack, she directly hurled a purple‑gold thunder bamboo at the Demon Soul.

As a result, the demon could only scramble to dodge and strike, unable to find time to observe carefully, being trapped by some array.

"Ah! Such a huge thunder!" The Demon Soul didn't shout; instead, the Dragon Soul was clamoring inside its dragon pearl.

Demons fear thunder the most, and this bodiless Demon Soul was no exception; fire could still blow it away, but thunder it wouldn't even dare to touch.

So she immediately searched for an escape; finding none, she instantly released another defensive artifact, inverting herself inside it, allowing any thunder strike or fire attack while appearing utterly unmoving.

The two Jiangs attacked the opponent's defense, yet they couldn't pierce that pitch‑black massive bell at all.

But the attack couldn't cease; if they stopped, the Demon Soul would surely counterattack.

The Dragon Soul clicked twice, "Stop wasting mana; that thing of theirs is a spiritual treasure, specifically for defense."

Even in the Fusion stage, it takes effort to pry it open.

"Spiritual treasure?" Jiang Yu and Jiang Tu exchanged a glance, then withdrew the purple‑gold thunder bamboo and spiritual fire, though the array flames kept burning.

The Dragon Soul bowed, "Right, those Demon Race thieves of the cave heaven are all Transformation Gods at the Great Perfection."

The Spirit Realm side also deployed the same; the two sides were essentially a stalemate, with almost total annihilation on both.

If it weren't for a large number of high‑ranking Spirit Realm humans fighting high‑ranking demons at that time, a group of Transformation‑stage demons couldn't have slipped into the cave heaven unnoticed.

Jiang Yu let out a soft sigh; her cultivation level and the artifact in her hand couldn't become a spiritual treasure, so she silently took out a spiritual stone, added it to various array nodes, and said, "I'll call the elders to handle this."

Having said that, she began to heal the two fellow sect members.

"I'll give Xiao She Biluo the messenger maple leaf, so it and Guo Jue can inform True Person Lin," Jiang Tu took out the messenger maple leaf.

Meanwhile, True Person Lin, who had been waiting at the camp for a day, saw Jiang Yu not return from Tai Ji Dian by nightfall and couldn't help but gather a few fellow sect members to discuss.

He thought, tapping the mountain gate, to inquire about Jiang Yu's situation.

"What? Jiang Yu claimed to have moved the Ninth‑tier Great Demon and is now on that mountain?" True Person Baili and Sang Lingci arrived at Xuan Du Mountain in the afternoon.

He was determined to enter Tai Ji Dian to obtain the fish token, seek the treasure, and soak in the high‑level spirit spring, but finding the correct spot proved difficult, and he was blocked at the mountain foot, unable to enter.

"Jiang Yu is on the mountain; why hasn't she tried to open the array gate? So many fellow sect members are waiting here—could she only care about herself?"

Sang Lingci frowned; she disliked the other's habit of casually accusing others: "Brother Baili, please speak carefully; Jiang Yu is a Foundation Establishment cultivator—how could she control a Ninth‑tier Great Demon?"

True Person Chongdao also objected: "Baili, can you let people finish speaking? Jiang Yu might not be on the mountain right now; she could be in the Ghost Domain."

"Why run to the Ghost Domain? Chongdao, are you all keeping secrets from everyone?"

"We are both elders of the Grand Void Sect; we should share both fortune and disaster." True Person Baili tossed a careless label.

Elder Qian and True Person Cao exchanged glances, their faces full of disdain, fearing this fellow sect member could only share hardships, not prosperity, with everyone.

True Person Lin simply didn't want to listen further; he stood up and said, "I'll go investigate myself."

Before his words finished, he had already shrunk the ground and vanished a few inches, leaving the tent.

When he reached the camp gate and was about to exit the array, he happened to see several Foundation Establishment cultivators being examined by those guarding the defensive array gate.

Behind him, Lu Xin and other Eastern Continent Core‑Forming cultivators arrived in succession.

Outside the gate, a cultivator saw the group and immediately shouted, "Master Qi, Uncle Xiao, Uncle Lu, I am Tan Xian of Xun Jian Peak."

"During the day, a Foundation Establishment female cultivator carrying a black turtle showed us the path."

After reuniting with teammates, they discussed and decided to explore the treasure before heading back to the camp.

Unexpectedly, the treasure site they strained to open contained only a withered skeleton that had died entering the cave heaven; its storage ring held little after they divided it.

So everyone hurried back to the camp, only to be blocked outside the array gate for a soul inspection—how could that be?

"Senior Master, do we really need to inspect souls?" another Foundation Establishment cultivator asked a Core‑Forming of the Eastern Continent's Heavenly Dao Sect, then received a confirming answer.

Upon hearing this, True Person Lin hurriedly stepped out of the array, using the Eastern Continent dialect to ask the Foundations, "Is the female cultivator with the black turtle her?"

While speaking, he produced a blank jade tablet and, with his divine sense, sketched Jiang Yu and Jiang Tu.

The cultivators naturally didn't recognize him and looked toward the senior masters who emerged together.

Lu Xin nodded at his disciple, "Disciple Tan, can you identify? It's Jiang Yu."

"Yes." Tan Xian took the jade tablet, saw it was someone he had met before, and then couldn't avoid Lin's further questioning about where he had met her.

While he was describing, Guo Jue and Xiao She Biluo flew down from the mountain; the camp was over a hundred zhang away from the foot of the mountain.

In the blink of an eye, they had already darted to the camp's array gate.

Xiao She Biluo's eyes gleamed with excitement: "Quick, quick, Jiang Yu used an array to trap a Demon Race remnant soul, and there's a rare spiritual treasure over there."

Guo Jue, fearing it might mislead the crowd, quickly began to explain, "Amitabha, dear benefactors, please understand."

It's not a remnant soul; that demon wields a spiritual treasure for protection, and Jiang Yu, with Jiang Tu's help, can only confront and contain it.

It's also not Master Yuan; it's another member of the Demon Race.

As he spoke, he handed the messenger maple leaf to True Person Lin; the leaf was filled with Jiang Tu's messages.

Several other Core‑Formings couldn't help but lean over, asking, "Your artifact, which isn't limited by the cave heaven, do you have any extra to sell?"

"Senior, this isn't my monk's possession," Guo Jue began, but before he finished, Xiao She Biluo said, "This belongs to my ancestor."

"If you wish to buy, just offer an eighth‑ or ninth‑tier spirit herb."

Someone immediately asked, "One eighth‑tier plant for a pair?"

"Damn, of course it's two plants for a pair." Xiao She Biluo rolled her eyes, "You think I'm a simpleton; the messenger maple leaf must be bought for two people."

Another person asked, "Is that single pair only able to communicate with each other, or after imprinting a divine‑sense mark, can it function like a messenger jade talisman for one‑to‑many communication?"

"Um…" Xiao She Biluo hesitated slightly, "How would I know? Is it still possible to go back and ask my ancestor now?"

At this moment, True Person Lin also asked, "We're going to find Jiang Yu now; may I temporarily borrow this leaf?"

"Can I give you this as rent?" He brushed the storage container and placed a spirit beast pill in front of Biluo.

"Sure, sure." Xiao She Biluo, who originally intended him to carry it, was thrilled to receive the pill bottle.

At this time, Lu Xin also spoke: "Little Demon King, we should bring another maple leaf, convenient for the demon-slaying team to contact the camp."

As a disciple of the Sword Sect, he will surely contribute to the extermination of the Demon Race.

"There is, here we still have a pair, I and Daoist Lin each hold one." Guo Jue, even before descending the mountain, had already asked the ninth-stage great demon for another pair of maple leaves.

Fortunately, the other party was willing to exterminate demons and gave it readily.