Chapter 74: Clash

Xuantang Xingjun said sternly, "I will personally forge the Heavenly Dao Soul Contract; if I reveal the secrets of the two spaces to outsiders, this soul's spirit and soul will scatter."

"Add another clause: your mortal main soul and Nascent Soul will both be shattered, forever unable to reach the Spirit Realm, never having the chance to become a ghost cultivator or seize a reincarnation." Jiang Yu did not use the word "ascend," having guessed that Jiang Tu is a dragon of the Spirit Realm.

It can find a path from the Great Luo Cave Heaven back to the Spirit Realm; therefore, those Xuantang masters who wish to enter the Cave Heaven might also have a way to smuggle themselves into the Spirit Realm.

After all, from the Dongzhou jade slips she collected, there have indeed been no rumors of grand ascensions to the Spirit Realm in the past several thousand years.

The Heavenly Dao Oath, recognized by the Heavenly Dao, also summons a contract divine thunder, a type of pact recorded as extremely effective.

Just as she finished speaking, Xuantang Xingjun's eyes turned icy, coldy looking at her, "How ruthless."

"Your cultivation is too high; I, a junior, will protect myself," Jiang Yu replied calmly.

Xuantang Xingjun thought briefly, then agreed to her request, and a few days later, after she stabilized her cultivation, he forged the contract on the spot using soul energy.

When a person and a soul imprint their divine consciousness onto the floating soul contract, a purple bolt of lightning descends from the heavens, piercing the dragon pearl and, bearing the split contract, embeds into each divine soul.

Jiang Yu decisively thrust the handleless spirit sword into the ice cavern; Xuantang Xingjun swiftly entered it, finally leaving the place that had restrained his freedom.

Ao Ze, who witnessed the whole scene, transmitted his voice, "The hideout has been exposed again."

It's only that the thunder on the plain occurred just after the beast's tribulation.

Naturally it attracted cultivators still wandering within a hundred li, looking for an opportunity.

Before long, several streaks of evading light flew in from afar.

When Xuantang Xingjun retracted his sword body and his divine consciousness was unimpeded, he immediately recognized the former sect's spirit field from the dragon monument's image.

He frowned and said, "Fly north a hundred li, then turn west for over ten li; that will let you go with the current upstream and locate the secret teleportation array we saw earlier."

Reach the secret vault, obtain the Continent‑Shift Star‑Moving Command, and then you can use the teleportation array to return to the Tianyuan Continent.

Jiang Yu decisively abandoned this scorched field, fled underground with the dragon pearl for a dozen li, then emerged on the surface, riding her sword to a hundred li away.

Just as she was about to turn west, she spotted a few li away two masked foundation‑establishing cultivators flanking an unmasked one.

It turned out to be Master Hong, whom she had seen twice, watching the three fight and fly toward this spot.

She instantly dodged with a spark of spiritual power, but the one being flanked in the duel noticed her and shouted, "Junior sister, you finally arrived."

Bastard!

"I don't know you," Jiang Yu said while flying, and as the defensive bracer's shield activated, she also remembered to pull a bronze mirror from her satchel.

The attacking side, as she expected, split off one person to give chase.

Jiang Yu's flying sword, though top‑grade, was still new to her foundation‑establishment stage, so her swordsmanship was limited, whereas the opponent's flying sword was a supreme artifact, moving two hundred li faster than hers.

Thus, after a short time, the opponent rode alongside her, hesitated a half breath after seeing her face, then still surged past her and swung the blade without mercy.

Jiang Yu was already prepared; the moment the opponent's blade flew to her front, her flying sword swooped in a curved path.

In an instant, after moving to the opponent's outside, a surge of spiritual power on her hand launched three darts at high speed.

And when the opponent's blade rose to strike her crown, the yellow spiritual light from the bronze mirror countered it.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh, the opponent's magical blade was violently rebounded, landing back in the hands of the cultivator who had dodged the three darts.

As the darts returned, Jiang Yu waved her hand and threw three… thunder spheres at the opponent.

The cultivator, thinking it was another dart, raised the blade to slash, but upon realizing they were thunder spheres, immediately chose to flee.

Boom—boom—boom

After dodging the triple explosion, they saw Jiang Yu had vanished, and their comrade, Hong Haoshan, who had been attacking, also seized the chance to escape once the pressure eased.

The two masked cultivators regrouped and in unison asked, "Did you hold back?"

The cultivator who fought Jiang Yu added, "Since we can't trust each other, from now on we each go our own way, no more teaming up. Farewell!"

The other sneered, "Ha, ingrate. Without the foundation pills I gave you, could you even establish a foundation?"

"We are willing to risk our lives; we take others' missions and can still obtain them," they said, then left in a sour mood, each flying off in opposite directions.

Jiang Yu, sprinting in a different direction, hadn't expected that after shedding the sudden attack, she would face a "familiar" head‑on.

Most likely to rescue the Hong she had just dragged into the fray.

Her sword rose, and she flew away even faster, while the familiar person, Qi Haohao, glanced at her retreating figure and said to the two beside him, "I've seen this person before; they actually managed to advance to foundation establishment."

"Junior sister Qi, let's hurry; Senior Brother Hong, please don't really get into trouble."

"Senior Brother Hong, even after establishing a foundation you still cause worries," Qi Haohao thought, increasingly feeling that next time they shouldn't team up with Hong again.

Always loves to show off, discovering clues before teammates arrive and acting alone.

Fortunately, not long after, they reached the injured Hong Haoshan.

Upon meeting, he transmitted to Qi Haohao, "This time, thanks to someone helping share the chase, guess who it was?"

Qi Haohao thought briefly, "The female cultivator we once invited but who declined the fruit‑grabbing contest?"

"Junior sister, how clever you are."

"Senior brother, you flatter; I met her halfway."

"Isn't that strange? It happened shortly after I happened upon the Min family, and she appeared."

Qi Haohao didn't know how to respond; the first sentence praised her help, the second immediately raised suspicion.

Actually, the distant Jiang Yu was also murmuring, and transmitted to the person in the space, "Ao Ze, in that brief clash just now, did you notice anything?"

"The opponent's attacks are simple; if you fight longer, you might be able to slay them," Ao Ze, who simultaneously controlled several artifacts, was already unfazed.

Generally, during Foundation Establishment duels, controlling two artifacts separately is rare—not because one doesn't want to, but because the divine consciousness cannot manipulate multiple items simultaneously.

"No, I'm saying the opponent's eyes—I've certainly seen them somewhere, but I can't recall at the moment," Jiang Yu said, slowly recalling the cultivators she had a certain impression of in the Floating Tower and Panxing cities.

Ao Ze couldn't immediately identify them, but Xuantang Xingjun, his sword flashing, reminded, "Xueshan, one of the three you saved."

"Wen family person? Right, it's him," Jiang Yu recalled the appearances, noting that the one who gave her the wolf storage bag was larger than this person.

And Wen Qian is a female cultivator; the opponent just now could only be the quiet person present at the time.

Xuantang Xingjun added, "The opponent's sword technique should be of the Yunwu Immortal Sect."

"He is a lone cultivator; the fact he can practice this method shows that it was widely disseminated originally."

"Hmm, the clouds and mist vanish, and the Library Tower's techniques are indeed scattered everywhere."

"And the teleportation entrance I had you look for is the one leading to the Library Tower's Secret Chamber."

"'The teleportation array is still intact, and the Secret Chamber hasn't been discovered?' Jiang Yu felt it was unlikely."

After locating that spot and clearing the collapse, she followed the Profound Hall Sect's formula, quickly crossed the barrier and fell into the small teleportation array.

She then placed a mid‑grade spirit stone into the teleportation array; a few buzzing sounds rang, and the teleportation light activated.

It didn't take long before she landed in a desolately barren small valley, where several corpse bones greeted her eyes.