Chapter 114: Late Nascent Soul

"Senior Brother, what should we do?"

The middle-aged woman clenched her fingers tightly, gazing at the tide of spiritual energy that blotted out the heavens and earth. Unable to make up her mind, she turned to ask the white-haired elder.

A gust of wind swept over, lifting the old man's white sideburns and whipping them against his deeply wrinkled face.

Lingya Superior frowned deeply, took half a step back, his face ashen. After a long pause, he slowly forced out a single word.

"Leave."

The woman surnamed Yu widened her eyes. She glanced down at the disciples within the sect who remained unaware of the situation, then looked toward the direction where the grand formation had been activated. She knew her Senior Brother's temperament well. This time, Spirit Twilight Valley was likely doomed.

Yet she still felt reluctant.

"Senior Brother, but..."

Before she could finish, the white-haired elder cut her off with a sharp shout.

"There is no 'but' about it! Don't you understand yet? This person arrived at Spirit Twilight Valley undetected to break through to Late Nascent Soul. His identity must be that of a rogue cultivator, or perhaps even that very evil cultivator from back then! Have you forgotten how Crystal Spirit Sect was destroyed?"

He paused, his tone softening slightly but growing heavier.

"As long as the few of us old-timers are still alive, Spirit Twilight Valley cannot be destroyed. A Late Nascent Soul rogue cultivator is not something you and I alone can contend with. Even if the Protective Mountain Array could temporarily repel him, so what? Do you want a Late Nascent Soul rogue cultivator to hold a grudge against Spirit Twilight Valley? When that happens, he won't just be targeting our low-level disciples for death - he'll be targeting us!"

The old man raised his hand and waved. Several streaks of spiritual light shot into the sky, vanishing among the mountain peaks as they transmitted messages throughout the valley.

"I've already sent voice transmissions to those junior disciples. Whether they survive or not depends on their own fortune and fate. You and I will head to Thousand Leaf City first to weather the storm. Even if that Late Nascent Soul cultivator comes, he would never dare recklessly touch an establishment as massive as Thousand Leaf City. The three great sects won't sit idly by."

As his words fell, a flash of white light appeared in Lingya Superior's hand, revealing the faint outline of a feathered fan. His entire body merged into the fan, the two becoming one, and with a burst of light he transformed into a white spirit crane, flying off into the distance.

The woman surnamed Yu stared blankly at Lingya Superior's resolute departing figure, murmuring under her breath.

"Nascent Soul... Late stage..."

After a moment of daze, she steeled herself and quickly transformed into a streak of green light, following the direction her Senior Brother had taken.

Meanwhile, throughout the valley, beams of light shot out from deep within the mountains one after another, all speeding toward Thousand Leaf City. These were the Golden Core disciples who had received the Grand Elder's voice transmission.

"Look up in the sky! Those are all Golden Core elders of Spirit Twilight Valley - where are they going?"

A disciple looked up, confusion written across his face.

Other disciples also noticed the departing streaks of light, exchanging bewildered glances with one another. None of them knew what was happening. A sense of unease crept through the crowd.

After the Golden Core cultivators departed, the Foundation-Establishing cultivators finally sensed that something was wrong. Those who were quick-witted, or who were juniors or disciples of Golden Core cultivators, hurriedly activated their flying artifacts and fled the sect gates, afraid of being even half a step too slow.

As for the remaining low-level disciples, no one bothered with them at all. Staying behind, they might at least buy the others some extra time to escape.

...

Far away, deep within a mountain cave dwelling.

Jiuyou circulated his cultivation technique, absorbing the last trace of medicinal power from the Geng Earth Pill, completely stabilizing his Late Nascent Soul cultivation and saving months of arduous effort.

He suddenly snapped open his eyes, a cold gleam flashing within them, deep and still like a frozen pool.

He inspected his dantian. The Nascent Soul radiated with luminous glow, its size having grown enormously. His internal magical power had multiplied several times over, and under the relentless surge of vast spiritual energy, an indescribable sensation of invigorating relief coursed through his entire body.

At this moment, whether in magical power or divine sense, he was far beyond what he had been at Mid-Nascent Soul.

Jiuyou let out a long breath of turbid air, his figure flickering on the stone platform, appearing at the mouth of the cave dwelling in the blink of an eye.

After breaking through to Late Nascent Soul, his speed had increased dramatically, now matching what he could achieve with the Heavenly Wind Robe back at Mid-Nascent Soul.

A joy that had lain dormant for years surged through his heart once more.

Finally, he had broken through the Mid-stage bottleneck and become a Late Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator. With no Spirit Transformation cultivator in sight, he stood at the very pinnacle of this cultivation world.

If he were to face that middle-aged man from Blood Abyss Sect who had once pursued him, or even Shangming, he had full confidence in easily slaughtering them.

Jiuyou quickly composed himself and turned his gaze outward.

With a thought, a powerful wave of divine sense radiated from him, enveloping everything within a radius of over four hundred li in an instant. This was the current limit of his divine sense.

The surrounding situation was fully revealed to him.

Those Spirit Twilight Valley disciples still gathered around watching the commotion had no idea what was happening. In their minds, when the sky fell, the tallest would hold it up. Anyone who ran off recklessly would be violating the Supreme Elder's orders and punished as a traitor to the sect.

Jiuyou glanced at those Qi Refining disciples standing frozen in place, and couldn't help recalling his days on Soul Wraith Island. Nearly a hundred years had passed since he left. He wondered what had become of it. Without a Nascent Soul cultivator to hold things together, it had probably long since been carved up by other forces.

"They fled decisively enough."

He let out a cold snort.

He had sensed those two Nascent Soul auras making their escape the moment he broke through, followed closely by several dozen Golden Core auras, all heading toward Thousand Leaf City. Good thing they ran when they did - if they'd still been lingering when he emerged from seclusion, he'd have wiped them all out on a whim.

Still, since Spirit Twilight Valley's upper echelon had fled, leaving these expendable materials behind, Jiuyou naturally saw no reason to refuse such a gift.

Outside, a hundred li from the secluded mountain peak.

At several sparring grounds, the Qi Refining disciples were still gazing in wonder at the direction where the spiritual energy tide had converged, thoroughly fascinated.

Suddenly, a disciple pointed at the mountain peak in terror.

"Look! What is that?!"

"Ice? No! It's - it's coming straight for us!"

Before his words even faded, an overwhelming chill swept through like a tidal wave. Wherever it passed, frost formed on the ground, vegetation withered and died, and even the very air creaked and groaned as it froze solid.

Jiuyou's figure descended from the heavens, hovering in mid-air, looking down from above.

His expression was utterly blank, his cyan eyes cold and deep, like a deity gazing down upon mere ants.

"Senior, please..."

A Foundation-Establishing disciple barely managed to speak before his entire body was frozen into an ice sculpture.

Jiuyou raised his hand and waved.

Countless cyan chains burst forth from the void, weaving through the air like spirit serpents. Wherever they passed, screams rose one after another, only to be cut abruptly short.

A Qi Refining disciple turned to flee, but had only run two steps before a chain pierced through his chest. His soul was drawn out, and his body collapsed limply to the ground.

Another Foundation-Establishing cultivator desperately activated his magic artifact to resist, but was instantly entangled by several chains at once, squeezed until his bones creaked and groaned. Moments later, he fell silent.

Jiuyou didn't even move half a step.

He simply hovered silently in the air, letting the Nine Nether Soul-Chaining Chains reap through the crowd. The resistance of those low-level cultivators wasn't even worth calling a scratch in his eyes.

Some knelt and begged for mercy. Some fought desperately to flee. Some collapsed to the ground in terror, unable to move a muscle.

None of it mattered.

After dozens of breaths, not a single living soul remained within a hundred li. Utter silence reigned.

Countless souls were drawn out and collected into the Nether Capital Gate, transformed into pure soul force. The ice-sculpture corpses were casually gathered up by Jiuyou as well - they would surely prove useful someday.

The entire Spirit Twilight Valley was eerily silent.

Jiuyou retracted his cyan chains, standing with his hands behind his back. His gaze swept across the empty sect gates, his eyes utterly devoid of emotion.

Annihilated is annihilated. Nothing worth caring about.

He closed his eyes, his mind already calculating his next move.

The Jinli Sword Formation was still short forty-nine flying swords to be complete. Jinli Stones came from Nine Sun Mountain in the Northern Plains, a volcano located deep within the territory of the Northern Plains barbarians - no small danger. But with his current cultivation, as long as he acted carefully, he should be fine.

Before that, however, there was one more thing to do.

He needed to return to Lingchuan.

To see what had become of Soul Wraith Island, which he had managed for so many years. More importantly, to verify whether Shangming's words were true - whether a Spirit Transformation cultivator had truly gone to Tianyuan Sea and resolved the blood mist calamity.

If that man had been telling the truth, and the rumored Spirit Transformation cultivator truly existed, then many of his plans would need to be reconsidered.

Jiuyou opened his eyes, gazing toward the direction he had come from nearly a hundred years ago.

"Time to go back."

He swept his sleeve, transforming into a streak of dark cyan light that shot into the heavens, vanishing beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Behind him, Spirit Twilight Valley lay in absolute silence.

The wind howled mournfully, as if lamenting the souls who had died unjustly.

Or perhaps as if nothing had ever happened at all.