With the saintess’s divine descent ritual broken, Xueyi Saintess was injured again. The suction in her hand faltered. Lu Zheng stopped at once and flew back.
While retreating, he also stored Du Yueyao into the gourd at his waist.
Rescue successful, mission accomplished.
“You shameless little thief! Die!”
Xueyi Saintess was furious. She struck out with a bone-eroding soul-dissolving curse, enveloping Lu Zheng’s entire space from above, below, and all sides.
This time, she had sneaked into Da Jing quietly, hiding her traces all the way, never making a move. She had not alerted the Zhenyi Division or local experts. She had only hidden in the cave to prepare the saintess divine descent ritual. Even abducting Du Yueyao had been done by Zhao Wuji’s hand. All this was to minimise the chance of exposure, avoiding intervention from Da Jing officials and detection by the Gongde Yuan Shengjiao lineage.
As long as she was careful and hid in this unknown place, she could avoid complications and further mishaps.
Moreover, preparing the saintess divine descent ritual was extremely difficult. The Eight Directions Guardian Array was manageable, but the main issue was the transmission lamp oil. It required a rare spice, refined with her own body for a long time, to allow perfect possession and rebirth.
So, with the saintess divine descent ritual broken by Lu Zheng this time, not only was she seriously injured, but much of the lamp oil was also consumed. If she wanted to perform the possession spell again, it would take at least two more years.
The problem was that Xueyi Saintess had only two or three years of lifespan left in this life. This was why she had risked sneaking into Da Jing and disregarded that Du Yueyao had also cultivated the “Plain Woman Divine Blessing Method”.
But now, everything was ruined by Lu Zheng. The chance of perfect possession was nearly zero. How could this not make her seethe with rage?
Now, there was only one way: kill Lu Zheng, snatch back Du Yueyao, then fly back to the southern border Yuan Shengjiao and go into secluded cultivation. She would recover as much as she could.
…
Lu Zheng flew back, but his vision was filled with shining curse seals. His true spirit was locked on, impossible to dodge. As expected of the Yuan Shengjiao saintess striking in anger.
Lu Zheng let out a strange cry. His feet sank. In an instant, he burrowed into the ground.
“Hmph!”
Xueyi Saintess snorted coldly. Her figure flickered. She landed on the ground in a flash. Then her foot stomped. A wave of true qi conducted from her foot, pressing straight towards Lu Zheng.
“Bloody hell!”
The attack from behind chased closely. Lu Zheng used true qi to protect himself. Then his figure rose and burst out of the earth again.
Looking around now, he had already exited the cave.
Turning back, he saw Fan Boyu rushing out of the cave in a hurry. Zhao Wuji followed close behind. In the next moment, a white light flashed. Xueyi Saintess had exited the cave. With a wave of her hand, another curse seal shot straight at Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng’s eyes narrowed. His figure halted. His hand formed a mudra. In the next moment, a white cloud great hand seal formed in the air.
“Puff!”
“Supreme edict, flying clouds evil-breaking, swift!”
“Puff!”
“Supreme edict, flowing clouds demon-slaying, break!”
Blocking three moves in a row, Lu Zheng finally fended off Xueyi Saintess’s attacks.
It seemed that breaking the divine descent ritual had indeed caused her serious injury. Her angry strike in the cave just now was already her limit.
As the saying goes, one push makes a wave, but the second weakens, the third exhausts. Now, she probably could not keep Lu Zheng here.
Lu Zheng raised his eyebrow and teased Fan Boyu. “I feel this Xueyi Saintess is not that impressive. At least, she is far inferior to Senior Liu.”
Fan Boyu said irritably. “She is still much stronger than you!”
After a pause, perhaps feeling it was embarrassing to compare with Lu Zheng, Fan Boyu continued. “Xueyi Saintess is only in her first life, and she is not even the strongest saintess in the sect.”
In short, she was at the bottom, right? Lu Zheng nodded, indicating understanding. This fit the general rule. After all, a powerful saintess would not sneak into Da Jing at such a time, risking her own life and making it so easy for him to rescue Du Yueyao.
Lu Zheng was about to leave when he heard Xueyi Saintess say coldly. “If you dare run, this palace will bloodbath Tonglin County!”
“Bloody hell!?”
Lu Zheng was dumbfounded. “No matter how weak you are, you are still a Yuan Shengjiao saintess. Do you really have no shame?”
People were about to die. What need for shame? Only using the most suitable Du Yueyao for possession and rebirth could make up for everything.
Xueyi Saintess said coldly. “Hand over Du Yueyao. This palace will spare your life.”
“You say it nicer than you sing it.” Lu Zheng curled his lip. “Trying to scare me? I may not beat you, but I can hold you off for a while, right?
Come on, follow me to Tonglin County. Let’s fight right at the county office gate. Guess how long it will take for Zhenyi Division and my master to arrive?”
Hearing this, Xueyi Saintess’s eyes sharpened. She pointed remotely at Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng only felt his qi and blood surging inside, circulation disrupted. His true qi nearly failed to suppress it. He almost exploded on the spot.
It was the spell that Yuan Shengjiao sorcerer had once used. Xueyi Saintess used it again, but the effect was worlds apart.
Fortunately, Lu Zheng also cultivated martial arts. He executed the “True Dragon Great Hand Seal”. A dragon roar echoed and reverberated in his body, suppressing the curse.
Then cloud qi rose from his dantian, circulating once in his body, expelling this traceless curse.
Lu Zheng wanted to retreat, but of course Xueyi Saintess could not let him escape.
As Lu Zheng said, she was now seriously injured and could not quickly defeat him. Though Lu Zheng could not beat her, he could certainly stall her.
Since that was the case, she absolutely could not let Lu Zheng draw the battlefield to a public place.
Xueyi Saintess steeled herself. Her clear and beautiful face now looked as ferocious as a ghost. Her two fair hands waved lightly, locking the surrounding void and pressing full force towards Lu Zheng.
At the same time, soul-erasing curses, bone-attaching malignances, death-summoning draws, and other vicious curses surged towards Lu Zheng all at once.
Now facing Xueyi Saintess directly, Lu Zheng did not dare burrow underground.
After all, when using the earth travel art, his own defence was insufficient. If she exploited the gap, he would inevitably be injured.
Moreover, his earth travel art was not as fast as flight. If Xueyi Saintess went mad and really flew straight to Tonglin County to kill, Lu Zheng might not make it in time to stop her.
So, fight while retreating was Lu Zheng’s best option now.
“Flying clouds evil-breaking!”
“Golden Vault Heart Sword!”
“Supreme Seal Subduing God Thunder!”
Xueyi Saintess’s possession injury mostly affected her spirit, which was strong. So Lu Zheng used Baiyun Temple’s orthodox methods for defence, but countered with Jinhua Sect arts and the soul-specific Supreme Seal Subduing God Thunder.
Under the pressure, he retreated step by step. After fighting for a while, he had only retreated less than ten li. They were still in the wild mountains.
Bloody hell, how long would this fight last?
Lu Zheng was complaining inwardly when he sensed several auras passing far away, then turning back.
This was… demon qi?
Xueyi Saintess relaxed slightly. Lu Zheng frowned and prepared for earth travel.
“Master?”
“Junior Brother Lu?”
Two surprised voices rang out, lifting Lu Zheng’s spirits greatly.
Reinforcements had arrived!
