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Chapter 728: Chapter 734: Unlucky
But after flying a certain distance, Li Zhirui suddenly stopped and said to himself, "If I were seriously injured and carrying many spiritual objects, under the covetous gaze of numerous cultivators, I certainly wouldn’t head straight for my clan."
Otherwise, just the ambushes and troubles encountered on the way would be enough to leave him with no place to be buried!
"The cultivators of the Wanxiang Sect will likely take a detour too, but it’s uncertain which direction they would choose."
Li Zhirui stood in mid-air, momentarily undecided.
But just then, a whooshing sound of tearing through the air erupted beside him, as numerous powerful attacks came at him from all directions.
Divine powers were terrifying, and sword qi crisscrossed; each attack was aimed at putting him to death!
"Not good!"
Even though he had guessed that there would be many cultivators lying in ambush on the way to the Wanxiang Sect, standing openly in mid-air was akin to being a living target!
But now was not the time for regrets. With a thought, he pressed himself downward, a flash of blue light, and he vanished into the vast expanse of vegetation.
"It turns out to be a Nascent Soul adept in Wood Escape."
The several Nascent Souls lying in ambush on the side were slightly taken aback and, being wary of their surroundings, they ascended with their disciples, fearing that Li Zhirui might suddenly appear beside them.
They had been squatting here for quite a long time, and they were all aware of each other’s presence, but because the cultivators of the Wanxiang Sect had not shown up yet, they had peacefully stayed nearby.
They were about to run out of patience and prepared to retreat when, unexpectedly, Li Zhirui barged in!
A lone Nascent Soul cultivator might not have much to offer, but he would be easy to deal with.
After all, they couldn’t just have spent so much time in ambush and leave with nothing, so the various forces acted one after another.
However, they hadn’t expected that Li Zhirui would evade their encirclement!
The Divine Senses of the few Nascent Souls searched the vicinity, trying to find his whereabouts, not realizing that Li Zhirui had already used his Escape Technique to leave the encirclement and was quietly observing from the shadows.
Although he was quite confident in his own strength, it was still too challenging for him to take on many on his own, especially without Da Qing and Xiaoqing by his side.
If those people started to fight among themselves, he might try to fish in troubled waters and scoop up some spiritual objects.
Unfortunately, the few Nascent Souls present were no fools. A Nascent Soul lurking in the dark waiting to strike posed too great a threat. If a real fight broke out, they could end up working for someone else’s gain.
So after several fruitless searches, the various forces each chose a direction and left.
"Sigh!"
Li Zhirui sighed and, looking left and right, eventually chose the right direction. If he really couldn’t encounter the Wanxiang Sect, it would have to be chalked up to fate.
——
Meanwhile, at the foot of a high mountain, the Spirit Boat of the Wanxiang Sect had already been breached by two other forces; its disciples had done their best to preserve their lives, though a few had been unintentionally killed.
However, given their cultivation levels, it was unlikely that the Wanxiang Sect would employ such precious Life Tokens on them, so they were not overly concerned.
But what was strange was that the leading Nascent Soul of the team had not made an appearance from beginning to end!
The two masked Nascent Souls exchanged glances and ordered all the rooms on the Spirit Boat to be opened, yet still did not see him.
However, in one particularly luxurious-looking room, they found a spent talisman.
"Ha! Your Nascent Soul instructor has already abandoned you long ago."
With just one glance at the spent talisman, the two Nascent Souls understood the situation and couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.
The talisman was a fourth-rank Phantasmal Body Talisman, which once activated, could produce an illusion identical to the user in every way, from aura to appearance, making it impossible to distinguish between the two.
And the Wanxiang Sect disciples, who had been determined to resist to the death, had their spirits instantly shattered upon hearing the news!
They could never have imagined that they themselves had become the bait, the discarded pieces! 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔭𝖚𝖇.𝔠𝔬𝖒
With their minds breaking down, many disciples wailed loudly. If this was to be the outcome, they would have been better off fleeing individually from the start. Perhaps they could have saved their own lives instead of ending up like now, as sacrificial pawns for others.
"Speak, where have you placed the Spirit Stones and Spiritual Objects you brought with you?"
Before witnessing the final haul, the two opposing forces could still coexist peacefully, refraining from fighting over unseen Spiritual Objects.
"They are all on Elder Yuanzhong. We were merely arranged by the Sect to keep up appearances," Wang Banxia said with a bitter expression.
Families like the Li family would bring a few outstanding juniors to big auctions like this to experience the world.
But for the Wanxiang Sect, this was completely unnecessary. The gains from their outstanding disciples going out for experience far outweighed the boredom of watching a few auctions.
Although the two Nascent Souls had anticipated this, they couldn’t help but feel disappointed upon hearing the answer.
"Do you have any personal belongings of his on you?"
Maybe they could use a tracking Secret Technique to find him.
The crowd fell silent; within the Wanxiang Sect, they were not highly regarded, and many had never even met Yuanzhong, let alone possess any of his personal items.
The two became frustrated, but were afraid of Wanxiang Sect’s reckoning if they actually killed them.
They had no choice but to seal their Dantians and Divine Sense, cripple their hands and feet, and let the disciples step forward to take away their storage magical devices.
Then, they discarded them in the mountains, leaving them to be devoured by wild beasts.
——
Meanwhile, Yuanzhong, who had narrowly escaped disaster, was frantically flying towards the mountain gate of the Wanxiang Sect.
He still had several hundred years of life left, and he absolutely could not die here!
As for those disciples who had drawn the attention of numerous cultivators for him, whether they lived or died was now left to fate.
’I’m about to enter the territory of the Wanxiang Sect!’ Yuanzhong thought with a trace of joy in his heart. Once he entered Wanxiang State, he would be completely safe.
Boom!
Unfortunately, his moment of joy was short-lived as a heaven-high tidal wave appeared out of nowhere, catching him off guard.
"I didn’t expect to really catch you!" an excited Nascent Soul cultivator exclaimed with eyes full of excitement.
After leaving Xuanfa State and failing to follow the Wanxiang Sect’s Spirit Boat, he immediately headed for the vicinity of Wanxiang State, hoping to lie in wait for his prey.
He was just trying his luck, but had never expected to actually intercept him!
"Fellow Daoist Yuanzhong, with such grave injuries, it would be wise for you to surrender quietly and avoid further pain," the Nascent Soul said with irrepressible joy in his tone.
"Hmph! A sneaky rat dares to speak so arrogantly!" Yuanzhong retorted with a fierce glare, though he was inwardly anxious.
"Enough, if you refuse to see reason and remain obstinate, then allow me to experience your capabilities for myself!"
The man also feared dragging things out too long, given their proximity to Wanxiang State—only a thousand li away—it would be easy for reinforcements to arrive.
