"Xian Xu!"
Boom!
The two sounds struck the ears of everyone inside the Hong Energy Shield almost at once. Xian Xu's self detonation cleared out half the grand hall in an instant. The remaining evil spirits were caught by the shockwave and slammed into the sealing runes on the walls. The next moment, sparks of flame seeped out from the runes. When all the flames gathered, a Bifang appeared in the hall.
"Look, a Bifang!"
The Bifang gave a long cry and unfurled wings wreathed in blazing fire, circling the hall. Wherever it flew, the evil spirits scrambled back, yet they were still burned to nothing by its flames. The Bifang grew smaller and smaller until it dissipated. By then, the hall had been cleansed of spirits.
Though the battle ended early, everyone's mood was heavy. The price was a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator's self detonation. If the day came when their resources ran dry, they would likely make the same choice.
Wei Yunqing stared at the empty hall and regretted entering the Five Region Grand Tournament, regretted even more her own meddling when she pushed Yunxi into the Shanhe Scroll. If she had not done that, would she have avoided being thrown into this death trap?
Yunxi and Yun Chen Fózǐ released their divine sense at the same time, searching for the blade Xian Xu had mentioned. They swept every corner of the hall and found nothing.
A layer of anger colored Xian Yao's clear features. She flashed before Xian Feng. "Martial Uncle, why did you not save Xian Xu? He was not fatally struck. Why…"
"Amitabha. Xian Yao Daoyou, it was not that we refused to help. Even with the three of us together, we could not expel the domineering taint in Xian Xu Daoyou's body. He would not become a skin for the evil spirits. This was his last resort," Yun Chen Fózǐ explained.
Xian Yao still looked unconvinced. "Others were wounded before. As long as they purged the miasma in time, they were fine. Why not Xian Xu?"
"He was wounded by an evil artifact. That is different from a wound caused by a spirit," Yunxi said patiently.
"What is different about it?" Xian Yao pressed.
Yunxi looked to Yun Chen Fózǐ, and he stepped forward to lay out his conjecture. The cultivators within the shield broke into an uproar. It was as if they were being pushed onto a dead end. Without deaths, it would be hard to break this situation.
Xian Feng raised his voice. "Everyone, this is only one possibility. In the battles to come, we must remain alert at every moment. Do not be distracted. Do not be stingy with your defensive treasures. We have to hold on. Our Ancestors are severing the evil cultivators' control over the Shanhe Scroll. At the very least, we must last until the Ancestors arrive to rescue us."
There was no other way forward, yet everyone knew it would not go so smoothly.
Sure enough, two hours later a horde of evil spirits flooded the hall again, three times as many as before, all mid-stage Nascent Soul. Taking human form, they charged the shield with weapons in hand.
Half the cultivators inside the Hong Energy Shield rushed out in tacit agreement. Rotating squads were no longer possible. There were too many spirits, and their strength nearly matched the cultivators'. A minority could not possibly cut them all down.
A new round of fighting erupted. Yun Chen, Han Lian, and Xun Kun did not join. They chose to force breakthroughs to Divine Transformation.
All three were mid-stage Nascent Soul. To break through in a short time, they needed not only massive spiritual power but also pills or heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Otherwise it would be difficult.
Compared to them, Yunxi's path was easier. She felt her advancement had been too fast and lacked tempering, so she had been suppressing her cultivation, striving to integrate her three-element arts and to remain eligible for the tournament. If she had reached Divine Transformation, she would have been disqualified.
Now, to break through, all she needed was enough spiritual power accumulated within. She had once weighed the issue of the Divine Transformation tribulation, but trapped here in a sealing ground, the Heavenly Dao was blocked. She could not summon heaven's thunder to slaughter the spirits, a pity in her eyes.
Yunxi held a spirit stone in each hand, absorbing quickly. Her techniques raced within her body, replenishing what she had burned helping Xian Xu purge the miasma.
After fully absorbing the Po Bi Dan, Wei Yunqing watched the battle outside the shield, then slid over to Yunxi's side. She hesitated for a long time before speaking.
Yunxi had noticed the fidgeting long ago and ignored her. When she finished draining the spirit stones, she turned her wrist and took out two more.
In the end, Wei Yunqing could not hold it in. She whispered, "Yunxi, are you not afraid of death?"
Yunxi gave her a glance. "You held that in all this time just to ask that?"
"Mm."
Yunxi's lips curved. "Everyone fears death. Cultivators do too. We have not become strong enough to share heaven's lifespan. Even gods above the nine heavens can fall. How much more so we who are flesh and blood."
"Do you have a way to escape?" Wei Yunqing asked by sound transmission.
"I have said it already. We must destroy every evil spirit here and find that evil artifact to reseal it. Otherwise we will never leave."
"There is no second path?"
Wei Yunqing would not give up. She still felt Yunxi was not telling the whole truth.
Yunxi's fine brows lifted. She shook her head and spoke with deliberate malice. "Are you regretting it, Wei Yunqing? If you had not tried to scheme against me, perhaps you would not have been thrown into the Shanhe Scroll. You would not have ended up here.
The certain death you face today is of your own making. They who sows the cause must reap the fruit. Tell me, are you not the one digging your own grave?"
Wei Yunqing did not want to admit it, but Yunxi's words stabbed straight into her heart. She clenched her teeth again and again to suppress the urge to retort. She was afraid of death too.
Yunxi suddenly felt like talking. She stared at Wei Yunqing for a long while. Just as Wei Yunqing's expression was about to crumble, Yunxi spoke. "Wei Yunqing, from childhood to now, my mother never made things hard for Du Ruolan. You and I barely saw each other at all. Wei Lingyue valued you, the concubine-born daughter, more. Where did all this hostility toward me come from?"
Wei Yunqing froze and blurted, "Because the Wei clan gave you better cultivation resources?"
Yunxi's disdainful glance cut like a knife. "Are you addled? Before we were five, we had not even tested our spiritual roots. What cultivation resources could the Wei clan have offered me? I barely stepped into the clan's primary school. My mother taught me herself. What nonsense about occupying resources?
After my mother's 'fall,' you were the first to try to seize what she left behind. Why should I hand over my mother's belongings? If I tried to take what Du Ruolan left you, what would you do?"
"Do not even think about it!" Wei Yunqing shouted.
"Exactly. You yourself say that. And you expect me to present my mother's relics with both hands?
From beginning to end, you were the one who provoked me. Why should I let you have your way? When did you start assuming everything of mine belonged to you?"