Yellow Court Daoist

Xu Mi was originally in the Spirit Void Heart Movement Realm, highly susceptible to the chaos of Heart Demons. Yet, the abrupt descent of the Heart Demon was clearly Qu Han's doing.

"Go!"

Lu Qingshan didn't dare to hesitate, grabbing his wife Xu Mi, who was plunged into turmoil and swarmed by Heart Demons. He immediately applied the Yun Peak Step beneath his feet. The Yun Peak Step's mysteries were profound; although Lu Qingshan had only mastered the common Divine Skills version, it was still beyond the pursuit of ordinary cultivators.

Zheng Zheng Zheng!

Seventy-two Golden Light Swords emitted a clanging sound from behind, forming the Da Geng Sword Formation and executing the art of slaughter.

"What a shoddy Sword Array."

"Break!"

Qu Han sneered contemptuously. With a flick of his finger, Xuan Light burst forth, instantly obliterating the Da Geng Sword Formation cleanly.

Twenty-one Seven Emotions Ghosts floated erratically, breaking through the Sword Formation and heading straight for Lu Qingshan.

"Not good!"

Lu Qingshan, holding his young son Changsheng and embracing his wife Xu Mi, who was besieged by Heart Demons, found that even with the mystical Yun Peak Step, his movements were greatly impeded.

He was about to be blocked.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Just then.

A figure suddenly emerged between heaven and earth, clad in a robe whose decorative patterns seemed alive and ready to animate. This person carried a sword on his back, stern like a cold Swordsman.

Qu Han saw this and immediately frowned, "A Puppet?!"

Beneath the Swordsman's black robe shone a metallic luster, with lightning sparking in his eyes. Devoid of any signs of life, he was indeed an icy cold Puppet.

As soon as the Puppet appeared, its black robe shook, as hordes of Evil Ghosts descended from the sky.

"Kill!"

The Puppet, donned in Armor and wielding weapons, charged towards the twenty-one Seven Emotions Ghosts.

The air trembled.

There were a hundred Evil Ghosts.

The leading three alone had an aura so potent that they faintly surpassed even Qu Han. The remaining ninety-seven Armored Evil Ghosts also matched Lu Qingshan and Xu Mi.

"Big brother?"

Using the Yun Peak Step, Lu Qingshan glanced back at the Puppet and the hundred Evil Ghosts, and immediately thought of his elder brother. Without any time left to contemplate, he stepped forward with the Yun Peak Step, determined to escape.

Eerie and bizarre noises echoed from all around, stirring up an endless rage and murderous intent within his heart.

His in-laws slain before his eyes.

His wife's Heart Demon activated, her life hanging by a thread.

Such immense enmity, such deep hatred.

"How can I let this go?"

Lu Qingshan's feet paused, and he suddenly turned back, his eyes a fiery red.

"Daddy."

"Daddy."

Little Changsheng, seeing his father's bloodshot eyes and his mother's terrifying countenance, wore a look of intense anxiety and reached out to embrace his father's face. His little hand touched Lu Qingshan's cheek—

"Whoosh!"

"Trouble!"

Lu Qingshan instantly regained his senses, the blood-red fading from his eyes, realizing he had fallen into the enemy's trap. Looking up, he saw the white-robed cultivator had already bypassed the hundred Evil Ghosts entwined with the twenty-one Seven Emotions Ghosts.

A palm full of vigorous wind, enveloped with seven colors, fiercely slammed down.

Or rather.

It was aimed directly at Little Changsheng in Lu Qingshan's arms.

"Taiyin Calamity Crossing Robe!"

With a thought, Lu Qingshan invoked moonlight from the heavens, and the robe enveloped him. Simultaneously, his hand produced a blisteringly bright glare, shooting out from his palms towards Qu Han.

It was the Great Sun Annihilation Divine Light!

Boom!

The two forces collided, causing a deafening roar.

The Great Sun Annihilation Divine Light was ferocious, yet Lu Qingshan's cultivation was too weak by comparison to Qu Han's strike, and it was overwhelmingly diminished. The Divine Light was instantly destroyed by the seven-colored strong wind, but its residual effects were absorbed by the Taiyin Calamity Crossing Robe, which was impenetrable to all Ten Thousand Laws, and provided full protection for himself, Little Changsheng, and Xu Mi.

"Good, good, good!"

"A mere Spirit Void Practitioner possesses such abilities!"

Qu Han's eyes shone brightly, observing the splendid robe on Lu Qingshan and recalling the previously mysterious Divine Light, a myriad of eager thoughts flared in his heart, "With such a profound technique in my possession, coupled with the 'Seven Emotions Technique,' my power would surely surge tremendously!"

As his thoughts raced.

His hands didn't pause for a moment, closing in once again, palm after palm striking down on Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan mustered the Taiyin Calamity Crossing Robe, depleting his True Yuan rapidly. He dedicated most of the protective energy to Changsheng and Xu Mi, leaving his own face flushed and blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.

At this moment.

Xu Mi, who had been suppressed by the Heart Demon in Lu Qingshan's arms and battling her own inner turmoil, finally reached her limit. Struggling to lift her head, she managed a tragic smile with the last trace of clarity at Lu Qingshan, "Qingshan, in the next life, Mi'er will be your wife again."

The chaos of the Heart Demon and the murderous intent within made it almost impossible for Xu Mi to suppress her urge to kill any longer. Fearing the dire consequences if she continued, Xu Mi made a resolute choice.

Before her words fell.

She suddenly struck her palm towards her forehead.

Should this palm land, it was certain she would perish on the spot.

"Don't!"

Lu Qingshan's eyes bulged, bloodshot with countless vessels. With a thought, sword Qi converged out of thin air toward Xu Mi's hand, aiming to sever it rather than let her die.

But another palm struck the Taiyin Calamity Crossing Robe from outside.

Boom!

It nearly shattered the robe to pieces, the sword Qi had just begun to form when it instantly broke apart, unable to stop Xu Mi.

"Mommy."

Little Changsheng looked on innocently, thinking his mother was reaching out to hold him, and he lowered his hand from Lu Qingshan's face. Xu Mi hesitated for a moment, her palm pausing mid-air as she saw Longsheng and Lu Qingshan, an endless reluctance in her eyes. But the ferocity of her Heart Demon triggered a myriad of emotions, threatening to consume her sense of self.

Xu Mi dared not live!

Whoosh!

Her palm loomed over her forehead and ferociously came down.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning flashed through the world, its brilliance blinding. It ruthlessly tore through Lu Qingshan's Taiyin Calamity Crossing Robe, striking Xu Mi directly.

The Thunder surged through her body.

"Ah!"

Xu Mi's scream petrified him on the spot, his body uncontrollably yanked out of Lu Qingshan's embrace and plummeting beside the void.

His body was ravaged by thunder, spreading from within him, connecting the heavens above and the earth below, piercing through the void as well. His entire being seemed shackled by innumerable chains of lightning, bound between heaven and earth.

The thunder roared.

It tormented Xu Mi relentlessly, who struggled in pain. His hair disheveled, he appeared to be enduring a thunderous punishment!

"Mi'er!"

The sight filled Lu Qingshan with both joy and alarm.

Joy because Xu Mi was alive; alarm because not only was Xu Mi bound and tormented by the thunder, but his Taiyin Calamity Crossing Robe was also torn, leaving him completely exposed in front of the white-robed cultivator.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Strong winds swept across.

Qu Han caught a glimpse of the descending thunder and, without hesitation, raised his Seven Emotions Palm to strike down Lu Qingshan and Little Changsheng together.

A palm in the void.

What Qu Han saw next was a Spirit Void Practitioner, first showing a mix of joy and alarm, but then his eyes widened with nothing but sheer delight. He burst out toward the void—

"Big brother!"

Qu Han furrowed his brow.

A palm descended directly, and he turned his gaze toward where Lu Qingfeng was looking.

A young cultivator dressed in a Water Merging Daoist Robe appeared, surrounded by five streams of black smoke, suddenly landing in front.

"Evil fiend!"

Amidst a vehement shout, he swept his large sleeve.

Thousands of strands of Sword Qi burst forth instantly.

The Sword Qi was fierce. It now entangled and arranged itself into a prison, ensnaring him in an instant. More Sword Qi shot from the prison, sweeping in all directions.

A total of twenty-one strands of Sword Qi.

It thoroughly shattered Qu Han's twenty-one Seven Emotions Ghosts, turning them into wisps of smoke. The Seven Emotions Banner in his hand shattered in an instant.

"Spurt!"

His Lifebound Magical Artifact, nurtured with his heart's blood, was destroyed, and Qu Han, greatly wounded, spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura drastically falling. He then saw that the prison of Sword Qi had shrunk to the size of a person, with strands of Sword Qi slicing through.

Boom boom boom!

It completely tore apart Qu Han's Dantian Qi sea, all the acupoints throughout his body, and his meridians.

Even the fairly advanced Seven Emotions True Body couldn't withstand a trace of the sword's edge.

"Senior, please spare me!"

"Youngster Qu Han, as one of the Nine Elders of the Annihilation Divine Sect and the son of Master Xuan Yan, I beg you to spare my life for the sake of my family and the sect!"

Qu Han realized he had attracted a calamity.

He was flexible, enduring the severe pain throughout his body and pleading miserably. By invoking the name of the Annihilation Divine Sect and Master Xuan Yan, he hoped only to save his life.

"Annihilation Divine Sect."

In the void.

Lu Qingfeng paced forward.

Hearing Qu Han's words, one hand calculated within his sleeve.

"So that's how it is."

In a moment, the whole story became clear.

"Senior!"

Seeing Lu Qingfeng pause, Qu Han, thinking he saw hope, was about to speak again, his heart leaping with joy, but then he saw—

"Extinguish!"

With one thought from Lu Qingfeng, the Sword Qi prison snapped shut from all sides.

Boom!

With one explosion, Qu Han, huddled and terrified inside, was ground to dust.

Along with his Divine Soul, they were all eradicated, leaving only a wisp of his True Spirit to escape into the void.

Even if he reincarnated, without memory, he would no longer be the same person.

Capturing this person was to force information about his background. When Qu Han eagerly revealed himself, and Lu Qingfeng, following the threads of the Heavenly Mechanism, confirmed it was no lie, there was no need to keep him alive.

He was turned to dust and scattered to the wind.

"Annihilation Divine Sect."

"Xuan Yan."

Lu Qingfeng looked towards the east, his mind flashing back to the silhouettes of the 'Impermanence Three Friends' of the Annihilation Divine Sect outside Fiery Fire Island of the Illusion Wave Sea. Remembering Master Xuan Yan, he indeed found a resemblance in Qu Han.

"Big brother."

Lu Qingshan, holding Little Changsheng, stepped forward within reach of his big brother, his face brimming with joy. If it weren't for Lu Qingfeng's arrival, Xu Mi would have been the first to die, and he and Little Changsheng might have also faced disaster.

Not to mention the Jianxiao Puppet and a hundred Evil Ghosts.

Their interference was the only reason they had managed to stay alive.

His mind stirred with emotion, Lu Qingshan looked at his big brother, at a loss for words.

Crackle!

Thunder rampaged in the void, the roar of lightning waking Lu Qingshan from his daze.

"Mi'er!"

Lu Qingshan quickly looked over and saw Xu Mi still suspended in midair, bound by the thunder, his agony evident.

He knew this was his brother's doing and that it wouldn't harm Xu Mi, but still, concern flashed in his eyes.

"This Qu Han cultivated the Seven Emotions Technique, planting the 'seed of emotion' inside the female cultivator. He merely waits for the female cultivator to reach the Spirit Void Heart Movement Realm to harvest it."

"It appears mysterious, but it is despicable to the core."

"Thunder purifies the body and Divine Soul; in half a quarter of an hour, Xu Mi will be rid of Heart Demons and the seed of emotion turned to smoke."

Seeing his younger brother's worry, Lu Qingfeng smiled.

His experiences spanning more than ten thousand years through the Primordial era had greatly broadened his perspective; a glimpse was all it took to understand Xu Mi and Qu Han's methods. There was something vaguely familiar about this technique.

"Master Xuan Yan of the Annihilation Divine Sect, known as one of the 'Impermanence Three Friends,' derived the 'Separation and Reunion Mysterious Light' from one of the sect's three Supreme Treasures, the 'Separation and Reunion Divine Talisman.'"

This technique, crafted with Innate Pure Yang True Fire, was specifically designed to conjure illusions that influenced an opponent's emotions and desires, causing them to deplete their True Yuan and fall into madness, dissolving their form and soul.

It carried a considerable reputation.

In Master Xuan Yan's hands, its might was no less than the sect's unique skill, the 'Annihilation Divine Eye,' with the advantage of being more unpredictable.

"This Seven Emotions Technique practiced by Qu Han is an offshoot of the 'Separation and Reunion Mysterious Light.' Although it loses some of the True Intent and has veered off course, there is still something to be gained from it."

Of course.

To Lu Qingfeng's eyes, it amounted to very little.

"The son of Xuan Yan."

Thinking of Xuan Yan, a cold gleam flashed across Lu Qingfeng's heart, filled with boundless killing intent.