Chapter 104: The Great Battle Within the Evil Sect Against Bai Shengyun

After Huo Tianqing said those words, the sky beyond the formation’s barrier stirred without a breath of wind. Thunder rolled, lightning lashed through the layered clouds with terrifying force, and every ghost within the Heretic Sect felt a chill of fear.

The ghost infant who had recently harmed Bai Qirui scrambled at once onto Gu Ruohan’s shoulder, clutching its head and shrieking. This time it could not even speak human words, only babbled in frantic, nonsensical cries. Its shrill voice made Gu Ruohan slap it down at once, cursing, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

A small boy passing by—also a ghost—saw Gu Ruohan and the ghost infant and hurried to press himself close as well. He wrapped both arms around Gu Ruohan’s neck, breathed coldly into his ear, and said in a low, eerie voice, “The only person in the Heretic Sect who practices the Path of Ten Thousand Ghosts is angry now.”

Gu Ruohan frowned at that. “Huo Tianqing?”

“Ah, yes. Huo Tianqing... him.”

Yet the person they spoke of did not care in the least how violently his rage had stirred the ghosts and cultivators of the sect.

A cold, dark, and murderous aura poured off him.

On the other side of the altar, the man sensed that something was wrong with Huo Tianqing. His voice went a little hoarse, and then he reminded him in a helpless tone, “Calm down. You’re already at the Soul Splitting stage. You can call down heaven and earth at any moment now. If all the ghost cultivators under your command are wiped out, your cultivation will drop by at least a full level.”

Huo Tianqing heard this and drew a deep breath, then unconsciously began reciting a heart-clearing chant.

Immediately after, he severed their connection and returned to his bedchamber with a frosty expression, sitting in meditation to suppress the fury within him.

In Joyous Union Palace, such a disturbance naturally did not escape the notice of the spirit within the Purple-Gold Bell or Bai Shengyun.

He knew it likely had something to do with Huo Tianqing and wanted to go out and see for himself. After all, if the man who cultivated the Path of Ten Thousand Ghosts suddenly went mad, then the ghosts and wandering shades of the Heretic Sect would probably go mad with him. By then, the first person they might strike at could well be him, an immortal sect cultivator.

But there was a burden at his side: Xie Yingying.

Xie Yingying was covered in sweat now, clearly in terrible pain. She curled up again, clutching her abdomen, and the cold sweat soaked through several layers of clothing on her back.

As the storm gathered, the wind rattled the wooden windows in her chamber. Not only that, it also made her shiver from the cold.

Bai Shengyun had only lost focus for a moment, and Xie Yingying had once again curled into a shrimp-like ball. He frowned and snapped in exasperation, “Lie flat!”

“I...” Xie Yingying looked angry. “Don’t mind me!”

At that, Bai Shengyun let out a cold laugh and withdrew the spiritual power in his hand.

“Fine. Then go ahead and suffer yourself to death.”

With that, he rose to leave, only to see Xie Yingying close her eyes and faint just like that.

Bai Shengyun sat back down at once, thinking with a cold sneer, That saves me some trouble.

Then he was about to send spiritual power into Xie Yingying’s body again, so as to suppress the nascent essence of the celestial fox within her.

But the instant he did, he discovered that the icy yin power inside Xie Yingying’s body was leaking out in waves, transforming into strands of sharp, frigid spiritual qi.

His brows knit. Seeing that her chest was no longer rising and falling, his expression, for once, showed a trace of panic.

He swiftly seized her wrist to take her pulse, only to find that her heartbeat was nearly nonexistent.

Frowning, he extended his divine sense and discovered that the celestial fox’s nascent essence within her was about to endanger her life.

Bai Shengyun cursed under his breath, then poured more spiritual power into Xie Yingying’s body while rummaging through a pile of pills with his other hand. After selecting several, he crushed them and shoved them all directly into her mouth.

This time, the combined flavor of those pills was bizarre and bitter beyond words, as if several pounds of wormwood had been mixed with several pounds of vinegar. Yet Xie Yingying still did not wake.

Seeing this, Bai Shengyun fed her more and more spiritual power, while hurriedly setting up a Gathering Yin Formation.

At once, the energies of yin and yang coursed through his body. He had to harmonize the two, draw off part of their force, and then send it into her body in rapid succession, all while devoting part of his mind to locking down the icy spiritual power inside her.

Before long, sweat streamed down his face, and the spiritual power in his dantian was nearly exhausted.

His brows were deeply furrowed, his expression cold as ice. He had no choice but to suppress the celestial fox’s nascent essence within Xie Yingying while also replenishing his own spiritual power. The strain was immense, as though he had been split into several bodies, all forced to work with the same mind.

Bai Shengyun looked at Xie Yingying, who still did not breathe, and very much wanted to curse at her, but there was simply no time.

He was already worn to the bone. With no other choice, he could only spare a little more effort and forcibly wake the spirit within the Purple-Gold Bell.

The bell spirit had been sleeping, preparing to fully manifest itself. Now that it was roused by force, the sound of a child’s crying rang out in Bai Shengyun’s sea of consciousness, shaking him so badly that he lost focus for a fleeting instant.

In that one instant, Xie Yingying nearly truly perished!

“Shut up!” His eyes turned red as he roared in anger.

Sensing the fury in his voice, the spirit immediately stopped crying and waited quietly for his command.

“Help me convert the spiritual energy. Send all the spiritual power into my dantian!” Bai Shengyun shouted in a hurry.

Though the spirit was fond of crying, it only needed a moment to sense the state they were in and understand that something was terribly wrong.

It was about to make its appearance in the world. If both of its masters fell into trouble at this critical moment, it might have to wait another hundred years, or even a thousand!

At once, the Purple-Gold Bell blazed with violet light, and tiny serpents of lightning coiled endlessly between its rings.

It followed Bai Shengyun’s instructions exactly, gathering all the pure yang spiritual energy within several li, quickly converting it, and sending it into Bai Shengyun’s dantian.

With that, Bai Shengyun felt his internal spiritual power surge. He no longer needed to divide himself so many ways, and the burden on his body eased considerably.

After a long while like this, Xie Yingying finally began breathing again, and her heartbeat gradually steadied.

At that point, Bai Shengyun only needed to continue suppressing the celestial fox’s nascent essence within her.

More than two hours later, the frantic power of that celestial fox’s nascent essence was at last brought under control.

Bai Shengyun withdrew his spiritual power.

Only after relaxing did he realize that his palms had turned faintly red, and that he was dizzy as well.

He let out a long breath of stale air and looked down at Xie Yingying, saying in a low voice, “You owe me another favor.”

Then he slowly closed his eyes. A flash of white light passed, and a snow-white fox lay quietly beside Xie Yingying’s bed.

This time, it was not because his spiritual power had run dry. Rather, after repeating such exertion several times, even a body forged of iron would need rest.

The Purple-Gold Bell’s light faded in turn.

Time slipped by unnoticed. The clouds outside dispersed, the thunder ceased, yet the person and the fox in the room remained asleep.

At this moment, outside Joyous Union Palace, Huo Tianqing, whose mood had gradually settled, was walking slowly toward it.

His emotions had originally improved quite a bit, but the moment he stepped into Joyous Union Palace and saw those three giant serpents, the anger in his heart flared up once more.