With clever stratagems, the enemy encirclement is broken; though the dire predicament begins to ease, the ambition remains unquenched.
Shen Yi’s knuckles nearly crushed the Lingxi grass seed hidden in his palm.
The black mist of the Nightshade sliced the entire valley into fragmented barriers. Gao Yao was bound to the bronze pillar at the central altar, the cold gleam of the Frostmoon Sword being slowly devoured inch by inch by the demonic runes.
Shen Yi could clearly see the lotus-shaped demonic rune on the back of her neck eerily expanding under the moonlight. The “Chaotic Spirit Plant Compendium” in the system’s repository kept flashing crimson warnings.
“Stay calm... must stay calm...” He bit his tongue, the metallic scent of blood mingling with the verdant spiritual energy of the Divine Farmer’s Mirror spreading between his lips.
Through the system interface, the spiritual energy distribution from thirteen enemy sentry posts appeared as faint golden light dots floating on his retina—the southeastern formation had a clear gap. That spot should have been guarded by a Golden Core cultivator, but now only two gray mists of Qi Refinement hovered there.
Three yards away, the fierce wind silently moved rubble using an Earth Escape talisman. Shen Yi flicked his fingers lightly, dropping two seeds of the dragon-patterned vermilion fruit precisely into his friend’s palm.
This was their agreed secret signal: when the fourth hoot of the night owl rang out, the illusion heart vine on the western cliff would bloom on time.
“Little Divine Farmer still not showing himself?” The Nightshade’s voice, thick with sticky demonic energy, brushed past his ear. Gao Yao suddenly groaned softly. Shen Yi saw blood marks forming chains as the demonic energy constricted her wrist.
The system abruptly issued a warning: [Symbiotic Demonic Seed Corruption Level 12%]. The scarlet figures stabbed his pupils sharply.
The illusion mist vine seed hidden in his sleeve suddenly heated up.
Shen Yi closed his eyes to channel spiritual power. The Divine Farmer’s Mirror rippled with jade hues in his bosom. Taking advantage of crouching to adjust his boots, he buried three seeds into the damp humus.
Immediately, the system popped up a planting progress bar, his spiritual power plummeting to the 30% warning line.
“Boom!”
A sudden explosion of icy flames in the northwest corner drew the Nightshade’s attention. Gao Yao had forcibly shattered half of the chain.
Seizing the moment, Shen Yi formed hand seals. The illusion mist vine sprouted from the soil at a visible speed; the ink-black tendrils frantically climbed the shadows of the bronze pillar.
The villagers hiding behind trees gasped, but the Nightshade’s cold sneer interrupted them: “Trifling tricks!”
A giant palm of condensed demonic energy slammed down. Shen Yi curled his lips—his true killer move was the spirit-devouring mushroom spores mixed within the illusion mist vine.
At the instant the black mist entwined with the vines, the system alert exploded in his mind: [Confounding Mist activated, enemy spiritual perception reduced by 40%].
“Now!”
Shen Yi swung his hand to his waist pouch; twelve greenwood talismans fell like shooting stars into the southeastern formation’s gap.
A dragon’s roar trembled from deep within the ley lines. The demon-polluted spiritual veins suddenly surged with pure wood spirit energy. The Nightshade, who was casting a spell, staggered—beneath his feet, vast golden lotus petals of exorcism bloomed!
“How dare you use my formation to nourish spirit plants?!” The Nightshade’s half-decayed face twisted further in fury.
Shen Yi leapt onto the altar’s edge. The fragrance of the illusion heart herb finally masked the intensifying demonic aura on Gao Yao.
He saw a moment of clarity flash in the girl’s eyes, corrupted by the demonic runes, as the Frostmoon Sword suddenly emitted a clear, sharp chime.
Everything changed in an instant.
---
The Nightshade’s bone sword suddenly rested against Gao Yao’s neck, the demonic runes on its blade resonating with the lotus pattern on the girl’s nape.
Shen Yi’s spiritual circulation froze immediately. The system sounded a piercing alert: [Warning! Dao Partner Bond triggered forced protection mechanism].
“Move another inch and this pure world snow lotus will be stained.”
The Nightshade’s fingertip brushed the ice-crystal hairpin in Gao Yao’s hair—that was the Mysterious Ice Flower Shen Yi had placed there just yesterday.
Under demonic corrosion, the petals leaked scarlet blood.
Shen Yi dug his nails deep into his palm.
He clearly saw Gao Yao’s lips shape the words “Ignore me.” He heard the system’s constant warnings of the symbiotic demonic seed accelerating its corruption and felt the exorcism golden lotus’s effect waning with only half a tea cup’s time left.
But when his gaze swept over the blood-soaked cuff of the girl’s sleeve, he suddenly noticed the rhythm of her fingertips tapping on the bronze pillar.
It was the secret code they had invented when they first met, sheltering from rain in a cave.
“...Seed... Demon... Same Origin...” Shen Yi’s pupils contracted violently. He suddenly recalled the latest unlocked page in the “Chaotic Spirit Plant Compendium”—to completely eradicate the symbiotic demonic seed, the host must simultaneously bear the opposing forces of purest spiritual energy and most malevolent demonic energy.
The Nightshade’s sword drew closer again. Blood droplets rolled down Gao Yao’s porcelain neck.
Shen Yi suddenly chuckled softly, his fingers stained with juice from the dragon-patterned vermilion fruit quietly forming seals behind his back. “Lord Nightshade, are you aware that the half bronze key you intercepted...”
He deliberately dragged out his words, causing the Nightshade to hesitate.
In that fleeting moment of distraction, the lotus-shaped demonic rune on Gao Yao’s neck spun counterclockwise. The Divine Farmer’s Mirror in Shen Yi’s arms erupted with unprecedented jade light—it concealed the Anti-Demon Thorn, nurtured all day by nine-colored rosy light!
Shen Yi’s gaze collided with Gao Yao’s in midair, the starlight flickering in her eyes suddenly condensing into a familiar curve—the cunning smile she always showed when hiding behind a spruce tree during their hide-and-seek in the spirit fields.
The metallic blood scent in his throat suddenly turned sweet. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he fiercely stabbed the thorn of the Anti-Demon Bramble into his fingertip.
“Lord Nightshade, did you know this bronze key also contains three drops of phoenix tears?” Shen Yi shook a glazed bottle that had appeared in his palm without his knowledge. Inside, the amber liquid steamed, radiating iridescent light.
The Nightshade’s bone sword screamed sharply, but the sword qi wrapped in demonic energy strangely refracted toward the southeastern formation’s eye upon touching the bottle.
The fierce wind roared like thunder at that moment: “Break it for me!”
The southwestern rock face suddenly exploded. The previously buried dragon-patterned vermilion fruits mutated into crimson vines under demonic nourishment, binding three black-robed cultivators into screaming bundles.
Shen Yi’s boots scraped a half-circle of azure light on the ground. His seemingly staggered steps precisely dodged three incoming demonic energy chains.
The system map suddenly flickered wildly in his mind.
Shen Yi’s pupils shrank as he spotted the hunched formation cultivator repairing the formation in the altar’s shadow. A bronze bell hanging from his waist emitted a faint light, sharing the same origin as the demonic rune on Gao Yao’s neck.
Feigning spiritual exhaustion, Shen Yi dropped to one knee, but two explosive fire beans wrapped in golden lotus pollen silently rolled from his sleeve.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Before the Nightshade’s mocking words fell, Shen Yi suddenly surged.
---
Blood-stained clothes swept three yards away as the explosive fire beans detonated the instant they hit the ground, scattering golden powder across the sky. But his true target was the crisp crack of the bronze bell at the formation cultivator’s waist—the core of the bell embedded with a Mysterious Ice shard resonated with the ice-crystal hairpin in Gao Yao’s hair!
The Nightshade’s bone sword struck first, but Shen Yi transformed into a storm of azure leaves the moment the sword qi brushed past him.
Amid the burning scent of the decoy talisman, the real Shen Yi had already appeared behind the formation cultivator. The azure light bursting from the Divine Farmer’s Mirror forcibly twisted the formation the cultivator was repairing into a spirit plant totem.
“Give it back!” The Nightshade’s roar shook ice stalactites loose from the cliff.
Shen Yi clenched the bronze bell he had just torn off and somersaulted five yards away. The Mysterious Ice shards rolling from the bell’s core reflected star charts in the moonlight. The villagers suddenly noticed the black mist enveloping the valley was fading—the demonic-polluted ley lines were reversing their flow along the patterns on the shards!
The fierce wind swung a door-sized piece of basalt, smashing two pursuers aside, grinning broadly: “Brother Shen, that diversion was brilliant!” Shen Yi, however, stared at the melting Mysterious Ice shards in his palm. The system prompt, [Ley Line Purification Progress 37%], caused cold sweat to trickle down his back.
These shards were clearly the formation key to unlocking the altar’s seal. Yet why did the Nightshade’s twisted expression hide a victorious smirk?
“Shen Yi...” Gao Yao’s weak voice suddenly pierced through the demonic aura.
Looking up, Shen Yi caught sight of her bloodied fingertips drawing half a lotus on the bronze pillar—the symbiotic demonic seed’s form recorded in the “Chaotic Spirit Plant Compendium.”
In a flash of lightning, he suddenly recalled the system’s earlier prompt: the ley line purification progress wasn’t rising linearly but fluctuated strangely between 32% and 37%.
The Nightshade’s rotten half-face began to peel away, revealing skin glowing with golden light beneath.
“You think stealing the formation’s core shard can reverse the heavens?”
He lightly tapped the altar’s edge. The ground beneath everyone’s feet surged with hundreds of skeletons wrapped in demonic energy, each chest pulsating with dark red spirit plants.
Shen Yi’s pupils reflected the system’s frenzied red warnings.
Protecting the Mysterious Ice shards, he retreated swiftly, his boots sparking on the ground then suddenly halting—the seemingly chaotic encirclement of skeleton soldiers was actually aligned with an ancient forbidden formation traced in the Divine Farmer’s Mirror!
“This is... the All-Spirit Sacrifice Formation?” Shen Yi’s voice was hoarse.
The Nightshade clapped his hands and laughed loudly. At that moment, the temperature of the Mysterious Ice shards in Shen Yi’s grasp plummeted. The system interface flashed a suffocating alert: [Detected host actively triggered core formation restriction, symbiotic demonic seed corruption rate increased by 300%].
At this precise moment, Gao Yao’s Frostmoon Sword emitted a clear, sharp chime.
Shen Yi turned to see the girl’s eyes, corroded by demonic energy, shimmering with moonlight. Her bloodied lips silently parted: “Where seed and demon share origin, twin lotus blooms.”
As if lightning cleaved through chaos, Shen Yi suddenly clenched the frost-forming Mysterious Ice shards.
When the first dawn light, tinged with demonic energy, pierced the clouds, his bloodied robe swept past the skeletal battlefield. He pressed the shards fiercely against his chest—where a golden lotus pattern symmetrically mirrored the demonic rune on Gao Yao’s nape.
The Nightshade’s laughter abruptly ceased.