Spirit Realm

“S-Senior Sister Xue!?”

Qin Lie’s unexpected words clearly shocked Miao Tai. The moment he heard them, he let his guard down just a bit.

In that moment, Qin Lie’s bloody snakes tore through the air and struck toward the illusions that Miao Tai had conjured.

The snakes sparkled with bloody light, striking the copies that Miao Tai created with Purple Illusory Heavenly Mirror. They dissipated into purple mist one after another.

“Impossible!” Miao Tai shouted. “There’s no way Senior Sister Xue could be a member of Blood Fiend Sect!”

The purple mist consolidated into one mass, causing all of Miao Tais copies to disappear. In their place, a dazzling translucent purple moon appeared out of nowhere.

This purple moon hung high above Qin Lie’s head.

“Lunar Demise!” Miao Tai snorted coldly.

All of a sudden, the cold purple moon shone with rays of light over a hundred thousand meters long. Its splendor illuminated Qin Lie’s figure, and power fluctuations imbued with soul consciousnesses surrounded him.

The purple moon’s radiance seemed to be capable of penetrating a person’s soul defenses. It actually appeared within Qin Lie’s mind, hovering high above his Soul Lake.

Purple light spread throughout Qin Lie’s mind in waves, soaking his True Soul with a bewildering power.

“Boom!”

A great tremor rocked Qin Lie’s body. Dazzling light surrounded his True Soul as if it were in a purple sea. He couldn’t tell illusion from reality.

At almost the exact same time, the harsh purple light seized the opportunity to flood the rest of his body, starting to damage his nerves and bones and even seal his dantian’s spirit sea.

Purple Illusory Heavenly Mirror was a special spirit art within Illusory Demon Sect. The moment it struck, it would suppress the body and soul of its target simultaneously.

A martial practitioner that couldn’t control their soul and body would immediately lose all ability to fight. They would be at the mercy of their enemy.

“Zzzt zzzt zzzt!”

Purple rays constantly flashed from Qin Lie’s body, his eyes and ears glowing with light.

Miao Tai snorted coldly, his hands shimmering with purple light. He thrust them outward, shooting the light at Qin Lie. They transformed into miraculous shapes as they flew through the air.

The moment they hit Qin Lie, an extraordinarily beautiful, frosty moon blossomed on his skin like a demonic little flower.

Tiny purple moons appeared on his neck, face, forehead, and arms, covering his entire body with seals.

Qin Lie could no longer move.

At the top of the palace high above the battle, Miao Wenfan smiled softly.

“As expected!” he exclaimed. “Our painstaking efforts to send Miao Tai to Illusory Demon Sect have paid off. Illusory Demon Sect truly lives up to its reputation. Their spirit arts are indeed profound, magical, and much stronger than the spirit arts of our Miao Family.”

“It’s unfortunate that Illusory Demon Sect forbids Miao Tai from teaching us the spirit art he cultivates,” Miao Kang said with a sigh.

“So long as Miao Tai does not stray from the right path, he will definitely earn a seat in Illusory Demon Sect later on!” Miao Yangxu exclaimed. “In a hundred years, when our Miao Family has accumulated enough strength, we will need to rely on Miao Tai’s status in Illusory Demon Sect to try and become a Silver rank force.”

His words made the four other valley masters nod thoughtfully. All of them believed that Miao Tai would become an important figure in the future.

At the entrance to the valley, Xing Yumiao sighed.

“As expected of someone who grew up in Illusory Demon Sect…” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“Illusory Demon Sect has been the most powerful force in the Land of Chaos for a thousand years now. The extent of their power… is truly terrifying.” Xing Yuyuan sighed as well, looking just as dejected as his brother. “Both of our sons are just don’t have the talent. They failed Illusory Demon Sect’s test. They didn’t get the chance to cultivate in Illusory Demon Sect. If they had…”

As vassal forces of Illusory Demon Sect, Gold Sun Island and Green Moon Valley both had the right to have their junior martial practitioners go to Illusory Demon Sect to take a test that measured their talent and tenacity.

If one such junior successfully passed that test, Illusory Demon Sect would welcome them as a disciple.

From that point onward, Illusory Demon Sect would teach them diligently, giving them the opportunity to gradually grow, and they would only have to pay an educational fee of spirits stones in return.

Miao Tai had passed Illusory Demon Sect’s test at a young age and become a disciple.

Illusory Demon Sect, being a Silver rank force, possessed a wealth of resources. They had a stunning amount of high grade spirit arts and techniques, and could assigned elders to lecture and teach about a specific subject as well. This guaranteed that every disciple of Illusory Demon Sect would be able to develop their talents into domineering strength.

This was how Illusory Demon Sect kept its Copper rank vassal forces on a tight leash.

“It seems like Blood Fiend Sect… has grown weaker after all,” Xing Yuyuan said. “It makes sense that one of their disciples would be weaker than Miao Tai.”

Xing Yuyuan saw this battle between Qin Lie and Miao Tai as a representation of the difference between Blood Fiend Sect and Illusory Demon Sect.

Qin Lie had received Blood Fiend Sect’s teachings, and Miao Tai had received Illusory Demon Sect’s. Under the tutelage of their respective Silver rank force, both of them had trained hard.

Yet Miao Tai had grown up in Illusory Demon Sect. Judging by the current situation of their battle, it seemed as though Miao Tai was stronger than Qin Lie.

The Xing brothers considered this a logical outcome.

After a thousand years of silence, the fact that a junior member of Blood Fiend Sect could putputting up a decent fight against Miao Tai already impressed them quite a bit.

“Don’t go overboard, Miao Tai,” Miao Meiyu said lazily.

At this moment, Miao Tai was still in the middle of applying purple symbols onto Qin Lie’s body. These symbols made Qin Lie glow with purple light, binding him.

Qin Lie had come to Green Moon Valley with the Xing brothers. Even if Miao Meiyu didn’t care about giving Blood Fiend Sect face, she still had to care about the Xing brothers a tiny bit.

She also didn’t want Qin Lie to lose too badly or suffer a grievous wound that would be difficult to explain.

“Rrrrrmb!”

At that moment, the dull rumble of thunder resonated from within Qin Lie’s body.

It sounded like the constant beat of a drum that resonated deeply with everyone’s hearts, making their chests feel constricted and stifled.

As the thunder continued, the purple moon symbols that covered Qin Lie’s body exploded one after another, scattering in a shower of purple sparks.

Every time a symbol exploded, Miao Tai grunted as if he had received a heavy blow to his chest.

“Boom!”

The rumbling thunder suddenly intensified, making five blossoming purple moons on Qin Lie’s face and neck suddenly burst apart at the same time.

“Pwack!”

Despite his efforts to hold it back, Miao Tai vomited a mouthful of blood. His hands, which he had used to apply the symbols onto Qin Lie, began to shake uncontrollably.

This sight made Miao Meiyu go pale.

Briefly examining Qin Lie with her soul consciousness, she discovered that the energy in his body had become extremely violent. It grew at an unbelievable rate, climbing to new heights with every passing second.

This rampaging tide of power was a combination of the Blood Spirit Art’s ruthlessness and Heavenly Thunder Eradication’s savagery!

Xing Yumiao’s eyes were locked on Qin Lie in an intense stare. He seemed as if he could see right through Qin Lie’s flesh and suddenly began to tremble.

He thought he could see boiling lava flowing within Qin Lie’s blood vessels and countless bursts of lightning inside of his meridians.

Xing Yumiao tried to peer inside of Qin Lie’s mind with his soul consciousness. The moment he did, a violent rumbling greeted him. A frenzy of thunder and lightning seemed to have filled every inch of Qin Lie’s mind. He could no longer sense even a hint of Miao Tai’s soul consciousness on Qin Lie.

“Pwack!”

Miao Tai spat out yet another mouthful of blood, drenching the front of his clothing with it. He stared at Qin Lie, fear filling his eyes.

In the span of one breath, the angry roar of thunder from Qin Lie’s body had extinguished every bit of soul consciousness that Miao Tai had applied to Qin Lie.

The True Soul inside of Miao Tai’s Soul Lake was supposed to have a clear and distinct appearance. However, since his soul consciousness had been destroyed, it suddenly became vague and blurry.

“Withdraw your purple moon symbols!” Miao Meiyu suddenly screamed. “Now, Miao Tai!”

From their position atop the valley’s tallest palace, the Miao Family’s five valley masters went pale.

All of them had clearly seen Qin Lie’s blood boil and the thunderous energy in his body roar, instantly disintegrating the purple moon symbols that Miao Tai had placed on his body.

Those purple symbols had originally been steel chains that trapped Qin Lie like a ferocious beast, keeping him from moving freely.

Yet when Qin Lie erupted with a combination of thunder energy and blood energy, this ferocious beast transformed into an ominous, ancient monster.

The steel chains meant for shackling a mere ferocious beast had instantly been blasted to smithereens.

Miao Tai naturally couldn’t endure the damage that this caused.

“Your spirit art is definitely exquisite. Unfortunately, you lack strength. You’re still leagues away from being able to actually bind me,” Qin Lie said, his bloody eyes crawling with electricity. He bowed his head to look at the purple moon symbols on his chest and arms. “Every one of these symbols contains a wisp of your soul consciousness. Unless you wish for your soul to suffer even more severe damage, I recommend that you obediently withdraw them.”

“And if I refuse!?” Miao Tai yelled viciously. Blood suddenly began flowing from his nostrils, and two purple moons could be seen in the depths of his eyes. In the next instant, an even greater strength burst from his body like the eruption of a volcano.

“Miao Tai!” Miao Meiyu screamed. “You’ve gone mad!”

This sight also shocked the five valley masters inside of the valley.

“Big brother!” Xing Yuyuan cried. “Miao Tai has started to execute Illusory Demon Sect’s ‘Illusory Demon Reversal!’ This spirit art empowers its user at the cost of damaging their own flesh and blood! He’ll definitely cause severe damage to himself by the end of this battle!”

“Stop this right now, Miao Tai!” Miao Meiyu cried out angrily.

Yet Miao Tai ignored her as the purple moons in his eyes grew brighter, his power gradually increasing.

His brawny body, on the other hand, actually withered a bit. It seemed as though a portion of his flesh and blood had been drained from him, and he started to slowly become thinner.

“It would be best for you to not use a secret art that damages your body,” Qin Lie said with a frown. “Your loss won’t change even if you do.”

Without warning, he punched at Miao Meiyu, sending a dragon made of blood flying toward her. Electricity coursed through its body, the rumble of thunder accompanying the dragon as it attacked her.

“Blood Dragon’s Roar!” Qin Lie shouted.

This sudden development made Miao Meiyu’s face twitch with surprise as she shoved both her hands in front of her, summoning a huge whistling disc of yellow energy into the open.

This disc resembled the wheel of a vehicle. It glittered with yellow light and spread multiple glowing green lotuses into the surroundings. The moment that it touched Qin Lie’s blood dragon, the center of the disc wrapped around its head.

In the next moment, an exotic chant imbued with dizzying, soul-destroying power resonated from within the lotuses.

The soul consciousness that Qin Lie had poured into this Blood Dragon’s Roar abruptly vanished, melting away like a block of solid ice in the face of a blazing fire.

However, the fiendish blood energy and the violent thunder energy in the blood dragon suddenly exploded as well.

Miao Meiyu’s enormous disc burst to pieces. She grunted as the shockwave it released threw her several steps backward.

At the same time, Qin Lie looked at Miao Tai, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

This exchange showed Miao Meiyu the true extent of Qin Lie’s strength.

“Stop, Miao Tai! Stop right this instant!” she screamed. “Not even an early stage Fulfillment Realm expert may be able to defeat him! Calm down this instant!”

“Second brother!” Xing Yumiao exclaimed.

Understanding what he was hinting at, Xing Yuyuan stepped forward pressed a hand on Miao Tai’s shoulder.

The refined energy that Miao Tai had accumulated returned to his body, his withered body regaining its vitality.

Suddenly, Miao Yangxu’s voice rang out from within the valley.

“Meiyu! Let that kid from Blood Fiend Sect enter the valley!”