"Coo! Chirp!"
In the courtyard, cage after cage was being opened.
The great battle within Qilin Mountain was still visibly raging: the demonic Qi of the Blood Demon Lord, the spiritual power and Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi of the Qilin Mountain Lin family cultivators, and the shards of ice unleashed by the colossal Qilin phantom—all combined to create a truly magnificent spectacle.
Every one of these "caged birds" was a genius who had been imprisoned by Venerable Tian Xing.
They, too, could sense that this black mist figure who had intruded upon the rear mountains was far from ordinary; this black mist figure was, at the same time, their savior.
They quickly chose to fly and hover behind Li Wei, glaring furiously at Lin Wudao.
The cages and array formations that imprisoned them were shattering inch by inch; it would not be long before they broke free of their seals completely!
Lin Wudao could clearly feel the rage emanating from these "caged birds." These were geniuses he had imprisoned and treated as mere playthings for many years; now, they hated him so much they wished they could drink his blood and eat his flesh!
Yet Lin Wudao still dared not move so much as an inch, because...
In the hand of this black mist figure from the Li family, a semi-transparent cube had appeared. Within this cube, a black substance was swirling ominously.
Lin Wudao remembered with chilling clarity that on the day he had invaded Merit City, one of their Divinity Transformation avatars had perished at the hands of this very object!
"You won't use it!"
Lin Wudao's expression was serene, as if the release of the "caged birds" he had treasured for so many years had not provoked his anger in the slightest. And yet, the fist hidden within his sleeve was clenched so tightly his knuckles were white.
This outward calm, however, did nothing to hinder the fear that was evident upon his brow.
He addressed Li Wei in a low, heavy voice, "I know your objective. You intend to release the geniuses I have kept imprisoned all these years. The distance between us is negligible," he threatened. "If you dare to use that object, Li Kuangren will die instantly, and so will every last one of these other geniuses!"
Li Wei remained silent.
Lin Wudao drew a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes, afraid that Li Wei would see the resentment and fury brewing within him.
"This time," he conceded, "I admit defeat. You have achieved your objective. Now, take that fiend of yours and get the hell out of my Qilin Mountain."
The fierce gales generated by the cultivators' bitter struggle outside swept into the rear courtyard, causing the black mist surrounding Li Wei to roar like a raging fire.
After a long moment, he finally spoke, his tone leisurely and laced with mockery. "You are truly laughable. Did you really think I went to all this trouble merely to rescue Kuangren and these other geniuses?"
Li Wei observed Lin Wudao, who remained completely motionless, seemingly confident in the belief that they were at a stalemate and neither could do anything to the other.
Li Wei slightly lifted the cage containing Li Kuangren and said with a light smile, "Kuangren, why don't you tell him: if it meant you could kill this avatar of his, would you be willing to die for the chance?"
He then turned his gaze to the "caged birds" behind him.
"And you," he asked them, "are you afraid to die?"
"Coo! Chirp!"
Li Kuangren rattled the bars of his cage, while the other "caged birds" were unable to suppress the fury that had built up over many years of imprisonment. In their own ways, they were all expressing their resolve to Li Wei!
"What in the blazes are you trying to do?!!" Lin Wudao finally snapped his eyes open, his expression one of feigned fearlessness, as if he were burning with righteous fury.
"You ant!" he seethed. "Do not think that just because you hold some trump card, you can threaten me so brazenly on my own turf! You are in Eternal Sun Prefecture! My other avatars have already been alerted to the news, and they are rushing here as we speak!"
"It is precisely because they are rushing here," Li Wei stated calmly, "that you are all the more terrified."
Li Wei gave a cold snort. "I've taken a keen interest in that Qilin phantom of your Qilin Mountain," he said coolly, "and in your treasure vault as well."
"You..."
...
Meanwhile, within Eternal Sun Prefecture, Tian Xing's avatars were converging from all directions, rushing over at their fastest possible speed.
They could already perceive everything unfolding in the courtyard on Qilin Mountain, and the events taking place there caused a sharp glint to appear in their eyes.
High in the sky, two Divinity Transformation avatars converged. Yet, the pair remained utterly silent, faint smiles playing on both their faces as they deliberately slowed their pace of advance.
If it were possible, they would be more than happy to see Lin Wudao suffer a setback.
In fact, if Lin Wudao, along with all those geniuses and that black mist figure from the Li family, were to end up in mutual destruction right here in Eternal Sun Prefecture, it would be a scenario that, for them, could not possibly be better.
Their troubles would be resolved, and the power from Lin Wudao's body would then be distributed among them!
Back in the courtyard, both Li Wei and Lin Wudao clearly understood this dynamic as well. What Lin Wudao could not comprehend, however, was why this fellow Li Wei seemed not the least bit anxious!
He listened to Li Wei's demands while watching the "caged birds" slowly recovering, and gritted his teeth.
"The Qilin Crystal is in my treasure vault," he snarled. "I advise you not to waste any more time. Otherwise, of all the people you wish to save, not a single one will be able to escape!"
A token materialized in Lin Wudao's hand. He tossed the token to Li Wei, and in the next instant, had already vanished from sight.
What caused Lin Wudao's expression to turn so foul, however, was that after he tossed the token to Li Wei, Li Wei, to his astonishment, found his treasure vault with the ease of one treading a familiar road and proceeded to plunder its contents until it was picked clean!
"Impossible!"
Lin Wudao's heart hammered in his chest; he was overcome with the terrifying sensation of one who realizes they have been secretly spied upon for many years, only now becoming aware of it.
"How could he possibly know the layout of my Qilin Mountain treasure vault so clearly?"
Li Wei's speed of action was so fast that Lin Wudao found it utterly inconceivable!
It had only been a matter of a dozen or so finger-snaps.
As Li Wei used the token as a key to open the treasure vault, back at the site where the Qilin Mountain clan and the Blood Demon Lord were locked in a bitter struggle, the entire battlefield underwent a sudden, dramatic transformation!
The expressions of the Lin family clansmen and Elders all turned to ones of utter horror.
The Qilin, which had still been in the process of suppressing the Blood Demon Lord, saw its phantom form dim in an instant.
In the final moment before vanishing completely, the Qilin turned its head and roared furiously towards Lin Wudao's courtyard, "Who?! Who has touched my true body?! Lin Wudao, of what use are you to me as the head of this family?!"
"What?!!"
The numerous Elders who had been besieging the Blood Demon Lord were momentarily stunned. In the very next instant, the Demon Lord had already broken free of the Qilin's restraints.
His power fully restored, he took advantage of the chaos to cut down one of the Lin family Elders with a single slash of his great saber!
"This is bad! Fall back! Use the formations!"
This sudden reversal caused the numerous Elders and Lin family disciples, who had originally intended to trap the Blood Demon Lord until his demise, to fall back one after another.
Having long since witnessed the Demon Lord's terrifying capabilities, they no longer dared to engage him recklessly and could only direct their furious shouts towards the rear mountains.
"Patriarch, what is happening?! Why has the clan's Sacred Beast vanished?!!"
"Lin Wudao, what in the world have you done?!"
"The Qilin Crystal, which is used to summon the Sacred Beast, is kept within the treasure vault! It must have been that degenerate, Lin Wudao, who handed the key to the vault over to the enemy... Oh no, the treasure vault!"
The Lin family Elders were also exceptionally sharp-witted; in a flash, they deduced what must have transpired in the rear mountains!
But what could they possibly do? Their Patriarch, Lin Wudao, was a Divinity Transformation realm expert, and the clan's Sacred Beast had already fallen into the enemy's hands... They could only watch on, completely helpless!
"Hmph."
The Blood Demon Lord shot a glance at the Lin family Elders. Seeing that they had begun to employ defensive formations, he knew that killing more of them would now be difficult, and so he ceased making any further useless efforts. With nothing more than a cold snort, he sheathed his great saber, confident that these members of the Lin family would no longer dare to make a move against him.
He walked slowly towards the rear mountains. Everywhere he passed, the blood from all the corpses transformed into streams that flowed into his body. Yet, even as he began to fly towards the rear mountains, he was still frowning, his gaze fixed upon the skies above the Qilin Mountain Lin family estate.
He could sense them.
In this short span of time, although the experts from Eternal Sun Prefecture had not had sufficient time to arrive in person, their Nascent Souls and Primordial Spirits had already descended, spying upon everything that was happening within Qilin Mountain.
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