The moment Miaomiao's body was destroyed, Li Ban crushed the White Chrysanthemum in his hand.
Lady Kui immediately lunged toward the spot where Miaomiao had just been.
Residual shockwaves still rippled through the space; a single misstep could completely obliterate Lady Kui's soul.
Yet she threw herself forward without hesitation.
She swept her arms closed, and a blurry silhouette of white light suddenly materialized in the previously empty air.
Lady Kui cradled the irregular light to her chest, as if holding her most cherished treasure.
"To think a raw soul actually managed to save that little treefolk's spirit—even if it's only a tiny wisp," Priest Ai Jing murmured, landing beside Li Ban.
Li Ban looked at the tiny fragment of a soul in Lady Kui's arms and offered a bitter smile. "A tiny wisp is good enough."
Separated from the White Chrysanthemum, Lady Kui couldn't hold on for long.
Li Ban knew she had been dragged back by the River of Helplessness.
But fortunately, this time, she took her precious treasure back with her.
While everyone's attention was focused on Lady Kui, the Cat Girl behind Li Ban suddenly let out a cry and collapsed to the ground.
Li Ban's expression changed. He quickly turned and caught the Cat Girl by the shoulders.
Her hair tie snapped. Her dark hair grew wildly out of control, quickly reaching three to five meters in length.
The long strands thrashed and whipped through the air like something possessed.
Li Ban hastily executed the Divine Domain Needle Technique to stabilize her condition, simultaneously enveloping them both in starlight to prevent the element within her body from descending into chaos.
The Cat Girl had been perfectly stable just moments ago. How could something go wrong so suddenly?
An unseen change must have occurred somewhere.
"This is bad. The Cat Girl's hair is devouring the particles of Miaomiao's ruined body from the air."
The Chaotic Green Silk Algae had always been seamlessly merged into the Cat Girl's countless strands of hair, but no one anticipated that the element would suddenly spiral out of control.
"The Chaotic Green Silk Algae was originally a stable Mutated Element, and Miaomiao's body was on the verge of becoming a true Mutated Element—" Li Ban's expression darkened. "Oh no. Xiao Suo lured us here on purpose!"
Right at that moment, the Mist Realm Priest—who had been standing behind Li Ban to provide him with the White Chrysanthemum—suddenly raised a palm and struck at the back of Li Ban's head.
Simultaneously, thousands of irregular shards of light materialized around him and Li Ban.
They looked like dappled sunlight filtering through a canopy of leaves to scatter across the ground.
Though Li Ban had never seen this technique before, it felt inexplicably familiar.
Suddenly, he sensed the attack aimed at the back of his head. The posture made the goal clear: the attacker was after his Wizard Embryo Fragment!
Fortunately, the Starlight Domain Li Ban had just summoned to save the Cat Girl acted as a barrier. The attacker's hand was a fraction too slow and was blocked right outside the starlight.
It missed by a hair's breadth!
If Li Ban had been slightly slower in saving the Cat Girl, or if he hadn't immediately stepped close to her when she mutated, the sneak attack would have undoubtedly succeeded.
"Xiao Chen, what are you doing?" Priest Ai Jing had never imagined her own subordinate would ambush Li Ban. She gave a furious shout, raising her palm to blast the traitor away.
"Tsk." The soft click of the tongue sounded incredibly familiar.
It wasn't Xiao Suo.
It was—
"Du An!"
Li Ban whipped his head around.
He never expected that Du An—who he thought was still hiding in the Shattered Realm trying to advance—had somehow found a way back into the Wizard World!
The Illusion Vision Technique faded from Priest Xiao Chen's face, revealing Du An's long-unseen features.
"Your luck is so consistently good that it makes me curious," Du An said, instantly retreating to dodge Priest Ai Jing's spell.
Priest Ai Jing had never met Du An, but she knew of his history.
Her eyes turned ice-cold, surging with killing intent. "So you're the Du An who suddenly turned traitor and murdered his comrades? The Myriad Ancient Pagoda guided you to become a Priest, yet you show no gratitude. What a treacherous wretch."
With those words, Priest Ai Jing charged forward, rapidly unleashing a barrage of spells that lit up the area with flashing lights.
Du An dodged with ease. The patches of light around his body continuously coalesced and dispersed, serving as both offense and defense.
However, beneath the Solar Priest's fierce assault, he still looked somewhat hard-pressed.
Soon, Priest Ai Jing had Du An completely trapped.
Though Priest Ai Jing despised traitors, this man was a betrayer of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda; she wanted to let Priest Qian Que finish Du An off personally.
Watching the captured Du An maintain his calm composure, and recalling the techniques and reflexes he had just displayed, Priest Ai Jing couldn't help but feel a sense of pity.
"You have such exceptional talent, yet you chose to fall into depravity."
Just as Priest Ai Jing turned to walk toward Li Ban, a shadow suddenly manifested behind her.
Priest Ai Jing's attention had been focused on Du An, but she had maintained her guard. Yet, she had absolutely no idea when that shadow had appeared.
She instantly deployed a Protection Spell while simultaneously casting a Rending Technique to destroy the shadow's very foundation.
But the shadow neither dodged nor retreated, simply letting the Rending Technique cleave it cleanly in two.
Once the Rending Technique's effect faded, however, the shadow seamlessly merged back together, completely unharmed, as if nothing had happened.
But that brief delay was all it took. When Priest Ai Jing looked back, the Du An she had just trapped was gone.
Li Ban was the first to notice Du An's disappearance. High on alert, he grabbed Little Cat and tried to take to the sky.
But at that very moment, dense golden fur sprouted wildly across the Cat Girl's body. In an instant, she transformed from a person into a genuine long-haired cat.
"Roar!"
The Cat Girl curled up as explosive energy abruptly erupted from her, violently throwing back Li Ban, who had been guarding her side.
Blasted into midair, Li Ban barely managed to stabilize himself. Just as he tried to swoop back down to pacify the element on the Cat Girl, an endless swarm of light shards blocked his path.
"Du An!" Li Ban roared. Starlight flared around him, condensing into a long blade in front of his chest. "This is for you!"
Du An stared coldly at the incoming starlight as a layer of crimson radiance suddenly erupted from his body.
The starlight blade slashed down, only to be stopped by the rising crimson glow.
The crimson light was no match for the starlight; upon contact, it vibrated violently and was promptly cleaved in two.
However, Du An used that split-second delay to evade the strike once again.
Still worried about the Cat Girl below, Li Ban didn't immediately pursue him.
It was obvious Du An wanted to drag him into a drawn-out fight.
Li Ban was nearing the Seventh Tier, and to his shock, so was Du An.
He had to admit that without the restraints of mental cultivation, Du An's progress had become terrifyingly fast.
Glancing down at the Cat Girl, whose beastification was only worsening, Li Ban rapidly calculated a countermeasure in his mind.
"Du An, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"What am I trying to do? Aren't we both after the exact same thing?"
"The same thing?"
Du An sneered. "To become a Great Wizard, naturally. Are you telling me you aren't?"
Li Ban silently activated his new element. "I want to become a Great Wizard too."
Du An suddenly dodged, seemingly evading something, even though there was absolutely nothing in front of or behind him.
Li Ban furrowed his brow slightly.
This Du An was truly vigilant. He had detected even the faintest sign of an element circulating.
If Li Ban couldn't overwhelm and encircle him with sheer power like Priest Ai Jing had, catching him would be incredibly difficult.
But right now, Priest Ai Jing was tied up fighting that shadow.
And the familiar aura radiating from that dark figure made Li Ban realize exactly who it was: Xiao Suo.