The Soul-Seizing Formation was fundamentally not a method of the lower realm. Such a profound formation could naturally only be executed by an envoy from the upper realm.

In fact, when Shu Tiantian was about to be made to shoulder the bill earlier, the elders of Tianji Sect had already been a little restless, wanting the upper-realm envoy to speak and use the Soul-Seizing Formation. Unfortunately, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, and since they were in the wrong to begin with, to take such ruthless action against a disciple of their own sect—if word got out, they feared Tianji Sect’s reputation would be ruined.

Moreover, once the Soul-Seizing Formation was used, whether it succeeded or not, Shu Tiantian as a person would be more or less ruined. Chixiao was the number one figure of the lower realm—if he pursued the matter, the other elders truly would not be able to withstand it…

But now that the one speaking was the envoy from the upper realm, they no longer had any scruples. Several elders of Tianji Sect exchanged glances and nodded.

Since the upper-realm envoy had spoken, and his cultivation was the highest, he naturally took the lead. Those present needed to gather nine great cultivators at or above the Body Integration stage. The elders of Tianji Sect all participated except Bu Nanxing, and one after another, Body Integration-stage cultivators also agreed to join.

Thus, when the intricate formation was completed, nine cultivators simultaneously poured in their spiritual qi…

As a result, the strands of Dao Xuzi’s divine sense left within Shu Tiantian’s sea of consciousness became the trigger connecting to the Soul-Seizing Formation.

The heart demon paused only for a moment, then immediately transformed into a shrieking mass of black qi, plunging fiercely into Shu Tiantian’s sea of consciousness!

She only felt an incomparably sharp pain—but the next second, a finger pressed against her glabella. A cool sensation wrapped around her, instantly soothing that clamoring pain.

The young man opened his eyes, jade-like fingers pouring in a surging, terrifying divine sense!

If Dao Xuzi’s strand of divine sense, to Shu Tiantian, was like a river—then the young man’s terrifying divine sense was like a vast ocean crashing forward in turbulent waves!

Shu Tiantian’s sea of consciousness was extremely fragile. By all logic, it should not have been able to withstand the collision caused by these two terrifying forces battling—but that vast ocean instead wrapped around her fragile sea of consciousness, protecting it tightly. Almost without effort, it swept up the troublemaking divine sense in one fell swoop!

Dao Xuzi suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood!

Everyone’s expressions changed drastically. They immediately tried to withdraw their hands from injecting spiritual qi into the formation—but it was already too late. After all, that strand of divine sense held in Ji Wushu’s palm had already become the medium of the Soul-Seizing Formation!

Dao Xuzi indeed had a bit of cleverness—deceiving heaven and crossing the sea, becoming a false heart demon. After all, a heart demon could only be defeated by the person themselves; even Ji Wushu could not violate this law of heaven and earth.

But once that disguised heart demon tore off its mask to attack the little spy, it was no longer a heart demon connected to the laws of heaven and earth.

—Naturally, one could then follow the vine to the root and deliver a beautiful counterattack.

The Soul-Seizing Formation—just as its name implied—used the formation as a trigger to seize a cultivator’s soul. Generally speaking, it was something the strong did to the weak.

Then… what if the strength of the two sides of the Soul-Seizing Formation were reversed?

What if the hunter who had been watching like a tiger, intending to seize another’s soul, became the prey?

In an instant, the two ends of the Soul-Seizing Formation were overturned. Ji Wushu’s surging, terrifying divine sense followed the strand of divine sense Dao Xuzi had left in Shu Tiantian’s body and intervened—then, with unstoppable force, violently invaded the sea of consciousness of the nine formation guardians!

The nine cultivators were immediately invaded by that devil’s terrifying divine sense, and all of them spat out blood at once.

Even though the upper-realm envoy was relatively clever and decisively terminated the Soul-Seizing Formation before Ji Wushu could directly seize all their souls, Ji Wushu still left behind a deeply imprinted strand of divine sense in their seas of consciousness.

To a cultivator, the sea of consciousness was even more important than the heart!

Yet these nine were all the leaders presiding over this Dragon Extermination Grand Plan—and within their seas of consciousness remained Ji Wushu’s divine sense!

After losing countless spirit stones, suffering severe depletion of vitality, and having their seas of consciousness invaded by Ji Wushu’s divine sense… Tianji Sect’s sect master Dao Xuzi felt his blood surge upward in fury and actually fainted alive from sheer anger.

The other great cultivators who had voluntarily joined the Soul-Seizing Formation also deeply regretted their decision. They immediately tried to force out that strand of divine sense—but mere Body Integration-stage cultivators, how could they contend with Ji Wushu? Thus, following in Dao Xuzi’s footsteps, they too fainted one after another.

The discussion hall instantly fell into utter chaos.

At this moment, the man who had caused all of this paid not the slightest attention to how he had thrown Tianji Sect into complete upheaval.

The long-haired young man gently patted the little girl’s head. The sharp pain had made her shed a few physiological tears—but now, with his touch, all the pain vanished completely.

She seemed to shrink her head slightly in grievance, maintaining the posture of lying prone across his knees.

He stroked along her long hair and whispered in a low hiss, “Sleep.”

Thus, though she had been unconscious and extremely restless, she obediently rested on his knees, wrapped in his great cloak, and fell into a sweet, deep sleep.

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When the doors of the discussion hall opened, nine great cultivators were actually carried out, startling many of the guests from the Eight Great Sects waiting outside. Wasn’t it said they were only going to control that Tianji Sect disciple to take her blood? How did all nine great cultivators faint??

With the matter urgent, they could only be temporarily sent to the medicine hall.

If Elder Bu Nanxing had not stubbornly refused to go check on them, the Tianji Sect elders might have been completely wiped out, not even leaving a single person to take charge.

When they finally woke up with great difficulty, every one of them looked ashen-faced, clearly all worried about that strand of divine sense in their seas of consciousness. The upper-realm envoy and those who had voluntarily spoken up to help—only to bring trouble upon themselves—were all glaring furiously as well, showing Tianji Sect no good expression.

The most urgent matter now was naturally to erase that strand of Ji Wushu’s divine sense. By rights, this was something basically only Ji Wushu himself could accomplish…

The upper-realm envoy hurried off to contact the upper realm, and the other sects also flicked their sleeves and departed one after another, planning to think of countermeasures overnight.

Only the Tianji Sect elders remained in the medicine hall, silent for a long time, sinking into a dead stillness. Because not only did they need to find a way to strip away that strand of divine sense—they also had to smash pots and sell iron to raise money… not to mention that their reputation had been utterly ruined this time.

Just at that moment, a chief disciple of one of the Tianji Sect elders, unaware of the situation, assumed everything had ended and came over to say that the Foundation Establishment Pills were not enough and he needed spirit stones from him. Who knew those words would strike right on a sore point—the elder nearly slapped his chief disciple across the face, then angrily flicked his sleeve and cursed them thoroughly.

“Scram! Do you really think pills don’t cost spirit stones?”

Even pigs don’t consume pills like you do!

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The great hall atop the central peak of the Void Abyss was extremely empty, containing only a bare seat.

After all, for nearly a thousand years, only the Sinful Dragon and his sword had been in this hall. One slept on the seat, the other slept buried in the earth by its master—there was not a trace of living human presence in the entire hall.

But the Dragon Bone Sword diligently ran off to the Ghost Domain City Lord and robbed an incomparably luxurious large bed to bring back.

After experiencing the “heart’s blood extraction” incident, the Dragon Bone Sword felt that the little spy was somewhat strange—yet because of her actions, it also felt a faint trace of relief.

Only after the Dragon Bone Sword carried back the bed it had robbed from the Ghost Domain City Lord and placed it in the side hall did Ji Wushu finally carry her there.

Shu Tiantian had suffered greatly today. Not only had she fallen into a heart demon tribulation, she had also nearly had her soul seized by the Soul-Seizing Formation. If Ji Wushu had not acted quickly at the time, in the blink of an eye the little spy might have been reduced to scattered soul and dispersed spirit.

However, Shu Tiantian’s three hun and six po had originally already had one po forcibly stripped away. Although by chance she had returned to normal in the face of a life-and-death calamity, it was still not as stable as that of an ordinary cultivator.

Now, after suffering Dao Xuzi’s divine sense invasion, there were faint signs again of one po leaving her body.

Shu Tiantian slept deeply, yet seemed to fall into one dream after another. Thus, the “little gift” Ji Wushu had given her during her heart demon tribulation which she had not noticed—revealed before her, within these dreams, the truth of the past eighteen years.

Tianji Sect had raised her, yet had never deigned to tell her any truth, always keeping her in the dark.

Even her master, Immortal Lord Chixiao, and Elder Bu Nanxing, who taught her alchemy and treated her well, had never thought of telling her.

After all, to tell her that raising you was simply to send you to your death—this was far too cruel.

Whether out of fear that she would suffer, or fear that she would slip out of control, no one wanted her to know the truth. But time and again, nearly being pushed to death by the sect—was she still to be coaxed into continuing to die for them?

She had actually already had faint premonitions. She had always been someone with sharp intuition. As early as when the sect delayed again and again in bringing her back, she had already begun to suspect.

It just so happened she had a Heavenly Yin body, just so happened only she could enter the Scarlet Flame Flower Field, just so happened the sect and the great demon had a blood-deep enmity…

Shu Tiantian had vaguely guessed that the sect might have abandoned her, that perhaps there were other hidden circumstances—but she had never imagined that the truth was sometimes far more terrifying than conjecture.

Many muddled, long-buried truths that had never been uncovered also surfaced.

In her sleep, Shu Tiantian curled into a ball, tears falling patter patter, impossible to wipe clean no matter how she tried. Even when the black dragon’s true form appeared, shrinking down in grievance and curling up on the not-so-large bed for her to hold, her tears still would not stop.

Unfortunately, the Dragon God who had lived for more than three thousand years knew how to kill and plunder, rob homes, and burn mountains—but had no experience at all with the present situation.

Ji Wushu grew irritated from her crying. He stared at her tearful profile for a while, ground his teeth, then turned and left.

The Dragon Bone Sword was stunned and asked him, “What are you going to do?”

It saw the young man lick his back molars with a fierce expression. Yet what he said was utterly baffling—

“Go coax a child.”