Chapter 48: Abduction

"Don't look around; you only have five breaths!"

At that moment, the voice of Immortal Master Tongxu suddenly came from above, like rolling thunder, startling Fang Pan's heart.

He quickly composed himself and looked around, but all he saw was endless mountains and waters, with nothing else in sight.

But then, as if sensing something, he abruptly looked down and saw a faint golden bloodline extending beneath the water's surface.

Fang Pan stared intently and found a blurry cyan figure beneath the water, now near, now far, seeming both real and illusory. He tried hard to see clearly but could not.

Just as he was about to lower himself and plunge into the water to investigate, the bloodline at his feet suddenly blurred and dissipated, vanishing.

He was momentarily stunned, and before he could think further, the surroundings spun and twisted.

When he came to, he found himself still standing by the bronze cauldron, bent over with his hands on its rim.

He looked down and saw that the liquid inside the cauldron was still pitch black; everything that had just happened seemed like a dream.

"Speak, what did you see?" The long-bearded elder's faint voice came.

"This junior is ashamed; I seemed unable to see clearly... I only felt that figure was now near, now far, quite blurry and indistinct." The black-robed youth shook his head and truthfully reported what he had observed.

"The onlooker sees the game best. The reason the Celestial Cauldron shows such a scene is likely because the owner of the blood essence is not in the Northern Cold Immortal Domain, but in some secret realm within the domain, or... in some lower interface directly under the domain." After a moment of thought, Immortal Master Tongxu said.

"Can you further confirm which secret realm or lower interface that person is in?" Fang Pan couldn't help pressing.

"Absurd! Do you think this vast immortal realm is like those petty small worlds, without any markers, that a mere drop of blood essence can easily locate someone?" Immortal Master Tongxu snorted coldly, somewhat displeased.

Seeing this, Fang Pan quickly cupped his hands and said, "This junior was presumptuous; please do not blame me, Immortal Master."

After a moment, outside the verdant peak.

Fang Pan stood in midair with his hands behind his back, his gaze cold and his expression uncertain.

"Hmph! Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I will tear you into a thousand pieces!"

Saying this, he touched his waist, took out a communication array plate, murmured a few secret incantations, then pointed at his own brow and pulled outward. A light screen appeared in his palm.

On the light screen was the image of a tall young man in a cyan robe, with an ordinary face.

As Fang Pan waved his hand, the light screen blurred, shrank, and flew into the message plate, disappearing.

……

A few days later.

In a deep mountain valley in the northwest of Feng State, the valley was filled with thick mountain mist, churning endlessly.

Rumbling explosions and the clashing sounds of magical instruments occasionally came from within the thick mist.

Suddenly, with a thunderous bang, the mist violently exploded, and a green streak of light shot out from within.

In the streak of light was a girl in a green dress, surrounded by three glowing cyan jade plaques that circled around her, and she stood on an emerald jade shuttle.

The girl had bright eyes and white teeth, with a clear and beautiful face—it was Liu Le'er.

Before she could fly far, the thick mist in the valley churned violently, and five streaks of light shot out, chasing after her closely.

The streaks of light were impressive, all belonging to Nascent Soul cultivators.

Although Liu Le'er was fully urging the shuttle beneath her feet, her flying speed was still slightly slower than those behind her.

In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the distance between them was less than thirty zhang!

"Who exactly are you, and why are you chasing me so relentlessly?" Liu Le'er paused her flight with a hand seal and shouted back in a crisp voice.

The leading black streak of light halted, revealing a burly man with a curly beard. He glanced at the shuttle beneath the girl and said with undisguised greed in his eyes, with a snicker:

"Heh, don't ask what you shouldn't. If you know what's good for you, surrender obediently, and you'll avoid unnecessary suffering."

The other four streaks of light split into two, arcing around from left and right, encircling Liu Le'er in the middle.

The streaks of light faded, revealing four figures: a red-faced old man, a purple-robed young woman, and two black-clad youths who looked exactly alike, seemingly twins.

"So many of you bullying the weak—do you think we Cold Flame Sect disciples are easy to push around?" Liu Le'er coldly swept her gaze over them and said.

"A mere Core Formation cultivator, yet quite arrogant. Let me show you my power!" The red-faced old man growled, and his sleeve suddenly flicked.

With a flash of red light, a red ring shot from his hand, transforming into layers of red shadows rolling toward Liu Le'er.

Except for the burly man, the other three each took out a treasure, and with a hand seal, transformed into three attacks of different colors, striking from three other directions simultaneously.

Liu Le'er's pretty face tightened slightly, but prepared for this, she waved her hands lightly while muttering incantations. The three cyan jade plaques surrounding her suddenly swelled several times in size, conjuring layer upon layer of plaque shadows that enveloped her figure in the middle.

With a rumble, four dazzling balls of light burst into view!

The cyan plaque shadows flickered wildly, emitting dense cracking sounds, and the spiritual light on their surface dimmed by more than half, though they barely managed to withstand the attacks of the four.

This startled the five, including the bearded man.

"This place is not suitable for a prolonged stay; we must finish this quickly. Be careful not to harm this woman's life."

After the bearded man gave his orders in a deep voice, he raised his hand and tossed the object in his hand. It spun swiftly and transformed into a black giant brick over ten zhang in size, joining the fray.

With the combined efforts of five Nascent Soul cultivators, the assault grew fiercer, and the spiritual light on the surface of the cyan plaque shadows rapidly dimmed.

Just before the plaque shadows were about to collapse, Liu Le'er unhurriedly raised her hand and sacrificed a white silk dharma artifact shimmering with spiritual light, its grade seemingly no less than that of the previous cyan jade plaques.

The white silk merely wound around above her head; as spiritual light flickered, layers of white radiance emerged, and rings of white ripples spread outward, once again shrouding her figure, making it appear indistinct.

The bearded man and his four companions were both shocked and enraged, clearly not expecting a Core Formation cultivator to possess so many high-grade dharma artifacts.

However, these individuals were evidently not cooperating for the first time; they simultaneously increased the intensity of the mana they infused into their respective dharma artifacts!

Rumbling sounds arose on all sides!

The white radiance immediately trembled violently, but for the moment, there was no sign of it breaking.

Enveloped within the white glow, Liu Le'er hastily took a pill and began forming hand seals rapidly with both hands, but her small face was tense, and her heart was extremely nervous.

This was the first time she faced several enemies with cultivation far above her own. After all, the reason she had been able to kill Jia Ren, a cultivator at the Spirit Transformation stage, back then was thanks to the Essence Flame Firebird that Han Li had sealed within her body using special means. If she hadn't taken a temporary mana-boosting Essence Condensing Pill beforehand to fully unleash the bird's power, a one-hit kill would have been impossible.

The only reason she could hold out until now was due to the dharma artifacts and spirit pills Han Li had given her before leaving, just in case. Even so, her situation was becoming increasingly dire.

"No, I can't let anything happen! I promised my brother I would protect myself!"

The young girl bit her teeth tightly, her gaze flickering on her pale face. Suddenly, she raised her left arm and formed a hand seal.

A mysterious silver formation on her left arm suddenly lit up.

Accompanied by a clear chirp, a silver firebird slightly smaller than before shot out from it. Spreading its wings, it flashed out of the white glow and flew off to one side.

Two muffled sounds occurred almost simultaneously!

"Ah, this... what is this!"

"No..."

Amid the terrified screams of the two black-robed youths, silver flames instantly engulfed them.

This scene happened so suddenly that the bearded man and the other three hadn't even reacted before the two black-robed youths turned into puffs of smoke right before their eyes. Even their nascent souls failed to escape, and they vanished completely from the world.

In that brief moment of delay, the red-faced old man was also engulfed by silver flames with a flash of silver light. His protective spiritual light was useless, and he didn't even have time to let out a scream.

Finally snapping out of it, the bearded man and the purple-robed young woman were already terrified. Without a word, they turned and fled in separate directions.

The former's cultivation was slightly higher than the latter's, so his speed was naturally a bit faster.

But the silver firebird gave them no chance. With a lightning-fast dash, it turned into a blur of silver light and chased after them. In the blink of an eye, it crossed several hundred zhang and pierced through the purple-robed young woman from behind, turning her into a fireball plummeting downward.

"Master, save..."

Not long after, with a sudden, cut-off miserable scream, the bearded man's figure was submerged in silver flames and fell silent.

After circling in the distance, the silver light shot back and flashed into the young girl's arm, disappearing.

Liu Le'er's heart relaxed, but her face was already pale as paper. Her figure swayed a few times, and she could barely stand steady.

She quickly took out a spirit pill and swallowed it, and only then did her complexion regain a bit of color.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

The void above her head rippled, and a pitch-black demonic claw appeared out of thin air, grabbing down fiercely.

Before it even landed, the void below began to ripple with invisible waves, and an invisible spiritual pressure pressed directly down on the young girl.

Rip!

The protective white silk glow, already unstable, finally dispersed under this spiritual pressure!

The young girl was greatly alarmed and hurriedly tried to mobilize her spiritual power to escape using a遁术.

But in the next moment, she felt her entire body tighten. Not only could she not form hand seals, but she couldn't even move a single finger. She could only watch helplessly as strands of black light flew out from the demonic claw's palm, coalescing into a black net that bound her body.

With a flash, the pitch-black demonic claw vanished into the void. Then, not far away in midair, an old man in a black robe silently materialized. He had white hair, a black beard, and a gaunt figure.