“We’ll know what treasures or secrets Feng Lintao has after asking. If he doesn’t tell us, we can just ask Lan Yao and Yue Dong.”
The dao mark in Xu Qing’s right eye flickered as he stared into the distance and calmly spoke.
Erniu chuckled, his eyes filled with anticipation. He sped up with Xu Qing and maintained their concealment as they continued to speed.
Just like that, another few days passed.
During these few days, the middle-aged cultivator who had captured Feng Lintao was extremely cautious. He kept changing directions and was vigilant of his surroundings.
In the end, he passed Feng Lintao to an ordinary-looking old man in a small city.
After that, he left on his own. The face of Yue Dong that was intertwined in the threads of his fate also rapidly dissipated, allowing his fate to return to normal, but he would lose this memory forever.
As for the old man, he left the small city in another direction like a relay and continued forward.
This happened five times in the following half a month.
Every relay point was filled with different people. The former would leave while the latter would continue.
Moreover, their races were different. There were humans and even people from the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race.
They used this method to cut off all traces.
This caused the pursuers who might exist to lose the karma.
However, Erniu’s Ruthless Dao of Great Five Bulls Tracing the Origin was created in his previous life to scheme against the gods. It could even lock onto the body of a Ruler and its level was extremely high. Hence, no matter how Yue Dong’s people changed, Erniu’s lock on Feng Lintao was still there.
It couldn’t be broken by Yue Dong.
During this process, Xu Qing and Erniu finally caught up to Feng Lintao. They also witnessed these strange exchanges. Erniu’s gaze flickered slightly while Xu Qing narrowed his eyes.
“Little Qing, those people… something’s wrong. They can’t all be Devil Feather’s spies, right?”
Erniu suddenly spoke. He didn’t have an authority. Although he could sense Feng Lintao’s fate threads with his Dao of tracing the origin, he couldn’t see the fate of those whose emotions were controlled by Yue Dong.
However, it was clear in Xu Qing’s eyes.
The dao mark in his right eye flickered. After staring at the people, a hint of solemnity appeared on his face as he saw the reason.
“Eldest Senior Brother, these people’s karma and fate threads are weaving Yue Dong’s face…”
When Erniu heard this, his eyes revealed a strange glint.
“Weaving the threads of fate into a face… This is clearly some kind of puppetry technique. Could it be that between Lan Yao and Yue Dong, Yue Dong is the mastermind?”
Xu Qing recalled the scenes in the Golden Rat Cave with Lan Yao and Yue Dong back then and wasn’t very sure. He only remembered that Lan Yao’s hatred for Feng Lintao was extremely intense.
“After the fish takes the bait, 1’11 see if there’s a similar face in Lan Yao’s fate.”
As Xu Qing spoke, he strode forward in the sky and followed the cultivator who had captured Feng Lintao.
Snow started falling from the sky.
In fact, if one looked at it from above, the black land was covered in white snow. The further north they went, the thicker the snow and ice became.
At that moment, the person holding Feng Lintao was a middle-aged beautiful woman. This person clearly had some status in the nearby area, so her journey was even smoother.
Although this area also belonged to the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven, it was very close to the border of the Northern Wanggu.
The territory of the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race formed a long strip, with its edges connecting to the north and extending down to Liaoxuan in the south.
Hence, there was no need for any teleportation to head to the north from this location.
As they moved forward, the middle-aged woman’s speed became faster. Moreover, she seemed to have a clear target, as though this fishing trip was about to come to an end.
This was indeed the case.
Three days later, on a snowy mountain, the middle-aged woman stopped.
At the top of the mountain, she knelt down and lowered her head without saying a word.
Feng Lintao’s eyes were tightly closed as he was carried like a corpse. At that moment, even though the middle-aged woman was kneeling and he was placed to the side, he was still unconscious.
The surroundings were relatively quiet. Only the howling wind blew over from the horizon, stirring up waves of white snow that blended with the new snow that was blowing from the sky.
A long time later… a blurry figure appeared in the wind and snow.
It was a woman.
Her graceful figure was adorned in a star-studded long dress. With a delicate face resembling a hibiscus flower, her smooth, jet-black hair flowed like water, trailing behind her and intertwining with the falling snow as she walked.
What caught the most attention was her slender waist, graceful like a willow branch.
Her long jade legs were faintly visible beneath the dress, adding to her allure.
She was Lan Yao!
Lan Yao’s figure possessed both the slenderness of a young girl and the allure of a mature woman. This combination gave her an enchanting charm that was captivating and soul-stirring.
Especially with the white wings on her back, Lan Yao exuded an aura of purity, adding a touch of sanctity to her slender and alluring figure.
At that moment, she arrived from the wind and snow and walked to the snow mountain, standing in front of the middle-aged woman.
“Greetings, Fellow Daoist Lan. I didn’t let you and Miss Yue Dong down. I’ve brought this damn Feng Lintao over.”
The middle-aged woman took a deep breath and respectfully spoke.
Lan Yao nodded. Her gaze landed on the unconscious Feng Lintao at the side and her beautiful eyes revealed incomparable hatred. She raised her jade-like hand and pointed down.
At the next instant, Feng Lintao’s body trembled and his eyes slowly opened, revealing confusion.
It was as though everything in front of him was illusory as though he had just woken up. However, in reality, he was having endless thoughts in his mind, analyzing one method after another to face such a situation.
Confusion was only on the surface.
However, it was obvious that Lan Yao knew him too well. Before Feng Lintao could speak, she had already waved her jade-like hand. Immediately, Feng Lintao’s face distorted and he couldn’t help but let out a heart-rending wail.
The veins on his face bulged and his body trembled violently, as though his soul… was being extracted.
“Didn’t you realize that your personality has changed since we first met?”
“During the time I was chased by you and Yue Dong, I reviewed the past many times. I realized that… there’s something wrong with Yue Dong!”
“Lan Yao… You…”
As Feng Lintao wailed, he shouted, trying to wake Lan Yao up.
However, Lan Yao was unmoved. She was still extracting his soul.
Very soon, despair appeared in Feng Lintao’s eyes. Overlapping shadows appeared on his body and his soul seemed like it was about to be grabbed out.
At this critical moment, Feng Lintao used his last bit of strength to cry out for help.
“Your Majesty, save me!”
“Your Majesty, I guessed that the assassination attempt in the human race must have been tacitly approved by you. There’s a high chance that your goal is to use me to fish… Your Majesty, Lan Yao and Yue Dong hate me to the core. Save me!”
Lan Yao raised her head and stared at her surroundings.
The sky was as usual, the wind and snow were as usual. Nothing had changed.
Upon seeing this, the despair in Feng Lintao’s heart grew even more intense. Actually, he wasn’t very sure if the Empress was around, but now, in hindsight, as he recalled his journey, he had a vague premonition that he might have been used as bait.
As his soul was being torn apart and half of it was extracted, Feng Lintao threw caution to the wind.
“I have the inheritance of the Liaoxuan Holy Ancestor on me!! That’s the inheritance of a Great Emperor. Back then, my Liaoxuan Holy Ancestor was only a step away from the Summer Immortal!”
“Your Majesty, this inheritance of mine is the reason I am being targeted by Lan Yao and Yue Dong. I’m willing to offer it to the human race. This inheritance is very useful to the human race!!”
However, there were still no changes in the surroundings. Only the wind and snow became heavier.
With a whoosh, Feng Lintao’s soul was finally extracted by Lan Yao.
As his soul was taken out, Feng Lintao’s body turned into ashes that were blown away by the wind.
“Lan Yao, wake up. You’re under Yue Dong’s control!”
“Lan Yao!!!”
Feng Lintao’s soul trembled. The instant he was grabbed by Lan Yao, he let out his final cry in despair.
However, during this cry, he secretly risked the exhaustion of his soul and used a secret art to form a soul spike.
It suddenly erupted and pierced into Lan Yao’s forehead.
This soul spike’s full name was the Liaoxuan Soul Agitation Technique!
Once it was activated, it could cause the soul of the target to be in chaos and lose control.
Hence, in that instant, Lan Yao’s body trembled and a hint of confusion appeared in her eyes. Her grip on Feng Lintao’s soul relaxed slightly.
In the blink of an eye, Feng Lintao’s soul retreated.
In fact, for Feng Lintao, calling for the humans was the best outcome if it succeeded. If it failed, he could also turn this action into a display of his desperate struggle.
From there, he could ambush with his soul spike.
At this moment, it erupted unexpectedly.
However, the instant Feng Lintao’s soul sped into the distance, Lan Yao’s eyes turned bloodshot. She raised her head and stared fixedly into the distance, saying her first words since she arrived!
“You are courting death!”
After saying this, regret immediately rose in her heart. This was because before she arrived, she had received Yue Dong’s request that she couldn’t say a word after she appeared.
Not a single sound.
Originally, she would have completely complied. However, Feng Lintao’s soul spike still had its effect, causing her soul to tremble and the threads of fate to blur for a moment.
The four words that came out of her mouth were spoken during that instant of relaxation.
She couldn’t care less right now. She raised her hand and wanted to grab Feng Lintao.
However, at this moment, a calm voice echoed from the horizon.
“You’ve finally spoken.”
These words directly exploded in all directions, causing the whistling of the wind and snow here to form a storm that appeared out of thin air, instantly enveloping Lan Yao’s figure.
Lan Yao’s expression changed. Immediately after, she saw a familiar figure walking over from the storm.
He wore a long robe and had long hair. His peerlessly beautiful face made the storm into a backdrop.
He was Xu Qing.
The instant she saw Xu Qing, Lan Yao’s actions were extremely decisive. She immediately closed her eyes and her body rapidly withered. In an instant, her body directly turned into ashes.
This was only her clone!
At that moment, as the clone self-destructed, a storm swept past.
However, Xu Qing’s expression was calm. Earlier, when he sensed that the other party hadn’t said a word after appearing, he already felt that something was wrong. Presumably, the other party had obtained information about him. She knew that she couldn’t make any sound.
Hence, he didn’t appear.
It was only when Lan Yao said those four words that he walked out.
Now, even though the other party was only a clone and her confidence had dissipated, to Xu Qing, as long as he heard her voice, her main body… wouldn’t be able to hide.
Xu Qing raised his head and his divine consciousness spread out along with the divine authority of sound.
He followed the other party’s words, borrowed the wind, borrowed all things, borrowed all sounds… and began his search!
On the horizon, Feng Lintao, who was fleeing at full speed, had a drastic change in his expression. After that, he hurriedly revealed a fawning expression and quickly spoke to his side.
“Is Fellow Daoist Erniu beside me? I guessed from the start that you guys were going to fish, so 1 cooperated with all my might. I spared no expense and died many times and used all my tricks to help you catch this fish…”
As Feng Lintao spoke, Erniu’s figure walked out from the distortion in the void and stood in front of Feng Lintao with a spurious smile.