Chapter 88: Unexpected Branches!

  "You guys go too, don't make me lose face in front of the master." The old man and Lin Liang also said to their own beasts respectively.

  "Yes, master." The two beasts heard their master's words and eagerly rushed towards their opponents.

  "Let's three old guys take care of the remaining Ling Shen, and leave Xu Xing to Ruo Xue and Ye Chen!" Lin Liang said, looking at the two people who were left out.

  "Alright, little girl, that old thing is yours now." The old man shouted at Xu Xing.

  "Hmm, let's leave this old rascal to us!" said Leng Ruoxue, glancing at Xuhang with a faint tone.

  "You're going to die, you little wretch! I won't let you off!" Xu Xing bellowed in a rage, his face red with anger. He was truly furious - after all, he was a respected spiritual master, yet he had been humiliated by a mere yellow-haired brat. How could he swallow this insult? At that moment, he only wanted to kill Leng Ruoxue to vent his anger, and as for the young master's words, they had long since been forgotten.

  Xu Xing roared, and directly threw his accumulated icy palm at Leng Ruo Xue's direction. The strong gust of wind accompanied by the biting chill, drifted through the mountain valley...

  As the icy palm flew towards them, Leng Ruo Xue also released her own fire attribute spiritual power at the same time. The massive fire attribute spiritual power blocked their way, forming a wall of flames in front of them. Meanwhile, Yao Jiao's black spiritual power remained unchanged and fearlessly countered Xu Xing's incoming icy palm...

  This palm strike at least exerted nine layers of spiritual power, causing the originally low temperature in the valley to drop even lower. The people or beasts fighting around them naturally felt the chill, and Cold-as-Snow and Night-Chen's feelings were even more direct...

  "It's really cold!" Leng Ruoxue, who was in the midst of the palm wind, couldn't help but say. Fortunately, the fire attribute spiritual power she released dispersed some of the chill, otherwise, just this one palm would have been enough to freeze her into an ice block. She wondered, whose ice system skill is more powerful, his or Mei's?

  "Xue Er, I'll keep you warm." The demon stretched out his long arm and wrapped Xue Er in his embrace, while also snatching a bite of tender tofu.

  "You adulterous couple, I won't let you off, you're both dead for sure!" Xu Xing looked at Leng Ruo Xue and Ye Chen who were still flirting with each other in the midst of battle, and he was furious!

  "Adulterer and adulteress? You demon, are you talking about us?" Leng Ruoxue asked with a hint of confusion on her face, but the spiritual techniques in her hand didn't slow down at all, releasing one after another.

  "Feathers of the Fire Phoenix!"

  "Flames on the tree, silver flowers!"

  Whether it was a single spiritual skill or a group spiritual skill, they were all thrown out directly by Leng Ruoxue. Regardless of whether it was fire, water, or wind, as long as it was an attacking spiritual skill, they were all thrown at Xu Xing in a chaotic manner. For a time, the entire mountain valley was filled with a dazzling array of colorful spiritual energies that flashed and shone in mid-air, causing one's eyes to become dizzy and disoriented.

  Xu Xing on the opposite side was dodging and jumping around, looking extremely disheveled, with sparks flying off his body. Various spiritual powers surrounded him, teasing him playfully, occasionally attacking him...

  "We're not adulterers, we are legitimate! Xue Er, when will you give me a name?!" The demon's absolutely beautiful face was full of expectant expressions, his moist and shiny black eyes blinked non-stop as he spoke. At the same time, his hands didn't stop moving either. Looking at Xu Xing's disheveled and jumping appearance, he also released a ball of black spiritual energy to help stir things up...

  With the addition of that black spiritual energy, Xu Xing seemed even more disheveled, and those spiritual energies seemed to have conspired together, taking turns attacking him...

  "What kind of sinister spiritual skill is this? If you have the ability, let's fight one on one!" Xu Xing shouted loudly.

  "Monster, he wants us to fight him one on one!"

  "You're really shameless, bringing so many people here to kill us, and you still have the nerve to ask for a one-on-one fight?" The demon sneered.

  "Right! You old monster, don't you have any shame left!" An old man who was currently fighting a spirit god couldn't help but chime in.

  "Monster, let's not play with him anymore, let's end this quickly!" said Leng Ruoxue to the monster.

  "Good." The demon nodded.

  A black spiritual energy gathered in his palm once again, he grasped the black spiritual energy and softly said: "Go! Go and destroy him!"

  That spiritual energy seemed to have understood, slightly jumped twice, and then rushed towards Xu Xing at the speed of light, immediately disappearing into Xu Xing's body...

  At the same time, Xu Xing's second and third palms also moved together, rushing towards Leng Ruo Xue and Yao Nie.

  After firing two palms, the temperature in the valley was a few degrees lower than just now, and the surrounding desolate mountains had even formed a layer of ice.

  "Little doll, kill him quickly, it's too cold!" The old man shouted in a somewhat unbearable manner, wailing... At his age, he was most afraid of the cold.

  "Alright, you monster, move aside."

  The demon retreated a few steps and gave up his position to Xue Er.

  Leng Ruo Xue drew out his own sword, the sharp treasure sword emitting waves of cold light: "Xu Xing, let you taste my 'Flowing Star Sword Technique'."

  "Feathers of the Fire Phoenix!"

  After Leng Ruo Xue merged the Huo Feng's feathers into her swordsmanship, the power of the Huo Feng's feathers increased several times. A single feather radiating silver-white light flew rapidly towards Xu Xing. The spiritual phoenix feathers surrounded Xu Xing and circled him twice before splitting into countless smaller feathers that began to circle around Xu Xing...

  Xu Xing dodged to the left and right, avoiding the feather. Before he could even show off, he found that the feather was splitting, becoming more and more. What's going on? Xu Xing was momentarily stunned...

  Just as Xu Xing reacted and was about to throw his fourth palm, those small and exquisite Feng feathers didn't give him any chance. Instead, they directly wrapped him from head to toe... In an instant, Xu Cheng turned into a human torch!

  "Ah!" A miserable cry was heard from the burning man's body, and a few seconds later, he fell to the ground...

  On the other side of the battlefield, the beasts of the crowd were still fiercely fighting their own enemies...

  "You damned long-haired beast, I'll kill you!" The Ling Shen who was fighting with Mei shouted in a rage, this dead fox actually killed his spiritual beast, he won't let it go!

  "You're the beast." A gigantic fox over ten meters tall, calm and composed, said this. At this time, Mei was in her strongest battle state, and compared to that, the human spirit god was like a small dwarf.

  "Taste my 'Ice Purgatory'!" Mei said, and a stream of ice-attributed spiritual energy shot towards that Spiritual God. The chill was bone-piercing, and in the blink of an eye, that Spiritual God had been frozen into a human-shaped ice sculpture.

  At this time, the battles of other beasts had almost all ended, and only Ling Tian and his group were left on the field, still fighting...

  "Master, do you need my help?" Lei Xiao said with a hint of concern as he watched the battle. In fights against opponents of the same level, humans were usually no match for spirit beasts, so their opponents were often easily defeated. But the master's opponent... was stronger than them, so it seemed like they were having some trouble fighting back.

  "Not a chance!" Leng Qing Tian retorted, such a great opportunity for a showdown, how could they let it slip away? Although this guy's strength was above theirs, and there was the pressure of his level, however, the pressure from one Spirit God was still something they could withstand.

  Leng Qingtian was releasing his heavenly spiritual technique while continuously throwing handfuls of spirit-recovering pellets into his mouth, and he wasn't the only one - Lao Tou and Lin Liang were doing the same.

  "You're too despicable!" The Ling Shen who was fighting against them had never seen anyone take elixirs like this before, and was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

  "It's despicable of you, we're just using the same method to deal with you. Lin Liang thought it was unacceptable, having an alchemist by his side was good enough, otherwise who would dare to eat this way?"

  "It's a fatal blow!" The old man suddenly shouted when he saw the timing was almost right.

  "Good."

  Leng Qingtian and Lin Liang simultaneously made their preparations, and upon receiving the old man's eye signal, they simultaneously launched their strongest attacks...

  "Divine Flame Blade!"

  "Wind Blade Slash!"

  "Glory of Water!"

  Only three spiritual powers of red, cyan and pale blue simultaneously attacked that only living spirit...

  Three-colored spiritual energy entered his body and immediately began to fight each other, struggling within his spiritual body...

  All I could hear was a "crackling" sound, constantly coming from that spiritual being's body...

  That divine spirit's expression was now one of unbearable pain, his face alternating between red, green and blue...

  "Ah!" Along with that mournful cry of the spirit...

  Right after that, a "Boom!" sound was heard, and the body of that spiritual god was blown to pieces...

  "Ah, we finally succeeded, it wasn't easy at all!" The old man said with a sigh of emotion. He thought he was doomed to die for sure, but who knew that things would turn around and not only did he not die, but also took down half of his opponents, what a stroke of luck!

  "Yes, it's really too thrilling! The remaining ones will have a chance to slowly collect them!" Lin Liang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said that fighting against the Ling Shen was not ordinary fatigue. Fortunately, there were those elixirs, otherwise, they would not be able to kill one of the Ling Shen.

  "It's good that those people separated." Leng Qingtian also echoed.

  "Alright, little doll, let's clean up the battlefield. Those spirits may be a bit poor, but who knows, we might find something useful." The old man said, and casually removed a storage ring from one of the spirits' hands. He scanned it with his divine sense, and instantly his face turned very unsightly.

  "What's wrong?" Leng Qingtian asked somewhat puzzled, and took the old man's ring in his hand. After a glance, he fell silent as well.

  "These guys are even poorer than I thought." The old man explained with a questioning gaze at Lin Liang.

  "Then... is it still being collected?" Lin Liang paused and asked.

  "Let's get going! This is our spoils of war." Leng Qingtian thought for a moment, guessing that the old man and Lin Liang would also follow them later. To support so many people, how much money would they need? Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

  "Alright." The crowd and the beasts dispersed after hearing Leng Qing Tian's words, going their separate ways to clean up the battlefield and destroy any remaining bodies.

  As everyone went to help, Ling Wu Xue observed the deserted valley alone. The valley was 30-40 meters deep and seemed bottomless at first glance. It was surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a temperature several degrees lower than outside. Most importantly, it was soundproof, so much so that the intense battle just now had not made any noise escape. This...was truly a great place.

  "Xue Er, be careful!"

  "Ah Xue!"

  "Little doll!"

  "Master!"

  Leng Ruo Xue suddenly heard everyone's voices and was about to turn around when she saw Xu Hang, whose entire body was charred black, charging towards her like a madman...

  Originally, Xú Háng, who had been pretending to be dead all along, took advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention and gathered all his remaining spiritual energy in his palm, planning to deliver a fatal blow to Lěng Ruò Xuě...

  Xu Xing unexpectedly didn't die? Leng Ruo Xue's heart was shocked, but before she could react, Xu Xing had already attacked her in front of her eyes...

  Suddenly, a tall figure appeared in front of Leng Ruoxue, blocking Xu Xing's palm for her. Immediately after, several streams of spiritual energy arrived simultaneously and shot at Xu Xing. Xu Xing's body went limp and he fell to the ground, this time truly dead.

  "Monster!" Cold-as-snow cried out in fear, tightly hugging the monster that was continuously falling down. Sparkling tears uncontrollably gushed out of her eyes, and her heart suddenly felt empty, as if she had lost something important.

  "Xue Er, my Xue Er, don't cry, I'll be fine." The demon wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and comforted her, while Xue Er cried for him... He was so happy, but also heartbroken!

  "Mm-hmm, nothing will happen to you, I won't let anything happen to you!" Leng Ruoxue hugged Yao Jiao tightly and said domineeringly.

  "Xu'er, I'm so cold!" The demon whispered, Xu Xian's icy palm was indeed poisonous, he now only felt that his body was like being cut by an ice knife, but fortunately, it hit him instead, otherwise, how could Xu'er's delicate skin withstand it.

  "I'll hold you and won't let you feel cold." Leng Ruo Xue held the demon in her arms even tighter, and tears fell like pearls.

  "Let me take a look." The old man who first came to their side frowned and said, while grabbing one of Ye Chen's arms to examine it.

  "How is it?" At this time, people like Leng Qingtian who were farther away from them also arrived.

  "The poison is too potent!" The old man said in a low voice, shaking his head gently. Alas, it's hopeless! This is the sinister part of Xu family's Frostbite Palm, where the icy poison can invade the body and wreak havoc on its functions after being hit by the Frostbite Palm. And to make matters worse, Xu used a move that would harm both parties...

  After hearing the old man's words, Leng Qingtian, Lin Liang and the hearts of all the beasts also became extremely heavy. Alas! What was originally a perfect plan, but who would have thought that such an accident would occur, this is...

  "Monster! Monster! Wake up, don't leave me!" Looking at the monster who had already fainted, Leng Ruo Xue cried out in anguish, her heart aching like a knife cut!

  "Xue Er, calm down, he...he already..." Leng Qing Tian couldn't continue, he had just checked Ye Chen's breathing and it was gone...

  "He just fainted, I'll cure him, I won't let him leave me!" Leng Ruo Xue said, then hugged the demon's body and returned to the 'Qian Kun Ring' with a turn of her mind.

  "Xue Er, brother is here to help you!" Cold Ruo Han in the circle saw his sister's dispirited appearance and was heartbroken. He hastily took Ye Chen who had been frozen stiff from Cold Ruo Xue's hands.

  "Thank you, brother. Would you mind helping me carry this demon to the Purple Bamboo House?" said Leng Ruoxue in an exceptionally calm tone.

  Leng Ruo Han nodded slightly, holding Ye Chen's icy body and entering the Purple Bamboo House, placing him on the jade bed inside.

  "Brother, thank you, I want to be alone with Yaoni for a while." said Leng Ruoxue calmly.

  "Alright, brother is gone." Leng Ruo Han said with some helplessness. Alas! Xue Er's current state was really worrying him. In his heart, Xue Er, whether crying or throwing a tantrum, was always better than being this calm.

  "What about Xue Er?" Leng Qingtian, who had already returned to the 'Dry Universe Ring', asked with concern.

  "It's really bad." Leng Ruo Han said bluntly, although he didn't want to scare Grandpa, but Snow was indeed in a very bad state now.

  "Alas! How could this have happened? And how did Xu Xing not die?! Snow's flames aren't ordinary flames, after all!" Leng Qingtian was truly at a loss for thought.

  "I once heard that the Xu family had a secret method to fake their own death. Moreover, the Xu family was mainly based on ice-type spiritual power, I reckon he used his ice-type spiritual power to freeze himself and then faked his own death." Lin Liang explained, when he first heard someone mention this secret method of the Xu family, he thought that person was joking, but it turned out to be true.

  "Let's go and finish off the remaining evil spirits, let the little girl vent her anger!" The old man suggested, alas, he can't help, he's anxious!

  "If killing them would bring Ye Chen back to life, then I'll go right now!" Leng Qing Tian said furiously.

  "What can we do?" The old man pouted, looking very wronged.

  "Of course I'll stay with Xue'er, what if she gets desperate!" Leng Qingtian said worriedly, now even if knives were falling from the sky, he wouldn't let anyone take his granddaughter half a step away.

  In the purple bamboo house.

  She stood still as snow beside the body of the demon, which had already begun to freeze. Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes... In fact, she knew very well that the demon was already dead...

  "Monster!" Cold-as-snow couldn't help but softly exclaim.

  The scene when she first met the demon was still deeply etched in her mind, and she remembered that when she first saw the demon, she had a premonition that this guy would definitely be big trouble, and the fact proved that she was right.

  She had lived two lifetimes, and the number of men she had seen was not small. However, this was her first time seeing a demon like him who loved to act spoiled so much. Although she was very clear that his acting spoiled was only towards her, in front of outsiders, he was absolutely black-bellied and frightening.

  The demon likes to be coquettish, likes to eat vinegar, likes to occasionally nibble on her tofu...

  All memories related to you, at this moment, are still so clear...

  It turns out that the demon had already unknowingly entered his heart, but he himself was completely unaware of it!

  All along, she thought she had just treated the demon as one of her own, but today she realized that was not the case!

  It wasn't until the demon left her that she realized how important it was to her, but... why? The demon had already taken over her heart, but when did it start?

  Why? Why? It wasn't until she lost the demon that she discovered she loved him...

  Uh... thinking of this, Leng Ruo Xue's tears could no longer be controlled, rolling down...

  "Monster, I love you!" Cold-as-snow muttered to herself.

  But...

  "You demon, you've never said 'I love you' to me, so you can't just leave me like this, I won't let you!"

  "You demon, I will find you, no matter where your soul has gone, I must find you!"

  "You demon, I'm very overbearing and have a strong possessive desire. Now that I've discovered my own heart, you can forget about leaving me!"

  "You demon, you were born for me, and even in death, you'll be my ghost! Whether alive or dead, you can only belong to me! Do you understand?"

  "You little monster, wait quietly for me, I'll go find you!"

  ……

  Outside the Bamboo House

  "It's been so many days already, Snow doesn't even know how she is?" Leng Qingtian's face was written with the two big words "worry", and he couldn't stop pacing back and forth.

  "Grandfather, sister is fine, trust me." Qing Jue hurriedly comforted him, the situation in the Purple Bamboo House had always been under his control, and his sister hadn't thought of anything bad, just... Alas! All in all, it's still okay!

  "Lao Leng, Qing Jue have all said so, you don't need to worry about it. When it comes to emotional matters, outsiders like us can't help much, we can only rely on Ruo Xue herself to open up." Lin Liang said with a helpless expression, one Ruo Xue was already enough to make them worried and frightened, and Lao Leng actually followed suit and added to the chaos!

  "But it's already been ten days, and you still won't eat or drink..." Leng Qingtian couldn't help but say.

  "Grandpa, believe Xue Er!" Leng Ruohan walked over to her grandfather's side and comforted him.

  "You old fart, all you know is eating! Eating! Eating!" Leng Qing Tian turned his head around and saw the old man still indulging in food and drink, he was so angry that he couldn't help but scold.

  "What do you know? I call this turning sorrow into appetite." The old man said with a big tone, alas, he is also worried about the little girl! But, can't think of a good way, so, had to use eating to vent.

  "Yu is back." Qing Jue said suddenly.

  "What's it like outside now?" The two old men stopped arguing and asked in a hurry after seeing Yu return.

  "The majority of the Lingfeng continent has been occupied by those spiritual gods, and the Huo and Feng families have also suffered heavy casualties." Yu explained that those people were too arrogant, and any forces on the Lingfeng continent that refused to surrender or submit to them had already been eliminated.

  "What's going on in Dongchi?"

  "There is no country on the mainland of Lingfeng anymore."

  The old man fell silent after hearing Yu's words.

  "Cheer up, those are just material things, at least your descendants are still safe now." Lan Tianyan comforted.

  "I knew it." The old man nodded, although he had been mentally prepared for this, but when he suddenly heard it, he still felt a little sad, after all, that was the foundation of his Li family.

  "Alas, it's all messed up!" Lin Liang sighed helplessly.

  In a civilian residence in a remote small town in the northern part of Lingfeng Continent.

  Feng Yan and others were hiding in this place.

  "Director Feng, how is it outside?" Feng Mo had just returned from scouting out the news outside and was immediately surrounded by the anxious crowd waiting at home.

  "The situation is very bad." The wind-blown and slightly tired face was full of worry.

  "What about my master and mistress?" Green Peach asked anxiously, tightly grasping the sleeve of Feng Mo Ran's clothes.

  "They've gone missing, and those spirits have been searching for them too. But I heard they still haven't found them, so I guess they should be safe now." Feng Yan hastily comforted.

  "Big brother, how is the Wind family now?" Feng Ao asked with some trepidation.

  "It's all over!" Feng Mo said with a complicated tone, although the people of the Feng family were not good to him, after all, they were his relatives by blood. When he first heard this news, his heart was also very uncomfortable.

  "It's gone..."

  Feng was stunned for a while, and after coming back to his senses, he tightly grabbed Feng Mo Ran's arm and anxiously asked: "Big brother, are you deceiving me? The Wind family has a great elder and grandfather, how can they be gone? This is impossible! Impossible!"

  "Arrogant, he is a spiritual being, the top existence in the Lingfeng Continent." Feng Mo didn't know how to comfort his younger brother, because he knew that Ao Ran's feelings for the Wind family were far deeper than his own.

  "Hey, calm down, you still have your big brother, and he will take care of you." Feng Mo Ran continued.

  "Big brother!" Feng Ao Ran tearfully threw herself into Feng Mo Ran's arms and burst into sobs!

  "The Crazy Python Mercenaries have arrived!" Feng Da shouted as he rushed in from outside.

  "Feng Da, what do we do now?" Lü Táo asked somewhat at a loss. The people of the Kuáng Mǎng Mercenary Corps had already defected to those Ling Shen, and besides, the people of the Kuáng Mǎng knew their identities, so they had been pursuing them relentlessly.

  "You all quickly find a place to hide, those little rascals leave them to me and Captain Feng." Feng Da hastily made arrangements. The young lady had gone missing, so he had the responsibility and obligation to protect these people's safety. He couldn't betray the young lady's trust.

  The people in the courtyard heard Feng Da's words and quickly found a place to hide, lest they drag down the two of them.

  "Feng Da, you guys are quite good at hiding." The voice of Zhang Jian, the young master of the Crazy Python Mercenary Group, came from outside the courtyard.

  "Zhang Jian, you dog of the Xu family, why aren't you licking your master's ass instead of wandering around?" Feng Da said with a scornful smile.

  "Damn it, who are you calling a dog?" Zhang Jian furiously roared as he walked into the yard.

  "Is there anyone else here besides you?" Feng Da's sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, searching.

  "Feng Da, you're dead for sure, but if you're willing to tell me where Leng Ruoxue and the others are, I'll spare your life." Zhang Jian said with a seemingly magnanimous tone.

  "I don't know, what can I say!" Feng Da said disapprovingly.

  "Then die! Come on, kill them both!" Zhang Jian shouted loudly, drawing his sword to attack Feng Da first, while his men attacked Feng Mo Ran.

  "Zhang Jian, is this all you've got?" Feng Da easily dodged Zhang Jian's attack and countered with a knife infused with spiritual energy, striking towards Zhang Jian...

  Zhang Jian's reaction was slow and he got cut by a knife!

  "Wait for me!" Zhang Jian roared with a gaze full of murderous intent.

  "Come out, Black Dragon!" With Zhang Jian's loud roar, a gigantic black python appeared in front of everyone. The python's massive body stood upright, almost filling the entire courtyard, its fierce and cold gaze fixed intently on Feng Da and Feng Mo Ran.

  Feng Da and Feng Mo Ran exchanged a tacit smile in the midst of battle...

  "Fire Dragon, come out and meet this Black Dragon!" Feng Da said with a smile in his eyes.

  Digression

  Thank you for the beautiful crystal and flowers from yq9589.

  Thank you annycat for the diamond.