Zi Chen has been trapped by the River God for almost four months, and Ye Qingxue is still being hunted down.

  Chen Jing felt incredulous, now looking at Ye Qingxue's state, how could he not see that her magic was almost depleted. And yet Jiang Liuyun seemed to be ignoring it all, simply walking forward with an empty stride.

  He suppressed his anger, patted the long sword at his waist and was about to rise into the air, but seeing that they were heading towards Xiuchun Bay, he stopped again. He thought to himself that it would be better to wait until they reached the sky above Xiuchun Bay before rescuing Ye Qingxue, which would give him a greater grasp of the situation. As long as he was within the river domain, he wasn't afraid of anyone, even if he could feel an overwhelming power surging towards him like a tidal wave, he still had confidence in rescuing Ye Qingxue.

  The temple of the land god, Qin Hu also felt a turbulent and surging power hovering above, but he didn't care. At this time, his mind was only on that one soul-worm. Soul-worms are different from ordinary worms, this soul-worm was originally a kind of soul-controlling technique, used to control the powerful demon spirits in the Hong Huang era, and later slowly developed into controlling the worm techniques through objects in the Xian Dao people.

  This Gu is called the Dazzling Butterfly, and before it reaches maturity, its power is not particularly great. Its main function is to confuse and disorient, even those on the path of immortality can be bewildered by it, but they will soon wake up, and their body will not suffer any harm. After being discovered by the witch tribe, it was cultivated into a powerful soul Gu, which can confuse the soul of the person who is targeted, allowing the caster to control them.

  Qin Huo happened to have obtained this already consecrated soul gu, now it's just a matter of consecrating it.

  He waved his hand in front of him, and a river-like illusion appeared. In it, a small insect with a crystal clear body like a water droplet was twisting and turning in the water, soft and boneless, like a spider's silk falling into the water.

  Calm your mind, concentrate your spirit, forget yourself.

  Qin's heart only had a single thread of his original intention, if someone were to enter this shrine built with faith and will, killing him would be as easy as turning one's hand. When he released the soul devouring wasp, he left behind in his heart a thought that wouldn't let himself get lost, while most of his thoughts merged into the wasp.

  Cold, desolate, and merciless.

  This is what Qin Husky felt when he infused his consciousness into the butterfly, seeing the world through its eyes as black and white, not the colorful world he was used to. Both the earth and sky were intertwined with black and white.

  The river where it is located is a piece of blackness, like thick fog flowing between heaven and earth, with white light emerging from the black river.

  Those tiny white lights are masculine spiritual energy, and many spiritual lights can be seen floating in the air, while some of them seem to have been attracted by something and float in one direction.

  The transparent body of the wasp twisted in the river, and unexpectedly caught that point of spiritual light in the river, merged with the spiritual light, disappeared, and that point of spiritual light just paused slightly, and then flew away in one direction again.

  The Gu insect merged into the spiritual light, Qin Hu's thoughts connected with the Gu insect, and he immediately felt a sense of moisture from that point of spiritual light. Drifting along with that faint attraction, he floated aimlessly, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes sinking, sometimes rising. Qin Hu had no control over it at all, and surprisingly, he didn't worry about drifting into the vast empty space. He didn't know that his consciousness was infinitely close to that point of spiritual energy, without thoughts or desires. If not for the fact that he had reserved a bit of his mental spirit in his physical body, he would have been lost forever.

  At last, a black and white yin-yang colored sky appeared in his eyes, followed by the sight of a person standing on the river surface, also in black and white colors. The outline was still clear, with sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, and scattered black hair, somewhat gaunt figure, looking up at the sky with a seemingly calm face, but actually solemn.

  That face he couldn't forget, and in an instant a surge of hatred rose up in his heart. The other party suddenly became vigilant, looking around cautiously, with a hint of clarity appearing in their eyes. Qin Hu knew this was the Gazing God Technique.

  He was shocked in his heart, the other party's eyes had already swept over him, he had a feeling of being seen through, but the other party actually raised his head and ignored him, as if he hadn't discovered anything. He suddenly understood that the other party couldn't see himself, he himself would also gaze at spirits, and couldn't see these spiritual energies, only able to feel them. Only now did he discover that this Butterfly Soul Gu was truly special, with the eyes of a butterfly looking at the world it was incredibly clear, many things that couldn't be seen before could actually be seen.

  A little bit of spiritual light flew into the other person's body, he could see that those spiritual lights as soon as they entered the other person's body merged into the river domain of the imperial edict, turning into a drop of river water. He naturally knew that the imperial edict was the only law power that could be taken away from this river domain, and he himself was no exception. After leaving Junling Town, he couldn't use the spiritual power of Junling Town's land, and what he could use was only the law power in the imperial edict.

  Even with his current calm and composed state, having merged with the Soul Devouring Insects and Spiritual Light, he couldn't help but feel a bit tense. He watched as the Spiritual Light slowly merged into his body, while he himself drew closer, completely unaware of the dark cloud gathering in the sky above. If he could have looked up at that moment, he would have seen the black and white smoke-like magic, so vibrant and resplendent.

  In the midst of the black whirlwind, the lightning flashes seemed particularly dazzling. Ye Qingxue's hands were clasped together in front of her, one palm facing upwards, forming a lotus shape, with electric flowers flashing on her palm, illuminating her originally gentle and elegant demeanor to an extremely cold and enchanting state.

  Behind her, there was always a black specter shrouded in dark smoke, with two horns on its head and two wings on its back, chasing after her. Every time she took a step, a flash of lightning would illuminate the ground beneath her feet, and her body would vanish into thin air, only to reappear in another location. And at the moment she disappeared, there would always be several spells or magical artifacts falling down, stirring up the void like a turbulent sea.

  Black flames suddenly appeared out of thin air, as if even the wind could burn, but every time they dissipated, it was just Ye Qingxue's illusion.

  The demon ghost punched out with a mighty fist, its momentum like a mountain, filled with destructive aura, but every punch fell empty, provoking the demon ghost to shout angrily.

  ……

  Qin Hu was getting closer and closer to Chen Jing, one zhang, one foot, just about to touch his body. He was overjoyed in his heart, only halfway into Chen Jing's body, it would be considered half successful. Suddenly a gust of wind blew, and the spiritual light was blown open instantly.

  Qin was furious in his heart, but there was nothing he could do. Fortunately, this burst of spiritual light was only blown three zhang away.

  Three zhang, two zhang, one zhang, nine chi, six chi, step by step closer, Qin's heart was tense. Three chi, one chi, within reach. But just at this moment, the spiritual light stopped because the suction force that absorbed spiritual energy on Chen Jing's body disappeared.

  Ye Qingxue felt that she was about to die, since entering the Thousand Luo Mountain at the age of seven, she had never left the mountain. The first time she left the Thousand Luo Mountain was when the Thousand Luo Gate was destroyed. Her use of thunder magic was so divine that many famous people died under her Nine Nights Thunder. However, her cultivation was ultimately empty, only refining energy and not entering the immortal path, her magical powers would eventually dry up. So, she was about to die soon. Yet, there was no hint of resentment or regret on her face before death, still filled with calmness and serenity.

  Her magic had dried up, a black flame was born with the wind, and in an instant it swallowed her whole. At the same time, a malevolent spirit with horns on its head and wings on its back struck down with one fist, and Ye Qingxue fell to the ground like a butterfly with broken wings. The flames still wrapped around her body, as if she was a phoenix being reborn.

  "Haha... fellow Taoists, I'll take this person. I'll refine her into a Ling Wei, and the things on Jiang Liu's body will be yours." A Taoist holding a withered leaf laughed loudly.

  As he finished speaking, the withered leaf in his hand flew out and disappeared into thin air. When it reappeared, it was already under Ye Qingxue's feet. The withered leaf swelled up against the wind, covering the sky and sun, as if to envelop Ye Qingxue.

  No one went with him to contend, each turned their head to chase after the still empty and void Jiang Liu Yun.

  In everyone's heart, Ye Qingxue is already a dead person.

  Ye Qingxue had fallen into a hallucination, feeling as if her entire body was burning, every inch of skin on fire. The flames seemed to burn down to her soul, leaving her with a sense of dispersing spirit in an instant, rendering her powerless and her body seemingly disappearing, with only a thread of consciousness remaining. With great effort, she opened her eyes to take one last look at the world, but when she did, she saw stars filling the sky.

  This expanse of sky is the one she has been gazing at for over a decade, ever since she entered the Thousand Luo Mountain. She has been cultivating in the mountains behind, disliking to sit indoors in stillness, but instead preferring to sit atop her dwelling under the starry sky. Often lifting her head to gaze at the sky, the stars twinkling as if beckoning: come on, let's go play up there! Thus, she strives diligently in her practice, all for the day when she can tread upon clouds and ascend to the heavens to be with the boundless starlight.

  At this time.

  Clang...

  A loud sword hum suddenly rang out, Qin Hu merged with the butterfly to get closer, and his senses became even more acute. At the moment the sword hum sounded, a murderous intent like icy water poured into his soul, causing his mind to fall into an icy state. Although this state only lasted for a moment, it made him wake up with extreme horror in his heart afterwards.

  Ye Qingxue's eyes were already closed, and the sound of a sword humming in her ears seemed to be an illusion in the sky. Who was drawing their sword? Her heart stirred slightly as she thought of her former junior brother who refused to learn any spells, only focusing on his swordsmanship, and wondered if he was still alive. If he was, then when he drew his sword, it would also be so clean and pure.

  A surge of murderous aura came, Ye Qingxue was stimulated by the cold murderous aura, her mind cleared up, and the scene in front of her returned to reality. She saw that the dark clouds in the sky were cut open by a snow-white light from the middle, and the white light did not stop at all, stabbing down towards him.

  She saw clearly, it was a sword, a sword that made her feel familiar.

  The sword had a faint white glow surrounding it, and seemed to have the shadow of a river following its movement. Wherever it passed, an illusory river burst forth.

  "Who dares to intervene in our affairs? Are they not afraid of being destroyed body and soul?"

  Ye Qingxue did not hear anyone respond, she only saw the sword tip suddenly tremble, one sword transformed into two swords, two swords turned into three swords, and three swords conjured up layers of sword shadows. In the blink of an eye, the sword shadows spread out to cover the sky and earth, piercing through the withered leaves that were about to envelop her, tearing them into shreds and instantly turning them to dust.

  The sword light enveloped Ye Qingxue, and a river shadow wrapped her up, the flames on her body suddenly extinguished. The river waves formed a cluster of ripples supporting her as she fell into the embroidered spring river domain.

  Several people who were about to leave suddenly turned around, shouting angrily as they rushed towards the sky. The demon ghosts grabbed at the sword body without any regard, and his whole body was shrouded in black smoke like night.

  Those withered leaves that had been reduced to fragments were now swirling towards the sword like dust.

  Black flames spread across the sky like heavenly fire.

  A ghost-headed knife descended from mid-air, as if it was about to split the sword and Ye Qingxue in two.

  ……