Sensing the malice directed at her, the Holy Maiden of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land's fair features shifted subtly. She suddenly raised her hand, and a strange force erupted from her spiritual soul body.
The force was quite remarkable — it carried no killing intent or malice whatsoever, yet when this energy appeared, it descended like celestial rain, shimmering with a faint glow as it fell upon Yang Kai, Hai Wangu, and the elderly surnamed Cheng, seeping into their spiritual soul bodies before vanishing without a trace.
All three furrowed their brows, unsure what the Holy Maiden intended.
But strangely enough, after she did this, Yang Kai suddenly felt much more at peace. A comfortable sensation arose from within his body, spreading outward, as though a notion of abandoning worldly entanglements and retreating into seclusion among the mountains and forests had taken root in his mind, robbing him of all interest in his surroundings.
His heart jolted with alarm. He quickly gathered his focus and drove away the lethality from his thoughts, then looked over at Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng — only to discover with great surprise that the turbulent fluctuations within the two old men's spiritual soul bodies seemed to have been smoothed over. They were no longer as frenzied as before, each one considerably more clear-headed.
It appeared that this soul technique of the Holy Maiden served to calm and purify the mind.
Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng exchanged a glance, both with deeply furrowed brows. After a long moment of contemplation, Hai Wangu finally spoke: "You saw what happened just now, didn't you, Your Grace?"
The Holy Maiden's delicate expression shifted, and she forced a smile: "I did. But rest assured, I won't breathe a word of it. I don't want anyone to know I've been here either. What we need to do most right now is find a way out and leave this place. Wouldn't you agree?"
Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng both fell into silence, their faces dark and brooding, seemingly lost in deep thought.
The Holy Maiden grew visibly uneasy. Although she had used her unique soul technique to temporarily stabilize the minds of Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng, these two were fundamentally unscrupulous people. Once they harbored dark intentions, even her soul technique couldn't sway their thoughts or actions.
She quickly cast a pleading look toward Yang Kai. Yang Kai pretended not to notice.
The Holy Maiden gritted her teeth in frustration!
After a long while, Hai Wangu suddenly spoke: "Brother Cheng, what do you think?"
The elderly surnamed Cheng drew a deep breath and spoke in a low voice: "Things have reached this point. Either we do nothing — or we see it through to the end!"
Hai Wangu let out a sinister grin: "As expected of Brother Cheng — you've arrived at the same conclusion as I have."
As he spoke, he shot a cold, glacial look at the Holy Maiden and snorted: "A Holy Maiden? So what? In this place, nobody cares about your status or rank. If you die here, no one will ever know."
The Holy Maiden's expression finally changed, realizing that these two old men intended to silence her to protect their secret.
So many outsider martial artists had already perished, and the Seven Families Alliance had suffered considerable losses as well. If the truth of what happened here spread, it would bring catastrophic damage to the Hai and Cheng families.
Moreover, this place truly was an ideal location for murder and silence.
As the words hung in the air, the spiritual fluctuations of the two surged once more, radiating a frenzied and sinister aura. Without a single word, two focused and dangerous waves of divine sense attacked suddenly lashed out toward Yang Kai.
Yang Kai's strength appeared to be the lowest among them, so naturally Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng intended to eliminate him first before dealing with the Holy Maiden of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land.
Yang Kai's expression turned cold. At the very instant the two attacks were about to reach him, he suddenly dodged.
"Hm?" Both Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng looked somewhat surprised.
"I'll hold one of them off for you. One-on-one, you should be able to win, right?" Yang Kai called out to the Holy Maiden of the Nine Heavens Sacred Land, then beckoned at Hai Wangu with a finger and flashed a contemptuous smirk: "Come on, old man — you're with me!"
"You reckless brat!" Hai Wangu snorted coldly, and true to form, was easily provoked by Yang Kai. He immediately gave chase.
Under normal circumstances, Hai Wangu wouldn't have been so obedient, but at this moment, whether it was him or the elderly surnamed Cheng, having devoured far too much of other people's spiritual soul energy, their minds had grown muddled. One could say that what drove most of their actions now was sheer instinct. With Yang Kai's provocation, he naturally pursued without hesitation.
"Hey—" The Holy Maiden grew frantic, about to explain something to Yang Kai, when she suddenly saw the elderly surnamed Cheng bearing down on her with a vicious expression. Her face changed drastically, and she hurriedly deployed her soul technique in defense.
Yang Kai had already led Hai Wangu far away. He didn't engage him in combat, merely dodging his divine sense attacks continuously while seizing the opportunity to observe the situation over at the Holy Maiden's side.
His original plan had been to let the Holy Maiden take care of Hai Wangu and the others. That way, he wouldn't have to reveal his strength and the secret of his Soul Fire in front of her.
He had also felt that, given the Holy Maiden's background and resources, she should have had the capability to do so.
Although her cultivation was a minor realm lower than Hai Wangu and the elderly surnamed Cheng, the Nine Heavens Sacred Land and the Seven Families Alliance were simply not on the same tier of power. Judging from the soul technique she had displayed earlier, she truly had the ability to handle them.
But after watching for a while, Yang Kai realized something was off.
Under the relentless onslaught of the elderly surnamed Cheng, the woman did nothing but evade and defend — she had no intention of counterattacking whatsoever.
From her demeanor and movements, she clearly had the conditions and opportunities to fight back, yet she made no effort to seize them.
It wasn't that she couldn't seize the opportunity — it was that she seemed to have no desire to fight the elderly surnamed Cheng at all.
"What are you doing?!" Yang Kai grew frustrated watching from afar and couldn't help but shout over: "Fight back! Why do you keep running?!"