Chapter 48: Abduction
"Don't get distracted! You only have five seconds!"
Immortal Master Tong Xu's voice suddenly rang out from above like rumbling thunder, and Fang Ban hurriedly did as he was told, focusing his attention on his surroundings, but there was nothing to be seen aside from the scenery around him.
All of a sudden, he seemed to have sensed something, and he abruptly lowered his head, upon which he discovered a golden line of blood extending down into the body of water beneath his feet.
Upon closer inspection, Fang Ban discovered that there was an indistinct azure figure beneath the surface of the water. At times, the figure appeared close, while at other times, it appeared to be quite distant, and Fang Ban was doing everything in his power to see the figure clearly, but it was a futile task.
Right as he was about to crouch down and plunge his head into the water for a closer look, the trail of blood beneath his feet suddenly blurred before vanishing.
Fang Ban faltered slightly upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to think about anything, his surroundings suddenly became warped and abstract again.
By the time he returned to his senses, he discovered that he was still standing by the large copper urn, and he was hunched over slightly with his hands resting on the rim of the urn.
He looked down to find that the liquid within the urn was still as dark as ever, and it was as if everything that he had just seen had been nothing more than a dream.
"What did you see?" Immortal Master Tong Xu asked.
"Apologies for my incompetence, but I wasn't able to see anything clearly. The figure that I saw was quite indistinct, and I wasn't able to make out any concrete features," Fang Ban replied in a truthful manner.
Immortal Master Tong Xu pondered these findings momentarily, then explained, "In that case, it's very likely that the person you're searching for isn't currently in the Northern Glacial Immortal Region. Instead, they must be in a certain secret area in the immortal region or perhaps a lower realm directly under this immortal region."
"Immortal Master, would it be possible for you to ascertain which secret area or which lower realm he's in?" Fang Ban asked with a hopeful expression.
"That's preposterous! Do you realize how vast the Immortal Realm is? You've provided me with no coordinates, and you expect me to track down someone with just a drop of blood essence?" Immortal Master Tong Xu harrumphed coldly in a displeased manner.
Fang Ban hurriedly cupped his fist in an apologetic salute upon seeing this. "Please forgive me for my insolence, Immortal Master."
A short while later, Fang Ban departed from the mountain, and he stood in mid-air with his hand clasped behind his back and a cold and sinister look on his face.
"You can run away to any corner of any realm, but I'm still going to find you to tear you to shreds!"
He pulled out a communication plate from his waist as he spoke, then whispered a message into it. After that, he pointed a finger at his own glabella before drawing his finger away from his forehead, and a light screen surfaced over his palm.
The light screen depicted a tall and broad azure-robed young man with a set of ordinary facial features.
With a wave of his hand, the light screen also vanished into the communication plate.
……
Several days later.
Inside a misty valley in the northwestern region of the Prosperous Nation, the sounds of explosions and clashing treasures were ringing out incessantly.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as the mist exploded violently, immediately following which a streak of green light flew out from within.
The streak of green light contained a young woman with three glowing azure jade badges revolving around her body, and beneath her feet was a green jade spear.
The young woman was none other than Liu Le'er, and she didn't make it very far out of the valley before five more streaks of light shot out of the dense mist, flying after her in hot pursuit.
All of her pursuers were giving off Nascent Soul Stage auras, and even though Liu Le'er was spurring on the flying spear beneath her feet with all her might, she was still slower than her pursuers.
After about 15 minutes, the distance between her and her pursuers had been closed down to no more than 300 feet.
All of a sudden, Liu Le'er made a hand seal and stopped cold in her tracks, then turned to her pursuers with a cold expression. "Who are you and why do you insist on pursuing me?"
The streak of black light that was leading the way among her pursuers faded to reveal a burly man with a thick beard, and he glanced at the flying spear beneath her feet with undisguised greed in his eyes as he chuckled, "Don't ask unnecessary questions. Surrender now and we'll spare you from any physical torment."
The other four streaks of light split up into two groups of two, flying to either side of Liu Le'er to trap her in a tight encirclement.
The streaks of light then faded to reveal a red-faced elderly man, a purple-robed young woman, and two black-robed young men who were completely identical in appearance, appearing to be identical twins.
"What makes you think you can get away with this? Do you think the disciples of our Cold Flame Sect are easy to pick on?" Liu Le'er asked as she swept a cold gaze over her assailants.
"You sure talk big for a mere Core Formation cultivator. Let's see if you're still going to be so cocky after this!" the red-faced elderly man chuckled as he abruptly swept a sleeve through the air, and a crimson ring shot out of his hand before sweeping toward Liu Le'er as countless crimson projections.
Aside from the burly man, the other three pursuers also each pulled out a treasure, then unleashed a series of magic power attacks of different colors that hurtled directly toward Liu Le'er from three different directions.
A grim look appeared on Liu Le'er's face, but she was prepared for this, and she swept her hand through the air as she chanted an incantation, and the three azure jade badges around her instantly swelled to several times their original size, manifesting layers upon layers of badge projections that shielded her from all directions.
Four bursts of dazzling light erupted, and the azure badge projections flashed erratically as a string of shattering sounds rang out.
The light radiating from the badge projections had dimmed significantly, but they were able to keep the attacks from the four Nascent Soul cultivators at bay, much to the surprise of all five of Liu Le'er's pursuers.
"This is not a place we should linger in, so we have to end this battle as quickly as possible. Take care not to kill her," the burly man instructed, then raised a hand to release the object in his hand, which transformed into a giant black brick that was over 100 feet in size before also entering the fray.
With all five Nascent Soul cultivators joining forces, assault became even more ferocious, and the spiritual light radiating from the azure badge projections quickly dimmed.
However, right in the instant before the badge projections were about to be shattered, Liu Le'er raised a hand in an unhurried manner to summon a white silken handkerchief that was glowing with spiritual light, and it seemed to be a treasure that wasn't inferior to the azure jade badges.
The handkerchief circled around above Liu Le'er's head, releasing layers of white radiance that rippled through the air around her, encompassing her entire body and giving her an indistinct appearance.
The five Nascent Soul cultivators were quite alarmed to see this, clearly not expecting a Core Formation cultivator to be carrying so many high-grade treasures.
However, it was clear that this wasn't their first time working together, and even though there was no verbal communication between them, all of them immediately injected more magic power into their respective treasures.
A burst of rumbling rang out as the white light around Liu Le'er began to tremble violently, but it was still able to hold itself intact.
Inside the white light, Liu Le'er hurriedly swallowed a pill, then made a rapid series of hand seals with a tense look on her face.
This was the first time that she had faced several enemies of a far more advanced cultivation base than herself on her own. She was only able to kill Jia Ren of the Blood Sword Sect with the Essence Fire Raven that Han Li had sealed into her body through special means, and if she hadn't taken a pill in advance to temporarily elevate her magic power so that she could tap into more of the fire raven's power, there was no way that she would've been able to kill Jia Ren with just a single attack.
She was able to last to this point against her pursuers by relying on the treasures and pills that Han Li had bestowed upon her prior to her departure, but her situation was growing grimmer and grimmer by the second.
I can't allow anything to happen to me! I promised Brother Rock that I was going to keep myself safe!
With that in mind, Liu Le'er bit down onto her own lower lip, and a decisive look appeared on her face as she quickly made a hand seal.
A profound silver array on her left arm instantly lit up, and a silver fire raven that was slightly smaller than the one that had taken Jia Ren's life shot out of her arm, spreading its wings as it flew out of the white light in a flash.
"Argh, what the hell is this thing?"
"No..."
In the blink of an eye, both of the black-robed young men were completely engulfed in silver flames amid cries of panic and horror.
The sequence of events had taken place so abruptly that the other three Nascent Soul cultivators didn't even have a chance to react before the two black-robed young men were incinerated into nothingness. Not even their nascent souls had managed to escape.
In the next instant, the red-faced elderly man was also completely devoured by the silver flames. The protective spiritual light around him was completely ineffective, and he didn't even get a chance to cry out before he was also erased from existence.
The burly man and the purple-robed young woman were horrified to see this, and they immediately turned to flee in different directions.
The burly man's cultivation base was slightly superior to that of the purple-robed young woman, so he was naturally also a little faster.
However, the silver fire raven didn't give them any chance to escape, flying after them like a bolt of silver lightning and covering a distance of several thousand feet in the blink of an eye. It pierced directly through the purple-robed young woman's chest from behind, then plummeted straight down as a scorching ball of fire.
"Master, save..."
Moments later, a blood-curdling howl rang out before abruptly cutting off, and the burly man was also incinerated into nothingness by the silver flames.
The silver fireball then reverted back into its fire raven form before flying back to Liu Le'er, vanishing into her left arm in a flash.
Liu Le'er was quite relieved to see this, but her face had turned as pale as a sheet, and she was barely able to remain on her feet.
She hurriedly took another pill, and only then did some color return to her cheeks.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted above her, immediately following which a black devilish claw appeared out of thin air before swooping down at an alarming speed.
Before the claw had even fallen upon Liu Le'er, the space around her began to ripple violently, and she was struck by a crushing burst of spiritual pressure.
The protective white light around her was already rather unstable, and it instantly collapsed under the immense spiritual pressure.
Liu Le'er was greatly alarmed by this, and she hurriedly drew upon her magic power to flee the scene, but in the next instant, the space constricted around her, and she couldn't even lift a single finger, let alone make any hand seals.
She could only look on helplessly as rays of black light were released from the palm of the devilish claw, forming a huge black net that quickly bound her entire body.
The black devilish claw then vanished into thin air in a flash, immediately following which a black-robed elderly man appeared in mid-air not far away.
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