Chapter 37: Assassinating the Elder

Qu Yi watched Long Liang quietly.
Long Liang, middle-aged in appearance with a majestic bearing, exuded a suffocating aura of demonic energy. He glared at Qu Yi in fury.
“Yi Lan… Your death won’t be in vain. Grandpa will avenge you,” Long Liang cried bitterly as he looked at Wei Yi Lan, who lay on the ground. His eyes turned blood-red as he stared angrily at Qu Yi.
Qu Yi shook his head and tossed his hair, appearing relaxed.
“Long Liang, you want to avenge your grandson, but sadly, even your strength can’t stop me.” Qu Yi waved his Blood Snake Sword casually, smiling at Long Liang.
Hearing Qu Yi’s words, Long Liang grew even angrier. His bloodshot eyes hardened as he drew a green wooden sword, from which surged powerful demonic energy of the wood element.
It was the Cloud Wood Sword—a magical weapon of the upper-level Earth Soul Demon class, created by Long Liang after encountering a region of white clouds in space. There, he found a white tree that inhabited the void—the Sky-Residing Cloud Wood. That tree was already a million years old and possessed a tree spirit.
Long Liang obtained the tree spirit and forged the Cloud Wood Sword.
“When you killed my grandson just now, I sensed that you’re only at the lower level of Earth Soul Demon. Though you possess a magical weapon of the upper level, you’re still too weak compared to me, a true upper-level Earth Soul Demon,” Long Liang declared, holding up the Cloud Wood Sword angrily.
Qu Yi laughed and said, “Then come and try.”
Suddenly, Long Liang’s gaze sharpened, and his body vanished as if in a illusion. The next moment, he appeared in front of Qu Yi, thrusting the Cloud Wood Sword at him.
Qu Yi laughed heartily. The moment Long Liang disappeared, he had already moved, dodging the deadly sword strike.
“Long Liang, your skills aren’t yet refined enough,” Qu Yi said smilingly as he landed to the side.
This remark enraged Long Liang. He vanished again, hiding in another dimension before launching another attack at Qu Yi.
Qu Yi could sense the direction of the demonic energy of the wood element, which indicated Long Liang’s movement path. Unfazed, he quickly dodged yet another attack.
Failing again, Long Liang reappeared and glared at Qu Yi in fury.
“You kid are quite skilled, managing to dodge my two attacks in a row. But you won’t get away today. I must kill you!” Long Liang roared.

Long Liang thought of his own cultivation as a higher-ranked Earth Soul Demon and the fact that he hadn’t been able to harm Qu Yi even twice in a row, which fueled his anger even more. His Cloud Wood Sword moved even more fantastically and confusingly, making it impossible to see clearly. Suddenly, Long Liang shouted, “Misty Wind in the Clouds!” As soon as he pointed with his sword, a mass of green Wood-type demon energy flew out, transforming into a white cloud that contained countless alternate dimensions. The cloud rapidly expanded, covering the entire secret chamber and thus trapping Qu Yi’s body as well. Inside the cloud, Qu Yi entered one alternate dimension after another, seemingly unable to find a way out. Indeed, although the white cloud was only the size of a secret chamber, it contained countless alternate dimensions, making it impossible to determine one’s location. Qu Yi moved through these dimensions, fiercely attacking each one, yet still failing to escape. Sensing the alternate dimensions under his control and seeing Qu Yi’s confusion, Long Liang smirked viciously, satisfied with his plan. “Hmph, you wretched lower-ranked Earth Soul Demon dare to anger a higher-ranked one? You don’t know your place—your death is hardly a loss. Today, I’ll destroy you to avenge my grandson!” Long Liang cried out as if relieved of a heavy burden. Just then! The entire white cloud suddenly contracted, shrinking rapidly, with the demon energy inside decreasing fast. Qu Yi then displayed his true strength, immediately turning the exposed Gold-type demon energy back into chaotic energy. A vortex of chaotic energy formed within him, drawing in all the surrounding Wood-type demon energy. Long Liang realized that the demon energy he had sent out was disappearing swiftly! “What kind of technique is this? How can you absorb all my demon energy?” Long Liang exclaimed in surprise upon noticing something unusual. Of course, Qu Yi wouldn’t answer. The vast amount of demon energy was absorbed by Qu Yi, causing the white cloud to shrink rapidly, and thus the number of alternate dimensions inside also decreased quickly. Soon, it would no longer be able to trap Qu Yi. Realizing that no matter how much more demon energy he sent out, he couldn’t stop the cloud from shrinking, and that further attempts would be futile, Long Liang immediately withdrew the cloud. Qu Yi emerged. “Long Liang, what tricks do you have left? Go ahead and use them!” Qu Yi said with a smile, appearing utterly unafraid and filled with contempt. Seeing this, Long Liang was so enraged that his teeth clashed together, with a grating sound, and a determined look flashed in his eyes as he made up his mind.

“You kid are strange, but you still underestimated the strength of those powerful Soul Demons at the higher ranks. You must die today!” Long Liang shouted in fury.

After speaking, Long Liang drew out the Cloud Wood Sword and held it in front of him. At the same time, his blue Soul Flower emerged and attached itself to the Cloud Wood Sword, while his physical body held the hilt.

Immediately, the Cloud Wood Sword seemed to traverse space and appeared right in front of Qu Yi, aiming straight at him.

A sudden assassination!

Qu Yi tried to dodge the Cloud Wood Sword, but soon realized that it was controlled by Long Liang’s Soul Flower, allowing it to move freely and pursue him relentlessly. No matter how hard Qu Yi tried to escape, it was useless.

Indeed, Long Liang used the demonic energy from his physical body as support, while his Soul Flower became the sword soul of the Cloud Wood Sword. This enabled the sword to move freely while leveraging its sharpness, thus unleashing its greatest power.

Long Liang’s determination to kill Qu Yi had reached such a ruthless level.

Qu Yi reacted quickly as well. His divine formula card transformed into a shield-like barrier, blocking the Cloud Wood Sword’s attack.

“What!” Long Liang’s physical body, holding the Cloud Wood Sword, trembled violently as he let out an incredulous cry of surprise.

Qu Yi’s physical body could actually withstand a demonic weapon at the level of a high-ranking Soul Demon. What kind of physique was this? However, Long Liang quickly noticed the pentagonal divine formula card and realized that Qu Yi had a defensive demonic weapon, which had blocked his Cloud Wood Sword.

At that moment, Qu Yi swiftly thrust out his Blood Snake Sword, piercing Long Liang’s throat.

Chaos energy had already entered Long Liang’s physical body.

Without the control of the Soul Flower, his body couldn’t quickly mobilize its demonic energy to block the flow of chaos energy. His entire body shattered, scattering all his demonic energy.

In other words, Long Liang had now lost his physical body, with only his Soul Flower remaining on the Cloud Wood Sword.

“You’re ruthless. I’ll come for revenge again,” Long Liang said, realizing the situation had turned against him, and immediately decided to flee.

Unfortunately, Qu Yi had come specifically to assassinate Long Liang—how could he let him leave?

“Life Core, it’s your turn to act,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Soon, the Life Core of the Soul-Collecting Flower appeared and floated toward the Cloud Wood Sword, which was trying to fly away. It emitted thousands of golden rays, enveloping the sword and also covering Long Liang’s Soul Flower.

“Ah…” Long Liang’s Soul Flower sent out waves of intense pain, conveying a sense of despair.

Now, the Life Core already possessed the strength of a high-tier Earth Soul Demon, making it easy for it to deal with Long Liang’s Soul Flower. It didn’t take long for the Life Core to absorb all of Long Liang’s Soul Flower and quickly return to Qu Yi’s soul space. Without the support of magical energy, the Cloud Wood Sword lost its ability to fly and fell, only to be caught by Qu Yi. “This Cloud Wood Sword is also a high-tier Earth Soul Demon-level immortal weapon—perfect for me,” Qu Yi said with a smile. There was the Blood Snake Sword for the metal element and the Cloud Wood Sword for the wood element; Qu Yi certainly wasn’t short of immortal weapons. After killing Long Liang, Qu Yi immediately left the Lan Xiu Palace.
※※※
Zhuang Guangming and the elders who supported him were in their own Guangming Palace at that time. “Elder Long Rong, has Elder Long Liang not returned yet?” Zhuang Guangming shouted loudly. With the Battle of Elders approaching, Zhuang Guangming paid close attention to every move of each elder. Yet, by the time Elder Long Liang should have returned, he still hadn’t shown up. Messages sent via communication cards yielded no response. The remaining eight elders—Long Rong, Long Duo, Long Gang, Long Jun, Long Wei, Long Hua, Long Qing, and Long Jian—all concluded that Long Liang must be dead. “Master, Long Liang still hasn’t returned,” Long Rong said with a frown. Undoubtedly, losing one elder meant greater difficulties in the final battle. Although they had nine elders sent by Emperor Ze behind them, they still needed to buy time until those nine could intervene. The eight elders, including Long Rong, were also worried that they might be overwhelmed by the pressure from Long Zhan Tian’s side during the initial fighting phase and possibly perish. Hearing this, Zhuang Guangming realized that Long Liang had been assassinated by Long Zhan Tian’s side while visiting his grandson and was now dead. “Elder Long Liang hasn’t returned for so long—he’s likely in trouble. All of us elders, if we endure these six months, we can enjoy a better future. So, I propose that during this time, no one leave without permission, so as not to attract attention from Long Zhan Tian’s people,” Zhuang Guangming said calmly, with a hint of anger in his voice. The eight elders understood immediately. “Master, we understand,” they replied calmly. As soon as they finished speaking, Zhuang Guangming’s communication card vibrated, delivering a new message: Magic sense scan. “What? That Long Zhan Tian has already mobilized 100 million disciples from the Land of the Sun and brought them all to the Land of Unity to launch a full-scale attack on our disciples.”

Zhuang Guangming shouted angrily. The eight elders grew even darker in expression upon hearing this.