Chapter Fifty-Six: The Black Sorcerer

Her mind suddenly clouded, and before she realized it, she foolishly darted out her tongue and licked—his lips. Her pupils widened abruptly; like a cat scorched by flames, Yu Youwei sprang up, letting out a shrill scream that shattered the silence of the woods.

“Wasn’t I the one being assaulted?” Ning Baixia complained, clearly displeased.

“No one assaulted anyone, I just accidentally pressed on you,” Yu Youwei argued guiltily. She turned her head and caught Xiang Bingfeng’s fiery eyes, quickly shifting her gaze away. Glancing around and seeing no one else, she asked, “Are we the only three who managed to escape?”

“My people aren’t far off, don’t even think of pulling any tricks,” Xiang Bingfeng snapped sharply, retrieving a compass-like device. She pointed to several red dots rapidly moving on its surface and said, “They’ll be here soon.”

“Oh, so we were just thrown to different places,” Yu Youwei realized, not bothering to explain further to Xiang Bingfeng. She straightened her clothes, plucked grass from her hair, and, without any intention of searching for the little white bear or the little thunder eagle, said to Ning Baixia, “Let’s get out of here first.”

“Not going to look for the bear?” Ning Baixia reminded her. A talking divine beast—how could his sister-in-law simply forget about it?

The little white bear, that cowardly glutton, had already scrambled out of the cave ahead of her, and the little thunder eagle had no trouble flying free. Anyway, it seemed easy enough for them to find her. Yu Youwei shrugged, “That glutton won’t get lost, no need to look for it.”

Ning Baixia’s face twitched; he had never admired anyone as much as he did now. This sister-in-law was growing more and more inscrutable! Others would treat a divine beast as an ancestor, hiding it away and worshipping it, but she didn’t hesitate to scold it and seemed utterly indifferent.

“Third Young Master, let’s leave quickly,” Xiang Bingfeng called out sweetly. The earlier incident on the feather boat had been banished to distant memories, her serpentine body undulating as she sidled up to Ning Baixia. Yet, lacking any tenderness, he swept her away with a single palm, sending her crashing into a nearby tree. Blood spurted from her lips, whether from the blow or rage was unclear.

“Who’s there? Come out!” Ning Baixia suddenly shouted, his red aura flaring, making his long hair billow, giving him the air of a fire god.

“I’m coming out! Don’t kill me!”

With a shrill cry, a red-haired female cultivator burst from the thicket. Her voluptuous figure was clad in leopard-print furs, barely covering her essentials, making her all the more enticing. Any man with less self-control would have had a nosebleed.

Ning Baixia’s icy face betrayed no emotion. Though the woman seemed harmless, as she approached to within ten paces, Yu Youwei shouted, “Be careful!” He responded without hesitation, chopping down with a powerful palm. The force of a Golden Core cultivator pulverized the woman, so ruthless that Xiang Bingfeng’s face turned pale, instinctively shrinking away.

As Yu Youwei called out, a streak of black light shot past, and before she could react, she was swept away by a flash of gray, vanishing into dense foliage. Fortunately, freed from the strange cave, Ning Baixia’s strength had returned, and he immediately sensed the spiritual ripple of that black light, pursuing it at once.

“Wait for me, Third Young Master!” Xiang Bingfeng shrieked in panic.

“Pretty lady, I’ll wait for you,” another shadow swooped down like a giant bird, its bony, talon-like hand snatching Xiang Bingfeng and whisking her away in the opposite direction.

With a piercing screech, the little thunder eagle dove from the sky, darting into the woods. On the ground, the little white bear charged toward Yu Youwei’s location from another direction, grumbling as it ran, “Bear Lord is really out of luck, stuck with such a disaster of a master—she’ll be the death of me sooner or later.”

Sunlight failed to penetrate the valley, and in this shadowy forest where daylight rarely reached, the mingled scents of decay and foliage steamed together, forming a pervasive, unpleasant miasma.

Ning Baixia, having chased into the forest, was led in circles, only to return and block the path of the black-robed cultivator who had abducted Yu Youwei, alongside the little white bear.

That black sorcerer turned out to be the first to flee the altar—the black priest. Facing the Golden Core Ning Baixia, he showed no fear, cackling, “The fool of the Ning family arrives quickly, it seems even heroes can’t resist beautiful women!”

So he had intended to capture the fourth brother, but mistakenly took her instead? Ning Baixia’s expression grew odd. Usually, others would target him, mistakenly thinking his fourth brother was him; today, he found himself as his brother’s substitute. He paused, torn between amusement and exasperation. “What are you plotting, targeting my fourth brother?”

“Fourth Young Master, is it still amusing to play the fool? The Soul-Devouring Sword has chosen its master—even a real idiot should have woken up by now. Why keep pretending?” the gray-robed cultivator replied with certainty.

“Never let the black sorcerers find Mo Fei,” echoed in his mind. Ning Baixia studied Yu Youwei intently, then slowly extended his hand. A long sword, blade crimson as blood, materialized. “When the Immortal Slayer is drawn, demons and monsters are vanquished. Today, let me use you as the sacrificial sword for the remnants of Nine Nether Hall.” His voice was cold.

“You really are Ning Third!” The black priest’s voice grew hoarse. The new master of the Soul-Devouring Sword, Ning Fourth, had never cultivated; if he killed Ning Fourth and seized the sword, slaying Ning Third would be no challenge. Yet, facing the newly advanced Golden Core Ning Third, even as a veteran cultivator, he couldn’t guarantee victory—after all, Ning Third had slain a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator while still at Foundation Peak, his reputation blazing ever brighter.

Ning Baixia didn’t even bother to explain, commanding his sword to fly forth. Sword energy shot skyward, forming a dazzling blade that cleaved toward the black priest.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill the hostage first?” The black priest hadn’t expected Ning Baixia to attack without so much as a warning, evidently disregarding the hostage in his hands. Hastily, he unleashed a black vortex, wrapping it around the rapidly enlarging Immortal Slayer Sword.

The sword’s brilliant glow suddenly dimmed, a powerful corrosive force invading, black spots quickly marring its surface. Ning Baixia remained unfazed, shouting fiercely as he poured his mana into the blade; the sword’s radiance flared, erasing the black spots in an instant.

“Indeed worthy of being a genius of the Immortal Heaven Sect,” the black priest praised, flinging out a massive black spear over thirty feet long.

Ning Baixia swung his sword, shattering the spear with a shower of sparks, his momentum unbroken as the blade slashed toward the black priest’s neck—

“Let’s end this!” Unwilling to prolong the fight, the black priest quickly formed a hand seal. A flash of black light, and an iron-gray corpse puppet wielding a giant axe appeared, intercepting the incoming blade. With a resounding clang, half the axe was sliced away, and the sword’s trajectory was deflected, its edge brushing past the black priest’s shoulder.

Ning Baixia stepped back two paces, saying coldly, “So you’ve managed to forge an iron corpse puppet!”

The iron-gray corpse puppet’s hollow eyes glowed like beans of fire, its joints stiff yet moving quickly, swinging its heavy axe like a cleaver. As it chopped down, Ning Baixia blocked with his sword. With a loud metallic clang, the giant axe was split in two.

“Behind you!” Yu Youwei shouted.

Another black spear whistled from behind; Ning Baixia parried it with a swift backward stroke. The spear shot past his head, piercing straight through the corpse puppet’s skull. Simultaneously, his sword pressed against the black priest’s throat like lightning. “Why are you after my fourth brother?”