Chapter 1041: Bloodstained Secret Cave

A sharp crack!

The sound was extremely faint, but to the cultivators, it was like a clap of thunder! A tiny crack appeared on the light shield. Everyone's eyes immediately burned with fervor as they furiously attacked the light shield. More and more cracks appeared, but the sealed light shield remained very sturdy.

At that moment, Qin Sang's gaze suddenly sharpened. He saw that Venerable Ye had abruptly stopped, runes floating on his body, and his aura fluctuating erratically. Meanwhile, Fairy Su and the others began to converge towards the center.

"Venerable Ye is making his move before the seal is broken?" This thought flashed through Qin Sang's mind, and his heart tightened. He quickly popped a few spiritual pills into his mouth, then swiftly performed hand seals for a spell.

The cultivators were restless. Around the light shield, bursts of strange light erupted one after another as everyone began to close in on the seal, poised to strike.

Crack... crack...

More and more cracks spread across the sealed light shield.

Suddenly, a resounding clang echoed in everyone's ears. The cultivators were startled. Immediately after, a blade light suddenly shot up from the ground, instantly appearing above the light shield. Blade energy surged skyward, tearing through the black mist, and with a flash, split apart under horrified gazes.

The blade light was extremely dazzling, unleashing endless blade energy. Qin Sang's entire body tensed. This strike came from Venerable Ye's hand. As soon as the blade light appeared, Qin Sang immediately understood that what Fairy Su had said earlier was true and confirmed: Venerable Ye had indeed smuggled himself here. Only Nascent Soul Ancestors could unleash such a terrifying attack.

"Get lost!" a furious roar followed the sudden appearance of the blade light. Like thunder exploding in their ears, the cultivators were terrified. The blade light descended from the sky like a thunderbolt.

The cultivators closest to the light shield bore the brunt of it. Blood Bat, Daoist Xiaoyun, and true disciples from other factions were among them. They were the most formidable Core Formation cultivators in the Canglang Sea, determined to obtain the Soul Cleansing Liquid. If it hadn't been for the unexpectedly small quantity of Soul Cleansing Liquid, not enough to go around, they would have been almost certain to each get a bottle.

Now, standing at the forefront, they inadvertently provided Venerable Ye with an opportunity to capture them all in one fell swoop. To catch the bandit, first catch the leader. If these few were incapacitated, the other cultivators, leaderless, would be a scattered mess, unable to form a coordinated attack in a short time, allowing for a leisurely retreat.

This strike came without warning. Everyone's attention had been fixated on the Soul Cleansing Liquid, and the incident was so sudden that no one expected a hidden dragon among them! At that moment, Blood Bat and the others were terrified. Locked onto by the terrifying blade momentum, their bodies stiffened as if stuck in a quagmire. Their hair stood on end, and their faces turned deathly pale. These individuals had at least some understanding of each other and knew their approximate capabilities. No matter how strong they were, there was a limit.

"Nascent Soul..." someone stammered, teeth chattering as they squeezed out those two words.

"Ah!" someone cried out in shock and anger. This blade was too terrifying; it could cleave them in half on the spot.

Blood Bat was furious, his expression ferocious, but he only felt a wave of powerlessness. He didn't understand why such a powerful opponent appeared when the Trial Realm clearly imposed restrictions on Nascent Soul cultivators. But whether the opponent was a Nascent Soul Ancestor or not, the power of the blade light was undeniable. With their lives threatened, who still cared about the Soul Cleansing Liquid? Blood Bat only sought to preserve his life. But the blade light was as fast as lightning. He only managed to frantically channel his true essence into the inner armor he wore.

*Smash!*

The inner armor hadn't fully expanded and only lasted for a moment before shattering into pieces under the blade light. Blood Bat still refused to surrender. He didn't know what secret art he employed, but his internal vitality erupted, and the Blood Bat's shadow reappeared, flapping its wings and soaring up, wrapping the blade light like a curtain of blood.

*Tear!*

The Blood Bat's shadow was silently sliced in half by the strike. Blood Bat's body shook violently.

"Ah!" Blood Bat's scream made everyone's hearts pound. He splattered blood through the air, seemingly mixed with bone fragments and shredded flesh, as he was sent flying like a discarded rag. His final secret art succeeded; the Blood Bat's shadow bought him time, preventing him from dying on the spot, but he was severely wounded and had consumed all the vitality he had accumulated over the years.

Daoist Xiaoyun felt the might of the blade light, and his expression was grave. He chose not to confront it head-on like Blood Bat. He quickly retrieved a palm-sized wooden carving from his sumeru pouch. The carving was exquisitely crafted, with complete limbs but a blank, featureless face. As he took out the carving, Daoist Xiaoyun forced out a drop of essence blood and infused it into the wooden carving. Its face squirmed, and then facial features appeared, eerily similar to Daoist Xiaoyun's.

*Whoosh!*

The blade light descended. Daoist Xiaoyun offered no resistance and was cleaved in half from head to toe. The next moment, a strange scene occurred. Daoist Xiaoyun's "corpse" vanished into thin air, and spatial fluctuations appeared in the void nearby. Daoist Xiaoyun materialized out of thin air, and the wooden carving in his hand now bore an identical wound. He appeared unharmed, but his aura was weak, and his face was as pale as gold leaf, completely bloodless, clearly indicating that using the wooden carving came at a considerable cost, and his situation was not much better than Blood Bat's. The other few individuals were even more miserable than Blood Bat and Daoist Xiaoyun, with severed limbs flying and gruesome wounds, on the verge of death.

With one strike, Venerable Ye incapacitated Blood Bat and the others, drenching the secret chamber in blood! One side had long premeditated this, while the other was completely unprepared, and the disparity in strength between them was vast. The outcome was predictable. The cultivators on the periphery, seeing this scene, retreated in terror, scrambling backward.

"For the sake of your sects, I will spare your lives! Anyone who dares to come forward, don't blame this old man for being ruthless!" Venerable Ye coldly snorted, changing his hand seals. The remaining blade light suddenly converged and fiercely struck the sealed light shield.

*Boom!*

The already cracked light shield shattered in response. The seal was broken!

The Soul Cleansing Liquid was now within arm's reach, but the fate of Blood Bat and the others was fresh in their minds, and no one dared to move. Under everyone's gaze, Venerable Ye formed a phantom hand and grabbed towards the high platform. With a few clinks, four bottles of Soul Cleansing Liquid were scooped up whole and flew towards Venerable Ye.

Seeing that the cultivators were indeed awed by him, and with the Soul Cleansing Liquid about to be in his hands, Venerable Ye's face revealed a faint smile, which suddenly froze!

*Crack!*

Inside the underground secret chamber, a deafening thunderclap suddenly rang out, illuminating it as bright as day. An incredibly violent aura descended! Venerable Ye abruptly looked up, his expression changing drastically. Not far away, Qin Sang's expression was calm. He performed a lightning incantation and unhesitatingly unleashed the "Lightning Manipulation Art," targeting Venerable Ye!

This strike had astonished even Qin Sang. There was indeed a profound chasm between Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages. If Venerable Ye's cultivation hadn't been restricted, he certainly wouldn't have dared to touch a tiger's whiskers. He would have been forced to helplessly watch Venerable Ye take the Soul Cleansing Liquid, then try to trade with Fairy Su.

When Venerable Ye made his move, Qin Sang had been meticulously observing him, not missing a single detail. Indeed, he found that, as Fairy Su had said, Venerable Ye only had the ability to unleash this single strike after unsealing his cultivation. After he unleashed the blade, an inexplicable fluctuation appeared in the void as he was suppressed by the Trial Realm, and his aura significantly decreased. However, the other cultivators were too intimidated by the sharp blade light, and Venerable Ye concealed it so well that, for a moment, no one saw through it.