Chapter 3824: Ambush and Counterattack

A marshland enveloped in miasma, where bubbling black sludge was everywhere.

The air was filled with purple miasma. A rapid flute sound rang out, carrying far.

A strange, piercing shriek sounded, followed by a massive surge of purple light that shot into the sky. Then, a huge, entirely purple toad fell from the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground. Its body was caved in, covered in blood, and it was lifeless.

Wang Chan flew over, devoured the purple toad's essence, put away its corpse, and returned to an open area.

Wang Ruyan and Wang Huanyu stood before a black withered tree. Beneath it were five small, entirely purple flowers with round petals and stems covered in small purple thorns.

"Purple Luohua, over 400,000 years old!"

Wang Ruyan's eyes glowed with excitement. This was the main ingredient for refining Purple Luo Pills, known for their excellent detoxification properties.

Wang Huanyu put on a pair of golden gloves and carefully dug out the five Purple Luohua plants, placing them into a jade box before handing them to Wang Ruyan. The three of them then left the area.

More than an hour later, Wang Ruyan and her companions appeared in a vast red bamboo forest, where many red bamboo leaves drifted on the ground.

As soon as they appeared in the bamboo forest, the void rippled, and a large hand enveloped in rolling flames emerged. It carried astonishing heat and struck towards Wang Ruyan and her companions.

Before they could evade, a powerful gravitational force emerged from the ground, trapping them, unable to move.

Wang Huanyu flicked his finger, and a golden halo swept out, creating a giant void that drew the fiery red hand into it.

Wang Chan opened her mouth and spat out a golden halo, which shot directly towards a certain point in the void.

At the same time, a powerful spatial force appeared out of nowhere.

A flash of yellow light revealed the figure of a short, stout elder in a yellow robe. His aura was slightly stronger than Wang Ruyan's, indicating he was at the late True Immortal stage.

The yellow-robed elder shook his sleeve, conjuring a shimmering yellow shield to block in front of him.

The golden halo swept past the yellow shield and simultaneously through the yellow-robed elder's body. The elder felt his soul tearing apart, letting out an agonizing scream. His body trembled slightly, as if shivering uncontrollably.

A burst of immortal music sounded, and a blue sound wave swept over, quickly passing the yellow shield and then the yellow-robed elder's body.

The yellow-robed elder's face turned crimson. He spat out a mouthful of blood, lost his breath, and his body glowed with a dazzling spiritual light, transforming into a shimmering golden orb—a substitute-calamity immortal artifact.

With a "crack," the golden orb shattered into pieces.

A large expanse of fiery red flames surged from the ground, turning the numerous red bamboo stalks to ashes. The high temperature caused the void to twist, warp, and tear open.

Wang Ruyan and her companions flew into the void, which then healed itself.

Ten thousand miles away, ripples appeared in a certain part of the void, and a void several zhang wide emerged. A golden light shot out without warning, striking a certain spot in the void, followed by a tragic female scream.

A flash of red light revealed a slender young woman in a red dress, her features distorted.

The young woman in the red dress had a cultivation at the late True Immortal stage and wore a shimmering red jade pendant on her chest.

A giant blue palm covered in mysterious musical notes shot out, striking the young woman in red's protective spiritual light, which shattered like paper.

The young woman in the red dress was struck by the blue giant palm, instantly sent flying backward, and crashed heavily onto the ground. Wang Chan then spat out a golden aura, covering the nascent soul that had just left the body, drawing it into her mouth, where it vanished.

The yellow-robed elder, tens of thousands of miles away, was scared out of his wits. His body glowed brightly with yellow light, and he was about to cast an escape art to flee.

A powerful spatial force appeared out of nowhere, trapping him in place.

The yellow-robed elder opened his mouth and spat out a large cluster of slender yellow flying needles, which floated motionless in mid-air.

"Immortaless, a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..."

Before the yellow-robed elder could finish his sentence, a giant void appeared in the void above his head. A blue sound wave swept out, passing over his body. His body went limp, and he collapsed.

Wang Chan flew out from the void, spat out a golden aura to cover the yellow-robed elder's nascent soul, and swallowed it.

"They only opened three apertures, yet dared to provoke us."

Wang Chan sneered, her face full of mockery.

Both she and Wang Huanyu had opened three apertures, while Wang Ruyan had opened four. The two Lin family disciples were no match for them at all.

Wang Huanyu and Wang Ruyan flew out from the void. Wang Huanyu took two storage bracelets from the corpse and handed them to Wang Ruyan.

Wang Ruyan lightly flicked her wrist, and after a flash of light, a large pile of items appeared on the ground.

Upon counting, there were twenty-five low-grade immortal artifacts—one for defense, one for flight, one for assistance, and the rest for offense—over 23,000 immortal essence stones, over twenty True Immortal stage Chaos Beast cores (mostly three-colored, with one four-colored), seventy-five spiritual herbs over 300,000 years old, seventeen spiritual herbs over 500,000 years old, and two Primal Chaos Stones.

"The Lin family sent seven Immortal Armored Soldiers in, led by Lin Yuelei, who is at the Grand Completion of True Immortal stage and has opened five apertures," Wang Chan excitedly explained. "These two had previously ambushed and killed a Hundred Refinements Island disciple. They learned there was Taiyi Soul Jade here, a second-tier immortal ore used for refining soul-attacking immortal artifacts. They set up an ambush here, planning to kill more Hundred Refinements Island disciples, but unexpectedly ran into us."

Wang Ruyan asked doubtfully, "Aren't they afraid of the main force from Hundred Refinements Island arriving here? Why would they set an ambush in such a place?"

"The Cloud Xuan Grotto-heaven is very large," Wang Chan explained. "The main purpose for Hundred Refinements Island disciples entering this place is to mine Nine Flames Divine Crystals, which are used for refining mid-grade Immortal Extinction Cannons. This Taiyi Soul Jade deposit isn't very large either, so not much Taiyi Soul Jade can be mined from it."

Wang Ruyan suddenly understood. Putting herself in their shoes, she would also prioritize the Nine Flames Divine Crystals, as she had witnessed the power of mid-grade Immortal Extinction Cannons.

"Let's go, let's mine the Taiyi Soul Jade," Wang Ruyan said.

Wang Ruyan put away the items on the ground, burned the corpses, obtained a piece of inner armor, and gave it to Wang Chan.

Not long after, the three of them appeared in a small valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. Inside the valley, there was a cave entrance several zhang wide.

They walked inside. The cave twisted and turned, and after walking over a hundred paces, they reached its end.

The rock walls were uneven, showing signs of artificial excavation, and some areas glowed with a faint black light.

Wang Ruyan and her companions each brought out a low-grade immortal artifact, attacking the rock wall to mine the raw Taiyi Soul Jade ore.

She wasn't greedy; she only needed to mine enough raw ore to refine one set of soul-type immortal artifacts.

Before this, Wang Ruyan had obtained a Spirit-Breaking Awl from a Haoyue Alliance disciple, specifically used for mining immortal ores, and it came in handy now. Additionally, Hundred Refinements Island disciples also carried similar low-grade immortal artifacts for convenient immortal ore extraction.

A "clanging" sound of metal striking stone rang out, and sparks flew. Fine cut marks appeared on the rock wall, growing larger and spreading rapidly.

A short while later, a millstone-sized piece of ore rolled down from the rock wall and landed on the ground. Some parts of the ore glowed with a faint black light.