Chapter 221: Su Yi Ren Takes Action

"Someone else?!" The Prefect, the head of the Mo family, and the disciple of the Nine Nether Cult were all stunned. They had considered themselves to be the puppet masters, secretly controlling everything. How could they now be the ones being controlled?

Who was lurking in the shadows?

They tried various methods.

The Prefect attempted to activate the chains hidden on his back, but no matter how hard he tried, the chains remained motionless, as if nailed to the space behind him.

The head of the Mo family had tattoos of eighteen different weapons on his arms, which were actually eighteen weapons he had personally forged. In the past, these weapons had always been effective, but now, they were all inert, and he couldn't summon a single one.

The Nine Nether Cult disciple tried to summon the ghostly shadows hidden within his body, but the shadows seemed to have encountered something terrifying, cowering inside and trembling.

All three realized that the person who had acted was no ordinary individual. This ability to disregard reality and casually alter local rules... was it an Integration stage cultivator?!

Were Asking Dao Sect disciples really so extravagant, always accompanied by Integration stage mighty figures?

The Prefect and the head of the Mo family were filled with regret. All they wanted was to steal a Phoenix Blood Stone, but how did it lead to so many complications, involving both the Nine Nether Cult and an Integration stage cultivator?

Seeing Su Yiren finally make her move, Meng Jingzhou was so startled that he immediately got up and fled, seeking her protection.

He was the only one in the room who could move.

Lu Yang quietly said to Li Haoran, "If she uses force, you don't seem to have any way to resist, so you might as well just go along with her."

"That way she'll only get my body, not my heart!" Li Haoran replied righteously, though in reality, his heart was pounding.

Su Yiren was gentle and generous, like a caring elder sister. If he truly yielded to her, it didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Su Yiren pushed open the door and looked at the three people she had frozen. Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and Li Haoran followed behind her, feeling extremely secure.

"I never would have thought, Prefect Shi, that you'd not only collude with the Phoenix Clan but also with the Nine Nether Cult. Your crimes are heinous, and I've recorded it all with a recording orb!" Lu Yang immediately launched into a false accusation.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't just say things like that carelessly," the Prefect's expression changed.

"Oh, absolutely, he colluded with the Phoenix Clan and the Nine Nether Cult, I can testify to that," the head of the Mo family seized the opportunity to add insult to injury.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lu Yang, a disciple of the Asking Dao Sect."

"Meng Jingzhou, a disciple of the Asking Dao Sect."

"Li Haoran, a disciple of the Asking Dao Sect."

Su Yiren remained silent. She was easygoing in front of Li Haoran, but not so with outsiders.

"We originally just wanted to see what secrets this Phoenix Blood Stone held. We didn't expect to reel in such a big fish."

Lu Yang removed the Nine Nether Cult disciple's mask; the person had an ordinary appearance.

"You just said you wanted to refine the phoenix into a corpse puppet. Tell us what happened, and I might spare your life." This was no minor matter. An Integration stage phoenix corpse was right beneath them; let alone refining it into a puppet, even if the phoenix merely stirred, it would be a catastrophe for Luofeng Prefecture.

The Prefect's face was also grim. If the Nine Nether Cult truly succeeded, his time as Prefect would be over.

The Nine Nether Cult disciple burst into laughter. "You've discovered me, and you think I'll still be spared?"

"Senior Su, please use soul-searching," Lu Yang said, seeing that the other party had no intention of speaking. He directly asked Su Yiren to act.

Su Yiren stepped forward and pressed her hand to the Nine Nether Cult disciple's forehead. Her brows furrowed. "He's not human; he's a corpse!"

The Nine Nether Cult disciple's eyes became vacant, and his body rapidly decayed, leaving behind only a pile of bones.

This was a common tactic of the Nine Nether Cult: animating a corpse while the true body controlled it from behind the scenes. Once discovered, they would sever the connection to the corpse, which would then rapidly decay, leaving no clues. This made them very difficult to apprehend, though those present didn't know much about the Nine Nether Cult.

"Trying to escape?"

Su Yiren acted again, using her Integration stage power to envelop the entire Luofeng Prefecture in a rule: no insects could enter, and no birds could leave. She was determined to find the Nine Nether Cult members.

Manipulating corpses also had a range; the culprit couldn't have escaped Luofeng Prefecture.

It would be too humiliating if she let them escape, considering the two major cultivation realm differences.

It didn't matter if she lost face herself, but not in front of Li Haoran!

She unleashed her divine sense, scanning every inch of Luofeng Prefecture.

Ordinarily, an Integration stage rogue cultivator casually sweeping a city with divine sense would be a provocation to the Great Xia Dynasty, but given the circumstances, no one would hold Su Yiren accountable.

"Found them!"

Su Yiren quickly pinpointed several suspicious cultivators with her divine sense. Those suspicious cultivators seemed to have some kind of restriction on them, for as soon as Su Yiren immobilized them, they immediately dropped dead.

"So ruthless?"

The Prefect's face was ashen. "I heard that the Nine Nether Cult believes in the existence of the Nine Nethers, and that death is merely a cycle of reincarnation for them, not something to fear. That's why the Nine Nether Cult members are all desperate fanatics, extremely dangerous!"

With her divine sense, Su Yiren discovered arrays hidden in many wealthy families' dry wells. They were meticulously interlinked and very intricate, forming a large array that was likely meant for refining the phoenix.

"Wait, no. The Nine Nether Cult disciples who died suddenly weren't even at the Transcending Tribulation stage. The real controller hasn't been found yet!" Su Yiren realized that those who had died were merely subordinates of the mastermind.

"Down below, inside the phoenix's corpse!" Lu Yang was the first to think of it. The old phoenix had been an Integration stage cultivator in life, and an Integration stage corpse could block divine sense scans of the same level.

Su Yiren had also considered this, but she didn't move.

"Senior Su, what's wrong?" Lu Yang wondered. Drilling through the ground shouldn't be difficult for an Integration stage cultivator, right? Didn't Integration stage cultivators know a few minor tunneling spells?

"Exactly, Senior Su, please hurry down! If the Nine Nether Cult refines the phoenix, Luofeng Prefecture will be in danger," Li Haoran urged as well.

Su Yiren thought about her words, then said, "My methods... might be a bit different from what you're imagining."

Su Yiren took a deep breath, calming herself. At this point, she couldn't pretend to be a refined lady any longer.

She clenched her fist and punched the ground, creating a deep hole wide enough for a person. Then she leaped down, burrowing into the earth.

Lu Yang and the other two stared with wide eyes, swallowing hard. Senior Su Yiren's methods... seemed quite at odds with her delicate appearance.

They suddenly recalled a previously overlooked question.

"What kind of cultivation is she proficient in?"

Meng Jingzhou found the large hole particularly familiar. How was this method so similar to his master's?

The three exchanged glances, and an absurd thought surfaced in their minds: "Could Su Yiren... be a body cultivator?"

Below, a phoenix with vibrant red feathers lay motionless, as if it had just died. Suddenly, the arrays left by the Nine Nether Cult on the ground activated one after another. The phoenix's eyes glowed with a green light, like jade, and genuine phoenix flames ignited around it, burning the entire underground area into an empty cavern.

"Since you've discovered me, we might as well go down fighting!" The phoenix let out the Nine Nether Cult disciple's voice, hoarse and frantic.

Despite his words, the Nine Nether Cult disciple was filled with immense regret.

Setting up arrays, stealing a Phoenix Blood Stone, resurrecting the phoenix, and overthrowing Luofeng Prefecture—what a perfect plan! Simple, easy to execute, foolproof, and undetectable.

Why would stealing a Phoenix Blood Stone involve an Integration stage cultivator guarding it?

Is this Phoenix Blood Stone really that valuable? Huh?

"Although I can't revive the phoenix to its full strength in such haste, it's more than enough to overturn Luofeng Prefecture!" With things having come to this, the Nine Nether Cult disciple couldn't care less about the details.

"I know you're an Integration stage cultivator, but so what? Are you an array master or a talisman master? It doesn't matter. Before you can completely stop the phoenix's activity, I'll have enough time to destroy Luofeng Prefecture several times over!"

Enveloped in genuine flames, the phoenix cried out in the underground cavern. It spread its wings, carrying boundless destructive power, like a creature reborn from ashes.

Just as the Nine Nether Cult disciple was about to control the phoenix and make it soar, he found that it couldn't fly at all.

"What's going on?"

He used his divine sense to investigate outside and discovered that Su Yiren was holding the phoenix's beak with one hand, preventing it from flying even an inch, no matter how much it flapped its wings.

"Fly?" A cold smile appeared on Su Yiren's delicate face. Still holding the phoenix's beak with one hand, she forcefully slammed it downwards, throwing the phoenix hard onto the ground.

The Prefect and the head of the Mo family, along with Lu Yang and the other two, came down through the newly opened hole in the ground, just in time to witness Su Yiren powerfully throwing the phoenix—a scene both beautiful and violent.

Li Haoran swallowed hard. If they were to get married, would he even have a peaceful life?