*Clang!*
With a clang of metal against metal, surging energy rippled outwards in all directions, instantly blowing away the thick dust.
Ji Yuan held his long sword horizontally, and at the critical moment, narrowly blocked the descending blow. However, he coughed up blood from the corner of his mouth, and the internal injuries he had temporarily suppressed began to flare up again.
His legs were sunk nearly halfway into the black mud, and the wound on his right calf had burst open, gushing out blood like a fountain. The high platform beneath his feet quickly absorbed it.
Behind him, Xu Qiqi knelt on the ground, pale and weak, looking up at the two figures before her.
Besides Ji Yuan's back, there was also the middle-aged man with bloodshot, ferocious eyes. He now held his sword with both hands, maintaining a posture of splitting downwards, constantly applying pressure.
Seeing this, Xu Qiqi immediately wanted to stand up, but her body swayed, and she almost fell to the ground.
At this moment, she was not only unable to attack, but even her long sword felt heavier than a thousand pounds, making it impossible to lift even an inch. Her internal energy was completely depleted.
The previous blow had clearly exhausted all her strength.
Just as Xu Qiqi was in a state of anxiety, she suddenly heard heavy footsteps. She turned her head with difficulty and saw a figure rushing towards them.
That figure was the middle-aged guard, who was holding the black long saber that Ji Yuan had dropped on the ground. In just a few steps, he covered a distance of over ten feet. In a mere seven or eight breaths, he had arrived.
"Die!"
His eyes split with rage as he roared, swinging the black long saber with all his might.
A black shadow flashed, and a head flew into the air, its ferocious face filled with a sense of injustice.
The other party seemed to have never expected that he would be beheaded with a single saber by a martial artist of the Flesh and Blood realm, when he was not seriously injured and had most of his cultivation intact!
With a heart full of anger and resentment, his will moved. Then, the headless body actually began to move again!
This body abandoned the action of suppressing Ji Yuan and instead swung its sword towards the middle-aged guard beside him, attempting to behead him as well!
However, the middle-aged guard was still gasping for breath from his previous strenuous strike and had no extra strength to dodge the fatal blow.
At the critical moment, Ji Yuan pulled his legs out of the ground and rammed into the headless body, rolling over ten feet on the ground with him.
He then desperately jumped to the side, stumbling a considerable distance before collapsing on the ground, softly uttering, "Explode!"
The next breath, seven or eight talismans on the headless body suddenly glowed, and then flames imbued with abundant yang energy engulfed the entire body.
Innumerable thick gray evil qi surged out, but the headless body could not control it. It could only watch as the flames forced it out of the body, which then dissipated into the heavens and earth.
"You actually did this!"
In mid-air, the middle-aged man, with only his head remaining, not only did not die immediately but could even roar as if nothing had happened.
Seeing his body being rapidly incinerated by the surging yang fire, his face immediately showed boundless rage. Although as an evil entity, he would not die from losing his body, he would at least fall by one realm!
For at least the next hundred years, he would not be able to recover his original realm, and even regaining a body would be difficult.
How could this not enrage the middle-aged man?
"Noisy!"
Ji Yuan, sitting on the ground, glanced at the head in mid-air and then used the last of his strength to throw his long sword.
The long sword, which he called Yuanbao, instantly turned into an afterimage and streaked forward, its speed so fast that the middle-aged man had no time to react.
The next moment, the long sword pierced directly through his head. Without any light flowing, nor sharp sword energy crisscrossing, the head silently turned into specks of crystalline light.
The thick gray-white mist in the sky dissipated as the middle-aged man's head vanished. Countless semi-transparent phantoms appeared, which were none other than the souls of the deceased from the Zhao family!
After their deaths, their souls had been detained by the middle-aged man and merged into the gray-white mist, constantly enduring the agony of evil qi entering their bodies and draining their soul power.
This pain was unimaginable, not felt in the body but directly affecting the soul, making the pain in their hearts seem insignificant in comparison.
Now, with the middle-aged man annihilated and the gray-white mist dispersed, these deceased souls finally found the peace they longed for.
They all looked towards the few people on the ground, their gazes finally converging on Ji Yuan.
The over one hundred soul phantoms, with somewhat disorganized movements, performed rites in the ways they were familiar with.
Some clasped their fists, some bowed their bodies in thanks, some performed a curtsy, and some trembled as they knelt in the air, offering a sincere kowtow.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan struggled to stand up, leaning on his returned long sword. He then swayed his body and performed a Daoist salute to the many souls in the sky, softly chanting, "Fu Sheng Wu Liang Tian Zun."
In a moment, the soul phantoms slowly dissipated, as if responding to the call of heaven and earth, and retreated into an undetectable void.
When the last soul disappeared, a golden light suddenly appeared on the bodies of the four people present, but it quickly receded in an instant, no matter how they tried, they could no longer sense it.
"This is..."
The middle-aged guard looked at his hands and murmured to himself.
Ji Yuan sat back on the ground, panting heavily, and cast him a glance. "That is merit."
Regardless of their original intentions, whether it was to save these souls or not, heaven and earth would still bestow a portion of merit.
It was even possible that it had nothing to do with saving souls, but simply because their actions had dispelled a great deal of resentment from the world, thus leading to this merit.
"How is Jiang He?"
After taking out a few healing pills and swallowing them, Ji Yuan regained some strength and then looked at the boy in the distance, who was already like a withered tree.
Xu Qiqi, who had just regained some strength, had already squatted beside Jiang He. She shook her head to signal that he was fine and took out a porcelain bottle from her embrace.
Pale green liquid dripped from the mouth of the bottle, landing precisely on the wound on the boy's heart. Instantly, vigorous vitality surged, and his withered body began to heal bit by bit.
Seeing this, Xu Qiqi nodded slightly, then took out another green pill and placed it into Jiang He's mouth.
As soon as the pill entered his mouth, it instantly turned into a liquid and flowed down his throat. Then, a more concentrated vitality, accompanied by special fluctuations, suddenly erupted from the boy's body.
"Is this the inherited technique of Ku Mu Peak from the Jiu Xuan Sect?"
Ji Yuan, supported by the middle-aged guard, slowly walked to the side of the two. After watching for a while, he asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.
Even though they were separated by several prefectures, the name of the Jiu Xuan Sect was still very well-known, and its nine inherited techniques were often discussed by many cultivators.
These nine techniques each had their own profound mysteries. Among them, Lei Ze Peak, which held the power of enforcement, and Ku Mu Peak were the most familiar.
The former was a powerful technique of attack and killing, while the latter was a life-saving method that every cultivator dreamed of.
Upon hearing this, Xu Qiqi readily admitted, "Junior brother is a direct disciple of Ku Mu Peak and used a life-saving secret technique from this art in a moment of life and death."
And what she was using now was what Jiang He had placed with her in advance, to restore his injuries and awaken him when he entered the withered state.
After about fifteen minutes, when the wound on Jiang He's chest had completely healed, he let out a soft hum and slowly opened his eyes.
It was only as he opened his eyes that the withered marks on his body began to recede rapidly, and his body returned to its normal human appearance.
"We... succeeded?"
He sat up from the ground, his eyes dazed as he looked around. Then, he asked uncertainly, "Was that evil entity killed by you?"
Xu Qiqi nodded and briefly recounted what had happened.
After a long while, Jiang He suddenly clutched his head in regret, as if lamenting his absence from the "exciting" battle.
"You did very well. If it weren't for your action back then, we wouldn't have been able to successfully kill the evil entity later."
Seeing him like this, Xu Qiqi, unusually patient, comforted him.
"It's a great fortune that no one else died."
Ji Yuan suddenly sighed from the side.
Beside him were placed the bronze oil lamp and the black long saber. Even the sword sheath stuck in the ground had been retrieved by the middle-aged guard, and the Yuanbao long sword was once again sheathed on his back.
However, there was little joy on his face. Instead, a complex expression that was hard to describe appeared.
Hearing this, the few people present fell silent. Especially the middle-aged guards standing by. When they arrived, they were fifteen companions who had shared days and nights together, but in the end, only one remained.
He didn't even know how he would explain this to the other companions who had stayed behind when they returned to the wooden building.
"Since you survived, it's always a good thing. If you can't let go of those who died, then live well for them too."
Ji Yuan glanced at him and then said solemnly to comfort him.
Whether it was his words that took effect, or the thought of living for his companions, the middle-aged guard's expression improved somewhat. He then clasped his fists and performed a respectful, grand salute to the young Daoist priest sitting on the ground.
Seeing the seriousness on his face and the complex emotions in his eyes, Ji Yuan readily accepted it.
"Since the evil entity has been vanquished, we should leave this place quickly."
He thought for a moment and then said.
Although the evil entity had been killed here, it was, after all, a place inhabited by evil spirits and filled with a large amount of evil qi. For them, who were all injured, it would not be good to stay for too long.
So, the middle-aged guard apologized. While carrying the inconvenient Ji Yuan on his back, and holding the weak Xu Qiqi in his arms, they carefully descended to the ground along the protrusions at the edge of the high platform.
As for Jiang He, who had awakened from his withered state, he was no longer injured. His internal energy was even more abundant than before the battle, so he naturally had to leave on his own two legs.
Not long after, when the four of them climbed out of the underground space along the roots of the old locust tree and returned to the ground, they all breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
The events of this night were so tortuous. Life-and-death crises that were rarely encountered in ordinary times had come wave after wave, almost drowning them all on the spot.
Fortunately, everything was over. Zhao Wuhen, who harbored wicked intentions, and his few trusted servants had died, and the evil entity that had been causing trouble and plotting here had also been vanquished.
After suffering, they had finally seen the sky clear after the rain.
"By the way, has anyone seen that young master Zhao? A few days ago, when I was wandering in the city, I heard the common people say he was very cute and lovable. I wonder what he looks like."
As soon as Xu Qiqi was put down, she stretched her waist and mumbled.
However, this unintentional remark struck Ji Yuan like a bolt from the blue. Numerous fragments of memories flashed in his mind and then pieced themselves together.
He lay on the middle-aged guard's back, his movements stiff. He turned his head and looked at the old locust tree not far away.
The old locust tree, which should have been a guardian against evil spirits, now exuded an eerie aura. The dense branches swaying in the wind sounded like chilling laughter.