Chapter 140: Interception

When Su Yun walked out of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, he felt several gazes fixed on him.

He did not look back and led the four of them straight toward the inn.

Those gazes followed them the entire way and only vanished after he entered the inn.

Bai Shuang closed the door and said in a low voice, "Master, someone has targeted us."

Su Yun nodded.

He had already sensed it.

Bidding one hundred and ten thousand Spirit Stones directly at the auction to purchase the nine-turn dragon saliva was not the most extravagant display in the Western Regions, but it was enough to attract the attention of certain people.

This was Longyuan City, a place guarded by those at the Soul Transformation Stage; no one dared to make a move within the city.

But that might not be the case once outside the city.

Valley Master Su Yao looked grave. "Master, when are we leaving?"

Su Yun thought for a moment. "Tomorrow morning. We will leave the city at daybreak, and we must be careful on the road."

Fairy Jianyun kept her hand on her sword hilt and said calmly, "No matter how many come, I will kill them all."

Zi Wuji did not speak, but her hand had already rested on the purple short sword at her waist.

Before dawn the next day, the five of them left the inn and walked toward the city gates.

The street was very quiet, with only a few early-rising vendors setting up their stalls.

Su Yun walked at the front, his pace neither fast nor slow.

He felt those gazes following them again; this time, they were closer and made no attempt to conceal themselves.

After leaving the city, the five of them soared into the air and flew toward the east.

Longyuan City grew smaller and smaller behind them, and the Sunset Plains unfolded beneath their feet, the boundless grassland illuminated in golden hues by the morning light.

After flying for less than half an hour, Su Yun suddenly stopped.

One hundred zhang ahead, twelve figures hung in mid-air, blocking their path.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a sinister face, dressed in a black robe, with a deep and heavy Aura surrounding him.

Peak Nascent Soul Stage.

Behind him stood eleven people, both men and women; seven at the Late Nascent Soul Stage and five at the Mid Nascent Soul Stage.

Su Yun looked at them. "Do you gentlemen have business with me?"

The middle-aged man smiled, his expression cold. "Fellow Daoist, it is not very good to monopolize a treasure like the nine-turn dragon saliva by yourself. Why not bring it out and let us share it?"

Su Yun also smiled. "Share? How shall we share it?"

The middle-aged man held up three fingers. "You take thirty percent, and we take seventy percent. That is generous enough, right?"

Su Yun shook his head. "Not enough."

The middle-aged man's face darkened. "Then don't blame us for being impolite. Attack!"

As his voice fell, the eleven people behind him attacked simultaneously.

Sword light, Saber Qi, palm winds, and Spells came crashing down on Su Yun like a deluge.

Twelve Nascent Soul cultivators besieging one Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivator—in anyone's eyes, this was a certain death trap.

Su Yun did not retreat.

He raised his hand, and icy blue and blood-red light exploded around him.

The power of True Monarch Bingpo and the Blood-colored Girl flooded into his body simultaneously.

His Aura instantly climbed to the Peak Nascent Soul Stage, only a hair's breadth away from the Soul Transformation Stage.

He threw a punch.

The force of his punch, wrapped in the Power of the Five Elements and the Thunder Spirit Power, collided head-on with those eleven attacks.

With a thunderous boom, waves of Qi surged, and all eleven attacks were shattered.

The eleven attackers simultaneously stumbled back several steps, their faces changing drastically.

The middle-aged man's pupils constricted. "You—you are not at the Late Nascent Soul Stage!"

Su Yun did not answer.

He stepped forward and appeared in front of a male cultivator at the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

The male cultivator swung his sword to block, but Su Yun shattered the longsword with a single palm strike and grabbed his throat with his other hand.

With a snap, the neck bone shattered.

The male cultivator's eyes widened, and he collapsed limply to the ground, his Aura extinguished.

Another male cultivator at the Late Nascent Soul Stage attacked from the side, his saber light aiming straight for Su Yun's head.

Su Yun dodged to the side and struck his chest with a backhanded punch.

The force of the punch passed through his body, exploding a bloody hole in the male cultivator's chest; his corpse flew dozens of zhang and slammed into the grassland.

The remaining people turned pale, and some began to retreat.

Su Yun did not give them a chance.

His figure was like a ghost, weaving through the crowd.

Every punch and every palm strike claimed a life.

A male cultivator at the Mid Nascent Soul Stage turned to flee, but Su Yun raised his hand, and a beam of light shot out, striking him squarely in the back.

The man let out a scream, fell from mid-air, and crashed to the ground, silent forever.

Three female cultivators at the Late Nascent Soul Stage gathered together, jointly erecting a protective shield.

Su Yun stepped in front of them and smashed his fist into the shield.

The shield shattered, and the three female cultivators vomited blood and flew backward simultaneously.

Su Yun caught up to one of them and struck the top of her head with his palm.

The female cultivator's vision went black, and she died on the spot.

The remaining two female cultivators knelt on the ground, trembling all over, not even daring to flee.

Su Yun looked down at them and pressed his fingers to the center of their brows.

Golden light flashed by.

[Enslavement Successful × 2] [New Slaves Acquired: Liu Ruyan, Liu Rushuang; Loyalty 51, 54] [Ding! Congratulations to the Host for receiving partial Spiritual Qi feedback from Enslavement × 2; Cultivation base slightly improved.]

The two female cultivators' bodies stiffened, and the fear in their eyes gradually turned into obedience.

They lowered their heads. "Master."

Su Yun ignored them and turned to look at the middle-aged man.

He was the leader of this group, at the Peak Nascent Soul Stage, and had already retreated over a hundred zhang away, clutching a Jade Slip in his hand and pouring Spiritual Qi into it.

It was a communication Jade Slip; he was calling for help.

Su Yun raised his hand, and a beam of light shot out, striking the Jade Slip.

The Jade Slip exploded, and the middle-aged man's palm was blown into a bloody mess.

He screamed and turned to flee.

Su Yun caught up in a single step and struck his back with a palm.

The middle-aged man spat out a mouthful of blood, fell from mid-air, and crashed to the ground.

He struggled to climb up, but Su Yun had already landed before him.

"You—you cannot kill me. I am an Elder of the Xuanming Sect. My Senior Brother is at the Initial Stage of Soul Transformation. If you kill me, he will not let you off."

Su Yun looked down at him. "Xuanming Sect?"

The middle-aged man nodded frantically. "Yes, yes, yes. Xuanming Sect. A major Sect of the Western Regions. If you let me go, the matter of the nine-turn dragon saliva will be wiped clean. I guarantee—"

Before he could finish, Su Yun struck the top of his head with his palm.

The middle-aged man's eyes widened, and he slowly collapsed to the ground, his Aura extinguished.

Su Yun withdrew his hand and turned to look at the battlefield.

Seven corpses lay on the ground, all of them male.

The three female cultivators at the Late Nascent Soul Stage knelt to the side, trembling with fear.

Including Liu Ruyan and Liu Rushuang, there were five survivors in total.

There were also two female cultivators at the Late Nascent Soul Stage who had been blasted away by his palm strike earlier and were now struggling to climb up.

Su Yun walked over, and when the two saw him, they turned pale and knelt on the ground, not daring to move.

He raised his hand and pointed at them one by one.

Golden light flashed by.

[Enslavement Successful × 2] [New Slaves Acquired: Zhou Ruolan, Zhou Ruomei; Loyalty 48, 52] [Ding! Congratulations to the Host for receiving partial Spiritual Qi feedback from Enslavement × 2; Cultivation base stabilized.]

Seven female cultivators at the Late Nascent Soul Stage, all subdued.

Adding the batch with Liu Xuanji that he had subdued earlier, he had collected a total of thirteen Nascent Soul female cultivators on this trip to the Western Regions.

Su Yun looked at the seven newly acquired slaves. "Which Sect are you from?"

Liu Ruyan lowered her head and said, "Reporting to Master, we are all Disciples of the Xuanming Sect. The man from before was an Inner Sect Elder of the Xuanming Sect named Sect Leader Zhao Tianxing. He was ordered to bring us here to intercept Master and seize the nine-turn dragon saliva."

Su Yun narrowed his eyes. "Xuanming Sect. What is the cultivation base of the Sect Master?"

Liu Ruyan said, "The Sect Master is called Old Ancestor Xuanming, at the Initial Stage of Soul Transformation. Under him, there are two other Elders at the Initial Stage of Soul Transformation, who are his Junior Brothers."

Three at the Initial Stage of Soul Transformation.

Su Yun was silent for a moment.

With his current strength, combined with True Monarch Bingpo and the Blood-colored Girl, he could barely exchange a few blows with one at the Initial Stage of Soul Transformation.

But to deal with three of them at the same time, he was still far from enough.

He looked at Liu Ruyan. "How many female Disciples does the Xuanming Sect have?"

Liu Ruyan thought for a moment. "The Xuanming Sect has over three thousand Disciples, with about eight hundred female Disciples. There are over a dozen female Disciples at the Nascent Soul Stage and over two hundred at the Golden Core Stage."

Su Yun nodded.

He had noted this debt.

But not for now.

What he needed to do now was to take the nine-turn dragon saliva back to the Central Regions and let Valley Master Su Yao refine the Soul Transformation Stage Pill.

Once he achieved a Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Stage, he would return to the Western Regions to settle the score slowly.

"Let's go. Back to the Central Regions."

He turned and flew toward the east.

Valley Master Su Yao, Fairy Jianyun, Zi Wuji, and Bai Shuang followed closely behind.

The seven newly subdued female Disciples of the Xuanming Sect followed as well.

Adding the six people including Liu Xuanji whom he had subdued outside Longyuan City earlier, there were thirteen Nascent Soul female cultivators following behind him, a dark, imposing mass with an astonishing Aura.

After flying for a day and a night, the Cangwu Mountain Range appeared in their field of vision.

Su Yun looked back once.

The Sunset Plains behind them were a vast expanse of golden yellow, and no one was pursuing them.

He breathed a sigh of relief and accelerated.

Crossing the Cangwu Mountain Range, the Spiritual Qi of the Central Regions rushed toward them.

Su Yun took a deep breath and landed at the foot of the mountain.

Those behind him landed as well.

Valley Master Su Yao walked to his side. "Master, the people from the Xuanming Sect did not pursue."

Su Yun nodded.

He knew.

But they would come sooner or later.

The Xuanming Sect knew his identity, knew that he came from the Central Regions, and knew where Qinghe City was.

If the Old Ancestor at the Initial Stage of Soul Transformation wanted revenge, no one in the Central Regions could stop him.

He turned and flew toward Qinghe City.