Chapter 37: Ambush

When Han Ming was forced into battle, Sun Lingtong took a single step, piercing through space, and landed in the medicine storage chamber.

"Phoenix Soul Fragrant Blood Pill!"

"Foundation Pill!"

"Revival Pill!"

"Elemental Return Pill!"

A playful giggle echoed as Sun Lingtong shook his plump little hand. On his wrist, as delicate as a lotus root, he wore a bracelet.

The bracelet gleamed. This storage artifact was immensely powerful; wherever its light shone, all the pills vanished instantly.

Outside the chamber, sword light crisscrossed, spectral shadows danced wildly.

Han Ming’s face was as dark as water, unable to shake off her foes.

This deadlocked combat was precisely what she had desperately sought to avoid.

Suddenly, she let out a cold snort and unleashed the Ninefold Soul Devouring Technique!

The sword cultivator’s silhouette faltered for a brief moment.

Yet, at the same instant, his flying sword shot like lightning, aimed directly at Han Ming’s heart.

Han Ming did not dodge, but instead, with all her strength, flung from her sleeve a flying shuttle.

It was barely a foot long, gray-blue like stone, covered in sharp spikes and shaped ominously. It moved deceptively slow, but in truth, struck swiftly, piercing through the sword cultivator’s body.

At the same time, Han Ming’s own heart was impaled by the flying sword.

Seemingly a mutual defeat, Han Ming’s lips curled into a sinister smile.

Her cultivation talent was called Yin Corpse Qi; both soul and corpse techniques suited her. She had joined the Soul Devouring Sect, majoring in the Ninefold Soul Devouring Technique, while secretly practicing the corpse cultivation method—Immortal Corpse Transformation.

She had successfully transformed all her internal organs into corpses, eliminating any ordinary fatal weakness. Even a pierced corpse heart posed no threat.

Her opponent, however, was not so fortunate.

Han Ming’s flying shuttle was no ordinary artifact, but one perfectly attuned to her Ninefold Soul Devouring Technique—the Soul Capturing Shuttle!

Upon striking the sword cultivator, it unleashed a powerful suction, forcibly drawing out part of his soul.

The sword cultivator’s face turned ghostly pale, his body trembling violently, grievously wounded in an instant.

"Even if you stand at the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment, you’re just a wandering cultivator—how can you oppose the grand sect of the Demonic Path?" Han Ming’s smile was cruel. "Die!"

But in the next instant, the sword cultivator threw out a talisman—Spatial Escape Talisman.

A surge of spatial energy erupted, instantly teleporting the sword cultivator away, leaving only emptiness behind.

Han Ming snorted coldly, her inability to kill her enemy stoking her inner rage.

She was about to charge toward the medicine storage chamber when a communication arrived.

Sun Lingtong had already swept the storage chamber clean and made his escape.

He sent her a message: "I’ve got the goods. Let’s go!"

---

Han Ming could not suppress the murderous rage boiling within. "Heh, to abandon such a golden opportunity—isn’t that a waste?"

She set her sights on the pill refining room, charging forth.

She bore deep hatred toward Sun Lie.

Previously, in pursuit of the Phoenix Soul Fragrant Blood Pill, she had fought fiercely, but gained nothing. Instead, she was wanted by the Immortal City of Fire Persimmon, forced into hiding for over a year. During this time, she made several attempts, but all ended in failure.

Bang!

Han Ming shattered the door, storming at Sun Lie.

Sun Lie had already heard the commotion outside, but could not abandon his pill refining, now underway.

"It’s you!" Seeing Han Ming, Sun Lie could only muster his remaining strength, standing his ground to resist.

He could only tap into less than forty percent of his power—no match for Han Ming, who quickly knocked him down.

Bang.

Sun Lie was sent flying, crashing into the wall, blood spraying from his seven orifices, collapsing helplessly.

"Die, then!" Han Ming shrieked with glee.

Her five fingers were razor sharp, each tipped with chilling gray-blue Yin Qi, viciously clawing at Sun Lie’s crown.

Boom!

Just then, the Ziyang Pill Furnace burst open, and a bolt of lightning shot forth.

Han Ming was caught utterly off guard.

She had not expected that the furnace contained not ordinary pills, but a prodigious youth!

Meng Chong, within the furnace, heard the commotion and realized that Ziyang Retreat was under attack. He’d recently survived an assassination attempt, and had left the city lord’s mansion for Ziyang Retreat with heightened vigilance.

He immediately called out to Sun Lie, wanting to exit the furnace and join the battle.

Sun Lie stopped him: "Once pill refining begins, it cannot be halted. Meng Chong, you’re now in the process of leaking your spiritual power; if you leave the furnace without sufficient medicine to nourish you and external pressure to contain you, your essence, energy, and spirit will all drain away. Not only will you lose your cultivation, even your body’s foundation will be depleted—you’ll become a cripple, worse than dead!"

Meng Chong finally grasped the gravity of the situation, hesitating.

But as he heard Sun Lie cough blood and Han Ming’s shrieks, unable to endure further, his blood boiled, instinctively unleashing his Immortal Thunder Charge.

Crackling!

Lightning wreathed his body.

Meng Chong’s eyes blazed, and with fierce resolve, he smashed open the furnace door, charging out like a tiger freed from its cage.

Fast—too fast!

Han Ming turned, as if seeing a thunder tiger roar straight at her.

Meng Chong was only at the third layer of Qi Refinement, having lost much of his power, while Han Ming stood at the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment!

Sensing Meng Chong’s aura, and with Sun Lie—her mortal enemy—so close, Han Ming steeled herself, continuing her assault on Sun Lie, relying on her defenses to withstand Meng Chong’s attack.

Boom!

Blinding lightning struck Han Ming’s back with brutal force.

Her Yin Soul power, fully marshaled, was shattered like rotten wood. The pure, forceful thunder energy surged into her body, rampaging and wreaking havoc.

---

In a single breath, all Han Ming’s corpse-transformed internal organs were damaged!

She spat a mouthful of cold gray blood, her attack on Sun Lie collapsing.

Years of battle experience told her instantly how perilous her situation was; she gave up on killing her enemy, hurriedly produced a Spatial Escape Talisman, and vanished.

"Where do you think you’re going?!" Meng Chong roared.

His thunder energy lingered on Han Ming, allowing him to sense her strongly.

Han Ming’s Escape Talisman was of poor quality, permitting only random teleportation within a six-mile radius.

Well within Meng Chong’s sensing range.

Meng Chong was about to pursue when Sun Lie stopped him: "No need to chase!"

Meng Chong paused, then realized saving Sun Lie was more urgent.

He rushed to Sun Lie’s side, but was at a loss.

He was adept at fighting, but saving lives was another matter.

Han Ming, grievously injured, forced herself to meditate and escaped from the battlefield.

Sun Lingtong had withdrawn first.

Ning Zhuo covered the retreat, abandoning some of his mechanical creations to slip away easily.

As for the Foundation cultivator who had come after him, he now hung as a corpse on the Hanging Death Whip.

The three met at the agreed midway point.

Han Ming glanced at the corpse on the Hanging Death Whip, and at the child-like guest with not a mark of battle upon him, feeling a chill in her heart.

At this moment, she was shrouded in Yin Qi, her aura formidable, showing no sign of her recent defeat.

Han Ming spoke coldly: "Let’s part ways here. Give me the Phoenix Soul Fragrant Blood Pill, and I want a third of the other pills as well."

Ning Zhuo immediately frowned: "A third? My contribution far exceeds yours."

Han Ming sneered, retorting, "But it was thanks to me that Sun Lie was gravely wounded and Meng Chong held off!"

"Especially Meng Chong—just the third layer of Qi Refinement, yet such power. Truly a genius with supreme immortal aptitude! Do you think your mechanical creations could withstand him?"

Ning Zhuo snorted and said nothing.

"Stop arguing. We’ve succeeded beyond expectation—let’s be happy." Sun Lingtong laughed, tossing Han Ming a pill bottle. "Inside are all the Phoenix Soul Fragrant Blood Pills."

Han Ming immediately uncorked the bottle to inspect it, but a plume of black mist sprayed into her face.

In an instant, Han Ming’s aura vanished, her soul sealed, nearly collapsing on the spot.

She could hardly believe it, shocked and furious: "Sun Lingtong, you tricked me!"

Thud, thud, thud.

Three strands of the Hanging Death Whip silently struck, piercing Han Ming’s body, then coiling around her like serpents, binding her tightly.

Ning Zhuo’s voice echoed eerily: "Two dividing is always better than three."