Chapter 181: Jiuyou Mark

Chapter 181: The Mark of Jiuyou

Li Xiang stared in disbelief.

How could this be...?

At this moment, he couldn't even react. Before his eyes, a cruel tableau of the inferno slowly unfolded.

Wailing souls swarmed from every direction, coiling around his body.

When he met Shen Lian's pitch-black, cold eyes, his throat felt like it was being crushed, and he couldn't make a sound.

The others could only watch as the sinister bell above Li Xiang's head shattered, and then, as if every drop of life had been sucked out, Li Xiang rapidly shriveled into a desiccated corpse.

Hua Lin, who had been under Li Xiang's control, didn't fare any better.

In the end, both were reduced to ash and smoke.

Meanwhile, the cold, eerie flames blazing around Shen Lian slowly died down.

Shen Lian's black hair tumbled loose as the disguise on his face melted away.

Everyone—Mo Xingyuan and the rest included—was frozen in shock.

The young man floating in mid-air radiated an indescribable, almost blinding nobility that made it hard to look directly at him.

His black hair stirred without a breeze, and his snow-white sleeves and robes billowed elegantly.

Looking up, one beheld a face of breathtaking beauty—cold yet dazzlingly gorgeous, the two traits not clashing but instead deepening his mystery, drawing others in with an irresistible pull.

Especially those eyes, gazing down at them from above, held nothing but pure indifference.

Meeting those eyes, an involuntary thought surfaced in everyone's mind.

An urge to kneel.

Shaking themselves out of it, they barely managed to suppress the instinct.

Their gazes settled on Shen Lian's brow.

They realized that, at some point, a wisp of deep blue had appeared on Shen Lian's forehead.

It flickered with an eerie, sinister glow, just as hard to look at directly.

The two people behind Ye Junhe widened their eyes, then erupted in excitement and disbelief.

Ye Junhe, in contrast, stayed composed, though his grip on the fan tightened slightly.

He fixed his gaze on Shen Lian hovering in mid-air.

As for Yan Fengyi, watching his two junior brothers—the sect's two most promising dark horses—die so tragically, his eyes went cold in an instant. He turned to Shen Lian and said, "You killed them."

Shen Lian's cold, lifeless eyes swept over him.

Before Yan Fengyi could get another word out, Shen Lian flicked his hand and sent him flying.

Only then did Yan Fengyi truly understand what his junior brothers had gone through.

Against Shen Lian, he didn't stand a chance of fighting back.

Having done all that, Shen Lian didn't spare them another glance. With a wave of his sleeve, he whisked Mo Xingyuan and the other two away.

Ye Junhe said without hesitation, "Let's follow them."

"Yes, Young Master."

As for the Shuihua Sect members, none dared to speak. Of course not—those two at the peak of the Immortal Lord Realm had been reduced to ashes.

Their senior brother couldn't even survive a single blow.

So what was the point of fighting?

The Shuihua Sect cultivators hesitated, then muttered among themselves.

"These Qingfeng Sect bastards are truly shameless!"

"Someone in their group used some trick to hide their cultivation. That Lian Song definitely isn't at the Immortal Lord Realm."

However, just as they finished speaking,

they suddenly sensed that something was off.

The group slowly turned to find the villagers they'd looked down on earlier all staring fixedly at them.

Each wore a bizarre, clearly unnatural expression.

In the blink of an eye, every Shuihua Sect cultivator dropped dead on the spot.

One young villager slowly licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, his pitch-black pupils rolling eerily, a sinister light flickering within.

But if anyone looked closely, they'd notice the clothes he wore belonged to the former village chief.

The other villagers wore equally satisfied expressions.

They looked at the former village chief—now the young man.

"Venerable Lord, are you really letting that Lian Song go?"

The Venerable Lord smiled faintly. "He won't be getting far."

As the words left his mouth, he raised his hand, and a massive, pitch-black net shot out from his sleeve.

Shen Lian was unaware of what had just happened.

After bringing Mo Xingyuan and the other two out, he set them down somewhere, then turned to leave.

Li Xuan opened his mouth to call out. "Lian Song!"

But Shen Lian vanished without even glancing at him.

Li Xuan's expression slowly twisted. "Senior Brother, he's been lying to us all along."

Mo Xingyuan and Zhao Yin were silent for a moment, then shook their heads. "Forget it. Let's head back and explain everything to Master."

Meanwhile, as Shen Lian flew through the air, his brow knitted slightly.

The inferno he'd absorbed was now churning and thrashing violently within his Spiritual Sea.

It seemed utterly unwilling to be absorbed just like that.

Shen Lian remained expressionless, suppressing it outright with the Nine Abyss Fire.

When the last wisp of evil aura was devoured, Shen Lian felt the Nine Abyss Fire within him surge in power by a huge margin.

Chen Xue also noticed that Shen Lian's cultivation had shot up by a huge margin.

He looked at Shen Lian and asked, "Master, how are you feeling now?"

He hadn't expected Shen Lian to just devour that artifact.

In his view, that artifact was definitely nothing to sneeze at.

Ordinary artifacts served their masters, and when not in use, they'd even drain the master's essence.

But when Li Xiang used the evil bell, it was clearly like he was offering a sacrifice.

Shen Lian said, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Chen Xue could see the grim look on Shen Lian's face and knew what was bothering him, so he quickly said, "It'll be fine."

Shen Lian had heard those words before. A flicker of something crossed his eyes, and his hand slowly clenched.

Yan Huaixuan, wait for me.

With that thought flashing through his mind, Shen Lian picked up the pace again.

Following Yan Huaixuan's aura, Shen Lian found himself standing before an abandoned dry well.

But the area around the well looked completely unremarkable.

Shen Lian's brow furrowed deeply.

Could Yan Huaixuan be down there, under the well?

Shen Lian paused for just a moment before diving into the well without hesitation.

Chen Xue quickly warned, "Master, be careful!"

Shen Lian nodded. "Don't worry."

Once inside the well, he discovered a hidden passage.

Shen Lian cast an illumination spell, lighting up the whole passage clearly, then gripped Chen Xue and walked in with a grim expression.

Chen Xue and Xiaoman stayed on high alert, keeping a sharp eye on their surroundings for Shen Lian.

The deeper Shen Lian went, the more sinister and eerie the air became.

Chen Xue remarked, "This village is no joke either."

Shen Lian didn't say a word.

Simple or not, anyone who got in his way of finding Yan Huaixuan would die.

Meanwhile, Ye Junhe and his two companions had also made it to the well.

Ye Congyue frowned and said, "Young Master, something's off about this well."

Ye Canglan's eyes glowed gold as he slowly scanned the well.

"Young Master, this well is definitely strange. I can sense an ancient aura coming from it."

Hearing this, Ye Junhe only grew more intrigued.