"Senior Brother, why don't we destroy the Chengtian Great Hall?" Nangong Luo looked at his Senior Brother. A place like this would only lead to more cultivators perishing.
"To destroy the Chengtian Great Hall, you must kill him."
Leng Xingzhi turned around and looked at Chu Lingwei, a hint of unspoken words in his eyes.
"Kill who?" Nangong Luo stroked his chin, his eyes lighting up. "It couldn't be that Overlord-level expert, could it?"
Leng Xingzhi didn't reply. He turned and collected all the corpses lying on the ground into spirit beast pouches. These spirit beasts were all eighth and ninth-tier spirit beasts, and everything on them was a treasure.
Nangong Luo looked at Chu Lingwei, and Chu Lingwei stared back. Neither of them could glean what they wanted from the other's gaze.
Chu Lingwei replayed everything and everyone she had encountered since entering the Cangshan Secret Realm, again and again. One figure appeared in her mind. "It couldn't be him, could it?"
"Ape King Qingtian." Nangong answered for himself.
Chu Lingwei's heart sank. She patted her forehead hard. What had she done?
"He's the one who sent them to find the great treasure." Ape King Qingtian didn't want them to live.
"Senior Brother, is the Chengtian Great Hall a trap set for us by that spirit beast?" Nangong Luo hurried after his Senior Brother. He was so familiar with the situation here; he must know.
"He is the Overlord-level expert you speak of. He didn't break through; he perished in the Cangshan Secret Realm."
Chu Lingwei's heart sank as she listened to her Senior Brother. "Senior Brother means he actually died long ago, and his current body is a result of soul possession?"
"Yes." Leng Xingzhi looked outside and said calmly, "He's here."
Chu Lingwei's heart skipped a beat. She turned and saw Ape King Qingtian standing outside their cave entrance.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, are you all well?" Ape King Qingtian, Suo Ya, looked at their barrier, his brow furrowing slightly. His expression was exactly like that of a human cultivator.
Chu Lingwei silently cursed their past carelessness. Even if it was about to transform, it couldn't possibly be so similar to a cultivator.
"Senior, we nearly died."
Shen Susu walked to the cave entrance and looked at Ape King Qingtian outside. "Senior, do you know there is no great treasure here at all?"
"As long as you kill all those spirit beasts, the great treasure will appear." Suo Ya couldn't see into the cave, which made him feel surprised. Their barrier was so strong that even he couldn't see through it.
"May I ask, Senior, how can we kill them all?" Shen Susu stared at Suo Ya. If he was truly that Overlord-level expert who perished and then reborn in his current body, and cultivated to the point of almost transforming, he was truly formidable.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, could you please step out to talk?" A killing intent flashed in Suo Ya's eyes. He certainly couldn't let a few minor cultivators leave.
Nangong Luo quickly walked to Chu Lingwei's side, gripping his Warm Jade Hao Tian Fan. A spirit beast on the verge of transforming—the four of them working together should be able to fight it.
Leng Xingzhi waved his right hand gently and stepped out of the cave.
"Who are you?" Suo Ya looked at Leng Xingzhi. There was no such person among the cultivators who entered the Cangshan Secret Realm this time. "How did you enter the Cangshan Secret Realm?"
"Naturally, I walked in." Leng Xingzhi's gaze turned cold. "You used the souls of so many cultivators to rapidly increase your cultivation, yet you don't know that you will forever be unable to transform."
"How do you..." Suo Ya took a step back, looking at Leng Xingzhi in shock. Why did this person know these things? "Hahaha..."
Laughter filled the entire Cangshan Secret Realm. The entire Cangshan Secret Realm belonged to him; how could he not transform?
"I will soon be able to transform and leave this place."
"Heh, overestimating yourself."
Leng Xingzhi let out a cold laugh and swung his spirit sword at Suo Ya. The strong opponents flew towards the sky.
"How deep is Senior Brother's cultivation?" Nangong Luo watched the figures of the two fighting from afar, arms crossed. Senior Brother was fighting a spirit beast on the verge of transformation, yet he wasn't at a disadvantage.
"What should we do now to help Senior Brother?" Chu Lingwei was anxious. Senior Brother was still injured.
"We probably can't help." Su Yan stood up. They were simply not on the same level. Even if they wanted to help, they were willing but powerless.
"But Senior Brother is injured."
Chu Lingwei took a deep breath. She thought of the cave she had been trapped in. Suo Ya also had a mate and two children.
She couldn't worry about that anymore.
"Let's go find his mate."
Chu Lingwei summoned her flying artifact, and the few of them headed towards Suo Ya's cave dwelling.
"Mao Mao, set up a barrier, don't let Suo Ya know where we are going now." Suo Ya cared so much about his mate that he would constantly monitor the cave dwelling.
Phantom Cat nodded vigorously. Barriers were erected around them, preventing others from discovering them.
"These few are really putting on a good act." Nangong Luo curled his lips. Three cultivators had been deceived by a spirit beast.
"Still here."
Chu Lingwei arrived in front of the cave dwelling and saw a barrier blocking their path. She was very familiar with this barrier.
She took out the Nine Phoenix Cry Fan and struck at the barrier.
Suo Ya, who was fighting Leng Xingzhi, sensed that the barrier to his cave dwelling had been broken. His face greatly changed. How dare they?
"Trying to leave? No way."
Leng Xingzhi blocked Suo Ya's path. Since they had come, how could they leave so quickly?
"I will kill you." Suo Ya roared in fury. He had to kill the person before him.
Su Qing, holding two children, suddenly felt the cave dwelling shake. She panicked and picked up the children to escape, but it was already too late.
"It's you." Seeing Chu Lingwei, Su Qing breathed a sigh of relief. "Fellow Daoist Chu, how did you get in?"
"I've always been very curious about your name. You must be a human cultivator, right?" When she first learned Su Qing's name, she was slightly surprised. At the time, she guessed that it was not surprising for these spirit beasts, which had gained sentience, to take a human cultivator's name.
Now it seemed that Su Qing was very likely a cultivator.
Su Qing looked at Chu Lingwei and didn't see her mate Suo Ya. Fear arose in her eyes, and she held her two children tightly. "What do you want?"
"Su Qing, how did you turn into a spirit beast?" Nangong Luo asked directly. Su Qing's spiritual power had not yet recovered, and the few of them would be more than enough to deal with her.
"You know everything?" Su Qing's eyes reddened, and she shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know why I turned into a spirit beast."
"Then do you know that Ape King Qingtian, your mate, is also a cultivator like you?" Nangong Luo stepped forward, approaching Su Qing. With a gentle push, he could take her life.
Su Qing was stunned when she heard this.
"What did you say?"
"Suo Ya is like you; he is a cultivator." Nangong Luo looked at the two spirit beasts in Su Qing's arms with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes. "They, however, are spirit beasts."