"Seriously? Is that the best you can do? Ripping off a hippie slogan from the 1960s?"

The stylish man ignored my snide remark as he swept his gaze from me to Ling Qing Zhu. Despite his visible features, he was still a glowing illusion that was insubstantial and not solid. As I said earlier, he looked like he was still in his thirties, with nice features and for some reason, he also seemed like a scholar.

I could relate to that, though I had a lot less hair when I was his age.

"Who are you?"

Upon seeing the newcomer who abruptly appeared before us, Ling Qing Zhu demanded in a low voice as she narrowed her eyes.

"Are you an idiot?" I snapped, rolling my eyes. "Isn"t it obvious that he"s the master of the ancient tomb?"

"That is correct!" the master of the ancient tomb chuckled and nodded with a smirk. "And what a violent young lady. You smashed my coffin and skeleton to bits, and you still have the audacity to ask who I am?"

Ling Qing Zhu turned a little pale, her slightly reddish cheeks losing the color for a few seconds despite the pure yin qi ravaging her.

"You…you really are the master of the tomb?"

"Duh," I muttered. "How many times do you want us to tell you that?"

"Heh, you don"t have to worry. I really am dead." The scholarly man a.s.sured us with a laugh. "This form is only the remains of my qi essence. To be honest, my soul had been sealed inside my coffin, so if you didn"t destroy it, I would never have appeared."

"So it"s your fault!" I yelled, jabbing an accusatory finger at the stunned Ling Qing Zhu. "I told you not to disrespect the dead!"

She ignored me and instead gritted her teeth, glaring angrily at the owner of the tomb. "You"re so shameless! How can an elder like you resort to such despicable means?!"

"What despicable means?" I asked, bewildered. Fortunately, the scholarly man was on hand to answer.

"The relationship between a man and a woman is as natural as the balance of yin and yang in heaven and earth, so how can you call it shameless?" the scholarly man countered elegantly. "As long as a couple is engaged in a harmonious relationship where they complement each other, don"t you think that"s for the best?"

"Not to mention the shameless one is you," I muttered. "Taking other people"s things, then smashing their coffins and disrespecting the dead. Then you go around accusing other people of being shameless after you shamelessly took his belongings for your own benefit. Hypocritical, don"t you think so?"

"Silence!" Ling Qing Zhu snapped. Sucking in a deep breath, she glared at the scholarly man. "And I"ll settle this problem myself!"

"Your method will cause harm to this youngster," the scholarly man pointed out indifferently.

"I will definitely repay him, there is no need for you to interfere!"

"You must be joking!" I yelled angrily. "No amount of repayment will be enough to cover for damage to my cultivation and wasting my years of training! What makes you think you can compensate for destroying my foundation? It"s not something you can attach a value to! No amount of compensation can cover for that!"

"I agree with the youngster," the scholarly man agreed with a nod. "I cannot approve of your method."

A strange smile then crept across his face as he swept his gaze over me and Ling Qing Zhu. I felt a sudden chill when he smiled slightly.

"Kid, you"re really lucky. Even I have never seen such an absolute beauty before. You must treat her well in future."

"Nope," I replied. "I"m sorry, but I already have another person in my heart. I will have to reject your kind intentions."

"Kind intentions?" the scholarly man repeated, tilting his head to the left in confusion. Dude, I already read Wu Dong Qian Kun, I knew what was coming.

"What do you plan on doing?" Ling Qing Zhu"s expression had turned frosty when she heard the dialogue between the two of us, and her voice had taken a more glacial tone.

"I would appreciate it if you just stop her," I continued as if she hadn"t spoken. "No need to do anything further than that."

"Stop her…?" the scholarly man looked at me, bemused. "Kid, aren"t you misunderstanding something? What do you think I will be doing?"

"Uh…" This was not going the way I was expecting. "Aren"t you going to…like, make her feel h.o.r.n.y, cause some aphrodisiac effect and force us to sleep with each other or something?"

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

I was taken aback when the scholarly man roared with laughter, doubling over as he clutched his stomach. He raised his head and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Kid, I"m already dead. I"m a b.l.o.o.d.y ghost! There"s nothing I can do to affect the living…except maybe offer advice or instructions. I certainly can"t cause an aphrodisiac effect and force you to perform Double Cultivation with each other. Look, I know she"s an absolute beauty, but such things don"t just conveniently happen for you to get laid. And besides, **** is still ****. No matter how you skew it, you can"t ever justify it."

"No, no…I"m with you on that. Thank you for not ripping off Wu Dong Qian Kun and resorting to those usual **** tropes. I find them sickening and disgusting." I displayed a thumb"s up and nodded, pleased. I could get along with this dude.

"Still…it"s quite a waste." The scholarly man glanced at Ling Qing Zhu. "Just look at her. A single glance can cause a city to crumble, and a second glance would ruin an entire kingdom."

"What is it with you guys and Yang Gui Fei/Concubine Yang tropes? You think I"m some ancient Emperor or something?! Or Paris from Troy?"

"No matter…the problem is that…because I"m a ghost, I"m unable to help you. You"ll have to deal with the matter on your own. Of course, if you want to maintain your cultivation, the only way to save that young lady over there is to have s.e.x with her."

I shrugged callously. "I mean, she didn"t care if I live or die as long as she could forcibly suck my yang qi. So why should I care if she lives or dies from her own mistake? Especially when she threatened me just so she can monopolize your Nascent Soul Heart? I have no obligation to help her."

"You…!"

Ling Qing Zhu grew a bit redder when she heard that. Tough luck, lady. You think I was some sort of saint who wanted to save everyone? Nope, the moment you threatened me and tried to forcibly suck my yang qi, you burned all your bridges with me. I wasn"t some sort of heroic protagonist who tried to save everyone I met.

"What will you do?" the scholarly man asked. "This young lady is pretty strong, and I don"t think she"ll just let you walk away."

"Speaking of which, where the h.e.l.l is the exit?" I asked the master of the tomb and gestured toward the smooth walls. "The door from which I entered has disappeared! Did you have anything to do with it?"

The scholarly man smiled mischievously. "How about this? If you take this lady as your lover and perform Double Cultivation with her, I"ll open the door for you."

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d, still trying to drive the situation toward ****. If that was the case, then I certainly did not require his help.

"Fine," I replied as I pushed my broken gla.s.ses up. "I"ll just force my way out myself."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I definitely will not **** anybody," I swore. "I"m not a f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d who only thinks with my lower half. And I told you, I already have someone else in my heart. I"m not going to betray her for…uh, benefits."

The scholarly man chuckled as he shook his head. "I rarely see any man with a will as strong as yours. If you escape this predicament, you"ll definitely go far in life."

He glanced at the attacking Ling Qing Zhu, who was raising her snow-white hand. Crimson qi gathered around it and blasted toward me with tremendous power.

"But first, you"ll have to survive her onslaught and prevent her from forcibly draining you of your yang qi."

"Oh, that"s the top item on my list of to do," I a.s.sured him. Using a footwork technique, I easily evaded the crimson blast.

Boom!

Behind me, the crimson qi left a blazing scorched mark and a small crater. As annoyed as I was with her, I had to admit that Ling Qing Zhu"s power was pretty impressive.

"Don"t you think you"re only speeding up your death if you recklessly use your qi like this instead of suppressing the pure yin qi?" I asked dryly. Ling Qing Zhu"s beautiful face twitched.

"I would die either way, so I might as well ensure I take your yang qi before I meet my demise!"

"Not going to happen."

I avoided her next attack with Duo, her crimson flames scorching the formerly white marble floor black.

"Hmm, this is quite the interesting match. Who do you think will win?"

The scholarly man hovered next to a stunned Qi Lin, who gaped at him.

"You can see me?"

"Of course. We"re both ghosts. Why wouldn"t I be able to see you?"

"You"ve got a point." Qi Lin nodded reluctantly. "And here I was, thinking that I succeeded in concealing my presence."

"Is that youngster your disciple? He seems pretty capable."

Qi Lin sighed when the scholarly man praised me. "Unfortunately, no. he just happened to pick me up…he"s actually the best friend of my disciple." A grin then spread over his wrinkled face. "But he lost to my disciple in the school tournament final last year."

"School tournament final?" the scholarly man raised an eyebrow. Then he shrugged. "Seems like a lot of things have changed over the last thousand or so years."

"Never mind thousands of years…things have changed a lot since two hundred years ago, when I was alive!"

"Two hundred years? Hah! You"re pretty young when compared to me!"

While the two ghosts socialized and caught up on…whatever it was that ghosts caught up on…I was fleeing for my life.

"Hah!"

Yelling, Ling Qing Zhu hurled another blast of flames from her lotus flower at me. I dodged it with more footwork, but this time I froze an ice dagger into existence and slammed it against the ground, leaving a visible mark.

"!!!"

I didn"t make much of a carving before Ling Qing Zhu a.s.saulted my position. Using Duo to escape and appear behind her, I repeated the maneuver, scratching at the ground with my ice dagger.

"You!"

Ling Qing Zhu spun around, and with a flick of her hand, sent a stream of flames at me, but I was already moving, disappearing into a blur and moving on to the next spot. At the same time, I stabbed the ground with my ice dagger.

"Oh…Teacher Jiao is right. Once I mastered these footwork techniques, no one in my generation will be able to touch me…it really is true!"

I was actually impressed by my ability to run rings around a frustrated Ling Qing Zhu. It was true that she possessed more firepower than I did, but I had the advantage in speed. No matter how much she attacked, I quickly evaded her bombardment of fiery qi with astonishing ease, my feet moving nonstop. I even had some time to carve symbols into the ground with my icy dagger before she turned around to blast at me.

At least she wasn"t yelling at me to stop moving around. That would be so r.e.t.a.r.ded and cliché. Apparently she had the dignity to maintain her composure and not resort to throwing childish tantrums when something didn"t go her way.

Instead, Ling Qing Zhu infused her body with more qi to speed up her attacks, spinning around like a whirlwind and flinging torrents of flames that incinerated stone and everything it touched. To my relief, her flames didn"t burn away the marks I left on the ground, just charring the marble and leaving a fine layer of ash.

That I could deal with.

"His movements are fast…what a troublesome opponent!"

Ling Qing Zhu was murmuring to herself. In spite of her desperation and rage, she was impressed by my speed and agility. Knowing that she wouldn"t be able to land a hit on me if she continued her current pattern of attacks, she suddenly switched tactics.

"I can"t believe this man force me to use this!"

Her crimson lotus glowed, and in an instant it transformed into a sword. Instead of relying on ranged attacks, Ling Qing Zhu lunged forward, swinging her sword down with terrifying speed.

"!!!"

I didn"t expect her to suddenly accelerate at me…or I did, thanks to my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps, but she was so fast she caught me off guard. I could barely raise my ice dagger while materializing an ice shield at the same time before her blazing sword struck my hastily erected defenses and incinerated them.

Boom!

"Gah!"

My ice shield and dagger shattered instantly from the impact and I was sent hurtling backward, blood gushing out of my mouth. Shaking my hands and freezing the flames that crawled over them, I raised my head and glared at Ling Qing Zhu.

She looked surprised, staring at me before glancing back at her blazing red sword in disbelief.

"You actually are still able to stand after receiving a blow from my Crimson Lotus Sword?"

I shrugged. "Why is that surprising? It"s not as if you struck with all your strength, did you?"

There was one very obvious reason why she held back. If she struck with all her strength and accidentally killed me, she wouldn"t be able to absorb my yang qi. It was more for practical concerns than compa.s.sion that she restrained herself.

"Even so…someone of your stage shouldn"t be able to maintain consciousness after receiving a direct hit from my Crimson Lotus Sword!"

Gritting her teeth, she c.o.c.ked her arm back, getting ready for another vicious strike.

"Again!"

I was under no illusions that I could endure another strike from her. I was still going to do my best to evade, but on the off chance that I would be forced to parry her attack again…

As if sensing what I might do, Ling Qing Zhu accelerated toward me, almost catching me by surprise. Before I could draw anything from my spatial device, I was forced to evade as best as I could, even as I conjured a wall of ice.

Smash!

Ling Qing Zhu swept the glacial barrier aside as if it was nothing more than an annoying layer of thin gla.s.s. Fortunately, the few microseconds that the shattered ice wall bought me was more than enough. Delayed ever so slightly, the tip of the blade of Ling Qing Zhu"s Crimson Lotus Sword only managed to nick the front of my shirt.

"Hey!"

I cried out when my Golden Dragon Medallion flew out. If it had been the golden amulet that carried Qi Lin"s ghost, I wouldn"t have cared less, but the Golden Dragon Medallion was something that I had become attached to over the years of carrying it around. It certainly caused me no end of trouble at the beginning, but it was the only physical proof that could serve as memory for my master. I didn"t want to lose it.

"That"s…!"

Ling Qing Zhu"s eyes widened when she caught sight of the Golden Dragon Medallion and she froze momentarily. I ignored her shock as I dove to catch the Golden Dragon Medallion before stuffing it inside an unbroken pocket.

"…that"s the Medallion of the Heaven and Earth Sect! How did you get your hands on it?!"

"I have no obligation to answer that," I replied stiffly as I seized the chance to widen the distance between us. d.a.m.n, but that door was still missing. Earlier, she had caused an inferno and I had froze it, so there should be ice that stood where the exit had been. But now, we were surrounded by smooth marble walls, with no sign of ice except the one I had recently created.

"Are you the successor to the Heaven and Earth Sect? Aren"t you from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect? How…?"

Ling Qing Zhu was still mumbling to herself, but then she shook her head and her glacial eyes hardened.

"No. None of that matters right now. I need your yang qi."

"And I need you to give up and leave me alone!"

I backed away, but Ling Qing Zhu managed to catch up in what seemed like overwhelming speed, slashing down with her Crimson Lotus Sword.

Clang!

"?!"

The two of us jumped apart in a shower of sparks. Ling Qing Zhu"s eyes widened when she saw the sword in my hand. During the brief delay, I had finally succeeded in reaching into my spatial device and drawing my weapon.

"That"s the Azure Lotus Sword! Why…?!"

"Because I"m the second coming of Eugeo," I replied with all the seriousness that a troll could possibly muster. "I"m Eugeo who reincarnated into a cultivation world after getting killed in the Alicization arc just so Kirito can monopolize Alice and have his harem."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Ling Qing Zhu narrowed her eyes, probably aware that I was just trolling her. She shook her head and cleared her throat.

"I mean, how did you get your hands on that Azure Lotus Sword?!"

"I don"t see how it"s any of your business," I replied as I deflected a strike from her Crimson Lotus Sword, noting the look she was giving my newly acquired treasure weapon. I then noticed how similar her Crimson Lotus Sword was to my Azure Lotus Sword. Both weapons sported the same elegant craftsmanship and design, meaning they were most likely forged by the blacksmith. In fact, the only contrasting difference between them was their color.

One was a deep red, while the other was a light blue. Yet, the both of them sported the same lotus motifs and almost identical guards and hilts.

"You truly are a mystery."

Flames ignited along Ling Qing Zhu"s Crimson Lotus Sword as she swung it, blasting me with flames. I used the Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula to freeze the inferno that engulfed me, and then followed up with a Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike that almost knocked Ling Qing Zhu off course. While she stumbled back, I stabbed my blade into the floor and inscribed something before jumping off to avoid another torrent of flames.

Ling Qing Zhu used a footwork technique of her own to dash toward me, and almost caught me by surprise. So that was how she was accelerating. I dodged her blade by a hair"s breadth, inclining my head to the side, and then returned with a riposte that forced her to parry. In a few seconds, the flames around her sword froze into ice.

"Kuh…!"

With the pure yin qi still ravaging her body, Ling Qing Zhu couldn"t afford to receive another blast of frosty yin qi from me. She wisely retreated, but not before firing off a parting shot. Another inferno burst up to consume me, but I hacked it apart with a swing of my Azure Lotus Sword.

"Enhance Armament!" I shouted jokingly and stabbed the ground.

"Huh?!" was all Ling Qing Zhu managed to squeak before the entire chamber became shrouded in ice. She tried to jump back, but there was nowhere for her to escape. Within seconds, she found her body entombed within ice. "Ugh!"

She tried to swing her Crimson Lotus Sword or blast her way out of the ice with superheated flames, but found her movements locked and her fiery yang qi snuffed out by the overwhelming cold. Struggling futilely, she found her movements growing more sluggish, until she was completely encased in ice up to her neck.

"What did you do to me?!"

"Ninety Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation." I pulled my sword out of the ground and placed it back in the spatial device. "It"s a miniature version of the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation in this ancient tomb that I encountered earlier. I recorded the Spirit Engravings of the formation when I was in there…" I tapped my gla.s.ses. On the surface of my lenses, a diagram popped up, replicating the Spirit Engraving patterns in full detail. I had referred to it all this time, carving the Spirit Engraving symbols into the ground while using my footwork techniques to evade Ling Qing Zhu"s attacks. "It"s not as potent, but it"s not as deadly either."

"Oh…very impressive!"

The scholarly man applauded from a distance when he saw that. He shook his head, his expression becoming that of amazement.

"Not bad! Not bad at all! I didn"t think anyone would be able to a.n.a.lyze, memorize and replicate my Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation! Moreover, this youngster even improvised and created a miniature version! Excellent!"

He then glanced at Qi Lin, who was hovering beside him.

"It"s really a waste that you didn"t take him as your disciple!"

"For one thing, I didn"t memorize the Spirit Engravings. As ashamed as I am to admit it, my memory is not that good. I wish I have photographic memeory, but I"m just an ordinary guy with no talent. Fortunately I have this." I tapped my gla.s.ses, which continued to display the recording of the Spirit Engravings of the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation in my lenses. "And you made it pretty easy – the Ninety Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation is just the core Spirit Engravings. The Nine Hundred and Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation are just additional layers built upon that core."

"Heh…I can"t believe you understand all that."

"It"s thanks to the elders at the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect who taught me Spirit Engravings. And also thanks to my literature and history background, which allows me to a.n.a.lyze images and art."

Feeling a little embarra.s.sed, I waved his praise away.

"Also," Qi Lin continued, unseen and unheard by the struggling Ling Qing Zhu, but obviously in dialogue with the scholarly man. "As regretful as I am not to have such an outstanding youngster as my disciple, he already has a more appropriate master. Did you not see the techniques that he had learned?"

The scholarly man frowned. "I"m not sure I recognize them…an ice technique? I do recognize the sword technique, though. Isn"t that the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship from the Heavenly Meteor Sect? Ah…he must be a disciple from there."

"The Heavenly Meteor Sect has been destroyed for years now…and I don"t think so." Qi Lin shook his head thoughtfully. "I was referring more to his cultivation technique rather than combat technique. Did you not realize something about his movements and qi?"

"Ah…! I see!" the scholarly man"s eyes widened. "The Heaven and Earth Formula! No wonder it felt so familiar! And that explains the medallion! He really is the successor to the Heaven and Earth Sect!"

Now that was heard by Ling Qing Zhu. Her formerly frosty expression turned complicated as she stared at me.

"You"ve defeated me," she said. "Now what? Are you going to kill me?"

I shrugged. "Why should I?"

Ling Qing Zhu looked sour. "It doesn"t matter. If I don"t control this pure yin qi, I"m going to die anyway. You might as well give me a quick death and be done with it. If there"s any honor in you, you shouldn"t revel in my suffering and draw it out."

I sighed. "I have no intention of reveling in your suffering…but I have no obligation to kill you or help you either. Especially since you"re the one who first threatened me, and then tried to forcibly suck my yang qi. That said…"

I approached her. Ling Qing Zhu stiffened, but other than her head, the rest of her body was locked in ice. She then adopted an expression of resignation and held her head up as highly as she could, as if to defy me.

"Go on, do your worst."

Ignoring her, I placed my hand on the ice. Closing my eyes, I began to use Heaven and Earth Absorption to draw the pure yin qi from her body, siphoning off the rampaging energies and drinking heavily in them.

"…kuh…!"

I gritted my teeth as the pure yin qi attacked me. This was not the best method. To be honest, the best and safest method was still Double Cultivation…or simply put, to have s.e.x with her, but neither Ling Qing Zhu nor I was willing, and I wasn"t going to resort to ****. I wasn"t Yun Che from Against the G.o.ds, who justified **** by claiming to save the other party"s life, and I wasn"t a lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d like Lin Dong who got laid in the most contrived manner possible.

I had no choice but to do this the hard way.

"You…!"

Ling Qing Zhu"s expression turned even more complex when she saw me struggling to withstand the onslaught of pure yin qi. Her shoulders sagged a little.

"Sorry…perhaps I shouldn"t have been so stubborn."

"Hmm…interesting!"

The scholarly man, on the other hand, watched on with fascination. He nodded in approval and clapped his hands joyfully.

"There is this method too! But, kid, it"s unfortunate that it"s only a temporary measure. If you try to absorb it this way, you will still be unable to absorb all of the pure yin qi in the beauty"s body. Large traces of pure yin qi will remain in her body and continue to threaten her life until the day she finally accedes to Double Cultivation."

"Well, Miss Ling Qing Zhu can find someone else for that once she gets out of this place alive. But first she"ll need to be able to survive long enough to do so. I"ll buy her enough time for her to find the appropriate person, or perhaps until she finds an alternative that can totally cure her once and for all."

The scholarly man shook his head. "Kid, you don"t understand. You"ll be having that pure yin qi in your body as well…hmm, oh well. Not only that, but to think one of you possess the Crimson Lotus Sword, and the other owns the Azure Lotus Sword. A pair of legendary swords forged by the same blacksmith, mirrors of each other, and also complementing each other like yin and yang. This can"t just be a coincidence! I think your fates will be entwined, regardless of what you do here today. Perhaps in future, both of you might finally give your consent."

I smiled bitterly. "Don"t raise such ominous flags. I have no intention of betraying the person I like."

"Whoever that lady is, she must be very lucky."

Ling Qing Zhu closed her eyes and whispered. I raised an eyebrow at that, but didn"t inquire further. Especially since I was fighting against the devastating pure yin qi.

"Well, I"ll leave you youngsters to it and watch over you from afar."

"You"re leaving?" Qi Lin asked, surprised. The scholarly man grinned.

"Yup. Now that my Nascent Soul Heart has been absorbed, there is no longer any reason for me to linger in this world. I"m going to ascend!"

With that, he dispersed into countless b.a.l.l.s of light and disappeared from this realm forever.

"Huff…"

I broke contact with Ling Qing Zhu"s frozen body and staggered backward, trying to resist the nausea and blazing sensation inside my body. I had only absorbed a fraction – a mere fraction – of the pure yin qi, and already I felt like I was going to freeze to death.

There was no way I could absorb all of it. Ling Qing Zhu had to suppress so much of this pure yin qi in order to stay alive?! It was a miracle she hadn"t been reduced to a frozen corpse.

"Ugh…"

Even worse, even though by right the pure yin qi should have been a similar elemental affinity to mine – ice – for some reason I was unable to a.s.similate it immediately. Perhaps it was the purity, or maybe there was something strange about the pure yin qi that was formerly from the Nascent Soul Stage pract.i.tioner, but it was different from the usual ice qy I was used to. I wouldn"t be a.s.similating it anytime soon. I needed a few hours at least before I could safely integrate the absorbed pure yin qi into my own system.

"Sir Fei Wu."

I glanced up at Ling Qing Zhu as she spoke seriously.

"You"ve done enough. You"ve absorbed enough pure yin qi from my body and provided me some of your yang qi in exchange…it might only be temporary, but I will be able to suppress the pure yin qi inside my body for a while. In that time period, I will return to my sect and ask my master for possible solutions."

She took a deep breath, her usually glacial eyes now gentle and earnest.

"This debt, I will definitely not forget. I"ll repay you for saving my life, even though I was so…rude to you before."

"Don"t worry about that." I waved her grat.i.tude away. "I didn"t manage to cure you of your condition, only bought you some time. I didn"t save your life."

"Yes, you did."

Sighing, I closed my eyes for a second before stepping forward. Not wanting to argue with her, but realizing she no longer possessed the will to attack me and suck my yang qi, I reached out to free her from the ice.

At that moment, a single section of the wall shimmered and a door materialized.

Bang!

Before I could make physical contact with the ice, the door slammed open and a group of people poured in.

"Eh?"

Turning around, I caught sight of not just Lei Yong Chun and his party who was trapped inside the spirit formation of the sea of fire outside, but also their accompanying sect members. In other words, almost all the Red Phoenix Sect members, the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members, many Green Dragon Sect members and a huge range of disciples from various sects were also present. Apparently they finally managed to break through the formation through sheer number of people.

"Senior Qing Zhu!"

The first thing the Incendiary Ifrit Sect disciples saw was their head disciple being frozen. And then they caught sight of me reaching out to her. From their point of view, it looked as if I was about to attack her.

"You…!"

"Wait…wait!"

I panicked and tried to clear the misunderstanding, but they were having none of it. Before I could say another word, the whole group of Incendiary Ifrit Sect disciples drew their weapons, infused them with their fiery qi, and charged at me with a fearsome bellow that reverberated across the frozen burial chamber.