Half a day later.
[Your family failed to rescue the Xuanyuan Clan, falling into the trap of the Spirit Lord's grand army, and escaped with great difficulty.]
[Acquired Spoils of War: Wen Yan]
The border of Clearpeak Prefecture, at the edge of the Blood Moon.
The battered and exhausted members of the Li Clan and the Xuanyuan Clan members, who had hurriedly escaped from the Blood Moon, stared at each other, speechless for a long time.
Both sides wore expressions filled with utter disgust for each other.
In a great battle, Li Yaotie had mobilized Heavenly Fire outside the Blood Moon, hurling a fireball straight at the Spirit Lord.
Even within the immortal's domain, both sides harbored numerous misgivings.
In the clash of Dao methods between the Spirit Lord and Li Yaotie, neither ultimately dared to fight to the bitter end.
Li Yaotie stood together with Xuanyuan Liqun, completely ignoring the mutual disgust among the younger generation.
He cast a disdainful glance at the weird-looking Xuanyuan Liqun.
"Daoist Friend, you wasted a perfect opportunity. If you hadn't played dirty tricks, this would have been an excellent chance for our Li Clan to catch them all in one fell swoop."
"Does the Fire Ancestor take the Spirit Lord for a fool? If a true, all-out war had erupted, I'm afraid both our families would have perished in it. You were trying to use us as bait." Xuanyuan Liqun glared with wide eyes.
"You all hid yourselves away, so how were we supposed to know where you were? You should have told us in advance."
"If you didn't ask, how was I supposed to tell you?"
"If you didn't tell me, how was I supposed to ask?"
"..."
The two glared at each other for a long time.
Neither had expected the other to be such a treacherous and cunning old fox, absolute veterans of the martial world. Ultimately, they reached a consensus.
It was incredibly shameless, yet somewhat reliable.
Soon after, they ceased their bickering and looked toward the edge of the Blood Moon.
The half-immortal captured by the Xuanyuan Clan and Wen Yan captured by the Li Clan were both sealed within the Blood Moon.
Within their bodies resided only the most ordinary of immortals.
Their cultivation at the Void Refinement realm hadn't even reached the Half-Step Body Integration realm; even with the assistance of immortals, their strength wasn't overwhelmingly powerful.
However, these two could not leave the Blood Moon. The moment Li Tianqi dragged Wen Yan a single step outside the Blood Moon, the female general wailed in agonizing pain.
Seeing Li Tianqi's puzzled gaze and the female general's agony, Xuanyuan Liqun said in a heavy voice, "It's useless. I've already tried; these people cannot come out."
"They can't come out?" Li Yaotie was confused.
"The living beings beneath the Blood Moon have had both their bodies and souls thoroughly corrupted.
Just like small fish that cannot leave the water, stepping outside the Blood Moon leaves them with only one path—death."
Xuanyuan Liqun nodded toward the youths of his clan.
The Xuanyuan Clan disciples began inscribing an array formation; evidently, they too possessed methods to refine people.
White mist was stripped from the half-immortal within the array and channeled into a white porcelain bottle.
Xuanyuan Liqun said, "The living beings within the Blood Moon cannot leave, but this does not affect the immortals.
I believe the immortals intentionally do this to forever imprison the living beings beneath the Blood Moon, forcing them to willingly become the immortals' cultivation vessels."
He looked at the half-immortal in the array, and then at Wen Yan—who had been pulled out by Li Tianqi and shoved back in, now rolling around in agony within a trapping array—his eyes filled with fury.
"They can only continuously fight against the immortals amidst their bewitchment, waiting for the immortals to completely occupy their bodies.
With the long passage of time, sooner or later, the immortals will find a vulnerability to exploit."
As the two conversed.
The crowd simultaneously looked toward Wen Yan.
They saw the female general, who had once served under Gu Fenghua, suddenly radiate an iridescent glow behind her.
Taking on a sacred and inviolable appearance, the immortal power attempted to break open Li Tianqi's array.
The moment she was captured by the Li Clan, Wen Yan had completely lost the ability to suppress the immortal within her body.
The crowd furrowed their brows. Wen Yan no longer exhibited the agony from when she was pulled outside the Blood Moon.
Within the trapping array, her body was being occupied by the immortal, yet she calmly and softly said to the numerous cultivators of the Southern Frontier: "Kill me."
"..."
The crowd fell into a heavy silence.
Li Tianqi looked wordlessly at Wen Yan.
The family possessed Gu Fenghua's corpse and shared past ties with him. Hearing that Wen Yan was Gu Fenghua's subordinate, he had wanted to rescue her.
Since Tianming could suppress the immortal, perhaps he could help others suppress their immortals as well.
But reality was often terrifyingly cruel.
"Kill me," Wen Yan called out calmly once again.
The family members understood that this was perhaps Wen Yan's final moment of control over her body.
She didn't say anything else, but anyone could feel the female general's absolute resolution and tranquility at this moment.
Beneath the Blood Moon, Li Yunlin thrust his spear forward, gathering the power of the Skyveil Hall to sever her soul, stripping away an immortal.
The crowd departed, their hearts weighed down with heavy thoughts.
The cultivators beneath the Blood Moon hurried over.
Staring at the retreating backs of the Southern Frontier cultivators and the bloodstains left behind by the array formation on the ground, they roared with grief and fury toward the Southern Frontier, vowing to eradicate the living beings outside the Blood Moon to avenge General Wen.
High above in the Spirit Lord's heavenly palace.
Sitting upon the white jade throne, the Spirit Lord's gaze was icy.
Staring through the Blood Moon toward the direction of the Southern Frontier, he murmured, "Interesting. We will meet."
Just as he spoke, a subordinate came to report.
"Spirit Lord, terrible news! Two of our Exalted Immortals have been... killed by the demons outside the Blood Moon!"
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