Chapter 82

Everyone present understood that this sword must belong to the Sect Master. Daring to compete for the sword was tantamount to courting death. Although they all envied it, they could only sigh inwardly, pondering what to say to congratulate the Sect Master when he obtained the sword, to show that they had never had any intention of taking it.

At this moment, Lu Xiaoding suddenly shouted loudly, "This sword has a spirit. As long as you help me leave here, it will choose you as its master. This is a rare opportunity. You don’t need to use your divine senses to forcibly occupy it, and there’s no risk of backlash. You can get a fully devoted magical treasure for free."

"You’re trying to deceive me," Kong Xincai immediately said, clearly dissatisfied.

As soon as the words were shouted, the atmosphere of the Ghost Spirit Sect became strange. Everyone was not thinking about how to seize the sword, but rather worried about being suspected of having such thoughts, which could offend the Sect Master. This made the cultivators who were chasing Lu Xiaoding stop, not daring to continue the pursuit.

If someone accidentally escaped, the person closest to her would be the most suspicious and might be killed in anger.

"Trivial tricks, everyone in my sect is united. How could they possibly help you? Hand over the sword obediently, and I might leave you a whole corpse," the Sect Master laughed, thinking that trying to escape this way was a gross underestimation of him. It seemed she might have relied on this sword to break in, but now the sword was about to change hands.

He was not worried that any of his disciples would dare to help her leave. Not to mention that it was under everyone's watchful eyes, even if it were done secretly, no one would dare to. Everyone knew his methods; if they wanted to live a life worse than death, they could try.

"How can you speak so recklessly? If some useless person comes to save you, I would have to follow him. What about the person chosen here?" Kong Xincai said anxiously, having encountered too many despicable people and fearing that there might be someone here who would betray their master to seize the treasure.

Lu Xiaoding scolded, "Shut up! Your loud shouting will make them hear. Why don’t you shout out the name of the sword master? See if they kill him immediately. You’ve ruined my carefully thought-out plan to sow discord. You claim to have seen a lot, but now you just seem like a liar. You’re a fool."

"… I thought you were serious," Kong Xincai's face turned pale, feeling embarrassed.

"You should change your name to 'Empty Brain' then," Lu Xiaoding rolled her eyes. As long as someone was willing to help, it didn’t matter who. The most important thing now was to escape. What was a small sacrifice? Besides, once outside, she would meet her senior sisters, and the sword master might not even last an hour.

The cultivators of the Ghost Spirit Sect all had mixed expressions. If what this person and the sword spirit said was true, it meant that among them, someone other than the Sect Master had been chosen by the Yinxian Sword.

But what to do? The Sect Master had the highest cultivation, yet he was excluded. Would he be so angry that he would kill all the disciples? Everyone suddenly felt a chill, as if the Sect Master’s killing intent was already spreading.

But everyone thought there might be other possibilities. Perhaps it was just a trick to make them kill each other, and the sword spirit hadn’t actually chosen anyone.

"Sect Master, the sword spirit definitely wouldn’t choose me," a Foundation Establishment cultivator stammered, looking panicked at the Sect Master, as if he were the one.

The Sect Master was indeed in a bad mood. He was the most powerful person here, yet the sword spirit still wanted to run, meaning the chosen person wasn’t him. Could there be someone among his disciples who was even more excellent than him?

The thought made him uncomfortable. Although he suspected it was a plot, he instantly found all his disciples annoying. He wanted to find this person, find an excuse, and crush his neck. How dare he compete with him for the sword.

But the most important thing now was to capture the sword and the person first, and then deal with them slowly. Thinking of this, he flipped his hand and threw a gray rope at Lu Xiaoding. The rope moved like a flying snake, quickly heading towards her.

This was his Immortal Binding Rope, which was very effective for capturing cultivators. Once wrapped, it was difficult to use spiritual energy. Unless the opponent’s spiritual energy was strong enough to break it, they would be captured.

Lu Xiaoding turned around and swung the sword with force. The Yinxian Sword flew into the air, and a light, crisp flute sound immediately rang out. The sound pierced everyone’s minds, making them lose their souls, as if their spirits were about to be lost.

Everyone looked at the white light flashing from the Yinxian Sword in a daze, and saw the Immortal Binding Rope break into two pieces and fall. It was cut by the Yinxian Sword with just a light touch.

"Good sword. Even a mortal can use it with such power. It truly lives up to its legendary status," the Sect Master was not angry but delighted. This sword was too good. Possessing it would make up for the loss of all the disciples of the Ghost Spirit Sect.

Thinking back to the senior who once possessed this sword, sweeping away evil sects with no one able to match him, creating one of the top evil sects. His might and power were so overwhelming that crushing small evil sects like theirs was just a matter of moving a finger.

Yuan Zhi, covering his chest, was now very inconspicuous, yet not hiding, standing where everyone could see him.

Although Lu Xiaoding and Kong Xincai’s conversation was low, even Foundation Establishment cultivators could hear it, let alone him, a Golden Core cultivator. He very much wanted this sword, but he didn’t know who the sword spirit had chosen. Even if he knew, it wouldn’t matter; the master wouldn’t let the sword fall into anyone else’s hands.

Moreover, not knowing who the sword had chosen, some people might be willing to risk their lives to save, but they would also fear that they were just going to die in vain. If they successfully saved the person and then found out they weren’t the sword master, that would be the most tragic outcome.

Everyone thought the same way. Saving someone would offend the Sect Master, and they weren’t sure if the person was themselves. Whoever stepped forward was courting death.

At this moment, Yuan Zhi heard Lu Xiaoding scolding Kong Xincai, mentioning something that made him a bit sensitive.

"Stop talking nonsense. Let’s escape quickly. If it doesn’t work, forget about the sword master here. I’ll give you the treasure fan I got as a companion."

He lowered his eyes, covering his wound and looking at the green stone slabs on the ground, sitting without showing any emotion. The fan… the Devouring Fan had no spirit, so it couldn’t be a companion for the sword spirit. Saying this was a hint, indicating who the chosen sword master was.

This was really troublesome. Making such a big move, how could anyone help her? If the master found out, his soul would be used to light the sky, never to find peace.

Yuan Zhi showed no signs of abnormality, appearing even more normal than the panicked Foundation Establishment disciples. He didn’t even look at Lu Xiaoding, just flipping through pills to take, trying to recover quickly.

But secretly, he really sent a message to Lu Xiaoding, "The red pillar under the ghost slave statue on the left. Just break it, and the ghost slave above will collapse. In the forest below, there’s a hidden cave in the ghost tree vines to the north. It’s very concealed. How you get there is up to you."

Lu Xiaoding smiled. Although she couldn’t send messages, she could hear. From the voice, she knew it was Yuan Zhi. It seemed her hint had worked. Facing such a big temptation, if he couldn’t figure it out or didn’t dare to act, Kong Xincai wouldn’t need to find him; he was a living waste.

"Ten Thousand Ghosts, Thousand Killings." The Sect Master had no patience left. The hidden Nascent Soul cultivator he thought was here still hadn’t appeared, and he was increasingly attracted to the Yinxian Sword. So he directly released a powerful spell, intending to severely injure the fleeing person and the spirit in one move. Since the sword spirit hadn’t chosen him, it would be easier to control it with his divine senses once it was injured.

As soon as the "Ten Thousand Ghosts, Thousand Killings" was released, a sharp, painful cry echoed in the sky, as if someone was squeezing their heart. Souls flew out from nowhere, as numerous as tadpoles in a narrow pond, densely flying and crowding together in confusion.

"Too many souls. If only I could eat them all," Lu Xiaoding envied, smacking her lips and running down the mountain. As she passed the huge ghost slave statue, which was about six zhang tall, she looked like she wanted to draw the nearby souls to her. She gripped the sword hilt tightly, roared, and swung it.

The sword blade flew up, dispersing two souls, but the tip, being too long, hit the red pillar. The red pillar instantly shattered, and the mountain wall suddenly collapsed. The ghost slave statue on the mountain wall broke into thousands of pieces, rolling down the slope.

Lu Xiaoding was buried under the rubble. At the same time, the "Ten Thousand Ghosts, Thousand Killings" spell, which was about to activate, suddenly lost its target.

The Sect Master, who couldn’t find Lu Xiaoding with his divine senses, had been watching her with his eyes. Now that she was buried under the rubble, he couldn’t find her.

"Go," he waved his hand, and the dense souls in the sky gathered into a black, moving skull. It roared and smashed into the pile of rubble, destroying the already collapsed mountain rock and affecting the hall above, turning it into debris.

The Sect Master angrily cursed, "Who put a pillar under that statue that was about to collapse? How could you do such a thing? Carving a new one wouldn’t take much effort. You’re just lazy."

No one spoke up, no one admitted to doing it, and no one pointed fingers. Then he suddenly remembered that the red pillar was something he had placed there when he was a Golden Core cultivator.

Back then, as a Golden Core cultivator, he was assigned to carve the ghost slave statue. Because he was unhappy, he carved it carelessly, almost destroying the mountain wall. Afraid of punishment, he placed the red pillar below, drawing protective rock formations on it to keep the statue from falling.

Fortunately, he had a thick skin. He coughed lightly and waved his hand, saying, "Go and dig her out. I want to personally absorb her soul."

"Yes," these poisonous fumes had caused everyone so much suffering; they couldn’t let it go so easily.

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