Yuan Ming had a dream.

After stepping onto the Immortal Path, he gradually got used to meditating instead of sleeping and could hardly remember the last time he had dreamt.

Moreover, as a Soul Cultivator, he clearly knew that dreams were nothing but illusions created by the natural depletion of Soul Power. Those fragmented and bizarre scenes were merely a patchwork of the dreamer's daily observations and thoughts.

However, this time, the dream Yuan Ming had seemed different.

He dreamt that his Divine Soul left his body, flying into a vast expanse of white radiance where everything was milky white, with no discernible shapes or objects.

A wind blew across his Divine Soul, bringing a hint of coolness that was not bone-chilling but made Yuan Ming's Divine Soul shiver involuntarily, leaving him feeling somewhat hollow.

Then, as if from nowhere, warm water enveloped Yuan Ming's Divine Soul. The warmth dispersed the coldness and filled the emptiness, gradually rising and causing his Divine Soul to feel a wave of heat.

The warm water ebbed and flowed rhythmically, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly, and with each swell and contraction, his Divine Soul ascended and burgeoned.

The cold wind arose as the warm spring waned, and as the warm spring ascended, the cold wind descended.

In this alternation of cold and heat, Yuan Ming felt an inexplicable joy well up in his heart. The injuries on his Divine Soul began to heal. He reveled freely in the embrace of the warm water, feeling a sense of sublimation.

After an unknown period, Yuan Ming slowly came to and opened his eyes. He had not yet risen when he suddenly felt refreshingly clear-headed.

He immediately inspected his Sea of Consciousness and discovered that the Divine Soul sitting within the Round Moon's illusory shadow had not only healed from its wounds but had also become more resilient and powerful, having reached the mid-stage level of a love witch's Cultivation.

Excited as he was, Yuan Ming also felt a hint of puzzlement.

But soon, he recalled the events that occurred before he fainted. Hurrying to his feet, he saw that he was still sitting within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, and not far away, Xi Ying was meditating with her back to him, silently practicing Breathing Control.

Strangely enough, compared to before, Xi Ying's Divine Soul Aura had weakened significantly, and her entire temperament seemed to have changed. Yet, if asked what exactly was different, Yuan Ming could not pinpoint it.

The past Xi Ying was like the reflection of the moon in water—cold and illusory. Now, while she remained as pure as the moon, she seemed to have a touch of authenticity to her, and the distance between her and Yuan Ming no longer felt so insurmountably vast.

Yuan Ming hesitated, about to ask a question, when suddenly, Xi Ying turned around first. Her face showed no particular expression, only indifference.

"I just performed a secret technique for healing Soul Cultivators to help you mend your Divine Soul injuries. It was a bit of a heavy toll, but don't worry about it too much. After all, you were hurt while helping me, so no need for any excess words. Let's quickly resume our Breathing Control to recover. The Six Desires Venerable is still out there, and since we've killed two of his Nascent Soul subordinates, he's bound to react. We can't afford to delay," Xi Ying spoke, her speed seemingly quick as if to block any questions from Yuan Ming, giving him no chance to inquire.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming simply nodded and expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, this time I owe you a lot. Without you, I'm afraid I couldn't have made it. By the way, could you teach me the secret technique you performed? If you get injured in the future, I can help heal you," Yuan Ming said, then casually asked.

But no sooner had the words left his mouth, Xi Ying glared at him with a murderous look and firmly rejected his request:

"You can't learn this technique, and we're short on time. Even if I gave it to you, you wouldn't be able to learn it right now. Sigh, let's talk about it after we kill Six Desires," she replied.

Yuan Ming's gaze grew more puzzled, and he couldn't tell if it was an illusion, but it seemed like Xi Ying's face was faintly blushing. He had a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right.

However, seeing Xi Ying so resistant to discussing it further, he didn't feel it was appropriate to press the issue and chose to set his doubts aside for the time being, planning to approach the subject indirectly later on.

…

In the Cold Martial Realm.

The Six Desires Venerable had already stopped his exploration and was now standing mid-air with furrowed brows in deep thought.

Not far in front of him, Ni Mu and the other two stood with their hands tied, showing signs of surprise and astonishment on their faces upon seeing the Six Desires Venerable's demeanor.

Among the three, the youngest-looking, fetching woman seemed to be unable to bear the chill of the surroundings, casually rubbing her arms and drawing her sleeves tighter.

Under the cover of wide robes, the butterfly tattoo on her right arm flickered, then, as if coming to life, fluttered its wings unexpectedly.

However, the Six Desires Venerable did not notice the expressions on Ni Mu and his peers' faces, nor the young woman's subtle movements.

All his attention was focused on Dugu Feng, with whom contact had been lost.

If Thunderbolt Ancestor's death could still be considered accidental, then Dugu Feng's demise was undoubtedly premeditated.

According to what he sensed when possessing Dugu Feng, the person who took action was a Soul Cultivator at the early stage of the Sleeping Witch's power. His strength wasn't remarkable, and the way he cast the Illusion Technique was quite crude. However, the two Magic Treasures in his hands did cause the Six Desires Venerable some concern.

One was the Silver Token that could shield the connection between him and the soul leeches, and the other was the Golden Dragon Scissors unleashed by Xiao Ying.

His soul leeches were not like ordinary Divine Soul Transformations. Each one not only acted as a vessel for his Soul Cultivation Divine Powers but also formed the basis of his potential resurrection.

In other words, every soul leech could be considered an individual Six Desires Venerable, scattered within different cultivators' bodies, yet able to share emotions and consciousness with each other, ensuring that only one main soul exists at any given time.

This was the first time he had encountered his soul leech being completely blocked, and apart from the actions of those who blocked the connection to the soul leech, just the act of blocking itself had severe consequences.

Whenever the Six Desires Venerable's main soul perished, one of the soul leeches would enter a transformation phase, and after seven days, it would develop into the new main soul.

And the blocked soul leech, having lost contact with the main soul, would default to assuming the main soul had vanished, thus entering the transformation phase.

In just seven days, a brand-new Six Desires Venerable would be born into this world, and once it restored contact with the other soul leeches, it would inevitably compete with the true main soul, deciding the only victor.

And this was only the situation with one soul leech being blocked.

The Six Desires Venerable, thinking of the possible scenarios, felt an immediate rise of impatience in his heart, seething with a desire to kill.

Even if the bearer of the Silver Token seemed unaware of this possibility, he could not allow the Token to remain in someone else's hands, or it would surely bring trouble later.

However, he was still somewhat puzzled about the true identity of the person behind the scenes.

The two subordinates brought by Dugu Feng had been carefully selected by him, and this Xiao Ying, he remembered, was just a member of an Array Master family from the Southern Border Southern Domain, whose family reputation was indeed prominent, but lacking a Nascent Soul, they did not catch his especial notice.

The Golden Dragon Scissors in her hand could not possibly be her own acquisition; it must have been a gift from the person behind the scenes.

After all, the previous Golden Dragon Venerable was a fellow Wu Yue Sect Venerable, with comparable strength but not as long-lived as himself, leaving behind a legacy that had now been inherited by others.

Yet, the Divine Soul Transformation form of the person who inherited the title of Golden Dragon Venerable was one the Six Desires recognized, and it was definitely not in the shape of a raven.

In the Yunhuang Continent, the disturbance of a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage was impossible to conceal, and given how long the Six Desires Venerable had lived, there might be Nascent Souls unknown to him, but none that he did not recognize.

Now, with the sudden emergence of an unknown Sleeping Witch with some connection to his Wu Yue Sect, thoughts raced through the Sea of Consciousness of the Six Desires, leading to a sudden possibility.

Perhaps someone within the sect was dissatisfied with his presence, had specially cultivated a Sleeping Witch, and even refined the Silver Token that could restrain him.

Once the thought took shape, it became uncontrollable.

Following his line of thought, the Six Desires Venerable became increasingly convinced of his speculation, his back growing cold, a sensation he had not felt for quite some time.

Then, turning his head abruptly, he looked toward Ni Mu and his two companions, his gaze carrying a hint of murderous intent.

"Ni Mu, I'll ask you one more time, what exactly did you come to the Black Wind Desert for?" His tone was very smooth, his emotions stable, sounding as if he was casually chatting with Ni Mu.

Yet upon hearing his question, Ni Mu's eyes took on a serious cast, while the bodies of Wu Yuezhi and the beautiful young woman instantly tensed behind him.

"Venerable, I..." Ni Mu took a deep breath and began to speak.

As soon as he began, the Six Desires Venerable suddenly turned around, fixing his gaze in the opposite direction of Ni Mu and his party.

Several miles away, Yan Sijing had just appeared when she looked up to see the Six Desires Venerable's gaze meet hers from afar, her heart immediately shocked.

Just then, a powerful Curse Power descended upon the Six Desires Venerable, causing his cultivation to plummet abruptly, falling to the Nascent Soul Early Stage.

A flicker of shock passed through the Six Desires Venerable's eyes. Although he had already felt the might of Curse Power through the soul leeches, it was only upon direct contact that he realized the power was much stronger than he had imagined.

That force not only reduced his physical cultivation to the Nascent Soul Early Stage but also lowered his Divine Soul strength by a small realm.

In his long life, aside from the weakness brought by death and resurrection, he had never seen such methods or experienced anything similar.

There's no mistake, this Sleeping Witch was specifically cultivated to kill me!

The thought flickered for only a moment.

Once the Six Desires Venerable was certain of his guess, he made no further reservations and took action with all his strength. His body shone with a silver light, and in the blink of an eye, he crossed several miles to arrive in front of Yan Sijing.

Seeing this, Yan Sijing's face showed shock, and before she could react, a white flash enveloped her, Yuan Ming having activated the Forbidden to teleport her ten miles away.

However, the Six Desires Venerable once again locked onto Yan Sijing's position, the silver light reappeared around him, and in the next instant, he appeared before her like a wraith.

Within the Stealing Heaven Tripod, Yuan Ming, seeing this, immediately activated the Forbidden again, trying to teleport Yan Sijing away.

But this time, as the white light just began to shine on Yan Sijing, the Six Desires Venerable extended his hand like lightning, and a silver rope-like object materialized out of thin air, directly entwining Yan Sijing's body.

Then, the white light enveloped Yan Sijing once more, and with a flash, her surroundings blurred, but when she looked again, she was still in the same place, the Six Desires Venerable's half-dark, half-light visage still before her.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.