"The Nascent Soul and Soul Power have merged, and in such a form, it truly is strange," Yuan Ming marveled in amazement.

He activated his Divine Sense to communicate with the Xi Ying Clone while continuing to probe into the situation of the Nine Yin Venerable, his brows quickly raising twice in quick succession.

The Nine Yin Venerable's mana had reached the peak of the Late-stage Nascent Soul, and his Dantian was unusual, being nearly half larger than that of ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators. His mana was exceptionally thick, far surpassing that of other Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators Yuan Ming had seen, including the Evil Eye Venerable and Xi Zheng.

Besides mana, the Divine Soul of the Nine Yin Venerable was also exceptionally powerful, especially the black shadow-like Divine Soul Transformation, which contained a terrifying amount of Soul Power, almost comparable to a Half-step Spoken Witch.

However, the Soul Power of the black shadow was very unstable, and even now, as it was submerged in a deep sleep due to the Black Incense, it still surged unconsciously from time to time as if it had not been cultivated.

After this round of investigation, Yuan Ming wore a somewhat strange expression.

There was something abnormal about every part of this Nine Yin Venerable. If not for his pure aura, Yuan Ming would have thought he was not a Human Clan's cultivator.

At that moment, the Xi Ying Clone flew over.

"Is he already subdued?" asked the Xi Ying Clone with a smile.

Previously, Yinkong relayed Yuan Ming's words, asking her to take the Nine Yin Venerable and run for four more days. She guessed that Yuan Ming planned to use the Black Incense against the Nine Yin Venerable.

"Hmm, the Black Incense is more useful than I thought. The Divine Soul of the Nine Yin Venerable is suppressed by it. Use your Soul Searching Divine Ability and see if you can find some valuable information," Yuan Ming said.

The Xi Ying Clone nodded, placed her palm on the head of the Nine Yin Venerable, and executed the Soul Searching Divine Ability.

A moment later, she retracted her arm with a somewhat disappointed look on her face.

After her exchange with Xi Zheng, what the Xi Ying Clone wanted to know most was the news behind the forces supporting the Wu Yue Sect, but unfortunately, the Nine Yin Venerable was also unaware, only knowing that indeed, someone was secretly helping the Wu Yue Sect by providing a massive amount of resources.

"What, didn't you discover any valuable information?" Yuan Ming asked upon seeing this.

"The Nine Yin Venerable's memory contains quite a lot, such as the Wu Yue Sect's next battle plans and some hidden special forces, which are greatly helpful to the Cloud Desolate Alliance," replied the Xi Ying Clone.

"These are important pieces of information, so why do you still look disappointed?" Yuan Ming asked, somewhat puzzled.

The Xi Ying Clone fell silent for a moment before carefully recounting the conversation she had with Xi Zheng on that day.

"Someone is secretly aiding the Wu Yue Sect? It's indeed quite possible, but with the barren resources of the Yunhuang Continent, is there really a power out there with such great capability to continuously provide the Wu Yue Sect with vast resources?" Yuan Ming remarked upon hearing this.

"This hidden force requires further investigation, but I found two unusual orders in the Nine Yin Venerable's memory. Both were issued suddenly by the Wu Yue God after taking over the Black Wind Desert, and no explanations were given. The first is to search for Wulu, demanding to see him alive or his body if dead, and the second is to collect complete and fresh corpses, the higher the cultivation, the better," said the Xi Ying Clone.

When Yuan Ming heard "Wulu," his heart skipped a beat, slightly puzzled as to why an existence like the Wu Yue God would set sights on Wulu, or rather, how Wulu was linked to the Wu Yue God.

"Do you think these two tasks are related to that hidden force?" Yuan Ming quickly regained his composure and asked.

"From the memory of the Nine Yin Venerable, both matters are not for the Wu Yue Sect itself, but for someone else. Given the value the Wu Yue God has placed on them and going to such lengths, other than the hidden force behind them, I can't think of any," the Xi Ying Clone replied.

"Makes sense," Yuan Ming nodded.

"We can't investigate the matter of the corpses, but Wulu is your friend. It should be easy to contact that person using Black Incense. I'll leave it to you to look into it later," the Xi Ying Clone said.

"I can do that," Yuan Ming did not refuse.

After finishing with the trivial matters, the two discussed the pressing issue at hand.

"Now that the memory search is complete, to avoid any complications, it's best to kill the Nine Yin Venerable straight away. Come on," Yuan Ming said, spreading his hands.

"If the one who descended perishes, won't your original body be hurt?" the Xi Ying Clone hesitated.

"True, but it's fine. I will use the Heavenly Ghost Wanderer's Substitution Ability to replace the damage. Just take it easy on him, do not ruin the Nine Yin Venerable's corpse—I have a use for it," Yuan Ming said.

The Xi Ying Clone nodded, her brow shone with a burst of Golden Light as a Golden Crow Soul shot out, invading the Sea of Consciousness of the Nine Yin Venerable.

As the Golden Crow Soul spread its wings, surging Golden Flames erupted forth, creating a sea of golden fire that enveloped both the Nascent Soul of the Nine Yin Venerable and the Demon Crow.

The Divine Soul within the Nascent Soul and the Soul Power of the Demon Crow burned fiercely, rapidly weakening.

Yuan Ming's vision darkened as the state of his descent began to waver, ready to be lifted at any moment.

"This kind of attack won't work. If my descended state is lifted, the Divine Soul of the Nine Yin Venerable might not perish. Use a more powerful attack!" he urgently reminded.

The Xi Ying Clone heeded the advice and formed hand seals.

The Golden Crow Soul rapidly changed shape, the golden flames quickly retracted, concentrating at a single point.

In a few breaths' time, the Golden Crow Soul transformed into a Golden Crow Rocket, bearing a strong resemblance to the Golden Crow Divine Arrow of the Three Immortals Island.

Whoosh!

The Golden Crow Rocket shot out, easily piercing through the Nine Yin Venerable's Nascent Soul and then impaling the Demon Crow's soul.

Yuan Ming's consciousness plunged into darkness, and just before losing consciousness, he heard an astounding sound of explosion and the dying scream of the Demon Crow's soul.

...

In the brown-red mountain range, within the Wu Yue Sect Camp, inside the black palace.

A crisp "snap" sounded from within the black coffin, as if something had shattered.

"Nine Yin actually... how is this possible!" The astonished and furious voice of Wu Yue God came from the coffin, shaking the black palace and the nearby ground violently, the tremors extending dozens of miles away, as if an earthquake had occurred.

The Wu Yue Sect Guards stationed nearby were shocked and turned pale, but no one dared to leave their post.

A figure flew from afar, landing in front of the black palace, it was Ni Mu.

"Wu Yue God, is there something that requires my assistance?" Ni Mu bowed towards the black palace and asked.

With Free Venerable having left the army to act alone, Evil Eye Venerable slain, and Nine Yin Venerable pursuing Xi Ying Clone, Wu Yue God had assigned Ni Mu to take charge of the army to counter the attack from the Cloud Desolate Alliance.

The Cloud Desolate Alliance's three-pronged assault had come, and after that great melee, suffered heavy losses.

However, contrary to most people's expectations, the Cloud Desolate Alliance did not retreat but instead set up camp, constructed defenses, and continued to harass the Wu Yue Sect forces, firmly holding them in place.

The Wu Yue Sect seemed unable to discern the Cloud Desolate Alliance's intentions and showed no hurry to march forward, engaging in small conflicts every day and large battles every three days, thus beginning a stalemate with the Cloud Desolate Alliance.

While the confrontations over the past few days were not as intense as the first day's great melee, both sides suffered thousands of casualties after several days of continued fighting, yet the Cloud Desolate Alliance showed no indication of withdrawing their forces.

"Send out the orders, the entire army must break camp and crush the Cloud Desolate Alliance cultivators ahead at any cost, and advance towards Yuhua City!" Wu Yue God's stern voice emanated from the hall.

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Ni Mu was slightly stunned by the sudden major directive issued by Wu Yue God, but he immediately complied, summoned a messenger, and relayed the order.

Half a day later, the Wu Yue Sect's entire army set out, heading straight for the Cloud Desolate Alliance's camp.

Members of the Cloud Desolate Alliance had long since received intelligence about the unusual movement on the opposing side and had also broken camp, preparing to retreat. Faced with the full-on assault of the Wu Yue Sect army, Wan Tianren and others dared not clash head-on, sending the news back to Yuhua City while hurriedly retreating.

...

Meanwhile, Yuan Ming's consciousness had already returned to his own body, and his Nascent Soul's Divine Soul evaporated rapidly, as if also being burned by the Golden Crow Fire and was directly torn apart, nearly dissipating.

The Heavenly Ghost Wanderer had appeared long ago, placing his hand on Yuan Ming and once again using the Substitution Divine Ability.

Bang!

One of his Three-eyed Soul Doves suddenly burst, dissipating into green smoke and disappearing.

The agony in Yuan Ming's Sea of Consciousness had somewhat eased, and his Divine Soul no longer continued to tear, but the previous wounds did not vanish and still gave him a sensation that his Divine Soul was on the brink of collapse.

He quickly sat down cross-legged and began to run the Moonlight Technique to recover from the injuries.

Not long after, half a day passed, and Yuan Ming slowly stood up, his complexion slightly pallid.

Because the Divine Soul of Nine Yin Venerable was far stronger than expected, the backlash to his own Divine Soul had nearly caused him to disperse entirely. Although he had ultimately evaded it through the Substitution technique, the process was extremely perilous.

Now, while the trauma to his Divine Soul had not yet healed, it had stabilized and did not hinder his movement.

He emerged from the ground and flew toward the location of the Xi Ying Clone.

Half a day later, Yuan Ming arrived at the spot, but the Xi Ying Clone was no longer there; only Yinkong awaited him.

"Where is your master?" Yuan Ming asked with a frown.

"Reporting to Fellow Daoist Yuan, the master just received news that the Wu Yue Sect has suddenly mobilized its entire army, already repelling the Alliance's three-pronged forces, and is directly heading for Yuhua City. The master has returned to Yuhua City, she instructed me to wait here for you and to hand over this body and this treasure to you," Yinkong said respectfully, with a flick of his sleeve.

A flash of silver light, and the body of Nine Yin Venerable along with the Fire Burning Stick appeared in front of Yuan Ming.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming's expression became slightly serious.

Perhaps the fall of Nine Yin Venerable had provoked Wu Yue God, causing the Wu Yue Sect to suddenly go all out. It was uncertain whether the Cloud Desolate Alliance could withstand this, but fortunately, half of the Six Venerables of Wu Yue Sect had been eliminated, likely reducing the pressure on the Cloud Desolate Alliance a great deal.

And with Xi Ying Clone so anxious to return, she naturally wanted to transfer the collected Divine Souls to the real Xi Ying, to refine and enhance her power.

Yuan Ming looked at the body of Nine Yin Venerable, and suddenly his brows twitched.

The storage magic tool of Nine Yin Venerable was properly worn on her body, nine Sky Bright Needle magic treasures were inserted in her cuffs, and all the magic treasures and ornaments she wore were all present, not one was missing.

"Nine Yin Venerable was killed by both me and your master working together, why did she take nothing?" Yuan Ming asked.

"The master said that the death of Nine Yin Venerable was entirely your merit, so naturally, all her remaining possessions belong to you," Yinkong replied.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming did not decline any further and took the body and the Fire Burning Stick. He said to Yinkong, "Go back and tell your master that my Demon Image Prison Suppression Skill is nearing the Body of Wanxiang and requires three more months of intense cultivation. After three months, whether I've made a breakthrough or not, I will return to Central Plains to lend her my aid."

"The master already knew about this and asked me to inform Fellow Daoist Yuan not to worry. She will find a way to hold off the Wu Yue Sect. Even if Yuhua City falls, she will lead the alliance to fall back elsewhere, preserving their strength as much as possible. You should focus on your arduous cultivation," Yinkong stated.

Yuan Ming had great trust in Xi Ying's abilities. With her saying so, she must have had a great deal of confidence, and he felt somewhat relieved.