CHAPTER 204: THE MIGHT OF A HALF-IMMORTAL

Could this really be considered a fortunate encounter?

With the wind howling past his ears, Wang Sheng glanced at the woman carrying him. She was so beautiful that it was hard to believe she was real.

An odd feeling crept over him. A moment ago, he had still been fighting Rufeng inside the temple while trying to figure out how to deal with the ancient devil that had burst through the seal. He had feared that a disaster would strike that very day.

Now, that same ancient devil was carrying him through the sky. They covered a hundred li in the blink of an eye, the mountains and forests below sweeping past them in a blur.

The highs and lows of life, perhaps, were nothing more than this.

The ancient devil no longer posed a threat. Wang Sheng was merely a minor cultivator who had used pills to force his way to the mid-stage of the Illusory Core Realm, yet the near-ascended fox's fate, life, and death now rested in his hands. If she were to lose control and fall into madness or bring chaos to the world, he could destroy her soul with but a thought.

Wang Sheng quietly bit the tip of his tongue to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Xi Lian, the massive fox fiend, had already transformed into her human form. Though terms like "vixen" or "enchanting fox" had negative connotations, they reflected a timeless truth: fox fiends in human form were almost always stunningly beautiful, and she was no exception.

Her long silver hair flowed behind her, radiating a quiet, captivating beauty. Her arched eyebrows, clear eyes, full red lips, and delicate face, touched with a soft blush, came together to perfectly embody the word "alluring."

When her expression was blank, she gave off a sense of pure sanctity—an air of aloof detachment from the affairs of the world.

Noticing Wang Sheng's gaze, Xi Lian asked softly in an ancient accent, "What is it?"

Her tone was gentle and silky, enough to stir the depths of his Dao Heart.

How could anyone resist that?

The spiritual strength of Qinglin's Dao Heart was truly otherworldly.

Wang Sheng lowered his voice. "We're almost there. This situation is highly unusual, so please don't kill anyone; just trap them. That way, we won't provoke their heart devils. I'm counting on you, Senior."

"Alright," she replied with a soft nod. She didn't seem too concerned and still appeared to be mourning Santong.

In her haste to get here, Xi Lian had only managed to put on a simple white monk's robe, which did little to cover her enchanting figure. Unlike Mu Wanxuan's elegant and graceful appearance, hers was simply overwhelming. Still, whether it was Mu Wanxuan's serene beauty or Xi Lian's seductive charm, Wang Sheng had never seen anyone like them in his past life.

Using true essence, he had carefully sealed Santong's small portion of ashes in a porcelain bottle, which was now in Xi Lian's hand. Moments earlier, Wang Sheng exited Xi Lian's heavenly abode and stood face to face with the giant fox fiend. They spent quite some time in pure silence.

Afraid of upsetting her, he refrained from mentioning anything about Qinglin or the immortals of the Heavenly Court. The truth was, no one knew what happened to those immortals. Even the status of Qinglin, a mere rogue immortal among them, was uncertain. Bringing it up would serve no purpose.

Once the ashes were taken care of, Wang Sheng, still concerned about the ongoing battle, explained the war between righteous and corrupt forces in the Hua Republic. He asked for Xi Lian's assistance in suppressing the corrupt cultivators.

Xi Lian agreed without hesitation, only stating that she could not kill again or risk awakening her inner devil. Wang Sheng promptly agreed. She had then transformed into a human and casually summoned a garment to drape over herself.

Before Wang Sheng could even turn around, she had already lifted him by the arm and flown to the fake Ziyan Temple. A wave of enchanted power shielded them from the rushing wind ahead.

Having already detected the chaotic battle a hundred li away, she knew exactly where to go. The whole trip took less than a minute.

"Is it here?" Xi Lian asked softly, as if afraid to scare Wang Sheng, whose cultivation realm was far lower than hers.

Wang Sheng looked down. Smoke choked the air, the landscape below was in ruins, craters marred the hillsides, and gruesome corpses littered the ground. He could also see cultivators chasing each other across the battlefield and several Golden Core Realm cultivators clashing in midair.

"Yes, this is the place," Wang Sheng replied quickly. "Senior, how can you tell who is righteous and who is corrupt?"

"No need to bother with that," Xi Lian said, still holding him with her left hand. With her right hand, she reached forward. A swirl of multicolored Buddhist light lit up her palm, and a trace of Dao Rhythm flowed, similar to the Shu Sword Sect's Earth Dao of the Sword.

"I'll suppress all of these minor cultivators. You can leave the rest to the officials."

Minor cultivators, she had called them.

Without hesitation, Wang Sheng remarked, "Thank you for your help, Senior."

"No need for such courtesy. My life is in your hands," she replied, her tone holding a touch of displeasure at his constant use of the word "Senior."

She pressed her right palm downward. A massive Buddhist swastika symbol formed beneath their feet, instantly draining all the primal qi within a radius of a hundred li.

Xi Lian's delicate fingers then formed a series of Buddhist seals in rapid succession. A gentle flick of her finger transformed them into heavy torrents of rainbow-colored Buddhist light, engulfing everything within ten li. Seven or eight Golden Core Realm cultivators dropped from the sky like dumplings.

All across the forest, every Illusory Core Realm cultivator and below touched by the falling light froze. Not even those with protective artifacts could move.

The moment the symbol appeared, two opposing Golden Core Realm experts who had been fighting outside the light's reach stopped in their tracks. They could sense the terrifying power behind it.

The yin sect master let out a long whistle. Upon hearing it, the other corrupt cultivators retreated immediately, risking the righteous Golden Core Realm elders wounding them.

Refusing to let them go, Qing Long and his allies fought back fiercely, determined to bring them down. However, completely overwhelmed by the power that the Buddhist seal had released, the yin sect master turned into a streak of blood-tinged black smoke and fled. The others also used everything in their arsenal to escape.

The injured Qing Long couldn't chase after them. Meanwhile, the others were evenly matched with their enemies, which explained why the battle had dragged on for so long.

In the end, only one corrupt Golden Core Realm cultivator remained. Though the righteous cultivators gave chase, the others managed to escape.

Xi Lian, the one who had cast the seal, made no move to eliminate the fleeing corrupt Golden Core Realm cultivators. It wasn't that she looked down on them.

She had already subdued hundreds of lesser cultivators with one move—a feat only a true immortal could do. One had to pass through the Golden Core, Heavenly Abode, Nascent Soul, Spirit Fusion, and Rebirth Realms before they could even attempt to cross the tribulation.

Though a fox fiend, Xi Lian had practiced both Buddhist and Daoist arts. Before falling into madness, she had already endured a heavenly tribulation and begun refining immortal essence.

She had lost much of her Buddhist cultivation after her descent into madness, but she still possessed the power of a Tribulation Realm Daoist cultivator. Only a step away from immortality, she could be called a "half-immortal."

Just as Wang Sheng was about to sigh in awe of her power and divine technique, he felt the hand holding his arm tighten slightly. Xi Lian's breathing suddenly became ragged.

He turned his head in alarm and saw that her long silver hair was beginning to shift toward a reddish-orange hue. A hint of blood had appeared in her eyes, and she was visibly struggling to keep something suppressed.

"Senior?" he asked.

Her voice, hurried and strained, rang in his mind. "Take me to the mountaintop now. I cannot use any more power, or I won't be able to suppress the devilish qi."

Wang Sheng's heart clenched. He grabbed her arm as she closed her eyes tightly, Buddhist light surging across her. Afterward, he stepped onto Spiritless, which he had been gripping with his left hand, and used it to fly her to the summit of the Ziyan Temple.

Thankfully, she had only immobilized the cultivators instead of killing them. Otherwise, her condition would've been far more serious.

Inside the main hall of the temple, she sat in meditation before a Buddha statue for half an hour, gradually calming her aura again. In that time, the Special Warfare Unit completed the roundup of corrupt cultivators and transported the immobilized righteous ones. Even the Golden Core Realm elders couldn't undo Xi Lian's binding technique. They could only carry the paralyzed cultivators up the mountain.

Wang Sheng remained nearby, using the Special Warfare Unit's communication device to contact the Special Investigation Unit. He gave them a full report of the events and urged them not to disturb the temple's tranquility.

He also inquired about his master's condition. Upon hearing that Qing Yanzi had fallen into a deep sleep, he finally felt relieved.

Outside the Ziyan Temple, more than two hundred people stood frozen, including Daoist masters and Special Warfare Unit soldiers. Hundreds more soldiers had surrounded the area to maintain security.

Sitting on the steps before the temple hall, Wang Sheng rubbed his face and tried to steady his Dao Heart. Who would have thought that the ancient devil sealed in the Devil-Sealing Well would turn out like this?

The corrupt cultivators certainly didn't expect it. They had assumed the devil was some unstoppable, murderous being that had been sealed away only because it couldn't be killed. Letting it out, they believed, would cause massive chaos.

Hence, the corrupt cultivators used the "Ancient Devil Lures the Corrupt" plan that Wang Sheng had proposed against them. At the cost of deliberately exposing the yang sect master, the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect succeeded in releasing the ancient devil from the Demon-Sealing Well.

However, to their surprise, the devil's heart was rooted in Buddhism. Once Wang Sheng had taken her in as a senior sister, she turned her hand and immobilized the corrupt cultivators who were trying to use the chaos to escape.

Every single one of the corrupt cultivators was captured, including those who had initially managed to flee. The entire foundation of the Yin-Yang All-Creation Sect collapsed, and nearly half of the Hua Republic's corrupt cultivator forces were wiped out.

Now, the real problem was how to deal with Xi Lian. As a half-immortal with a half-devil heart, she was essentially a walking nuclear bomb that could go off at any moment. Such a powerful being's life had essentially ended up in Wang Sheng's hands.

The responsibility weighed on him so heavily that he could barely breathe.

For the sake of peace and stability in the Hua Republic, it seemed he would have to take better care of himself. If he accidentally choked on a glass of water and died, the fox fiend could lose control and cause irreparable damage to her surroundings.

Just as his thoughts were running wild, several helicopters appeared on the horizon. Before they could even land, Mu Wanxuan leaped down and rushed straight into the temple. Wang Sheng had just stood up when she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Senior Sister..." he called out softly, but she had already broken down in tears. Her Dao Heart, which worldly emotions were never supposed to touch, shattered.

In just half a day, her master had been gravely wounded and driven to the brink of death. Moreover, her junior brother had risked everything to seek revenge. Now, seeing Wang Sheng sitting there, weary but safe, she finally broke down.

Feeling her trembling in his arms and breathing in the soft scent of her hair, Wang Sheng gently wrapped his arms around her slender waist and held her even tighter. "It's alright now, Senior Sister. This will never happen again."

Inside the temple hall, Xi Lian had quietly appeared at the doorway, smiling softly at the young pair embracing on the steps below. She then wistfully stared into the distant mist, lost in thought.

Though faces had faded, the lotus still lingered. Love and lament stayed bound to her heart.