One wave has not yet subsided, another wave has risen

Yun Ruo was momentarily speechless, but the Xuan Yang Sect youth behind her was the first to retort, “Why are you selling it so expensive?”

The white-robed man gave a hearty laugh, “Because it’s high quality.”

“Oh?” The youth said with a cold face, but a hint of curiosity flickered in his expression. “How good is it?”

“Better than yours from the Xuan Yang Sect,” the latter said with a smile.

The youth: “…”

The youth slapped the stall table, breaking off a leg. Angrily, he said, “Very well, you just stand there with that jade and don’t move. I’ll try cutting you with a sword to see how good it really is!”

“Don’t get angry.” The white-robed man smiled calmly, but what he said was very impolite. “Didn’t the fact that the young lady didn’t buy your Barrier Jade already explain the problem? I heard that the reason North State City was invaded by miasma was because the Barrier Jade you sold them malfunctioned.”

“You…!” The youth was so angry that he couldn’t speak. He turned to glare at Yun Ruo. “Buy it, go ahead and buy his high-grade spirit stone jade. It’ll screw you over!”

The white-robed man didn’t mind adding fuel to the fire, looking at Yun Ruo with a smile, “Yes, come and buy it.”

Yun Ruo: “…” ‘Do I look like I can afford it?’

She could tell that something was off between these two people. She was completely caught in the crossfire.

She didn’t know if it was a feud between sects or a personal grudge. Since they didn’t seem to recognize each other, the former was more likely.

The Xuan Yang Sect youth became increasingly angry. He was a perfectly good outer disciple of a major sect, one of the best of his generation, just waiting to enter the inner sect as a formal disciple after next year’s academy exam. He had never been subjected to such inexplicable anger before. What’s more, this person was actually using this incident to slander his sect.

This was unbearable.

The white-robed man seemed afraid that he wasn’t angry enough, smiling innocently as he poured oil on the flames, “My Barrier Jade has guaranteed quality. It definitely won’t suddenly malfunction~”

The youth: “…”

He was about to explode.

Seeing that the two were about to start fighting, the surrounding stall owners all moved far away, but they didn’t actually leave. They crowded together at a safe distance to watch the show. Yun Ruo, holding the young boy’s hand, blended into the crowd and took the opportunity to slip away. She didn’t want to be the fuse between the two stalls any longer.

The youth’s sword was half-drawn with a shua sound, its cold light radiating. The woman of his group pressed down on his hand, “Senior Brother sent a message, telling us to go to the main city plaza immediately.”

“…” The youth glared fiercely at the white-robed man, finally sheathing his sword and leaving unwillingly.

The white-robed man whistled, turning his head with great interest toward the corner behind the stall, “I angered them away, how was it?”

“It wasn’t anything,” a lazy voice came from the person lying under the eaves in the corner, “Why did you provoke them?”

“It was fun,” the white-robed man said nonchalantly, playing with the Barrier Jade in his hand. “They went to the main city plaza. Are we going?”

“Yes.”

The white-robed man packed up everything on the stall. There weren’t many things. Other than that Barrier Jade worth one high-grade spirit stone, there were a few small medicine bottles. His belongings were not very abundant.

After he finished packing, the person leaning against the corner finally sat up.

Bai Liye walked out of the shadows under the eaves, wearing black robes, with long limbs. He slung an arm around the white-robed man’s shoulder, like a shadow leaning on him. He had a multicolored candy chopstick in his mouth, looking somewhat bored. “Who’s going to buy it if you sell it so expensive? I’m worried Yue Ci will soak you in wine when we get back.”

“Soak us together if you want to soak us,” Lin Wang said fearlessly.

“No thanks,” Bai Liye refused.

Yun Ruo, holding the young boy’s hand, returned to the plaza and found that everyone was crowding toward the nearby high-rise viewing platforms.

She stopped a person who was running past her, “What happened?”

“Something major happened!” That person was in a hurry to get to the viewing platform, speaking very quickly. “A demon beast has entered the city! It seems to be some kind of spirit beast, and it’s eating the barrier! Immortal sect disciples are repairing it, and it seems like some people are trapped in the miasma outside the barrier! It’s like one wave of trouble after another!”

Demon beast? Eating the barrier?

Could it be a Spirit-Devouring Beast?

Yun Ruo, holding the boy’s hand, relied on her nimble and slender figure to squeeze past that person, entering the high-rise viewing platform first. She moved like a fish in water in the crowd, quickly finding a gap, squeezing to the front of the viewing platform, and looking out of the barrier while holding onto the wooden railing.

The miasma outside the inner city had dissipated quite a bit. It should be because the Xuan Yang Sect disciples had used a dispelling artifact. However, there was too much miasma, so it would take time to clear it away.

The area where the miasma was flowing was the focus of everyone’s attention. Someone was running around in it, causing the miasma to flow along with them.

Yun Ruo couldn’t see clearly. The people next to her had been watching for a while and were discussing it.

“The miasma is getting thicker again. Is that person alright?”

“That’s a person from the guard post. He opened his spiritual meridians, so he should be alright, right?”

“The Barrier Jade on him is about to be eaten up. Even if he can get rid of the demon beast, how can he withstand the miasma?”

The person speaking looked up at the barrier above his head, which occasionally flashed silver light, worrying. “The barrier broke in one place earlier. The Xuan Yang Sect immortals went to repair it.”

The others looked up at the barrier above their heads together, and the sound of discussion lowered unconsciously.

“The best situation now is to quickly clear away the miasma. Once the Barrier Jade is removed, the demon beast will naturally leave when it can’t eat any spiritual energy.”

“The other two Xuan Yang Sect immortals also rushed over earlier. Hopefully, they can clear the miasma quickly.”

Yun Ruo and everyone else nodded silently.

The Spirit-Devouring Beast was a very special type of demon beast. They were small, fast, liked to eat spiritual energy, and didn’t hurt people, but that was on the premise that you had no spiritual energy. So, it was almost harmless to ordinary people. But it was very ferocious to cultivators who had opened their spiritual meridians. In order to eat spiritual energy, it could eat the cultivator completely, including the bones.

Most cultivators, when encountering a Spirit-Devouring Beast, would avoid fighting it if possible. The best situation was to use a magical artifact to trap it. By the time it ate all the spiritual energy from the magical artifact and came out, the people would have long since left.

But it was extremely fast, especially when it discovered that there was spiritual energy to eat, so it was difficult for ordinary cultivators to trap it.

The Xuan Yang Sect disciples should have had the same idea, clearing the miasma much faster. Soon, they could see the figure of the person running around in the miasma.

That person was running very fast, and the silver light on his body was dim, a sign that the spiritual energy in the Barrier Jade was about to be completely exhausted.

“…Master!!” The young boy shouted loudly.

Yun Ruo also clearly saw the person running in the miasma; it was precisely the stubbled man from the guard post.

They saw him stagger while running, being bumped by a shadow that flashed past. The silver light on his body completely disappeared.

While dodging, he quickly tore a strip of cloth from his hem and covered his mouth and nose.

This would obviously not last long. He was still some distance away from the inner city barrier. Even without the Spirit-Devouring Beast’s obstruction, the miasma would be enough to kill him. What’s more, he had opened his spiritual meridians, so now, in the eyes of the Spirit-Devouring Beast, he was a delicious food written in large letters, and it was impossible for it to let him go easily.

“He’s pretty good.” Yun Ruo heard a familiar voice, with a hint of laughter in its tone. “This person’s skill isn’t bad. He hasn’t been bitten by the Spirit-Devouring Beast yet, did he open his body meridians?”

“Nonsense,” another voice sounded lazy, like wind passing through pine trees, showing an unconcerned attitude. “If he hadn’t opened his spiritual meridians, he would actually be safe right now.”

Yun Ruo turned her head to look and sure enough, it was the black-hearted merchant who was selling a Barrier Jade for one high-grade spirit stone. He was standing in the crowd, with a black-robed man draped over his shoulders, also looking at the situation outside the barrier.

Bai Liye sensed her gaze and turned his head to look. His dark eyes swept over Yun Ruo and then turned away.

Lin Wang also looked over, smiling and greeting her, “Oh, the young lady who can’t afford a Barrier Jade, you’re here too. This is really a coincidence.”

Yun Ruo withdrew her gaze, ignoring his words.

Lin Wang sadly turned his head to complain to Bai Liye, “She’s ignoring me.”

Yun Ruo, holding the young boy’s hand, went downstairs, squeezing past him and bumping into him heavily.

Lin Wang, clutching his ribs, complained to Bai Liye again, “She even bumped into me.”

“Serves you right,” Bai Liye’s tone was still lazy, his eyes always watching the outside of the barrier. “That Spirit-Devouring Beast is too fast.”

“Yeah, no one dares to go help,” Lin Wang said.

Indeed, there were at least a dozen sect disciples present today, but no one went down.

Firstly, the Barrier Jade was from the Xuan Yang Sect, and only they could repair it. Other sects couldn’t help. Clearing the miasma required a high-level magical artifact, and no one would carry one with them except for the Xuan Yang Sect who had received the message. They were here to sell some protective goods to ordinary people, just doing business.

Secondly, the Spirit-Devouring Beast was extremely lethal to cultivators. Now, the only way was to wait for the miasma to clear and remove the barrier, letting it leave on its own. After all, no one would voluntarily venture into danger for a stranger.

That was true for ordinary people, and it was also true for cultivators.

The big man running in the miasma was obviously beginning to lose strength. The injuries from using the Awakening Bell earlier hadn’t healed, and with the miasma corroding him, his vision was starting to blur.

Earlier, he had gone to find his apprentice and discovered a break in the inner city barrier. He immediately sent a message to inform them, and the Xuan Yang Sect disciples had come to support them. One went to speed up the clearing of the miasma, while the other two used spiritual energy to repair the Barrier Jade. They had changed their expressions after discovering that it was a Spirit-Devouring Beast.

In order to let them repair the barrier in peace, the stubbled man had taken the initiative to go out and attract the Spirit-Devouring Beast’s attention. One of the Xuan Yang Sect disciples had given him a Barrier Jade for protection.

Now, the Barrier Jade was broken, and the spiritual energy was exhausted. The next time the Spirit-Devouring Beast bit him, it would be aiming for his body.

Distracted, the Spirit-Devouring Beast flashed past like a shadow. He only felt his left leg go numb, and he almost knelt down on one knee. He touched his calf and felt a hand full of wet, hot blood. A chunk of flesh had been torn off.

Uncomfortable chewing and swallowing sounds echoed in the miasma.

The stubbled man endured the intense pain in his leg that only began to surface after a moment, staggering a few steps to lean against the wall, vigilantly staring around.

“Help?” Lin Wang saw that the man had been bitten, the smile on his face disappearing, and asked Bai Liye softly.

Bai Liye nodded, “Yes, give me the Barrier Jade.”

Lin Wang searched his body for a long time, then looked up incredulously, “…It’s gone.”

Bai Liye’s eyes flickered. The two of them simultaneously thought of the dirty-faced girl who had bumped into Lin Wang. Suddenly, the people on the viewing platform exclaimed, “Someone ran out of the barrier!”

Lin Wang leaned out to look.

A slender figure, moving nimbly, passed through the protective barrier of the Barrier Jade and quickly ran towards the stubbled man. The miasma spread over, but she didn’t dodge or avoid it. A silver light flashed around her body, protecting her.

Lin Wang: “?”

That was his Barrier Jade, right?