The barrier had originally been placed around the outer reaches of the forbidden grounds. To the Dragon Clan guards, it offered almost no resistance at all.
Ao Qin transformed into his human form and stood in mid-air beside Wu Yao, watching as the dragons under his command smoothly passed through the barrier one after another. His face, no longer bothering to maintain its usual refined facade, was filled with undisguised killing intent.
“Let’s go.” Ao Qin’s eyes were bloodshot as he spoke to Wu Yao beside him.
“…” Wu Yao paused before saying, “Ao Qin, that dragon has most likely already entered the inheritance grounds.”
“I know.” Ao Qin clenched his fists tightly.
During their journey here, once Ao Qin realised that he had been deceived, he stopped believing any information released by Xianqing Pavilion, which belonged to the Special Lifeform Alliance. Instead, he activated the Dragon Clan’s internal intelligence network and investigated everything that had happened over the past several months from beginning to end.
When he discovered that the source of all these problems was actually the human wife he had once arranged for that useless dragon, his primal core trembled with rage.
She had originally been nothing more than a worthless first-rank human pawn.
He had investigated her before. Her personality was foolish, and after he had forced her to kneel for seven days on a whim, even her soul had become weak and her talent had been reduced to almost nothing.
It was precisely because of this that he had allowed the dragon to remain with her.
Who could have imagined that, in just a few short months, matters would develop to this point?
Not only had Mu Wanwan grown from a useless good-for-nothing into an exceptionally talented alchemist, she had even established connections with the Special Lifeform Alliance and powerful members of the Demon Clan.
Now, she had gathered so many demonic creatures and fighters here.
Was she trying to protect that dragon, who would most likely die within the inheritance grounds?
The plans he had spent so many years preparing had been destroyed one after another.
He had originally intended to obtain the treasures inside the forbidden grounds, only to be thoroughly deceived. Those cultivation techniques were completely useless to anyone below the seventh rank. He had already promised away so many treasures that even emptying his entire fortune would not be enough to repay them.
He had also intended to use that dragon as a blood sacrifice, but now the dragon had escaped into the inheritance grounds.
The chances of the tyrant emerging alive were practically zero.
In other words, his blood-sacrifice plan had also nearly ended in complete failure.
Ao Qin gritted his teeth, overwhelmed with fury.
Yet, despite everything, he could not touch Mu Wanwan.
Harming her would be equivalent to openly opposing the Special Lifeform Alliance.
They were a group of monsters who protected their own as fiercely as madmen. If anything happened to Mu Wanwan, the Dragon Clan losing access to that network of connections would be the least of his problems.
More importantly, he would spend the rest of his life facing endless assassination attempts.
By now, his rage had almost completely stripped him of reason.
Ao Qin transformed into an azure dragon and plunged into the barrier.
A cloud of insects surged beneath Wu Yao’s feet as he followed closely behind.
…
Mu Wanwan sat cross-legged on the raised platform at the innermost part of the barrier, the closest position to the entrance of the inheritance grounds.
A pill furnace and several spiritual plants had been placed before her.
She had handed all the pills she had previously refined to Aunt Hua. After all, many of those afflicted by the curse were unable to use spiritual energy and required the assistance of pills.
As a result, the pressure on Mu Wanwan was especially great.
The time everyone had spent constructing the barriers and formations had been her only chance to rest.
At that moment, the furnace before her was refining second-rank Spirit-Recovery Pills.
These were the most practical pills for their current situation.
“Chirp!”
Mengmeng was somewhat excited as it stared through the gaps between Moteng’s vines at the figures that nearly obscured a vast portion of the sky.
Mu Wanwan released a thread of spiritual consciousness.
She detected swarms of insect-like creatures dragging ugly, skeletal “humans” behind them as they swooped down from the sky.
A series of crackling impacts accompanied the fierce wind, sending clouds of dust into the air.
Moteng, who was still inside the barrier, instantly turned deathly pale. Large sections of his vines fell away, allowing Mu Wanwan to clearly see what was attacking him—
The Dragon Clan’s repeated collisions alternated with the Witch Clan’s poisonous fluids.
“Move aside.” Faint azure scales appeared across Ao Qin’s forehead. “You ants.”
Wu Yao giggled beside him and waved his hand.
A cloud of insects immediately began gnawing at Moteng’s vines.
“I thought I heard an insect making noise.”
Jiu Qing flew to Moteng’s side and met Ao Qin’s gaze.
“And it’s even a green insect~”
“Jiu Qing.” Ao Qin sneered.
Because of the misleading information released by the Special Lifeform Alliance, by the time he learned that Jiu Qing had seized power, it had already been too late.
“Where is my nephew?”
“What?”
Jiu Qing deliberately pretended not to understand. Her sharp fangs emerged as she enthusiastically traded insults with Ao Qin.
“Do you mean that insect who’s even weaker and uglier than you?”
When Mu Wanwan heard Jiu Qing describe her former husband that way, she nearly laughed.
Her hand slipped, and the pills almost flew out of the furnace and struck Mengmeng.
“Chirp!”
The fluffy bird was hit by one, but its plump little body barely felt any pain. It merely helped Mu Wanwan gather up the pills.
“Do not lose focus.”
Someone patted her shoulder, and a cooling sensation spread across her forehead.
Aunt Hua calmly inserted a hairpin made from Mind-Clearing Jade into Mu Wanwan’s simply tied black hair.
“Leave this to us.”
Mu Wanwan nodded and smiled at her.
Aunt Hua looked at Mu Wanwan’s slightly transparent fingertips, and her pupils contracted.
She hurriedly pulled aside Uncle Chen, who was still staring eagerly at the sky and looked ready to rush into battle at any moment.
Lowering her voice, she said, “Brother Wei, the girl’s soul and body are incompatible.”
Uncle Chen glanced at her.
“Oh.”
“You!” Aunt Hua became somewhat angry.
“What’s wrong?” Uncle Chen smiled. “Isn’t she still the same Wanwan we’ve always known? Since she is, why are you still worrying about that?”
“That isn’t what I’m worried about!”
Aunt Hua was nearly driven mad by him.
“Her body is about to collapse.”
The smile immediately vanished from Uncle Chen’s face.
After thinking for a moment, he said, “Actually, it isn’t that strange. With the girl’s talent and the strength of her soul, it makes sense that her original body can no longer withstand it.”
Aunt Hua sighed and exchanged a look with him.
“I know. The wood spirit we’ve been nurturing…”
Uncle Chen glanced at Mu Wanwan, who was concentrating on refining pills, and gritted his teeth.
“Let Wanwan use it.”
“But it was so difficult for us to obtain it. Leizi and the others…”
The flower demon hesitated.
Cases where a soul was incompatible with its body, causing the flesh to become incapable of withstanding an overly powerful soul, were not unheard of.
Nor was it especially terrifying.
They merely needed to find another vessel capable of continuing to carry the soul.
Through a fortunate coincidence, Aunt Hua had previously obtained a thousand-year-old wood spirit.
She had initially believed that the wood spirit was dead, but had nurtured it for two months on the slim chance that it might recover.
Unexpectedly, it was still alive.
It could serve perfectly as a vessel.
Neither she nor Uncle Chen felt particularly attached to the idea of having descendants, so they had planned to give it to Uncle Zong and his wife. If the couple nourished it with their souls for several years, it could eventually become their child.
But now…
“Leizi won’t mind.”
Uncle Chen took Aunt Hua’s hand.
“Wanwan needs it more.”
Aunt Hua nodded and looked at Mu Wanwan, finally making up her mind.
Compared with a child who might be born sometime in the future, the Mu Wanwan standing before them was clearly far more important.
The wood spirit was currently being nourished within Aunt Hua’s body.
For the greatest chance of success, it would have to be used within ten breaths after being removed.
Using it recklessly would be far too dangerous. If Mu Wanwan’s soul failed to merge with it, even a stray shock wave from the battle would be enough to completely destroy both her body and soul.
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