"Ding Jingyi" withdrew his gaze from the sky.

With a single leap, he appeared before Xiao Mo and the others.

Qing Yuan's brow furrowed. She formed hand seals, and the Azure Dragon pounced toward "Ding Jingyi".

"Roar!"

The Azure Dragon roared, intending to devour the opponent in a single bite!

Yet in the next moment, "Ding Jingyi" grasped the Azure Dragon's head with his hand, then forcefully tore it apart to both sides.

In an instant, the Azure Dragon was directly ripped in half, plummeting straight down from the sky, as simple as tearing a sheet of paper.

"In the past, I feasted on dragon liver and phoenix marrow. What can your puppet-like Azure Dragon do to me?"

With those words, "Ding Jingyi" slashed down with his long sword, the sword energy cleaving toward Xiao Mo and the others.

That casual sword strike split open a gash in the Black Tortoise's shell.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qing Yuan controlled the Vermillion Bird to flee in another direction yet every time Qing Yuan attempted to break through in a certain direction, just when it seemed they would succeed, "Ding Jingyi" would immediately appear.

And "Ding Jingyi" had countless opportunities to slay Xiao Mo and the others with a single blade but each time, Ding Jingyi held back from delivering a fatal blow.

Xiao Mo and the others naturally understood what "Ding Jingyi" was trying to do.

"Ding Jingyi" was like a cat toying with mice, playing with them step by step.

It seemed that only when they were utterly despairing would he torment them to death.

And "Ding Jingyi" played this cat-and-mouse game with the three entirely because of Xiao Mo.

He wanted to toy with them until the end, then have the people Xiao Mo cared about die before him one by one, and finally cut Xiao Mo into a thousand piece but truthfully, Xiao Mo really did not understand what deep grudge existed between himself and "Ding Jingyi".

He seemed to know Xiao Mo, yet Xiao Mo had absolutely no idea who he was.

"Could it be that the character I'm experiencing in this life has a past life or backstory where I did something to him?" Xiao Mo thought it over and could only arrive at this one possibility.

"Qing Yuan, stop struggling. That fellow won't let us leave so easily," Xue Kui, leaning on Xiao Mo's shoulder, coughed. Her complexion was pale, her life fire growing increasingly weak.

Qing Yuan pressed her lips tightly together, clenching her fists.

Qing Yuan also knew there truly was no way out for them but she also did not wish to surrender so easily. At the very least, she had to fight until the final moment.

"Sister Qing Yuan, you take Xue Kui and leave. I will buy you time," Xiao Mo said, gripping the Spirit Absorbing Sword as he stood up.

"Brat, in your current state, you couldn't even block a single sword strike from him," Xue Kui shook her head and lightly flicked Xiao Mo's Spirit Absorbing Sword.

In an instant, the Spirit Absorbing Sword's blade snapped into two sections.

Qing Yuan's mouth opened slightly in surprise.

Though the Spirit Absorbing Sword was a fourth-grade magical artifact, it was renowned for its toughness. Moreover, Xiao Mo had continuously nurtured it with blood-killing energy, so its strength absolutely did not fall short of a first-grade magical artifact yet unexpectedly, this heavy blade had broken!

"Boy, sit down properly. Your master has a way," Xue Kui said, looking at "Ding Jingyi" who was approaching them step by step.

"What way?" Qing Yuan's eyes brightened.

Xue Kui glanced back at "Ding Jingyi" and spoke calmly, "Based on what I understand, these ancient divine beings all share a common characteristic, that being arrogant pride! The fact that he is now toying with us like a cat means their nature, no matter how much time passes or what they experience, will never change. But in reality, his strength has not fully recovered. Compared to his peak period, the difference is like heaven and earth. At this moment, he is only slightly stronger than the previous Ding Jingyi. As long as he is not in those legendary lost two realms, then we still have a slim chance!"

Xue Kui looked toward Qing Yuan and said in an unquestionable tone, "Head to the Weapon Forging Pool of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion."

"Go to the Weapon Forging Pool?" Qing Yuan was startled. "What for?"

"What else?" Xue Kui smiled faintly. "This boy's blade is broken. Naturally, we need to give him a handy new blade."

"But that weapon..."

Qing Yuan said halfway before immediately understanding Xue Kui's meaning.

She stared blankly at Xue Kui, her expression as if saying, "Are you joking?"

Yet Xue Kui merely smiled at her.

"I understand," Qing Yuan sighed. She knew her close friend's temperament.

Without further hesitation, Qing Yuan immediately controlled the Vermillion Bird to change direction, flying toward a mountain peak at the center of Ten Thousand Dao Sect.

"Hm?" "Ding Jingyi" paused, tilting his head to look at them, not knowing what exactly they intended to do.

They actually stopped attempting to flee and were instead flying into the sect.

"Ding Jingyi" did not stop them. They were merely at the end of their rope. Crushing them was but a trivial matter.

He was now curious to see what kind of struggle they could still manage.

Just as Ding Jingyi was about to follow them to the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, Qing Yuan controlled the White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, and Black Tortoise. The three mechanical beasts charged together toward "Ding Jingyi".

Though in less than three breaths, "Ding Jingyi" had torn Qing Yuan's remaining three great mechanical beasts to shreds, during this brief time, the three passed through a formation and flew into the underground of the mountain peak where the Spirit Treasure Pavilion was located.

Because the Spirit Treasure Pavilion stored Ten Thousand Dao Sect's various heavenly materials, earthly treasures, and magical artifacts, like the sect's treasury, it had an independent formation whose strength was second only to Ten Thousand Dao Sect's sect-protecting grand formation.

In Qing Yuan's view, the Spirit Treasure Pavilion's formation should be able to hold back "Ding Jingyi" for a short while.

Before long, the three arrived at the bottom of the underground cave.

At the bottom of this underground cave was a vast cavern. In the cavern's center flowed the scorching Emperor's Heart Magma.

Countless long weapons were thrust into it. The most eye-catching was a pitch-black long blade.

It was thrust into the center of the Weapon Forging Pool, as if suppressing all the surrounding blades.

"This blade is..." Xiao Mo looked at the Tang sword, his brow furrowing.

Even though Xiao Mo had not yet approached, he could feel the domineering aura emanating from the blade.

"Previously, I obtained a scroll to enter the Hundun secret realm, then used that scroll to exchange for a piece of divine iron," Xue Kui said, gazing at the immortal weapon that had already taken form with a smile.

"Afterward, I collected various heavenly materials and earthly treasures, and with Qing Yuan's hands, finally forged this blade. Speaking purely of the blade itself, it is an immortal weapon from the moment of its birth."

"But to become a true immortal weapon, one extremely important condition is still lacking," Qing Yuan added. "That is a weapon spirit. However, for a weapon to birth a weapon spirit normally requires a thousand years of time."

"But now, a thousand years is not needed," Xue Kui stepped forward, gazing at Xiao Mo with a smile, her eyes curved into crescents.

"The weapon spirit of this blade is right before your eyes."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com