Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 697 - 581

Chapter 697: 581

"Yunrou, you’re back?" Li Xuan looked at her with joy and then laughed. "Why are you jealous even about this? Dealing with Demon Master Ban Ruyi benefits everyone.

The threat he presents is not just to Hongshang. If he could be so vicious to Yu Hongshang, he could do the same to you all someday. To be honest, as long as he is still alive, I can’t sleep peacefully."

At his words, Xue Yunrou’s pretty face reddened slightly. "Who’s jealous?"

Actually, she was quite supportive of Li Xuan’s plan to deal with Ban Ruyi. She knew about the ambiguous relationship between Ban Ruyi and a certain ’Master Zhongliu’.

During the chaos at the Tianshi’s mansion on the Longhu Mountain a year ago, Ban Ruyi also participated in a veiled manner.

When they were at the Dali Temple last year, Ban Ruyi attacked Li Xuan. Xue Yunrou had nurtured a deep grudge against him ever since.

However, after seeing Yu Hongshang and Li Xuan today, for some reason, she felt somewhat upset.

Xue Yunrou crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes showing her displeasure. "I just came from the palace, and judging by Yu Hongshang’s demeanor, she seems uninterested in participating in this battle. Is she, the person in question, planning to stay out of this while we do her bidding?"

Li Xuan shook his head, "Yu Hongshang needs to keep watch over the palace, so she can’t leave lightly. However, Helian Fulong will be part of this endeavor, and she even paid a hefty sum to recruit Lord Huang."

A year ago, at the Dali Temple, when Zhu Mingyue set up the trap for the Demon Master, Lord Huang Wuhuan also lent a hand.

This time around, he might have done it because he felt the danger the Demon Master presented and wanted to nip it in the bud; or perhaps he was just broke and thus accepted Yu Hongshang’s invitation.

Xue Yunrou made a quick mental calculation. With Li Xuan and Luo Yan, the ’Yangtang Divine Saber’ duo, Huang Wuhuan, Helian Fulong, and the sin slave, Dongfang Liang, and herself, they were more than enough to deal with the opponent.

Then, where is Ban Ruyi, the Demon Master?" Xue Yunrou inquired further, "The Demon Master’s whereabouts are mysterious. Can you locate him?"

"I don’t know his whereabouts, but someone does." Li Xuan didn’t respond directly, but instead shifted his gaze towards the entrance of the practice arena.

Under his watchful gaze, Prince Xiang, Yu Zhanshi, was striding over, guided by Li Dalu.

"Your Highness has not failed in his task. I have found the whereabouts of the Demon Master Ban Ruyi. He is currently hiding in a Taoist temple in the southern part of Taihang Mountain."

As Yu Zhanshi spoke, he scanned the people present carefully. "However, please forgive my bluntness. Under that Taoist temple lies a Demon Palace managed by Ban Ruyi for decades. Its layout is even comparable to that of a major Buddhist or Taoist sect. Marquis of Guanjun, I fear you’re overestimating your abilities if you think you can capture him with just these few folks."

After hearing this, Li Xuan chuckled, "Prince, don’t be restless. Everyone is not here yet."

As soon as he finished speaking, a silver spear descended from the sky and implanted itself into the ground.

At the same time, a massive ice dragon’s shadow flew over from the sky. After a moment, it coiled around the silver spear and quickly materialized into a man clad in a yellow Feiyu Suit.

It was none other than Helian Fulong. He laughed as he looked at Li Xuan, "Marquis of Guanjun, I hope I’m not late?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a red phoenix tore through the void and forcibly broke into this space. Then, firelight transformed into the figure of Lord Huang Wuhuan. Her voice was tinged with impatience, "When do we set off?"

Prince Yu Zhanshi’s face stiffened. When did Li Xuan establish a connection with Lord Huang Wuhuan?

Wasn’t it said in the Demon Tribe that Lord Huang considered Li Xuan a mortal enemy?

The sign that stood outside the Demon Market till today read, ’Li Xuan and dogs are not allowed.’

He was still thinking about this when he saw that a small door in the wall adjacent to the Jiangnan Clinic was being opened. Jiang Yunqi and her father entered one after the other.

Jiang Yunqi spoke apologetically, "Sorry for the delay. We had a patient."

At the same time, another huge black dragon shadow fell from the sky.

It was Ao Shuying. After landing, she transformed into a female figure clad in armor amidst flashes of lightning. "Seems I’m the last one to arrive. I hope I haven’t messed up anything?"

Seeing everyone gathered around, Dongfang Liang, who usually had a cold expression, seemed a little moved.

He remembered the words the Palace Master of Qinglong told him before leaving, ’Don’t blame your master for being ruthless. In Beijing, only Marquis Guanjun Li Xuan can protect you.’

At that time, Dongfang Liang was so angry that he didn’t take these words to heart.

But now, seeing the many powerful figures in front of him, he suddenly realized that the bastard who had harmed his junior sister genuinely had the power to compete against ’Master Zhongliu’ and Jinque Palace.

Meanwhile, Prince Yu Zhanshi squinted his eyes, a chill rising in his heart.

He suspected that Li Xuan had staged all of this deliberately for him to see.

Why would they need to mobilize so many powerful beings to capture a Demon Master Ban Ruyi?

Xue Yunrou, on the other hand, attentively stared at the door leading to the Jiangnan Clinic. She thought about the many events that must have transpired around Li Xuan during her absence from the Capital City.

Xue Yunrou felt bitter, with a sense of unease lingering in her heart. But of all the women around Li Xuan, the only one she wouldn’t mind being close to him was her cousin Jiang Hanyun.

Xue Yunrou quickly collected her thoughts. She contemplated building a door in the eastern wall at a later time and asked Li Xuan with a hint of uncertainty, "Isn’t this a bit overkill?"

"Not at all. Even when hunting a rabbit, a lion uses its full strength." Li Xuan’s face was stony, and his eyes were frosty. "Besides, the rabbit we are hunting is extraordinarily crafty."

※※※※

Early in the morning, Ban Ruyi, the Demon Master in the ’Paiyun Temple’ at the southern foot of Taihang Mountain, woke up from meditation. He felt restless and uneasy, unable to calm himself.

At first, Ban Ruyi thought his demonic thoughts were disturbing his mental state and tried hard to suppress and calm them. He even went deep into the Demon Palace below the ’Paiyun Temple’ and whipped and tortured the dozens of martial artists he had captured, venting his anger and frustration.

Approaching noon, Ban Ruyi suddenly realized that this was not his ’heart demon’. His Primordial Spirit had whimsically sensed danger.

Demon Master Ban Ruyi, however, showed no signs of panic. He calmly instructed his disciples, "Activate the Array of Demon Palace, and destroy what needs to be destroyed here. Also, pack your belongings and be ready to evacuate at any moment—"

Ban Ruyi himself headed directly for the main hall of Paiyun Temple.

Once inside, Ban Ruyi lifted his hand, causing the temple’s three ’Statues of Sanqing’ to emit countless azure willpower flames.

They coalesced and converged before ultimately pouring into a demon statue about the size of a fist that Ban Ruyi held. The statue had three heads and six arms.

The ’Statues of Sanqing’ then transformed. The originally solemn statues changed into unspeakably hideous apparitions.

These willpower flames are crucial for Demon Master Ban Ruyi to condense his ’Three-phase Dharma Body’.

For this purpose, he built ’Paiyun Temple’, spent dozens of years operating it, and widely gathered followers at the southern foot of Taihang Mountain, only to see all his efforts come to naught.

On the bright side, Ban Ruyi now had enough collected willpower flames to condense two entities with ease.

Next, Demon Master Ban Ruyi prepared to go deeper into the Demon Palace.

At the bottom of the Demon Palace was a ’Spirit Blood Pill’ that he had been refining for a long time.

It was a gathering of the Qi and Essence of hundreds of martial artists from across the land, another foundation for the ’Three-phase Dharma Body’, just a step away from being fully refined.

—These two things are now something that he could not give up on.

At this very moment, Demon Master Ban Ruyi heard a cold voice from behind him.

"Demon Master Ban Ruyi, you indeed hide here! Die—"

With this voice, a silver-white lance, like a dragon, erupted from the void and thundered toward him.

As the lance tip approached Demon Master Ban Ruyi, the peak on which Paiyun Temple was situated became covered in a layer of frost.

Ban Ruyi was taken aback, thinking to himself how quickly these people had arrived.

It seemed that it was the Saintess White Lotus’s ’Void’ technique that had teleported them here from dozens or even hundreds of miles away.

With an impassive face, Ban Ruyi flicked his hand, causing a dark soul shadow to shoot out from behind him, continuously clashing with Helian Fulong’s silver-white lance in a hundred exchanges in an instant.

Although this soul shadow was frozen by the ice dragon’s force from Helian Fulong’s lance, immobilizing most of its body in just an instant, Ban Ruyi had already taken this opportunity to escape to the entrance of the Demon Palace.

"You won’t escape this time!"

Huang Wuhuan’s figure suddenly appeared in front of Ban Ruyi, her Nirvana True Flame suddenly turned into a sea of fire, engulfing the surrounding area.

At the same time, two red beams shot out from Huang Wuhuan’s eyes, bombarding Demon Master Ban Ruyi.

With a still impassive face, Ban Ruyi counteracted the fire while forming seals with both hands. Two stone giants, each a thousand feet tall, then stood up on either side of this Daoist temple.

These two giants were covered with a thick layer of earth elemental force, and both raised their hands to smash towards Huang Wuhuan’s direction.

The sea of fire here was momentarily stifled under the suppression of this earth elemental force.

Ban Ruyi’s body became mud, sinking deep into the ground.

Entering the underground Demon Palace in this way is relatively troublesome. He would have to break through the outer prohibitions of the Demon Palace himself.

The problem was that the entrance to the Demon Palace had been blocked by Lord Huang, and Ban Ruyi had no other option.

Just as Ban Ruyi’s body was moving through the soil layer, a derisive laugh came from the outside, "So this is the lair that you, Ban Ruyi, painstakingly built?"

It was the voice of Immortal Master Shuide, Ao Shuying. With her voice, ’Paiyun Temple’ shook thunderously, the entire mountain violently shaking.

Her ’Godslaying Bajiquan’ was shaking every inch of this mountain.

The vast majority of the outer prohibitions of this underground Demon Palace were also shattered in that instant.

Fortunately, this Diezhang Mountain was one that Ban Ruyi had specifically chosen. The body of the mountain was largely made of Xuanqing Stone, making it extremely solid.

Although the Demon Palace had suffered a great impact, it was largely intact.

Ban Ruyi’s body in the Demon Palace was regrouping again. Blood seeped from his mouth, yet he was still as composed as ever, moving forward.

Until he saw another explosion ahead of him, a large amount of shattered stones was shot in, and a female figure with a veiled face and wearing Liudao Fumo Armor, carrying countless thunderbolts, appeared in front of Ban Ruyi.

The woman turned her head to look at him, her eyes filled with interest, "Are you Demon Master Ban Ruyi?"

Ban Ruyi’s pupils constricted, and he immediately turned to walk in another direction.

He could see that the woman’s cultivation had not yet reached the heavenly level, but just now she had clearly concentrated the power of thousands of thunderbolts into one, forcibly breaking through the outer prohibitions of the Demon Palace!

—This woman’s level of danger was definitely not below any heavenly level!