Chapter 71: I Want Freedom!

  The giant tripod is not only massive in size, but its weight reaches over a hundred tons, making it impossible to store in any container. Not even the flying magical instruments of everyone present can carry it. Nascent Soul stage cultivators need others to transport it for them. The spiritual energy within the body of a Liquid Stage cultivator is limited, and they struggle to control their flying magical instrument, needing to replenish their spiritual energy with spirit jade or pills from time to time during flight. Only Foundation Establishment stage cultivators can truly control their instruments without worrying about exhausting their spiritual energy.

  As a result, they wanted to leave this land that didn't belong to them as soon as possible. They could only rely on several foundation-building cultivators, and because the weight was truly astonishing, at least five people were needed to lift it up.

  She didn't want to expose her only flying artifact, the Yun Qing Lian, nor did she want to face Zhuge Jianyu's suspicions. After the war ended, Zuo Xiaoyao thought of leaving immediately, because she was quite clear that although Zhuge Jianyu wasn't certain why Zuo Zhenglong had avoided him in the past, or what Zhao Jingru's purpose was in approaching Zuo Zhenglong, he knew that Zuo Yangting had approached Wang Shutang and his son to harm her grandfather, monitor her and her grandmother, all for the sake of obtaining something.

  With her intelligence, combined with her sudden entry into the path of cultivation and having such achievements at this age, it's not hard to guess that she must have obtained some kind of extraordinary treasure. That treasure is also the reason why she and her grandmother were always surrounded by people with ulterior motives in the past. Thinking of this, taking advantage of the emotional excitement of the crowd throwing their gaze at the giant tripod, discussing who would lift it, Zuo Xiao Yao quietly planned to retreat.

  "Where do you want to go!"

  Before the words had fallen, Zuo Xiao Yao, who had just retreated a few steps back, suddenly felt herself being suppressed by an overwhelming pressure, and at the same time, a long sword had already attacked her in front of her.

  Already retreated to avoid, although the spiritual power was consumed by more than half due to the previous battle, Zuo Xiao Yao still quickly released a spiritual shield to block in front of her. However, the high-quality shield-shaped artifact was unable to be summoned in time before the long sword struck the spiritual shield. At the same time as the long sword hit, the spiritual shield around her instantly almost completely dissipated. Fortunately, she had successfully unloaded most of the power of the long sword and could be considered not to have failed her mission.

  Although she managed to release a large amount of spiritual energy in time to successfully block the remaining force of the sword that was heading towards her body, some of the spiritual energy transformed into sword aura and ended up hitting Zuo Xiao Yao who had dodged to the left with all her might. Her right abdomen was instantly bleeding profusely, but fortunately, a layer of spiritual energy she had set up around herself earlier took effect, causing the wound not to be too deep. It wasn't until the long sword was withdrawn by its owner that Zuo Xiao Yao finally had the opportunity to quickly take out several medicinal pills and swallow them down.

  Before Zuo Xiaoyao could even open his mouth, Zhuge Jinyu had already asked in surprise, "I don't know what you mean, Master Songyuan! Master Zuo is my friend and we have never met before. Why did you suddenly make such a ruthless move!"

  The middle-aged man with a gloomy face frowned slightly, "This is a private matter between me and her, it's better for you to stay out of it, Mr. Zhuge!"

  Upon hearing the two names 'Songyuan', Zuo Xiaoyao's face suddenly changed. She didn't expect that matter to be exposed so quickly. It was really unknown how Songyuan knew about his son dying at her hands. "I don't have any private dealings with Songyuan, your son died in a car accident, I just happened to be passing by!"

  The people present heard the words, and suddenly they couldn't bear to focus on the giant tripod anymore. They pricked up their ears and listened intently, expecting to hear even more explosive content. The gaze towards Songyuan was quite complex.

  At this time, Songyuan's face was extremely ugly with anger "You demon woman, how dare you speak nonsense! You killed my master's nephew and grandson, he is the sworn enemy of our Bai Shan Men, anyone can kill him. Accept your death!"

  As Song Yuan's massive palm, imbued with his own aura, was about to strike down, the shield-like defensive artifact that had been summoned first was shattered into pieces. Although she had consumed a restorative elixir, there hadn't been enough time to fully absorb its effects, and her internal energy was already insufficient. In her haste, she couldn't afford to worry about concealing her identity, so she directly summoned the defensive artifact, Emerald Ring of Fire. As the ring-shaped fire shield enveloped her completely, she focused on circulating her internal energy, and then swiftly manipulated the icy water needles to counterattack against the massive palm.

  The power of the top-grade artifact was naturally not ordinary, and Songyuan obviously didn't expect that Zuo Xiaoyao had in her hand a top-grade artifact that was quite rare in today's cultivation world. Furthermore, with the sudden appearance of a force intentionally protecting her, it timely blocked Songyuan's attack, causing his massive spirit palm to be repelled by the icy cold water before it could even touch the fire shield formed by the Bi Huo Ring.

  Her spiritual power transformed into a giant palm, but it was useless and returned. Songyuan's heart moved slightly, and the long sword that had attacked her once suddenly stabbed at Xue Xiaoyao again. Just as she felt that her spiritual power was almost exhausted, a long whip suddenly swept her away from the ground, while another sword approached the first sword almost simultaneously. This scene made people's eyes widen in shock again, of course, if there were any witnesses with eyes to see!

  Looking at the three people who suddenly stood out to take the lead for Zuo Xiaoyao, Song Yuan still asked with a furious face, "I don't know what you three mean, are you all going to take the lead for this demon girl?"

  Hong Tian looked at each other slightly unexpectedly, and replied first "As far as I know, Xiao Yao had not been in the Xiuzhen realm for a long time when she first entered it. In the past, she had always been practicing alone, with a firm mind and not a killer. There must be some mistake here, please calm down, Songyuan Dao friend!"

  At this moment, Hongtian and Qin Xiao stood out, seemingly familiar with Zuo Xiaoyao when they saw her before, but for some reason, they suddenly stood out in this situation. Zhuge Jinyu, who was puzzled in his heart, followed up and said, "I can also testify to this point. Xiaoyao has never liked to provoke trouble without cause. Not only towards us fellow cultivators, but even towards ordinary people, she has always been very tolerant. I think there must be some misunderstanding here."

  "What a misunderstanding! I sensed the residual aura of the Blood Binding Curse on her, if she hadn't killed me... my junior apprentice's nephew, how could the Blood Binding Curse on his body appear on hers? Ah, it must be his master Liu Cheng and his senior brother, they three were also killed by her. The three of them should retreat now, this vendetta will not be shared with others, I will definitely avenge!"

  Looking at Songyuan's excited face, Qin Xiao raised his hand to adjust his glasses and said, "Songyuan didn't see it with his own eyes, so how can he know the real situation at that time? It's too hasty to kill without distinguishing between right and wrong. Besides, this is a place where we should stay for a long time. If those foreigners bring in their accomplices again, I'm afraid we won't be able to leave even if we want to!"

  Perhaps because Qin Xiao's words were not so clear-cut, Song Yuan's face slightly cleared up, and his gaze swept towards the giant tripod, flashing a hint of fiery heat. However, when he looked at Zuo Xiaoyao standing beside the tripod, his eyes still filled with hatred. "Hmph! For now, I'll spare your life for a few more days. When we return, if I find out that my three disciples indeed died at your hands, I will not let you off, no matter who begs for mercy. Don't think about escaping!"

  As soon as she was lashed by Hongtian's long whip and pulled to his side, Xiao Yao felt a little panicked, her thoughts seemed to be suppressed by some force, the conversation between Hongtian and Songyuan seemed to come from afar, but she lost control of her body. Her eyes were dazed, although there was an inexplicable impulse in her heart to approach the giant tripod, she couldn't turn around or lift her feet, this feeling was really...

  "Xiao Yao sister, Xiao Yao sister, what's wrong with you? Don't worry, Master and Hongtian Shu are here, that old man won't dare to do anything to you, right? Huiyue sister, eh. Xiao Yao sister, what's wrong with you? Speak up, Master...Master, look, what's wrong with Xiao Yao sister!"

  It was Qin Liangke who whispered in her ear, it was Qin Liangke who exclaimed, but what's wrong with me? Why can't I reason with her? And Songyuan that old man, I told everyone, after he became the son-in-law of the Bai Shanmen and took over as the new leader, he still ran to the mortal world and had a illegitimate child with an ordinary woman named Yuan An. Later on, his wife who was known as 'mother tigress' would definitely not let him off, but why can't I speak up?

  As the voices of shock and concern from Rong Hongtian and others reached her ears, Zuo Xiaoyao suddenly felt a twinge of guilt in her heart. After discovering that she had hidden her true identity and appearance in the past, they still treated her with such kindness and friendship, standing by her side without hesitation when she was in trouble. This feeling was precious enough to make up for everything, so how could she let them worry like this? How could she be so weak that she couldn't even control her own body? And as for Song Yuan, she had to face him personally!

  At this thought, a strong idea suddenly surged up, bringing with it her determination to go out and an inexplicable sense of great self-confidence. In that instant, all of Zuo Xiao Yao's thoughts converged into one sentence: I want freedom!

  I must be free!

  At the moment when this sentence, which was full of unusually strong intention, was truly integrated into her bones and blood, Zuo Xiao Yao discovered that the power that had been suppressing her soul in her divine sea also disappeared immediately.

  At the same time, a black sphere suddenly flew out of her storage bag in her pocket, followed by a strong pulling force that pulled her body into the cauldron. Before she could even make a sound to test if she had returned to normal, Zuo Xiaoyao felt her feet involuntarily leave the ground.

  But didn't notice that Zuo Xiao Yao had already woken up, only felt that this was a very strange scene. Qin Xiao and Qin Liang Ke, who were standing on either side of her, subconsciously wanted to pull Zuo Xiao Yao back, but they were also lifted off the ground. Upon realizing this, Luo Hong Tian and Zhuge Jian Yu immediately used their spiritual power to tightly grab onto Qin Xiao's arm, while Hui Yue then used his spiritual power to tightly hug Qin Liang Ke's leg. All of this was the instinctive reaction of several people, the speed was too fast, and they didn't even have a chance to exchange a word. In just one breath, they could only stare blankly as they were quickly sucked into the cauldron.

  But unexpectedly, the black sphere that flew out automatically quickly flew to the space between the dragon's head and the giant cauldron, and quickly entered it. Not only did it completely absorb Left Xiao Yao and others into the cauldron, but the huge black cauldron also suddenly shrank rapidly at an extremely fast speed in the stunned gaze of the crowd on the scene. In an instant, as if thinking of something, Song Yuan suddenly exerted all his strength to pounce on the abruptly changing black cauldron.

  Some of the cultivators who had also realized what was happening at this time didn't even remember the gap in their cultivation with Song Yuan. They instinctively and quickly rushed towards the location where the black tripod was transforming, but unfortunately, what appeared before their eyes was that when Song Yuan's hand reached out to the black tripod which had shrunk to the size of a palm, he was suddenly enveloped by an exceptionally dense black gas. After letting out a few mournful cries, he disappeared on the spot like melting ice.

  They stared blankly at the scene where Songyuan Shangren, who was renowned in the Xiuwu realm for his exceptional cultivation, had vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye. When they looked again at the spot where Heiding had originally been, they found that it was now empty. After a few sighs, they reluctantly turned to leave, leaving behind a crowd with worried eyes. As for Zuo Xiaoyao and others who were suddenly sucked into the cauldron earlier, their fate was uncertain!

  Hehe, two chapters, nearly 7,000 words, should be able to barely make up for yesterday's lack of updates, please everyone support, thank you, tomorrow enter the Otherworldly Volume!