Boarding Life

Qin Qi sucked in a cold breath at those words and stroked the little bear’s head.

Soul Devour turned its head away with a somewhat tsundere air.

He snapped out of it and looked toward Ming Lan.

"Huh? Where’s Ming Lan?" Qin Qi asked in confusion.

The Celestial Joyful Witch drawled, "Even your Sea of Consciousness got hit. Let alone that little lass. After she got caught, she walked straight toward the depths of the hall!"

Qin Qi drew in a sharp breath.

Damn, why does this situation just keep getting worse!

If something really happened to his own woman, there was no way he could just leave her be.

Still, he knew he couldn’t rush this, and first took a look around.

He turned back and saw that the path they’d come from had, at some unknown point, dropped a series of stone doors, completely blocking it off.

He tried blasting them with Mana from his Celestial Spirit Pure Yang Skill, but found the stone doors didn’t budge an inch.

"Don’t waste the effort. These stone doors are forged from refined mystic iron, and covered in restriction. Not just you—even a Core Formation Stage expert wouldn’t be able to do anything to them!" the Celestial Joyful Witch said.

Qin Qi’s expression grew solemn. "Then what are we supposed to do!"

The Celestial Joyful Witch shook her head. "For now, we can only keep exploring deeper. From the looks of it, this is most likely that ’master’ those ghost things were talking about!"

"From the moment you stepped into the hall, this so‑called master never intended to let you leave!"

Qin Qi’s eyes sank at her words, and a faint hint of despair welled up in his heart.

But he quickly calmed down. "If this person really could just kill me, why go to all that trouble? Judging by their actions, it looks more like they want to lure us to some specific spot."

"And it also feels like they can’t move freely, can’t personally make a move!"

The Celestial Joyful Witch laughed aloud. "Exactly. You’re getting more and more mature—actually grasping the crux of things this quickly!"

"I heard that little exchange between those ghosts too, and I have a few guesses in mind. No matter, just head deeper in."

"As for this so‑called ’master,’ I don’t think it’s certain they can do much to you at all!"

Qin Qi nodded. "At this point, there’s no escaping anyway, and with Ming Lan on the brink of death, of course I can only go have a look!"

With that thought, he stopped hesitating and headed straight inside.

Following the passageway, he walked for over ten minutes in a row.

Finally, the darkness ahead dispersed.

Qin Qi stepped into an enormous hall. Judging by its scale, this should be the main hall of the entire palace!

And the moment he entered, Qin Qi immediately cast the Invisibility Technique.

Because there was a man and a woman in this vast hall!

The man was an elder, looking aged and decrepit, dressed in white robes, with an immortal air about him. A sea‑like mass of pale yellow Mana surged around him, forming a barrier like a raging flood beast.

The opposite woman looked like a refined young matron, long hair over her shoulders, clad in an alluring black dress.

Yet a chilling Ghost Qi was also seeping from her body.

The Ghost Qi and that pale yellow Mana crashed against each other like a storm, each side handling offense and defense in tandem!

Amazingly, neither could do anything to the other!

However, a trace of exhaustion could be clearly seen in both their eyes. Obviously, this stalemate had already burned through a lot of Mana on both sides!

"What the hell is going on now!"

Qin Qi hid in the shadows, face dark.

Judging by their Cultivation, these two were no weaklings. The entire main hall, several hundred zhang across, was filled with the Mana the two were unleashing.

Even Core Formation Stage cultivators probably couldn’t reach this kind of scale!

And Ming Lan, Senior Sister, was lying unconscious not far from him, right near that black‑robed young matron!

"How am I supposed to rescue Senior Sister Ming Lan, then slip away without a sound?" Qin Qi thought silently. "With those two fighting like this, they probably won’t notice me, right?"

But just as that thought landed—

The black‑robed young matron suddenly let out two cackling laughs. "Kid, I’ve finally waited you out. Invisibility Technique? Hehe, didn’t expect you’d know something like that!"

"Alright then, stop struggling. Be good and become Sister’s nourishment, and feed me properly!"

As she finished speaking, several streams of black Ghost Qi suddenly peeled off from around her and shot straight toward Qin Qi’s position.

"Spirit Evil Woman, how dare you!!" The white‑robed elder opposite her roared and immediately drew out a massive amount of pale yellow Mana, intending to pressure the black‑robed young matron!

But the black‑robed woman’s attack had already been launched and clearly couldn’t be intercepted anymore.

The white‑robed elder’s heart jolted. He secretly cursed, "Not good! This kid’s Mana just now was especially refined. If this Spirit Evil Woman absorbs him, it’ll be big trouble!"

Yet what no one expected was—

Qin Qi instantly condensed a large Mana barrier.

On his body, True Qi Armor manifested, and Flame Possession ignited!

Layer upon layer of defense.

The Ghost Qi actually pierced through the first Mana barrier at extreme speed.

Then, just as quickly, it passed through his True Qi Armor!

Just as the True Qi Armor was about to be penetrated, the Ghost Qi seemed to have run out of steam and finally dissipated.

Even so, Qin Qi still spat out a mouthful of blood, eyes wide in shock.

"My Celestial Spirit Pure Yang Skill is innately restraining against yin and evil, and yet it still couldn’t block this woman’s Ghost Qi? Three layers of defense, and two were broken—if not for my True Qi Armor being tough enough, I’d probably be dead already!" Qin Qi drew a sharp breath.

But he didn’t know that the ones even more shocked were actually the Spirit Evil Woman and the white‑robed elder!

"Impossible!" The Spirit Evil Woman’s eyes bulged.

The white‑robed elder laughed heartily. "Kid, nicely done. Even though the Spirit Evil Woman can’t bring out a tenth of her strength right now, she’s still not someone at the Foundation Establishment Stage you should be able to withstand!"

"Didn’t expect you to actually survive. Good, good, leave the rest to me!"

"Chen Douxuan, you’re still going to ruin my plans!!" The Spirit Evil Woman shrieked.

She moved as if to send more Ghost Qi at Qin Qi.

But Chen Douxuan intercepted it at extreme speed.

In an instant, the two fell into a standoff once more.

And Qin Qi finally let out a long breath of relief.

He immediately took out a few Spirit Plants from his Storage Pouch to refine, lightly tending to his internal injuries. His previously dim complexion clearly recovered quite a bit.

At the same time, not far away, Chen Douxuan slowly spoke. "Little friend, you saw it yourself just now. This Demoness wants your life. This Spirit Evil Woman is a thousand‑year fiend suppressed here by the Xuan Yi Sect!"

"And I am the one the Xuan Yi Sect left here to watch over this evil. The Spirit Evil Woman schemed for a long time to ambush me, taking advantage of when I was hit to break the restriction and escape!"

"By the time I came back to my senses, it was already too late to stop her. I could only use all my Mana to confront her. Now, if you can lend me your aid and kill this woman, you’ll be the hero of the entire Northwest Region!"

"Otherwise, once she fully escapes and her Cultivation fully recovers, the consequences will be unimaginable!"