Infinite Professions from a Pearl Collector

Within the Yin Qi, countless shadowy figures flickered into view.

They were all burly-faced bandits in tattered armor.

And Lei Cang, who had just died outside, was shockingly among them!

But now, the tattoo on his face had turned black as ink, and his eyes streamed with tears of blood as he stared intently at the group.

"Don’t panic!" Xiao Hongye immediately shouted. "These are just Earth-Binding Spirits controlled by resentment. If we can survive this wave, we’ll win!"

Hearing this, the group’s spirits lifted, and they immediately began to unleash their abilities.

The Sickly Ghost, Zhao Ada, coughed violently, and the Water Ghost he spat from his mouth swelled in the air. Dripping black water, it swung its Sharp Claws, tearing two or three lunging bandit Resentful Spirits to shreds.

The tower-like Shi Meng was even more direct. His door-panel-sized Giant Sword became an indestructible iron wall, each swing whistling through the air as it sent all approaching Ghost Shadows flying.

As for that sickly young master, Lü Song, after swallowing the handful of ashes, the dark circles under his eyes became almost corporeal. A frigid Yin Qi erupted from his body. With a flurry of his palms, black gas swirled, and any spirit that touched it shrieked and dissipated.

But the most magnificent of all was the young woman, Su Yuan.

Countless colorful Dream Awakening Butterflies circled around her. The ghastly green ghost-eyes on their wings emitted an eerie glow, forming an iridescent Butterfly Array.

Any ghost that entered the Butterfly Array’s range would Slow down, as if trapped in a bizarre dream, before being silently devoured by the fluttering butterflies.

But the true main force was still Xiao Hongye.

Her sword was astonishingly fast. Every time she drew it, a brilliant Sword Light, as bright as a red leaf, would follow.

That Sword Light was incomparably sharp, as if it could sever all illusions in the world.

The Seven Sword Cultivation Realms: Perceiving the Weapon, Sensing the Edge, Shattering Illusions, Piercing the Profound, Severing Thought, Roaming the Heavens, and Returning to Truth.

This woman’s Sword Dao had shockingly reached the Third Realm: Shattering Illusions!

One had to know that Sword Cultivators already possessed unparalleled killing power among their peers. Upon reaching the Shattering Illusions realm, their strength far surpassed Qi Refiners and Martial Cultivators of the same Level.

Thus, when she struck with her sword, it was said that even ghosts and gods would flee.

Chen Ye was not idle either. The moment the ghost tide surged, a bloody light ignited in the depths of his eyes.

Bloody Vision!

In his perception, the entire world instantly slowed down.

Those snarling, vicious ghosts now appeared in his eyes as an entirely different scene.

Each ghost was connected to a faint thread of resentful energy, and the ends of all these threads converged upon the statue.

Then, Chen Ye moved.

He moved through the ghost tide, saber in hand.

Whenever a ghost drew near, he would flick his wrist, and his blade would flash.

Chen Ye didn’t aim to cut the ghosts’ bodies, but instead sliced with unparalleled precision through the threads of resentful energy connecting them.

SSHK!

The thread snapped.

The ghost, which had been incomparably ferocious just a moment before, was like a puppet with its strings cut. It let out an unwilling wail and instantly dissipated into green smoke.

Just like that, with a single saber, he weaved and dodged through the dense ghost tide. It looked incredibly perilous, but in reality, he was moving with ease.

In the span of just a few breaths, he had single-handedly carved out a clearing dozens of feet wide within the ghost tide!

The nearby Su Yuan naturally witnessed this scene.

A trace of surprise and curiosity flashed through her large, round eyes.

Others might not have seen the truth, thinking only that Chen Ye’s Saber Technique was strange. But as a Gu Master, her perception of various auras and Energy was far beyond that of an ordinary person, and she immediately discerned the true purpose of Chen Ye’s every strike.

’This man can see those threads of resentful energy!’

’Interesting.’

The corners of Su Yuan’s mouth curled up slightly, and a thought crossed her mind.

A portion of the Dream Awakening Butterflies circling her immediately split off and danced through the air, flying over to surround Chen Ye.

The ghastly green ghost-eyes on the butterflies’ wings swiveled in unison, releasing concentric rings of invisible, strange ripples.

Any ghost swept by the ripples would freeze for a split second.

This insignificant delay might have been meaningless to an ordinary person, but under Chen Ye’s Bloody Vision, it was infinitely magnified!

The fleeting opportunities to strike, which would have vanished in an instant, were now crystal clear.

Chen Ye no longer even needed to bother finding an angle; he only had to swing his saber the moment a ghost froze!

SSHK! SSHK! SSHK!

With a flurry of flashes from his blade, his efficiency skyrocketed!

The two of them—one on offense, one on support—had a perfect, unspoken coordination, despite having exchanged no words.

Before them, the surging ghost tide melted away like snow under a blazing sun.

In the blink of an eye, they had cleared nearly thirty percent of the ghosts inside the temple!

The pressure on Xiao Hongye’s side lessened drastically. Seizing the opportunity, she focused all her Power into her sword. The blade erupted with brilliant red light as she pointed it at the shrine from afar.

"Everyone, lend me your aid!"

she roared, preparing to unleash a devastating strike to completely destroy the statue.

Hearing this, Zhao Ada, Shi Meng, and the others immediately began gathering their power to support her.

Only Lü Song’s eyes flickered. He quietly took half a step back, and his movements slowed, the very picture of someone going through the motions without putting in any real effort.

As for Chen Ye...

The instant Xiao Hongye unleashed her sword, he took a deep breath and compressed every last bit of the Qi Mechanism he had refined with his Golden Toad Qi Swallowing Technique onto the very tip of his saber!

Needle Point!

BUZZ!

The tip of the saber let out a soft hum as a glint of cold light, condensed to its absolute limit, flashed and vanished.

Though he struck later, his attack arrived first!

Before Xiao Hongye’s world-shaking Red Leaf Sword Light could arrive, Chen Ye’s ultimate strike had already plunged with unerring accuracy deep into the original crack on the statue!

Immediately after, Xiao Hongye’s Sword Light, Zhao Ada’s Water Ghost, Shi Meng’s Giant Sword... the attacks of the entire group slammed into the statue!

KRA-CHA!

The statue let out a mournful cry filled with unwillingness and venomous resentment, and then it exploded into pieces.

At the same time, the sky full of Ghost Shadows let out piercing shrieks and vanished like smoke.

Immediately after, the cold, ominous aura within the temple vanished completely.

"Huuu..."

Everyone let out a long sigh of relief, all looking as if they had just survived a disaster.

But Xiao Hongye didn’t even glance around. The instant the statue shattered, she was the first to charge into the rubble.

She pushed aside the broken stone fragments, her expression focused, and carefully cupped something from within.

It was a fist-sized, dusty gray heart that looked as if it were made of stone.

Chen Ye’s heart stirred.

’That’s...’

The treasure sealed within the statue!