Without waiting for Ye Jie to reply, Fuling flew forward, fanning herself with one hand and forming hand seals with the other, using the fan as a weapon to engage in a fierce battle with Master Black Hawk. The fan, painted with a scroll of mountains and rivers, transformed into a gust of wind in her hand, and every time she waved it, it produced a sharp, piercing sound.
The Black Eagle Master, wielding a longsword covered in dark blood, stabbed at Fuling with the swiftness of a venomous snake. The folding fan in Fuling's hands served both offensively and defensively. Facing the thrusts, she folded it into a handle, using the hard ribs to deflect all attacks.
Ye Jie, also aware of the dire situation, quickly poured out the white ointment from the vial and, regardless of the risk of being burned by the black fire, rubbed it onto Hua Xiaomei's arm. As soon as the ointment touched Hua Xiaomei's right arm, it immediately took effect, suppressing the flames.
"Are you okay?" Seeing Hua Xiaomei finally stopped wailing, Ye Jie couldn't help but ask.
"I can still fight...but I'm afraid it will take several years to recover from this injury..." Hua Xiaomei groaned and moved her shoulders, only to see that her right arm, which she had used to grab the spirit stone, had shrunk like charcoal and was still spewing black smoke, looking as if her strength had dropped significantly.
Ye Jie was anxious. Hua Xiaomei, like Fuling, had the strength of a mid-second stage. Now she was caught off guard and fell into a trap. Her strength dropped to the same early second stage as him, or even lower.
"Fuling is fighting with the evil cultivators. We will use our energy to help her from a distance." Ye Jie and Hua Xiaomei looked at each other and began to use their energy to cast spells together.
In the field, facing Fuling's fierce attack, Master Black Hawk was careless and the long sword in his hand was knocked down by Fuling. He immediately used his body skills, kicked the ground with his legs, and his speed was so fast that it left an afterimage, and his body suddenly retreated.
"You possess the power of the Way of Music? However, that's all! I will completely crush your hopes!"
With a roar, Black Hawk Master unfurled a dark yellow skull and crossbones flag, emitting an ominous aura. The skull and crossbones rustled in the wind, and if one listened carefully, one could hear the chorus of wraiths' roars. Even just watching from afar filled one with fear and despair.
"Oh no... It's the soul-calling banner. There are many refined evil souls imprisoned inside. Fuling, be careful!" Seeing Master Black Hawk using his magic weapon, Ye Jie hurriedly reminded him.
"Let me show you how powerful the soul-summoning banner is!" Master Black Hawk snorted coldly, with a cruel light flashing in his eyes. He slapped the back of the soul-summoning banner, and dozens of dark evil spirits crowded out from the flag and pounced on Fuling like ghosts.
The upper body of the evil spirit still maintained its ferocious human appearance, but below the waist was a swirling black mist, which dimmed the surrounding light as soon as it appeared.
Under the siege of evil spirits from all directions, Fuling's two fists were no match for four hands. After being hit hard one after another, her movements became weak and her figure became disheveled. She no longer had the elegance that Ye Jie had when he first saw her.
"call out."
"call out."
Just as Fuling was about to be defeated, sharp whistling sounds were heard from the distance. Black arrows condensed by Ye Jie and Hua Xiaomei shot towards the evil spirit again.
Every black arrow that struck could accurately destroy an evil spirit. Hit by the ghost messenger's condensed soul-breaking arrows, the evil spirits, without exception, all turned into wisps of black smoke and dissipated.
Under the cover of the soul-breaking arrow, Fuling seized the opportunity and took advantage of the brief gap when the evil spirit behind him dissipated to escape from the enemy's encirclement and return to Ye Jie and others.
"Thanks to Sister Lan's Pipa Xuanyin, the power of the Soul-Breaking Arrow has been increased, allowing us to kill an evil spirit with one arrow. If we keep going, as long as we kill all the evil spirits, the final victory will definitely belong to us." Ye Jie sighed, he had already seen the dawn of victory.
Seeing that the number of evil spirits was decreasing, Master Black Hawk was sweating anxiously. Anxiety spread in his heart and his fingers began to tremble unconsciously.
Finally, his eyes became fierce, he took out a string of golden bells from his arms, and slammed it hard on the soul-summoning banner. In an instant, accompanied by a shrill scream, both Ye Jie and others, as well as the evil spirits released by the soul-summoning banner, could not help but hold their heads and cover their ears, revealing unbearable pain, as if a sharp knife was constantly stirring in their minds.
Another evil spirit emerged from the spirit-summoning banner. She looked very different from the others, radiating a pale glow and possessing a fierce expression. Her strength had unexpectedly reached the peak of the second stage, leaving her only one step away from reaching the third stage! A terrifying pressure was unleashed, and even standing still became difficult for Ye Jie and the others.
"Oh no... That Black Hawk Master actually refined a peak-level second-order evil spirit?"
Ye Jie was horrified, but after the pale evil spirit was released, it first directed its fierce gaze towards the Black Hawk Master who called her out, and then pounced on him with its fangs and claws.
Master Black Hawk, who had expected this, shook the golden bells in his hand, and heard the crisp sound of tinkling bells. The pale evil spirit immediately let out a wail, and his bloodshot eyes showed a bit of unwillingness. In the end, he had to kneel on the ground.
Master Black Hawk stretched out his hand and pointed, and the pale evil spirit immediately directed its fierce gaze towards Ye Jie and others, and then pounced towards them.
"Use the Soul-Binding Rope! Only the Soul-Binding Rope can restrain it for a moment. The golden bell that controls the evil spirit is in the hands of Master Black Hawk. As long as we take it away, we still have a chance of winning!" Hua Xiaomei made a judgment immediately. The black rope condensed in her palm and went straight towards the pale evil spirit in the distance, binding it in place.
However, Ye Jie ignored her words and went to Nan Linghe, whispered a few words to her, and handed her a pitch-black object.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and condense the Soul-Binding Rope!" Hua Xiaomei urged.
"I have no spiritual power left." Ye Jie shook his head.
"Where did your spiritual power go? You haven't even cast the Soul Binding Rope yet. Don't tell me that a few low-grade human-level soul-breaking arrows have drained all your spiritual power." Hua Xiaomei asked angrily.
Ye Jie didn't answer, but simply looked towards Master Black Hawk in the distance. "With my entry-level Soul Binding Rope, even if I exhaust all my spiritual energy, I can only bind her for a few breaths at most. With Master Black Hawk's agility, this amount of time is definitely not enough for Fuling to snatch the Golden Bell. We must try another method."
"What?" Hua Xiaomei stood there in a daze.
Just as Ye Jie said, while the pale evil spirit was bound, Fuling stepped forward to snatch the golden bell. However, her figure was far behind Master Black Hawk, and no matter how she sped up, she could not shorten the distance between the two.
Soon, Hua Xiaomei's spiritual power was exhausted, unable to maintain the Soul Binding Rope. The pale evil spirit broke free from the rope's restraints and pounced on Fuling like a hurricane, sweeping her away in two moves. Fuling slammed heavily against the cave wall, groaning in pain, unable to rise again.
"This time, let's see what you can use to fight me and become a member of the Soul Summoning Banner! Haha..."
Master Black Hawk was halfway through laughing when his eyes suddenly became extremely sharp. He noticed that someone was pointing a bow and arrow at him, but the person's bow posture was not standard and his arm was shaking. Only the pitch-black soul-breaking arrow on the bowstring contained the power to severely damage the soul, which made his heart tighten.
"This is the soul-breaking arrow that I condensed with all my spiritual power. It is enough to destroy his soul with one arrow. Nan Linghe, now it's up to you!" Ye Jie said loudly.
Hearing this, even Master Black Hawk was shocked.
Beside Ye Jie, Nan Linghe drew her bow and arrow. She did not try to aim at the target. Her eyes were closed!
"Shooting with eyes closed, what kind of martial arts is this? But if you want to hit me, with my Xuanying Step, there's no chance!"
The moment the arrow left his hand, Master Black Hawk's feet were as fast as the wind and he immediately dodged to the side. However, the direction the arrow was aimed at was not where he was originally standing, but the direction he chose when he dodged.
Black Hawk's heart trembled, and his body trembled, dodging the pitch-black arrow that was shot at him. After confirming that he was unharmed, he couldn't help but laugh out loud: "You scared me! I thought this was some powerful martial art. If it can't hit anyone, what's the point?"
"Really?" Ye Jie just smiled faintly, "You can open your eyes now, Nan Linghe."
After receiving Ye Jie's instructions, Nan Linghe opened his eyes and saw the situation of Master Black Hawk. He couldn't help but look surprised and pulled Ye Jie's arm and said, "I, I did it, Brother Jie!"
"What?"
Master Black Hawk was slightly taken aback. Wasn't he standing here perfectly still? What did it even mean to have accomplished this? He looked around and saw that the pale evil spirit had stopped fighting at some point, its bloodshot eyes staring fiercely at him. Master Black Hawk quickly rang the bell and said, "Who allowed you to stop? Do you want to experience the pain of having your soul torn apart? Keep fighting..."
But this time, the familiar bell did not ring. Master Black Hawk widened his eyes and his pupils constricted, only to see that the golden bell he was holding was shot to pieces by an arrow, leaving only a string of golden rings in his hand.
"This is impossible..." Master Black Hawk's mouth opened slightly, and he froze in place.
Beside Ye Jie, both Hua Xiaomei and Fuling, who was slumped against the wall, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Recalling the scene just now, everyone felt a sense of disbelief. The arrow shot by Nan Linghe traced a skewed trajectory through the air, straying an unknown distance from Black Hawk Master's original position. Yet, this arrow had hit the golden bell squarely. It wasn't so much the arrow's accuracy as it was that Black Hawk Master had bumped into it himself, carrying the golden bell.
Ye Jie, who had anticipated this, stood with his hands behind his back. "As the old saying goes, it's better to catch than to shoot accurately. Master Black Hawk, you dared to control the resentful spirits and evil spirits. Now you will suffer the backlash of losing control. Your death is imminent!"
As if to confirm what Ye Jie said, the pale evil spirit swooped down towards Master Black Hawk like a whirlwind at an unimaginable speed, and with a strong pull, it tore off one of his arms.
Master Black Hawk collapsed to the ground, wailing miserably. Seeing that the pale evil spirit's attention was completely drawn to Master Black Hawk, Ye Jie took this opportunity to help Fu Ling, who had fallen to the ground, and took out the Qingming Branch that had broken the magic circle, and quickly fled the cave with everyone.
Feeling the familiar cold wind blowing on their faces, everyone felt grateful for having survived the disaster.
"I didn't expect that the evil cultivator was so powerful. We were almost killed by him..." Hua Xiaomei patted her chest and sighed repeatedly.
"Yes... If Nan Linghe hadn't shot the golden bell that controlled the evil spirit with an arrow, I'm afraid we would be in danger now."
Ye Jie looked at Nan Linghe with an eye full of approval. He and Hua Xiaomei each carried one arm of the injured Fuling. Although they looked very embarrassed, they finally completed the task successfully.
After receiving Ye Jie's praise, Nan Linghe smiled slightly, with the corners of her eyes curved like crescent moons, revealing a bright luster.
Ye Jie looked back at the cave behind him and said, "That Black Hawk Master is probably in grave danger. It's a pity that we couldn't find any skills on him. I'm quite curious about the level of his skills. As for the last pale evil spirit, with her strength at the peak of the second level, we can't do anything to her at the moment. With the barrier formation, she can only be trapped in the cave and can't escape to other areas. It's better to wait until her cultivation is more advanced in the future before dealing with her."
Hua Xiaomei sighed softly, "So, besides the basic rewards, this mission didn't yield any extra rewards. I finally eliminated an evil cultivator, but I wasn't able to find his skills, nor did I get any treasures. It's really a pity."
Ye Jie laughed heartily at this moment, and pulled out a handful of glittering, rare stones that contained abundant spiritual energy. Then they appeared in his palm: "Who said there are no extra gains? Look what this is?"
Hua Xiaomei was stunned: "Isn't this the spirit stone used as a trap? When did you..."
Ye Jie waved his hand: "Don't worry about this. As the old saying goes: Whoever sees it gets a share. Come, this one is yours."
Ye Jie got a total of twelve low-grade spirit stones from Master Black Hawk's cave. He originally planned to give three to each person, but Fuling insisted on not taking them. As the head maid in the wine country, she naturally looked down on these low-grade spirit stones worth thousands of merits. In the end, Ye Jie, Nan Linghe, and Hua Xiaomei each got four.
After returning to Guangwang Palace, Fuling also took out the reward for the mission: two identical human-level top-grade martial arts manuals: Cloud Covering the Eyes, one for Ye Jie and one for Hua Xiaomei. A maid from the wine country had copied the manuals in advance, and the two were very satisfied with it.
After completing the task, Hua Xiaomei also took out an indigo token and handed it to Nan Linghe:
"This is my recommendation. You've proven to me through your actions that you are truly a powerful force. I hope we'll have another chance to work together once you become an official Ghost Messenger."
Nan Linghe put the recommendation order in her arms, her bright and beautiful eyes were filled with joy, and her gaze was fixed on Ye Jie without blinking, not moving away for a moment.
After saying goodbye to Hua Xiaomei, Ye Jie was about to leave with Nan Linghe, but was stopped by Fuling.
"Be thankful in your heart that you passed my test. Coupled with Yulan's appreciation of you, you have the opportunity to meet Aunt Meng, the head of the wine country." Fuling said lightly.
Ye Jie was stunned, his mouth slightly open, speechless for a moment: "Aunt Meng...Ghost Fairy?"