Cradling Warren Tang's corpse, Lila Li sobbed for a while before wiping away her tears. Her expression gradually became resolute and cold. She understood that her senior brother had met this fate for two reasons: first, so she could escape, and second, so she could bring news of the Fire God Church and Witch God Church's collusion back to the Prime One Church.
"Senior brother, rest assured. I will never let the Fire God Church and Witch God Church's conspiracy succeed. And from this moment on, I am your Dao-companion—for life!"
After saying this to Warren Tang's corpse, Lila Li respectfully placed it into her Storage Ring, then set her direction and headed straight for the depths of the island.
The reason she didn't choose to leave the island directly was because she knew the Toba siblings and the four—Fletcher Toba, Diana Toba, Damien Chi, and Mira Xuan—would definitely have people waiting outside to intercept her. With flight forbidden on the island, and her body so badly wounded, escaping Myriad Spirits Island was simply impossible.
So the best option was to head deeper in. The further she went, the stronger the spirit beasts became. Even if the Toba siblings and the others wanted to hunt her down, they'd have to worry about provoking those powerful beasts, making them hesitant to act recklessly.
She could use this chance to recover from her injuries.
As long as she lasted seven days, the grand array of Myriad Spirits Island would automatically teleport everyone out.
Half an hour after Lila Li left, Mira Xuan arrived at the place where they had previously stayed, bringing two Witch God Church subordinates with her.
"Witch Daughter, there's Warren Tang and Lila Li's aura here. They must have stayed at this spot!"
One of the Witch God Church's Out-of-Body experts confirmed in a firm tone.
"It seems we're heading in the right direction. Keep going!" Mira Xuan's beautiful face flashed a cold smile as she pursued in the direction where Lila Li had disappeared.
After transforming, Ian Song sped toward the depths of the island at high speed.
"Hmm, a fourth-rank spirit beast!"
Suddenly, Ian Song stopped in his tracks, spotting a white rabbit grazing in the grass.
A fourth-rank spirit beast is equivalent to a Core Formation cultivator.
Seeing this white rabbit, Ian Song couldn't help but recall the Beast-Taming Seal divine art. Ever since he acquired it, he hadn't found much use for it.
Actually, this divine art is extremely powerful—an eighth-grade ability that can enslave beasts up to one major realm above the user. Now that he's late Nascent Soul, he can enslave late Out-of-Body beasts.
And it can be used quite frequently—up to a hundred times per day.
"Let's try it on this white rabbit first and see if it attracts any powerful spirit beasts!"
Thinking this, Ian Song willed a phantom seal to fly out and sink directly into the body of the fourth-rank spirit beast white rabbit.
The next moment, the white rabbit hopped over to his side, affectionately rubbing against his leg. Isn't this a dog's specialty? Since when do rabbits like to rub against people?
While his mind wandered, Ian Song remained vigilant, scanning his surroundings. After a long while, nothing happened, and he finally relaxed. He had been worried a ninth-rank spirit beast might show up and kill him instantly.
Now it seemed that the ninth-rank spirit beasts hadn't noticed his use of the Beast-Taming Seal. On reflection, he felt relieved—the Beast-Taming Seal was an eighth-grade divine art, and it was system-issued. If it could be detected so easily, it wouldn't deserve its grade.
He took out a spirit-beast bag and put the white rabbit inside, then continued deeper into the island.
In the blink of an eye, three hours passed.
Using the Beast-Taming Seal, he had already subdued thirty-two fourth-rank spirit beasts and five fifth-rank spirit beasts. As for sixth-rank beasts, he hadn't caught any yet.
After walking a while further and passing through a small grove, Ian Song suddenly frowned. He sensed six powerful residual energy fluctuations in the air ahead.
In addition, there were traces of formation aura. Judging by this aura, it was a fairly powerful trap array, at least strong enough to hold early Deity Transformation experts.
He carefully investigated the area and was certain that a fierce battle had taken place here several hours ago—at the Deity Transformation stage.
A battle between six Deity Transformation experts!
Ian Song instantly thought of Warren Tang and Lila Li.
He carefully sensed the six auras, and sure enough, two of them were familiar—they belonged to Warren Tang and Lila Li.
Bloodstains!
Suddenly, Ian Song spotted a patch of nearly dried blood on the ground. The aura coming from it was clearly Warren Tang's.
He soon found several more patches of blood, some with Lila Li's aura.
That meant both of them were injured.
Moreover, all these bloodstains belonged to the pair, which suggested they'd likely been besieged by four other Deity Transformation experts.
That trap array was probably set up by those four Deity Transformation experts to imprison them.
Warren Tang may be a bit proud, but overall he's decent—otherwise he wouldn't have warned Ian Song not to go too deep into the island. As for Lila Li, Ian Song's impression of her was also good.
Now, knowing they'd run into trouble, Ian Song couldn't help but feel anxious.
He picked up a drop of Lila Li's blood and, silently reciting her name, performed Star-Fate Divination.
The next moment, a clear image of her location appeared in his mind: more than 1,300 li to the northeast.
With a precise target, Ian Song cast the Art of Great Teleportation, jumping to a point roughly 1,280 li to the northeast—close, but not too close, so as not to attract attention.
After confirming there were no other cultivators nearby, he advanced cautiously toward Lila Li's direction, activating Clairvoyant Vision to scout ahead.
As the distance shrank—twenty li, fifteen li, thirteen li—he sensed he was getting closer to Lila Li.
Finally, Lila Li's figure appeared within the range of his Clairvoyant Vision.
Huh? Where's Warren Tang?
Seeing Lila Li fighting alone, Ian Song frowned slightly. Based on his knowledge of Warren Tang, unless something major happened, he would never leave Lila Li.
But now, only Lila Li was fighting, so there were only two possibilities: either Warren Tang had been captured or he was already dead!
The thought that Warren Tang might already be dead made Ian Song feel a bit sad.
But soon, he collected himself and focused on the battlefield.
He could tell that the woman fighting Lila Li was stronger than her, and Lila Li seemed injured, so she was being suppressed and likely wouldn't last much longer.
Additionally, there were two Out-of-Body experts standing guard at the edge of the battlefield, ready to intervene at any moment.
Damn, how am I supposed to rescue her?
Although he had the Art of Great Teleportation, Deity Transformation-level enemies react extremely quickly. Before he could teleport away with Lila Li, he'd likely be attacked, and she might not cooperate.
I've got it!
After a moment, Ian Song's eyes lit up—he'd thought of a reliable solution!
[No further raw text. End of chapter.]
Although he possessed the Art of Great Teleportation, Deity Transformation experts react so quickly that before he could teleport away with Lila Li, he'd probably be attacked—and Lila might not even cooperate.
I've got it!
After a moment, Ian Song's eyes lit up—he'd thought of a reliable solution!