Even though the female Spirit Manifestation cultivator was the strongest in the vanguard sent by the Tang Clan, fighting the two cultivators mind controlled cultivators was troublesome. Not only did the two Spirit Manifestation cultivators not feel any pain from her attacks, they attacked with no regard for their own safety.

"They're taking damage, but they move as if they are completely fine!" The female cultivator clenched her waist which was sliced deeply by a reckless attack from the sword cultivator. The attack not only cut her, but also carved a deep wound in the other Spirit Manifestation cultivator's chest. However, the scarred cultivator continued to fight as if he didn't feel anything.

"I'll give you a chance to leave this village now woman! Even if you take down your two companions, you cannot defeat me. Withdraw and you will live to fight another day." Yu Mingxi recalled the two mind slaves attacking the female cultivator. The amount of Tang Clan cultivators who died would influence how much retaliation would ensue when they returned. No matter her strength, Yu Mingxi could not afford to kill Tang Bian or Tang Li. If either of them died, no where in the entire Tang Province would be safe from the Tang Clan's wrath.

"Regardless of the despairity in strength, the Tang Clan will never surrender! Especially not to a peasant village like this one!" The female cultivator shouted.

"Wait!" Tang Bian walked over with a gentle smile on his face. He whispered a few words to the female cultivator and placed a pill in her hands. The woman's eyes widened when she looked at the pill Tang Bian gave her.

"But young lord! This pill is..."

Tang Bian put a hand on her shoulder. On his face was an expression of need, as if the entire world itself was collapsing around him and she was the only one he could trust and rely on.

"Your the only one I can trust with this enormous burden. I believe in you." He said solemnly.

A single tear fell down the female cultivator's face and she swallowed the pill. She screamed as her body ignited with purple flames that covered her entire body. However, even though she was suffering agonizing pain her cultivation began to increase.

Yu Mingxi was enraged and sent the two mind controlled Spirit Manifestation cultivators after Tang Bian.

"Tang Bian! What kind of forbidden medicine did you give her!"

As the two mind slaves were about the attack Tang Bian, the female cultivator quickly moved in front of him. She grabbed the two of them by their necks and lifted them up into the air. The purple fire around her spread onto them, burning them until they were nothing but a pile of ash.

"Why, the Soul Ignition Pill of course. In exchange for burning your soul, you obtain a large amount of raw power that allows you contend against those an entire cultivation realm above you. While it doesn't give you the unique characteristics associated with the next realm, the strength of your techniques will be raised up to par."

"Your despicable, using your charm and status to coerce members of your own clan into doing such acts." Yu Mingxi was exasperated. She knew that the Tang were a clan of foxes, but she didn't expect them to be so cruel even to their own members.

"Die you old hag!" The flaming woman rushed towards Yu Mingxi like a pouncing tiger. She didn't have time to delay because once her soul was completely extinguished she would die. However, if she killed Yu Mingxi quick enough, there was a chance she could survive long enough to undo the effects of the pill.

"Tch..." Yu Mingxi tapped her staff on the ground once more. The ground beneath the hill began to move and giant hands made of earth reached out to grab the female cultivator.

"Useless!" The earthen hands could not stop the female cultivator at all. As soon as the hands made contact with her, she instantly burned right through them.

Yu Mingxi jumped into the air, soaring 50 meters into the sky. The female cultivator followed her, shooting a torrent of flame towards Yu Mingxi. From the perspective of the villagers below, it was as if an enraged phoenix was chasing after Yu Mingxi.

"Cyclone!" Yu Mingxi pointed at the phoenix in front of her and a large cyclone shot out.

The cyclone overpowered the flames and sent the female cultivator spiraling downwards. She did not hit the ground, but the distance between them had widened. Yu Mingxi clasped her palms together, pointing her fingers towards the sky. As she did, dark clouds began to cover the sun around the Scattered Leaf Village.

Rain descended from the clouds summoned over the village. As the drops of water hit the female cultivator, her flaming aura began to sizzle.

She howled in pain. The flames around her were made through burning her own soul. So what the rain was slowly extinguishing right now was actually her flame of life.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The female cultivator surged forward once more into the sky. She had already endured so much pain, so why not endure a bit more. If Yu Mingxi was defeated, the rain would stop and her suffering would ease a little bit.

"I admire your tenacity, but you are still no match for me." Yu Mingxi twirled her staff in the air and pointed it forward. A bolt of lightning struck her staff and channeled through it, sending it straight into the female cultivator.

"Ahh!!" A shrill cry filled the air. Despite the pain, the female cultivator kept going and managed to deliver a hard tackle toward Yu Mingxi.

Her staff snapped and the flames spread onto her body. Yu Mingxi flew a few feet back and suffocated the flames with her hands before they could spread too far. Even though her opponent was a Spirit Manifestation cultivator with pseudo Virtue Seeking power, the flames still did damage. A few areas of her legs and torso were burnt black, as well as a corner of her face.

The female cultivator wasn't doing too well either. That last attack drained most of her energy and she barely had the strength to stay afloat. Her skin was charred from the lightning and she was constantly twitching from the constant pain caused by the Soul Ignition Pill.

"I'm not done yet... I still have one more attack. This time you won't be leaving with just a couple of burns..." The female cultivator closed her eyes and the flames around her intensified, red cracks began to form all over her body.

Yu Mingxi's eyes widened.

"No! She's planning to detonate her soul like a bomb! If she succeeds, the entire village will be destroyed!"

Tang Bian looked up towards the sky with a sinister smile on his face.

"That's right Yu Mingxi. If you want to save this village, your going to have to move her away before she detonates. However, even you won't be able to escape such a blast unscathed."

"Tang Bian, this is outrageous. Call her off now. If she detonates her soul, not even we will survive." Tang Li put an arm behind Tang Bian's shoulder, urging him to issue the order to retreat.

Woosh~

Tang Li and Tang Bian dodged to the side as a beam of pressurized wind whizzed past them. The blast from Yin Hui, who shot a medium powered Wind Bullet at the two Tang.

"I never expected you to be apart of this as well Tang Li. I thought you knew better then to participate in such crimes." Yin Hui had a look of disappointment on his face.

"Yin Hui! It's not what you think. My reason for coming is not the same as Tang Bian." Tang Li defended. His whole objective in coming was to make sure no unnecessary harm came to Yin Hui. In fact, if Yin Hui were to escape he would try to help him behind the scenes as much as he could.

"Then don't stop me as I leave the village." Yin Hui turned around and began to run towards the exit. Tang Bian's main goal was to capture Yin Hui, so if Yin Hui left the village he would have to shift his attention on to him.

"Big Brother Yin Hui! Look out behind you!" Yu Zhuwa shouted.

Yin Hui turned his head. On his tail were three of the Tang cultivators who were initially knocked away by Yu Mingxi's first attack.

"Catch him! If the three of you succeed, I will grant all of you access to the qi reservoir in the capital for a day!" Tang Bian ordered.

"Yes young lord!" The three shouted in unison.

Seeing Yin Hui running out of the village, Yu Mingxi took off the village chief's medallion from her neck and threw it down to Yu Zhuwa.

"Yu Zhuwa! Take that medallion and follow Yin Hui! I've imprinted instructions on it with my spiritual sense! It will lead you to safety! Go!"

Yu Zhuwa hesitated, but eventually went to chase after Yin Hui. The first order imprinted on the medallion was to tell the villagers to leave the village on his way out.

"Everyone leave! That Tang cultivator is going to detonate her body and turn this village into a pile of ash!" Yu Zhuwa screamed at the top of his lungs.

Panic spread across the villagers in the village as they quickly evacuated from their homes.

"Our village chief has really gone senile over the years. Trading the village for the life of one slave." A bitter villager murmured.

"Yeah, if she just accepted the young lord's offer we would be living peacefully with riches right now..."

Yu Zhuwa clenched his teeth. Even now Yu Mingxi was concerned about the villagers, but the villagers showed no appreciation. He suppressed the urge to talk back by focusing on the mission he was given, leaving the village borders and running into the forest where Yin Hui went.

In the sky, Yu Mingxi held the self-detonating female cultivator in a bear hug as she soared higher into the air. Her goal was to bring the blast as far from the village as possible by bringing her up as high as she could. At this point, the female cultivators body was completely red and filled with cracks. When they got around 1000 meters, the female cultivator exploded, torching the sky in a sea of flames.

Yu Zhuwa squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the massive explosion. He told himself that Yu Mingxi was a Virtue Seeking cultivator while her opponent was only at the Spirit Manifestation realm. He convinced himself that the disparity in their power was too much and that she would be fine.

Because the blast was so high up in the air, the village received minimal damage. A few stray flames lit some areas of the village on fire, but otherwise the village was still intact.

When the smoke cleared, Yu Mingxi was seen slowly floating back down. She was heavily injured and patches of her skin were burnt clean off. Her robes were shredded and half of her hair was gone.

Clap Clap~

"Congratulations Lady Yu. You are truly the unsung hero of this village. It is unfortunate that the villagers do not see you as such."

Yu Mingxi was silent, right now she didn't even have the energy to respond.

"You may be wondering, how can an early Spirit Manifestation cultivator like me hurt you even if your critically injured? Well luckily for me you were gracious enough to give me back the medallion with my father's spiritual sense on it." Tang Bian said holding the silver medallion.

Yu Mingxi's pupils shrunk, she knew what Tang Bian was implying.

"That's right. A small manipulation by me and this sliver of divine sense can turn into a single attack backed by my father's cultivation." Tang Bian crushed the medallion and the sliver of spiritual sense emerged. It turned into a giant sword made of qi that thrust itself into Yu Mingxi's chest.

Yu Mingxi coughed out a mouthful of blood. The sword possessed a power far greater than her Virtue Seeking cultivation. She lost the strength to fly and began to descend from the sky like a heavy boulder.

"Good bye Yu Mingxi. You were much more than I had expected, I wish things could have gone differently."