Hu Landie had known that the White Wind Sect would betray the Heaven Continent's hegemonic sect, but she didn't place too much thought on it. The White Wind Sect had perished under the thorough retaliation from the Buzhou Immortal Sect. They killed every man, woman, and even child with a hint of a relationship with the White Wind Sect as an example.
Still, she did not expect them to be so foolish as to reveal their betrayal so soon. If they hadn't coveted Ba Shifang's immortal artifact, they could have hidden their true intentions and survived another hundred years.
But that begged the question, should she help Ba Shifang?
Logically, she could just leave. The four saint-level experts had ignored her, partly because she had activated a stealth technique and partly because of their confidence, so she could leave without them noticing. From there, she could report the betrayal to the Buzhou Immortal Sect and gain a hefty remuneration.
However, that was only the short-term benefit.
Judging by Ba Shifang's strength to slay venerables, a rare feat even for disciples of the Buzhou Immortal Sect at the Nascent Soul Realm, he must be an important immortal seed. If she could rescue him, then she would form a connection forged through life and death.
The unquantifiable benefits gained from this couldn't be underestimated. For example, as long as Ba Shifang leaked some news, one that none of the other forces knew, she could have a head start. Despite traveling back in time, Hu Landie had only memorized the important events such as Heaven Continent War and the brewing war against another realm afterward.
There was one more critical danger she risked befriending Ba Shifang. If the Buzhou Immortal Sect discovered her Spring Autumn Caterpillar, now in its chrysalis phase, the Spring Autumn Chrysalis, then she would meet an even more gruesome end.
Still, that would all require the premise that she managed to save Ba Shifang and escape the four saint-level experts. For her, the choice wasn't hard.
So what if the Buzhou Immortal Sect discovers her Spring Autumn Chrysalis? So long as she paid the price, she could still reverse time and try again.
From her sleeves, hundreds of Miragedust Moths flew out and entangled the four saint-level experts. Once they had rid themselves of her moths, two more of her insect beasts flew out from her sleeves, enlarging themselves into five meters behemoths in the process.
The first one was a grasshopper with brown-red color and black splotches throughout with numerous dangerous spikes littered its body, giving it a dangerous vibe. This was her Bloodfest Locust that she had recently successfully nurtured.
The scone was a porcelain white beetle with a giant horn and a devasting-looking mandible. Its hard exoskeleton gleamed under the light. This was her Whitebone Beetle that she had also recently finished nurturing.
"You should have escaped when you had the chance," The transcending mortality saint said. He glanced at one of the earth immortals and said, "Graywind, quickly get rid of her, and we'll kill Ba Shifang as soon as possible."
Earth Immortal Graywind nodded. "Lass, you'll regret playing hero."
Hu Landie didn't say anything and commanded her insects to charge forward. The Bloodfest Locust arrived in front of Earth Immortal Graywind with surprising speed. Once there, its body began to exude a bloody light as it continued to charge with its mandible ready.
Earth Immortal Graywind dodged out of the way, but the Bloodfest Locust had deployed its six legs and managed to leave a small gash on his body.
The earth immortal's face darkened. He never thought a no-named loose cultivator would injure him, and he felt as if his face had been slapped. He formed several hand seals and, after a chant, pointed his hand at the Bloodfest Locust.
Visible strands of wind manifested in front of Earth Immortal Graywind's finger and shot towards the Bloodfest Locust. The gray wind twisted and slithered like a snake, hounding the Bloodfest Locust wherever it flew.
In this short period, the Whitebone Beetle had finally arrived, and the Bloodfest Locust hid behind it. Earth Immortal Graywind snorted at the Bloodfest Locust's action and directed his attack at the Whitebone Beetle.
Earth Immortal Graywind's eyes widened when he saw his attack bounce off the Whitebone Beetle's shell harmlessly. He didn't have much time to ponder as the Bloodfest Locust took this chance to charge at him once more.
The two sides entered a short stalemate. Earth Immortal Graywind couldn't keep up with the Bloodfest Locust's speed, and the Whitebone Beetle would block whatever attack he used. Similarly, the Bloodfest Locust could only cause minor injury at best, while the Whitebone Beetle's speed proved too slow to touch the corner of Earth Immortal Graywind's robes.
"What are you doing, hurry up and get rid of the girl!"
Earth Immortal Graywind felt his face flush at his companions' words. He glared at Hu Landie. He had wanted to crush her tamed beasts before crushing the tamer herself, but it seemed that he had to go after the tamer and flee the tamed beasts. For an earth immortal like himself, going after the tamer, especially one of a lower realm, shamed him greatly.
However, he knew that time was of the essence, so he lowered his pride and flew toward Hu Landie. The Bloodfest Locust tried to stop him, but Earth Immortal Graywind just summoned the gray wind to stall it, and the Whitebone Beetle couldn't keep up with him to begin with.
"I have you now!" He shouted as he attacked Hu Landie, who was in the process of retreating, but her speed could not compare with his.
Beast tamers had powerful group capabilities, but that was under the condition of counting their tamed beasts. They often had the upper advantage in a one-on-one fight, but tamers were just weaker than other cultivators in general without their tamed beasts.
When his attack engulfed Hu Landie, Earth Immortal Graywind immediately felt something wrong. Hu Landie's body bloated and burst into silvery-blue dust, and hundreds, maybe even thousands, of moths flew out towards Earth Immortal Graywind.
Earth Immortal Graywind tried to blow the dust and moths away, but it was as if his wind had no effect, and they lingered around him. When they dispersed moments later, silvery-blue dust coated every inch of his skin.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He turned around a glared at the Whitebone Beetle hovering a safe distance away. The beetle opened the shell covering its wing, known as the elytra, to reveal a blue figure. The blue figure stepped off the beetle's back.
Who else could it be but Hu Landie?
"I allowed you to trick me once, but you won't succeed a second time!" Earth Immortal Graywind said as he charged forward.
Hu Landie said nothing as she began to form several hand seals. After she finished, she pointed her fingers at her incoming foe.
Earth Immortal Graywind prepared to dodge anything coming his way, but Hu Landie did not unleash any sort of technique to his puzzlement. At least, that's what it appeared.
The silvery-blue dust Earth Immortal Graywind's robes began to glow, and a second later, he stopped in his tracks. His eyes showed disbelief, but the next moment he started to scream in pain, attracting the attention of everyone.
In front of everyone, Earth Immortal Graywind's skin began to wriggle. No, it wasn't his skin, but something underneath wriggling and twisting.
He released a painful roar as his back arced nearly ninety degrees. His scream was cut short as something crawled out of his mouth. Then his eyes turned bloodshot as larvae began to crawl out all of his orifices, his ears, nose, eyes, and mouth.
Like something out of a horror movie, Earth Immortal Graywind's body began to noticeably shrivel as more and more of those larvae crawled out until he was only a husk. Dead, his corpse plummeted to the ground as the larvae's life cycle dramatically increased.
In the fraction of a time it usually took for them to mature, the larvae turned into pupae, then broke out into silvery-blue moths. The remaining White Wind Sect members who saw this felt goosebumps all over their bodies and began to inspect themselves.
Hu Landie formed another hand seal, and the moths began to fly towards her. Most of them flew into her sleeves, but the three biggest ones crawled into the blue lily growing out of her right eye socket. Afterward, the lily seemed even more beautiful and exuded an enchanting glow.
She glanced at Ba Shifang and the others to see if any of them discovered her usage of temporal techniques. She had gained some understanding of the temporal concepts, but it was far from enough to utilize temporal techniques directly. She had to unleash it through her connection with the Spring Autumn Chrysalis.
The three remaining members of the White Wind Sect had entered a dilemma. Earlier, they had fought with Ba Shifang, but despite his injured state, he still had many talismans that could pose danger to them, though not enough to kill them like the immortal rank talisman.
It was clear that one earth immortal wasn't enough to deal with Hu Landie, but if only one person was left to trap Ba Shifang, then he might escape. But if they don't kill Hu Landie and let her escape, then the Buzhou Immortal Sect would soon learn of their betrayal.
The three remaining members were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Since they couldn't decide, Hu Landie decided for them. She first collected her two insect beasts. Then, a giant armored butterfly crawled out from her skirt and clamped onto her back, giving the impression that she had grown a pair of wings.
Hu Landie's speed dramatically increased and flew towards Ba Shifang.
"Stop her!" The transcending mortality saint shouted.
One of the earth immortals moved to block Hu Landie, but at this time, she waved her sleeve, and the Bloodfest Locust shot out. The earth immortal sneered. He was a martial cultivator, so his physical was far stronger than Earth Immortal Graywind.
As he thought, he stopped the charging Bloodfest Locust with some effort. He just had to be careful of its mandibles, but what he didn't expect was for the vivid glow of the insect to turn crimson.
"Flee!" the transcending mortality saint shouted, but it was too late.
The Bloodfest Locust exploded into a red mist, and the earth immortal screamed in pain. Little red dots began to appear throughout his body.
Those were bitemarks. The red mist formed from the Bloodfest Locust had transformed into numerous tiny Bloodfest Locusts that gnawed at him, intent on devouring him whole. Some even tried to gnaw deeper into his flesh.
To combat this, the earth immortal could only deploy his defensive techniques, but the ungodly pain made it difficult for him to utilize them effectively. Given time, he could expel all of the bloody locusts, but Hu Landie took this chance to bypass him.
The remaining two didn't have the chance as Ba Shifang distracted them with his talismans. He didn't know what Hu Landie planned to do, but he knew that it was beneficial for him. He proved correct as Hu Landie took this chance to grab him and fly off into the distance.
Her wings took only a glow that resembled moonlight and left a trail of silver dust in its wake.
"After them!" the transcending mortality saint shouted. The three members of the White Wind Sect gave chase, but to their dismay, they discovered that Hu Landie's wings had a counteractive force against their Space Sealing Formation, not to mention that Ba Shifang constantly used his talisman to interfere.
"Vice Sect Master, I'll self detonate and kill them at the same time," the more elderly earth immortal said.
"You can't!" the transcending mortality saint said. "Don't give up hope because you failed the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. As long as you can master a complete law, you'll immediately become an immortal."
The earth immortal laughed self-deprecatingly. "Don't comfort me. How many false immortals achieved this feat? I know myself, I haven't mastered half a law. How can I master the rest before my death? Before I die of old age, I want to repay the sect for everything."
"Elder..." the transcending mortality didn't say anything as he controlled the formation to boost the earth immortal's speed.
The earth immortal sped up like a comet. A white-hot aura surrounded him as he activated a forbidden technique, causing the intensity of his qi to rise. His skin turned red, and cracks started to appear.
Hu Landie saw this and sped up even more, but she had already reached her limit, so her speed only increased a little bit. Ba Shifang also detected this, so he targeted the incoming earth immortal with all his talismans.
The earth immortal faced the talisman's effect head-on without care. Even as he lost his arm, his legs, he didn't care. As long as his head and torso were fine, he could complete his duty.
"Hahahaha, know the determination of our White Wind Sect!" the earth immortal said one last time as a deafening explosion engulfed the surrounding thousand kilometers.
A venerable's, saint's, and earth immortal's self-detonation were completely different from those below. When they detonated themselves, they could use their connection with heaven and earth to dramatically increase the explosion's power by tenfold!
The transcending mortality saint showed an ugly expression as he observed the aftermath. He was already saddened by the elder's sacrifice, but he couldn't find any traces of Ba Shifang or Hu Landie!
He had no doubt that an earth immortal's self-detonation would completely destroy a nascent soul grandmaster's body, but an immortal rank artifact was different. Even if it had been damaged, it wouldn't have disappeared at all!
"Search! If we can't find them, then the Buzhou Immortal Sect will come to deal with us shortly!" the transcending mortality saint roared. To find them, he deployed every personnel possible from the White Wind Sect.
He didn't dare if it brought suspicion. It was at least better than having the two report the White Wind Sect's betrayal.
----------------------------------------
At an indistinct clearing surrounded by trees, the soil broke loose as a giant beetle with a bone-white exoskeleton crawled out. Its shell was full of cracks with numerous burnt portions. After it crawled out, its legs lost all strength, and it collapsed onto his belly. The light of life left its beady eyes.
A crash could be heard as its elytra broke off, revealing the two occupants.
Ba Shifang coughed as he stumbled out. Hu Landie followed shortly after. Soot covered her whole body, but aside from a few scratches and singed clothing, she appeared fine."
"Thank you," Ba Shifang said.
"You don't have to thank me," Hu Landie coldly said. "We shouldn't stay here for too long. The White Wind Sect will spare no expense to chase us down. Before that, we have to escape and send a message to the Buzhou Immortal Sect."
Ba Shifang nodded. "My Xiyi Talisman, I mean, my messaging talisman can't transmit back to the sect at this location."
He felt his intestine turn green with regret. 'Why was I so confident in my mastery of space concepts? Why didn't I bring any space escaping talisman? Dammit, in my injured state, I can't even teleport a millimeter!"
"Who!?" Hu Landie suddenly said as she readied herself to deploy her beasts.
Ba Shifang also readied a few talismans, but his wariness turned to relief as he saw a handsome man with sword-like brows, a straight back, and wearing the distinct white uniform of the Buzhou Immortal Sect come out.
"Senior Brother Xia!"