Sealing Hua Xian

The energy barrier shattered. But at the same time, the giant tortoise heads stopped moving as well.

Not just that, but the golden emblem shining up from the ground slowly dissipated, and the ten giant tortoise heads started fading out of existence.

"No way..." Lou Yuan's eyes glazed over in despair.

The Dark Tortoise Devouring Array had finally run out of energy at this crucial moment!

But while Lou Yuan was busy lamenting that fact, the other two youths were already on the move.

When Hua Xian chose to focus all of his energy on defence, he had also been forced to lift the illusion spell that covered the area.

This allowed Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang to regain all of their senses, and there was no way that the duo would let this opportunity slide.

Hua Xian's defences had just been breached by the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array. Even though he was not struck directly, it was likely that he would have received some sort of energy backlash, causing him to be unable to act for a moment or two.

And this moment or two would be key to deciding the outcome of this battle!

An arrow of energy flew right past Lou Yuan, continuing forward to strike the fairymist plant directly on its stem.

Bang-!

The impact caused the plant to bend at the point of collision, with the momentum almost uprooting the entire plant altogether. Still, it was surprising how such a small and fragile flower actually managed to withstand an impact that strong.

Zhao Yunxiao Two followed closely behind the arrow of energy, reaching the fairymist flower in an instant.

With his halberd gone, Zhao Yunxiao Two could only strike with a dagger, aiming right at the spot where the plant was bending.

Bang-!

An indentation could clearly be seen now, but it was still insufficient in cutting through the stem.

Bang-!

Zhao Yunxiao Two did not hesitate to strike again, hitting the exact same point before taking a step back.

Bang-!

Another arrow of energy struck.

This time, the arrow pierced right through the stem, directly separating the fairymist plant at the stem!

Still, all of them understood that the fight was not over just yet.

After all, unlike most animals, plants would not die instantly just because they were 'decapitated'.

"Use this!" Lou Yuan finally regained his senses at this point, and threw a bag towards Zhao Yunxiao Two. "It's a sealing bag!"

Zhao Yunxiao Two grabbed the bag and pumped essence energy into it without hesitation.

He did not know how long it would take for Hua Xian to recover, but he definitely was not intending to wait around for the latter to cast another illusion spell!

"Seal it!" Lou Yuan shouted.

Zhao Yunxiao Two did not need to be told twice.

A powerful suction force came from the sealing bag, causing the top half of the fairymist plant, including the flower, to fly straight in.

The sealing bag immediately closed up after that, with red thread spinning around the mouth of the bag to bind it tight. Countless runes on the sealing bag lit up for a moment before dimming down.

"This bag of yours better work!" Zhao Yunxiao shouted from outside the prairie.

"It is a bag created by my master Wushuang, there is no way it won't work!" Lou Yuan retorted.

At the same time, Lou Yuan could not help but feel speechless.

Since when did Zhao Yunxiao leave the prairie?

Wasn't he right next to them just a moment ago?

Or had he been mistaken, and the one sealing the fairymist flower was the real Zhao Yunxiao?

Lou Yuan could no longer tell for sure!

The truth was that when Hua Xian lifted the illusion technique, Zhao Yunxiao had immediately controlled Zhao Yunxiao Two to charge in, while he himself did not waste any time in leaving the prairie.

After all, this was still a gamble despite the current state of Hua Xian.

Even if they failed to take down Hua Xian before he recovered, Zhao Yunxiao did not want a situation where he and his clones were all sitting within Hua Xian's attack range.

Since Zhao Yunxiao Two was taking on the attacking role this time, he naturally needed to be outside, just in case the situation turned for the worse!

As for why he could not take on the attacking role instead, that was because of his grievous injuries.

If Zhao Yunxiao continued to exert himself, that would only cause his internal injuries to worsen further!

"Be careful! There's still the root!" Nie Hanchang warned.

Indeed, even after a plant was cut in half, not only was there a possibility of it regrowing its roots from its stem, there was also the possibility of it regrowing its stem from its roots.

This meant that Hua Xian's sentience could very well be residing in the roots instead, and the roots had not been sucked into the sealing bag.

Thud-!

Zhao Yunxiao Two stuck a talisman directly on the exposed area on top of the fairymist plant's roots, looked at the talisman, then stuck another two talismans beside it.

Thud-! Thud-!

It was only then that Zhao Yunxiao Two appeared satisfied, finally tossing both the sealing bag and the spatial pouch over to Zhao Yunxiao.

With that, both he and the other clone crumbled into pieces, returning to the ground for good. If possible, Zhao Yunxiao would have preferred to keep them around for a little longer, but maintaining them despite his injuries was starting to take a toll on him.

"Get out of there fast!" Zhao Yunxiao shouted while grabbing the two items.

While the majority of the darkpetal lily pollen had already settled, some remained suspended in the air. And with the disappearance of the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array, the thick fog was starting to return to the area.

Without knowing the exact interaction pattern between the darkpetal lily pollen and the fairymist flower's fog, Zhao Yunxiao dared not risk staying around.

And what's more...

Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!

The three talismans that Zhao Yunxiao Two had stuck onto the fairymist plant's roots exploded simultaneously, creating a ball of fire that engulfed the exposed root.

"Damn it! Can't you give us an earlier warning?" Lou Yuan complained while escaping in the arms of Nie Hanchang.

Zhao Yunxiao ignored his complaints.

He was confident that Nie Hanchang would have been able to respond in time, so Lou Yuan's complaints were irrelevant.

And he was right.

The moment Zhao Yunxiao threw out his warning, Nie Hanchang did not hesitate to dash over and grab Lou Yuan before making for the exit.

Zhao Yunxiao swept his spiritual sense forward, scanning through the flames that were starting to engulf the prairie.

He could see that the fairymist plant's roots were burning up without problem, which indicated that it had lost its energy protection.

This was the best proof that Hua Xian's sentience was not residing in the roots.

As for the sealing bag in his hand, which contained the rest of the fairymist plant, Zhao Yunxiao was not too worried about it.

Over time, he had slowly come to trust Lou Yuan's claim about him being a famous designer who was an apprentice to Wushuang.

And if this sealing bag was truly the work of Wushuang, then there was no way that it would give them problems.

After all, Wushuang was a world-famous designer sought after by all sorts of powerful and influential characters far beyond his league.

Someone like that would rather throw away defective items than let them see the light of day. For this sealing bag to survive until now, it must be one hundred percent secure!

"Damn you...!" Hua Xian's voice sounded out as Zhao Yunxiao was thinking just that.

"Wha-?!"

The startled Zhao Yunxiao immediately tossed the sealing bag on the floor and leapt back a good distance.

Nie Hanchang retreated as well, raising the Grand Annihilator without hesitation to aim straight at the sealing bag.

"W-Wait! Hold it!" Lou Yuan was the only one who did the completely opposite, falling to the ground to shield the sealing bag with his body. "Calm down! There's no problem with the bag! Don't do anything rash, or the bag might really burst and allow that guy to escape!"

"What are you doing? Get away from it!" Zhao Yunxiao shouted.

"No, no, you have misunderstood!" Lou Yuan waved his hands desperately. "This sealing bag will seal all use of physical and essence energy, but it doesn't seal senses and the ability to speak. Don't worry, the only thing he can do is to scold us from within."

"Is that so?" Zhao Yunxiao finally eased up a little upon hearing that.

He would not have easily believed such words under other circumstances. But seeing how the cowardly Lou Yuan dared to stick to the sealing bag like that, he was probably speaking the truth.

Zhao Yunxiao exchanged glances with Nie Hanchang, and the latter lowered his bow as well.

"This is my final warning. You fools better let me out before I get angry!" Hua Xian's voice continued to sound out from within the bag.

"How do we get rid of him?" Zhao Yunxiao asked. "Is there a function in the sealing bag where you can just destroy the entity within?"

"You think you can destroy me? Dream on!"

"Unfortunately, no," Lou Yuan admitted. "This is a sealing bag. If you want to destroy it, you would have to let it out and destroy it yourself."

"Hahaha! Let me out and I will definitely let you experience hell!"

"Then how long can this sealing bag last?" Zhao Yunxiao continued to ask.

"I'm not sure about the exact duration, but a hundred years or so shouldn't be a problem," Lou Yuan answered.

"Wait, what do you mean a hundred years?!"

"That's good to hear," Zhao Yunxiao nodded. "We don't have to worry about him escaping anytime soon then."

With his mind now at ease regarding Hua Xian, Zhao Yunxiao turned to look back at the prairie.

After the disappearance of the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array, the thick fog was quickly returning to the area.

However, that was being overshadowed by the flames from the earlier explosions, which were rapidly spread from bush to bush. Be it the black pollen of the darkpetal lily or the array flags that he had planted, all of them were being engulfed by the raging flames.

What a waste of resources!

Zhao Yunxiao lamented in his heart.

Yet despite his heartbreak, there was one more thing that he had to do.

With a flick of his wrist, a dagger flew into the prairie, towards the motionless Old Niu.

It penetrated straight through his open eye, and another explosion ensued.

Boom-!

The explosion caused brain matter and blood to splatter out from the orifices of his head, though the shape of Old Niu's skull still remained largely intact.

Seeing this, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but be amazed once again by the sheer toughness of Old Niu's physique.

As for the members of the Iron Sabres who were still in the prairie, Zhao Yunxiao was not exactly in the position to be too concerned about them.

If they survived, that would be their good fortune.

If they did not, then it could also be regarded as karma.

At this moment, Zhao Yunxiao could sense a stream of invisible matter flowing out from Old Niu's corpse, heading straight into his spatial pouch.

He quickly scanned his spatial pouch, and could see that the invisible matter was being sucked straight into the Heaven's Descent Bowl within.

Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel surprised.

Prior to today, the Heaven's Descent Bowl had always needed to leave the spatial pouch in order to absorb this invisible matter from carcasses.

Was it because he had been diligently trying to refine the Heaven's Descent Bowl with his essence energy, and it finally resulted in a positive change that occurred in the latter?

Zhao Yunxiao was not sure, but he was definitely not complaining.

Even if nothing else, this would at least reduce the chances of the Heaven's Descent Bowl being discovered by others in the future!