After only one slash, victory and defeat were already determined.

The Hall Leader of the Nine-eyed Kama Hall suffered a crushing defeat while facing the attack.

The projection he had summoned through his demonic technique to ward off the attack in front of him was instantly destroyed by the saber slash.

In the next moment, the omnipresent phoenix fire surrounded his body, burning away his defenses within two breaths of time. Then, one breath later, it reduced his robe to ashes. Another three breaths later, it broke through the remaining defenses his magical treasures provided and finally entwined his body, crazily burning without any sign of stopping.

"Aaaah~" the Hall Leader of the Nine-eyed Kama Hall called out in pain again and again.

It wasn't only him, all the Peak Leaders of the Fifth Stage behind him also suffered the effects of the phoenix flame and were injured by it, calling out in pain continuously.

"Let's run away!" the Hall Leader of the Nine-eyed Kama Hall said resolutely.

In the next moment, a layer of light of appeared on the body of every Peak Leader.

They changed into all sorts of forms and used the blood or shadow escaping techniques, as well as extremely fast flying techniques, to flee for their life. But the phoenix fire was glued to their bodies even though they were fleeing.

As such, they were screaming in pain even while flying away.

Whether they could survive or not, it was up to their luck.

The Hall Leader of the Nine-eyed Kama Hall also activated his special escape technique and fled for his life.

He hadn't thought that things would go this way.

He had indeed considered that their ambush might end up in failure. After all, the other party came from the 'Residence of Seventh Cultivator of True Virtue', an influence related to Venerable Seventh Cultivator of True Virtue.

But he would have never expected that they would suffer such a crushing defeat.

Their whole plan to ambush the immortal boat had been ridiculous.

In front of absolute power, they got steamrolled so hard. The enemy relied on a godly weapon that increased their attack value by 99,999 points to destroy them.

Luckily, he provided an escape technique for each of his subordinates. As long as they could get back to the Limitless Demon Sect alive, they had the means to get rid of these strange flames.

❄️❄️❄️

Just as Senior Sister Ye Si and Song Shuhang were flying at high speed toward the flying boat, a ball of fire suddenly appeared before their eyes.

Inside the ball of fire was a black-clothed cultivator, who was continuously calling out in pain. He had a treasure with him that had created a circular barrier around him, helping him block the phoenix fire for the time being.

But his situation wasn't good. The circular barrier was on the verge of breaking, and the flames had penetrated inside, already burning through the defenses of his magical robe.

His only hope was to get away with his life with the escaping technique.

His objective was to find a place distant from the battlefield and put out the flames there.

"A cultivator of the Limitless Demon Sect." Thanks to the black clothes they were wearing, Song Shuhang needed but a glance to determine the status of the opposite party.

"Do you know him?" Senior Sister Ye asked.

Song Shuhang nodded and said, "I've had a few contacts with the members of their sect."

It seemed there was a certain fate between him and the Limitless Demon Sect. No matter where he went, he would always end up meeting them.

Senior Sister Ye said, "Is it a friend?"

"No, more likely an enemy," Song Shuhang replied resolutely. At the same time, he took the treasured saber Broken Tyrant from his size-reducing purse. Since he had met a disciple of the Limitless Demon Sect that was in trouble, he wouldn't mind hitting him while he was down.

Senior Sister Ye nodded.

Then, she joined her palms together and clapped her hands three times, saying, "My tears are never-ending. Activate, Tome of Never-Ending Tears!"

The enemy cultivator, who was currently madly dashing about, felt a sad feeling well up in his heart.

"Sob, sob, sob~" Immediately after, he started to cry loudly, looking extremely aggrieved.

His tears fell incessantly.

Just as his tears fell, his body got heavier and heavier. The weight of his body was doubling with each tear.

After all, the ❮Tome of Never-Ending Tears❯ was a special cultivation technique of the water and earth attribute.

It was a fearsome cultivation technique, the type that would make one cry in front of everyone with just a thought! Its ability to cause mental damage was even stronger than its ability to cause physical damage!

In addition, this cultivation technique wasn't limited to attack only. If thousands of people were gathered together and one were to use the ❮Tome of Never-Ending Tears❯, wouldn't the resulting scene with thousands of people crying be rather amusing?

"Sob, sob, sob~" The cultivator started to get impatient. But the more impatient he was getting, the more aggrievedly he was crying.

And the more aggrievedly he was crying, the heavier his body was getting.

The scariest thing was that his 'spiritual energy' was also flowing out along with his tears. In other words, he was continuously consuming his spiritual energy as his tears were falling.

Dammit, what's happening?

His vision was blurry due to the tears, and he couldn't properly see in front of him. He used several magical techniques with the capacity to remove weird statuses, as well as purifying talismans, but each and every one of them turned out to be useless.

Just what was the deal with this cultivation technique?

After thinking up to this point, he remembered that it was the same cultivation technique the Sobbing Old Man practiced!

That damned Sobbing Old Man! He was just a little loose cultivator and had dared to ambush the people of the Limitless Demon Sect. After returning to the sect, he would surely look for him to settle accounts!

...Unfortunately, he wouldn't have the chance.

By the time he arrived in front of Song Shuhang and Senior Sister Ye, the phoenix fire had already devoured the body of the cultivator.

Once it lost the protection of the barrier and magical robe, a powerhouse of the Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperor rank was burned to ashes within just five breaths.

In the void, a dim mass of phoenix fire was still burning.

❄️❄️❄️

Song Shuhang gazed at the phoenix fire, and he immediately felt a 'familiar' feeling coming from it.

The mass of phoenix fire also seemed to have detected Song Shuhang's presence. In the next moment, it automatically moved toward him.

After seeing how terrifying the flames were, Senior Sister Ye immediately operated her flying magical treasure and tried to dodge the incoming flames.

But right at this time, Song Shuhang stretched out the treasured saber Broken Tyrant on his own.

Then, just as the phoenix fire came in contact with Song Shuhang's treasured saber, it merged with it.

The treasured saber Broken Tyrant was a one-meter long saber forged from heavy metals inside a thunder pond; it was an extremely solid and sharp blade that surpassed other treasured sabers of similar rank in hardness and could cut even the body of a cultivator of the Fourth Stage. In addition, it had experienced the flames of tribulation and now had the innate ability to absorb and store flames.

After the phoenix fire merged with the treasured saber, blazing red veins appeared on the originally blackened saber.

Senior Sister Ye asked, "Have you already come in contact with these strange flames?"

"No, it's my first time seeing them," Song Shuhang replied. "However, I know what this flame is... it's phoenix fire, the fire produced by the Nine Virtues Phoenix Saber."

"Nine Virtues Phoenix Saber?" It seemed that Senior Sister Ye hadn't heard about this saber.

"Yes. It's a mysterious godly weapon, and I've established a contract with it. Perhaps it's the reason the flames didn't try to hurt me," Song Shuhang said.

After all, he had signed a contract with Sixth Cultivator of True Virtue to become a magical girl— ugh! ...To have the opportunity to become the Eighth Cultivator of True Virtue in the future.

Senior Sister Ye blinked and said with a smile, "I feel that fate surrounding you is truly strange."

Next, she pointed toward a place not too far away from them and said, "Shuhang, quickly look there. There is a soul down there. In addition, it's the soul of a cultivator of the Fifth Stage Realm! Since it received a special type of attack before its death, its intelligence was completely wiped out, turning it into a powerful but empty soul. Isn't this precisely the type of soul you were looking for?"

The soul of a cultivator of the Fifth Stage was something hard to come by!

After all, whenever cultivators of the Fifth Stage died, they would die both in body and mind, leaving nothing behind.

As for cultivators of the Fifth Stage whose lifespan came to an end naturally, they would choose to merge with the Great Way, dissolving their soul and entering the cycle of transmigration. Such being the case, there was no need to 'ferry' their soul.

But even if a cultivator of the Fifth Stage decided not to merge with the Great Way, their soul would still have powerful mental energy, and it was no easy task to forcefully 'ferry' them! At the very least, a cultivator of the Second Stage like Song Shuhang wouldn't be able to 'ferry' a soul of the Fifth Stage!

But the 'empty' soul before their eyes was a completely different matter.

The phoenix fire was extremely overbearing and almost completely incinerated that cultivator of the Fifth Stage. Their body, magical treasures, spirit stones, and mental energy were destroyed.

Anyway, although the Nine Virtues Phoenix Saber embodied the power of destruction, it embodied the power of nirvanic rebirth as well. The empty soul before their eyes symbolized that slim chance of survival that one had amidst destruction.

As such, a powerful but empty soul was left behind after the cultivator of the Fifth Stage was thoroughly burned by the flames; even the memories the soul had had been wiped out.

Although ferrying an empty soul such as this couldn't be compared to ferrying the complete soul of a cultivator of the Fifth Stage, it was still quite the gain!

"The soul of a cultivator of the Fifth Stage... even if it's empty, it should get me quite a bit of power of virtue if I manage to ferry it," Song Shuhang muttered to himself.

"I'll keep a watch for you. Go and quickly ferry it," Senior Sister Ye said and suddenly covered her eyes, bursting into tears.

"Were you moved again?" Song Shuhang asked.

Senior Sister Ye sobbed and explained, "No. Sometimes, I just feel like crying after using the ❮Tome of Never-Ending Tears❯. You don't have to worry. It will pass quickly."

The troubles related to the ❮Tome of Never-Ending Tears❯ were nothing but ordinary!

Song Shuhang fluttered until arriving next to the soul of the cultivator of the Fifth Stage.

How much power of virtue would he obtain after ferrying this soul to the afterworld?

Song Shuhang started to silently operate the Soul Ferrying Technique and chant ❮Ksitigarbha's Soul Ferrying Scripture❯, pointing his finger toward the soul of the Fifth Stage rank.

The ferrying process had started.

The empty soul of the Fifth Stage rank didn't put up any resistance and was slowly ferried, turning into pure particles of light.

When Song Shuhang ferried the soul, he didn't feel anything from it. No sadness, no anger, no remorse.

The phoenix fire had burned all of it.

This time, the ferry process was rather long.

Then, just as the ferrying process was about to end, a grateful feeling was eventually transmitted from the soul.

In the next moment, the power of virtue condensed and fell onto Song Shuhang's body.

The power of virtue divided into three portions.

The first portion strengthened Song Shuhang's mental energy... the mental boost Song Shuhang received after ferrying this soul of the Fifth Stage rank only increased his mental energy by a bit.

Another portion strengthened his constitution. As before, the boost wasn't much.

The last portion transformed into light of virtue and shrouded his body. In addition, the light of virtue was partly visible!

The fact that the light of virtue was partly visible meant that one had ferried to the afterworld 1000 souls!

Only after leading to the right path 1000 souls could one call themselves virtuous.

Only after leading to the right path 10,000 souls would the light of virtue start to protect one's body.

Only after leading to the right path 100,000 souls would the light of virtue shrouding one's body undergo a qualitative change!

The weakened and empty soul of the Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperor was comparable to a thousand ordinary souls! It was easy to imagine how big the amount of light of virtue would have been if it had been a complete soul of the Fifth Stage rank!

"Just ferrying one soul was comparable to doing a thousand good deeds. In that case, would the light of virtue start to protect my body if I were to ferry ten of them?" Song Shuhang couldn't help but sigh with emotion.