Chapter 106: The Fragment of the Investiture Scroll and the Looming Crisis

“Your condition is far too severe; the bleeding talisman is completely ineffective. Shouzheng, don’t speak for now—let me try.”

Jiang Mingyue shook her lips and looked at the wound on her shoulder, from which blood was pouring. She reached out to press it, feeling the warmth of the flowing blood soaking into her palm. The sharp metallic scent of blood pierced her nostrils, and a mist welled up in her eyes.

“No... I... I’m fine. Is this a fragment of the Investiture Scroll?”

Zhang Shouzheng gritted his teeth and handed the fragment he held in his arms to Jiang Mingyue. She took it with a complex expression, finally biting her lip and saying, “Hold on, I’ll help you heal.”

Jiang Mingyue bit her finger and touched the Investiture Scroll fragment with the drop of blood. The dull gray shard instantly began to change. Golden, tiny characters appeared on the once-gray fragment. Zhang Shouzheng stared at these strange symbols, completely unfamiliar to her, but Jiang Mingyue scrutinized them carefully, her expression grave. Holding the fragment in both hands, she knelt on the ground, closed her eyes tightly, tilted her head back, and began chanting softly.

“Sister, you’re risking your life! You’re using your own lifespan to activate the Investiture Scroll!”

Jiang Putai let out a strange cry, staring at his sister in disbelief. But in that moment of distraction, the earth beneath his feet suddenly cracked open, and a pair of bony hands grabbed his ankles fiercely.

“Mandate of Heaven, investiture of spirits on the list, Jiang Mingyue of the Jiang family, using my lifespan as the price to heal and grant this child life...”

A faint voice sounded as the Investiture Scroll fragment trembled violently. A fierce wind whipped around, causing Jiang Mingyue’s short hair to flutter wildly. Suddenly, an ancient golden symbol appeared on her forehead, as if sprouting from her bloodline. A golden beam shot forth from the fragment, enveloping Zhang Shouzheng.

Though it was only a fragment of the Investiture Scroll, its power was formidable. The surrounding ghostly miasma was swept away, and the malevolent spirits vanished one after another beneath the golden light. The lingering ghostly aura could not withstand the residual might of the fragment. Zhang Shouzheng felt the wound on his shoulder rapidly healing, and even the injuries to his primordial spirit were gradually mending under the golden glow.

With the fragment’s power awakened, the righteous disciples seized the opportunity to display their might, pushing back the evil cultivators step by step.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded from afar. The dark red ghost mist in the sky dimmed once more, faintly revealing the outside world. The position where the righteous disciples stood seemed to be covered by a giant dark red bowl, the Nine Directions Ghost Soul-Seizing Formation. They were all trapped beneath this crimson bowl.

Another formation node collapsed. Hearing the whistle, Zhang Shouzheng immediately knew it must be Jiu’er, and his tense heart slowly relaxed.

Sure enough, Jiu’er appeared, holding a Yin-Yang umbrella that concealed her face, but a powerful corpse aura radiated from her. The righteous disciples all turned to look at her. After a moment, the aura vanished completely as Xiaoling transformed into a black mist and darted into the umbrella. Jiu’er then closed the umbrella, her clear eyes scanning the surroundings. Upon seeing Zhang Shouzheng, she showed a look of joy and swiftly ran toward him.

---

While Jiang Mingyue used the Investiture Scroll fragment to heal Zhang Shouzheng, dark mist churned around them, and several figures clad in black cloaks appeared. Each held a slender, dark red long blade about two feet in length, slightly curved with a gleaming edge. The blade surfaces were covered with dark red runes resembling fresh blood.

As soon as the black-cloaked figures appeared, they raised their blades and fiercely slashed toward Jiang Mingyue and Zhang Shouzheng.

“Big sister! Shouzheng!”

Jiang Putai, standing closest to them, unknown to others, unleashed some secret technique. His muscles bulged, veins popping out, and he grew several inches taller. Breaking free from the bony hands’ grip, he stomped hard on the ground, shattering the skeletal grasp into fragments.

With a furious roar, he charged at the black-cloaked figures, his fists pounding like a violent storm toward one of them. He aimed to divert their attention with this fierce attack, and indeed, the black-cloaked man pulled out his blade to block.

But besides this one, three other black-cloaked figures wielded their blades like grim reapers’ scythes, slashing toward the two.

“Boom!”

The soil around Zhang Shouzheng and Jiang Mingyue cracked open, and a yellowish glow flickered. A mud wall formed in front of them, composed of yellow-brown earth and cobblestones, looking quite sturdy.

“Heh heh, luckily Fatty Fan from the Mountain Moving Sect arrived just in time! Damn, why is the earth energy I absorb from this killing formation so weak? But it should be enough.”

Fan Xiaopang from the Mountain Moving Sect was not far away, both hands pressed on the ground, sweating profusely but grinning broadly.

However, to Fan Xiaopang’s astonishment, the three blades struck the mud wall, and the dazzling blood-red flashes scattered like mercury. After several flickers, the mud wall shattered into fragments, leaving him dumbfounded.

In a sudden burst of anger, Jiu’er let out a low growl, her sharp fangs bared. She threw the Yin-Yang umbrella behind her fiercely toward the black-cloaked figure closest to Jiang Mingyue. The umbrella transformed into a streak of light, flying straight at him. Meanwhile, she stomped powerfully on the ground and leapt over Zhang Shouzheng’s head, her fists shimmering with dark energy like iron gauntlets as she struck fiercely at the other two black-cloaked attackers.

The ground she stepped on spread out like a spiderweb, revealing the immense strength in her legs.

“Ah...”

---

A scream rang out as the Yin-Yang umbrella pierced directly through the chest of the black-cloaked figure. He looked at Jiu’er with shock and unwillingness before falling downward.

Under Xiaoling’s control inside the umbrella, it flew back behind her. Jiu’er struck the eerie long blade with both fists, sparks flying. She flipped in the air with a punch and landed steadily behind Zhang Shouzheng, her face pale as she stared at the two remaining black-cloaked figures.

They felt a numbness in their tiger’s mouths, bleeding heavily. Their blades nearly flew from their hands as a tremendous force pushed them back several meters before they could regain their footing.

“Nightwalkers of the Heavenly Demon Sect, Jiu’er, be careful! These people are not to be taken lightly,” Fan Xiaopang’s voice came from afar. He dared not approach, knowing well the origin of these black-cloaked figures—they were super assassins of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Nightwalkers are elite cultivators trained for assassination by the Heavenly Demon Sect. They are not skilled in sorcery but possess immense physical power and excel in close combat. Once they get close, cultivators rarely escape death.

Nightwalkers are ranked in five tiers: Human, Yellow, Black, Earth, and Heaven. The assassins attacking them now were Black-tier Nightwalkers, and there were four of them.

Cultivators generally have weak physiques and lack physical training, focusing instead on sorcery. Human-tier Nightwalkers can easily kill cultivators at the Night Wanderer realm, but this advantage diminishes as cultivators ascend. Those at the Manifestation realm can sometimes cast spells without incantations or hand seals.

Black-tier Nightwalkers can defeat cultivators at the Day Walker realm, so it’s no wonder so many righteous disciples had fallen here. Few righteous disciples, unlike Zhang Shouzheng, had reached the Day Walker realm, making it nearly impossible for them to counter Black-tier Nightwalkers.

Much of the credit for Jiu’er’s umbrella strike was due to Xiaoling’s control inside it; otherwise, it would have been impossible to kill a Mystical Nightwalker so swiftly.

However, Xiaoling had expended a great deal of ghost energy helping Jiu’er break another formation node, so after killing this Mystical Nightwalker, it flew behind her, unwilling to move further.