Chapter 233: The One Who Was Summoned

The old monk turned around and saw a serene woman standing beside him, her white robes billowing softly, her figure graceful and her features lovely, as she studied his condition.

After hearing the serene woman’s words, the old monk let out a bitter laugh and said, “How could I possibly compare to you, Miss Li? Your mindset is far stronger than the rest of us.”

That was right—this young woman was none other than Li Xueman.

Though she usually appeared aged, she reverted to her true form during battle, which was this youthful, beautiful appearance.

“I keep my mindset steady because I’m always around young people.”

A healing light flickered in Li Xueman’s hand, and the next moment, it left her palm and flew onto the old monk’s body.

The light was like the sun—though its brilliance wasn’t intense, the old monk still felt warmth spreading through every part of his body. The exhaustion from earlier, when he had resisted the Church’s radiance, and the injuries left behind after the Demon Grand Duke had shattered his protective golden light, were all steadily recovering.

Li Xueman continued speaking as she healed him.

“Unlike you people, who hole yourselves up every day and only deal with those old fossils. It’d be a miracle if your mindsets didn’t age.”

Hearing that, the old monk let out another bitter laugh.

He was the monk guarding the secluded cultivation site. Even if he wanted to interact with young people, he never had the opportunity. Besides, not everyone had as much free time as Li Xueman.

But the old monk didn’t voice those thoughts, afraid that she might “accidentally” heal him an extra arm or leg out of spite.

The healing ended quickly, and the old monk was restored to full condition. After informing Li Xueman, he rejoined the group beating down on the Demon Grand Duke.

Li Xueman stayed at the edge of the battlefield. Whenever she spotted someone injured, she would rush over to restore their condition and wounds. From time to time, she’d also sneak a few attacks at Weisasi.

Of course, the damage she dealt was almost negligible—at best, it just annoyed the Demon Grand Duke.

Li Xueman watched the person fighting most fiercely against Weisasi in the battlefield—Bai Qiuyin.

Bai Qiuyin dragged her finger across her longsword, and an astronomical number of talismans were inscribed onto the blade. Then, with a clean, decisive motion, she swung the sword.

The sword light tore through the air, its residual force even obliterating the surrounding micro-space, leaving a vacuum in its wake.

But in the direction the sword light traveled, a mass of pitch-black counterattack was waiting for it.

Weisasi raised his hand, and a deep, dark abyss appeared in his palm. The next moment, a spinning black ring materialized in his grasp.

The ring looked utterly unremarkable, like nothing more than a pitch-black halo of light.

But then, the sword light arrived, coming into close contact with the halo.

With a hum that seemed to vibrate through everyone’s hearts, the black halo devoured the terrifying sword light whole.

Bai Qiuyin’s gaze sharpened.

She could still sense the sword light, but it felt as though it had fallen into some kind of single-space absorption—she could perceive it, but couldn’t control it in any way.

The next moment, Weisasi crushed the halo with a snap, and the sword light’s connection to Bai Qiuyin was severed.

Bai Qiuyin immediately closed in on Weisasi again, engaging him in fierce white-blade combat.

Longsword against sharp claws—for a time, neither could gain the upper hand.

Bai Qiuyin was, after all, the cultivator whose strength most closely rivaled Weisasi’s. In this battle, only she could play the decisive role. Everyone else could merely assist from the sidelines.

Moreover, in such intense combat, the surrounding teammates found it difficult to coordinate with Bai Qiuyin, forced to support her from the edges.

The battle reached a fever pitch.

Weisasi swatted Bai Qiuyin back with a claw, then grabbed a spell launched by a middle-aged ghost cultivator and deflected it back at a female Taoist.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Weisasi’s gaze snapped toward the direction of the real world.

His eyes pierced through layers of void, witnessing what his clone was experiencing at that very moment.

Then, his expression turned grim in an instant. He threw a punch that blew apart the old monk’s arm as it came at him, then kicked the middle-aged ghost cultivator flying.

He glanced at Bai Qiuyin and Li Xueman, who was restoring her condition, and said coldly,

“I didn’t expect you to have a backup plan left in the real world. I underestimated you.”

Hearing this, Bai Qiuyin and Li Xueman both looked bewildered, having no idea what he was talking about.

The two exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in each other’s eyes.

Li Xueman thought the Demon Grand Duke was stalling with his words, and was about to warn Bai Qiuyin, when she noticed the other woman seemed lost in thought.

Then, Bai Qiuyin’s expression brightened as if a sudden realization had struck her. She said,

“I see—so your plan out there got interrupted by someone, didn’t it?”

Watching the Demon Grand Duke’s face darken as if she’d hit the mark, Bai Qiuyin sneered,

“Well, well. So you dared to come at all of us alone because you had something else going on outside. But from the looks of it, even if you keep us pinned here, someone’s out there ruining your plans.”

The more Weisasi listened, the darker his expression grew, almost ready to drip with fury.

Bai Qiuyin had no idea who was interfering with Weisasi’s plan, but that didn’t stop her from using it to taunt him.

After all, the fight was stuck in a stalemate no matter what. Might as well mock him and have some fun.

As she was about to say more, Bai Qiuyin suddenly spotted a black halo materializing in Weisasi’s hand, hurtling toward her direction.

Seeing that, she recalled the sword light that had been devoured. Her gaze sharpened, and with a flash of movement, she grabbed Li Xueman beside her and vanished, dodging the attack.

She reappeared beside an injured teammate, letting Li Xueman heal their wounds, then prepared to circle back—only to find the Demon Grand Duke’s figure rapidly retreating, seemingly intending to return to the real world.

Seeing this, Bai Qiuyin immediately gave chase at full speed, engaging him in battle once more.

“What’s the matter? Already trying to run? Weren’t you supposed to be holding us here? Now that we’re all pinned down, why do you want to leave? Getting anxious, are we?”

She fought while hurling trash talk nonstop, making Weisasi increasingly furious and irritated.

This woman’s mouth—how was it just as foul as that brat’s?

Could they possibly be related by blood?!

Weisasi didn’t want to dwell on that question.

He noticed the others had surrounded him again, sealing him in place, preventing his escape.

His heart hardened. Suddenly, he clawed at his own chest, ripped out a pitch-black heart, and crushed it in his grip.

Everyone thought he was about to unleash some heavily restricted spell and quickly scrambled backward.

But then they realized—no spell came.

What appeared instead was…

An old man.

An old man with no cultivation whatsoever, his hair pure white.

But Bai Qiuyin immediately recognized his identity, and shock overtook her.

“You’re… the President of the Imperial Capital Exorcist Association?!”