Master Black Rain was naturally greatly alarmed by this, but he remained calm and quickly made a hand seal before expelling a small silver bell out of his mouth.
A bell chime rang out, and the small bell instantly manifested a silver projection that was over 1,000 tall, which completely encompassed Master Black Rain.
At the same time, a series of silver soundwaves swept forth in all directions, pulverizing all of the falling rocks and stones they came into contact with.
Grey light flashed between the mountains, and two massive hands constructed from countless rocks and stones suddenly extended out of the mountains. Each hand was several thousand feet in size and imbued with boundless power.
Two earth-shattering booms rang out as the gargantuan hands struck the bell projection from two sides. The bell was quite a powerful treasure, but in the face of such a devastating blow, the projection was still instantly destroyed.
A hint of panic finally began to appear on Master Black Rain's face upon seeing this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a ball of silver light.
A loud thunderclap rang out, and a net that was constructed from countless arcs of silver lightning was unfurled. This was none other than the Silver Celestial Lightning Net!
With this net's profound abilities, he would be safe from any assailant.
Feeling a lot more reassured, Master Black Rain began to chant something while making a grabbing motion with one hand, and several balls of spiritual light appeared over his palm in unison.
However, just as he was about to summon other treasures to retaliate against his assailant, an incredible turn of events suddenly unfolded.
Spatial fluctuations erupted nearby, and a slender hand that was as fair as jade suddenly emerged. The hand made a casual grabbing motion and caught the lightning net in its grasp.
As the five fingers of the hand clenched around the net, Master Black Rain was struck by a burst of excruciating pain in his soul. At the same time, he lost his spiritual sense connection with the Silver Celestial Lightning Net, and he involuntarily yelled as he began to sway unsteadily in mid-air.
During this split-second delay, the two massive stone hands converged viciously like a pair of small mountains. In response, Master Black Rain could only hurriedly summon a suit of green armor that appeared over his body.
However, the two gigantic stone palms were simply far too powerful. An earth-shattering boom rang out, and Master Black Rain's physical body was crushed into a cloud of blood mist, while his protective spiritual light and suit of green armor were both also instantly destroyed.
A ball of black light shot out of the blood mist, then vanished into thin air in a flash.
A peal of pleasant laughter then rang out as the hand that was holding the silver lightning net extended a finger, flicking it toward the direction that the ball of black light had just disappeared in.
A ball of silver light shot forth and also instantly disappeared.
In the next instant, a dull thump rang out, and the ball of black light stumbled out of thin air over 1,000 feet away. As soon as it re-emerged, it immediately continued to flee into the distance like a speeding arrow.
Within the black light was a purple Nascent Soul that was several inches tall. The Nascent Soul was completely identical to Master Black Rain in appearance, but its face was completely pale, and it wore a horrified expression.
"It's too late to try and get away now!" the female voice chuckled coldly.
The slender hand then waved through the air, and the lightning net it was holding abruptly vanished, only to be replaced by an antiquated mirror, which was swept toward Master Black Rain's Nascent Soul from afar.
A pillar of black light shot forth from the mirror and encompassed the Nascent Soul in a flash.
The Nascent Soul immediately felt the air around it tighten, following which a burst of enormous suction force stopped it cold in its tracks before forcibly dragging it backward.
Master Black Rain was truly petrified now. In his desperation, his Nascent Soul let loose a low roar as it expelled a triangular badge, then released several balls of blood essence, all of which vanished into the badge as blood mist.
As the item that Master Black Rain had assigned to protect his Nascent Soul, this triangular badge was naturally quite a powerful treasure, and it transformed into a ball of azure light that encompassed the entire Nascent Soul.
Immediately thereafter, the Nascent Soul's backward momentum was arrested, and it was able to continue fleeing from the scene.
"Hmm? That's an Infernal Azure Badge of the human race. I was a little too careless." The pleasant female voice rang out again, but on this occasion, it was tinged with a hint of surprise.
Spatial fluctuations erupted, and the owner of the slender hand silently emerged, revealing herself to be a woman in a blue palatial dress.
The woman had a set of gorgeous facial features that were as fair as jade, and her figure was also very alluring, but her eyes gave off an azure light that was rather unsettling to behold.
In the instant that she emerged, she cast her gaze toward the Nascent Soul in the distance, then made an extremely profound hand seal.
Immediately thereafter, a devilish projection with three heads and six arms appeared behind her, and it transformed into a fearsome black-armored devilish being amid a flash of black light.
The suit of armor being worn by the devilish being was extremely intricate in design, with layers upon layers of complex runes inscribed on its surface. The devilish being's three faces were completely concealed by black visors, and as soon as it appeared, it raised its three heads to the heavens and let loose a long cry.
Its six eyes flashed like six balls of azure flames, and it made a grabbing motion toward the Nascent Soul with all six of its hands in unison.
A peculiar scene then ensued!
An earsplitting boom rang out as six black vortexes appeared at the same time, then exploded in unison, causing a massive commotion in the process.
The entire space collapsed as an even larger vortex appeared in front of the woman, and the vortex released countless black runes that vanished into thin air as countless specks of black light.
All of a sudden, the Nascent Soul that was fleeing in the distance was struck by a bone-chilling sensation, yet before it had a chance to react, an identical black vortex abruptly appeared in the air above it. A black devilish claw that was enshrouded in devilish flames shot out of the vortex like lightning, and the Nascent Soul only had a chance to cry out in alarm before it was caught by the devilish claw and pulled back into the vortex.
The vortex then rapidly shrank before vanishing into nothingness, and it was as if it had never appeared there in the first place.
In contrast, the vortex in front of the woman still remained, and was slowly rotating on the spot.
A faint smile appeared on the woman's face as she raised a hand and made a grabbing motion toward the vortex, upon which a ball of black light emerged from within; it was none other than Master Black Rain's Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul's eyes were tightly shut, and its face was deathly pale. Its entire body had been bound tightly by black threads, and it had been captured alive.
The woman aimed an expressionless glance at the Nascent Soul, then swept a sleeve downward. A burst of black light instantly swept forth, picking up an item from the ground before delivering it into her hand.
The item was a storage bracelet that was glowing with faint yellow light, and the woman pointed a finger at it while closing her eyes at the same time.
Moments later, the woman reopened her eyes and murmured to herself, "Oh? A Pipe Dream Stone Spirit, eh? That's quite interesting; that man must've been sent here with the sole purpose of capturing this stone spirit. No wonder Liu Ji asked me to make this trip in person. It looks like the humans are plotting something; we'll have to keep a closer eye on them from now on. If I want to investigate this matter, I'll have to search that man's soul, but all high-grade human cultivators have special secret techniques that they use to lock their own spiritual sense. I can break through with my devilish arts and through brute force, but I'll still only be able to search a very small portion of his soul; I wonder if that portion will just so happen to contain the information I need."
With that in mind, the woman didn't hesitate any longer. She swept a hand toward the vortex, and it disappeared along with the devilish being behind her, leaving only Master Black Rain's Nascent Soul hovering on the spot.
She flipped a hand over to produce that antiquated black mirror again before waving it toward the Nascent Soul, and a burst of black light surged forth to draw the Nascent Soul directly into the mirror.
"Find a secluded place where I won't be disturbed; I'm going to search this human cultivator's soul. With my current powers, it'll most likely take quite a few days before an outcome can be reached," the woman said in a nonchalant manner as she stowed the antiquated mirror away, as if she were issuing an instruction to someone.
"Yes, Mistress Yuan Cha!"[1]
Two rumbling voices rang out from the two giant mountains nearby, following which the two gargantuan stone palms were slowly withdrawn. A flash of grey light then appeared, and following the span of just a few breaths, the two mountains had transformed into a pair of giants, each of which was over 10,000 feet tall.
The two giants were covered in grey rocks and stones, and each of them had four arms, creating a terrifying sight to behold.
"Thank you for helping me destroy that man's physical body, elders. Otherwise, it would've been a lot more troublesome for me to capture him." The woman was speaking to the two giants in a very polite manner.
"It's our honor to be able to lend you our assistance, Mistress Yuan Cha," one of the giants said as a barely discernible smile appeared on its rocky face.
1. Immortal Galaxy Tree: AW SHIT! She's finally here!