Han Li was furious!
This wasn't because he'd been soft-hearted and forced to use his Roaming Smoke Steps to battle the fiend after saving Senior Brother Wang. Rather, it was because Liu Jing and the others weren't seizing the opportunity to eliminate the other Blood Servants still in the midst of transformation. Once those three finished transforming, that would be the real trouble.
Just moments ago, he'd seen Senior Brother Wang about to fall victim to the Ice Fiend's deadly strike. Considering how Wang had helped in the fight against Blue Veins, Han Li had flashed over to rescue him.
The fiend, probably thinking Han Li had ruined his plans, had latched onto him with relentless attacks, forcing Han Li to defend himself. But Han Li soon realized that this Ice Fiend was genuinely dangerous for his fellow disciples, and it would be better for him to deal with it. After all, if any more of them fell, they'd truly be short-handed for the fight ahead.
Now he had the fiend occupied, but to his surprise, the others were just watching his fight instead of seizing the chance to attack the other three cocoons. What a waste of a golden opportunity!
Though he vaguely guessed that the others probably understood the need to seize the moment but were afraid of the other Blood Servants' semi-fiend transformation after the Ice Fiend's eerie invisibility had claimed a life. Even though they knew fully transformed Blood Servants would be far more dangerous, they were still hesitating, perhaps even harboring thoughts of retreat.
But Han Li hadn't come here solely to eliminate the Black Fiend Religion—he had other predetermined objectives and wouldn't retreat easily. Besides, while this semi-fiendified Ice Fiend had killed one of them the moment it broke free from its cocoon, being careful would mitigate most of the danger. In Han Li's eyes, this opponent was actually less formidable than that bald brute from before.
This fiend had simply made his body transparent, allowing for extreme speed manipulation and control of some cold energy. What they called invisibility was just like his own rapid Roaming Smoke Steps—an illusion created by pure high-speed movement. The only difference was that the transparent body made it harder to detect and track.
But this eerie technique could only display its full power on the ground. Once everyone flew into the sky and created distance, using wide-range spells could force him to reveal himself. After all, physical body speed could dominate in short distances, but over longer ranges, it simply couldn't keep up with a cultivator flying on their treasure.
Liu Jing and the others had never experienced this kind of close-quarters combat, so naturally they felt the opponent was ghostly and impossible to fight. But Han Li frequently used this fighting style and had extensive experience dealing with it.
With this thought, Han Li suddenly swung his silver sword to repel the opponent's sharp claws, then appeared and shouted: "Senior Brother Liu, fly up into the sky quickly and continue attacking those three Blood Servants. I won't let this fiend leave to harass you."
After saying this, Han Li's figure flickered and vanished again. In reality, his silver sword moved so fast it was invisible, forcing the Ice Fiend to retreat repeatedly with no chance to leave the ground.
The silver sword in Han Li's hand was a trophy from the Blood Color Trial. It could withstand the opponent's claws without damage, yet the silver sword couldn't wound the fiend's icy claws either, which secretly amazed Han Li.
Liu Jing heard Han Li's words, pondered briefly, and understood Han Li's intent, yet a look of hesitation appeared on his face. His heart was in extreme conflict!
Though Liu Jing came from a major cultivation family, he'd been abducted by evil cultivators in his youth, enduring a dark period of torture and abuse that nearly cost him his life. He was eventually rescued by his family and became Li Huayuan's disciple, achieving considerable cultivation.
But because of the shadow of his childhood, Liu Jing despised evil cultivators with absolute hatred, following the iron-blooded principle of killing any he encountered who practiced bizarre cultivation techniques.
This brought him great satisfaction while also earning him tremendous positive reputation. Even some cultivators from the Seven Sects who outranked him showed a hint of respect when seeing him.
Though Liu Jing appeared outwardly calm, he had gradually become addicted to this feeling of being revered.
So much so that his later active campaigns to eradicate evil cultivators were largely motivated by enjoying others' admiration!
Of course, outwardly, Liu Jing carefully hid this mentality deep in his heart, maintaining the appearance of that righteous, justice-loving "Senior Brother Liu" in his dealings with others.
The Black Fiend Religion before him was absolutely the largest and most deserving evil sect he'd ever encountered. But simultaneously, their strength was also the greatest he'd faced among evil cultivators. He truly had no confidence that using only ordinary magical treasures, he could eliminate the remaining three Blood Servants. If the attack was even slightly weaker, it would simply trigger the remaining three to complete their semi-fiend transformation early.
One semi-fiendified person was already this difficult to deal with—if three more appeared, they simply couldn't handle it and might all perish here.
If they retreated now, this operation would be considered a complete failure, having alerted the enemy. The Black Fiend Religion would certainly go from operating openly to hiding in the shadows again, disappearing without a trace. This would wash away all the reputation he'd built over many years.
The thought of others looking at him with mockery made Liu Jing feel suffocated and deeply depressed.
Han Li's urging had pushed him to the edge of decision.
"Senior Brother Liu, should we retreat first? The Black Fiend Religion's strength far exceeds our expectations—if we don't leave now, it'll be too late." Senior Brother Wang, whom Han Li had rescued, hesitated as he approached and said quietly.
"Retreat? If I do that, I'll probably have the same image in my fellow disciples' eyes from now on!" Liu Jing thought bitterly.
"Everyone, fly into the sky and provide me with cover. The remaining three Blood Servants will be handled by me alone!" Liu Jing smiled faintly and said calmly.
Simultaneously, he thought silently: "It seems I have no choice but to use that thing! Only then can I succeed in one battle and preserve my reputation. Even though it's my life-saving item."
"Senior Brother Liu, you want to handle the remaining Blood Servants alone?"
Not only Senior Brother Wang before him, but everyone nearby who heard Liu Jing's words showed expressions of disbelief on their faces. This reaction made Liu Jing feel extremely pleased inside.
But outwardly, he maintained an air of indifference, saying nothing as he flew directly into the air on his treasure, while solemnly retrieving a fiery red jade box from his storage pouch.
At this moment, Liu Jing had completely returned to his usual composed demeanor, looking completely confident. This made the others exchange glances and gain some confidence in him, following him into the sky.
Glancing at the jade box in his hands, a look of reluctance appeared on Liu Jing's face, but his expression immediately hardened as he suddenly slapped the box with both hands.
Instantly, the entire box shattered piece by piece, revealing a peculiar talisman wrapped in red light.
On the talisman was a pattern of a fiery red bird. The bird continuously flapped its wings, flying back and forth across the talisman, moving freely like a real bird. Even its eyes emitted a faint blue glow, occasionally turning.
What was even more shocking was that as soon as the talisman appeared, waves of heat radiated outward, causing the temperature within dozens of meters to surge dramatically, making everyone's mouths parched and throats dry!
Song Meng and the others, who had just approached, witnessed this astonishing scene of the talisman's appearance.
"Talisman Treasure!" Song Meng cried out the moment he saw it.
"No, this isn't an ordinary Talisman Treasure—this... this is a True Treasure!" Senior Brother Wang, upon seeing this talisman that resembled a Talisman Treasure but possessed far greater anomalies, screamed out as if he'd seen a ghost.
Those who knew what a "True Treasure" was felt equally shocked upon hearing this.
The so-called "True Treasure" also belonged to Talisman Treasures, but it was fundamentally different from ordinary Talisman Treasures in many ways.
First, ordinary Talisman Treasures could contain at most one-tenth of the original Magical Treasure's power, which was considered exceptional. But a True Treasure could contain an incredible one-third of the original Magical Treasure's power—something ordinary Talisman Treasures simply couldn't compare to.
Second, when a True Treasure was created, it required refinement through the bloodline method of the Magical Treasure's master. Only descendants with specific bloodlines could wield these True Treasures; they couldn't be used by just anyone. Otherwise, once spiritual energy was injected, the True Treasure would automatically destroy itself.
With all these advantages, True Treasures naturally had significant flaws too. Otherwise, all the items left by predecessors would be True Treasures.
The greatest flaw of True Treasures was that although they could contain several times more power than ordinary Talisman Treasures, they could only be used once. Once activated, all their power would be unleashed instantly without any discount, with no possibility of a second use. Thus, their practicality was greatly reduced compared to ordinary Talisman Treasures.
But what truly limited the circulation of such True Treasures was another extremely harsh condition.
Once a Magical Treasure was refined into a True Treasure through the bloodline method, the power it lost would be permanent and could never be recovered through refinement. This made some senior cultivators who knew their end was approaching still unable to bring themselves to do this to their cherished Magical Treasures, preferring instead to leave several Talisman Treasures for their descendants.
Therefore, some cultivators jokingly said that in the cultivation world, True Treasures were even rarer than Magical Treasures. While somewhat exaggerated, this statement wasn't far from the truth!