Chapter 2901: Death of Zhifei

When Ming Feng darted towards Zhi Fei, Xue Jiu, as expected, showed no intention of obstructing him. He remained standing there quietly, holding his Leize Sword, a strange smile on his lips, his gaze subtly following Ming Feng's figure.

This Half-Saint of the Insect Clan was incredibly fast; in an instant, he left Xue Jiu far behind. Just as he was getting closer and closer to Zhi Fei, he suddenly changed direction and lunged towards the battlefield where Mo Duo and Si Shengya were fighting.

As if he had expected it, Xue Jiu burst into laughter, excitedly shouting, "Zhi Fei, you've been abandoned!"

Zhi Fei, who was waiting for Ming Feng's reinforcement, was startled by these words. She simply refused to believe it, as Ming Feng had explicitly stated he would come to help her just moments ago. How could she have been abandoned?

But when she hastily swept her spiritual sense, she found that Ming Feng was indeed rushing towards Mo Duo, with no intention of supporting her.

Had she really been abandoned?

Zhi Fei's mind reeled, and she immediately let out a cry of alarm.

It was because Lu Ye had already charged over, delivering a fierce downward slash that sent feathers flying.

After his successful strike, Lu Ye had no intention of lingering in battle. He raised Fu Wei in front of him. A ghostly light struck, slamming into the tortoise shell artifact, causing Fu Wei's body to lurch upward. If Lu Ye hadn't been supporting him from behind, he might have been sent flying backward.

On the other side, the unhindered Ming Feng successfully reached Mo Duo's side, helping him resolve his crisis. He whispered urgently, "Quick, leave!"

This was a dangerous place; they shouldn't stay long. If they delayed any further, it was likely that neither he nor Mo Duo would be able to escape.

Mo Duo naturally knew this. A look of gratitude flashed in his eyes, and he immediately joined forces with Ming Feng, fighting and retreating simultaneously.

Si Shengya snorted coldly. His Sky-Shattering Blade conjured swirls of crimson light, attempting to block them. Although he was powerful, capable of suppressing any single opponent, fighting two at once was beyond his current capacity.

Within the Star Chessboard, Fu Wei had completely withdrawn from the battle. After directly enduring a strike from the Heaven-Weaving Needle, his spiritual power was exhausted, leaving him unable to sustain the ongoing fight.

Thus, at this moment, it was a one-on-one duel between Lu Ye and Zhi Fei.

The situation was almost entirely one-sided. Zhi Fei was undoubtedly in disarray mentally; her offense and defense lacked any semblance of a Half-Saint. Her movements were as frantic as a novice entering the cultivation world. After only a brief exchange, Lu Ye inflicted another deep wound on her.

She couldn't understand why Ming Feng, who had clearly said he would help her, had suddenly gone to Mo Duo instead. The feeling of being abandoned was truly hard for her to accept.

"Can't figure it out?" A voice leisurely entered her ears. Zhi Fei was startled, and looking up, she saw Xue Jiu calmly approaching.

The Blood Lord's face was now twisted in a mocking smile. He arrived enveloped in a surge of blood qi, charging into the Star Chessboard with almost no resistance, swiftly moving across one square after another to approach Zhi Fei. He leisurely said, "What a naive fool. The reason you were abandoned is because Ming Feng's choice was never you from the start!"

Zhi Fei's expression sank.

Xue Jiu continued, "Think about it. Mo Duo is much stronger than you. Given the current situation, Ming Feng would naturally want to save someone stronger, as that's more valuable. Furthermore, your situation clearly shows you're trapped, and saving you would be much harder than saving Mo Duo. If it were me, I'd go support Mo Duo too. Why would anyone choose you?"

Hearing this, Zhi Fei suddenly understood.

As a Half-Saint, having cultivated for countless years, how could she be a fool? What Xue Jiu said wasn't something she couldn't have thought of herself; it was just that she had never experienced such a major crisis in her life. Her strong desire to survive had momentarily led her to cling to a sliver of hope.

The truth was indeed as Xue Jiu had stated: rescuing her was more difficult, and Mo Duo's strength was greater than hers, making him more valuable to save. Therefore, unless Ming Feng had lost his mind, he would always choose Mo Duo.

Furthermore, the words Ming Feng had spoken to her earlier were most likely just to confuse Xue Jiu.

Unexpectedly, Xue Jiu had completely ignored his words, rendering the attempt to mislead meaningless. Instead, it shattered the hope that had ignited within Zhi Fei.

Her thoughts turned, and everything became clear. Zhi Fei slowly exhaled. She knew that this time, she was probably doomed, unless she could escape the chess game before Xue Jiu reached the battlefield. But if she had such an ability, how could she have been trapped here all this time?

Outside the Star Chessboard, Si Shengya's attacks were ferocious. He was likely venting his rage from being besieged by various races in the Origin Realm that day, so he held nothing back in this assault.

Compared to his state in the Origin Realm, he now had the added boost of a Cosmos-grade Harmonization Orb. A one percent increase in strength might not sound like much, but it depended on the individual. Si Shengya's strength was extremely formidable, even among all Half-Saints, so this boost was quite significant.

Especially since Mo Duo and Ming Feng had little desire to fight at this moment, during the fierce battle, the three figures rapidly moved away, fighting further and further afield.

About fifteen minutes later, when Si Shengya returned calmly, he happened to see Lu Ye cleaving Zhi Fei in half with a single strike from afar.

In the battlefield, Lu Ye held his blade, frowning.

He sighed inwardly, acknowledging that Half-Saints were truly difficult to kill. His strength was actually slightly superior to Zhi Fei's, and with the sharpness of his Mountain-Pivoting Blade, if he had landed a few more strikes, Zhi Fei would undoubtedly have died.

However, Half-Saints possessed endless techniques, often deploying one or two life-saving measures during critical moments. Unless there was an absolute disparity in numbers or strength, one could only slowly wear them down, as had just happened.

No wonder multiple Half-Saints in the Origin Realm had besieged Si Shengya that day, yet he still managed to escape.

Sensing Si Shengya's approaching aura, Lu Ye looked up.

Si Shengya slowly shook his head, "They got away."

As a single person, he simply couldn't stop Mo Duo and Ming Feng, who were determined to flee. Fortunately, Lu Ye had achieved a victory here.

"It's fine, the monk may run, but the temple cannot," Lu Ye said, turning his head to glare.

Xue Jiu was slyly extending a hand towards Zhi Fei's corpse, clearly intending to loot it. He wasn't embarrassed by being caught by Lu Ye; instead, he smoothly said, "I'm just taking a look, I'll give it back to you later."

He had long heard of the famed Heaven-Weaving Needle, and now that a rare opportunity presented itself, he naturally didn't want to miss it.

The outstretched hand suddenly recoiled as if startled. It was because Lu Ye had brought his blade down, almost severing half of Xue Jiu's palm.

"How stingy!" Xue Jiu snorted coldly.

Lu Ye had now pinpointed the Heaven-Weaving Needle's location; it was precisely hidden beneath a feather on Zhi Fei's left wing. As he reached out to retrieve it, he suddenly felt a stinging pain in his brow.

Almost instinctively, he raised the Mountain-Pivoting Blade vertically in front of him. Immediately after, a profound light shot forth, striking the blade of the Mountain-Pivoting Blade.

"Hm?" Both Xue Jiu and Si Shengya were startled. As their exclamations rang out, the former drew his sword, the latter swung his blade, both striking towards Lu Ye simultaneously.

But they struck air.

After being blocked by the Mountain-Pivoting Blade, the profound light immediately shot away diagonally.

From behind his blade, Lu Ye's sharp gaze followed the profound light, clearly seeing a finger-length gold needle within it.

"Trying to escape!" Lu Ye roared in anger and darted out in pursuit.

With spatial power surging, in just a few steps, he caught up to the gold needle. He brought a heavy slash down on it, and the needle's luster flickered, instantly dimming considerably.

After Lu Ye delivered a few more slashes, the light on the gold needle completely vanished.

Only then did he reach out and grasp the gold needle in his hand.

Xue Jiu rushed over, looking at the gold needle with a look of lingering fear. "Does the Heaven-Weaving Needle possess a spirit?"

The scene just now clearly showed the Heaven-Weaving Needle attempting to ambush Lu Ye, but failing.

He secretly rejoiced, fortunate that his actions had been thwarted by Lu Ye. Otherwise, he might not have been able to block that strike. His current strength was inferior to Lu Ye's, and his reactions weren't as quick. If he had been ambushed by the Heaven-Weaving Needle, it could easily have left a hole in his brow, and he wouldn't have survived.

"Never heard of it," Si Shengya also came over, looking at the quiet Heaven-Weaving Needle in Lu Ye's hand with astonishment.

In terms of time spent in the Origin Realm, he had undoubtedly spent far more than Xue Jiu, yet he hadn't known that the Heaven-Weaving Needle, this supreme treasure, possessed sentience.

It's well-known that supreme treasures are generally not easily subdued by cultivators. The existing supreme treasures controlled by cultivators have almost all had their sentience erased.

They could be called inanimate objects.

Aside from Lu Ye's Mountain-Pivoting Blade and Ba Qiu's Lament back then, these two were Weapon Clan artifacts, and thus couldn't be generalized.

So, no one had expected that the Heaven-Weaving Needle could retain sentience while being wielded by Zhi Fei. The Feather Clan had kept this information well-hidden; not only was Si Shengya unaware, but probably even the Half-Saints of other races didn't know.

Before her death, Zhi Fei must have left some spiritual power within the Heaven-Weaving Needle, enough for it to launch one last sneak attack.

Unfortunately, it failed, and now this supreme treasure had lost all its power, posing no further threat.

Under Lu Ye's spiritual perception, he could indeed sense a divine consciousness within the Heaven-Weaving Needle. That should be the Heaven-Weaving Needle's spiritual consciousness. However, this entity was remarkably loyal to Zhi Fei; not only was it willing to cooperate with Zhi Fei in launching a sneak attack, but it also completely ignored Lu Ye's probing at this moment, showed no intention of communicating with him, and even transmitted thoughts of extreme resistance.

This was quite interesting.

"Lu Ye... this treasure is dangerous. How about you let me erase its sentience!" Xue Jiu suddenly suggested. "I have a secret art specifically for situations like this. I used this very method to deal with the Star Chessboard back then."

Lu Ye merely dismissed his words as nonsense.

Xue Jiu might indeed have some secret art, but the Star Chessboard had escaped from him back then.

Furthermore, how could Lu Ye hand over such a supreme treasure for Xue Jiu to handle?

Others might need to erase the sentience of this treasure before subduing it, but he didn't need to.

It wasn't as if he hadn't forcibly subdued sentient supreme treasures before; whether it was the Black Coffin in the past or the Soul-Suppressing Bell later on, both possessed sentience and were now residing on his Talent Tree.

The difference was that the Black Coffin only retained a single bulge, while the Soul-Suppressing Bell had received considerable nourishment. It was now Lu Ye's reliance for patching up his biggest weakness.

However, at the moment, he didn't have time to refine the Heaven-Weaving Needle. With a thought, Lu Ye collected it into his Inner World, and then immediately put it into the Tower of Time.