After rebirth, the eldest sister voluntarily abdicated and gave way to the wise.

Chapter 479 Talisman

The disciples of the Tianqian Sect are able to sense their jade tokens. Each jade token contains a trace of their divine sense, and with this trace of divine sense, they can quickly locate the jade token.

Unless the jade pendant is destroyed.

Jiang Liqian didn't know if her Water Spirit White Jade could withstand the trampling attacks of so many demonic beasts, but at least, according to her senses, the jade tablet hadn't broken.

Humans have a great chance of survival.

With her hands quickly forming hand seals, Jiang Liqian maximized her connection to the jade tablet. At the same time, she also released her divine sense completely, sweeping across the area it passed through.

The sensations evoked by the jade tablet were almost identical to the traces left by the beast tide, but as Jiang Liqian searched, she felt that something was amiss.

That's so strange, so strange!

Logically speaking, it's already an extremely low probability event for the beast tide to turn back even once. However, according to the traces she followed, the beast tide actually turned back several times in the desolate forest. Not only that, they also deliberately turned around, dispersed, and surrounded her, clearly indicating that they were intentionally hunting down a person.

Could it be that someone is controlling this beast tide from behind? Or perhaps, this beast tide was even instigated by that person?

Jiang Liqian was startled by her own thought.

No, no, no, impossible. Even the Ye family, famous for their beast taming, would need decades or even centuries of preparation to control a beast tide of such a large number of monsters at once.

Of course, unless the Ye family suddenly produces several peerless geniuses who can control hundreds of beasts.

After much thought, Jiang Liqian realized that something crucial was missing, so she could only suppress the strange feeling in her heart and search for the stone as quickly as possible.

at last.

Persistence pays off. When the divine sense swept across the southeast corner, it saw a large number of demonic beasts surrounding and attacking a person.

The man already had several wounds, but his moves were full of power, showing no fear despite the large number of demonic beasts, nor was he at a disadvantage.

However, his expression betrayed his anxiety, and his clear, bright eyes seemed to be stained with the dust of worldly thoughts, the light they reflected no longer sparkling and clear, like a secluded orchid in a valley.

Jiang Liqian composed herself. Instead of rushing over to fight the surging beast tide with him, she carefully observed their movements and the direction of their flow, looking for the fastest way to escape from them.

When she saw the right moment, she darted down and landed next to the stone.

"Come with me, I'll take you out!"

When he saw her, his pupils trembled, and then the color drained from his face at a visible speed until he was deathly pale.

Jiang Liqian initially thought he was afraid that she would also be caught in the beast tide and unable to escape, but she soon realized that wasn't the case.

He was afraid—no, he was utterly devastated.

It is the dejected sadness that comes after accepting one's fate.

Even when a unicorn demon rammed its horn into his waist and abdomen, staining his robes with blood, he didn't move an inch.

Jiang Liqian reacted quickly and chopped off the monster's horn with a single sword strike.

Unable to describe the panic that welled up inside her, Jiang Liqian lowered her eyes, grabbed his arm, and led him to break through to the weakest point.

However, Shi Tou staggered the whole way and didn't even fight back. He just let her drag him away, looking completely lost.

"What's wrong with you?" After slaying another tiger demon, Jiang Liqian couldn't hold back any longer and turned around to ask him.

Stone looked up, staring blankly into her eyes, where damp, cold feather beads dripped down her translucent pupils.

Jiang Liqian's heart skipped a beat as she saw him raise his hand and point at the tiger demon she had just killed.

"Its head..."

Jiang Liqian immediately understood and cleaved the tiger demon's head in two with a single sword strike.

A dark, inky talisman appeared from the sticky, writhing flesh, then vanished in a flash.

Jiang Liqian frowned, then swiftly chopped off the head of another demon beast. Inside, there was a similar black talisman, but as soon as the demon beast's head was split open, the talisman would immediately disappear, and Jiang Liqian didn't have time to go forward and check.

Seeing that more and more monsters were surrounding her, she immediately decided not to dawdle any longer. She took out a golden spark triangle cage that her senior brother had given her, put a monster inside at random, grabbed Shi Tou's arm, and rushed toward the safe position she had planned in advance.

Blood splattered everywhere, and cries of agony filled the air.

Bones, mountains of corpses, seas of blood.

The girl remained expressionless, and the boy she was tightly gripping also looked indifferent.

Once the two finally broke through the encirclement, Jiang Liqian released Shi Tou and gave him some healing pills.

But Shi Tou didn't take it; his lips were tightly pursed, and he looked at her with eyes full of sorrow.

Amidst the interplay of light and shadow on the trees, the feeling of unease grew stronger.

Jiang Liqian finally snapped. She threw the cage that was holding the monster away and glared at him angrily: "Have I done something heinous? Why are you looking at me like that? Can't you just say what you want to say?"

"I've come to save you, why do you act like I've committed some irreparable mistake... I've come to save you!"

"Now, you either speak or shut up and heal your wounds. And you're not allowed to—you're not allowed to look at me like that again!"

After roaring, Jiang Liqian ignored the stone and went straight to the cage that had been thrown out. She picked it up, released the demon beast inside, controlled it with the demon-locking array, took a deep breath, calmly sat down, and began to observe it.

Originally, she was burning with anger and unease, but as she stared at the monster in front of her, she actually noticed something was wrong with it.

Its eyes—

Why is he so listless, showing no fear or anger?

It just kept charging around inside the formation, trying to break through the restrictions and pounce on the stone not far away.

Was it because of that black talisman?

Someone used this thing to control these demonic beasts and make them consciously destroy the South City and chase after Stone... But there are so many demonic beasts, and they are not all ordinary first or second-tier demonic beasts. Some even require several Nascent Soul cultivators to kill at the same time. It is not something that can be done in a day or two to plant all these talismans in their brains.

wait wait wait!

Jiang Liqian suddenly remembered ten years ago, when Senior Sister Luo was ordered to go down the mountain to the Wilderness Forest to do a mission and encountered a calamity. She inquired about the situation of Senior Brother and Senior Sister Ji from the sidelines.

Senior Brother Ji said that an unidentified object appeared in the Desolate Forest, causing some monsters to go berserk, but the specific details are still being kept secret.

Could it be that someone was planning to use the monsters of the Wilderness Forest from that time onwards?

So, in this Nancheng, she, Shui Lian'er, Qin Beiyao, and Shi Tou... did they just happen to encounter a controlled demon beast, or was it deliberately done by someone specifically to target them?

Considering the theft of the seemingly insignificant and worthless Spirit Key, they were forced to stay in the South City for one night...