As she was sending instructions, she realised that the battle was quickly gaining upon her position. Her initial intent to escape had brought her further away from the battle, lending her enough time to deduce the Array Formation. But she would have to join the fight sooner or later.

Moreover, when setting up the Array Formation, the lesser interference there was, the better it was for her. 

‘So, I need to take down at least a few Demonic Cultivators.’ Xiao Hong gritted her teeth. She grabbed the crystalline Healing Pills by the fistful and stuffed them into her mouth. Her hands moved with a swift and precise cadence, forming intricate hand seals, one after another.

She didn't stop at 18 hand seals; her fingers rapidly weaved themselves into increasingly complex hand seals. She didn’t stop until she’d made 27 hand seals!

The moment she completed the final hand seal, her Zhenqi roiled. It seemed to fold in on itself, compressing and intensifying; becoming overwhelmingly more potent. Yet, because her Realm wasn’t high enough for the stronger more potent Zhenqi, it surged and boiled, trying to return to its previous state, making it much more violent, but couldn’t because the Spirit Transformation Art was forcing it into this state. 

A sharp gasp escaped Xiao Hong’s mouth. A piercing pain radiated from her Dantian. It was as if someone had stabbed a white-hot knife into her gut! 

It was a sign that her Dantian was under great stress. Although her Dantian would remain mostly unharmed, it was still difficult to bear such pain. Of course, if her attainment in the Spirit Transformation Art reached Perfection, she would only have to bear the more potent Zhenqi and not the violent fluctuations she was currently experiencing.

Moreover, as the Zhenqi passed through her Meridians, it caused small tears to appear along their delicate pathways. A horrendous pain, like the pain of a hundred cramps, had been condensed into each Major Meridian shot through her body. If it weren’t for the perfect-quality Healing Pills she had eaten, she would definitely have crippled herself in a few minutes.

“Fuck!” She swore uncontrollably. She really couldn’t help it - the pain of having your Meridians tearing apart was truly excruciating. Gritting her teeth and barely holding back the tears that threatened to spill, she cursed, “Fucking Demonic Cultivators, see if I don’t pull out your tendons and twist them into bowties!”

The female disciple she’d saved looked at her in utter astonishment. She never expected that the normally polite and well-spoken Senior Sister would be able to curse so powerfully!

Xiao Hong did not even realise she had cursed out loud and directly made hand seals. That was when she realised another problem.

‘Dammit, my Zhenqi is too agitated! Even using Spell Arts is already so difficult!’ Xiao Hong felt a sense of frustration creeping in. ‘This will make controlling the Array Formation impossible.’ Controlling an Array Formation without a Control Token is extremely difficult. It requires incredibly precise control of Essence which was already difficult for her in the normal state, much less now when her Qi was extremely unstable.

The speed of making hand seals had slowed down by nearly 10 percent. It might not seem like much, but in large-scale battles like this one, Cultivators exchanged an incredible number of spells. Moreover, a split second slower could mean a split second too late to defend! Pure destructive power was not the only thing that mattered in battles!

Xiao Hong regretted removing the Spirit Transformation Art from its slot. If she had kept it in its slot, she would have reached the Small Accomplishment level by now. Even if her body was not strong enough, her control would not be affected.

‘Thankfully the Dark Flame Serpent is rather special since it can make controlling the Secondary Spells cast through it much easier!’ She thought, trying to stay focused on the battlefield. ‘Plus, with the multitasking ability granted by the Spirit God Soul Cultivation Method, controlling the Secondary spells will be much simpler.’

She tossed everything else to the back of her mind and focused on the battlefield.

Her roiling Zhenqi crushed its way through her meridians, almost destroying them before the Healing Pills showed their magic. 

Xiao Hong felt like she was forcing searing hot lava through her meridians rather than actual Qi.

She clenched her jaws so hard, she actually cracked a tooth!

She gathered a tremendous amount of Qi before turning it into a ball of black flames that was nearly twice her size! She pumped nearly four-fifths of her Zhenqi into it, making it the most powerful spell she’d ever cast.

HISS!!

A loud hiss not weaker a Dragon’s Roar resonated through the battlefield, announcing the arrival of a titanic Dark Flame Serpent! Its body was so enormous, it dwarfed the tall Purple-leaved Spirit Birch trees. 

It let out another hiss as it opened its gigantic mouth and spat out a veritable river of dark Fireballs, Flaming Arrows, Pillars of Fire and super-concentrated bursts of pure plasma! The attacks seared through the air, somehow avoiding the disciples of the Purple Spirit Sect and solely attacking the Demonic Cultivators! 

Boom! Bang! Booom-boom-boom!

In just a few moments, a few dozen Demonic Cultivators below the 5th Disaster lost their lives and several more were severely injured! Even the 5th Disaster Demonic Cultivators were severely injured! They were utterly unable to resist! The attacks were too precise, too fast and too powerful - after all Xiao Hong had put 80 percent of her Zhenqi into it. 

Moreover, while the Demonic Cultivators were at an advantage with their numbers and Battle Prowess, they couldn’t exactly be careless. So most of them could only let themselves be hit.

What was more terrifying was that each of these attacks released their power directionally rather than in an omnidirectional explosion like before. Thanks to the guidance she received from Gu Ran in the past few days of travelling together, her cultivation of the Dark Flame Serpent had reached Perfection.

Xiao Hong’s nose bled profusely from the extreme exertion on her Divine Sense caused due to forcefully controlling so many attacks at the same time. Despite that, there was a grin on her face as she witnessed the tremendous impact she brought on the battlefield. 

After the initial surprise, the Purple Spirit Sect’s disciples quickly regained their footing and cheered before surging forward to continue the fight with renewed vigour. This time, the disadvantage they had was vastly reduced!

Moreover, Xiao Hong didn’t intend to stop! 

Her grin widened. 

The Dark Flame Serpent - which had now turned somewhat unstable - turned into a streak of black light that shot towards a 7th Disaster Demonic Cultivator that was locked in combat with another 7th Disaster Cultivator. It wasn’t nearly as fast or well controlled as Gu Ran’s, but it was still more than enough to threaten him.

“Shit!” The Demonic Cultivator’s eyes widened as he noticed the black beam shooting towards him! Just as he tried to retreat a powerful Sabre Intent locked onto him! 

“Haha! Where do you think you’re going?!” The Purple Spirit Sect’s disciple laughed maniacally and shouted, “Shut up and eat Junior Sister’s Big Snake!”

Xiao Hong nearly fell out of the sky.

‘Fuck! Can you mind your words a bit?! Can you not word your sentences in such a misleading way?!’ She glowered at the Senior Brother who was spouting nonsense. 

She resolved to teach this Senior Brother a harsh lesson! 

But before that, she decided to deal with this Demonic Cultivator. She controlled the black beam the Dark Flame Serpent had turned into to collide with the Demonic Cultivator.

BOOM!

The beam slammed into the Demonic Cultivator’s Defensive Artefact, rendering it useless for just a moment.

“Haha! Good!” The Sabre-wielding Senior Brother capitalised on the chance and threw out his strongest move.

Mountain Cleaving Divine Sabre!

A huge Sabre Phantom appeared, slicing down on the 7th Disaster Demonic Cultivator, severely injuring him. Before he could even regather his thoughts, a purple bolt of lightning sliced towards him!

Shwing!

A head flew up into the sky.

Without waiting any further Xiao Hong directly took out several crystalline Pills and stuffed them into her mouth. The instant the swallowed pills reached her stomach, they released their medicinal power, reaching her Dantian and infusing into the Red-Gold Pool of Zhenqi that had almost dried up, slowly filling it up.

‘Too slow!’ Xiao gritted her teeth and churned the violent Zhenqi in her Dantian, quickly breaking down the medicinal power and assimilating it. Her Zhenqi started filling up quickly. This was a way the disciples that had Cultivated the Spirit Transformation Art used to quickly digest the medicinal power in emergencies.

Why only during emergencies?

Because while this method was indeed useful, nearly 50 to 60 percent of the medicinal power was wasted. This was undeniably an utter waste of resources. Pills were commodities even the richer Cultivators had in limited quantities. 

But for Xiao Hong, who was an Alchemist, Pills were the last thing she lacked!

‘Half an hour should be enough. I should be able to replenish my Qi to 60 per cent by then!’

After turning the tides and buying them more time, she continued to relay instructions to the disciples while occasionally stuffing Pills like a seasoned druggie.

While she tried to regain her Qi, she attracted the attention of all the Demonic Cultivators. They could see she was drained and would not be able to attack for a while, but they still didn’t dare to attack. The terrifying attack from before was deeply ingrained in their minds. 

Who would dare to go after her? Who knew if she had strength left?

The only ones who would dare go after her were 6th or 7th Disaster Cultivators; others would not dare to. They were strong enough.

No one wanted to be blown to bits!

Xue Hun who was in battle with Jun Meiling roared wrathfully, “You fucking nitwits! Why aren’t you attacking her?! Do you want to wait for the bitch to recover, so she can blow up the rest of you?!” Unlike the Purple Spirit Sect disciples, the Demonic Cultivators were a mish-mash of different powers, as such they did not have a private broadcast channel. So they had to bark out orders like normal people.

The Demonic Cultivator’s expression shifted. It was indeed true. Once she recovered, they would face a violent attack from her. It might even change their situation! 

Even if Xiao Hong had decreased the disadvantage, it only bought them some more time. But if she were allowed to attack a few more times, they might really gain a chance to change their situation.

Moreover, the longer they were stalled, the worse the situation would be for the Demonic Cultivators!

Because the other party had definitely called for reinforcements! They would have no choice but to flee at that time. 

If they failed at this and they told the Nirvana Realm leaders who had come with them about their failure… Dying would be a luxury then.

But the problem remained, what if she attacked violently?

Just when they were hesitating, a voice echoed through the battlefield.

“I, Mo Qingzhu, will reward whoever manages to capture or kill her with a mid-Earth Rank Cultivation Method token or exchange it for an equivalent reward!” The black-robed woman’s oriole-like voice echoed through the battlefield. “Moreover, if you manage to capture her, I’ll hand her over to you to play with!”

In an instant, greed replaced the Demonic Cultivator’s fear! A mid-Earth Rank Cultivation Method token was something that even the Nirvana Realm Cultivators would desire! One could freely exchange it with any mid-Earth Ranked Cultivation Method. 

And since it was this woman, Mo Qingzhu, who was a Saintess candidate who promised benefits, they would not have to worry about their rewards being snatched! 

A mid-Earth ranked Technique was enough for them to cultivate up to the Transformation Realm! Most of the Demonic Cultivators present cultivated some really low-ranked Cultivation Methods, making it extremely difficult to progress - and they would likely never make it to Nirvana. But with this token… With this token, they had a chance to reverse their fate and reach for the skies!

Their breaths turned heavy as they looked at Xiao Hong with scorching eyes. The overwhelming Greed drowned their rational thoughts.

What’s more, they sensed that she was only at the initial Divine Sea realm. Being able to unleash such a powerful attack at such a low realm… 

Such powerful Zhenqi, such potency… If used as a human cauldron, they would gain immensely!

Immediately, a large number of Demonic Cultivators set their sights upon Xiao Hong!