Chapter Forty-Three: Expelled from the Formation Realm

Yu Qing’s eyes were bloodshot, his gaze growing increasingly wild. Seeing him like this, Qing Lan frowned, realizing that communication was now impossible.

She had no desire to waste words on someone like him. A faint green breeze brushed past, and the Azure Shadow Whip swiftly appeared in her hand, instantly transforming into a myriad of whip shadows that filled the air.

Yu Qing was already delirious, a mad look on his face as his long sword slashed wildly. In such a battle, the Azure Shadow Whip, a spiritual weapon that combined offense and defense, paled in comparison to the ruthless spiritual sword he wielded.

For a moment, Qing Lan seemed flustered and overwhelmed.

Yu Qing’s face twisted with arrogance as he laughed maniacally, even trembling with a perverse pleasure. He shouted at Qing Lan, “You’re nothing special either!”

“Hahaha! You’re no better!” Qing Lan responded, staring at his bizarre demeanor with a hint of disbelief. She stepped back, soul power radiating from the center of her brow. By now, she had learned to harness this power. Though still immature and unskilled, it was sufficient.

“Break the delusion!”

Two streaks of violet light suddenly flashed in her eyes, bringing an indescribable pressure that unsettled Yu Qing.

Qing Lan’s gaze turned cold and profound. Looking at Yu Qing, who was fully committed to offense and had abandoned his defense, she saw countless openings all over his body.

With an indifferent glance, she took a slight step back. The trajectory of the Azure Shadow Whip in the air twisted strangely, baffling to anyone watching.

“Crack!”

The whip bypassed Yu Qing’s sword aura and struck hard against the hilt of his sword.

Yu Qing winced in pain and abruptly loosened his grip.

He regained a fraction of clarity and tried to summon his spiritual sword when Qing Lan surged forward with blood thorns, striking precisely at his right hand. The thorns pierced his flesh defenses, causing unbearable pain in an instant.

“Bang!”

Yu Qing was fully awake now, instinctively trying to retreat.

Qing Lan gave him no chance. The blood thorns clung like shadows, relentlessly striking him, each blow tearing flesh and causing excruciating agony.

He was defeated.

His eyes were filled with Qing Lan’s image. He failed to notice that the water screen formation had long since been broken by Yue Dong, and the formation array had been restored to almost perfect condition, a testament to Yue Dong’s exquisite skill.

Yue Dong quietly packed away the formation array and stood aside, waiting for Qing Lan’s fight to conclude.

---

Yu Qing watched as Qing Lan’s combat prowess far surpassed his own. She merely stood there, her gaze cold and indifferent, yet he read disdain in it.

A surge of unwillingness and fury churned within him, as if about to consume his soul. He shouted fiercely, without hesitation, uncorked a pill bottle, and swallowed a dark red spirit pill.

The pill’s fiery energy coursed through his limbs and bones, his eyes turned blood red like fresh wounds, his veins visibly throbbing beneath his skin, wrapped in a red web of blood. His spiritual energy soared wildly, his aura rising steadily to rival that of a cultivator at the early mid-stage of the Zhīwēi Realm.

His gaze locked onto Qing Lan again, his bloodshot eyes like venomous snakes, filled with terrifying death intent.

---

Yu Qing, his aura surging, gripped the blood thorn. Though his hands were stained with blood, he felt no pain. Instead, he forcefully tore the thorns from his body. With each ripping sound, his skin and flesh were violently torn, arcs of blood tracing shocking paths in the air—a scene both brutal and eerie.

He wiped his cheek with his blood-streaked hand and smiled grotesquely at Qing Lan, a terrifying grin.

He had lost his sanity.

Qing Lan recognized the effect of the pill. Yu Qing’s spiritual power had surged dramatically, unquestionably at some cost, the pill surely burdened with severe side effects.

She sighed softly, feeling exasperated. Clenching the Azure Shadow Whip tightly, her spiritual power erupted violently, the whip entwined in green radiance. The battle was about to erupt at any moment.

Yu Qing saw her readiness and grew even more arrogant. His realm now utterly overshadowed Qing Lan’s presence.

But his arrogance was short-lived.

“Boom!”

An even more terrifying and profound aura instantly enveloped him, suppressing him further.

He stared in shock at Yue Dong standing nearby. Though surprised by Yue Dong’s swift formation breaking, he could accept it… but—

Yu Qing opened his mouth, voice strained, “You… are already at the mid-stage of Zhīwēi Realm?”

He observed Yue Dong’s calm and solid aura, utterly devoid of pretension, then looked at his own unstable state caused by the surge of spiritual power.

The difference was stark.

His bloodshot eyes regained a flicker of clarity—an instinct to survive.

Yue Dong stood silently aside—he had originally intended to stay out of Yu Qing’s affairs, trusting Qing Lan to handle everything well.

---

But the other party had gone too far.

At the last moment, he no longer wanted to endure or suppress his realm.

Thus, the aura of the Zhīwēi Realm surged like a tidal wave, overwhelming spiritual energy raging wildly across heaven and earth.

---

Yu Qing, his spirit power raging wildly, faced Yue Dong’s nearly overwhelming aura. He regained clarity and a trace of unmistakable fear flickered in his eyes.

Because everything had lost its meaning.

He found it laughable now. At twenty-nine, having reached the late first realm, he had come to the formation sect’s mountain gate, confident he could easily overpower those barely at the early first realm near thirty years old.

He had been smug, considering himself a genius with pride in his heart. Yet reality struck like a resounding slap.

Yue Dong was clearly younger than him but far surpassed him in realm. The other girl was even younger but matched or exceeded him in strength.

Both were the utmost insult to him.

Qing Lan stood before him, Yue Dong behind. The former’s eyes glowed with violet light, exuding a fearsome aura; the latter’s spiritual power surged with overwhelming momentum.

Neither would let him go.

Only now did he realize what he had done—these two were clearly forcing him out. At this moment, he had even lost the qualification to become an inner disciple.

He had traveled a thousand miles to the formation sect, endured countless hardships, and now realized how far he had strayed from his original purpose. Regret surged sharply. Perhaps he should not have opposed these two, or impulsively fled from the formation.

Qing Lan and Yue Dong, standing before and behind him, both saw his remorse but chose silence. The sandstorm aura behind Yu Qing grew denser, the quicksand beneath his feet beginning to stir.

The whip in front of him blazed with increasingly brilliant green light, spiritual energy pulsating stronger, poised to strike.

“Smack!”

The life token was crushed, and Yu Qing’s figure vanished without a trace.