As expected, team Overlords didnât wait long for Zhang Ling to appear.
Only three hours after Jiang Yue and his team set out, they received word from the teamâs scouts.
"Her group has seven hundred cultivators." Xuan Ke read the communication and frowned.
"They are more than we expected." He continued.
"Should we turn back?" Someone questioned.
Although the temporary team members agreed to the task, they were always uneasy.
They were uneasy about facing Zhang Ling and uneasy because the team could not recruit the originally planned five hundred members.
Now that the enemyâs group had more cultivators than expected, they couldnât help but fear.
At this time, they regretted their decision to join the mission and they couldnât wait to run back to the camp.
"Letâs turn back quickly. We only have four hundred while they have seven hundred." Someone urged.
"I also think we should turn back."
"I want to cancel the task."
"Me too."
Within moments, more than one hundred cultivators applied to cancel the task.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang, what should we do?" Lin Huang asked and everyone turned to Jiang Yue.
[Azhen...] Jiang Yue started but Yu Nianzhen didnât let him finish.
[I will support whichever decision you make.]
[I see.] Jiang Yue said and smiled.
For a moment, he was overwhelmed by everyoneâs opinions and couldnât focus his mind.
However, after getting his husbandâs encouragement, Jiang Yue calmed down.
He considered the matters at hand and quickly made a decision.
"How many want to go back?" He asked.
"Leader Jiang, itâs not that we want to go back but that we have to go back." Someone said and most others nodded in approval.
"A gap of three hundred cultivators is too big."
"Most of our members are at the seventh and eighth level of the origin tempering realm while most of the enemy are at the ninth level."
"It doesnât make sense to insist."
"We should go back and reorganise. We can come back after recruiting more people."
Jiang Yue listened to the opinions and didnât say anything until the last person spoke.
"We can go back and recruit three hundred more people. However, what should we do when we come back to find that her group has increased to one thousand people?" He asked.
"This..." Someone started but couldnât finish.
What Jiang Yue posed was a legitimate concern but most of the team members were already frightened.
They didnât want to deal with Zhang Ling and didnât want to care about future concerns.
Seeing this, Jiang Yue sighed.
"I will stay and kill Zhang Ling. Those who donât want to stay can leave." He decided.
As soon as Jiang Yue said that, hundreds of cultivators stood up.
"Leader Jiang, please reconsider." Someone said but Jiang Yue didnât change his expression.
"In that case, I will return to the camp to report the situation." The person said and quickly flew away.
If others didnât know better, they would think he was eager to report the situation and call for reinforcements.
However, everyone knew better but they didnât blame the person for being afraid.
Soon after, several hundred cultivators left the group and flew away.
"Brother Jiang, we only have a little more than a hundred members." Xuan Ke informed.
"Itâs okay." Jiang Yue said and smiled.
"Do you have a plan?" Yang Xu asked.
"I just thought of a good way." Jiang Yue said and chuckled.
Two hours later, Jiang Yue led his group to confront Zhang Ling.
"Did you come to die?" Someone shouted and sneered.
He then turned to his group and everyone roared in laughter.
"Have you given up on yourselves?"
"I think they are underestimating us."
"Whatâs the need for so much nonsense? Letâs kill them quickly and go back." A female voice said and everyone fell silent.
"I donât know why you came here but donât think about leaving." Someone shouted and several disciples of the Death Flower Ascension Front rushed forward.
"We are enough to deal with trash like you." Jiang Yue said and Yu Nianzhen launched an attack.
His sword attack was incredibly fast and before anyone could react, a dozen people were killed.
"You must be the Supreme Swords God. I have been meaning to challenge you." Someone roared and a red sword light flew towards Yu Nianzhen.
Without delay, Yu Nianzhen blocked the sword light and flew about twenty metres from the group.
"Donât think about running away." The opponent shouted and followed Yu Nianzhen.
[Azhen, be careful.] Jiang Yue transmitted.
[You also have to be careful.]
After receiving Yu Nianzhenâs transmission, Jiang Yue focused on the enemy in front of him.
At the same time, he took three steps back and his team followed him to do the same.
When Zhang Ling saw this, her eyes narrowed and her brows creased.
âIs it a coincidence?â She wondered but put the matter to the back of her mind because Yang Xu suddenly attacked.
"Yang Xu, you are not ashamed to attack your juniors?" She shouted; her voice filled with disdain.
"All enemies of my Cangxing world deserve to die." Yang Xu said and a sea of flames flowed toward the enemy.
A moment later, the flames touched a few disciples and miserable screams filled the air.
"Donât let the fire touch you." Zhang Ling screamed and glared at Yang Xu.
"His flames are mixed with soul flames." She explained through gritted teeth.
"Soul flames?" A disciple of the Death Flower Ascension Front asked in horror.
"Do you think you are the only one who has condensed a soul flame?" Zhang Ling said and a soul fire appeared between her eyebrows.
However, Jiang Yue and the others were prepared for this.
As soon as they saw the soul fire, they quickly retreated and didnât give her a chance to attack.
"Can you only run away?" She disdained and put away the soul fire.
At the same time, her pupils turned white and her eyes glowed with a bright light.
"This..." Jiang Yue was horrified.
From the information they had, he knew the approximate range of Zhang Lingâs soul attacks.
Because of this, he led the group to always stay one step beyond her attack range.
However, Jiang Yue had never heard anything about her white eyes technique.
âThis is not good.â He thought and tried to take a step back.
Unfortunately, he found that his body wouldnât move.
He felt like his soul was frozen and unwilling to cooperate with his body to make the movements he wanted.
âWhatâs going on? What kind of technique is she using?â He wondered as his thoughts flashed frantically.
In his frenzy, he suddenly remembered an obscure book he read in the library of the Sea Cloud sect.
âSoul clan?â He thought.
According to the book, soul cultivators were cultivators who awakened soul-related origins.
However, there was a special clan in the Cangxing world which was naturally born for soul cultivation.
The clan was called the soul clan.
Two of the characteristics of the soul clan were their white eyes and a moon tattoo in the middle of their eyebrows.
At that, Jiang Yue looked at Zhang Ling and his heart skipped a beat.
âMoon tattoo. Was she using a disguise technique to conceal her identity?â He wondered but quickly focused his mind.
Although he was curious, this was not the time for that.
What was most important was finding a way to regain control of his soul.
Otherwise, he and others would soon be destroyed without getting a chance to put up a fight.
âWhat else was written in that book?â He calmed his mind and began to recall.
From the book, the soul clan had an innate ability to control souls.
However, the duration and number of souls they could control depended on their cultivation.
âZhang Lingâs soul is already superior to the nascent soul realm. It wonât be a problem to control us for a few moments.â
âWait..., masterâs soul is more powerful than mine. Is he also under control?â
As he thought that, Jiang Yue wanted to turn his head but found that he couldnât.
âI donât know if he is under control but I canât stupidly wait for rescue. I have to think of something.â
A moment later, an idea crossed his mind and he quickly grasped it.
[Azhen, quickly attack the other side. You donât have to hit anything, just distract Zhang Ling for a moment.]
[Okay.] Yu Nianzhen said and immediately did as he was told.
When the attack appeared, Zhang Ling was distracted for less than a breath.
However, that was enough for Jiang Yue.
As soon as Zhang Ling was distracted, he quickly took advantage and regained control of his soul.
Soon after, he retreated and didnât stop until he was ten metres away.
[Are you okay?] Yu Nianzhen asked.
[I am okay.] Jiang Yue answered and frowned.
Now that he could control his soul, he realised that the time since the soul control was less than three seconds.