# Chapter 1097: Ghost Mist
The Heavenly Prince Qingtian and the many Undying Blood Clan experts of the Qingtian Tribe had been hiding near Yingsha City all along, completely acting as a behind-the-scenes manipulator.
Because they had participated in the great battles between the barbarian beast clans and the human cultivators.
However, the methods they used were very subtle, like ghostly shadows, pushing the development of the situation from the shadows.
The "Yingsha City Wall Collapse" incident was related to them.
That incident had triggered the first great battle between humans and barbarian beasts, resulting in countless casualties on both sides.
Not long ago, the Undying Blood Clan members lurking among the barbarian beast clans had suggested to the Devouring Demon Dragon to capture several thousand human cultivators as hostages, forcing the human cultivators in Yingsha City to fight a decisive battle with the barbarian beasts.
The Undying Blood Clan members lurking in Yingsha City had used inflammatory methods to guide the emotions of the crowd, ultimately triggering the third great battle between humans and the various barbarian beast clans.
This battle had nearly caused the complete annihilation of the human cultivators in Yingsha City. If not for the variable "Zhang Ruochen" appearing, the Heavenly Prince Qingtian's plan would have already succeeded.
"Using barbarian beasts to wipe out humans." This was what the Heavenly Prince Qingtian had been doing all along.
Not long ago, after Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen escaped from Yingsha City, the Heavenly Prince Qingtian immediately dispatched Ghost Mist to follow behind them, find their hiding place, and try to wipe them all out.
Ghost Mist was one of the four great experts under the Heavenly Prince Qingtian, ranked ninety-second, especially skilled in concealment, tracking, and assassination.
Before entering the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, Ghost Mist had used assassination methods to injure a human saint.
Although that assassination attempt had failed, he had left calmly, and even the saint had been unable to keep him there. This shows how terrifying this person's strength was.
The large man with two heads and four arms had a very rough voice: "Ghost Mist hasn't returned yet."
The Heavenly Prince Qingtian frowned slightly. Although he still had confidence in Ghost Mist, he still felt somewhat uneasy and gave an order: "Chang Wan, follow the marks left by Ghost Mist, go check on him, and return as quickly as possible."
"Yes."
The large man with two heads and four arms clasped his four hands together and bowed to the Heavenly Prince Qingtian.
Then, a pair of blood wings unfolded on his back, transforming into a patch of blood cloud, flying rapidly into the distance.
Zuotian Blood Saint stood behind the Heavenly Prince Qingtian, somewhat moved, and said in a hoarse voice: "Does Your Highness the Crown Prince worry that Ghost Mist might encounter danger?"
"Heh heh."
A silvery bell-like laugh sounded.
The enchanting woman in silver-white armor said: "Even if Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen join forces, they couldn't possibly keep Ghost Mist. Moreover, Zhang Ruochen is severely injured and can't even fight. What danger could Ghost Mist encounter?"
The enchanting woman's face was extremely beautiful, her skin as white as jade, absolutely a beauty who could topple kingdoms.
However, she dressed extremely revealingly, the silver-white armor on her body only covering some important parts.
Outside the armor were large expanses of snow-white skin, the chest area revealing the shape of two hemispheres, and half of her perky buttocks also exposed, appearing exceptionally seductive. Any cultivator who saw her would probably be consumed by lustful fire.
She was the Crown Princess of the Heavenly Prince Qingtian, and also a princess of the Qitian Tribe.
Flame Heart Princess.
The Qitian Tribe was the number one of the ten great Undying Blood Clan tribes, with considerable power. Moreover, Flame Heart Princess herself was a top-tier expert, and she had several Qitian Tribe experts following her. Therefore, even though the Heavenly Prince Qingtian quite disliked her attire and some of her behaviors, he simply couldn't control her.
The royal members of the Qitian Tribe and the Qingtian Tribe had intermarried for generations. Even though the Heavenly Prince Qingtian was exceptionally talented and gifted, he couldn't change this.
Of course, as long as Flame Heart Princess still kept her bottom line, the Heavenly Prince Qingtian could continue to indulge her.
Zuotian Blood Saint knew that the Heavenly Prince Qingtian had a great opinion of Flame Heart Princess, so he changed the subject and asked: "Your Highness the Crown Prince, what stage has your physical body reached?"
"I have already sanctified one hundred and twenty-two apertures. Only the last twenty-two apertures remain, and then my physical body will become a saint." The Heavenly Prince Qingtian said calmly.
Cultivating the physical body had indeed given the Heavenly Prince Qingtian powerful combat strength, but the later stages required refining quite massive resources for each aperture sanctified.
The difficulty of sanctifying apertures had also increased greatly.
Without great perseverance, it was simply impossible to achieve physical sainthood.
Zuotian Blood Saint was quite moved and said: "With Your Highness the Crown Prince's current strength, you absolutely shouldn't be ranked only seventh. You should at least be in the top three."
"The ranking list is dead, but people are alive."
The Heavenly Prince Qingtian's eyes were especially bright. He raised his head, looked at a sacred fruit growing on the golden tree above, and revealed a smile: "If it could ripen a bit faster, it should help me sanctify one more aperture."
"Zhang Ruochen also has many treasures on him. If we can capture him, it should help Your Highness the Crown Prince sanctify at least ten apertures." Zuotian Blood Saint said.
The Heavenly Prince Qingtian nodded and said: "Zhang Ruochen is no simple person. Even Old Six, as clever as he was, died at his hands. If we truly want to deal with him openly, we'd best be more careful. The first strike must hit him so hard he can never recover, and we absolutely cannot give him a chance to counterattack."
The "Old Six" the Heavenly Prince Qingtian referred to was the Qingtian Tribe's Sixth Prince, who was also the fourth disciple of Xuanji Sword Saint, Feng Han.
Actually, what the Heavenly Prince Qingtian didn't know was that the Qingtian Tribe's Second Prince had also died at Zhang Ruochen's hands.
Next, the Heavenly Prince Qingtian ordered Zuotian Blood Saint to lead a team of Undying Blood Clan experts to Yingsha City to collect the corpses of humans and barbarian beasts, the more the better.
The blood in the corpses could help the Undying Blood Clan quickly improve their cultivation.
The more humans and barbarian beasts died, the stronger the Undying Blood Clan could become.
...
...
Zhang Ruochen had a hint of a smile on his face: "The Devouring Demon Dragon is truly enraged. It's actually willing to offer a sacred source as a reward to stimulate those barbarian beasts to search for my traces. It seems it has quite a few sacred sources in its possession."
A sacred source was a treasure that would make even saints' hearts race, something they would fight to the death over, naturally extremely precious.
Qing Mo walked over and whispered something in Huang Yanchen's ear.
Huang Yanchen's delicate brows slightly lifted, and a cold killing intent flowed from her crystalline eyes.
"What happened?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Huang Yanchen said: "Qing Mo sensed the aura of an Undying Blood Clan member nearby, searching for our traces."
"Qing Mo's perception is even stronger than ours?" Zhang Ruochen asked with some doubt.
Even though he was severely injured and his mental state was very poor, ordinary experts couldn't hide from his perception. How could he not have been alert at all before this?
Was Qing Mo's perception too strong?
Huang Yanchen explained: "Qing Mo is a sacred vine with quite powerful spiritual intuition. Any danger approaching within a hundred miles of her cannot escape her perception."
Qing Mo had already grown for over forty thousand years, having experienced countless dangers, so her perception was naturally far beyond that of human cultivators.
Zhang Ruochen nodded, then said: "Outside the camp, Xiao Hei has set up a very clever concealment formation. Below the saint realm, no one could possibly see through it."
"That only means one thing: the other party has been following us all along, tracking the traces we left behind until they found the vicinity." Huang Yanchen said.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze darkened.
He had long suspected that the great battle between barbarian beasts and humans was being fanned by someone in the shadows. The appearance of this Undying Blood Clan member undoubtedly confirmed his speculation.
Zhang Ruochen called over Grand Minister of Works, Second Minister of Works, Xiao Hei, and Sun Dadi, assigning tasks to each person, setting up a trap to kill that Undying Blood Clan expert, absolutely not letting him escape.
Ghost Mist had indeed found the vicinity based on some traces left by Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen. However, the concealment formation Xiao Hei had set up was too clever, and even he found it difficult to locate Zhang Ruochen and the others' specific position.
Half an hour later, Ghost Mist stumbled into a killing formation that Xiao Hei had set up.
"Boom rumble."
Within the formation, lightning flashed and thunder roared. A series of terrifying attack methods erupted, completely enveloping Ghost Mist.
By the time Ghost Mist broke through the formation and escaped, he was already severely injured.
His entire body had turned charred black, not a single piece of intact flesh visible, like a human-shaped piece of charcoal.
Xiao Hei walked out, sneering: "This emperor's killing formation is enough to severely injure a lower-level saint, yet I didn't expect you to still escape the formation. You do have some skill!"
"Damn it."
Ghost Mist glared at Xiao Hei, then his body dissolved, transforming into a mass of black mist that plunged into the ground.
"Not good, this fellow has considerable ability. He's actually proficient in Shadowless Escape Art. Let's strike together and kill him." Xiao Hei let out a strange cry and was the first to swing his claws, striking the spot where the black mist had disappeared.
Then, Grand Minister of Works, Second Minister of Works, Sun Dadi, and Huang Yanchen all unleashed their attack methods, blasting that area of ground into pieces, turning it into black scorched earth.
However, they didn't find Ghost Mist's corpse.
Xiao Hei let out a long sigh: "This emperor was careless! The Shadowless Escape Art isn't something ordinary cultivators can master. That Undying Blood Clan member must be a highly ranked figure."
Qing Mo said: "He should be Ghost Mist, ranked ninety-second. Only Ghost Mist has such advanced concealment and escape techniques. Ghost Mist is an expert of the Qingtian Tribe. Since he appeared here, the Qingtian Tribe's crown prince is probably nearby as well."
Zhang Ruochen hadn't joined the battle, standing in the distance the whole time. He said: "We must leave immediately."
In the Yinggema Desert, finding a safe hiding place wasn't an easy task.
Zhang Ruochen first thought of the blood-red gravel plain he had accidentally stumbled into not long ago. That was the center of the Azure Dragon Void, with numerous space rifts and chaotic zones.
Even if the Devouring Demon Dragon and the Heavenly Prince Qingtian found that place, Zhang Ruochen could still lead everyone to escape through the teleportation formation set up there.
Zhang Ruochen led everyone to the blood-red gravel plain. After settling them down, he entered the Scroll World to focus on healing, needing to recover to his peak state as quickly as possible.
Now, the situation in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm was quite unfavorable for Zhang Ruochen. The Heavenly Prince Qingtian and the Devouring Demon Dragon were like two mountains pressing down on him, making it hard for him to breathe.
Only by breaking through to a higher realm could he break this situation.
If Zhang Ruochen had the realm of a ninth-rank half-saint, he could completely take the initiative to attack. Why would he need to hide and flee like this?
Realm.
He needed to raise his realm as quickly as possible.