Chapter 1047: Hostage

A nascent soul state level five cultivator watched, dazed, as Ye Mo cleaved through his sword fire. After all, he was a nascent soul state level five, and Ye Mo was only a nascent soul state level one. Was this luck, or did Ye Mo possess such power?

Qinghan, too, was astonished. Ye Mo's apparent power level was weaker than hers; even she had nearly been struck. How had he broken the attack? She quickly realized, however, that despite their numerical advantage, they were no match for their three assailants.

Understanding this, Qinghan shouted, "Who are you? How dare you ambush disciples of the Clear Dream Mosque?"

Ye Mo understood her tactic. Invoking their sect's name usually deterred conflict with members of a nine-star sect, but he knew it was futile here. These individuals were clearly aware of their affiliation.

Qingyue and the others immediately deployed their magical artifacts.

"What's the Clear Dream Mosque? Do you think you little nuns and a punk can fight us?" the nascent soul state level five sneered.

"You're not from South Peace State; you're beast cultivators from the Heartless Sea…" Qinghan gasped. Those from South Peace State would never dare show such disrespect to Clear Dream Mosque disciples.

Ye Mo remained silent. He knew these weren't beast cultivators. Beast cultivators were spirit beasts who assumed human form via Illusion Form pills, easily discernible to him. Furthermore, a beast cultivator needed to undergo a form tribulation to achieve human form—roughly equivalent to disaster transformation state level. Otherwise, they could only use an Illusion Form pill, which usually betrayed their beast chi. Another possibility was a Morph Form pill, transforming the beast cultivator completely, but even that required level eight or higher beasts. These three possessed no beast chi whatsoever—they were clearly human cultivators.

The nascent soul state level five sneered, ignoring Qinghan. "Leave your storage rings and go; I won't harm you." His gaze then fell on Ye Mo, clearly concerned by his earlier feat. Had they not been uncertain of Ye Mo's strength, they would have attacked already.

Ye Mo sneered; he had faced countless schemes and battles. This nascent soul state level five was clearly insincere. They would likely attack the moment the storage rings were relinquished.

"Keep dreaming!" Qingyue, though shy, was not hesitant when angered. She unleashed a lotus-shaped magical artifact and prepared to charge.

Qinghan restrained her. She had fought them and knew they were outmatched. Their power was far superior; they were no ordinary cultivators.

"We should discuss surrendering our storage rings," Ye Mo said to the nascent soul state level five cultivator, then spoke telepathically to Qinghan, "Martial Sister Qinghan, take the others and go. Leave this to me. I'll persuade them not to pursue you."

The nascent soul state level five sneered, but agreed.

"How can we do that?" Qinghan immediately protested.

Ye Mo knew they were inexperienced but loyal. "I'll delay them and convince them not to chase you. Once you're clear, I have a small transmission rune for escape. Go; I can escape safely."

Qinghan stared at Ye Mo in shock. The small transmission rune, while not extraordinary, was beyond the reach of most nascent soul state cultivators; it was sufficient to escape their spirit sense. Clearly, Ning Xiaoma wasn't exaggerating his escape capabilities.

Qingyi and Xia Youshan were visibly worried. Ye Mo felt a warmth in his heart. He was about to ask Qinghan for the map when the nascent soul state level five sneered, "Are you finished? If you don't hand over the storage rings, we attack!"

Ye Mo realized these three weren't ordinary; if Qinghan and the others possessed a map, these cultivators likely had one as well. He no longer needed to ask.

He smiled and approached the nascent soul state level five. The cultivator instinctively stepped back, then corrected his reaction and stepped forward.

Ye Mo stopped and waved his hand. A pale yellow flame, wreathed in milky white mist, appeared.

"Snow essence flame?" the nascent soul state level five exclaimed in shock.

The other two cultivators were equally shocked. They hadn't expected a nascent soul state level one cultivator to possess such a rare flame, especially one so highly ranked. The snow essence flame ranked fifteenth among rare flames; a pure water element flame.

Extreme fervor ignited in the eyes of the nascent soul state level five and his companions.

Even Qinghan and the others were astonished. The snow essence flame was extraordinary; they never expected Ye Mo, a lone cultivator, to possess one. Even core disciples of pill sects rarely held such a flame. Qinghan hadn't anticipated Ning Xiaoma using this to deter them, but anyone seeing it would reconsider their actions.

Seeing their impending attack, Ye Mo smiled. "This flame is under my complete control. I can extinguish it and make it vanish from the world at will."

"What do you want?" the nascent soul state level five stared desperately at the flame, already considering it his.

Ye Mo smiled. "Let the four go; I'll be your hostage. You can keep me."

"Agreed," the nascent soul state level five said immediately, waving his hand as his cultivators captured Ye Mo. One nascent soul state level three cultivator began setting up a trap formation.

"Martial Sister Qingyi, go. I'll be back soon," Ye Mo smiled.

"Okay, Martial Brother Xiaoma, be careful. Qingyi, Qingyue, Youshan, let's go," Qinghan said.

"Martial Brother Xiaoma, you must come find us; we'll be waiting," Qingyi said, knowing it was futile to stay.

The four women left immediately, leaving the three nascent soul state cultivators staring at Ye Mo's flame in silence.

After seven minutes, the nascent soul state level three cultivator said, "Those pretty nuns are long gone. You can give us the snow essence flame now. You can rejoin them sooner that way."

Ye Mo smiled and nodded. "That's right, but I know what you really mean. Your trap formation is ready, and you're about to attack, correct?"

Ye Mo then extinguished the snow essence flame.

Seeing this, the nascent soul state level five commanded, "Attack! Don't let him bring it out again!"