Chapter 202

Bang—!!!

The moment the rock mountain pressed down, the dense forest within hundreds of meters trembled violently from this terrifying impact, kicking up smoke and dust that filled the sky.

Rubble scattered like a rainstorm, towering ancient trees fell in patches, the ground exploding with circles of spiderweb-like cracks centered on the rock mountain, extending dozens of meters in all directions before barely stopping.

"Did I finish him off..."

Jiang Ye stepped on the light breeze, standing in mid-air, his fire eyes piercing through the smoke and dust that had not yet dissipated, staring intently at the rock mountain suppressing the black-robed man below.

His line of sight could vaguely see the black-robed man's figure pressed firmly to the ground through the mountain body, his arms hanging down, his head lowered, seemingly having completely lost all signs of life.

However, Jiang Ye, who was cautious by nature, did not rush to land.

Judging from the black-robed man's performance of burning essence blood to shake the rock mountain just now, a Primordial Realm martial artist's vitality was far more resilient than he had imagined.

In case the other party was still hiding some kind of desperate counterattack, approaching rashly would be walking into a trap.

Better safe than sorry.

The reason he had been able to survive in this chaotic world for his whole life was because of this caution that was never too much.

At this time.

Hiss~~~

Little Fire poked its head out from an underground crack.

It raised its head and let out a light hiss toward Jiang Ye.

The two shared a telepathic connection, and Jiang Ye instantly understood what the little guy meant.

It wanted to drill over to scout for Jiang Ye whether the black-robed man was completely dead.

"Don't go over, come back."

Jiang Ye shook his head slightly, waving his hand, the force in his palm erupting with a gentle suction, steadily taking Little Fire into his palm.

This little guy had succeeded in two sneak attacks in a row; the black-robed man was probably hating it to the bone.

In case he still had a breath left, he would definitely fight to the death to kill Little Fire before dying.

He held Little Fire up to his eyes, gently touched the dark red glossy back armor on its head with his fingertip, and his tone was rarely filled with a bit of gentle praise: "You have done very well. Leave the rest to me, go back and sleep."

Hiss~~~

Hearing Jiang Ye's praise, Little Fire proudly raised its head high, its two pairs of sickle-like mandibles opening wide, putting on a look of being extremely satisfied.

It excitedly rubbed against Jiang Ye's palm twice, then flicked its tail in satisfaction and swished back into the depths of Jiang Ye's sleeve.

"Even if he isn't completely dead... he shouldn't be able to hold on for too long..."

Jiang Ye looked at the rock mountain below with an indifferent gaze.

This person was already severely injured, and under the attack of his several Five Elements World-Suppressing Seals, he was even more at his limit.

Plus the mutated fire poison mixed with black energy from Little Fire spreading upward from his legs, his internal organs were probably already eroded full of holes.

He didn't need to take risks, he just needed to wait.

Time was on his side.

Time passed bit by bit.

After about half an incense stick's time.

The black-robed man under the rock mountain still remained motionless.

The night wind in the forest gradually blew away the smoke and dust, the moonlight spilled down again, shining on the lonely rock mountain, and everything around was dead silent.

"Could he really be completely dead..."

Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, a flash of suspicion crossing his eyes.

Just at this moment.

Boom—!!!

A killing intent that was extremely yin and cold, mixed with pale blue Primordial Divine Qi, erupted suddenly from the bottom of the rock mountain like a volcano that had been suppressed for a long time.

A small piece of the rock mountain was directly shaken into powder filling the sky by this terrifying energy, the rubble being ground into even finer powder by the killing intent before it even hit the ground, turning into a gray mist of dust in the moonlight.

Immediately following, a figure covered in blood and riddled with wounds rushed out from the ground, stumbling onto a piece of rubble not far away; who else could it be but the black-robed man.

At this moment, where did he have even half a bit of the majesty of a Primordial Realm martial artist.

His whole body was covered with dark red poisonous sores, spreading in layers from his legs to his waist, abdomen, and chest, and even on that fierce face, several poisonous sores the size of copper coins had emerged, glowing with an eerie fluorescence under the moon, looking exceptionally terrifying.

A large piece of muscle on his left leg had been torn off by himself, revealing the white leg bone.

The position on his right leg bitten by Little Fire had completely festered, dark red poisonous blood flowing down his calf, leaving a bloody footprint on the ground with every step he took.

His aura was even more flickering like a candle in the wind, every heave of his chest seeming to use up all his strength, as if it would be completely extinguished in the next second.

"Sure enough, he still had a breath left and wanted to ambush me..."

Seeing this scene, Jiang Ye's expression remained unchanged, a flash of playfulness crossing the bottom of his eyes.

This black-robed man had just forcibly suppressed his aura to near-nothingness, just to trick him into landing so he could use his last breath to drag him down with him.

It's a pity that, not to mention his other skills, when it comes to surviving, that is carved into his bones.

"Hah... hah..."

The black-robed man, covered in poisonous sores, stared fixedly at the gray-clothed figure in mid-air who refused to come down, unwillingness, humiliation, and monstrous hatred surging in his scarlet eyes.

His original plan was to suppress his aura to the lowest point, pretend to be dead, and then erupt with a strike once this old thing approached, using violent killing intent to smash his head at zero distance.

But this old thing was actually so cautious to this extent...

He pretended to be dead for a full half an incense stick's time, and he hung in the sky and watched for a full several hundred breaths.

He was already truly at his last breath; the eerie fire poison had invaded his heart and lungs along his blood vessels, every heartbeat pumping the toxin to every corner of his body.

He could no longer hold on.

"Asura Single Blade Slash!!!"

The black-robed man used the last bit of strength in his life, gripped the long blade that was as black as ink in his hand, and slashed out the last blade of his life toward Jiang Ye in mid-air.

Swish—!!!

A pale blue blade light wrapped in killing intent that was thick to the point of being almost substantial, like a crescent moon rising from the depths of hell, tore through the night sky, slashing straight at the gray-clothed figure stepping on the light breeze.

This blade was not as sharp and domineering as when he was at Thick Earth Peak; the blade light was only a zhang long, but its speed was faster than any other blade, and its angle was trickier than any other blade.

Jiang Ye was already prepared.

The moment the blade light tore through the air, the bird-form true intent instantly circulated, his figure like a light feather lifted by the night wind, drawing an elegant arc in mid-air.

The blade light grazed his fluttering robe corner, slicing off a section of a small mountain peak not far away.

The broken mountain body slid slowly along the smooth cut, falling into the valley with a roar, kicking up smoke and dust that filled the sky.

The chaotic blade qi wrapped in the blade light was like countless invisible flying blades, cutting holes in Jiang Ye's already tattered gray robe.

Yet the moment it touched his skin, it emitted crisp clanging sounds, as if it had hit refined iron, leaving only shallow white marks that recovered as before in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it... you old thing actually practiced hard-body technique..."

Seeing this scene, the scarlet eyes of the black-robed man shrank violently, his mouth opening unwillingly as if wanting to say something more, but he couldn't even finish a complete sentence before his body suddenly stiffened.

Clang—!!!

The pitch-black long blade in his hand, which didn't know how much blood it had drunk, fell from his hand, the tip of the blade stabbing deeply into the soft soil, the blade body still buzzing and trembling.

The last bit of pale blue Primordial Divine Qi that had surged out from his whole body was completely extinguished like a candle blown out by the wind.

The vitality in his scarlet eyes also dimmed in an instant, leaving only two hollow eyeballs still staring fixedly at the night sky.

"Finally dead."

Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, his fire eyes piercing through the corpse, clearly seeing that the heart in the other party's chest had completely stopped beating.

A night wind blew.

Bang.

The black-robed man's corpse fell backward with a roar like a stone statue being pushed over, falling heavily to the ground, splashing up dust mixed with blood and water.

Immediately following, Jiang Ye landed lightly beside the black-robed man's corpse.

"This Little Fire's fire poison is just too terrifying..."

Jiang Ye looked down and examined it, unable to help but secretly click his tongue.

There wasn't a single place on this person's whole body that wasn't covered in fire sores; he couldn't even be recognized as a human anymore.

That he could hold on for so long...

It was simply a miracle.

Hesitating for a moment, Jiang Ye still endured the pungent fishy smell, squatted down, covered his palm with wood-attribute true qi, and carefully searched the other party's corpse.

A moment later, he fished out several crumpled silver notes from an inner pocket close to the corpse's body; the denominations were not small, totaling about seventy or eighty thousand taels, soaked through by bloodstains for the most part, but the note numbers could still be identified.

He also fished out three jade porcelain bottles; the bottle bodies had several cracks from the battle just now, but fortunately, the bottle stoppers were still tight and had not leaked.

He tucked the silver notes into his bosom and pulled out one of the bottle stoppers.

The elixir in the bottle was pale blue, exuding a clear, frost-like aura, quite similar to the Frost-Condensing Elixir he had previously obtained from the Chiyan Sect martial artist, but even more refined.

The elixirs in the other two bottles were deep red, faintly wafting a faint fishy smell; they didn't look like healing elixirs, but rather special pills refined with the essence blood of some kind of demonic beast.

"What kind of elixirs are these..."

Jiang Ye frowned slightly. He had crammed a lot of elixir knowledge in the Tianqing Sect and was no longer the old man from the county town who treated even Blood-Replenishing Pills as treasures, but the elixirs carried by a Primordial Realm martial artist clearly exceeded the scope of his current cognition.

He plugged the three jade porcelain bottles back up, carefully tucked them close to his body, and planned to find Zheng Feng to identify them after going back.

That kid came from a powerful family in Linzhou and was knowledgeable; he should be able to recognize the origin of these elixirs.

Searching for a while longer, he found a dark yellow book page folded squarely in the deepest part of the black-robed man's inner clothing.

Jiang Ye's spirit was instantly lifted.

The book pages that exploded from Seven Kill Sect demons were always good things every time.

However, when he unfolded the book page, he found that it was completely blank, with no text at all.

He didn't believe in evil, circulated his fire eyes to look closely, and fiddled with it for a good while without seeing any name or meaning.

"Something's not right... I'll study it after going back..."

He faintly felt that this blank book page being kept close to the body by a Seven Kill Sect Primordial Realm martial artist was definitely not a useless thing.

It was just that now was not the time to get to the bottom of it.

He tucked the book page close to his body as well, and finally cast his gaze on the pitch-black long blade stuck obliquely in the soil.

Jiang Ye reached out to grip the hilt, pulled with force, and the weight in his hand was heavier than he had expected, more than twice as heavy as the curved blade he was accustomed to using.

The dense dark red patterns on the blade body faintly glowed with a cold light under the moon, as if they were still slowly squirming.

He tried to swing a few moves of the Blood Moon Blade Technique; although the blade momentum was fierce, he always felt it wasn't handy enough.

The essence of the Blood Moon Blade lay in being poisonous and tricky, while this pitch-black long blade was too heavy and deep; every slash felt like using a heavy hammer to smash people, completely losing the poisonous and agile nature that the Blood Moon Blade should have.

He flicked his finger lightly on the blade body, and the blade body emitted a heavy and long buzzing sound, the lingering sound echoing in his ears for a long time before dissipating.

"However, the material of this blade is quite good... I don't know what kind of ore it was cast from..."

He pondered in his heart that even if he couldn't use this blade, taking it back and melting it down would allow him to forge a more handy weapon.

He placed the pitch-black long blade aside, sat cross-legged in front of the black-robed man's corpse, took a deep breath of the cool night air, and calmed his heart and spirit.

Nurturing killing intent!

This was the most important harvest of tonight.

The killing intent accumulated in a Primordial Realm martial artist's body was more than ten times that of a Divine Qi Realm demon.

"Let me see, just how much killing intent is within a Primordial Realm martial artist's body!"

Jiang Ye murmured softly, then closed his eyes, circulated the "Seven Kill Scripture" secret technique, used killing intent as a guide and killing thoughts as a furnace, and began to absorb that extremely yin and cold power from the black-robed man's corpse.

Soon.

The first wisp of extremely yin and cold aura drifted out from the black-robed man's brow center, like the first snowflake falling in deep winter, silently sinking into Jiang Ye's brow center ancestor aperture.

Followed by the second wisp, the third wisp...

Compared to the previous Divine Qi Realm demon, this black-robed Primordial Realm martial artist's body was like a treasure house.

Jiang Ye only needed to circulate the secret technique, and the killing intent drifted out continuously, being absorbed into his brow center ancestor aperture.

After about half an hour.

Jiang Ye opened his eyes abruptly.

In those aged eyes, a wisp of killing intent that was almost substantial shot out like cold electricity, flashing and disappearing in the night, then hiding deep in his pupils.

The aura around his body underwent some kind of indescribable change at this instant.

The next instant.

Boom—!!!

An extremely yin and cold aura erupted and spread with Jiang Ye as the center.

The several weeds closest to him that had just escaped the rock mountain's suppression were torn into pieces the moment this killing intent swept past, without even the process of falling over.

Immediately following—

A dense sound like raindrops echoed in the forest within hundreds of meters.

Various insects and birds in the trees were swept down from the branches and leaves by an invisible giant hand at this moment, smashing onto the ground with a pattering sound.

Those larger birds didn't even have the strength to flap their wings after landing, directly stiffly curling up in the pile of dead leaves, having been shocked unconscious alive.

Deep underground, those ants, earthworms, snakes, and rats hiding in the soil were similarly affected by this killing intent that permeated down at this moment; those further away were directly shocked unconscious.

Those closer didn't even have time to struggle before their tiny bodies were frozen by that extremely yin and cold aura, dying silently in the depths of the soil.

The entire dense forest fell into a deathly silence at this instant.

No insect chirping, no bird calling, even the rustling sound of the wind passing through the branches and leaves seemed to have been frozen.