Chapter 111: Leaving (Asking for Monthly Votes!)

"One-way?"

Before returning to the thought of passing through, Yunhe naturally needed to first confirm whether this "gap" could truly be exited.

He casually refined a Magical Artifact and threw it out of the "gap"; although he could still sense the Magical Artifact's existence, it could no longer return inside the formation.

"Being able to leave is good."

Slowly leaving the forest where the Black-ring Hornets reside.

Actually, he still had a doubt in his heart.

"Why don't the larvae of the Heaven Corpse Gu attach to the Black-ring Hornets? Is it because too many would waste too many larvae, or because they're too weak to be worth it? Or perhaps."

He glanced at the Black-ring Hornet hive that made the Red-ring Gold-spot Bees both long for and fear.

Perhaps that could give him an answer.

After leaving the Black-ring Hornet Forest, Yunhe recalled the swarm.

Since he now had a retreat, he had no more worries behind him.

He took out two medium-grade Spirit Stones, sat in place to restore his spiritual power, and silently estimated the time.

After a while.

"Almost there."

He formed seals to cast the Earth Escape Technique, using the Turtle Breath Body Forging Technique to conceal his aura, escaping into the earth and heading toward the previous battle's direction.

"Damn it!"

Xiao Qiyuan's complexion was paler than when Yunhe had left earlier; his glaring eyes were filled with bloodshot veins and intense anger.

He had originally planned to trick Yunhe after seeing two high-grade Spiritual Artifacts.

He hadn't expected Yunhe to be more straightforward and decisive, running off without hesitation.

Hindered by the ongoing battle, he couldn't even pursue.

"This guy, doesn't he want to leave anymore?" Xiao Qiyuan said angrily.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Fortunately.

Although it cost more, he finally managed to kill those two Heaven Capital Gu Corpses.

Most importantly.

"Finally got it!"

Seeing the gray-white metal piece in his hand, Xiao Qiyuan's anger was quickly overtaken by excitement.

He wanted to enter the Insect Sect's main hall mainly to obtain this item.

But soon his expression changed.

He said sternly:

"What does it mean, Dao friend, to go and then return?"

Zhi zhi zhi—

The Golden Fire Centipede quickly appeared at his side, its huge body coiling around to protect him.

While speaking, he concealed his hands, drawing as much spiritual power as possible from the medium-grade Spirit Stone to restore his spiritual power.

"Have you come to your senses and want to continue cooperating? I know well the danger of the main hall, so I am still willing to cooperate, Dao friend."

But before he could finish speaking, a surging, chilling aura suddenly rose from the ground.

At the same time.

A Double-headed Black Tiger Wraith leapt out, its belly swelling, its jaws opening wide as a jet of green phosphorescent fire swept out.

"Beast soul?"

Seeing this, Xiao Qiyuan was slightly startled.

Fortunately, the Golden Fire Centipede's reaction speed was still decent, and it also spat out a mouthful of reddish-gold flame.

Although there were two flames, a "hissing" sound of ice and fire colliding rose in the field.

The Double-headed Black Tiger Wraith quickly fell into the downwind.

But seeing this, Xiao Qiyuan's expression sank.

He knew this was a probe.

It was obvious that after fighting two Heaven Capital Gu Corpses and overdrawing the Blood Rage Technique, the Golden Fire Centipede's strength had now dropped to its lowest.

Xiao Qiyuan took a deep breath.

"Yunhe Dao friend, are you trying to go for broke?!"

Swish—

In response, a grim, looming banner appeared.

The banner unfurled without wind.

Countless beast souls howled forth.

"A top-grade Spiritual Artifact, a Beast Soul Banner?!"

Xiao Qiyuan looked at the suddenly appearing banner and exclaimed.

"Perish together and break the net? Even if the fish die, the net won't break!"

Yunhe, hiding in the dark, remained expressionless, merely continuously casting seals to infuse the Beast Soul Banner.

"Roar——!!"

A strange three-headed bird silently appeared, the condensed black light ball shooting out suddenly.

Seeing the three-headed bird, the Golden Fire Centipede became restless, let out a hiss, and shot forward.

But before it could reach the three-headed bird, it was entangled by a Wood Flood Dragon that burst from the ground, the yin-energy vines tightly binding it together.

"Three-headed late Second Stage beast soul?!"

Xiao Qiyuan didn't even have time to raise his shocked emotion, then he fiercely slapped his storage bag and turned around; a beast-cage-shaped Spiritual Artifact flew out of his storage bag, striking the Bathing Fire Li Birds scattering like rain.

Yunhe actually didn't know when he had arrived behind him.

One hand refining the Li Fire Pearl, the other controlling the Xuanwu Bracelet!

After the Li Birds dispersed, the Xuanwu Bracelet that had absorbed magical power and hand seals quickly enlarged, then fiercely smashed toward that beast-cage-shaped Spiritual Artifact.

Clang!!

For a moment, the metallic collision sound accompanied the surging clash of Spiritual Power.

Two top-grade Spiritual Artifacts!

Xiao Qiyuan's face darkened.

He never expected that Yunhe, besides possessing two top-grade Spiritual Artifacts, actually hid a higher-quality supreme-grade Spiritual Artifact Beast Soul Banner!

With such a configuration, as long as magical power is sufficient, even against the previous Heavenly Capital Gu Corpse, even if unable to win, stalling is absolutely no problem.

If he were at his peak, he would indeed have some misgivings, but he would not be afraid.

But now.

Most of the Spiritual Artifacts and spells of the Spirit Beast Sect cultivators serve the spirit beasts; his Double-pronged Rhinoceros Golden Turtle had already been severely wounded and near death in the previous collision.

Now the Golden Fire Centipede is also entangled by the beast souls inside the Beast Soul Banner; relying solely on his weakened self to resist Yunhe is indeed extremely difficult.

Xiao Qiyuan gritted his teeth, struggling to control the Beast Cage, but he had not yet surrendered.

However, Yunhe at this moment simply wasn't listening at all.

While controlling the Li Fire Pearl with one hand and driving the Xuanwu Bracelet with the other, he felt a hint of strangeness and peculiarity.

Water and fire.

Two Spiritual Artifacts with completely different attributes; to prevent their power from being affected, Yunhe previously always tried to ensure their attacks did not overlap.

But at that time Yunhe had only condensed a water-attribute spiritual body, plus his own gold-water spiritual root, making his use of the Xuanwu Bracelet more adept, while for the Li Fire Pearl he mostly just infused magical power to drive it, causing the Li Fire Pearl's power to be at most seventy or eighty percent.

Therefore water and fire were imbalanced, water strong and fire extinguished, forcing them to alternate and fall.

But now he has entered mid-Foundation Establishment and successfully condensed a fire-attribute spiritual body, enabling him to fully unleash the Li Fire Pearl's power.

Immediately he felt the difference from before.

"Water strong, fire extinguished; fire strong, water vapor; water and fire mutually restrain; if water is balanced and fire level"

With one hand he cast a seal and infused the Li Fire Pearl, with the other he twisted to control the Xuanwu Bracelet.

Boom!!

A burst of explosion suddenly rang out.

"No, 'water' is still too much."

He, who can simultaneously keep both cultivator body and demon beast body in a cultivated state, is already familiar with the technique of one mind, two uses.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosion sounds from repeated failures of water and fire interaction rang out.

Of course, this does not affect Yunhe's dealing with Xiao Qiyuan.

Because under repeated impacts of water and fire, the beast cage he sacrificed, which is also a top-grade Spiritual Artifact, is already on the verge of collapsing.

Moreover, all of this actually happened only within a short time.

Although Yunhe had some insight, he understood even more that dealing with Xiao Qiyuan now was the key, lest he put the cart before the horse.

Once Xiao Qiyuan is gone, that already somewhat exhausted Golden Fire Centipede won't be able to stir up much trouble.

Seeing Yunhe unmoved, having expended a huge cost, gathered large amounts of materials, and only with difficulty entrusted someone to forge this top-grade Spiritual Artifact, now showing signs of imminent damage, Xiao Qiyuan made a firm resolution.

A ferocious color flashed across his face, he slapped his storage bag again and shouted lowly:

"Explode!!"

His Beast Cage immediately surged with an abnormal violent magical power fluctuation.

At the same time, taking advantage of the turmoil from the self-destructing Spiritual Artifact, he quickly drew from his storage bag a small dart glowing red and cast a spell tactic upon it!

His entire aura instantly waned.

"Self-destruct?"

At the same moment, Yunhe understood what Xiao Qiyuan intended to do.

It's all what he has left to play with.

A self-destructing Spiritual Artifact is effective only when unexpected and at close range.

The azure water splendor and crimson fire light made contact, but instead of exploding, they emitted a two-colored misty halo.

However, that peculiar halo was merely a flash, quickly turning into an even more violent explosion.

Hum—

The terrifying impact from the Beast Cage's self-destruction collided with the water and fire power of the Xuanwu Bracelet and Li Fire Pearl.

It burst forth with an even greater commotion and violent impact.

The impact of the self-destruction was blocked, but Yunhe's heart did not relax; instead, he suddenly felt a chill, sensing danger.

Not daring to be careless, he quickly flicked his storage ring.

Swish—

Then he saw a red small dart pierce the explosion's edge at extreme speed, shooting straight toward him.

The speed was so fast that even divine sense could hardly catch it.

Xiao Qiyuan failed to notice it.

At some point, a black seal appeared in Yunhe's hand.

He neither drove it nor infused it with magical power.

He simply treated it as a brick and struck it hard.

Ding!!!

The black seal and the red small shuttle collided, emitting a clear sound.

But that black seal was not shattered by the small shuttle!

This red small shuttle is a one-time spiritual artifact, and also Xiao Qiyuan's final killing move.

Refining this shuttle is harder than refining that beast cage; it is a life-saving item given by his ancestor, and even a Golden Core cultivator would not fare well if caught off guard.

But the biggest drawback of such a powerful one-time spiritual artifact is that it only has the power of a single strike.

At the moment it was blocked by the black small seal, its power had already diminished by fifty or sixty percent.

"A magical treasure?!"

Xiao Qiyuan was stunned.

He possessed both a high-grade spiritual artifact and an extremely rare top-tier spiritual artifact, and now even a magical treasure had appeared—yet it was being used as a brick to smash.

For a moment he couldn't figure out whether he was the grandson of a Golden Core ancestor, or whether Yunhe had a Golden Core biological father.

"Cough!"

Yunhe coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, his hand gripping the black seal dripping with blood.

But he was unmoved, merely staring fixedly at Xiao Qiyuan while forming a hand seal with one hand.

Seeing this, Xiao Qiyuan panicked, again slapping his storage bag and throwing out a bunch of unremarkable-looking spiritual artifacts and even magical artifacts.

Buzz——

But then Yunhe's spirit insect bag opened, a golden-red cloud surged out, and the thrown spiritual and magical artifacts dimmed or even broke as the swarm swept past.

Under Xiao Qiyuan's terrified gaze, the swarm instantly enveloped him.

He didn't even have time to make a sound before being devoured by the crimson-ring gold-spotted bees.

His storage bag was also taken by the swarm.

"Sizzle!!!"

On the other side.

The beast soul banner dimmed, with more than half of the beast souls scorched.

The black tiger, wood jiao, and three-headed strange bird—the three main beast souls—also became noticeably illusory.

Even against a weakened, exhausted gold-fire centipede, relying solely on the beast souls within the beast soul banner was extremely difficult.

Now that Xiao Qiyuan is dead, the gold-fire centipede has lost control and gone completely berserk.

Yunhe's eye twitched, and he hastily recalled the beast soul banner.

He had originally been thinking about whether he could take the opportunity to slay this third-rank demon beast.

Now it seems he was overthinking it.

A skinny dead camel is still bigger than a horse; a third-rank demon beast is not so easy to kill.

Moreover, most importantly, because of the earlier series of disturbances, many skeletons controlled by the Heavenly Corpse Gu have already gathered.

Far away, Yunhe also sensed some movements that made his heart palpitate.

Perhaps another Heavenly Poison Corpse is rushing over.

He immediately dared not waste too much time on the rampaging gold-fire centipede, rolled up his belongings, and prepared to leave.

"Huh?"

However, as he was leaving, he noticed that a Heavenly Poison Corpse, its face utterly burned beyond recognition by the gold-fire centipede's flames, had a hint of copper hue in its bones.

A thought arose.

Regardless of whether it was a good thing, he swept his sleeve and tucked it into his storage bracelet.

Then he promptly employed the Earth Escape Technique to flee swiftly.

Not long after he left, the place erupted again with a huge commotion.

He once again arrived near the "gap" of the Black-Ring Hornet Forest.

This time Yunhe acted quickly.

He summoned the swarm of crimson-ring gold-spotted bees.

He directly shattered the black-ring hornet hive that the crimson-ring gold-spotted bees both craved and somewhat feared.

Amid the agitated black-ring hornets, he dug out two white bee eggs from the hive that left Yunhe somewhat astonished.

Moreover, they were dead eggs.

Yet they emitted a jade-colored glow.

Without examining them further, he stored them in his storage bracelet.

Afterward, with only minor obstruction, he charged out of the gap.

His vision blurred.

He had already returned to the vast mountains and forests.

After firmly remembering this place, Yunhe once again employed the Earth Escape Technique to depart.

————

PS: New month, please vote for monthly tickets!

(End of chapter)