Chapter 153: Feather Mountain Tianyi Was Drained Dry Again!
Everything was exactly as Fang Xu had anticipated. The followers of the Yanshen Sect below saw that the five people they had sent out had not returned for a long time, felt something was amiss, and even guessed that an external enemy might have infiltrated. In no time, they dispatched another dozen or so cultivators who had reached the seventh level of the Martial Master realm to crawl out from the underground cavern.
Among the dozen or so people, the Yanshen Sect follower leading the group had just crawled out of the underground cavern when he immediately began to cautiously guard his surroundings.
However, the corpses of the previous few Yanshen Sect followers had already been cleaned up by Fang Xu and Gu Qiu, leaving no trace at the scene.
After the dozen or so people crawled out, they had no suspicions whatsoever and directly walked out of the stone house, beginning to scout everything around them.
Not far away, watching the dozen or so people before him, Gu Qiu whispered: "This time, I'm afraid we can't eliminate them silently."
Fang Xu nodded.
The dozen or so people, with average strength around the seventh level of the Martial Master realm, would indeed be difficult to eliminate silently.
"I'll strike first, Senior Sister will follow."
With his cultivation only at the first level of the Martial Master realm, his strike would paralyze these Yanshen Sect followers, and Gu Qiu's subsequent strike would produce remarkable results.
But just as he turned around, upon discovering something, the eyes hidden beneath his mask suddenly widened!
"Is..."
"Senior Sister, step aside a little."
"Is it you!?"
"Senior Sister!"
The stars in the starry sky were all blades flashing with cold silver light!
The Yanshen Sect followers shaken by Fang Xu's move "War Trample" into a state of chaos had no time to react when the starry sky appeared above them, and countless silver blades rained down from the heavens!
Gu Qiu's move was indeed formidable.
"Do you know the earth-escape technique?"
The crimson tiger phantom, like a real fierce tiger, lunged directly at them!
Boom!
Seizing the moment of his daze, Fang Xu's fist directly struck his chest!
This punch, carrying unparalleled immense force, directly caved in his chest, shattering his five viscera and six bowels into minced meat!
Bang!
Bang!
The sudden commotion frightened the Yanshen Sect followers ahead badly.
The few people facing them all launched attacks to block, but were all sent flying by the tiger, spitting blood, clearly severely injured.
Fang Xu shook his head and said: "Although I don't know the earth-escape technique, I do know the Kui Ox Strength."
Seeing Fang Xu, these people were also greatly surprised.
Fang Xu smiled and nodded, pointing at the ground beneath his feet: "Enter from here."
"The commotion from the battle will surely alert the Yanshen Sect followers below; they probably won't come rushing up to die again." Fang Xu pondered for a moment and spoke.
Fang Xu was somewhat doubtful: with his current appearance, did they recognize him?
As soon as he finished speaking, she walked toward the stone house.
Didn't Gu Qiu say that this disguise technique could fool even most Martial Venerables?
How did these Yanshen Sect followers see through me at a glance?
The doubt in his heart flashed and vanished; he knew now was not the time to dwell on this, and he needed to quickly deal with these people.
Fang Xu called out to her: "Killing them down is necessary, but we cannot enter through that entrance."
This strange attack method left the Yanshen Sect followers somewhat surprised.
Gu Qiu frowned slightly as she approached him, jabbing the ground beneath her feet with her silver long sword, but found no hole.
This Yanshen Sect follower's reaction was also quite quick; before his fist could reach him, he immediately reacted, turning to block Fang Xu's attack.
Hearing the words of the leading Yanshen Sect follower, Fang Xu knew the other party had truly seen through his identity.
Fang Xu cautiously approached the Yanshen Sect follower walking at the rear, seeing that the distance was nearly closed, he immediately lunged out, his fist glowing with red light directly striking the person's back!
"He's here!"
Gu Qiu immediately swung her silver long sword and said: "Then let's kill our way down!"
After landing the hit, Fang Xu immediately stomped hard, combining the Kui Ox Strength secret technique with the Ba Ji steps, forming a move reminiscent of the most classic move from some game in his past life—War Trample!
The ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, a terrifying shockwave hurling the several people who had surrounded them into the air!
The next moment!
A brilliant starry sky suddenly appeared above the heads of the Yanshen Sect followers!
"How to enter?"
More than a dozen people turned around and looked toward Fang Xu.
Martial Masters possess the ability to emit qi outward in their attacks, but like Fang Xu's punch that unleashed a lifelike tiger, this attack method was something they had never seen before.
Although Gu Qiu still didn't quite understand Fang Xu's plan, she obediently retreated a distance.
"Senior Sister, this move of yours is very impressive." Fang Xu said with a smile while searching the bodies of the crowd for items.
Fang Xu nodded.
The terrifying aura made them feel a sudden chill.
Gu Qiu said doubtfully: "Did you find another entrance?"
"Heaven has a path you refuse to take; Hell has no gate, yet you barge in!"
Like encountering a baptism of arrow rain, more than a dozen people were instantly slain on the spot by countless silver blades!
The single-body damage of the silver blades is very high, and since this move is also a range attack, recklessly using it would pose a great threat to the enemy.
Facing the dozen or so people, Fang Xu's figure suddenly lunged out, a massive crimson tiger phantom enveloping his body!
The next moment!
The fist swung out, a huge tiger's phantom wrapping around the fist, directly lunging to bite the Yanshen Sect disciples in front!
"This is my divine ability." Gu Qiu said proudly: "Impressive, right?"
"Quickly grab him, catch him, the Lord Father will surely reward handsomely!"
Fang Xu looked at the ground beneath his feet, his aura suddenly erupting!
The next moment, his body shot upward from the spot into the high sky!
Then he fell vertically downward!
The terrifying falling speed caused friction between his blood and qi and the air, producing a red glow all over his body, the whole person resembling a human-shaped meteor!
Boom!
His body slammed heavily onto the ground!
Crack!
Crack!
Amid the scattering smoke and dust, a series of cracking sounds came from the ground below!
Hearing this sound, Gu Qiu instantly understood Fang Xu's plan, immediately bursting out, imitating Fang Xu's use of Kui Niu Jin.
Although her use of Kui Niu Jin was not as skilled as Fang Xu's, the power surging from her cultivation at the fifth level of Martial Venerate was still considerably stronger than Fang Xu's!
Her petite figure appeared almost flickering in midair, then flickered continuously twice.
Boom!
The terrifying impact force directly shattered the ground beneath their feet!
Amid the scattering smoke and dust, the two followed a large amount of broken stone and dust falling into an entire huge underground space!
"Ah!"
"Ouch!"
……
Beneath the rubble, many Yanshen Sect disciples were injured by this sudden cave collapse, crushed underneath, wailing incessantly.
They never expected Fang Xu and the other to act outside the routine, not choosing to enter through the cave entrance, but directly destroying the cave's vault and descending from the sky!
The builders of this secret Yanshen Sect outpost probably never imagined someone could use brute force to shatter dozens of meters of ground and kill their way in from this position.
"Kill!"
"It's Fang Xu, take him alive!"
"Enemy attack!"
……
The number of Yanshen Sect disciples in this outpost was not small; Fang Xu and the other had slain over twenty, buried many more, yet in the underground space before them there were still nearly a hundred martial artists, and at a glance, over a dozen had reached the Martial Venerate level.
"Oh no, we've kicked a hornet's nest!"
Gu Qiu glanced at the Yanshen Sect disciples inside the cave, her expression slightly changing: "Those six guys are all fifth-level Martial Venerates!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Xu's expression grew somewhat solemn as he whispered: "Can we win?"
With comparable cultivation, Gu Qiu, as a core disciple of the Ascension Immortal Society, certainly possesses strength somewhat greater than ordinary fifth-level Martial Venerates.
However, martial artists capable of cultivating to the fifth level of Martial Venerate are sufficient to prove that each person is not weak.
If it were one-on-one or one-on-two, Gu Qiu might still hold some advantage.
But now, the opposing side has six martial artists at the fifth level of Martial Venerate, plus seven or eight Martial Venerates below the fifth level.
Such strength is comparable to some top-tier forces of the Yu State.
Fang Xu felt deeply puzzled: the Yanshen Sect, defeated by the Yu State royal family in the past, should logically not be that strong overall.
Yet now, from several encounters between the two sides, he discovered the Yanshen Sect's strength far exceeds his imagination.
First, there was the Yanshen Sect disciple in the Tai Lan Mountain relics comparable to the Great Master Ku Lun, plus the Zhong Zhou of Fu Shan State and the Lian Shan old woman; adding that unknown divine blood and the momentary elevation of the Lian Shan old woman and Zhong Zhou to the seventh level of Martial Venerate, the current Yanshen Sect absolutely possesses strength to rival the Yu State royal family.
But the problem is, the current Yanshen Sect is the one defeated by the Yu State royal family, and over these many years, the royal family has never ceased suppressing the Yanshen Sect.
"Even if we can't win, we must fight."
A hint of resolve flashed across Gu Qiu's pretty face; she then slowly inserted her silver long sword into the ground before her, then took out a strange object from her cloth bag.
The object looked like a miniature wine jar, with a piece of paper bearing complex patterns pasted on its mouth.
Gu Qiu finally muttered some incantations, then slowly tore the paper off the miniature wine jar and opened the lid.
Roar!
A faint dragon chant echoed!
The next moment, a purple light shadow suddenly burst from the altar, directly entering Gu Qiu's body!
After the purple light entered her body, Gu Qiu's entire body began to erupt with a vast, majestic aura!
Immediately following, under Fang Xu's gaze, two things resembling deer antlers slowly emerged from her forehead sides, fine silver scales gradually grew on her face, and her body also grew considerably taller.
The pupils in her eyes gradually turned into silver-gray vertical slits, and the aura on her body underwent a tremendous transformation.
"Leave the Martial Venerates to me, the rest you handle yourself." Gu Qiu's voice, now in this transformed state, was icy, devoid of any human emotion.
Fang Xu nodded somewhat stiffly; the next moment, a silver light flashed beside him, and Gu Qiu's figure instantly vanished before his eyes.
When she reappeared, she had already rushed into the midst of the Yanshen Sect Martial Venerates!
Her silver long sword, carrying unmatched power, slashed toward the Martial Venerates!
Where the sword edge passed, the space before them produced faint ripples, as if the space would be sliced apart in the next moment!
"This strong!?" Seeing this, Fang Xu was completely dazed.
During the time he spent with Gu Qiu, he had always thought her strength wasn't too great, just that she had many tricks, seeming to know a little about everything.
Beast taming, poison cultivation, feng shui formations, research on ancient inscriptions, etc.
Seeing her display such a side today truly refreshed Fang Xu's perception of her.
Gu Qiu single-handedly blocked all the Martial Venerables of the Yanshen Sect, leaving the remaining martial artists below Martial Venerable level naturally becoming Fang Xu's opponents.
Having reached the peak of the first level of Martial Master, Fang Xu now has confidence to fight any martial artist below Martial Venerable level.
A flash of light appeared in his hand, and a strange long staff emerged!
In the next moment, he directly charged toward the nearly hundred Yanshen Sect Martial Masters!
After the battle began, Fang Xu's attacks remained violent, each strike carrying the force to crush withered wood and rotten timber, making the Yanshen Sect Martial Masters dare not block his attacks head-on, only able to scatter around him like actors coordinating a performance.
Many Martial Masters, unable to get close to Fang Xu, chose long-range attacks; for a moment, blade glows and sword glows, various fist energies and palm prints came from all directions toward Fang Xu!
Ordinary martial artists, let alone Martial Masters, even a beginner Martial Venerable facing such dense attacks from nearly a hundred Martial Masters would find it hard to resist.
Yet Fang Xu showed no fear at all, his body flashing with black mist.
In the next moment, three huge dragon-scale great shields appeared like three solid walls around his body!
The incoming energy blasts struck the dragon-scale great shields, having basically no effect at all.
All are Martial Masters; Fang Xu is naturally not one to silently endure beatings.
Taking advantage of the dragon-scale great shields blocking everyone's attacks, he also launched a counterattack.
His body leapt high into the air, the strange long staff in his hand suddenly expanded, a terrifying staff shadow nearly ten zhang long, like a collapsing mountain, carrying a suffocating momentum, smashed toward the Yanshen Sect Martial Masters!
The staff shadow's speed was extremely fast; from appearance to landing on the ground, it took only the blink of an eye!
Some Martial Masters who couldn't dodge in time were struck by the staff shadow, directly turning into blood mud!
Fang Xu seemed like a chaotic magic ape, surrounded by three huge dragon-scale great shields, waving a long staff filled with killing intent; with every move, he sent the Yanshen Sect martial artists scattering in all directions!
"Thirteen, that little beast is hard to deal with, you go help!"
On the other side of the battlefield, over ten Martial Venerables were currently besieging Gu Qiu after her transformation.
Similarly Martial Venerable fifth level, six Yanshen Sect Martial Venerables, with the assistance of martial artists below the seventh level Martial Venerable fifth level, could barely withstand Gu Qiu's offensive.
Seeing his subordinates, a group of Martial Masters, being slaughtered by Fang Xu like butchering chickens, one Martial Venerable fifth level Yanshen Sect Martial Venerable could no longer bear it, directly ordering a martial artist who had reached Martial Venerable first level to go fight Fang Xu.
Upon hearing his words, that Martial Venerable immediately flashed his body and charged toward Fang Xu's side to kill.
"Where to?"
"Your opponent is me."
As his body just moved, a cold voice came with it!
Gu Qiu's figure directly blocked in front of him, her entire body exuding an increasingly profound ancient and desolate aura, the two dragon horns on her forehead gradually solidifying!
Swish!
Brilliant silver radiance flashed past, like the most beautiful meteor tearing through the night sky!
Blood line surged upward!
A huge head instantly flew up!
The head of this Yanshen Sect Martial Venerable first level martial artist, as it flew out, seemed to still reflect that tragic and beautiful cold silver light in its eyes, the gaze carrying three parts intoxication, three parts doubt, three parts confusion, and one part surprise.
Gurgle gurgle!
Gurgle gurgle!
The head, having lost all luster in its eyes, rolled to the side of the gathered Martial Venerables, causing a hint of fear to appear in their eyes.
"Got stronger!"
"This little girl's strength is constantly increasing!"
"Big brother, I remember now!"
Gazing at Gu Qiu standing with sword in hand, one Martial Venerable exclaimed in astonishment: "This is the Soul Union Technique!"
Upon hearing his words, several Martial Venerables were stunned.
"Soul Union Technique, wasn't this created by Lin Yuan's father?"
"How did this little girl learn the Soul Union Technique?"
The Yanshen Sect's leader calls himself Fu Jun, and under him are five Chief Fathers; the Lin Yuan mentioned by that person is one of the five Chief Fathers from back then.
"Big brother, let's not worry about how this little girl obtained the Soul Union Technique for now!"
"Judging by this situation, the soul this little girl chose had terrifying strength in life; the longer the Soul Union Technique is used, the higher the fusion degree between the practitioner and the soul, and the practitioner's strength will also grow stronger."
"We can't drag this on any longer!"
After hearing his words, the remaining twelve people exchanged glances, then all looked toward the leading Martial Venerable fifth level Martial Venerable.
"Old Twelve, Old Nine, you two go watch the ritual; the rest, consume divine blood!"
The Yanshen Sect's divine blood is a mysterious and strange substance; martial artists who consume it immediately undergo abnormal changes, becoming impervious to blades and spears; even if they are already Martial Venerables, their strength will increase significantly after consumption.
Gu!
Gu!
……
One by one, after drinking the so-called divine blood, their auras suddenly became violent!
Regarding the actions of those few, Gu Qiu seemed disdainful, too lazy to even interrupt them, allowing them to drink the so-called divine blood.
"Hmph!"
"Divine blood, just some inferior products."
As the words fell, her figure flickered for a moment, instantly rushing into the midst of those few; her hand's silver long sword, having lost its substance, turned into streaks of silver light weaving between their bodies!
Clang!
Clang!
……
The streaks of light striking their bodies actually produced sounds similar to metal clanging, and large amounts of sparks appeared!
Gu Qiu seemed to be very familiar with the so-called divine blood of the Yanshen Sect; even though her attack could not temporarily harm a few people, she still attacked with all her might!
The ten people in the arena thought they could suppress Gu Qiu after taking the divine blood, and even kill her.
But as the fusion of the Soul-Union Technique deepened, Gu Qiu's strength grew stronger and stronger.
The ten Yanshen Sect martial venerables who had taken the divine blood could not suppress Gu Qiu, and were beaten by her alone to the point of having no power to parry.
Seeing that the energy of the divine blood was about to be exhausted, these martial venerables became anxious.
"Old Three, does the Soul-Union Technique have no time limit?" the leading martial venerable shouted anxiously.
This Soul-Union Technique is too terrifying; if there is no time limit, dragging it out further, they felt Gu Qiu could easily kill them all.
"I don't know!"
Old Three among the ten might have seen some records of the Soul-Union Technique somewhere, but obviously his understanding is not deep.
Gu Qiu's attack speed became faster and faster, her attacks more and more violent; until finally, each of her sword strikes could pierce the heavens above with terrifying sword qi, and piercing sunlight shone down from above!
As the battle intensified, the entire underground space seemed about to be destroyed.
On Fang Xu's side, after a round of slaughter, the more than thirty Yanshen Sect martial artists remaining had their courage broken by him and began to flee in disarray.
A group of martial artists with average strength at the fifth level of the Martial Master realm or above, chased by a martial artist of the first level of the Martial Master realm, had nowhere to go; if this were told, probably no one would believe it.
But Fang Xu is too terrifying!
The staff in his hand was now soaked with blood, emitting a strong killing aura!
Clang!
Just as Fang Xu was chasing and killing those Yanshen Sect martial artists, a clear sword chant rang out, and the heavens above were instantly split open by this sword light!
Immediately——
Crack!
Crack!
……
The heavens above had already been pierced with thousands of holes by Gu Qiu's terrifying sword qi; now, being split open by sword qi from within, they could no longer bear it, and began to emit cracking sounds.
Boom!
The cracking sounds rose and fell, and finally the heavens above collapsed like an avalanche, crashing down with terrifying force!
Seeing this, Fang Xu leapt up suddenly, swung his long staff, and smashed all the falling rocks away, his body directly shooting to the ground!
Below, some Yanshen Sect martial artists also resorted to various means and escaped from underground.
But this happened to collide with Fang Xu, who had arrived at the ground a step earlier.
Like whack-a-mole, when a martial artist just popped his head from underground, Fang Xu smashed him with a staff!
Everyone he hit had their skull shattered, red and white matter flying everywhere, dead beyond death.
Bang!
Just as Fang Xu was playing whack-a-mole on the ground, the ground not far ahead suddenly erupted with a powerful force!
Then, many figures burst out from underground!
These figures were naturally Gu Qiu and several martial venerables of the Yanshen Sect.
After they rushed up, two of them should have been the focus of Gu Qiu's attention; the scales on their bodies, produced by the divine blood, were broken inch by inch, and wounds of all sizes were continuously oozing blood!
"Big Brother, quickly let Old Nine and Old Twelve stop the sacrifice and release the Great Lord!"
"If we continue like this, we'll all be killed by this little slut!"
Hearing his words, the leading Yanshen Sect martial venerable showed a hint of unwillingness in his eyes: "But if we release him now, the Great Lord will no longer be the Great Lord."
"Big Brother, we can't hold on anymore!"
"If we die, that secret cannot be taken back!"
"Yeah! If we take that secret back, the Master Father won't blame us."
Several people were truly afraid of Gu Qiu and no longer wanted to entangle with her.
The leading martial venerable gritted his teeth and finally took out a bone whistle helplessly and put it to his mouth.
"Whistle!"
A sharp whistle sounded, and several people immediately wanted to flee far away.
But at this moment, Gu Qiu obviously did not intend to let them go; her body flickered several times, and in an instant she blocked the several people in front of them.
"Old Seven, Old Eleven, take this and hurry up!"
The two named people had their divine blood nearly exhausted in their bodies and could not withstand Gu Qiu's subsequent attacks.
The two nodded and directly left the battle circle, fleeing far away.
Gu Qiu flashed her body to chase, but the others, relying on the abnormal defense brought by the divine blood, forcibly blocked Gu Qiu.
"Courting death!"
She could clearly feel that the thing taken by the two was the Ascension Order!
The Ascension Order can guide the location of the Immortal Island; it absolutely cannot be let them take it away!
Gu Qiu fought desperately, her moves becoming more and more fierce, beating the remaining few into a sorry state.
"Not good!"
"Big Brother, I..."
A martial venerable of the fifth level of the Martial Master realm, under Gu Qiu's terrifying sword qi just now, had his scale armor shatter piece by piece, dissipating into energy in the air.
He had just wanted to call for help, but was instantly split in half by another sword light that came chasing after, his body divided from the middle!
After killing this martial venerable, Gu Qiu did not stop at all, and again chased after the two fleeing people.
Boom!
But just as she had chased out not far, beneath the ruined wreckage ahead, a terrifying power suddenly erupted!
It was like an earthquake, the surrounding houses instantly blown away by the force surging up from underground!
A large amount of foul-smelling blood water, mixed with countless corpses, severed limbs and broken bones, gushed out from underground!
Accompanying these things rushing out was a colossal creature!
It was a black giant python!
No, to be precise, it was more like a giant jiao!
Because several bulges had already appeared on its belly, and it would soon grow dragon claws and transform into a dragon!
The smoke and dust cleared, revealing the giant jiao's figure before Fang Xu and Gu Qiu.
"That is!"
Fang Xu had just finished saying that the martial masters of the Yanshen Sect had been slaughtered cleanly, when he saw this giant jiao rushing out from underground.
What shocked him was that the upper body of this giant jiao before him actually bore a human torso!
"Yushan Tianyi!?"
Seeing Yushan Tianyi's body fused with the giant jiao's body, Fang Xu's pupils constricted slightly.
The methods of the Yanshen Sect are too bizarre!
They actually managed to fuse a person and a giant jiao together, creating such a bizarre monster!
Yushan Tianyi's legs had already disappeared, replaced by the giant jiao's body, their fusion appearing utterly natural, as if born this way.
"Fang Xu!?"
The human-bodied, jiao-tailed Yushan Tianyi saw Fang Xu and instantly saw through his disguise technique, recognizing his true face!
"Thanks to you, I have become like this……"
Covered in blood mist, her naked body clad in fine scales, Yushan Tianyi moved her body, slowly approaching Fang Xu and Gu Qiu.
"Disgusting thing!"
Faced with Yushan Tianyi's approach, Gu Qiu's cold and arrogant face flashed with extreme disgust, and the silver long sword in her hand slashed out a terrifying sword light, aiming for Yushan Tianyi's head!
Clang!
Yushan Tianyi's jiao tail lashed out violently, directly shattering that sword light, her body lurching forward as she sniffed in Gu Qiu's direction.
"You have what I want inside you; eat you, and I will become stronger!"
"Eat you!"
The massive body moved with abnormal agility as it lunged toward Gu Qiu!
A flash of light appeared in Yushan Tianyi's hand, and two sharp bone spears materialized!
Using the tail as a foot, the half-human body was extremely agile, launching the most ferocious attack at Gu Qiu!
Clang!
Clang!
……
The two's speed had already reached an unbelievable level; with Fang Xu's current strength, he could only see faint afterimages, hearing the intense collision sounds.
At this moment, the martial venerables of the Yanshen Sect had already taken the opportunity to flee Beicang City, disappearing into the distance.
Fang Xu watched as the battle between the two sides became impossible to resolve, and a hint of anxiety rose in his heart.
Gu Qiu's power was obviously obtained through some secret art, and this power, like the Yanshen Sect's divine blood, must have some limit.
But Yushan Tianyi is different; her body fused with the giant jiao, though she has become neither human nor ghost, this terrifying power is real and substantial.
Dragging it out, once Gu Qiu's transformation effect fades, the two of them will only be hunted down!
"Senior sister, I'll help you!"
After hesitating repeatedly, Fang Xu immediately prepared to act!
Though he, as a mere interloper, could not join such a peak martial venerable battle, if he used the Magic Ape Three Transformations Divine Ability, he could still lend some aid.
Roar!
With a roar, a blood-colored magic ape silhouette over two zhang tall instantly appeared behind Fang Xu!
After the blood-colored magic ape silhouette appeared, Fang Xu immediately leapt onto Yushan Tianyi's back, and a terrifying fist came down directly on her jiao tail!
Bang!
Yushan Tianyi's agile tail met Fang Xu's descending fist and swept it away directly!
A tremendous explosive sound rang out, and a visible ripple sent the surrounding houses flying one after another!
Fang Xu retreated a few steps, but immediately charged forward again!
This time, the blood-colored giant ape's hands assumed a heaven-supporting posture, mobilizing vast amounts of heavenly and earthly energy around it, which rapidly gathered toward the top of the giant ape's head!
Gradually, these energies coalesced into four ancient tripod feet, then the tripod body, then the tripod ears!
A colossal bronze tripod apparition appeared; the ground beneath Fang Xu's feet cracked inch by inch, his legs also pressed down slightly, and a flash of inspiration in his mind made him think of this move—he hadn't expected that trying it would nearly crush himself to death!
Shout!
With a sudden explosive shout, the two-zhang-tall magic ape directly lifted the great tripod on its head and smashed it toward Yushan Tianyi!
Such a commotion naturally startled Yushan Tianyi; seeing this unprecedented strange attack method, feeling the oppressive pressure from the bronze great tripod, she immediately wanted to dodge!
But at this moment, Gu Qiu's figure flickered, and she directly nailed Yushan Tianyi's jiao tail to the ground with her long sword!
Boom!
The bronze great tripod came crashing down!
Although the heavenly and earthly energy condensed into the great tripod had no physical substance, the attack's effect was real!
The earth was smashed into a huge pit, and the scattered smoke and dust enveloped everything around!
After using this move, Fang Xu could no longer sustain the Magic Ape Three Transformations, and he went limp directly on the ground.
The smoke and dust cleared, and Gu Qiu at this moment also lay not far from Fang Xu, her eyes tightly closed, unknown whether alive or dead.
"Senior sister." Fang Xu struggled to his feet and walked over to Gu Qiu's side, reaching out to test her, and a look of relief appeared on his face.
Gu Qiu had merely fainted; it should be the aftereffect of using that secret technique just now.
After glancing at the deep pit smashed out by the bronze great cauldron and the disappearance of Yu Shan Tianyi into the pit, Fang Xu swallowed a sixth-grade Blood Qi Pill, replenishing his severely depleted Blood Qi Power, then lifted Gu Qiu up, preparing to leave this place first.
But he had only taken a few steps when a strong whistling sound suddenly came from behind!
Before Fang Xu could react, the whistling sound was already at his ears.
Bang!
A snake tail, its skin split and flesh torn, slammed hard into Fang Xu's dragon-scale great shield behind him!
The terrifying force directly knocked the dragon-scale great shield back into the aperture space, and also violently flung Fang Xu's body away!
Pfft!
Suffering this heavy blow, Fang Xu spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood in midair!
Gu Qiu, held in his arms, was also flung from his grasp and slammed hard onto the ground!
After landing, Fang Xu struggled to his feet, wiped the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth, turned, and looked at Yu Shan Tianyi not far away.
If not for having taken the inner armor from the Iron Steward of the Divine Arms Hall before coming here and wearing it, that blow from Yu Shan Tianyi just now would have left him either dead or severely injured even if he didn't die.
At this moment, Yu Shan Tianyi's lower body was in a miserable state from being smashed by the bronze great cauldron, with large amounts of scales falling off, and in some places even exposing stark white bones.
One arm was also smashed into a pulp by the bronze great cauldron, and at the wound, large amounts of fresh blood continuously poured out.
Even so, she seemed to still possess considerable strength, twisting her body and slowly approaching Fang Xu, a hint of a feral smile appearing on her handsome face:
"Fang Xu, you too have today!"
"Back when you drained my cultivation at the Ti Lan Mountain ruins, you took away ninety percent of it..."
"Causing me to be captured by this bunch of bastards and humiliated, and turned into what I am now..."
"It's all thanks to you!!!"
Yu Shan Tianyi roared madly!
Swish!
Her agile body suddenly darted in front of Fang Xu, her scarlet tongue like a snake's forked tongue, lightly flicking in front of Fang Xu, then she shifted her body again to come before the unconscious Gu Qiu, leaned in to sniff, and a hint of intoxication appeared on her face.
"Indeed, it's the taste of dragon blood!"
"After eating her, I can not only recover from my injuries, but my strength can further increase!"
With a flick of her form, she came before Fang Xu again, twisting her body and smiling: "By then... I will break through the Martial Venerable realm, and even have hope of returning to a human body."
Her remaining hand lightly stroked Fang Xu's face, and Yu Shan Tianyi smiled and said: "Although you nearly drained my cultivation at the Ti Lan Mountain ruins, I still truly like your violent and domineering appearance."
"It really makes one nostalgic..."
"Fang Xu, as long as you choose to submit to me and become my person, after I swallow this little girl, we can then march to Zhongzhou, slay Emperor Yu, and dominate Zhongzhou..."
"And you, will be this princess's sole male favorite..."
Looking at Yu Shan Tianyi swaying before him, Fang Xu said nothing; his body now had severely depleted Blood Qi Power, and he simply could not unleash divine abilities again.
And even though Yu Shan Tianyi before him was severely injured, if he did not unleash divine abilities, he truly had no way to deal with her.
He was thinking, carefully calculating his current means, what else could resolve the predicament before him.
Divine abilities are his greatest reliance, but now he cannot unleash them.
The secret technique Kui Niu Jin can still be unleashed, but Gu Qiu is now in a coma, and with her in tow, he estimates he cannot escape far.
As for the rest...
The remaining means seem unable to inflict fatal damage on Yu Shan Tianyi.
What should he do?
Seeing Yu Shan Tianyi unable to resist temptation, crawling toward the unconscious Gu Qiu, Fang Xu's eyes turned sideways, he reached out and beckoned the strange long staff fallen in the distance, and taking advantage of the partial recovery of his Blood Qi Power from the sixth-grade Blood Qi Pill within his body, he directly smashed it toward Yu Shan Tianyi's back!
Damn it!
When a person dies, the bird faces heaven!
I am not Xu Xian, with no weird fondness for playing with snakes; today, even if I have to fight with my life, I absolutely cannot fall into this monster's hands!
"I'm on guard against you!"
Seeing Fang Xu fly in to attack, Yu Shan Tianyi's body flashed agilely, and she lashed her tail at Fang Xu in midair!
If this strike lands, it would likely directly pound him into minced meat!
Hum!
While in midair, Fang Xu's feet flashed with black mist!
Three dragon-scale great shields formed three tiers of steps, allowing him to borrow force, and his figure directly arrived above Yu Shan Tianyi!
Kui Niu Jin!
His body carrying terrifying power plummeted rapidly, and Fang Xu directly stepped with one foot on Yu Shan Tianyi's abdomen!
The tremendous force brought her body toward the ground!
Raising the strange long staff in his hand, he violently stabbed it downward toward Yu Shan Tianyi's abdomen!
The long staff had no blade or point, but under Fang Xu's terrifying power, it still directly pierced through Yu Shan Tianyi's body, pinning her to the ground!
Bang!
Yu Shan Tianyi cried out in pain, her body suddenly jerked, flinging Fang Xu away!
Her body was huge, and although the strange long staff had pierced through her body, it was like a feathered arrow hitting an elephant—this kind of damage was insignificant.
"You seek death yourself, then I will grant it!"
Yu Shan Tianyi roared, her blood-stained flood dragon tail lashing directly at Fang Xu!
But as her tail just lifted, the expression on her face suddenly revealed a hint of strangeness, which immediately turned into a hint of fear!
She felt that something seemed to be wriggling on the strange long staff embedded in her abdomen!
Not bothering to attack and kill Fang Xu, Yushan Tianyi immediately wanted to curl up her body and pull out that strange wooden stick with her hands!
But the wooden stick was inserted in a position like a person's back, and no matter how Yushan Tianyi twisted her body, she couldn't reach that spot.
Bang!
Bang!
Feeling the wriggling sensation at the wooden stick's position becoming more and more obvious, even some things had already quickly pierced into her flesh and blood, Yushan Tianyi panicked!
Directly using her body to slam against the ground, the surrounding building ruins, trying to knock out the strange long stick!
On Fang Xu's side, he had already prepared himself for death, but at this moment he saw Yushan Tianyi acting like she had gone mad, constantly slamming into the surrounding buildings and ground. He frowned slightly, then flashed his body and grabbed Gu Qiu who was not far away.
The remaining Blood Qi Power in his body could still activate the Kui Niu Jin secret technique once.
Bang! His body like a shell fired from a cannon, Fang Xu holding Gu Qiu directly jumped out a hundred zhang away.
After landing, Fang Xu tried to recall the strange wooden stick, but felt a faint resistance.
"What's going on?"
Fang Xu didn't understand.
The strange wooden stick is his life-bound weapon, it absolutely cannot be lost.
Looking at the distant completely mad Yushan Tianyi, Fang Xu for a moment didn't know what to do.
Time passed bit by bit, Fang Xu just watched the distant Yushan Tianyi frantically slamming into everything around her, but the commotion was getting smaller and smaller.
Until an hour later, all commotion had already disappeared.
Looking at the sky full of smoke and dust, Fang Xu was very curious.
Dead?
Yushan Tianyi had no movement, and he didn't know if she was tired or dead.
The smoke and dust slowly dispersed, Fang Xu placed Gu Qiu on a door panel, and quietly moved toward the original position.
Everything around had been violently swept flat by Yushan Tianyi's frenzy. In the ruins, when Fang Xu arrived, he suddenly discovered that Yushan Tianyi was already dead!
And her death state was extremely strange!
Originally her huge body now only remained as a skeleton, in the middle of the skeleton, the strange long stick was left in place, and the top of the stick had actually grown a thin branch, with several tender sprouts on it!
Fang Xu came forward, slowly grasped the stick, and instantly felt a surge of vigorous vitality coming from it!
Alive!?
This stick actually came alive!
From a strange wooden stick turned into a small sapling!?
This...
After Fang Xu was stunned, he also felt a mix of laughter and tears.
His weapon actually turned into a sapling, can it still be used as a weapon in the future?
After carefully examining the "small sapling" in his hand, and looking at the ground where only Yushan Tianyi's skeleton remained, Fang Xu for a moment didn't dare to put the stick back into his aperture space.
This thing only took an hour to drain Yushan Tianyi dry; if he put it into his aperture space, would it also drain him dry?
This stick is his life-bound weapon; if he doesn't put it away, he can't always hold it, can he?
Who carries a small sapling as a weapon?
After hesitating for a moment, thinking about the mystery of his aperture space, Fang Xu immediately still put the small sapling inside.
In the aperture space, after the small sapling appeared, it didn't behave as Fang Xu imagined, but continued to float quietly in midair.
Only Fang Xu could clearly see that the bottom of the small sapling was sprouting fine roots, these fine roots were just like this embedded in the void, very strange.
After confirming three times that the small sapling would not cause him any harm, Fang Xu returned to Gu Qiu's side, picked her up, and walked toward the inn where they had stayed the previous night in the city.
This time he didn't know whether he had completed the mission or not.
But at present, Gu Qiu didn't know when she would wake up, and he must bring her back to the Ascension Immortal Society as soon as possible.
Walking through the streets of Beicang City, Fang Xu found that the shops originally open for business in the city now had no one.
At the inn's door, his and Gu Qiu's Cloud-Treading Steeds had also disappeared at this moment.
Seeing this situation, his face instantly turned somewhat ugly.
Certainly, it was because earlier the two of them and the slaughter with the Yanshen Sect had frightened all the commoners in the city away.
And the two Cloud-Treading Steeds, either they were frightened and broke free of their reins to run away, or they were stolen by someone.
Fang Xu was very helpless, looking at the old donkey tied in the stable beside the inn, not caring about anything else, he found a cart in the inn's backyard, led out the old donkey, hitched it to the cart, and took Gu Qiu toward the city gate.
Beicang City is nearly a thousand li away from Liangzhou City; this distance on the Cloud-Treading Steeds is nothing at all.
But on this old donkey's body, it is a distant goal.
The old donkey's speed is very slow, only able to travel thirty li in a day, Fang Xu really couldn't bear it.
Directly taking out several bottles of second-grade Jingyuan Pills from his Qiankun Bag and stuffing them into the old donkey's mouth.
After taking the Jingyuan Pills, the old donkey was like injected with chicken blood, and started to gallop wildly.
In this way, whenever the old donkey stopped, Fang Xu would feed it two Jingyuan Pills.
He has plenty of these, all obtained from slaughtering those martial artists and looting them at the Tilan Mountain ruins.
Seven days later, they finally saw the outline of Liangzhou City ahead.
At this moment, Gu Qiu still hadn't woken up; Fang Xu put her down from the cart, then pulled off the old donkey's reins: "These few days you've worked hard, go on your own."
After entering Liangzhou City, he could spend money to buy some excellent horses, naturally he wouldn't need the old donkey anymore.
At this moment, letting it go here to live and die on its own, it wouldn't be in vain for these days of hard work.
The old donkey looked at Fang Xu, let out a few loud calls, as if wanting to ask for two more Jingyuan Pills.
Seeing this, Fang Xu felt a mix of laughter and tears.
This guy, he's gotten addicted to eating them.
From the Qiankun bag, he took out two Jingyuan Dan again and threw them to the old donkey, then he directly brought Gu Qiu into Liangzhou City.
At the gathering place of ascetics in the city, when Fang Xu arrived, he happened to meet an ascetic coming out of the slums.
"Excuse me, is Master Ku Lun here?" Fang Xu asked.
The ascetic was stunned for a moment, looking at the unconscious Gu Qiu in Fang Xu's arms, and simply assumed he was an ordinary person come to seek healing from Master Ku Lun.
"Master Ku Lun is in seclusion; if you are willing to wait, go inside and find any place to stay."
In seclusion?
Fang Xu hesitated for a moment, but ultimately still chose not to wait for him to emerge.
At his level, a seclusion could last as short as over a month or as long as a year; seeking him out was no big deal, he was just passing by and wanted to pay a visit.
Leaving the ascetics' gathering place, Fang Xu spent a large sum to buy a carriage and two fine horses, then directly departed Liangzhou heading north to the grasslands.
He did not intend to cross the Death Sand Sea.
His previous crossing of the Death Sand Sea had left a deep shadow in his heart; had it not been for the old ape, he might have been trapped and died there.
Moreover, the reason for detouring to the northern grasslands was also to check whether the Yun family had already migrated into the grasslands.
The carriage sped forward, and by late night, even the two fine horses could no longer run.
This time, he was not in a hurry to rush, so he prepared to rest a while in this desolate Gobi beach.
Under the night sky, Fang Xu sat cross-legged beside the carriage, cultivating.
A breeze blew, bringing a faint scent of blood that caught his attention.
He slowly opened his eyes, gazing in the direction the wind came from; in the darkness, he saw nothing and heard no sound.
Perhaps it was just some fierce beasts in the Gobi beach fighting each other.
Thinking so, he continued to close his eyes and cultivate.
The east gradually showed fish-belly white; Gu Qiu in the carriage slowly opened her eyes, her expression somewhat dazed as she looked around, then suddenly sat up with a jerk, lifted the carriage curtain, and saw Fang Xu cultivating beside her, letting out a slight sigh of relief.
"Where are we?" Gu Qiu asked.
Fang Xu opened his eyes at the sound: "Senior sister, you finally woke up."
Gu Qiu got down from the carriage, stretched her body, and looked around: "Where is this?"
"On the way to the northern grasslands," Fang Xu said: "You've been unconscious for nearly ten days, senior sister; I plan to take you back to the Ascension Alliance and ask Steward Xu to examine you."
Gu Qiu shook her head: "I'm fine; the unconsciousness was due to the Soul-Union Technique injuring my soul, causing me to fall into a coma to repair the soul damage."
Soul-Union Technique?
Fang Xu asked curiously: "Is that the transformation technique you used, senior sister?"
Gu Qiu nodded, then added: "The Ascension Order..."
Fang Xu gave a bitter smile: "They took it away."
"Alas!"
Gu Qiu sighed deeply, gazing at the overcast sky and murmuring: "This time, the immortal island is likely in great trouble."
"Fang Xu, after returning to the Ascension Alliance, I must hurry back to the immortal island."
Fang Xu said nothing; he did not know why Gu Qiu feared the exposure of the immortal island's location so much.
"Then shall we depart now?" After a long while, Fang Xu spoke.
Gu Qiu nodded, then looked puzzled at the carriage beside her: "Where are our Tianma steeds?"
"They were stolen..."
"..."
The two abandoned the carriage by the roadside, each mounting a fine horse and galloping off into the distance.
At dawn, the two raced across the Gobi beach, when suddenly they discovered several corpses lying scattered across the ground beside them.
From the bloodstains not yet fully dried, it could be seen that these people had died not long ago.
Though the two had no intention of getting involved, as they passed the corpses, Fang Xu suddenly discovered that among the bodies was actually an acquaintance!
The commander of Huangzhou's prefectural troops, Lü Yuan!
Lü Yuan was the commander of Huangzhou's prefectural troops; at that time, he was the one who led Wang Erhu and other prefectural troops to Fenglin Town to exterminate the witches. Although Fang Xu did not know his exact strength then, judging by his current knowledge, a prefectural troop commander of a province is at least at the early stage of Martial Sovereign.
But why did Lü Yuan die here?
"Senior sister, wait a moment."
Having reined in his warhorse, Fang Xu dismounted and walked to Lü Yuan's corpse.
"Do you know him?" Gu Qiu asked.
Fang Xu nodded:
"The commander of Huangzhou's prefectural troops."
"Why did he die here?"
Gu Qiu also leaned over to examine Lü Yuan's wounds: "On the surface, there are no fatal injuries; he was killed by a continuous soft force that shattered his internal organs."
"The bodies of several people have been searched, their possessions and treasures are still intact; the killer must have been looking for something."
Fang Xu nodded; he had already roughly guessed the killer's identity in his mind, but still could not figure out why Lü Yuan had come here.
He should not be in Huangzhou at this time, or perhaps accompanying the Yun family to the Muyun Grasslands?
It seems, to understand this, I still need to meet the Yun family members.
"Senior sister, let's go."
After glancing at Lü Yuan, Fang Xu said, and the two immediately mounted their horses and continued galloping toward the Muyun Grasslands.
(End of Chapter)
End of Chapter
