Chapter 72: Classification of Cultivation Methods and Spirit Techniques

Long Xuan covered his face well and quickly approached the battlefield. After maintaining a certain distance from the flock of eagles, he waved his palms in the air twice. Flames swirled around his palms, tracing a long line of fire. After gathering his strength, he struck this palm heavily toward the sky.

"Blazing Flame Palm!"

With a violent shout, in an instant, a great fire spread. A sea of fire filled the entire sky, igniting the heavens and forming a massive fire cloud.

The entire flock of eagles was enveloped by the sea of fire, and a chorus of miserable shrieks from black eagles erupted from within.

The people below only felt a sudden, scorching heat wave hit their faces, and the glare of the flames made it difficult for them to open their eyes.

They only felt as if something in the sky was falling like dumplings, constantly dropping down. Some smashed into the crowd, others into the wolf pack, and the ground shook with each impact.

Everyone was stunned.

Just as they hadn't yet reacted to what was happening, another massive wave of fire rose from the ground, instantly swallowing the wolf pack, and a chorus of wolf howls erupted.

In just a single moment, the entire ground was covered in a sea of fire, so vast that the wolf pack had nowhere to escape.

At this moment, both sky and ground were filled with fire. The heat wave hit their faces, and everyone was sweating profusely; as soon as the sweat emerged from their skin, it was baked dry by the intense high temperature.

Everyone was gasping for air, as if they were oxygen-deprived.

After his last actual combat, Long Xuan had deeply realized the shortcomings of this move. Therefore, after improvements and hard training, the attack range of his Blazing Flame Palm could be perfectly controlled, ensuring he wouldn't accidentally injure his teammates.

But even so, although the flames clearly didn't burn them, they still had the feeling of being about to be roasted.

If those standing on the ground felt this way, it went without saying for the wolf pack caught in the sea of fire.

As the miserable shrieks gradually weakened, one after another, charred wolf corpses were left on the ground, emitting a burnt smell.

Everyone stared at this scene, dumbfounded and extremely shocked.

One must never think that spirit beasts are afraid of fire just because they have fur, as if their fur would ignite at the slightest touch.

That was not the case at all. Fireball Technique was considered the most basic ability; who couldn't release a fireball? But could they ignite a spirit beast? Far from it.

Whether it was a Gu cultivator or a spirit beast, they could allow spiritual power to adhere to their skin, forming a membrane of spiritual power. This was called Spirit Power Body Protection, also known as Spirit Armor.

A Gu cultivator's Spirit Armor could effectively prevent others from planting Gu on them, and a spirit beast's Spirit Armor could also insulate against fire and all other conventional damage.

Therefore, ordinary flames were completely useless against spirit beasts. Otherwise, why would this beast tide be so difficult to resolve? Wouldn't a single fire attack have wiped them all out?

But this sea of fire was completely different. Not only was its area astonishingly large, but it could also easily burn through the Spirit Armor on the spirit beasts' skin.

In the face of such power, the spirit beasts' numerical advantage was useless. Unless the spirit beasts were of a high enough grade, no matter how many came relying on the "beast sea" tactic, they would all die.

Lei Yun swallowed hard. Spirit techniques, body techniques, and cultivation methods were divided into Human Grade, Spirit Grade, Earth Grade, and Heaven Grade.

Could this spirit technique have already reached the Heaven Grade?! Where on earth did this ruthless person come from!

Heaven Grade spirit techniques were completely non-existent in this region. Who exactly was this person? Could it be a genius from a great clan who had come to provide support from another region?

Lei Yun looked at the masked person who had joined the battlefield with a face full of shock, unable to recover for a long time.

Heaven Grade spirit techniques possessed the power to destroy the heavens and the earth. Seeing it today was truly extraordinary; it opened his eyes and made his gaze burn with intensity.

"Brother! Many thanks!"

There was no time to say anything more; he quickly pounced toward the Eagle King that had already fallen from the sky.

After all, Long Xuan's cultivation realm was too low; his ultimate move could only clear out spirit beasts below the First Rank Late Stage.

His flames could not burn through the Spirit Armor of First Rank Peak spirit beasts and beast kings.

Therefore, although the ground was covered in beast corpses, there were still dozens of First Rank Peak spirit beasts alive.

But this situation had already greatly reduced the pressure on the geniuses.

At this moment, it was more than just a reduction in pressure; the number of geniuses was now on par with the number of spirit beasts. Not only was their pressure greatly reduced, but they also had a chance to fight and win.

Everyone radiated the hope of survival, smiles of having survived a disaster appearing on their faces. They were full of confidence for the upcoming battle, and their fighting spirit soared.

One by one, they roared and charged at the dozens of surviving First Rank Peak spirit beasts.

As for Lei Yun, the captain of this small team, his target was only one: that most troublesome Eagle King in the sky.

Taking advantage of the rare opportunity while the Eagle King had fallen to the ground, he immediately flew and pounced on it, pinning the Eagle King to the ground, and both man and eagle rolled several times.

His legs firmly entangled the Eagle King's body, clamping its wings tightly to prevent it from having any chance to fly again.

Once this thing flew, it would be impossible to fight, so Lei Yun would never let it fly again no matter what.

Naturally, Long Xuan's target was also this Eagle King. After arriving, he ran toward the Eagle King with a clear goal.

Taking advantage of Lei Yun controlling the Eagle King's body, he ignored "martial virtue" and began a fierce barrage of strikes against the eagle's head.

"Destroying Life Palm! Destroying Life Palm! Destroying Life Palm..."

Long Xuan swung both palms, not knowing how many palms he had struck within a second.

Only when the Eagle King's head completely drooped did he stop his destruction of the Eagle King.

Lei Yun was completely stunned. How astonishing was the defensive power of a beast king? Was it something that could be broken just by saying so?

It clearly should have been a grueling, protracted battle, yet it was easily resolved by him in a few palms?

Moreover, there were clearly no external injuries on the Eagle King's head, yet it miraculously died for no reason without any injuries. It died in a truly bizarre way.

Could this palm technique also be some Heaven Grade spirit technique? Was his family's Heaven Grade spirit technique sold wholesale? Lei Yun thought, extremely shocked.

Just as he was about to open his mouth, he was stopped by Long Xuan extending a palm: "No need to thank me, and no need to ask my name. I never leave my name when I do good deeds!"

Lei Yun's open mouth froze, his face blank.

Not leaving one's name when doing good deeds is a traditional virtue, worthy of praise, but if you don't leave your name, you don't leave your name—what is the meaning of you taking the Eagle King away?

The Eagle King was clearly killed by the two of them working together; even if the spoils of war were to be divided, it should be split equally.

Who didn't know that the Eagle King had a high drop rate, was very likely to produce top-grade spirit insects, and that its entire body of beast king materials was worth a sky-high price?

Is it really okay for you to put it into your own storage bag so openly?

Lei Yun wanted to speak but stopped, but in the end, he didn't say it out loud.

Forget it! Forget it! At least he is his own savior; he wouldn't haggle with him. Let it be considered the reward for saving his life!

Could he really have a conflict with a mysterious person of unfathomable depth over this matter?

Lei Yun thought helplessly.

Seeing Long Xuan leave the battlefield immediately after taking the Eagle King's corpse, turning and walking away without any intention of helping to the end, the corners of his mouth twitched. Is this "take the loot and run"?

He seriously suspected that this person hadn't come to save them at all; this person's target was entirely that Eagle King, and they were just basking in the Eagle King's light.

He was bewildered for a moment. After a brief daze, he turned and charged into the battlefield to help his teammates deal with the remaining First Rank Peak spirit beasts.

Although the mysterious person had no intention of continuing to help, he believed that relying on the strength of their group was enough to finish off the remaining spirit beasts; it would just cost a not-insignificant price.

At this time, Lei Guang, hiding behind a giant rock, looked at this scene with a livid face, his clenched fists trembling non-stop, finally smashing heavily against the giant rock.

"Damn it! Meddlesome!"

He looked viciously at Long Xuan's departing back, his face hideously terrifying, his eyes filled with murderous intent, as if he wanted to eat someone.

Finally, he got up and followed the person who had ruined his good deed...

On the way to meet up with the Flame Clone, he accidentally picked up a top-grade spirit insect, which could be considered an unexpected joy.

Long Xuan had to sigh at his own good luck; the smile on his face had never stopped along the way.

But at the same time, he didn't relax his vigilance. In this dangerous zone where a beast flock would charge over from time to time, how could he possibly relax his vigilance?

From time to time, he would use the Heavenly Mechanism Eye to look into the distance, observing the location of the nearest beast flock so as to avoid them in time.

But the ability of the Heavenly Mechanism Eye required the consumption of spiritual sense, so he couldn't keep it on all the time.

Until he passed a giant tree, he suddenly stopped his footsteps.

That tree was very tall and large, enough to cover many things. He clearly saw obvious progress behind that tree.

The volume and size of a person were about the same. Judging from the width and height of the numbers, the possibility of a person being behind the tree was very high, which made his pupils shrink, and he immediately became vigilant.

"Who is there? Come out! I've already seen you!" Long Xuan shouted toward behind the tree.

Lei Guang, who was hiding behind the tree, was taken aback, his face full of bewilderment. How exactly did this person discover him? The tree was clearly very large, and he was hiding very well.

To be careful, he had also used the Color-Changing Gu to turn his body into the color of wood, blending in with the tree trunk. Logically speaking, it should have been absolutely impossible for him to discover him.

It was truly evil.

Relying on his fast speed, he had long ago surpassed Long Xuan, setting up an ambush on his path ahead of time, just waiting for him to pass by this tree to suddenly launch a sneak attack and give him a fatal blow.

Who would have thought that his disguise would be so easily seen through, making him very unhappy and very embarrassed.

Since he had already been discovered, there was no need for him to continue hiding here; he could only walk out from behind the tree on his own.

"Kid! Good eyesight. You are the first person who can see through my disguise. You are worthy of being a genius from a great region."

"However, I, Lei Guang, have always liked killing geniuses the most, and I have never feared the background behind them."

"You don't need to tell me your name and your background. I don't want to know, and I have no interest in knowing. No matter how big your background is, you are going to die today!"

Lei Guang looked at Long Xuan with bloodthirsty eyes and said sternly.

Hearing this, Long Xuan was thoughtful.

Through the words of the person who came, he judged a lot of information.

Since this person inexplicably suspected that he was a genius from a great region, it couldn't be without basis; it must be that his performance of "fire burning the heavens" just now was seen by him.

In other words, this person was near the battlefield just now, and while he was clearly on the battlefield, he didn't take action to help. Not saving people was one thing, but he didn't leave either; instead, he chose to hide, not moving for a long time, making it impossible for anyone to discover his existence.

Even if they were in the same camp, there was no need to hide so tightly if they weren't helping, right?

With such an action that went against common sense, Long Xuan had to suspect that those two beast flocks were brought over by this person.

He felt that his guess was not far off; otherwise, why would this person follow him and look at him with such hatred?

If the situation was really as he guessed, then this matter today definitely couldn't end well.

With Long Xuan's wisdom, he deduced seven or eight out of ten of this matter in a very short time.

Just as Long Xuan was thinking, Lei Guang saw that Long Xuan didn't reply immediately, so he stopped dawdling and charged over directly. Lightning flashed under his feet, and he appeared in front of Long Xuan like a teleportation.

"So fast!" Long Xuan's face changed slightly. Because the opponent was too close, it was inconvenient for him to use a sea of fire to attack, otherwise, it would easily affect himself. He could only use the Destroying Life Palm to meet the opponent.

A small cluster of green soon appeared in his palm, and he swung both palms to strike at Lei Guang.

However, Lei Guang had just been watching from behind the giant rock and had clearly seen the power of this palm technique.

Even a beast king with abnormal defense died silently under this palm technique; how could he dare to take it head-on?

Therefore, although he was at the Spirit Gathering Peak realm and was one level higher than Long Xuan, he didn't intend to clash head-on with him. Instead, he avoided his attack, his fist flashing with lightning, and he punched Long Xuan's chest.

Long Xuan only felt lightning flashing under this person's feet, his speed extremely fast, easily dodging all his attacks. He himself was caught off guard and took a punch to the chest.

Long Xuan was shocked. This was a speed-type opponent, extremely good at speed, who could dodge all his attacks, while he himself found it very difficult to dodge his attacks. Thinking about it, it made sense; how could the speed of someone who could lure a flock of eagles be slow?

His face sank. Speed was a shortcoming for him right now.

Although he was a Ten Extremes Body and the spirit techniques he researched were exaggeratedly powerful, it was useless if he couldn't hit anyone.

Instead, because his speed was too slow, he would take a few punches from time to time. However, because of the existence of the Cockroach Gu, it was completely impossible for him to be seriously injured by a few punches.

It was just that every time he took his lightning punch, the lightning would surge into his body, causing a numbing effect, making him feel very uncomfortable.

"Hehe! You are too slow! My Lei Clan's top-grade spirit insect, the Thunder Glow Gu, can make people possess a movement speed comparable to lightning. Even a flying eagle can't catch up to me. How can you fight me!"

"Even if your spirit technique is amazingly powerful, it's only my turn to hit you, and not your turn to hit me. You are destined to be defeated today, destined to die at my hands!"

Lei Guang gave a ferocious laugh and smashed his fist heavily into Long Xuan's chest again. At the same time, the lightning on his fist surged crazily into his body.

However, seeing him still jumping around, as if his attack was just giving him a "scraping," Lei Guang's face sank, feeling a sense of being humiliated. His face also became increasingly ugly because of this.

At this moment, he also realized his lack of attack power and swore that next time he pitted a group of geniuses to death, he must refine an attack-type spirit insect.

Otherwise, having only speed but being unable to break the opponent's defense was equally useless.

"Hehe! You are worthy of being a genius from a great region. Your turtle shell is really hard enough."

"However, water drips through stone. I want to see how many heavy punches your turtle shell can withstand from me."

Lei Guang roared, his fist covered in lightning, flashing with blinding light, making a crackling sound, and attacked Long Xuan again.

Long Xuan showed a solemn expression. The opponent he was facing this time was different from all the others; he was far, far stronger than those bit-part scattered cultivators from before.

Even Feng Wu was far from being as troublesome as this person. He had already guessed that this person's background was definitely not simple and was definitely not so easy to deal with.

This also extinguished his urge to take out Little White. Logically speaking, Little White's Slowing Domain could greatly limit his movement speed, which was undoubtedly a natural counter to this opponent.

But at this critical juncture, he was unusually calm. Right now, neither side had revealed their outer Gu; whoever exposed their trump card first would be the first to be at a disadvantage.

If he were to use his outer Gu first, it would break the current balance and force the opponent to also send out their outer Gu to participate in the battle.

This opponent might not be doing this for the first time, using spirit beasts to pit geniuses to death, which meant his wealth was extremely fat. Fat wealth meant he was very likely to have refined more than one top-grade spirit insect.

Who knew how many spirit insects were in his insect breeding bag, but this genius from a great clan definitely couldn't have only one outer Gu; this was certain.

If he released Little White and forced the opponent to release a pile of very troublesome spirit insects, the situation might become even worse.

Whether Little White could handle so many spirit insects was really hard to say. At that time, it was very likely that a worse crisis than the current one would appear.

Therefore, even if Long Xuan had to endure being beaten passively, he absolutely didn't intend to be the first to use his outer Gu.

Little did he know that his opponent, Lei Guang, had the same psychology at this time. The reason he had been slow to release his outer Gu was also because of his many misgivings.

The person in front of him was clearly a genius from a great region. What trump cards he had were unknown, and what spirit insects he had were unknown. Who knew how many spirit insects he had on him?

Up to now, this person had also been fighting with spirit techniques and hadn't exposed a single spirit insect. All the spirit insects on him were currently unknown, making him extremely wary.

How could the spirit insects on a genius from a great region be weak? And how could they be few?

Therefore, he was afraid that once he used his outer Gu first, it would force this genius from a great region to also use his outer Gu.

Who knew what kind of abilities the spirit insects from the outer region possessed, and how strong they would be? The variables were simply too great.

If he used his outer Gu and caused the opponent to take out stronger and more numerous outer Gu, then he would be unlucky. It was very likely to break the current advantageous situation, putting himself into endless passivity, and even appearing in a crisis.

Therefore, he didn't dare to use the top-grade spirit insects hidden in his insect breeding bag at all. He could only "if the enemy doesn't move, I don't move," dealing with changes by remaining unchanged.

Both sides thought of the same thing. Just like that, they tacitly didn't use their outer Gu, only doing close-quarters entanglement.

However, such a situation was clearly unfavorable to Long Xuan. He used his wisdom to quickly find a way to break the situation.

People with big brains have never had low IQs, and he quickly thought of a way to deal with it.

He grabbed two healing pills and threw them into his mouth, swallowing one and hiding one under his tongue for emergencies.

In case of a critical situation where he didn't have time to take out healing pills from his storage bag, the healing pill hidden under his tongue would be his life-saving straw.

After he "healed" himself, he ran wildly in one direction.

Seeing that the opponent was about to be injured under his attack, yet now he had instantly "healed" himself again, Lei Guang suddenly had the urge to vomit blood.

"Run? Where are you running to! Even if you have a hundred healing pills today, you are destined to die!"

"You can't escape under my speed at all. I want to see who can't hold out first!"

Lei Guang grabbed a Spirit-Replenishing Pill from his storage bag and threw it into his mouth. The consumed spiritual power slowly returned, and then lightning flashed under his feet, and he quickly chased after Long Xuan.

"You're already not working after fighting for such a short time? You still have to take medicine. Are you a bit weak? Is your body not working?" Long Xuan looked back and mocked.

"You're looking for death!"

Lei Guang was completely enraged by this sentence, his eyes spitting fire, and he charged toward Long Xuan with towering anger.

Long Xuan fought and retreated with him. It seemed like he was running, but in fact, he was deliberately leading the battlefield in a certain direction. After approaching a certain position, he suddenly roared without warning. The sound was so loud that it actually gave Lei Guang a fright.

At the same time, the wolf king of a wolf pack in the distance suddenly twitched its ears, its fierce gaze immediately looking in a certain direction. After howling, it led a wolf pack of hundreds toward this direction.

How keen was the hearing of spirit beasts? Even if the wolf pack was far from the location where the two were fighting, Long Xuan's roar just now was enough for the wolf king to notice.

Lei Guang hadn't reacted to what was going on, completely unable to figure out Long Xuan's sudden roar.

When a wolf pack of hundreds charged into the battlefield of the two not long after and launched a fierce attack on both of them, his face turned pale, and he finally understood what that roar just now was about.

"Are you crazy? You won't be able to escape if you lure the wolf pack here! If you want to die, don't drag me with you!" Lei Guang was furious and cursed.

This was a wolf pack of hundreds. No matter how much of a genius he was, how could he single-handedly fight hundreds of wolves? In just a moment, he was in danger under the siege of the wolves, actually taking several wolf claws.

At this time, he finally experienced the taste of being besieged by spirit beasts, which could be considered as "treating others with their own way."

Watching Lei Guang appear injured under the siege of the wolves, Long Xuan sneered in his heart. Sure enough, it was just as he expected.

Through a brief exchange, he had already seen it. The Thunder Glow Gu was fast, but it was actually good at straight-line running, fast in speed, but not faster than agility.

In the complex melee environment of the battlefield, one needed to dodge attacks from all directions. In this situation, the speed of the Thunder Glow Gu was useless.

Good at straight-line speed, where could he charge? Wherever he charged, he would plunge into the wolf pack.

Straight-line speed was useless, and he wasn't agile enough. Under the attacks of the wolves from all directions, he couldn't dodge, and could only have a wound torn open by the wolves from time to time, or have a piece of meat bitten off, looking very miserable.

Long Xuan's situation was completely different. Not to mention that he had the Cockroach Gu to resist, he was at ease facing the siege of the wolf pack. Up to now, he hadn't been touched by the wolf pack once.

Every wolf that pounced on him could be easily dodged by him with a tiny range. So many wolves couldn't even touch a corner of his clothes.

The "Entering the Subtle" movement technique he developed based on the Heavenly Mechanism Eye had long been completed. Don't ask when he practiced it; he didn't practice it at all; it was all the credit of his clones.

Under the "Entering the Subtle" movement technique, he was very good at dodging attacks from all directions. The wolf pack found it difficult to touch him once, forming a sharp contrast with the miserable Lei Guang.

Not only that, while dodging the attacks of the wolves, he would attack Lei Guang from time to time.

Lei Guang had to deal with the attacks of the wolves while also dealing with Long Xuan's attacks, feeling annoyed.

Two fists are no match for four hands. At this time, it was more than just four hands. Under Long Xuan's interference, his back added several more wounds.

However, he was worthy of being the strongest genius of the Lei Clan. Even in such a situation, he could still start a massacre. Every time his fist flashing with lightning swung out, a wolf would die miserably on the ground. Not long after, a pile of wolf corpses was left on the ground.

But as his wounds increased, if there was no way to break the situation, being besieged to death was only a matter of time. One had to know that there was still a wolf king waiting on the sidelines.

Lei Guang turned his head to look at Long Xuan with hatred, finding that he was like strolling in a courtyard in the wolf pack. So many wolves couldn't even touch him once, and he didn't have any injuries. Lei Guang suddenly had the urge to vomit blood.

"This is what you forced me to do!"

Lei Guang roared, smashed the head of a white wolf with one punch, took the opportunity to shake off his insect breeding bag, and threw all the spirit insects in his insect breeding bag toward Long Xuan.

Long Xuan suddenly saw a very large purple toad flashing with lightning flying toward him and was startled, so he turned and ran.

The purple toad was just about to chase, but was ambushed from the side by the wolf king who had been looking for an opportunity, biting its neck and shaking it crazily.

At the same time, the other spirit insects released by Lei Guang were also intercepted by the wolf pack.

The wolf pack was now attacking indiscriminately. It didn't matter whose spirit insects they were; they would bite as soon as they went up.

Therefore, the spirit insects released by Lei Guang not only didn't touch Long Xuan once, but were instead beaten by the wolf pack, instantly suffering heavy losses.

Lei Guang's eyes were red. At this time, his heart was dripping blood. Heaven knew how many resources he had spent and how much effort he had poured into cultivating those spirit insects.

Especially seeing the purple toad whose neck was bitten by the wolf king and shaken crazily, his eyes became even redder.

That was his Thunder Purple Gold Toad, his top-grade spirit insect, possessing the powerful destructive power to release lightning attacks.

But now, before it even had time to release its ability, it was bitten by the wolf king at its vital point. The situation was bad to the extreme.

"My goodness! This top-grade spirit insect died so miserably! Whose top-grade spirit insect is this! Why didn't you watch it well!"

Long Xuan didn't forget to mock at this time, looking like he was gloating, his expression extremely punchable.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 73 =====