Chapter 129: Burning the Vine Demon

The guards, seeing that Ye Liuyun had actually killed Ning Hao, turned green with envy.

The Xuemo Sect's rules are extremely cruel; with Ning Hao dead, they could hardly survive themselves. So they each rushed forward to fight Ye Liuyun desperately.

Ye Liuyun's previous punch had consumed thirty percent of his True Essence. Now, to conserve the remaining True Essence, he fought the guards using only his Physical Body.

But his weapon gave him a huge advantage; regardless of what weapons the guards wielded, Ye Liuyun cleaved them with a single slash, unstoppable. Moreover, Lei Ming's strength far exceeded theirs, and in no time they resumed clearing the area.

Ye Liuyun retrieved the large seal that Ning Hao had thrown.

"What a good treasure! It's a Heaven Tier medium-quality treasure, capable of both defense and offense! Thanks to that useless thing not using it, otherwise beating him would have taken a lot of effort."

Ye Liuyun praised it briefly, then used his Divine Sense to erase the existing Divine Sense imprint and brand his own Divine Sense imprint onto it.

The moment the Divine Sense imprint was branded, Ye Liuyun immediately received information on how to use the large seal.

"So it's called the Zhen Tian Seal! Not bad, a good treasure."

This was Ye Liuyun's first time using a Heaven Tier treasure, and he seemed somewhat excited.

Afterwards, he rummaged through Ning Hao's Storage Ring, took out a more detailed map, and shared it with Bald Vulture and Lei Ming.

According to Ning Hao's memory, this Secret Realm contains opportunities related to the five elements; the central area has the most, but also harbors a powerful being. However, this place is suppressed by spatial rules, so no cultivator beyond the Sea Transformation realm exists here.

Ye Liuyun decided that after probing all five elemental treasure sites, he would advance toward the central area. The nearest target was a wood-element treasure, guarded by a thicket of thorn vines as a natural barrier.

Before departing, he took a Condensing Yuan Pill to restore True Essence, and organized his recent gains, pulling out all the loot.

He stored over five million medium-quality Crystal Stones, as well as medicinal herbs and ores, in his own Storage Ring. Other weapons, pills, cultivation techniques he couldn't use were placed in another Storage Ring, to be sold later. The corpses were also all packed into a single Storage Ring.

He made a brief summary himself. Apart from the Zhen Tian Seal, the most useful item was the map; the other gains were minor.

Now, the over five million medium-quality Crystal Stones held little appeal for him. The herbs and ores were just average, with nothing special.

He had a few Earth Tier medium-quality weapons, but he was no longer interested in the rest.

Once his True Essence recovered, Ye Liuyun rushed toward the thorn vines. He was already close, and Bald Vulture also noticed many Xuemo Sect disciples stationed around the outer edge of a thorn forest. If they arrived late, the good stuff would be snatched first.

When Ye Liuyun arrived, Lei Ming was perched on his shoulder, looking harmless.

The site was already surrounded by over two hundred Xuemo Sect disciples, including a half-step Sea Transformation realm Martial Cultivator, all helpless against the thorn vines.

The thorn vines before them seemed endless; cut a section, and it instantly regrew, like tentacles, whipping and entangling any creature daring to approach. Moreover, the thorns were highly poisonous.

Some fire- or ice-affinity disciples rushed in, but after only a short distance their True Essence waned, they became trapped, and were eventually strangled to death.

Ye Liuyun, after observing, asked Lei Ming quietly, "Could these thorn vines be alive?"

"Hmm, they seem to be vine demons with some sentience, but not very high; they only defend," Lei Ming said after watching for a while.

"Do you have a way to break through?" Ye Liuyun asked.

"Go up to the sky, locate the vine demon's core, then jump down and use Golden Crow Holy Fire to burn it outright," Lei Ming suggested.

"Hmm! Good idea! If I can't burn it dead, I'm doomed!"

Ye Liuyun gave a wry smile, hesitated not, and directly exited the area.

The half-step Sea Transformation disciple glanced at him, then at the Thunder Dragon Beast on his shoulder, but paid him little heed.

That half-step Sea Transformation Martial Cultivator was named Feng Zhen. Ning Hao had an impression of him in his memory.

After Ye Liuyun left, he directly summoned Bald Vulture, which flew above the thorn vines to locate the vine core.

At the center of the thorn vines was a deep pit, filled with thorns.

Ye Liuyun activated his Illusion Pupil, seeing that the vine demon's core was hidden beneath the layers of thorns. Its main root was as thick as a massive tree stump, surrounded by robust thorns that shielded it. This spot seemed the closest, yet its defense was the most stringent.

Ye Liuyun drew his Fiery Sun Bow and fired two arrows inside, cutting only the outermost two thorns.

"Jump straight down, then spatially teleport beside its core, burn it with Thunder Fire, and slash with a sword. I'll also strike it with Thunder," Lei Ming suggested.

Ye Liuyun looked at the dense thorns below, feeling a chill on his scalp. Yet, upon further thought, it seemed the only way. Fortune favors the bold!

"Alright, hold on tight!"

With that, Ye Liuyun leapt directly from Bald Vulture.

Distant Xuemo Sect disciples had already spotted him, watching his actions. Seeing him jump, they couldn't help but laugh.

"We've tried this method before; it simply doesn't work. The defense there is the tightest."

"That kid is doomed!"

Even Feng Zhen, the half-step Sea Transformation disciple, shook his head, stopped watching, and went to rally everyone for a concerted assault on the thorn vines.

With so many, opening a passage shouldn't be a big problem.

After Ye Liuyun descended to a height invisible to the crowd, near the vines, the tendrils lunged at him. He flashed, employing Lingkong Art to slip through space, reappearing directly before the vine demon's core.

The thorns above suddenly missed, while below a golden-red flame ignited.

Upon landing, Ye Liuyun released True Essence, delivering a thunder-fire annihilation punch onto the vine demon's core, then activated his Thunder Fire-type True Essence Body Shield, wielded the Demon Slaying Sword, and battered its core with fierce slashes.

Lei Ming also attacked the core with full force. Their defense relied on Ye Liuyun's True Essence Body Shield.

As soon as they arrived, they struck the vine demon before it could react, inflicting serious wounds. The surrounding vines responded, rushing to aid, but for a time they couldn't breach Ye Liuyun's defense.

Yet the vine demon couldn't withstand the combined assault of Ye Liuyun and Lei Ming. Especially Ye Liuyun's sword; each slash was hard to heal, compounding its injuries.

Outside, Xuemo Sect disciples began a joint attack on the thorn vines. Indeed, numbers made strength; within moments they carved a passage several zhang long.

Suddenly, all the thorns went berserk. They had received the signal of the vine demon's core being attacked and frantically struck every intruder.

"Ah! I can't hold it!"

"Ah, save me!"

In an instant, the Xuemo Sect disciples fell into chaos; the outer defenses were breached, and the outer disciples were swept up and torn apart by the vines.