Chapter 175: Three-Layered Face (Happy New Year)

"I XXX!"

The Fate Cultivator could no longer hold back and burst into curses.

Fighting this brat for such a short while was truly frustrating!

He forcibly twisted his body again, dodging the beast-tendon rope noose—a feat only a Seventh-Rank Martial Cultivator could achieve.

Unable to maintain balance, he tumbled several times upon landing, covered in mud and in a wretched state.

He ripped the skin from his face, slapped his other thigh, and a second human face emerged.

If the Martial Cultivator path fails, switch to another!

He gritted his teeth viciously: "You have no idea of the foundation of a powerful Fate Cultivator!"

As he reapplied the skin to his face, his body shrank rapidly, becoming refined and scholarly.

With no brush or ink, he traced characters in the air with his finger:

The Land of Invincibility!

As if light followed his fingertip, these four characters left clear traces in the air.

Yet as soon as the calligraphy was formed, it shattered, failing to create a true "Land of Invincibility."

He was stunned: "How could this be?"

Xu Yuan shook his head: "Even if you inherit everything of this face's owner, you are ultimately not him; you lack his experience and knowledge."

A Literary Cultivator's calligraphy cannot be written however you wish.

For instance, facing the black-yellow mud river at Fifth Aunt's master's grave, didn't she want to write a "River Dried, Water Exhausted" calligraphy directly?

Why did she only write a "River Embankment," blocking that mud river?

Because even if written, it could not be achieved; the power gap between the two sides stood right there.

Forcing it out would cause it to vanish on the spot, wasting effort in vain.

This "Land of Invincibility" of the Fate Cultivator is the same; since the power gap between the two sides is not that large, he first lets himself stand in an invincible position.

The Fate Cultivator's fingers moved swiftly, writing another calligraphy:

Solid Shield.

This time it succeeded.

As Xu Yuan's sword pill shot over, the calligraphy moved according to the Fate Cultivator's will, blocking the sword pill's attacks every critical moment.

Emboldened, the Fate Cultivator wrote a second calligraphy:

Sky-Walking Crossing.

This calligraphy succeeded again; he leaped onto the illusory calligraphy, waved at Xu Yuan, and with a "whoosh," fled through the air!

From start to finish, the Fate Cultivator never thought of personally deciding victory or death with Xu Yuan.

It remains the same: unless they are mortal enemies, a Fate Cultivator will not risk their life in a fight.

Xu Yuan killed a few of his "chickens and dogs" and ruined one of his skins; there was no need for him to fight to the death.

Ordinary cultivators cannot see his fate pattern, so there are plenty of people wanting to follow him.

Just replace a few chickens and dogs.

Unfortunately, coming to Qingyu Township this time, the thing he sought was not found, and he had to give up.

Returning would be hard to explain.

Beneath the carriage, the Divine Mechanism Crossbow fired in succession!

"Bang bang bang..."

While the "Solid Shield" calligraphy was still entangled with the sword pill, the crossbow bolts were as fast as lightning; the Fate Cultivator could only swiftly write the first four words that came to mind:

Copper Skin Iron Bones!

This was yet another ability of the Martial Cultivator.

Fortunately, the calligraphy formed fast enough; by the time the bolts reached his body, it was finally complete.

Puff puff puff...

Of the twelve bolts, only three missed; the rest all hit.

This was the Divine Mechanism Crossbow improved by Xu Yuan's stepmother before departure, capable of piercing the Copper Skin Iron Bones of a Seventh-Rank Martial Cultivator!

The Fate Cultivator let out a wretched cry and fell from the "Sky-Walking Crossing" calligraphy.

Blood splattered across the long sky.

The Fate Cultivator hit the ground, already severely injured.

With his arrow-pierced hand, he tore off the face skin; his comprehension and application of the Literary Cultivator path were inferior even to the Martial Cultivator path.

He put on another one again.

This time it was a Rank Dan Xiu.

The medicinal pill healed his wounds rapidly.

"You are a Seventh-Rank Rank Dan Xiu; I am one now too."

He spat Fu Zhong Huo from his belly, while his other hand controlled the sword pill.

But Xu Yuan, upon seeing his Fu Zhong Huo, immediately knew his true strength.

The owner of this face belonged to the... very bottom tier among Seventh-Rank Rank Dan Xiu.

He was incomparable to Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan charged forward, carrying the carriage.

Ding!

The opponent's sword pill struck the carriage and was bounced away.

He still did not give up and felt very clever.

The sword pellet stabbed down repeatedly, each time striking the exact same spot.

It always pierced through!

On the seventh strike, the carriage suddenly opened, and the sword pellet plunged inside without warning.

Xu Yuan closed the carriage again, trapping the Fate Xiu's sword pellet inside.

The two sides had drawn within two zhang; the Fate Xiu spat out a torrent of flame—Xu Yuan opened his mouth, and the fire in his dantian surged violently, the two flames colliding.

This made the difference immediately obvious.

The Fate Xiu's internal fire was only as thick as a water barrel; Xu Yuan's was as thick as a water vat!

And in density, the Fate Xiu's was far inferior.

His internal fire was instantly scattered by Xu Yuan's surge.

Seeing the roaring flames reverse and rush back, the Fate Xiu shrieked and retreated swiftly.

Xu Yuan's sword pellet followed close behind; the Fate Xiu gritted his teeth and overlaid the Cultivator of Letters' face onto the Cultivator of Alchemy's face!

The character "Shield" reappeared on the calligraphy scroll.

With a "clang," it deflected the sword pellet back.

But Xu Yuan noticed the Fate Xiu's body trembling, his head sagging heavily, his neck bent as if unable to bear the weight of three faces!

"If you overlay the Wu Xiu's face as well, I may not be able to match you."

The Fate Xiu's eyes darkened, but he said nothing.

He raised both hands—his left hand clenched loosely, his right hand grasped forward—as if snatching something from empty air.

Xu Yuan immediately felt the "Cultivator of Alchemy" portion of himself being torn from his body!

The veins and tendons of his right arm swelled to their absolute limit.

His arms had both been pierced by crossbow bolts—one arm hit twice, the other once.

Though treated with the alchemical cultivation method, the wounds had not fully healed; now, with this exertion, they split open and bled profusely.

"Fate Xiu is indeed harder to deal with," he said.

His right hand pulled hard, as if shoving something into his left hand.

The shape of his left hand now resembled a small jar.

Xu Yuan felt the "Cultivator of Alchemy" portion slowly slipping away—he could no longer use alchemical cultivation, and the sword pellet clattered to the ground!

The sinew rope snapped back into a Sinew Pill and fell to the ground.

The carriage and great spear had both been refined by Xu Yuan using the alchemical cultivation method into Artisan Pills.

Without alchemical cultivation, all these items shrank back into pills—Xu Yuan had no Artisan Objects left!

Xu Yuan's fate weight came primarily from two fate patterns, especially "Boundless Taboos."

The power of the Cultivator of Alchemy contributed little to increasing fate weight.

He had previously relied on Artisan Objects to fight; now his hands were empty!

What the Fate Xiu most wanted to extract was undoubtedly Xu Yuan's fate pattern.

But he judged it too difficult, so he settled for seizing the "Cultivator of Alchemy" instead—and unexpectedly, this left Xu Yuan severely disadvantaged.

But there was still one more thing.

Xu Yuan swiftly pulled out the skin—whether to douse it with water until it shrank to the size of a three-year-old child, or to inflate it into a ten-zhang human skin…

Actually, no choice was needed.

For when Xu Yuan saw the Fate Xiu stack the Cultivator of Alchemy's and Cultivator of Letters' faces, he had already decided to use this trick.

Xu Yuan quickly unslung his water flask and poured all its contents onto the skin.

This flask was specially made by Xu Yuan—every drop of water it contained was enough to shrink the skin to the size of a three-year-old child.

A strange and terrifying hunger surged over the Fate Xiu—he now had three faces, and therefore three mouths!

(End of Chapter)