Chapter 36: Making a Comeback

In a stone cavern with a radius of a hundred li, countless crystal clusters of various sizes on the ceiling kept falling.

Crystal cluster after crystal cluster broke off at the base, then heavily smashed down, colliding with the countless crystal clusters standing upright on the ground.

Sparks flew in all directions, booming noises sounded one after another, fragments of the crystal clusters scattered everywhere, and the entire stone cavern trembled slightly.

The architectural ruins surrounding the main hall were smashed to pieces.

The main hall vanished, the surrounding ruins disappeared, all bricks, tiles, beams and columns turned into fragments, and were finally covered by a thick layer of crystal cluster debris.

Chu Tian crouched at the entrance of the stone cavern's passageway, blankly staring at this scene of destruction.

The kilometer-tall bovine hero seemed to be the pillar holding up this stone cavern; the bovine hero's body collapsed, and the strange energy filling the cavern's air immediately put the cavern into a process of collapse.

Faint golden light points still drifted in the air; the bovine hero had already been reduced to flying ashes.

Lao Tie lay beside Wu Tie, likewise dazedly watching the golden light points drifting in the air, watching countless crystal clusters and boulders fall from the ceiling.

"That guy, his temper is still this stubborn..." Lao Tie muttered lowly: "After being dead for so many years, he still clings to a single thought, insisting on seeing who gets this treasure."

"Persisting for so many years... Is he lonely? Despairing? Or, like me, is he actually despairing?" Lao Tie murmured: "Only prolonged despair could reduce his body to this ruined state."

"With his cultivation, his body could almost last forever; only the despair originating from himself could instantly and completely destroy his body." Lao Tie shook his head: "But that's good... before his destruction, he died happy, which is fine."

Wu Tie touched his forehead.

On his forehead was a bloody, thumb-sized "Changsheng" mark, like a branding iron burn, deeply etched into his flesh; the nearby flesh felt a bit hot, and his skull felt a faint prickling pain.

Toward the bovine hero, Wu Tie felt an inexplicable awe, but he didn't have much feeling.

Because he wasn't familiar with the bovine hero.

Because he wasn't familiar, the bovine hero suddenly "coming to life" and emitting light pillars from his eyes shocked him greatly, yet he still didn't have much feeling.

On the contrary, it was Shi Lingqing who actually self-destructed her body, leaving these two bloody characters on Wu Tie's brow.

The psychological shock Wu Tie received was far greater than the bovine hero's complete shattering and the destruction of this stone cavern.

"That woman, she's crazy..." Wu Tie stared at Lao Tie in bewilderment: "I don't want to kill her... I have no grudge against her. Although she beat me up... but my father told me, a man shouldn't bully women... and I wouldn't kill her."

"Grandpa me, I don't understand women." Lao Tie remained silent for a long time before turning his head to look at Wu Tie.

"Because Grandpa me has no such bodily needs, I have never spent time and energy studying women."

He shook his head, Lao Tie let out a sigh: "But, whether it's Yang Jian or the bovine hero, these guys, when they bragged... I have heard countless..."

"Women... you think you haven't offended her, but you've actually offended her terribly..." Lao Tie gave Wu Tie a disdainful sideways glance: "You think, if you don't kill her, will she be grateful to you?"

"Shouldn't that be the case?" Wu Tie looked at Lao Tie, bewildered: "My father said..."

"How did your father teach you to raise children?" Lao Tie snorted coldly: "Anyway, it's fine, you're still young..."

"His eyes flashed with Blood Light, Lao Tie let out a sigh: "You don't understand... a naked, somewhat pretty little woman using every means to try to hook up with a man, when that man refuses to take the bait... that offends her a hundred times more than digging up her ancestral grave!"

He stood up, raised his foreleg and patted Wu Tie's shoulder, Lao Tie shook his head.

"In the future, gain more experience, and you will understand."

"That Shi Lingqing is at the peak of her life; she used her 'clever tactics' and 'intelligent wit' to scheme against the experts of two powerful organizations, obtaining great power, loyal followers, and a bright future..."

"Suddenly, she was struck down from the peak of her life by a blow, suddenly returning to a state of having nothing..."

"At that moment, if you cried to heaven and clung to her feet, licked her soles, cried to heaven and became her slave, obeying her commands... she would feel satisfied, full of confidence, and continue to strive..."

"But you, kid... hum, hum..."

"You have disappointed people so much... not to mention, that treasure ultimately chose you, not her, who thought highly of herself... although this little girl has a bit of shrewdness, a bit of cunning, and also a bit of post-natal viciousness..."

"Still too young to withstand a blow... not getting it, dragging you down to die together—isn't that a natural choice?"

Lao Tie lectured Wu Tie while shaking his head and swaying his body; although Wu Tie couldn't understand these words for a while, he honestly kept them in his heart.

"Women, truly... complex and terrifying..." Wu Tie also stood up, gripping his spear and muttering: "Still, I prefer men like my elder brother, second brother, third brother..."

"You won't like a female tough guy... ha, ha, ha, when you grow up, you'll know that compared to a female tough guy, you'd rather like Shi Lingqing, this green tea bitch..." Lao Tie laughed loudly, turned and walked into the long passageway.

He didn't look back, didn't glance back, not even uttering a sigh.

Thus he left the bovine hero's burial place; Lao Tie's steps were unusually steady.

"Green tea bitch?" Wu Tie hurriedly caught up with Lao Tie: "Explain, please? What is a green tea bitch?"

"Do you know what green tea is?" Lao Tie's voice came from deep within the passageway: "Don't know? Then... well, I won't teach bad kids anymore, you'll understand later... um, let's set aside the third character, first let's learn what green tea is."

"What treasure is that bone fragment?"

"How would I know?"

"Although Lao Tie I have seen much and known much..."

"Lao Tie I can only guess, it's something legendary... Lao Tie I have never seen it with my own eyes, so I can't be certain."

"It's drilled into your body? What does it matter? Anyway, you're living well, isn't that enough?"

"Anyway, continue talking about green tea bitch... oh, not green tea..."

"Tea, this thing..."

A boulder over three hundred meters in diameter smashed down from the top of the stone cavern, heavily smashing the Changsheng Sect's wooden boat that Wu Tie and Lao Tie hadn't had time to move; immediately afterwards, countless boulders fell and the entire stone cavern collapsed.

In the following days, Wu Tie returned to his normal routine.

He hunted prey, made Foundation Establishment elixirs, practiced Foundation Establishment forms, and trained spear techniques.

It should be due to the bone fragment fused with Wu Tie; in the next three months, his progress in practicing Foundation Establishment forms advanced astonishingly fast.

In just three months, he had already practiced up to the 719th Foundation Establishment form; as long as he breaks through to the 720th form, Wu Tie's Original Power surging throughout his body can condense into a higher-level Original Strong.

Original Power can only circulate within the body, enhancing Wu Tie's strength and speed.

Original Strong can be emitted outward to injure, and can even wield weapons to unleash short-range, airborne strikes that kill enemies.

When Original Strong infuses the body, both physical strength and speed are greatly increased, allowing bones and muscles to be powerfully trained, and bodily defense can also be greatly strengthened.

A cultivator at the third level of Foundation Establishment Realm has at least ten times the combat power of a cultivator at the second level.

But Wu Tie's progress was too fast, so Lao Tie intentionally let him suppress his cultivation progress a little, each time practicing only up to the 719th form, deliberately delaying the breakthrough to the 720th form.

Constantly accumulating Original Power, constantly tempering his body, Wu Tie's Original Power within became ever more abundant, gradually reaching the point where every cell was swollen to the limit and could no longer store even a trace of Original Power.

An angry beast's roar came; a huge hippopotamus galloped and slammed into Wu Tie.

The hippopotamus, weighing tens of thousands of jin, charged at high speed; its impact force weighed at least hundreds of thousands of jin.

Wu Tie had reached the peak of the second layer of Foundation Establishment, yet he still dared not confront such a giant beast head-on.

He nimbly shifted a few steps to the side; his speed was so fast it left an afterimage.

Holding the spear in his right hand, he thrust it out precisely.

The spear whistled as it pierced the hippopotamus's ear canal, penetrating its brain.

The massive beast's body convulsed violently and it crashed heavily to the ground.

Its huge carcass slid forward over a hundred meters, carving a deep groove in the thick moss.

Wu Tie pulled out his spear and slung it behind his back; a metal spider darted out, its swollen abdomen opening to condense white metallic fluid into a long blade that shot forth.

Wu Tie skillfully wielded the long blade, carefully carving up the massive beast.

Several dozen meters away, a nest of twenty-odd gray-rock lizards wagged their tails, lying docilely on a scatter of rocks and watching this side.

With this hippopotamus as large game, Wu Tie no longer bothered seeking trouble with the gray-rock lizards these days.

On the contrary, several nests of gray-rock lizards near the Ancient God Soldier Camp; each time Wu Tie passed, he would give them a little benefit.

Wu Tie would toss the hippopotamus's offal and less-desirable meat to those gray-rock lizards.

Over the past few months, Wu Tie has actually developed a decent rapport with those gray-rock lizards.

Whenever he interacted with those gray-rock lizards, Wu Tie would recall the few large beasts kept at the Wu family's Shibao.

"Really, coming again for a freebie? From now on, behave yourselves, and you'll have meat to eat."

Wu Tie laughed, chopped off a large chunk of blood‑blister meat, and flung it far over.

A pack of gray-rock lizards let out happy "hu‑hu" cries, surged forward eagerly to feast. Over these months, with Wu Tie occasionally tossing them meat, their quality of life has greatly improved.

A faint impact sound arrived; a metal spider darted over quickly.

I don't know what Old Tie and Big Tie have done, but over these months the Ancient God Soldier Camp's puppet automatons have expanded their range, now able to move freely within a radius of several hundred li.

Moreover, the numbers of these puppet automatons, big and small, keep increasing; just in the two months Wu Tie has observed, at least a hundred new metal spiders have appeared.

A palm‑sized metal spider flew over, its sharp tarsi lightly tapping a large fern branch before landing lightly as a breeze on Wu Tie's shoulder.

Old Tie's voice came from within the metal spider: "Hurry up and clean up; outsiders are coming again… tsk, truly a lingering evil."

Wu Tie stared blankly, then sped up, swinging his long blade and quickly chopping the hippopotamus into dozens of pieces.

A swarm of metal spiders surged forward, each dragging a chunk of meat at full speed, carrying the hippopotamus back to the Ancient God Soldier Camp.

Another group of metal spiders rushed over, professionally transporting moss and dirt from afar to conceal the traces left by Wu Tie's hunt, and also covering the tracks of the metal spiders that had carried the game.

A palm‑sized metal spider led the way; Wu Tie sprinted all the way and soon reached the riverbank.

Crouched behind a large rock, hiding behind a clump of large ferns, Wu Tie gazed out over the river surface.

Three pitch‑black wooden boats, each over ten meters long, floated on the river; their masts bore fluttering sails, and the blood‑red characters "Changsheng" were strikingly conspicuous.

On the bows of the three wooden boats stood three elders—two men and one woman.

All three, like Red Granny, had crane‑white hair and youthful faces, their complexions unnaturally flushed, as if blood qi pulsed from every pore.

Behind them stood twenty‑plus handsome, splendidly dressed young men and women, each plump and lustrous like bean sprouts soaked in water and nutrients, overly vigorous.

Beneath the river surface, a water mark suddenly surged upward.

A thick‑as‑a‑water‑jar giant water python erupted from the river, opening its blood‑basin maw and swallowing a young man or woman from one of the boats.

The elder standing at the boat's prow, clad in a black robe with two skulls embroidered in blood‑red thread on the sleeves, gave a light chuckle and thrust his right hand toward the python.

The python, several meters away, suddenly lurched sideways, sucked toward the elder by a tremendous force.

The elder's right hand fingers instantly engorged with blood, his palm swelling to the size of a foot, each finger turning a vivid crimson, as if carved from blood‑jade.

His fingers, hooked like talons, sank deep into the python's body; the creature's half‑inch‑thick scales became utterly brittle in his grasp, his fingers buried deep, and after a single breath the python went limp and fell into the river.

The elder belched contentedly, then exhaled a long stream of breath that was thickly blood‑colored.

"Quite nourishing." The elder laughed approvingly: "This place is good, really good… I never thought that after Red Granny's death she'd still have found such a fine spot for our sect."

On another boat, a woman in a blood‑red robe stared grimly and snorted coldly: "Red Sister's dead, are you all happy? Since you can't find the true culprit, I don't see how you'll explain this to your superiors."

Another elder chuckled lightly: "What explanation? Isn't it obvious? Red Granny, the mess was caused by the Mist Blade folk; wipe them out and the problem's solved."

"Destroy the Mist Blade? You speak lightly." The blood‑robed woman, Chi Granny, said darkly: "They're the local tyrants of the Cangyan Realm—not so easy to wipe out."

She stamped her foot; the boat rose into the air, and Chi Granny said solemnly: "No matter who the true culprit is… I won't let him go."

Chi Granny's gaze was like a blade, sweeping harshly over the two elders.

The two elders smiled, then simultaneously piloted their boats upward.

The three wooden boats shot off in three different directions at high speed.