Chapter 426

The rain grew heavier.

A fierce wind howled past the treetops of the mountains and forests, raising a tremendous roar like waves.

Bolt after bolt of furious lightning fell from the sky, its power domineering and terrifying, forcing Wu Tie and his men to bring their towering ships down to the ground, unwilling to hang in the air and be struck at random by heavenly thunder.

Even if the towering ships had sufficiently strong protective formations, taking a few strikes of heavenly lightning would consume a great deal of spirit crystals—who would willingly waste precious cultivation resources for nothing?

Wu Tie used magic to level a great mountain and set out his cave‑dwelling military camp.

Aside from the troops garrisoning the outer forts, most of the soldiers of the Great Marsh State Army and the Black Phoenix Army moved into the camp. Though it was a bit crowded, the conditions inside the camp were far more comfortable than living in tents and wooden huts outside.

Wu Tie wasn't afraid of lightning; he stood atop the southern watchtower, playing with a crystal ball in his hand, letting the yellow jade figure inside roar and continually pound the inner walls of the ball, as if he couldn't hear its cries, merely calculating his next plan.

The downpour poured, and the speed of building forts instantly slowed—each fort now took several times the previous time and effort.

The soldiers of the Great Marsh State Army and the Black Phoenix Army had their combat strength greatly weakened in the heavy rain, while the wood spirits seemed hardly affected.

The rain curtain became the wood spirits' best camouflage; these past days Wu Tie even sensed wood spirits boldly approaching his cave‑dwelling camp, and on several occasions even wood‑spirit experts lurked within a hundred paces of the rain screen, openly spying on Wu Tie.

To intimidate these increasingly arrogant wood spirits, Wu Tie took the stone giant he had captured a month earlier, refined it with a secret method, forcibly compressing its form to just over an inch tall, and then imprisoned it in this crystal ball about a foot in diameter.

Sure enough, the stone giant roared and raged inside the crystal ball, and those wood spirits silently retreated several li.

"Or perhaps we should bypass the wood spirits' territory…… no, no, we can't do that."

Wu Tie furrowed his brow and shook his head firmly.

In opening a secret path, the most important thing is to clear away any forces on the route that could endanger the march of the Great Jin Grand Army…… Now the rainy season has come, the wood spirits have become troublesome, so we simply use leapfrog tactics to skip over their territory…… But what if we encounter even more difficult tribes on the next stretch of the secret path?

Would we pay a little more, use leapfrog tactics to evade their interception, and press on to the next segment of the secret path?

This is no joke.

If Wu Tie dared to report this plan to the Great Jin Ministry of War, he believed Zhao Xiong might well seize the chance to order his beheading.

This plan could easily be charged with the crime of "muddle‑headed incompetence and delaying military affairs."

"We still need to wipe out the wood‑spirit tribe and clear a passage through their lands."

Wu Tie made up his mind.

Moreover, the wood‑spirit tribe is naturally attuned to mountains and forests; their archery is fearsome, and the poisons they concoct can threaten even commanders at the Embryonic Storage realm—such a talent is priceless.

Aside from being somewhat smaller in stature, slimmer in build, and more delicate in appearance, the wood spirits are no different from humans; they should be considered the 'humanoid alien race' most closely related to human bloodlines.

Such a race, if used as a private army, could not be more suitable.

Therefore, when Wu Tie previously nibbled away at the wood‑spirit tribe's territory step by step, he ordered only the capture of those wood spirits that were surrounded, avoiding excessive killing, so that he might later enslave them for his own use.

Imagine if we could conscript hundreds of thousands of wood spirits into the Great Marsh State Army—these fellows bring their own weapons, and their innate divine abilities are extraordinarily strong; once they face human foes, a barrage of arrows from hundreds of thousands of wood‑spirit archers could shoot down even the towering ships in the sky—a terrifying arrow formation!

"It's wonderful; we must surely subdue them……"

Wu Tie was pondering how to deal with the wood‑spirit tribe when suddenly the rain curtain beside him stirred.

A vast sheet of rainwater moved without a sound, instantly transforming into dozens of thin, crescent‑shaped water blades a few feet high, which slid silently across the rain curtain and slashed at Wu Tie's vital points all over his body.

The linked‑mountain pattern armor boasts astonishing defensive power, but it is after all a full‑coverage heavy armor; Wu Tie is not accustomed to wearing such gear in his own camp. Standing on the watchtower gazing at the scenery, he now wears only an ordinary battle robe.

The attack came soundlessly and mysteriously; Wu Tie sensed no fluctuation of magical energy before the water blades had already struck his body.

With a "hiss‑hiss" sound, Wu Tie's fine‑silk battle robe was shredded into fragments, while a host of water blades scraped tightly against his skin, producing continual sharp scraping noises.

Merely, a faint spiritual light flickered on Wu Tie's skin, and these razor‑sharp water blades could not even nick his oily hide.

The Nine‑Revolution Golden Pill sent by Master Li—after Wu Tie took one, more than two months have passed and he still hasn't digested it fully… Of the first Nine‑Revolution Golden Pill he consumed, only about twenty percent of its potency has been expended, yet his bodily strength has increased by a full sixty percent.

At this moment Wu Tie's physical strength is not inferior to that of an ordinary three‑refined immortal weapon; these water blades are merely condensed ordinary rainwater, albeit a remarkable divine‑ability secret art—how could they possibly cut his body?

"Found you!" Wu Tie casually tossed the crystal ball in his hand back to the camp.

Standing beneath the camp's eaves, Li Erhaozi, like a loyal dog guarding its master, darted out, snatched the crystal ball into his hands, and then shouted anxiously: "General, be careful!"

Li Erhaozi's concern and care for Wu Tie came from the heart.

Wu Tie didn't take the Great Marsh State Army too seriously; many matters were delegated to his underlings, that violent lot of lackeys. As his chief lackey, Li Erhaozi has quietly become the second‑in‑command of the Great Marsh State Army, and wherever he goes people fawn over him, treating him to food and drink.

Such good days—Li Erhaozi could never have dreamed of them before!

Therefore, if anyone in the Great Marsh State Army could be called Wu Tie's die‑hard loyalist, it is undoubtedly Li Erhaozi.

Hearing Li Erhaozi's shout, Wu Tie burst into laughter; his right fist suddenly ignited with red flame, which rapidly shifted from crimson to pale yellow, then to pale blue, then to light green, and finally to milky white.

The blazing white flame emitted dazzling light and heat; Wu Tie let out a great roar and launched a fist that smashed into the forest ahead.

One punch unleashed, a terrifying heat wave swept across several li in front of him.

A vast expanse of rain curtain instantly evaporated; within it, a dozen or so translucent figures that had perfectly blended with the water screen stumbled out, screaming and cursing as they fled back into the forest behind them.

Wu Tie's forehead eye snapped open, and he saw clearly the forms of those translucent figures.

They were clearly silhouettes formed from condensed clear flowing water; on their transparent faces one could see features as delicate as those of the wood spirits.

If the wood spirits are the sprites of mountains and forests, then these translucent figures can truly be called the sprites of water.

"Wood spirits? Water spirits?" Wu Tie snapped his head back, glanced at the crystal ball in Li Erhaozi's hand, and said, "This big fellow could be called an earth spirit? Hey, interesting!"

"Don't run, come here!" Wu Tie chuckled, flicked his left hand, and the Nine‑Refined Immortal Weapon Binding Immortal Rope shot out soundlessly, turning into a golden streak that swiftly wrapped around a water spirit lagging at the rear.

The water spirit's body shuddered, went rigid instantly, then with a "bang" exploded into a great spray of mist, trying to escape.

But this Binding Immortal Rope is the sole Nine‑Refined Immortal Weapon among the treasures Master Li gave Wu Tie, and it is a dedicated imprisoning artifact; when the mist exploded, the rope also turned into a broad sheet of golden light that collapsed inward, forcibly recompressing the mist back into a single translucent figure.

"Return!" Wu Tie beckoned, and the water spirit let out a muffled grunt, being hauled by the rope toward his palm.

"Die!" a soft, sweet voice came from the downpour; a curvy, graceful translucent figure suddenly appeared before Wu Tie. She moved her hands in an elegant dance, and from the void came a booming roar of waves; streaks of white water traced the momentum of a great river, roaring as they slammed toward Wu Tie's chest.

Wu Tie casually threw a punch at the sky‑filling white water traces.

As fist met water trace, Wu Tie immediately sensed something amiss.

Water is formless and ever‑changing, extremely soft yet all‑pervasive; this water spirit's attack brought the yin‑fluid, mutable aspect of the Dao to its extreme—what looked like an unstoppable, rigid white water trace was actually yin‑soft and drifting, devoid of any force.

The white water trace slid past Wu Tie's fist; his heavy punch plunged into the trace but encountered no resistance.

Streaks of white water trace landed on Wu Tie's chest, then wave after wave of terrifying yin‑soft power burst forth continuously, as if ten thousand mountains were striking him one after another without cease.

For an ordinary person, a punch's explosive force lasts only an instant; even at best it can produce three‑ or nine‑fold latent power, which is already considered a remarkable technique.

But this water essence, the water traces she stirred up held endless yin-yang soft potential, layer after layer of soft bursts, and each layer of potential was extraordinarily strong, reaching an extremely high level even in the Tai Cang Realm.

Wu Tie's footing was unsteady, his body slightly trembling, he stepped back step by step on the void.

With each step he took, Wu Tie exerted all his mana to stabilize his body, five-colored divine light swirled around him, and each step left a five-colored footprint of flowing light in the transparent mist.

The potential kept assaulting, layer upon layer without gaps, continuous and dense, seeming endless.

Wu Tie was caught off guard by this strange attack, he retreated step by step, withdrawing over a thousand steps, almost from this side of the camp's wall to the opposite wall's expanse; the flesh on his chest was a mess, the terrifying yin-yang force shook it loose and shattered it like tofu dregs.

Finally the white water traces were completely exhausted; Wu Tie stood in midair, gritting his teeth and slammed his right hand hard against his chest.

With a 'pa' sound, a large expanse of flesh on his chest exploded, revealing bones with a somewhat dark luster. Wu Tie's bones were still extraordinarily solid; even under the great divine abilities of Wu Prison, his bodily strength was mostly concealed, yet his bones remained several times stronger than his flesh.

The water essence's strange attack shattered his flesh, but his bones only suffered minor bruises, a bit sore, otherwise unharmed.

He drew a deep breath; the first Nine-turn Golden Pill, whose half of its medicinal power remained undigested in his body, blazed up, releasing golden-yellow, dense and hard medicinal power that shone with splendor, instantly surging from Wu Tie's stomach and spreading throughout his body in an instant.

The Nine-turn Golden Pill was specially refined to aid cultivation of the Nine-turn Mysterious Skill; its medicinal power is formidable, and it also contains a unique secret.

The medicinal power circulated through his body; his physique, ravaged by massive shocks and countless hidden injuries, was like withered wood sprouting anew, instantly regaining vigorous vitality. Wu Tie's chest flesh had completely regenerated within just two breaths, all internal injuries vanished, and his bodily cultivation increased a bit.

Gazing at the hundreds of thousands of Da Ze Zhou soldiers and Black Phoenix Army troops below the camp, Wu Tie narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The bodily cultivation that Wu Prison had forcibly sealed with great divine abilities released a trace, and at the same time, the five-element essence blood from the five Wu family ancestors of the Divine Release realm in his heart also released a trace.

Wu Tie's aura surged suddenly; with a boom, his qi and blood power shot straight up, transforming into a blood-and-qi beacon three thousand zhang high that blasted open the rain clouds over ten-odd li around the camp, letting fierce sunlight pour down through the opening.

Wu Tie still did not raise his mana cultivation; he forcibly suppressed the realm of the Nine-turn Mysterious Skill at its current limit, but his bodily strength, his physical cultivation, leapt forward once again.

Bodily strength surged, bodily defense surged, the energy stored in each drop of essence blood surged, and the vitality of his physique surged.

Qi and blood surged, his body swelled; Wu Tie's height grew about three cun in front of everyone, his skin became a bit fairer, and his bodily outline, especially his facial contour, underwent slight changes.

These changes were entirely reasonable, utterly natural.

The Nine-turn Mysterious Skill is an ancient forbidden divine art; when he cultivates it, his body naturally is compelled toward some kind of 'perfect Dao realm' and continually evolves.

The previous Huo Xiong had a rather distinctive appearance; bluntly put, he was a bit ugly!

As Wu Tie released a trace of his bodily cultivation, the seal or transformation technique that Wu Prison had imposed on his physique also loosened a trace, and Wu Tie's appearance and bodily features simultaneously underwent subtle changes that were pleasing to the eye.

Under the gaze of all, especially under the countless watchers of the Imperial Hall, Wu Tie became more handsome and stronger.

"Take this punch!" Wu Tie laughed loudly to the heavens.

Behind him, five-colored spiritual light representing the Great Dao of the Five Elements shot up into the sky; Wu Tie loosely grasped with his right hand, and a fist-shaped condensed five-colored spiritual light flew out, blasting toward the water essence that had just made its move dozens of li away.

That water essence was reaching to grab the water essence bound by the Immortal-Binding Rope; the instant her hand touched the rope, Wu Tie's five-colored fist image smashed down from midair.

The water essence let out a long cry; its sound caused the raindrops filling the void to leap up joyfully, countless raindrops instantly rebounding against the void, as if heaven and earth had instantly inverted.

The sky-filling mist gave this water essence endless power; her body suddenly shot up to over a hundred zhang tall, then she slapped her palm onto Wu Tie's Five-Elements fist seal.

With a tremendous boom, the hundred-zhang water essence was blown apart by a punch, its body exploding into sky-filling mist; the next instant, the water essence flickered in midair and appeared at the edge of a forest several hundred zhang away. She glanced angrily at Wu Tie, whose aura radiated a terrifying qi and blood frenzy, unwillingly raised her right hand, and drew a graceful circle.

"Withdraw..."

Before the words faded, a black streak of light shot out from the oblique thrust, a long spear burning with fierce black flames nearly ambushed, and with a 'hiss' it pierced the water essence's chest.

"Who gave you the guts to strike my man?" Pei Feng wore a phoenix-feather linked armor, wielded a black spear, her whole body ablaze with black flames, almost pressed against this water essence.

Water and fire are incompatible; the black fire on Pei Feng's spear inflicted massive damage on this water essence.

The water essence's figure suddenly shrank a bit; she let out a sharp angry cry, instantly exploding into countless fine droplets that merged into the ground's standing water, vanishing without a trace.

Floodwaters stretched across hill and plain; the water essence escaped via water evasion, and Pei Feng simply had no time to give chase.