Chapter 255: Life-Taking Needle (Seeking monthly votes)

Xiaoyuan Mountain is located in the south-central part of Yunzhou, thousands of miles away from the Mu family's Mount Baihua.

Within this mountain, there is a small-scale spirit stone vein!

Although it is a small vein, it can still produce millions of spirit stones a year, and occasionally produces mid-grade spirit stones; it is a very important source of wealth for the Mu family.

Back then, in order to seize this vein, Mu Wanlong took Mu Qinglan and wiped out three major Jin Dan forces in one go before he could firmly occupy this mountain.

However, now that the Mu family has shown a slight decline, it has immediately attracted covetous eyes.

On Xiaoyuan Mountain, inside the mine, rays of light shot into the sky, transforming into a pitch-black tortoise shell grand array.

It is precisely the Rank 3 — Profound Tortoise Array!

This array abandons all attacks, illusions, and displacement methods; its defense is simply astonishing.

Even a late-stage Jin Dan cultivator would find it difficult to break through in a short time.

At the core of the array, a Daoist with an aged face sat cross-legged; he is the Mu family's only Jin Dan cultivator here — Mu Wandao.

"There are three Jin Dan cultivators among the enemies, roughly around the mid-stage of Jin Dan..."

"The flying letter talisman reporting to the family has already been sent..."

"Sigh... I hope we can repel them."

The current Mu Wandao no longer harbors hope of killing the enemies; if he can drive them away and incidentally flex the Mu family's muscles, he would be thankful to the heavens.

Just at this moment, Mu Wandao's expression tightened. Watching three strange lights flying over, he couldn't help but say: "Be on guard... they're coming again!"

These three Jin Dan rogue cultivators were all hidden within heavy mists, concealing their figures.

One of them let out an angry shout, and a mass of yellow-red flames emerged, transforming into a strange beast. Its four feet touched the ground, and as it galloped, it filled in numerous small hills and gullies... charging straight toward the tortoise shell array.

Bang!

The Rank 3 array fluctuated slightly, but the strange beast composed of yellow-red flames exploded with a boom, turning into sparks filling the sky.

Another escape light landed on the ground, and from time to time, earthy-yellow talismans were struck into the earth veins, clearly observing the terrain to find the flaws in the Profound Tortoise Array.

The last person remained hidden in the mist, not making much of a move.

"Three Jin Dan cultivators attacking in succession; relying on the Profound Tortoise Array, I should be able to hold on for a few more days... as long as there isn't an array master."

Mu Wandao muttered to himself.

Just at this moment, a sense of the earth moving and mountains shaking came, as if the entire Xiaoyuan Mountain was being rattled.

"Not good..."

Mu Wandao looked on in horror as the earth veins vibrated, causing a huge flaw to appear in the Profound Tortoise Array.

The third person, who had been standing still, sneered and struck out a Rank 3 array-breaking talisman.

Countless silver talisman lines danced in the sky, as if forming a silver light passage.

That person was brazen, charging directly into the Profound Tortoise Array!

"Courting death!"

Although the power of the grand array failed for a moment, it was only for a few breaths of time.

Mu Wandao immediately slapped his dantian, and a fish-scale shield emerged. Thousands of scales suddenly dispersed, transforming into a wall of scale armor.

The figure that charged into the array chuckled, and a folding fan magic treasure flew out of his hand.

Swish!

The folding fan unfolded, with a painting of Five Clouds and Emerald Peaks on the front.

At this moment, light flashed repeatedly on the fan surface, and an illusory mountain peak emerged, smashing onto the wall of scales.

Terrifying magic power fluctuations spread out, and a large number of scales shattered.

The remaining scales gathered in front of Mu Wandao, transforming into a scale armor shield that had shrunk by more than half.

That magic treasure fan suddenly closed, and a blade as cold as ice extended from it.

The unknown cultivator held the fan handle as if holding a peerless flying sword, and an astonishing sword intent shot into the sky.

Swish!

The sword light suddenly brightened!

Its momentum was like wind and thunder, following a strange trajectory, slashing onto the scale shield.

This magic treasure, which was already damaged, exploded instantly, causing a strand of sword intent to enter Mu Wandao's sea of consciousness, beginning to wreak havoc.

With one sword strike, a Jin Dan cultivator was heavily injured!

"The magic treasure 'Sword in the Fan'? You are the Life-Taking Scholar?!" A trace of despair appeared on Mu Wandao's face.

Just at this moment, a dragon roar seemed to faintly come from the horizon.

A 'Dragon Boat' flew over at extreme speed; the leader was none other than the Mu family head, Mu Wanlong!

"Form the array, Ten Thousand Transformations Mount Mount Qinglong!"

He pinched seals with both hands, and the clan guards on the Dragon Boat immediately stood in designated positions, injecting magic power into the Dragon Boat.

Roar, roar!

In an instant, this Dragon Boat seemed to have 'come alive', transforming into a green flood dragon dozens of zhang long, its magic power fluctuation reaching the late-stage Jin Dan level.

Being able to train family disciples to form battle arrays is also part of the Mu family's foundation!

"Go!"

Two strange cries rang out. The Jin Dan cultivator who had spat out strange fire and the array master who attacked the earth veins looked at each other and soared into the sky without hesitation.

But just at this moment, that green dragon dozens of zhang long chased after them, performing a divine dragon tail flick.

The cultivator who spat out strange fire let out a strange cry, spitting out a mass of yellow-red flames.

These flames instantly transformed into a jackal the size of a mountain.

But under the green dragon's tail flick, it was still swiped away in one go.

The green dragon's tail momentum did not diminish, landing on that Jin Dan cultivator, causing his protective treasure light to dissipate, revealing a red-robed, bearded big man.

"Candle Fire Duke, you dare to provoke my Mu family?"

From within the 'Mount Mount Qinglong', Mu Wanlong's voice came out.

Candle Fire Duke covered his face with his sleeve, and when the sleeve fell, he had already put on a strange crimson mask.

Masses of crimson true fire were spat out by him, transforming into countless flaming flying birds that pecked at the green dragon.

At the same time, the other array cultivator casually waved out array flags and array disks... actually setting up an array with faint thunder light.

Boom!

Fire light and thunder light almost obscured the sky, colliding with that green dragon.

A few breaths later, the two Jin Dan cultivators retreated in defeat: "The Mu family is indeed extraordinary; even a rotten ship still has three jin of nails..."

The green dragon also retreated, transforming back into the original Dragon Boat.

Mu Wanlong's divine sense swept over the pale faces of the clan guards, then looked at the direction in which the two rogue cultivators left: "These two are rogue cultivators in name, but in reality, one is the illegitimate son of an elder from the Burning Heaven Valley, and the other has the Qingfeng Zhang family behind him. Heh, otherwise, why would a rogue cultivator learn array formations? Does he have an array inheritance?"

"Recently, the family should not make too many enemies, but we must establish our prestige... It just so happens that this Life-Taking Scholar has the least background, leave him for me!"

He grabbed with his large hand, and a purple flame net magic treasure fell with a boom.

The Life-Taking Scholar sneered, his figure flashing with astonishing escape speed, dodging the purple fire net magic treasure.

At the same time, an extremely slender white light needle silently arrived behind Mu Wanlong, piercing into his Jin Dan true essence protective barrier.

Pop!

Mu Wanlong's true essence barrier exploded like a bubble, causing that white light needle to pierce directly into his dantian!

"Hehe, the Mu family has such great prestige... yet you don't know that I am not only skilled in the sword in the fan, but also have a Life-Taking Needle!"

The Life-Taking Scholar let out two strange laughs, not pursuing the victory, but fleeing into the distance.

"Family Head!"

Mu Wandao managed to fly up, his face full of concern: "Are you alright?"

"Life-Taking Scholar... originally unknown, but this 'Life-Taking Needle' technique is truly remarkable..."

As soon as Mu Wanlong opened his mouth, it was full of the smell of blood. He secretly transmitted his voice: "I am heavily injured now and urgently need a cave dwelling and spirit pills to recuperate. You hold the fort here; do not reveal any flaws!"

The current Mu family can no longer afford any failures.

Once the turmoil intensifies, those covetous ones will tear them apart like wolves!

Dozens of miles away.

The Life-Taking Scholar shook his body and transformed into Fang Xing's appearance.

He didn't know beforehand that things would go so smoothly. He just went to the Immortal City as the Life-Taking Scholar to inquire about the Mu family's news, and was immediately thought to have ulterior motives toward the Mu family, being dragged in as high-level cannon fodder.

'However, now is not a good time to kill Mu Wanlong... although he must know the formula for refining the Jiaowei Qin.'

Fang Xing pondered secretly.

There are many problems that need to be solved if one wants to impersonate someone from a cultivation sect or family.

The biggest trouble is items like life tablets and soul lamps.

Important figures in major powers are usually arranged to have a soul lamp lit and enshrined within layers of restrictions, serving as proof of their status and a guide for future rescue.

If the soul lamp goes out, it naturally means they are dead.

Therefore, if Fang Xing were to kill Mu Wanlong, even if the Nine Infants Pearl disguised him flawlessly, the fact that the life tablet and soul lamp were gone, indicating he was already dead... would obviously reveal the ruse as soon as he went there.

Thus, Fang Xing chose to severely injure Mu Wanlong first.

Reflected on the soul lamp, this would mean the light is extremely dim, representing a severe, incurable injury or being trapped in some dead zone.

It is merely a situation slightly better than death.

"At that time, I will use demonic methods to split most of his soul and take his essence blood, while preserving his life... thereby exempting myself from the soul lamp inspection, which will make it convenient for me to infiltrate the Mu family."

As for the soul lamp being dim?

He is severely injured, so isn't it a normal phenomenon for the soul lamp to be a bit dim?

Fang Xing is a person who has always believed in repaying grievances with grievances and hatred with hatred.

In the cultivation world, what is emphasized is the implication of one's entire clan; if you provoke an enemy, you must definitely exterminate their family and sect.

Calculating it this way, since Mu Qinglan took the initiative to attack him in the Linlang Blessed Land, that is hatred!

He has the same hatred for the Mu family!

He walked a few more steps and arrived at a swamp where yin energy gathered; a pitch-black token appeared in his hand, and he kept chanting words in his mouth.

Gurgle!

In the highly toxic swamp, a large amount of yellow-green bubbles suddenly emerged.

Following that, a massive head poked out.

This was a strange corpse puppet, wearing black armor, draped in a cloak, and with a pale mask on its face.

On the mask, the character "Earth" was inscribed in ancient seal script.

Immediately after, another corpse puppet with the character "Water" carved on its mask walked out of the swamp.

Then came the fire corpse, the metal corpse, the wood corpse...

The images of the five corpse puppets changed drastically, ensuring that even if cultivators from the Wan Xiang Demon Sect saw them, they would not recognize them.

"The Five Mixed Demons are finally refined."

"Actually, calling them the Five Shadow Demon Corpses seems pretty good too... It's a pity there is no wind or thunder..."

With the help of the five Heaven-Turning Gold Corpses and the gifts from many demonic cultivators, and most importantly his own Nascent Soul mana, Fang Xing easily re-refined the "Five Mixed Demons."

According to his trial run, each "Five Mixed Demon" is at least equivalent to a Rank 3 Mid-Grade body-refining cultivator, and if combined with the inscribed Five Elements spells, they would not be inferior to a peak Mid-Stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

If the Five Mixed Demons join forces to form the Five-Child Demon Array, they would likely be enough to run rampant through the Nascent Soul stage, and ordinary Late-Stage Nascent Soul cultivators would definitely be no match for them.

Update will be late today.