Chapter 299: Kill the Jiao (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Inside the cave dwelling.

Ancient, obscure incantations rose in sequence.

Cold winds howled, like the whispering of evil spirits…

In Fang Xing's eyes, two gray sparks flared, surging an inch outward and piercing into the Nascent Soul of the Old Devil Wanxiang.

Then…

His spiritual sense split into countless threads, like fine needles piercing the Old Devil Wanxiang's seven orifices.

Fragmented memories surfaced slowly before his eyes.

"No good!"

Half an hour later, Fang Xing opened his eyes; his Sword Nascent Soul yawned, showing signs of weariness.

It was clear: the Nascent Soul spirit body clung tightly to its essence, making soul-searching extremely difficult.

Even if he managed to search, he only obtained meaningless fragments and mundane life details.

"Indeed, I must act myself."

Fang Xing's true body sighed, seized the Old Devil Wanxiang's Nascent Soul, and his third eye glowed with solar radiance.

A beam of solar light emerged; the Old Devil Wanxiang's Nascent Soul vanished in an instant.

When it reappeared, it was already inside Fang Xing's spiritual sea.

"In the past, cultivators always tried to possess me—today, I'm forcing you to possess me…"

Fang Xing muttered, and the Great Sun Furnace instantly materialized.

Streams of Great Sun True Fire fell upon the pitch-black Nascent Soul, igniting it completely.

The Old Devil Wanxiang let out a shriek unlike any human sound.

Fang Xing, however, felt the Great Sun Buddha Spell had advanced further; he glanced at his attribute panel:

【Great Sun Buddha Spell: 270/400 (Master）】

…

"Oh? It seems the Nascent Soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator truly has value… If I get another eight or ten, my Great Sun Buddha Spell will nearly reach the Grandmaster tier."

He closed his eyes slightly and began recalling useful fragments from the Old Devil Wanxiang's memories.

Such as the formation diagram and key pivot points, weaknesses of the Wanxiang Sect's protective formation—"Wanxiang Inconstancy Formation."

Such as the locations of secret treasures and hidden vaults within the sect…

"Hmm… After the Wanxiang Sect lost one False Nascent Soul and one Nascent Soul seed, its talent pool has truly dried up… Now, even the Golden Core cultivators have little hope of forming a Nascent Soul…"

Fang Xing had no interest in hunting down each of these Golden Core cultivators individually.

If he happened to encounter one, he'd kill them on the spot; if not, they'd be lucky.

Even if they were cultivation geniuses, could their growth rate possibly match his? Trying to seek revenge against him might only end in utter despair!

"There are also some rare techniques and secret arts… This Old Devil Wanxiang was cunning indeed—most of the jade slips in his storage pouch were nine parts truth, one part lie… Missing the most critical steps. If someone fell into this trap and managed to cultivate a powerful spell or corpse-art—like the Turning Heaven Golden Corpse—upon encountering the true master, a single incantation could strip it all away…"

"As for the core demonic cultivation methods, several key incantations were missing—easily leading to spiritual deviation and demonic possession…"

"Hmm?"

As Fang Xing casually browsed the Old Devil Wanxiang's secret arts, a flicker of interest appeared on his face.

"Method of crafting a False Nascent Soul?"

He meditated silently, discovering that after the crafting method lay another incantation—a secret technique for enhancing the False Nascent Soul into a second Nascent Soul!

"This is good…"

Yet after reading it, Fang Xing understood why this second Nascent Soul technique had never shone brightly under the Wanxiang Sect's control.

"A False Nascent Soul is like a False Golden Core—extremely difficult to enhance…"

"To turn a False Golden Core into a true one, you must first dissolve the False Golden Core…"

"The False Nascent Soul is different—it requires the 'Devouring Nascent Soul Secret Art' to consume the entire essence of another Nascent Soul just to regain a sliver of vitality… Even one Nascent Soul isn't enough; at least two are needed to ascend to an early-stage Second Nascent Soul…"

"This kind of cultivated Second Nascent Soul is inherently demonic—it can rapidly surge in power by devouring other Nascent Souls, easily advancing to Mid-Nascent Soul or even Late-Nascent Soul!"

"But Late-Nascent Soul is its absolute limit—this demonic artifact forged through such means has no chance of breaking through to the Transformation Realm."

"Moreover, the more it devours, the more violent its nature becomes—and the greater the risk of turning on its master!"

"What a pity… the Old Devil Wanxiang's Nascent Soul…"

Fang Xing sighed regretfully: "Otherwise, if I devoured just one more, I could have become a true Second Nascent Soul—my spiritual power and abilities would rival even a Mid-Nascent Soul cultivator."

"Yet according to this technique's description, besides a cultivator's Nascent Soul, the essence pearl of a fourth-tier transformed great beast should also suffice…"

"Then this Azure Water Cold Jiao cannot be allowed to escape…"

A thoughtful expression appeared on Fang Xing's face.

…

Several days later.

A piece of news exploded across the Da Jing cultivation world like thunder.

The Wanxiang Sect—one of the Five Great Demon Sects—was annihilated!

Not only had their Supreme Elder, the Old Devil Wanxiang, perished with soul and spirit destroyed, but the Wanxiang Sect's mountain gate had been breached by an unknown Nascent Soul True Lord, its treasures looted clean, and its Golden Core cultivators slaughtered in droves.

The Heaven Sword Sect immediately seized the opportunity, sending numerous affiliated forces into the Five Sects Ten Nations region and even further south into the Demon Lands—anyone with eyes could see this was a move to eradicate them utterly.

Cultivators and mid-to-small sects across Zheng and Qi countries erupted in wild celebration.

Even though most of their spoils had to be surrendered to the Heaven Sword Sect—especially high-grade spiritual veins and spirit herb gardens—the gains alone were enough to make any cultivator rich overnight! While the entire cultivation world focused on the Wanxiang Sect, Fang Xing had already arrived at the Bibo Cave region with Chu Chu Kuangtu.

Bibo Cave, though called a cave, was in fact a vast inland lake, its waters a deep green, radiating a chilling cold.

Legend said that in ancient times, this place had a lake—but its waters were clear and transparent, with no trace of chill.

Within the emerald lake lay the ruins of an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling, named "Bibo Cave."

Later, when the cave opened, a great battle erupted; the "Bibo Cave" collapsed, and its eighteen stored "Minggu Zhou Cold Pearls" shattered, their essence merging into the lake to form this ten-thousand-li frozen expanse.

After countless years, a third-tier serpent-snake took root here, underwent the Transformation Tribulation, and transformed into the Azure Water Cold Jiao, gathering numerous beasts to become a powerful demon king.

In earlier expeditions, orthodox forces had been utterly blocked before Bibo Cave, unable to advance an inch.

On this day,

The ten-thousand-li Bibo Lake was frigid, its surface covered by a single space ring, its pale green and crimson aura spreading across the entire lake.

The lake, moments ago poised to erupt in violent waves, now lay utterly still, without a ripple.

High above, the stars of heaven shimmered; one purple star blazed with intense radiance.

Chu Chu Kuangtu stood like an earthly emperor, his flying sword sweeping through the air with the majestic, sovereign might of an emperor's blade, forcing the forty-zhang-long emerald dragon into a corner with no escape upward or downward.

The dragon's body was covered in fish-like scales, gleaming with icy light under the sword beams—when it clashed with Chu Chu Kuangtu's core flying sword, only a few scales were chipped, its defense astonishingly formidable.

On its head were two small horns, unbranched; beneath its belly, two claws, each with three toes; no reverse scales beneath its neck.

Clearly, this was no true dragon—but a jiao!

"Damn humans!"

At that moment, the Azure Water Cold Jiao spoke in human tongue, unleashing a piercing dragon roar.

Infinite water surged from nowhere, forming a colossal vortex that sought to swallow all the starry swordlight.

Shhh!

At the critical moment, Fang Xing charged in with his sword.

He merged body and sword as one; his blade moved faster than thought, like a frozen sword prison, engulfing the Azure Water Cold Jiao.

Countless white-golden sword beams erupted, carrying specks of bloodied dragon scales as they rained down from the sky.

One could imagine that next year, all manner of dragon-blooded beasts in this Bibo Cave would thrive and multiply wildly…

"Roar! Roar!"

The Azure Water Cold Jiao, writhing in pain, grew increasingly desperate.

Previously, it had relied solely on its mighty beast body and the disunity among orthodox Nascent Soul cultivators to barely hold its ground.

Now, two Nascent Soul Sword Lords had arrived—both with devastating killing power!

Worse, they possessed a mysterious treasure that nullified its water evasion!

It now smelled the faint scent of death.

The more it faced death, the more the transformed great beast went berserk.

"Roar! Roar!"

Amidst the dragon's roar, the Azure Water Cold Jiao spat forth a stream of emerald cold flame.

This flame was unquestionably fourth-tier—its hue emerald, its core flowing like liquid water.

The moment it appeared, the world seemed to plunge into a bitter winter where water froze instantly; the entire lake surface began to freeze.

The swirling swordlight above seemed drenched in cold, slowing until it froze solid.

"Fourth-tier cold flame? Truly a vile beast!"

Fang Xing cursed, and a flash of light appeared above his head—his Ten-Thousand Methods Ghost Nascent Soul instantly emerged from his body.

This sight made Chu Chu Kuangtu's eyes twitch slightly.

The Nascent Soul spirit body was the foundation of a Nascent Soul cultivator; no one would willingly let it leave the body unless absolutely desperate, fearing any damage.

Though using the Nascent Soul in battle offered surprise advantages, almost no Nascent Soul True Lord ever did so.

But Fang Xing was different!

With his Ten-Thousand Methods Ghost Nascent Soul, he treated its emergence as routine.

Now, the Ghost Nascent Soul stood atop his head, holding the "Green Yang Demon Lamp."

His physical body formed hand seals; the Ghost Staff emerged, emitting a wail of ghosts and wolves.

The azure water cold serpent froze mid-movement; beast spirits are inherently weaker than cultivators', and this strike had hit its vital point.

At the same time, the Ten-Thousand-Methods Ghost Infant atop Fang Xing grinned and flicked its finger—a speck of ink-green flame, no larger than a bean, shot forth: the Soul-Devouring Demon Fire!

Whoosh!

The Soul-Devouring Demon Fire met the fourth-rank cold flame; extreme heat clashed with extreme cold, instantly erupting into a fire cloud the size of an acre, raging outward in all directions!

"Slice!"

Seizing this heavenly opportunity, Chu Chu Kuangtu merged with his sword, becoming a massive purple blade of light that slashed through the azure water dragon!

Splash!

Two halves of the dragon's corpse tumbled from the sky, trailing blood across the heavens!

From within the dragon's corpse, a fist-sized pale green beast core emerged; a miniature emerald serpent writhed inside, let out a dragon's roar, burst free from the core, clutching it in its mouth, frantically darting outward!

Boom!

Five colors—black, white, red, yellow, and green—soared skyward, coalescing into a demon cloud the size of an acre, instantly trapping the dragon's essence within.

"A fourth-rank shape-shifting beast's body is immensely strong, but its essence core lacks the innate affinity with the Grand Void that a cultivator's Nascent Soul possesses… it cannot instantly teleport to escape."

Fang Xing watched this scene, lost in thought.

(End of Chapter)