Chapter 114: He Does Not Want to See Me

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a day had passed.

The slaughter at Black Wind Ridge was still continuing, while Spirit Fox Valley had slowly stabilized.

By the early hours of the next day, as the power of the spewing Black Wind had weakened to a controllable level, the group of cultivators from Longmen Mountain finally fixed the Array again, leaving only a gap for the Black Wind to spew out, and the scale of the gap was also limited to twenty zhang.

After the group of powerful cultivators from Longmen Mountain were freed up to join the mopping-up team, the escaping Soul Beasts were quickly blocked; coupled with the powerful siege by several other Danyuan Realm experts and a group of Zhenyuan Realm cultivators, the number of escaping Soul Beasts became fewer and fewer, and the situation soon stabilized.

However, before everyone had time to cheer and celebrate, news came that the situation at Black Wind Ridge was still chaotic, and soon the order from Xuanchen Zhenjun arrived: leave two Danyuan Realm experts and one hundred cultivators to continue guarding Spirit Fox Valley, and the rest were to go to Black Wind Ridge for reinforcements.

Thus, Xu Chen followed the main force to Black Wind Ridge once again.

And upon arriving at Black Wind Ridge, everyone realized that the reports were true; the scale and speed of the Black Wind spewing at Black Wind Ridge were more than ten times greater than at Spirit Fox Valley, and the number of Soul Beasts appearing was also more than ten times greater, with a large number of Soul Beasts whose strength was no less than the True Essence Late Stage, and even many that specifically invaded the Soul.

In just over a day, more than forty cultivators had died at Black Wind Ridge, and nearly a hundred were injured.

Including all the Danyuan Realm cultivators, everyone was extremely disheveled, their vital energy nearly completely exhausted, and they could only hold on by constantly taking pills.

However, ever since the heaven-shaking strike by Xuanchen Zhenjun that exhausted all his Spirit Qi, after the first wave of Soul Beasts rushing out of the cavern was completely cleared, the number of subsequent Soul Beasts spewing out had decreased significantly; although they were still as endless as a school of fish, at least to the extent that could be identified, they were already several times sparser.

Therefore, with the addition of the more than one hundred cultivators who came from Spirit Fox Valley, the situation gradually stabilized; although they could not break into the central core area to mop up, the Soul Beasts in the peripheral areas of the Five Elements Array had decreased significantly, and all cultivators began to have the spare energy to consume and refine pills, and their exhausted vital energy began to recover.

And after this day and night of chaotic fighting and heavy casualties, the overall coordination of the participating cultivators gradually became smoother, and they executed the orders of the leading Danyuan Realm experts more earnestly.

They had to be earnest; the Danyuan Realm experts were the mainstay of this Soul Beast slaughter, and each one was like a needle calming the sea, controlling the defense range of several dozen li.

Although their Divine Sense was compressed from a hundred li to ten li, and their Magic Spell attack range was compressed to about one li, under their powerful Divine Sense scanning, they could capture almost all the movements of the Soul Beasts within the defense range, and thus could make accurate judgments based on the activity range of the Soul Beasts and coordinate the mopping-up.

And those who liked to act alone or did not listen to commands, or even left the team without authorization to snatch Soul Beads, basically all died.

Those who suffered heavy casualties were basically those small Immortal Sects or family rogue cultivators with little reputation.

Therefore, although the casualties of cultivators at Black Wind Ridge were heavy, in reality, it did not have much impact on the large and medium-sized Immortal Sects; even if there were losses, they were only a few people, not worth mentioning at all.

And compared to the casualties, the harvest of the large and medium-sized sects was even greater.

The large amount of Soul Beads harvested alone was enough to cover all expenses and losses.

Xu Chen had a deep understanding of this.

Previously, he had entered the depths of the Black Wind Ridge rift cavern twice; the first time he only managed to get two Soul Beads.

The second time he entered on a bet with Lan You, and the harvest was nearly a hundred.

And this time, he followed along to watch the excitement and took action, and at this moment, he had already harvested at least two hundred or more in his Storage Bag.

This was still because his cultivation was insufficient, and he was ordered not to enter the center of the Array, so he had been staying on the periphery, squatting in the grass and hunting.

Those cultivators guarding in the Array had an even fuller harvest.

Especially the four leading Danyuan Realm experts; every time a large-scale Magic Spell was cast, a wave of their hands could harvest at least seven or eight, and sometimes even dozens.

And Xu Chen also discovered that the number of Soul Beasts coming out this time that had Soul Beads was surprisingly high; almost seventy or eighty percent of them had Soul Beads in their bodies. Therefore, these Demon Beasts of mysterious origin were both a source of terror and running wealth; each one had a big word "wealth" floating on them, making people both fearful and jealous.

As time passed, the situation at Black Wind Ridge, having received reinforcements, completely stabilized after half a day.

A group of Danyuan Realm experts began to lead their respective teams to mop up toward the core area.

Because Xu Chen's Divine Sense was powerful and his combat strength was no weaker than a Zhenyuan Middle Stage cultivator, he also followed behind a group from Yuqing Hall to kill into the Array. Soon, he was suddenly surprised to discover that Lan You, whom he had not seen for several months, was also among them.

However, her cultivation was now at the Zhenyuan Middle Stage; among a large group of Yuqing Hall Zhenyuan Realm cultivators, her aura fluctuation was very obvious. At this moment, she was following a group of fellow disciples to encircle and suppress Soul Beasts from all sides. A Flying Sword danced in the air, like a golden ribbon whistling through a space of several hundred zhang, killing with black light soaring to the sky, and one Soul Beast after another was shredded into powder by the sword light in mid-air.

However, for this cold and indifferent woman, although Xu Chen did not dislike her, he could not bring himself to like her either.

Therefore, thinking about it, he did not go up to greet her.

In fact, there was no deep hatred between him and Lan You; when the two were trapped in the cavern for nearly a month, after being squeezed together day and night, all the grudges had already vanished like smoke.

It was just that ever since Yulong Zhenren forcefully coerced the three of them, he had felt an inexplicable aversion to the people of Yuqing Hall. Now that a large group of Yuqing Hall people were together, this unpleasantness was even more obvious.

Therefore, to avoid the awkwardness of meeting, Xu Chen decided to change direction.

"Let's go, we're heading that way!"

Xu Chen said to several senior brothers and sisters and the group of rogue cultivators including Song Qingshi and Zhou Ding who were following him to help pick up scraps.

Third Senior Brother said, "Junior Brother, we are just following along to watch the excitement and help out. Up ahead are the people from Yuqing Hall; it is much safer to follow them."

Song Qingshi and the group of rogue cultivators all nodded vigorously.

The strength of Yuqing Hall was very strong; with Danyuan Realm Elders clearing the way in front, basically all the powerful Soul Beasts were killed, and those left behind were all relatively weak or even injured Soul Beasts. After being mopped up by Lan You and a group of Zhenyuan Realm cultivators, those who escaped were even more riddled with scars, just right for picking up scraps.

Following along to kill into the Array this way, in less than a quarter of an hour, everyone had harvested several Soul Beads each.

This kind of picking up scraps, drinking soup, and getting rich behind the strong was what all rogue cultivators liked to do most; basically, there was no danger at all.

Xu Chen, however, curled his lips and smiled, "Following behind their butts, we can only eat some leftovers. If we want to get rich, we have to change to a good place."

Everyone felt it made sense when they heard it; after all, the desire to get rich outweighed the consideration of safety.

Especially since there were already more than six Danyuan Realm experts and over a hundred Zhenyuan Realm cultivators killing into the Array with full force to start a powerful counterattack. Once this mopping-up mission ended and the Array was resealed, there would never be such a good opportunity to kill Soul Beasts and collect Soul Beads again.

Thus, the group followed Xu Chen to change direction and rushed into the rolling black mist on the side.

Inside the Array, the thick black mist was no less than the one or two li area in the depths of the Black Wind Ridge rift back then. Basically, those in the Kaiyuan Realm could no longer act independently, and even the Divine Sense of the Zhenyuan Realm was compressed to about ten zhang; when encountering powerful Soul Beasts, they could only barely protect themselves.

But for Xu Chen, his Divine Sense was very little affected. After entering the Array, he could still easily see about one li, and if he sensed vaguely, he could vaguely see the general situation of most of the core area of the Five Elements Array.

This was a range that almost only Danyuan Realm Early Stage experts could identify.

Therefore, for Xu Chen, entering the Array actually did not have much danger; weak Soul Beasts could not beat him, and strong ones he could easily avoid.

And just as Xu Chen and the others were leaving, Lan You, who was struggling to kill Soul Beasts in front, suddenly stiffened and stopped her movements. Then, she turned around with a face full of surprise, but in her Divine Sense, she only saw a group of people disappearing into the black mist, and one of the blurred young figures was exactly the person she thought of day and night.

"He doesn't want to see me..."

In an instant, Lan You stood frozen in the air, letting her Flying Sword lose its luster and whistle as it fell. Her heart was so sour that tears rolled down her thin, pale cheeks.

Seven or eight Soul Beasts roared out from the churning black mist, arriving in an instant.

"Junior Sister, watch out!"

"Senior Sister Lan, watch out!"

A group of Yuqing Hall fellow disciples exclaimed one after another and pounced from all directions. More than ten light shadows of Flying Swords and Magic Treasures met the Soul Beasts. Amidst the boom-boom-boom explosions, colorful thunder-fire spirit light exploded all over the sky, and the seven or eight Soul Beasts were instantly shredded into pieces and exploded into flying ash.

Lan You, however, seemed to turn a deaf ear to the impact and explosions around her.

Her eyes stared blankly in the direction where Xu Chen disappeared. Her dress was shredded by the impact of the explosion's spirit light, but her muscles and bones were as tough as a Magic Treasure, and she was not injured in the slightest.

"Junior Sister Lan You, what are you doing?" Xu Wen roared from not far away, his vital energy causing everyone's faces to turn pale.

She trembled all over and snapped back to her senses, raising her hand in a beckoning gesture; the Flying Sword that had fallen to the ground flew up once more from the rocky hillside, then transformed into a streak of light and headed toward the direction where Xu Chen had disappeared without looking back, while at the same time a voice rang out in the ears of the group of fellow disciples:

"I am going to act alone, do not follow me!"

"Senior Sister!"

"Junior Sister!"

Amidst the calls of the group of Yuqing Hall cultivators, Lan You vanished in an instant.

Xu Wen said helplessly, "You all continue to follow the Elder in front, do not fall behind; I will go find Junior Sister Lan You."

After speaking, Xu Wen also rode his sword and chased in the direction of Lan You, but he was soon blocked by the vast, churning black mist all around, cutting off his Divine Sense perception and causing him to completely lose Lan You's aura, so he could only continue his pursuit by following the direction where the light of some Magic Treasures flickered during the fighting.

(End of this chapter)