Chapter 79: Two-Headed Bat

"Boom~"

At this moment, in a complex labyrinth of tunnels one hundred zhang away from the two people in Yuqing Hall, Xu Chen was also trapped in the encirclement of a group of Soul Beasts.

However, his current Divine Sense range was still about fifty zhang, so he could discover the traces of the Soul Beasts early, avoid danger every time, and take the initiative to pick on weaker Soul Beasts to attack, instead moving through them quickly with no danger despite the surprises.

Ever since he had subdued the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, the Blue Jade Bead could no longer grant him powerful Soul attack abilities.

But under the reinforcement of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, his Soul was as firm as a rock, and his Divine Sense range was wider; he felt almost no great Soul pressure within the rift, and the erosion of his Divine Sense was naturally weak—it was over two hundred zhang outside, but after entering, it had gradually compressed from the initial hundred-plus zhang to about fifty zhang.

And according to his experience, he had currently penetrated nearly two li into the rift.

This distance was already the limit of how far the Third Elder had penetrated back then.

But it was not yet his own limit.

According to his judgment, he should be able to advance at least another li or so.

It was just that there was no need for him to continue to venture deeper at the moment.

After all, the deeper the rift, the more unknown dangers there were, and the Soul Beasts also became increasingly powerful; he currently had a powerful Divine Sense but lacked the deep Yuan Qi to match it, unable to sustain his Divine Sense to probe the surrounding situation for a long time. Furthermore, his cultivation was too trashy, and he had no strength to deal with those powerful Soul Beasts.

With the Third Elder's experience as a precedent, he was certain that the two people from Yuqing Hall were already about to lose their way within this range.

What he needed to do now was to find the traces of the two, and then act according to the situation.

Of course, from beginning to end, he had never thought about killing the two.

After all, provoking Yuqing Hall like this would bring a calamity of sect destruction upon Taiyuan Sect.

But given the Woman in black's terrible attitude toward him, he did not mind giving them a big lesson, so as to avoid endless entanglement in the future.

And as for revealing the secret of the Soul Beasts and the Soul Bead, Xu Chen had actually thought it through deeply.

His cultivation was too trashy; to settle this matter, he could only rely on wisdom, and the only place he knew that could trap these two was Black Wind Ridge.

Additionally, Black Wind had also begun to appear in the Spirit Fox Nest near the mountain gate. When a large number of Immortal Sect cultivators came to participate in congratulating Danchenzi on the Spirit Transformation Ceremony, they would naturally ask about this matter. Under the incomparably powerful Divine Sense of those Spirit Realm Great Cultivators, even without going down the mountain, they would be able to instantly understand some of the secrets inside the cave.

In other words, the matter of the Soul Beasts and the Soul Bead could not be kept secret for long before it would be made public.

Therefore, there was no need for Xu Chen to deliberately keep this secret.

Furthermore, to completely resolve the dispute with Yuqing Hall, Yulong Zhenren was the key. If he could use the power of the Soul Bead to save Yulong Zhenren, then Yuqing Hall would certainly have no reason to continue to pester him, and might even be endlessly grateful.

Liang Feng was merely a fourth-generation disciple of the Zhenyuan Realm; with its large family and great business, Yuqing Hall did not lack such a cultivator.

But a Danyuan Realm powerhouse could not be lost; Yuqing Hall would naturally harbor resentment over this matter, and this conflict might last for hundreds of years without being resolved; the relationship between the two sects could not possibly be good.

As the saying goes, it is better to resolve grievances than to knot them.

For those who cultivate the Dao and seek immortality, forming grievances is the greatest obstacle to cultivation.

The more grievances formed, the more karma entangled on one's body, and the more killing tribulations would eventually be brought about. Even if one cultivated to the Golden Core or even became a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator, once targeted by an enemy and ambushed during a tribulation, even with heaven-reaching abilities, one would still die without a whole corpse.

Therefore, every cultivator who truly harbors a dream of longevity acts very cautiously and carefully in their daily life, and would never easily add unnecessary enemies and trouble to themselves.

Xu Chen naturally did not want to be targeted by people from Yuqing Hall for the rest of his life, never having a moment of peace.

Even if Danchenzi underwent Spirit Transformation, he could protect him for a while, but not for a lifetime.

If one wants to live long, one must first be powerful oneself, and also try to provoke as little trouble as possible, and even more so, not provoke enemies one cannot deal with.

Yulong Zhenren was just like this.

Because he was too arrogant and complacent, he tried to bully the weak, but did not expect to capsize in the gutter.

But this kind of thing was too common in the Immortal World.

Instances of being struck by lightning for showing off were everywhere.

Xu Chen believed that if Yulong Zhenren were truly saved and awakened, he would surely restrain himself a lot and would definitely not dare to seek revenge and provoke Taiyuan Sect.

After all, Taiyuan Sect also had a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator sitting in charge; it was not something a mere Danyuan Realm cultivator could slap in the face.

Last time in Jingshi, if Danchenzi had already undergone Spirit Transformation, Yulong Zhenren would definitely not have dared to intimidate the three of them.

At present, Xu Chen had already used a method to trap the two from Yuqing Hall in the Black Wind Rift.

The remaining thing to do was to find them, and after letting them suffer enough, save them and take them out.

Of course, if he encountered a Soul Beast so powerful that he could not deal with it, he would still prioritize protecting his own life.

"Let the Daoist Friend die, not the poor Daoist"—this was the creed of the cultivation world.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Deep in the rift, in the complex labyrinth of tunnels where Black Mist rolled, the man in green was once again fighting with a huge, claw-waving Soul Beast.

Whistling light from Magic Treasures, flashing spiritual light from Magic Spells, angry roars and howls, collisions and rolling—the entire cave was trembling violently.

The strength of the person and the beast was equal; they were chasing each other through the crisscrossing rifts, fighting in a way that was hard to distinguish the winner.

The Soul Beast had crisscrossing wounds on its body, and Black Mist was rolling; although the man in green had no skin wounds, his entire body's Yuan Qi was vibrating and unstable, and he was panting and pale. The Array Disk above his head also began to dim; it was clear that he could no longer hold on.

If he had encountered this Soul Beast at the beginning, the man in green would certainly have fought steadily and used his endless Magic Spells and Magic Treasures to slowly grind this Soul Beast to death.

But now, after his junior sister went missing, he had begun to panic.

Especially just a short while ago, he had heard what seemed to be his junior sister's shouting and fighting sounds not far ahead; if it weren't for this suddenly appearing Soul Beast blocking the way, he might have already caught up to his junior sister.

But after a fierce struggle, his Yuan Qi was exhausted, and he was gradually becoming physically drained.

What made him even more uneasy was that his Divine Sense range had been compressed to about one zhang, almost becoming blind; if it weren't for his thick Yuan Qi supporting the Magic Treasure to illuminate a larger range, he would certainly be even more wretched.

But the Zhenyuan Realm had not yet reached the Golden Core, and his Yuan Qi reserves were limited, far from being able to support the continuous activation of Magic Treasure defenses for several hours. Moreover, in this ghostly place, not only was his Divine Sense severely compressed, but his Yuan Qi was consumed even faster; once released outside the body, it would soon be worn away by the Black Wind.

He felt he could not hold on; his junior sister had only just reached Foundation Establishment not long ago, so her situation would only be more dangerous.

Therefore, the more he fought, the more anxious he became, and his state of mind became increasingly unbalanced. Finally, in a moment of distraction, the man in green suffered a heavy blow from the Soul Beast, and a huge wound appeared on his chest and abdomen, deep enough to see the bone. Under the erosion of the Black Mist, the man in green immediately felt as if his Soul had been pierced by an ice thorn, and even his Soul felt frozen.

"Go to hell~"

The man in green knew that he could no longer continue to entangle, so he raised his hand and crushed a Spirit Talisman.

With a "boom," a thick flame rose into the air in the complex labyrinth of tunnels, then turned into a giant flame beast that pounced on the Soul Beast, wrapping it inside.

The Soul Beast hissed and struggled in the flames, rolling and colliding in the tunnel, but gradually the sound became smaller and smaller, and its movements became slower and slower. In about ten breaths of time, it was burned until it disappeared, leaving behind only a Soul Bead the size of a pigeon egg.

The man in green swallowed a healing Spirit Pill, raised his hand in a wretched state to grab the Soul Bead, and then, clutching his forehead, limped on to continue chasing in the direction of the sound of his junior sister's shouting just now.

At this moment, Xu Chen was already not far from the man in green, and he could even see the battle that had just taken place at the edge of his Divine Sense.

However, he did not continue to close the distance, but instead followed behind the man in green, moving forward slowly.

Just as he had judged, the two people from Yuqing Hall had already become separated.

Yet he dared not be careless, because he had also encountered a trouble he could not shake off: he was being targeted by a massive Soul Beast.

This Soul Beast was enormous in size, resembling a Double-headed Flying Bat, flying back and forth like a ghost within the fissures, hovering not far around him, and even attempting to launch an attack twice, though both times Xu Chen detected it in advance and escaped by utilizing the complex passageways.

Xu Chen still had fresh memories of the bat-shaped Soul Beast.

The last time he came to save people, Sun Haoqian, the Third Leader of Wild Wolf Valley, had died after such a Soul Beast invaded his Sea of Consciousness and devoured his Soul, and this type of Soul Beast seemed capable of residing within a human body.

Moreover, this double-headed bat was more than ten times larger than the one from last time, and it was faster, hiding within the black mist and the maze-like fissures; without Divine Sense, it was impossible to detect.

Although Xu Chen's Divine Sense was formidable, his Qi was insufficient to support long-term, large-scale Divine Sense scanning, so he dared not be the slightest bit careless and could only release his Divine Sense to scan every so often, using this to obtain environmental data and constantly adjust his direction to evade and defend.

But even the most excellent hunter has moments when they doze off.

Just as Xu Chen failed to find any trace of the bat during one scan and began to focus his search on the man in green, he suddenly felt a terror that made his hair stand on end; he hurriedly turned around and released his Flying Sword, and with a loud "Boom—", a streak of sword light collided with a massive black shadow, the Flying Sword passing straight through, and a giant bat emerged from the rolling black mist, letting out a shriek that shook the Soul, enveloping him like a cloud of black mist.

"Squeak~"

A piercing shriek rang out in Xu Chen's Sea of Consciousness.

A giant, pitch-black double-headed bat appeared simultaneously within his Sea of Consciousness, flapping its massive wings and opening sharp Fangs like those of a jackal, screaming incessantly at the treasure vase releasing a faint blue light, seemingly filled with both fear and uncontrollable excitement.

This was a pure Soul attack; Qi Magic Spells and ordinary Magic Treasures were completely powerless against it.

Especially once the opponent had already invaded one's Sea of Consciousness, one could only use the Soul to fight.

However, for a cultivator at the Refining Essence into Qi stage, the Soul has not yet taken form, the Three Spirits are separated, and there is simply no ability to fight; thus, against an attack that invades the Sea of Consciousness, there is almost no defensive capability.

This was also the reason why the two Danyuan Realm powerhouses, Yulong Zhenren and Qingyunzi, could be attacked and knocked unconscious by Xu Chen.

Of course, because the Souls of cultivators at the Refining Essence into Qi stage are weak, they do not possess any powerful Soul-attacking Magic Spells; at most, they use their Divine Sense to suppress and impact the opponent, maintaining a simple balance between one another.

As long as the Nascent Soul is not formed, immunity to Soul attacks is near zero, which is why all low-to-mid-level cultivators covet Soul-type Magic Treasures.

It is truly a case of "with one treasure in hand, the world is mine," allowing one to easily gain the upper hand in battles against peers or even those of higher ranks.

However, because the difficulty of cultivating Soul-related Magic Spells is too great, and even Magic Treasures that attack the Soul are extremely scarce, that was why so many people had coveted Xu Chen's Soul-attacking Magic Treasure back then, attempting to claim it for themselves.

This Blue Jade Bead of Xu Chen's was extremely strange; it had been in his Sea of Consciousness for over three months, yet it was not under his control, existing as a completely foreign and independent entity.

Although it had brought him powerful Divine Sense and some miraculous effects, Xu Chen still knew nothing about its origin or function and could only accept it as it came.

(End of this chapter)