Chapter 214: The New Flying Dagger

On the other side, dozens of li away, atop a certain mountain peak, a dim blood rainbow flashed and plummeted down.

"Thud."

After the bloodlight faded, Ye Zhen knelt half on the ground, even crushing out a sizable crater in the soil.

The woman clamped one arm tightly over her dantian, where a silver flying dagger was visibly embedded; yet beneath the torn clothing, a faint silver armor was clearly revealed.

This woman not only had a protective spell, but also another layer of defense beneath it.

Though the silver dagger, propelled by Wang Yu's immense force, had pierced through the soft armor, most of its momentum was still dissipated, leaving it only barely embedded a short distance into the dantian.

Even so, it caused heavy bleeding from her abdomen; she had been too focused on controlling the blood-dash talisman to attend to any wound treatment.

Now, having used the talisman's power to flee this far, she was certain even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't easily track her down, and only then did she relax enough to frantically tend to her injuries.

She first endured the searing pain, yanked the dagger from her abdomen, then swiftly tapped several acupoints near her dantian with one hand, pulled a talisman from her robe and slapped it onto her body, and from her storage pouch retrieved a small white vial, swallowing its entire contents in one gulp.

The next instant, a faint green aura shimmered over her body, her abdominal bleeding halted instantly, the wound contracted rapidly, and within moments only a faint white scar remained.

Seeing this, Ye Zhen finally exhaled deeply, fumbled through her clothing again, and pulled out two identical bronze mirrors.

On the surface of both mirrors, a shallow dent had formed, surrounded by a network of cracks.

"Where did this brat come from? Among the True Disciples of the Four Great Ming Sects, there was no record of him!"

"If not for these two Tianming Treasure Mirrors with automatic defense and this 'Silver Network Armor,' I might have truly been finished here." Ye Zhen muttered bitterly, staring at the two mirrors; as she caressed their surfaces, golden light flowed over them, restoring them to their original state—though both now seemed slightly thinner and lighter.

"This brat wore the attire of the Four Symbols Sect. I recall only two True Disciples from that sect entered the secret realm, and neither resembled him—could he truly be just an ordinary disciple?"

"But how could an ordinary disciple possess such power? Not just that clearly perfected breathing technique, but even those three flying daggers he released at the end—how unnatural! They struck even after I activated a second-grade blood-dash talisman."

"What kind of terrifying speed weapon could a Qi Condensation cultivator possibly withstand?"

The woman in the green-and-yellow dress stared at the tattered fabric over her dantian, a look of lingering fear crossing her face; then her gaze fell on the dagger still stained with her blood on the ground, and she bent down to pick it up.

Ye Zhen carefully examined the willow-leaf dagger, weighed it in her hand, then pulled from her waist's spirit beast pouch the same black horned serpent she had released earlier, and lightly slashed its hardest skull with the dagger.

"Sssss."

The thick scales on the monster snake's head split open, revealing a fine wound, and blood began to seep out.

"It can pierce the scales of a Black-Scaled Horned Snake—meaning ordinary low-grade defensive artifacts would struggle to block it. Yet it was stopped by the Tianming Treasure Mirrors. Relative to its terrifying speed, its offensive power is actually average." Ye Zhen murmured, then casually fed the snake a pill and returned it to her storage pouch.

She caressed the willow-leaf dagger once more, then gently infused it with spiritual energy.

Moments later, the silver dagger began to hum, its surface revealing nine identical small-sword-like spiritual runes, arranged in groups of three, faintly forming a double-layered rune pattern.

"Mastery Sword Mark, Second-Grade Sword Artifact."

The woman in the green-and-yellow dress, upon seeing the rune pattern and count on the dagger, gasped aloud, nearly dropping the dagger from her hand.

…

Wang Yu held a silver flying dagger, its surface gleaming with silver light, appearing ordinary.

The next instant, pale golden mist emerged from his palm, swiftly forming a golden gauntlet that covered his entire hand.

Simultaneously, his Fire Spirit Art activated; faint red glow shimmered across his body, then rolled and condensed onto the dagger.

"Whoosh."

The silver dagger's surface burst into crimson flames; after the roaring fire swept over it, it suddenly transformed into an eerie dark green.

Wang Yu flicked his wrist.

The dark green dagger vanished in a flash, teleporting instantly to embed itself in a towering tree dozens of zhang away.

A bizarre scene unfolded.

The towering tree, standing five or six zhang tall, instantly began shedding its leaves like snowfall, turning yellow and withered; its trunk visibly shriveled, its bark blackening and drying into a shriveled husk.

Seeing the tree's condition, Wang Yu's heart leapt; he waved one hand, and the dagger embedded in the tree leapt free, spiraled through the air, and returned to rest in his golden-gauntleted palm.

He examined the dagger: its once-dark green blade had faded significantly, with parts reverting to pale silver.

It works!

Wang Yu's heart leapt with joy; he nodded in satisfaction.

He tossed the dagger before him, letting it hover motionless, then flipped his other hand to produce a gourd sealed with a talisman.

He blew gently on the gourd, causing the talisman to float off; only then did he carefully unseal it and pour out a single drop of dark green liquid, letting it land precisely on the glowing dagger.

Instantly, the dagger's surface turned dark green again, faintly emitting a fishy odor.

Wang Yu swiftly resealed the gourd, then pulled from his robe a transparent amber-like crystal, crushed it gently, and let the resulting powder fall entirely onto the dark green dagger.

Something even more miraculous occurred!

As soon as the powder touched the blade, it instantly liquefied into a transparent fluid, completely coating the entire dagger.

Within a few breaths, this fluid hardened into a seamless, airtight transparent shell, sealing the entire dagger and its toxic coating within.

"Excellent, excellent—the techniques described in the Copper Coconut Poison Scripture are indeed highly practical."

"Who would have thought, without reading this scripture, that the moonwax stone used to aid combustion during artifact forging could also seal deadly toxins on blades and swords, preserving them for long periods?" Wang Yu murmured, gazing at the silver dagger with satisfaction.