Chapter 235: Return

Looking at Chen Yuan, who fell down with full unwillingness not far away, Song Qingming, who was already covered in sweat, also breathed a long sigh of relief.

This strike just now almost consumed 80% of the magic power in his body. If this time he hadn't been able to kill Chen Yuan, he could only fight to the death and flee in a panic. By then, unless he had heaven-defying luck, he would definitely still die at Chen Yuan's hands.

The green light needle Song Qingming used just now was also the Formless Jade Wind Needle he had practiced for many years, but the one he used this time was more special than the one he used before.

After the cultivation technique of the Formless Jade Wind Needle reached a certain stage, the jade needles transformed from the magic power in the body would also become very sharp and hard as iron. As long as there was enough magic power, one could also fuse dozens of jade needles condensed from magic power together, turning them into a large jade needle with power far exceeding the usual.

The power of the jade needle launched in this way also far exceeded ordinary spells. This was also the reason why Chen Yuan's water-shaped shield was easily pierced by it just now.

Song Qingming had only barely managed to do this two years ago. Although this spell was very powerful, it also had a very obvious shortcoming: it required a long time of spell preparation, and the magic power required was very large. As far as Song Qingming's current magic power was concerned, he could barely cast it once in a battle.

No matter the size of the spell's power, as the cultivation level of the person casting the spell changed, there would also be a great change. Although this spell still had great defects at present, when Song Qingming's cultivation improved in the future and he had enough magic power in his body, he could also treat it like a low-tier fireball spell and cast it at will.

Although Chen Yuan's head-on fighting was not very powerful and the magic tools in his hand were very ordinary, his cultivation was one layer higher than Song Qingming's. If Song Qingming and he fought head-on, it would be very difficult to distinguish the winner in a short time.

Before launching the attack, Song Qingming had already formulated his own tactics. He was already poisoned at this time and couldn't drag it out by consuming with him. He could only choose to take some risks and use a surprise move to have the confidence to win.

Fortunately, Chen Yuan had been cultivating for many years and was also a cautious person. He used the Soul-Bewitching Flag to successfully bluff him for a moment, winning limited time for himself to condense the jade needle and make this fatal strike.

If the opponent had a more reckless personality and chose to attack while ignoring the interference of the Soul-Bewitching Flag from the beginning, Song Qingming wouldn't have had so much time to complete this spell and make this fatal strike.

After putting away the magic tools on the ground, Song Qingming searched Chen Yuan's fat corpse again, unexpectedly finding several storage bags, then released a fire to burn him clean, and left here quickly.

Although the battle with him didn't last long, the commotion was not small, and it might attract other people with ulterior motives. His magic power was already exhausted now, and there was poison on his body that could break out at any time. Staying here was truly too dangerous.

After walking out from below the cliff, Song Qingming simply walked south for another ten miles and found a deserted cave abandoned by low-tier demonic beasts on a relatively desolate small hillside to hide in.

This demonic beast cave, although very messy inside and the smell was a bit unpleasant, was fortunately hidden enough and very suitable for him now. In order not to let others easily discover this place, Song Qingming also specially spent some time setting up a concealment formation at the entrance of the cave to hide the cave entrance outside.

Song Qingming first checked the position where he was poisoned on his arm and found that his arm was now black over a large area and some numbness had appeared. He hurriedly swallowed an antidote pill again and focused on operating his magic power for a few hours, finally forcing all the toxins in his body out.

Fortunately, before entering the secret realm, he had made full preparations and brought quite a few antidote pills. Although these antidote spirit pills couldn't remove the toxins all at once, they still very well suppressed the severe toxins in his body, not letting them affect his battle just now. Otherwise, if the poison had broken out not long after he started, it might be his turn to die at Chen Yuan's hands now.

After removing the hidden dangers in his body, Song Qingming grabbed time and swallowed a few healing pills, took out a medium-grade spirit stone, and began to absorb the pure spiritual energy inside the spirit stone, wanting to restore his own magic power at the fastest speed. Until the magic power in his body had recovered more than half, the hanging heart of Song Qingming finally gradually set at ease.

After coming out of the inner valley, he had been running around with fear for more than a day, and had a big battle with Chen Yuan. Song Qingming was already exhausted. Now that he had finally found a place where he could rest with peace of mind, Song Qingming leaned against a stone wall in the cave and slowly closed his eyes.

Song Qingming stayed in this cave for three days, until the last day when the secret realm was about to close. After feeling a violent fluctuation of spiritual power coming from the outside world, Song Qingming walked out from inside carefully.

Just as he expected, the secret realm channel had been reopened. At this time, a huge black vortex had appeared above the sky, pitch-black and unfathomable.

After the black vortex stabilized, rays of sword light slowly appeared above the sky. Those were the cultivators who had survived in the secret realm, now rushing impatiently to pass through the channel and return to the outside world.

Some of them were in rags and covered in blood, clearly having survived after cruel battles. Some had calm expressions and were fresh and clean. He didn't know if they really had strength or if they just found a good position and luckily avoided others' prying eyes.

Song Qingming didn't wait much longer, stepped on his flying sword directly, and followed the first batch of people to pass through the pitch-black channel.

After a familiar feeling of dizziness struck, Song Qingming successfully returned to the small hillside before entering the secret realm. Following the cultivators in front, after handing over the identity token he bought for a hundred spirit stones before going in, Song Qingming and the dozens of cultivators who came out in the first batch stepped onto the teleportation platform they came on again.

After the white light flashed, everyone returned to Taiyue Lake Market. Song Qingming, standing on the teleportation platform, scanned and found that the Golden Core True Persons of the major sects he saw when he went in didn't appear here, and gradually set his mind at ease.

This time he secretly entered the inner valley with Huo Feng. As long as Huo Feng didn't have any accidents, no one should know. Although relying on Huo Feng's strength, it shouldn't be difficult to shake off the Lingyin Sect cultivators who chased her earlier, but one should fear ten thousand, just in case. After all, in the secret realm, no matter how high the cultivation was, it would be suppressed. One or two people wouldn't be her opponent, but if they were surrounded by a group of them, no matter how powerful Huo Feng was, she would be outnumbered.

If Huo Feng really had an accident, Song Qingming would also be extremely likely to be implicated. Although he was coerced by Huo Feng, he, as a human cultivator, helped the demon race enter the inner valley to collect spirit items. Once known by the Xiaoyao Sect, he and the entire Song family would suffer a devastating disaster.

There were forty or fifty cultivators in the first batch who returned to the outside world. Song Qingming looked for the Huang family members who came with him but didn't find them, so he returned directly to the inn where the few people stayed in the market.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 236 =====