Chapter 319: Battle Ends

Seeing that Song Qingming had escaped, the black-clad cultivator, despite his surprise, quickly regained his composure and hurriedly launched a high-tier Earth Spike spell directly at Song Qingming, who had not yet landed and stood steady.

Facing this sharp spell attack, Song Qingming calmly took out a black-and-white long saber and slashed it, cutting all the earth spikes beneath his feet into two pieces. Then, Song Qingming borrowed force from the soil mound with his right leg and charged directly at the black-clad cultivator, who had not yet retracted his strength.

Unexpectedly, this guy's reaction speed was also very fast. Using the Wind-Riding Boots under his feet, he quickly shifted his position in advance, making Song Qingming's strike miss. The black-clad cultivator nimbly turned his direction in the air, released several low-tier spirit talismans to distract Song Qingming, and then the flying sword in his hand quickly stabbed at Song Qingming's throat again.

However, when this strike reached three feet in front of Song Qingming, it was blocked again by a white bronze bell. No matter how much force he exerted, he could not move forward an inch. A moment later, he was instead forced back by several water arrows released from the white bronze bell.

Seeing that Song Qingming had excellent magic tools and that he had no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation, the black-clad cultivator had no choice but to put away his magic tools, step back onto his flying sword, and choose to flee directly again.

However, after this bout of all-out fleeing and the battle with Song Qingming, the magic power in the black-clad cultivator's body was already near the bottom. Although he took several more elixirs to barely hold on for a stretch of the road, he ultimately lacked magic power and was caught up by Song Qingming over ten miles away, where he was finished off with a single slash of the saber.

After killing the black-clad cultivator, Song Qingming collected his storage bag and took off the Wind-Riding Boots from his feet. After putting them on and testing them, he found that his escape speed was indeed increased by about twenty percent compared to usual. However, after using this item, Song Qingming also clearly felt that the consumption rate of magic power in his body accelerated significantly. It seemed this item could not be worn on his feet at all times like a flying boat; it could only be taken out at critical moments.

Auxiliary spirit items like Wind-Riding Boots, although considered a type of magic tool, have much lower usage requirements than normal magic tools. Even if a Qi Refining cultivator obtained one, they could use it normally, though the effect would not be as good as that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Wearing this item during a battle with an enemy, the short-term increase in escape speed can enhance a cultivator's ability to dodge and attack, making it a decent auxiliary spirit item.

However, although this kind of auxiliary spirit item can help a cultivator increase their escape speed for a short time, compared to magic tools like flying boats that only Foundation Establishment cultivators can use, the disadvantages are also very obvious: it is neither as fast as the opponent's, nor can it be used for a long time. If you encounter a cultivator with much higher cultivation and magic power while using it to escape, and you cannot shake them off in a short time, you are instead easily exhausted to death by the opponent.

In the previous pursuit, the black-clad cultivator actually had a very good chance of escaping at the very beginning. It was just that, in order to preserve as much magic power in his body as possible, he didn't dare to use all his strength to travel. According to his calculations, Song Qingming would at most chase for a few dozen miles before the magic power in his body was also consumed by more than half, and he would slowly be shaken off.

It was just that he didn't expect that after Song Qingming practiced the Jade Profound Scripture, the magic power in his body was thirty percent stronger than that of ordinary cultivators. After a bout of pursuit, it was his magic power that failed first. He slowed down his escape speed without realizing it. By the time he reacted and took an elixir to restore his magic power, Song Qingming had already seen through it. The moment Song Qingming took out the Millennium Spirit Milk, he was destined not to be able to run away.

After burning the black-clad man's corpse with a Fireball spell, Song Qingming returned to the forest where they had just fought and found the substitute puppet that had been discarded by the black-clad man earlier.

The result was somewhat unexpected: this puppet was severely damaged and could no longer be used normally. No wonder the black-clad cultivator didn't control this puppet beast to attack together earlier, but only took it out as a decoy to ambush him once.

A normal second-tier substitute puppet beast is worth at least two or three thousand spirit stones on the market. He had thought that he would make a fortune by getting this puppet beast, but he didn't expect to be happy for nothing.

Looking at the degree of damage to this substitute puppet beast, repairing it is not something an ordinary person can do. Even if one could find someone to repair it, one would still have to pay a sum of spirit stones to purchase materials. No matter how you calculate it, the value of this thing would not be very high.

Song Qingming sighed, threw this substitute puppet beast into his storage bag, sat in meditation on the spot for a while to restore some of the magic power in his body, and only then slowly left this place.

By the time he returned to Green Ox Ridge, the battle here had long since ended. Except for the batch of cultivators who had escaped earlier, the remaining Heaven Sea Alliance cultivators who had been blocked here had all been beheaded on the spot.

"Fellow Daoist Song, you've finally returned! How was it? Did you intercept the opponent?" As soon as Song Qingming's sword light landed, Cao Rongxue, Wei Tianhe, and the others, who had already returned here, saw him and hurriedly walked over.

The Heaven Sea Alliance cultivator that Cao Rongxue had been eyeing earlier hadn't escaped very far before she caught up to him, and a single sword strike to behead him became the merit on this woman's record. At this moment, her face was full of glory, having just finished enjoying the flattery of the surrounding cultivators.

"Fortunately, I did not fail the mission; I had some gains on this trip!" Song Qingming smiled and cupped his hands at the three people who had come along, then threw the head of the black-clad cultivator he had beheaded earlier directly onto the ground.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Song!"

Seeing the head that Song Qingming had taken out, the cultivators nearby also gathered around. These people's faces were filled with a hint of envy, and they all spoke up to congratulate Song Qingming.

You must know that in such a battle, being able to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the opponent alone is a great merit. Song Qingming being able to do this was enough to make them a bit jealous.

When Song Qingming returned, the cultivators who had gone to pursue together had basically all returned here. Most of them returned empty-handed, without any results.

Including Song Qingming and Cao Rongxue, there were fewer than five people who had caught up to and killed the opponent's cultivators and had gains. There were still three people on their side who had not returned to this day, and it was estimated that they were likely in dire straits.

Fang Quan and Li Yuxia were directing the cultivators to conduct a comprehensive search of Green Ox Ridge to see if there were any fish that had slipped through the net hiding on the mountain. The two Golden Core elders had very ugly expressions, seemingly not very satisfied with the current results.

After asking Cao Rongxue, who had returned the earliest, Song Qingming learned that the Heaven Sea Alliance Golden Core Elder who had been blocked by the two of them earlier had chosen to self-detonate his own natal magic treasure in the subsequent battle, escaping from the two of them with heavy injuries.

Hearing this shocking news, Song Qingming was also startled. He didn't expect that the man in red would be so decisive, even willing to abandon his own natal magic treasure.