Chapter 158

"Not like a Dongzhou cultivator." Wen Xi hesitated slightly.

Ye Lian, however, said firmly: "They are not our Tian Yuan cultivators; their skin is somewhat dark, and one person emits a faint sea‑fishy odor."

"Almost all of the seas in our Tian Yuan are occupied by the Yao Race, and very few cultivators spend years training on sea islands."

"After ruling out other possibilities, only cultivators from Longhuang Island would have this trait." Wan Xiyue pondered for a moment and, with her teammates, guessed that they were probably in the second‑layer spirit‑medicine area.

So, how many people fell into the spirit‑medicine area just like them?

There aren't many; most Foundation Establishment cultivators are still running around in the outermost layer.

For example, Wen Xin's clan brother Wen Luo has no cultivators from the Outer Immortal Realm beside him, but he is a demonic cultivator of the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Blood Net Sect.

As a direct disciple of a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Four Great Dao Gates, Wen Luo is naturally disfavored by the demonic sects.

Upon seeing him isolated, the demonic cultivators briefly conferred and then launched a pincer attack from both sides.

Wen Luo is no easy opponent; besides initially engaging the two in close combat, he tried to keep his distance as much as possible, and the two sides exchanged flying swords in a synchronized duel.

In the meantime, he never forgot to throw a talisman or a thunderball when the enemy wasn't looking.

Later, seeing that the stalemate was unfavorable to him, Wen Luo ruthlessly unleashed a seventh‑rank sword talisman, instantly killing two demonic cultivators, thereby barely winning.

Just as he was about to fly away, someone in a group fighting in mid‑air shouted his name.

"Wen Luo, team up." It was Xue Miao of the Luoyue Sect, and fighting alongside her were Dai Lin and Senior Sister Cui of the Xuantian Sect, who said, "Junior Brother Wen, let's join forces."

Wen Luo muttered to himself, "How did I run into this hypocrite?" but it didn't stop him from rushing over to help.

Upon engaging, he realized the enemy wasn't a Tian Yuan cultivator, and said, "Senior Brother Dai, who are they?"

"Cultivators from the Dongzhou continent." Dai Lin was distracted by that remark and was immediately cut by the enemy's blade.

Blood spurted from his back in an instant, startling Xue Miao into a cry, while she unhesitatingly hurled a Nascent Soul sword talisman at the enemy.

Swish, boom.

A heaven‑shocking sword qi sliced the sky, and the Dongzhou cultivators fighting head‑on were almost wiped out.

From afar, many cultivators saw that sword and fled in fright.

Among them were Dao cultivators from the Taiyi Sect and the Bai Lian Men, as well as demonic cultivators from the Huanhuan Sect and the Gui Cha Men.

Furthermore, scattered cultivators from the Tian Yuan continent complained: "Damn it, which Nascent Soul junior is this, pulling out a big killer right away—how are we supposed to survive?"

"Simple—when you see a disciple of a major sect, just dodge."

"Can you recognize all the sect disciples?"

"... No, I haven't seen any Dongzhou cultivators wearing our Tian Yuan style robes."

"Look for sect disciples to team up with."

"Agreed."

"Who should we look for?"

"Disciples of the Wan Jian Sect, the Taiyi Sect, or Tai Xu, or Gui Yuan are fine."

"We must team up with direct disciples of Nascent Soul cultivators."

Here they were thinking of ways to team up with others, while Jiang Yu, after everyone had rested for a night, no longer stayed closely together.

Especially after safely flying over the mountain peak, they tacitly avoided mentioning acting together again.

Those flying at the rear quickly broke away from the group and left; this included Jiang Yu's party of five.

But not long after they split, the sky rang with sharp cries—clearly a powerful Yao Race, or an eagle dominating the aerial advantage.

"Oh no, there's a flock of silver‑winged great pengs." As soon as the natural enemies of the green‑green little snake called out, it knew which clan it was.

Upon hearing it, Jiang Yu immediately slapped three layers of Golden Bell talismans onto her body, though in reality each activation could only trigger one.

"Senior sisters and brothers, Xiao Bi says it's a silver‑winged great peng bird." She also activated the Purple Jade Pendant and the Green Gauze Canopy simultaneously, forming layered bronze walls around her.

Because at this point trying to accelerate flight would be too late; she could only descend at maximum speed into the forest.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh.

Everyone urgently concealed themselves, and within a few breaths they had fallen into the dense, leafy treetops where no sky light could be seen.

Not seeing demonic beasts with the eyes for a moment doesn't mean there aren't any in the forest.

Moreover, the instant Jiang Yu stepped safely onto the tree trunk, a black‑crowned snake shot out and lunged at her face.

Jiang Tu's warning came a step late, but Jiang Yu's multiple layers of defense bought her time to deploy a throwing needle‑shaped magical device.

When the black‑crowned snake struck, it not only failed to shatter Jiang Yu's first layer of gauze, but it also bounced back, seeing stars before its eyes.

Jiang Yu seized the moment when it retracted its neck, and with both hands she shot out silver needles.

Several needle devices struck like lightning at the snake's body, and the snake, sensing danger, immediately twisted its torso to dodge.

Unfortunately, its body was too large and heavy, so after only two twists it became entangled in the vines.

Pat pat pat.

More than half of the needle‑shaped devices pierced its body, but due to its girth and weight it didn't die instantly.

Jiang Yu had no extra needle, but her storage bag held a pile of swords; she grabbed one at random and lunged to slash the snake's head.

The snake, still trying to break the vines quickly, had no time to flutter away before Jiang Yu cleanly severed its head.

She then turned her spiritual power, sucking the severed snake body into her storage bracelet, and retrieved her needle devices as well.

"Jiang Yu, where are you?" she had just finished cleaning up the battlefield when she heard Guo Jue Guo Ye calling her.

Hearing her reply, Guo Jue said: "Watch your head; those silver‑winged great pengs are nasty, actually sending out lion‑griffin birds to smash through the vines."

She asked: "You all be careful too—did my senior brothers and sisters see them?"

"It was those two who killed the lion‑griffin bird and the peng bird."

"They are now sealing off the vines above our heads." Guo Jue's words hadn't finished when he suddenly cried out and collapsed.

Jiang Yu's heart tightened; she hurried toward them, only to see several burrowing beasts erupt from the ground with a dong‑dong‑dong sound, charging at her in orderly fashion.

These demonic beasts have thick hides and flesh, so she didn't use her sword again but instead unleashed another fire talisman.

Boom boom boom

Smashing and flying forward, they reached Guo Jue's side in just a few breaths.

"Help me quickly!" The first to cry out for help was actually the small green snake, because it dared not show its head.

All around the ground, layers of centipedes, snakes, and scorpions swarmed toward Shijie and Guo Jue and their group, attacking.

Above, birds and beasts also emerged from the gaps in the vines.

In an instant, attacks came from both heaven and earth; the cultivators could only retaliate passively.

It wasn't that they didn't want to charge, but the demonic beasts were all poisonous, so they had to use long-range attacks to avoid poisoning.

Xia Bing and Deng Yuanwu intercepted the ones from above, while Jiang Yu coordinated with Guo Jue and Guo Ye, unleashing talismans, swords, staves, and blades all at once, striving to slay the enemies before them as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, both Buddhist cultivators were seasoned veterans; their strikes were decisive and ruthless. Seeing that blades and staves couldn't hit multiple targets, they immediately scattered talismans with a boom.

Whether fire, ice, or lightning talismans, any that could kill the enemy were good talismans.

And Jiang Yu had drawn many fire talismans the previous night, which she hurled onto nearly all of these demonic beasts.

In just a quarter of an hour, talismans exploded and beasts cried; though not all were annihilated, the surviving demonic beasts were frightened away far off.

Everyone quickly cleaned the battlefield, burning away the bloodstains.

Jiang Yu glanced at the sky: "Shijie, I fear the mountains and fields are all teeming with demonic beasts."

Although they are all fourth-rank, their sheer numbers are overwhelming.

We should still choose the heavenly path, right?

Xia Bing swallowed a pill; she and Deng Yuanwu were badly wounded.