NOVPUBThe fallen body of Patriarch Bai Gui jerked, then slowly floated upwards and came to a halt before him.
Beneath the black robe, the previously semi-transparent skin had turned completely transparent, revealing the dark bones within, neatly visible and without any internal organs.
At the location of the Elixir Field lay a Golden Pill, shattered into two halves, unable to escape, its immense and pure Spiritual Energy spilling out.
"A ruthless person, this one transformed his own body into a Ghost Nest," someone remarked.
"He gained a significant level of life-saving ability, but at the cost of any hope for a Nascent Soul. With the Five Organs, Five Qi incomplete, he’s no longer a whole person. It’s unclear whether this was a willing sacrifice or a lack of awareness," another observed.
Jiang Ding muttered to himself.
With a flick of his wrist, thirty-six strands of Sword Qi burst forth from his fingertips, striking the corpse of Patriarch Bai Gui and reducing it to fragments that dispersed into the wind.
Without physical cultivation, the bodies of human Cultivators are quite fragile.
The Golden Pill was of great value, but undesired by him—anyone who consumed humans was destined to die.
Only a pure black storage bag, a semi-transparent black flag, the size of a palm, and a low-grade bone-shield Treasure remained to be collected.
Passing over the storage bag and the bone-shield Treasure for the time being, Jiang Ding poured his Divine Sense into the semi-transparent black flag Treasure, scanning carefully.
"A waste of heaven’s gifts!"
"Damned scum, a waste of space on earth!" he cursed after a moment, his eyes opening with immense irritation.
"This black flag Treasure must have fused at least seven thousand kilograms of Empty Mysterious Crystal Copper, yet it’s still a mid-grade Treasure. What a waste!"
"With the Life Treasure factor included, at best, I can only refine half of the Empty Mysterious Crystal Copper!"
"With your appalling craftsmanship, how dare you use such high-end materials?!"
"Ah, ah, ah!"
"Forget it, I’ll check later if there’s any remaining after opening the storage bag," he conceded, somewhat hot-temperedly stowing the black flag.
Actually, he was eager to check it now.
But hundreds of kilometers away, a fierce battle raged, the sky filled with radiance and Spiritual Light. If he delayed any longer, he might only arrive in time to collect the remains of the two Qiyu Golden Core participants.
He stepped over to where the four Ghost Kings had fallen, picking up the ghostly axe, halberd, and spear that had been broken in two, as well as the only intact halberd, exuding a chilling Yin Energy that turned his skin icy cold on touch.
"Not bad, the weight of these alone adds up to at least fifty or sixty thousand kilograms," he remarked.
Cultivators who wield armies are quite wealthy.
He collected the four Ghost Beads as well.
The size of a fist, crystal-clear like jade, with their Yin Energy fully contained and not a trace spilling out, faint blue streaks could be discerned moving within them.
"Ghost Beads, the core of a Ghost King; not human, permissible," he thought.
"They are of high value for cultivators with affinity to Yin attributes."
Jiang Ding nodded in agreement.
Clang!
A sword was swung, unleashing the Soul Extinction Technique!
Within a ten-kilometer radius, the searing light of the sun swept through, annihilating all traces of spiritual auras, cleansing any remnants of living essence, and returning the area to its natural state.
On the ground, metal dust and debris as tiny as specks were collected, and the huge pits were smoothed over.
"That should do it."
Jiang Ding closed his eyes, his Sword Intent and Divine Soul recklessly scanning the entirety of Dongling City, finding no traces of residual auras.
In the city, more than ten thousand citizens were still working, drinking tea, walking the streets, lighting fires to cook—as if completely oblivious to the explosions in the sky, never looking up, even deliberately avoiding their gaze and shutting off their hearing.
Thus, the battle that had just occurred did not exist in their memories.
"The health of the citizens seems good; they haven’t been affected," he noted.
"With that, I’m off."
Jiang Ding wrapped himself in Sword-light and his body became transparent and hazy, rushing towards the distant battlefield hundreds of kilometers away, silently contemplating, "In principle, I only need to hold off the Chiyan Fox King, while Zhou Sanyan is responsible for engaging both Patriarch Bai Gui and Patriarch Du Jiang."
"Though Patriarch Bai Gui had no hope for his Nascent Soul, his strength at the Middle Jindan Stage was quite strong. If not for my sneak attack causing him severe injury, I might have had to exert much more effort to kill him."
"Zhou Sanyan, facing both Patriarch Bai Gui and Patriarch Du Jiang alone, had a significant chance of dying in battle."
"Now that Patriarch Bai Gui is dead,"
"Although the main reason is that his avatar threatened me, and there’s also the matter of the Empty Mysterious Crystal Copper... but that’s not important. The important thing is the result—I’ve reduced Zhou Sanyan’s pressure on the battlefield."
"Mm, the debt of the Lanshan Spirit Mine, along with previous favors, has been repaid."
The same gift, when and to whom it is given, carries different sentiments.
If Jiang Ding had already achieved Foundation Establishment, others sending him a Third-order Spirit Mine might be something he wouldn’t accept, or if he did, it wouldn’t mean much to him—it would be improbable for him to feel indebted.
But Zhou Sanyan was different.
Back when he was still establishing his foundation, receiving such a grand gesture, he had always held it close to his heart, which was one of the reasons that contributed to killing Patriarch Bai Gui first.
Though camouflaged and with his aura concealed, he was wearing the Electromagnetic Stealth Robe, a top-grade Treasure with most of its power sealed, and along with his own "Electromagnetic Light Wave Stealth Technique" and "Minor Primordial Magnet Escape Technique" nearing perfection.
The speed was incredibly fast, and it didn’t take long to arrive at the battlefield.
...
Treasures clashed with fierce flames.
The sound of explosions and roaring never ceased.
The forests and rivers below had been shattered time and again, with lava everywhere, and dense light blue smoke covering the landscape; the creatures within had long since perished.
"Where is the Destroyer?!"
Mu Tiansnow transformed into a long river of blood, wielding a crescent blood blade larger than herself, the terrifying aura of a late Golden Pill stage spreading in all directions, her dominance clear for all to see.
Yet now, she was embarrassingly fleeing under the relentless pursuit of golden spears brimming with destructive power. Any delay in dodging and the spears would pierce the blood river, instantly causing a large area of it to lose its spiritual light and turn a lifeless brown, falling from the sky.
There was not the slightest hint of the undying might of the Blood Path.
This was a part of her Blood Path body!
After several such instances, her aura steadily waned.
If not for the Chiyan Fox King Cultivator Baimei diverting most of his attention to her and occasionally ramming a damaged stele aglow with the seven colors of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder into her path, shattering a swath of spears, she would’ve been forced to flee in a miserable state by now.
Both being in the late Golden Pill stage,
Liudao Sect’s cultivators at the same stage were much stronger than her.
In contrast, Zhou Sanyan appeared much more at ease.
A Flame Mountain Magical Treasure burned fiercely, pressing hard on the Patriarch Du Jiang in combat, periodically dropping and turning swaths of zombies into ashes. Even Du Jiang’s own life corpse was badly damaged and completely overwhelmed.
But killing him would still take some time.
It just seemed that Mu Tiansnow wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
"You wench!"
Immortal Tiankuang’s face was dark with fury.
He sat atop a three-legged copper armored chariot that shone with gold light, with three rune-covered Rune Golden Spears on his back that merged seamlessly with the aura of the chariot beneath him, forming an extremely rare set of top-grade matching treasures.
Every thrust of the Rune Golden Spear would extinguish vast stretches of Mu Tiansnow’s blood river, rapidly depleting her strength.
On his chest, a faintly blood-tinted hole could be seen clearly, a sign of a successful stealth attack that had left him with serious injuries.
Although he was on guard,
never in his wildest dreams did he anticipate that a mere servant from another family, expected to be just a bit headstrong, would actually dare to collude with outsiders to attack a Golden Pill of the Yin’s family!
The vulnerabilities in the Cultivation Method were of no use!
This was shocking news in the Beiyuan Immortal Cultivation World, a phenomenon unheard of for many years.
"You wench, your death is certain."
Immortal Tiankuang gradually calmed down.
"Your Divine Soul will burn atop the Sect’s grand hall for three hundred years, extinguishing completely, denied reincarnation forever. Liudao Sect has more than enough magic to make you wail in agony, regretting the decision you made today."
Mu Tiansnow felt an instinctive chill in her heart.
She had some premonitions about Liudao Sect’s punishment magic; they were not something cultivators could avoid merely with willpower.
"Destroyer!"
Mu Tiansnow’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, cold and unyielding, without speaking any further.
But everyone understood her message.
It was a hopeless situation,
she was preparing to flee, regardless of whether Hua Xue Yu’s descendants would be slaughtered or her clan’s Divine Souls would wail in anguish for a hundred years before dying.
Clang!
A sound of sword cry traveled from over a hundred kilometers away, conveyed here through magic.
After that,
a faint aura of Peacock Demon Kong Que,
the essence of a fire red jade umbrella covered in scratches,
and scenes of the Demon Country’s palace turning into lava amidst raging fires, with tens of thousands of Demon Cultivators wailing, were also transmitted here.
"It’s you!"
"Murderer of my sisters, butcher of my Demon Country!"
The voice of the Chiyan Fox King was piercing and sorrowful, filled with grief and accusation; she abandoned her battle with Cultivator Baimei without a moment’s hesitation, transforming into a scarlet escape light speeding toward the distance.
Tears of blood flowed from her eyes,
the hatred within them so intense that not even all the waters of the world could cleanse it.
"How cruel you are!"
"Those clansmen, those innocent Demon children, why did you not spare even them?!"
