Free Web NovelChapter 380: Chapter 380: Only Killing
They rampaged through his meridians, forcing him to mobilize a volume of True Qi several times greater just to suppress them.
His Ten Extremes True Qi formed a millstone-like vortex, grinding down and wearing away the stubborn True Essence bit by bit. However, for every portion he refined, he consumed three portions of his own True Qi.
This wasn’t devouring at all; it was a losing proposition!
"He’s absorbing our True Essence?!"
The round-faced disciple finally understood what was happening, his voice cracking.
"Hahaha, this guy is really courting death!"
A tall disciple burst out laughing. "The True Scripture Techniques we cultivate are all different, so our True Essence has unique properties. Anyone who tries to absorb someone else’s True Essence is lucky if their body doesn’t just explode."
Xu Yunfan paid no mind to their ridicule. Deep within him, the golden lake was boiling. Although the amount of True Essence he had devoured was small and had been neutralized by tens of times its volume in his own True Qi, it acted as a catalyst, accelerating the liquefaction of his True Qi.
He slowly raised his head, his red-gold pupils sweeping over the Primordial Sect disciples.
The Ten Extremes True Qi surrounding him was as vast as an ocean, seemingly unaffected in the slightest.
"How... is this possible..."
A disciple’s voice trembled.
They had watched with their own eyes as he devoured their different types of True Essence, yet now he didn’t show the slightest sign of his True Qi being in disarray.
The foreign energies that should have clashed and caused his body to explode were instead converging in his Dantian like a Hundred Rivers Return to the Sea, forming a shimmering golden lake.
"This man... he must have obtained the inheritance of the Divine Martial Daoist Master."
A disciple said this in a low voice, and immediately, a glint appeared in another’s eyes, as if he’d just realized something.
He subconsciously met another disciple’s gaze, and they both saw a sly understanding in each other’s eyes.
"Split up!"
The scar-faced man suddenly threw out a dark green bead.
The instant the bead exploded, a thick, cloyingly sweet-smelling fog filled an area hundreds of feet across.
It was a Bone-Rotting Poison Miasma, an evil artifact that disciples of Hundred Desires Peak refined using the resentment of mortals.
Using the poison fog for cover, the five remaining disciples fled in different directions. The scar-faced man transformed into a green streak of light, shooting east. The round-faced disciple slapped a silver Talisman on his back, his speed instantly tripling. The other three silently fanned out, fleeing at 120-degree angles to one another.
A red-gold light suddenly burst from Xu Yunfan’s eyes. A vertical mark between his brows opened like a Celestial Eye as Ten Extremes True Qi circulated within his pupils, forming the Martial Arts Celestial Eye that could pierce all falsehoods.
The Bone-Rotting Poison Miasma was nonexistent to his sight. He locked onto all five fleeing figures. The Escape Light from the Jade Talisman at the scar-faced man’s waist, the burning trail of the silver Talisman on the round-faced disciple’s back, and even the fluctuations of True Essence in the meridians of the other three escapees—all of it was reflected in his miraculous eyes as clearly as the lines on his own palm.
’This Martial Arts Celestial Eye, formed after breaking the shackles of the Ninth Realm, seems exceptionally powerful.’
A thought crossed Xu Yunfan’s mind.
He immediately focused, drawing and firing his bow continuously toward the northwest. Each thrum of the Sky-Sundering Cloud-Piercing Bow’s string took a life. As the fourth arrow pierced the round-faced disciple’s Heart Protection Mirror, the man suddenly crushed a Jade Token in his robes. His body turned incorporeal for a moment, allowing him to dodge the fatal strike.
"Interesting."
For the first time, a serious expression appeared on Xu Yunfan’s face.
When the round-faced disciple saw Xu Yunfan’s gaze sweep toward him, he felt as if he’d been plunged into an icy abyss, cursing his misfortune internally.
’I just used my only Small Shift Talisman! Who would have thought this Evil Star’s Bow Skill would be even more vicious than his Mace Technique!’
From the corner of his eye, he saw his sect brothers transform into streaks of Escape Light and scatter, vanishing over the horizon in an instant with their auras completely concealed. The round-faced disciple cursed inwardly, ’Those bastards! They scattered faster than hyenas on a carcass!’
Seeing Xu Yunfan raise his bow again, he dropped into a sudden, sliding kneel, his knees plowing two deep furrows in the scorched earth. "Senior, spare me! This junior is willing to offer up the secrets of the Primordial Sect!"
The hum of the bowstring came to an abrupt stop.
Xu Yunfan raised an eyebrow. The condensed Red Gold Arrowhead on his Sky-Sundering Cloud-Piercing Bow gradually dissipated, but his Ten Extremes True Qi still locked down the surrounding area like a cage.
"Three breaths."
Xu Yunfan’s fingertips tapped lightly on his mace. "Tell me something I don’t know."
The round-faced disciple pressed his forehead to the ground, words tumbling out of him. "This junior is Chen Jiuchuan of Hundred Peaks Mount, student of Daoist Master Hundred Peaks! I’m nothing like that filthy scum from Hundred Desires Peak! We... we’re the good guys!"
He yanked open his robes, revealing a mountain tattoo on his chest. "Look! This is the cultivation seal of the Hundred Peaks Scripture! Our peak specializes in suppression techniques. We never touch Blood Food or practice harvesting! We only take from the Earth Veins!"
’Only take from the Earth Veins...’
A mocking smile touched Xu Yunfan’s lips. ’Once an Earth Vein is taken, all Vitality for miles around the mountain is destroyed. In terms of sin, that’s probably even worse than harvesting Blood Food.’
Xu Yunfan’s Martial Arts Celestial Eye swept over the tattoo, and he indeed detected traces of True Essence as solid and heavy as a mountain, completely different from the strange Demon Qi of the Nether Spring he had encountered earlier.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Chen Jiuchuan hurriedly added, "Daoist Master Hundred Peaks is in seclusion year-round, so Hundred Peaks Mount is ostracized within the Sect. I came to the Divine Martial Realm this time purely to..."
The Sea-Swaying Mountain-Quaking Hammer came to rest on his shoulder. Chen Jiuchuan felt a crushing weight, as if a mountain had been dropped on him. He looked up to see Xu Yunfan watching him with a faint, unreadable smile.
"So you think you can trade tales of sect infighting for your life?"
"No! This junior knows the patterns of the Boundary Gate to the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm! Senior, you must want to leave, right? The Divine Martial Realm is controlled by the Primordial Sect, and Hundred Desires Peak is leading the operation this time. If you want to get out, I have a way!"
Chen Jiuchuan declared with an air of righteous conviction, "With your strength, Senior, being stuck in the Divine Martial Realm is a complete waste!"
Xu Yunfan suddenly leaned over and hauled Chen Jiuchuan to his feet. "Do you have a Meridian Opening Pill?"
"This..."
’A sudden realization hit Chen Jiuchuan. ’No wonder this guy’s True Qi is as vast as an ocean, but he hasn’t condensed it into True Essence. It’s because he has no open meridians for it to flow through!’’
A troubled look crossed his face. "We only came to the Divine Martial Realm this time to harvest talented individuals as Blood Food. A Meridian Opening Pill costs at least a thousand Contribution Points to get from the Sect. I don’t have one."
As he said this, Chen Jiuchuan felt a sting in his nose. Life was just too hard.
’Ever since joining the Primordial Sect, I’ve spent all my days scrambling for resources, struggling just to avoid becoming raw material for someone else. My life is miserable. Why would I ever have exchanged points for an Elixir that was useless to me?’
Seeing Xu Yunfan’s eyes narrow, Chen Jiuchuan’s back tensed.
"Senior, wait!"
Chen Jiuchuan suddenly straightened his back. "This junior knows the patterns of the Boundary Gate to the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm!"
He pointed to the faint purple scar in the sky. "Every sixty years, on the fifteenth of the seventh month, the barrier between the realms is at its thinnest. In about three months, Daoist Master Hua will open the gap between the realms again. That will be our chance to return, and I have a way to get you through, Senior."
Seeing Xu Yunfan’s eyes flicker, he hurriedly added, "Hundred Peaks Mount may not have any Meridian Opening Pills, but my master, Daoist Master Hundred Peaks, possesses the Hundred Bone Profundity Technique!"
As he spoke, he fumbled inside his collar and pulled a Jade Scroll out of a Sumeru Bag. "This technique can completely reconstruct one’s meridians! It’s ten times more effective than a Meridian Opening Pill!"
A cold light flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. "The Hundred Bone Profundity Technique?"
He sneered, and red-gold True Qi flared at his fingertips. "You dare try to fool me? I’ve known how to cultivate the Hundred Bone Profundity Technique for a long time."
