Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 332: Chapter 223: Azure Dragon_1

A year later, Dongyun Mansion.

In the era of Yuan Spirit, despite the demon contamination, the land was still vast and densely populated.

For instance, Great Xing, although a minor nation, also encompassed three continents and twenty-one mansions.

Dongyun Mansion was one of these, facing south and backing north, an essential hub for travel, and even more so with its proximity to “Dongyun Ridge.” With its rich resources and exceptional people, hordes of merchants and caravans annually passed through back and forth.

Recently, winds of change gathered in Dongyun Ridge; countless young heroes of the Martial World arrived on spirited horses, nobles and powerhouses came with entourages, and large expeditions set out, while the imperial court even decreed a mountain lockdown, commanding the mountain folks to search and gather within…

“King of Ganoderma Grass?”

“All this grandeur just to pick some herbs?”

“What do you know, that Ganoderma has a spirit, akin to a thousand-year-old ginseng, and it can run.”

“Run, how does it run?”

“I heard it melds into the earth like water, disappearing in the blink of an eye.”

“That’s the King of Ganoderma Grass you’re talking about, ordinary Ganoderma isn’t that mystical.”

“I heard that not long ago, there was a surge of Spirit Fish at Wuzhe Lake, with a Wuzhe Fish King among them, which alerted three mansions’ worth of people. The major houses made great efforts to fish for it, and in the end, not only did they fail to catch the fish, but they also fell into the Demon Realm.”

“The Demon Realm, there’s a Demon Realm again?”

“Yes, once formed, the Demon Realm engulfed Wuzhe, terrifying the nearby residents into fleeing with their families overnight.”

“Just as they had relocated, the Demon Realm dissipated. No one knows which Immortal made a move.”

“A miracle indeed, the demon vanishing in a single day. You should know, the last time a Demon Realm appeared within the Great Xing, it lingered for ten years before dissipating on its own, swallowing all living beings until only a desolate land remained, dominated by a True Demon.”

“…”

Rumors and discussions buzzed, with not a few Qi Refinement practitioners present, indicating the current prosperity of Dongyun.

In the mountains, chaos ensued.

“Stop right there!”

“Drop the King of Ganoderma Grass!”

“Snatching from the jaws of death, you’re seeking your own demise!”

“Give me your life!”

The Escape Light moved swiftly, piercing the clouds and shooting through the sky, until one person was surrounded by three parties and screamed miserably as he was violently struck down by three Spiritual Artifacts, immediately exploding, leaving no corpse or bone behind, not even offering him the chance to turn into a Demon Fetus, ensuring total destruction.

The ones following sighed and shook their heads.

“Cloud Old Ghost, what a pity.”

“This old ghost really couldn’t see the situation; he even dared to compete with Great Xing Mountain at this critical time.”

“Exactly. The Grandmaster of Great Xing Mountain is on the verge of Nascent Soul Condensing and is now frantically collecting Spiritual Objects. Not long ago, two Searching Immortal Envoys of Great Xing Mountain and a large number of other people were lost to the newly formed Demon Realm at Wuzhe Lake, and they didn’t even manage to bring the Wuzhe Fish King back.”

“Now that the King of Ganoderma Grass has emerged in Dongyun Mountain, Great Xing Mountain is bound to obtain it. Cloud Old Ghost actually dared to reach out his hand; isn’t this just seeking death?”

“What can he do? He’s a Loose Cultivator with no profound Demon Refining skills. Now plagued heavily by demons, without Spiritual Objects to save him, his fate may be even worse than death, so naturally, he had to take the risk and snatch what he could.”

“Such a pity…”

As the three Searching Immortal Envoys of Great Xing Mountain killed the person who dug up the King of Ganoderma Grass, the people that came with them were full of lamentation.

“Hmph!”

One of the Searching Immortal Envoys advanced and satisfyingly drew out a blood-soaked spirit bag from the remnants of the corpse.

The other two, meanwhile, observed their surroundings with cold eyes, deterring the nearby people.

At that moment…

“Hehehe, Great Xing Mountain?”

A strange laugh echoed all around.

“Hm!?”

The three people’s expressions intensified, ready to react.

But they were a beat too late, their companion holding the spirit bag trembled, his chest pierced through by a hand.

“!!!”

The other two’s expressions hardened as they hurried to help.

However, just as they moved, they felt a pain in their chests.

“Pfft!!”

The two stood rigid, looking down to see a hand emerging from their chests, holding a dripping heart that was still thumping.

“Bloody Hand… Li the Old Ghost!”

“It’s you again!!!”

The three people stood stiff, their complexions ashen, squeezing out those words with difficulty.

“What use are there in so many words from a dead man?”

“Hahaha!”

With a laugh, Bloody Hand exerted force, ruthlessly crushing the beating heart.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Bloody Hand crushed the heart, and with a chain reaction, the three bodies simultaneously exploded into three crimson blood mists.

In the midst of the three blood mists, each saw a suspended hand, bizarrely, three blood claws.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Onlookers were silent at first, then, not thinking twice, they frantically retreated.

“Damn it!”

“Bloody Hand Butcher Li Hongyu!”

“Golden Core old devil, Golden Core old devil!”

“The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!”

“That old ghost is a master of Five Viscera Elixir Skills, a notorious Robbing Cultivator, quick, run!”

The crowd was terrified and fled in a panic.

Li Hongyu paid them no mind. He seized the blood-soaked spirit bag, eager to check if the Spiritual Objects were inside.

But unexpectedly…

“Pfft!!!”

Just as the bag was opened, Sword Qi sprayed out, violently piercing his chest.

“Ahhhh!!!”

Li Hongyu roared, retreating in shock. With his eight bloody hands furiously striking, a myriad of prints bombarded the sword light, shattering it and revealing a white-robed man.

The man floated back and landed a hundred meters away, his demeanor indifferent.

“Yuwen Feng!”

Li Hongyu, clutching his sword wound, looked at the white-robed man with a mix of shock and anger, realizing the full picture, and screamed, “Good, good, good! To ambush me, you really used your true disciple as bait. Great Xing Mountain is indeed unscrupulous!”

Yuwen Feng remained unphased and coldly said, “Li the Old Ghost, you have repeatedly opposed Great Xing Mountain, looting everywhere, refining human pills indiscriminately. Just last month, you even robbed a Spiritual Object from Great Xing Mountain. You deserve to die a thousand deaths, and I will not spare you!”

“Deserve to die a thousand deaths?”

“Hahaha!”

“Just with you?”

Li Hongyu responded with a laugh rather than alarm, “Yuwen Feng, in your hunt for treasures to facilitate that old ghost’s Nascent Soul Condensing and Corpse Resolution, you have been scouring the Great Xing Mountain far and wide, always in need of people. How much strength could you have left to encircle and kill me?”

“I suppose none, otherwise you wouldn’t need such arrangements and resort to a sneak attack.”

“Just you alone, thinking of capturing me? You’re truly dreaming.”

“Behold my Blood Escape Technique!”

Li Hongyu burst out laughing, then suddenly leaped up, exploding into a beam of blood-red light, attempting to escape outward.

But unexpectedly…

“Think you can escape?”

A heavenly net swooped down from above, ensnaring the escaping blood-red light completely.

Below the Heavenly Network, the blood light boiled fiercely, quickly solidifying into shape and revealing Li Hongyu’s form as he tumbled awkwardly to the ground.

“Heavenly Network!”

“Ice Polar Palace!”

Amidst cries of shock and anger, a figure glided over, landing beside Yuwen Feng; it was unmistakably a cold, frost-like woman in blue.

Li Hongyu, caught within the silvery crystalline net, felt an intense cold starting to spread from his chest, slithering through his limbs and bones, nearly freezing his blood solid, and making it impossible to break free from the net.

“How can this be?”

“Yuwen Feng!”

Struck with sudden fear, Li Hongyu, glaring hatefully at Yuwen Feng and the woman in blue, said, “Impressive moves, truly impressive; Great Xing Mountain indeed has some fine moves, to even invite those damned women from the Ice Polar Palace.”

“Hmph!”

Yuwen Feng snorted coldly, paying no heed, but instead turned his gaze to the woman in blue beside him.

The woman in blue, without saying much, tightened the crystalline net layer by layer while intensifying the freeze.

“Ahh!!!”

Li Hongyu screamed as his body froze, blood turning to ice, about to be shattered into icy remains by the silvery net.

At that moment…

“In the Celestial White Jade Capital, amongst the Twelve Towers and Five Cities.”

“An Immortal touches my crown, bestowing upon me the hairpin of immortality.”

The sound of poetry drifted in, followed by a figure arriving on the scene.

“Hmm?!”

Yuwen Feng and the woman in blue frowned in surprise, uncertain as they looked at the person who had just entered.

The man, clad in a green robe, stood tall and upright as a pine, exuding an air of a Grandmaster, yet wore a mask to cover his face.

The mask was in the shape of a beast, with the likeness of a dragon’s head swallowing, clearly a mask of an Azure Dragon, and with subtle signs of activity, indicating it might be no ordinary magic artifact.

Though the man was a Golden Core Cultivator with substantial Divine Consciousness, he still couldn’t penetrate the mask to see the true face of the person behind it.

This deepened Yuwen Feng’s frown, and after exchanging a look with the woman in blue, he decided to proceed with caution and solemnly asked, “Who might Your Excellency be?”

The masked individual replied with a soft chuckle, “I am the master of the Yimu Palace of the White Jade Capital — Azure Dragon!”

“White Jade Capital?”

“Master of Yimu?”

“Azure Dragon?”

Yuwen Feng and the woman in blue exchanged looks again, their confusion growing.

They had never heard of any White Jade Capital.

And such a name, it seemed utterly perfunctory.

What does this masked person really want?

Their brows knitted tighter, but they still managed to say stiffly, “So, it’s Azure Dragon. May we know what brings you here? Can it be that you’re standing up for this heinous Robbing Cultivator?”

“Stand up for him?”

“Not at all!”

Azure Dragon gave a chuckle, getting straight to the point, “I’ve come to this place of Dongyun Mountain only for one thing.”

“Oh?”

Yuwen Feng’s gaze turned frosty, “What would that be?”

Azure Dragon said with a smile, “The King of Ganoderma Grass of this Dongyun Mountain, along with a few other spiritual objects, have an unresolved destiny with my White Jade Capital, hence I’ve come to lead them back.”

“Unresolved destiny?”

“Come to lead them back?”

Yuwen Feng and the woman in blue paused, then finally realized what he meant.

This person… intends to rob them?

What a joke!

“I thought we were dealing with someone of great consequence, but it turns out you’re just another nefarious Robbing Cultivator, a jackal of the same tribe!”

Yuwen Feng laughed in anger, “Alone and unaided, you dare to seize from us? Your Excellency is perhaps too presumptuous…”

“Boom!!!”

Before he could finish speaking, thunder rumbled, a silhouette of an Azure Dragon intertwined with lightning emerged, crashing into the silvery net.

Suddenly, thunder roared, the ground shook, and although the silvery crystalline net was both tough and flexible, supreme in durability, it couldn’t withstand the Thunder of the Five Elements, the direct Divine Skills, and was instantly shattered. Li Hongyu inside the net had no chance to react and was reduced to ash under the thunder.

“…”

“…”

After the thunderclap subsided, the wilderness was engulfed in silence.

Yuwen Feng remained silent, and the woman in blue too said nothing.

Only after a long while did four words struggle to come out, squeezed through clenched teeth.

“Yimu! Divine! Thunder!”

Yuwen Feng’s face was ashen, teeth tightly clenched as he stared at the person before him, unable to hide the shock in his heart.

Thunder Series!

Five Elements Thunder!

Though it belonged to the Post-Heaven Five Elements, the Yimu Divine Thunder, within this filthy Demon Realm, even ordinary thunder techniques were difficult to cultivate, not to mention the Thunder of the Five Elements.

So, you couldn’t blame Yuwen Feng’s complexion for being so unsightly.

The Yimu Divine Thunder, in one strike, utterly destroyed the Supreme Grade Spiritual Artifact Heavenly Network and even turned the Golden Core Cultivator inside — the old roguish ghost Li — to dust and debris.

As fellow Golden Core cultivators, how could they withstand even a few strikes?

Azure Dragon stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the two, “Well?”

“…”

Facing such a formidable foe, the woman in blue was already submerged in silence.

Yuwen Feng’s complexion was ashen, and although he knew that he was overpowered, he still gritted his teeth and said, “If you’re so capable, why hide your face? Are you daring in your deeds, but not in your appearance?”

Hearing this, Azure Dragon simply chuckled and lightly tapped the beastly mask on his face, “With such a clear countenance as this, where is there any hiding or revealing?”

“You…”

“The Celestial White Jade Capital, Twelve Towers and Five Cities, Azure Dragon, Master of Yimu, how could I be afraid to admit it?”

With those words, Azure Dragon raised his hand, summoning thunder in his palm, “If you’re unconvinced, let’s settle this with a battle!”