novelraw Chapter 192 : Matter Settled
Chapter 192 : Matter Settled
Chapter 192: Matter Settled
Ever since he had taken in this Ice Flood Dragon, Ji Yuan had never stopped feeding it.
Most of the Ice Soul Cold Dew produced by the 【Fish Pond】 had gone into its belly, and for this Ji Yuan had even cut down on his own expenses.
After years of nurturing, even the Queen Bee had already advanced to Second Tier.
Yet this Ice Flood Dragon had shown no movement at all—until… now.
Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense, which he had long left open, at this moment also intruded into the Spiritual Beast Pouch.
At just a glance, he was somewhat shocked.
Because compared to before, the Ice Flood Dragon now appeared enormous. Ji Yuan remembered that when he had first taken in this Ice Flood Dragon, it had been so small it could hang on his arm like a mascot.
Just like a little snake.
Later, after eating Ice Soul Cold Dew for some time, it had advanced to a Late First-Tier demon beast, and its body had finally grown larger. As it continued eating, it continued to grow.
By the time Ji Yuan had last returned to Misty Island and released it, its body had already been as thick as a thigh, with a length of about four meters.
But now?
Its coiled body was almost as large as more than half a Great Toad.
The icy-blue scales covering its body opened and closed faintly, and along with that ferocious dragon head, streams of cold mist rose and fell around it, faintly giving off a true flood dragon’s aura.
Second-Tier Early-Stage Demon Beast!
A Second-Tier demon beast comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
It had finally succeeded!
A pity though—judging from the current situation, a single Second-Tier demon beast could not change much of the battle. Unless this Ice Flood Dragon could undergo an extreme mutation and leap directly into Third Tier.
At that time, if an Ice Flood Dragon comparable to a Golden Core Real Person appeared, it could truly suppress the battlefield.
Otherwise, as things stood now… killing this Yin Tongzi didn’t even require much effort from Ji Yuan himself, let alone the Ice Flood Dragon.
As for the battle on the mountain top, using the Ice Flood Dragon would be useless.
While Ji Yuan was examining the Ice Flood Dragon, a stir finally arose on the mountain top.
First, Ye Zhiqiu, who had been standing by Qian Xin’s Blood Demon, retreated with her escape light. The Blood Demon glanced at her but did not pursue—instead, it pounced toward the three Foundation Establishment cultivators before it.
These three cultivators of the Divine Vulture Palace had never witnessed such a scene, and were immediately frightened into scattering.
But their speed was no match for Qian Xin’s Blood Demon.
One of the Foundation Establishment Middle-Stage cultivators, already lightly injured, was caught within a breath of time.
Its massive right hand slammed down, grabbing the head of that cultivator.
With his Divine Sense locked onto the scene, Ji Yuan could only watch as the Blood Demon plucked the man’s head off as easily as one might pluck a watermelon.
A smooth, clean cut appeared where his neck had been.
Before the blood could spray out, the Blood Demon’s other hand seized the body. Opening its gaping, blood-filled maw, it bit down onto the corpse’s neck.
Blood spurted forth, and the Blood Demon drank it in great gulps, as if drinking water.
At this sight, everyone else on the battlefield froze, staring at the mountaintop as if they had seen a ghost.
A demon!
In comparison, the demonic cultivators present could all still be considered righteous path!
Only this monster called Qian Xin’s Blood Demon was the true devil!
Killing had never been so gruesome… Even Ji Yuan felt some shock. To instantly slay a Foundation Establishment Middle-Stage was one thing, but to do so in such a way, almost like eating the victim alive—
While keeping his eyes fixed on the Blood Demon at the mountaintop, Ji Yuan continued to monitor Yin Tongzi’s aura beside him.
That one was insidious and cunning.
Just as now—while everyone was focused on the Blood Demon, he thought Ji Yuan had also panicked, and so prepared to launch a sneak attack.
Standing in the shadows beneath a tree, his figure suddenly faded, leaving behind only a talisman at his original spot. To ordinary Divine Sense perception, that talisman bore Yin Tongzi’s aura.
In other words, even a Foundation Establishment Middle-Stage cultivator of the same realm, unless paying extraordinary attention, would not realize that he had already shifted positions.
But unfortunately for him, though Ji Yuan was of the same cultivation realm, his Divine Sense far surpassed his.
So be it!
Since exposed, then kill him first.
Later, if this Blood Demon truly broke out of control, Ji Yuan could still withdraw at any time. It would be better than being delayed by Yin Tongzi here.
With that thought, Ji Yuan prepared to strike.
His Divine Sense stirred the two Sword Embryos within his dantian, while also activating the Blood Marrow Pearl he carried, and on top of that he took out a jug of Peerless Wine.
The moment Yin Tongzi saw Ji Yuan take out wine, he struck!
He sprang forth from the shadows.
“Jingle—”
The sound had only just begun when Ji Yuan instantly pulled his Divine Sense back to shield his Sea of Consciousness.
Then, with a tap of his foot, 《Shadow-Following》 was triggered.
His figure instantly left its original spot.
While dodging this killing move, Ji Yuan lifted the Peerless Wine and took a swig.
As the wine burned down his throat, the spiritual energy in his body ignited like fire, boiling forth at once.
At the same time, Ji Yuan activated the Blood Marrow Pearl.
Blood energy coiled around him, raising his power even higher.
With that, his cultivation art 《Breath Concealment Art》 could no longer hide his aura.
When Ji Yuan unleashed his full power, the concealment vanished.
From Foundation Establishment Early-Stage, his cultivation surged to Foundation Establishment Middle-Stage, further augmented by the Blood Marrow Pearl and Peerless Wine.
In that instant, his aura far exceeded that of Yin Tongzi, who was leaping toward him.
“Not good!”
Seeing this, Yin Tongzi’s heart was struck with panic. He forcefully halted his momentum and tried to retreat.
But…
“Too late.”
As Ji Yuan’s voice rang in his ears, a flash of azure-blue sword light swept past.
“Chi—”
A faint sound echoed.
Yin Tongzi saw the talisman stuck to his body being shattered, followed by his protective artifact robes.
His spirit robe flared with ghostly qi.
But even so, it only held for an instant.
Pain.
An agony pierced straight through his brow.
In his final moment, Yin Tongzi blinked, realizing that the strand of sword light before his eyes had split apart into two flying swords.
Death!
The Canglan Sword Embryos pierced through Yin Tongzi’s defenses, entering between his brows. While shredding his soul, they also ground his brain into a pulpy mess.
At first Ji Yuan had intended to blow his head apart completely.
But on second thought, he realized the corpse could be thrown into the 【Grave Mound】. Thus, he gave up the idea.
If the brain was ruined, it would be wasted.
If it was intact, it could still be put to use.
After instantly killing him, Ji Yuan collected Yin Tongzi’s corpse along with his storage pouch and artifacts.
Then he dismissed the Blood Marrow Pearl’s boost.
He quickly activated the 《Breath Concealment Art》 once more, suppressing his cultivation back down to Foundation Establishment Early-Stage.
Although some may have noticed his burst of power just now—certainly, not everyone had.
So better to stay cautious.
After killing Yin Tongzi, Ji Yuan recalled the Yin Ghost.
As for the human-skin puppet, once Yin Tongzi died, it too perished, leaving only a sheet of skin.
Following the principle of wasting nothing, Ji Yuan collected that as well.
Finally, he swiftly departed. Not until he reached a deserted forest did he dare glance back toward the mountaintop.
By now, some time had passed since the Blood Demon killed its first victim.
It was no longer at the same spot, but it had not gone to chase other Foundation Establishment cultivators either. Sweeping his Divine Sense across the battlefield, Ji Yuan found it had only slain the three Divine Vulture Palace cultivators, then proceeded into… the Divine Vulture Palace itself.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators had already been blocked. So within the Divine Vulture Palace, the highest cultivation remaining was merely Peak Qi Refining.
Against a Blood Demon that slew Foundation Establishment Middle-Stage cultivators as easily as chopping vegetables, those Qi Refining cultivators were no different from ants.
Thus, inside the Divine Vulture Palace now was nothing but one-sided slaughter!
Blood sprayed everywhere, broken corpses bitten apart and discarded at random.
Ji Yuan even noticed that every heart on the Blood Demon’s body throbbed as if alive, pulsing as though devouring the blood.
When Ji Yuan swept his Divine Sense through the entire Divine Vulture Palace, he could only come to four words:
A Living Hell.
This Blood Demon was truly ruthless!
On the other side, the fiercest battle was between the two False Core cultivators. Ji Yuan dared not let his Divine Sense approach, only glancing from afar with his eyes.
A small mountain had been blasted into fragments, and the ground was furrowed with deep ravines.
The Mourning Taoist’s surrounding black mist had thinned considerably, while the Divine Vulture Palace Master was being forced to dodge again and again.
It was clear—the Mourning Taoist had the upper hand.
Especially now that the Blood Demon had emerged to massacre everything, the Divine Vulture Palace Master’s composure was completely broken.
After being caught in multiple openings, it was impossible for him to turn the tables.
If he fled now… perhaps it was still possible.
Among the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators, only Ye Zhiqiu had finished her own battle. But instead of watching like Ji Yuan, she joined forces with Lu Ping to fight Chen Moxin.
Two against one, even with that Second-Tier demonic hound helping, Chen Moxin was still being beaten back step by step.
From the look of things, so long as they endured, even without the Blood Demon acting, the Great Love Sect’s side would win.
Ji Yuan’s Divine Sense stayed linked to the Talisman Treasure: Sky-Escape Shuttle inside his storage pouch, ready to flee at any time—but for now, certainly, it was not yet time to run.
The remaining Corrupt‑Firefly Yin‑Huai had not yet been obtained, and after Ji Yuan tore open Yin Tongzi’s Storage Pouch he also scanned it with his divine sense; there were many Yin‑type items in that Storage Pouch, but none of the Corrupt‑Firefly Yin‑Huai wood.
For that, they would still have to wait — wait for the Mourning Taoist to hand it over.
“Qiu, Brother Qiu, come help out.”
Ji Yuan was just enjoying the spectacle when he suddenly received a transmission from Deng Pinghai.
He glanced toward the patch of marshland below the mountain.
Deng Pinghai’s battlefield lay farther away, and the person he had been fighting was an old woman wearing a bamboo hat, her back bent and barefoot, walking on the marsh like some chilly specter.
Although Deng Pinghai held the upper hand, to truly finish this person off would cost him some trouble.
Being injured was all but certain.
So when he saw Ji Yuan had already dealt with his opponent, he sent a short transmission calling for help.
If Ji Yuan was willing to go over, even a Foundation Establishment early‑stage helper would be useful.
Ji Yuan hesitated briefly, then reversed his vital energy a little to make himself appear slightly wounded before he steered his flying boat into a dive; halfway there he let out an angry shout.
“Deng brother, don’t panic, I, Qiu Qianhai, am coming!!”
His strength was not great, but the momentum was huge.
The old woman across from him looked up when she heard it. Seeing a broad‑shouldered man exhaling Yin energy and clutching a bone claw dive down at her, she was frightened and stepped back to dodge.
“Take a claw from Grandpa Qiu!”
Ji Yuan held the bone claw with both hands, infused it with spiritual energy, and gouged fiercely at the old woman.
He did not seek to kill, only to make a show.
The old woman hurriedly avoided him.
Deng Pinghai took advantage of the moment to catch his breath.
Below, behind a cliff that the mountain hid from view, Ji Yuan could no longer see the fighting between the two fake‑pill cultivators, but he could hear the manic laughter of the Mourning Taoist.
He also heard the agonized screams of the Divine Vulture Palace master.
“Won?”
Deng Pinghai exclaimed in surprise.
Ji Yuan loosened his divine sense and scanned over.
On the mountaintop in the Divine Vulture Palace, the blood demon’s figure was already gone; there was only a hellish scene left behind.
Ji Yuan saw no sign of the blood demon elsewhere either, so the creature must have gone down the mountain to attack the Divine Vulture Palace master.
After all, from what had been said earlier, the blood demon was allied with the Mourning Taoist.
And from earlier interactions, it seemed the Mourning Taoist was the dominant one, the blood demon the subordinate.
The Mourning Taoist could command this blood demon.
Now the Divine Vulture Palace master was crying out in torment, and the other palace disciples were panic‑stricken: their own master was about to die — what sense was there in continuing to fight? Were they to wait for the Mourning Taoist to kill their master and then come for them?
So the old woman whom Ji Yuan had forced back immediately thought of running; Ji Yuan, probing with his divine sense, watched her escape.
“Bad, she’s trying to run!”
Deng Pinghai noticed and immediately gave chase.
But his speed was not great — clearly just for show.
Everyone knew the principle of not pursuing a desperate enemy; demonic cultivators were not fools.
Ji Yuan waited until Deng Pinghai failed to catch up and returned, then spat a mouthful of blood and nearly toppled off the flying boat.
Deng Pinghai hurried over to support him.
“Nu…no matter, I only suffered a minor wound,” Ji Yuan said with dignity as he swallowed a healing pill.
Seeing this “Brother Qiu” was so badly hurt yet still came to help him, Deng Pinghai felt somewhat moved… Qiu Qianhai was a bit hot‑headed but warm‑hearted — a good friend to have.
“Let’s go up and take a look.”
No sooner had Deng Pinghai spoken than both of them felt something and looked up.
Under the night sky, halfway up the mountain a sudden gust of Yin wind blew; as it passed it sounded like ghosts wailing. At first glance it seemed ordinary, but to those Foundation Establishment cultivators it was not.
Lu Ping, who had already been badly injured, instantly clutched his head.
He let out a pained scream.
“Ah!!!”
Ye Zhiqiu, who had been not far from him, pulled out a talisman that flashed with golden light and slapped it on herself; her body moved almost instantaneously across dozens of zhang to the foot of the mountain.
Those who could not escape were the remaining Divine Vulture Palace disciples.
The old woman who had been flying on a spirit device was blown straight down by the wind and fell into the depths of the Ghost‑Seeking Pit.
“Yin…Yin‑Erosion Wind.”
Deng Pinghai said in panic when he saw this.
Ji Yuan was also alarmed: if he had not gone to help Deng Pinghai earlier and had still been standing halfway up the mountain, he too would have been blown away by the Yin‑Erosion Wind.
Instead, being at the foot of the mountain with Deng Pinghai, he had escaped the calamity.
So this was the fabled law that one act begets a corresponding result?
‘Damn, good deeds pay off so quickly!’ Ji Yuan thought with a private snort.
Fortunately the Yin‑Erosion Wind came and went quickly.
In only a few breaths it had passed, but in that short span it had claimed the lives of two Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Among them was Lu Ping of the Great Love Sect.
After his earlier scream and clutching of his head, he now lay on the ground motionless, utterly lifeless.
Chen Moxin, who had grievously wounded him, had withstood the first wave of the Yin‑Erosion Wind and thus escaped.
The other was the old woman who had fallen — her fate was unknown.
“I’ll go see.”
Deng Pinghai left Ji Yuan’s side and piloted his flying boat away.
This person had been his opponent; by rights, even if he died his spoils should belong to Deng Pinghai, so it would not be proper for Ji Yuan to snatch them.
As for Lu Ping’s Storage Pouch, it was taken by Ye Zhiqiu, who had helped him.
She was a late‑stage Foundation Establishment cultivator; Ji Yuan would not try to take it.
In the end, he had only taken Yin Tongzi’s Storage Pouch.
After some thought, Ji Yuan stepped forward and asked, “Fellow Daoist Ye, may I ask if there is Corrupt‑Firefly Yin‑Huai wood inside?”
Ye Zhiqiu glanced at him and, saying neither yes nor no, replied:
“I will ask the sect master for it on your behalf later.”
Ji Yuan understood immediately. If there were some and she produced it now, and Ji Yuan did not give spirit stones, then she would suffer the loss.
Besides, this had been promised by the Mourning Taoist; if anyone were to give it, it should be the Mourning Taoist.
They were all crafty old foxes… Ji Yuan cursed inwardly but did not press further.
Not long after, Deng Pinghai returned, panting, and said pale‑faced, “I couldn’t get it.”
“She’s not dead?”
Ye Zhiqiu asked.
“Dead. She fell into the territory of the Earth‑Binding Spirit and died. I didn’t dare to retrieve it.”
Upon hearing that, Ye Zhiqiu lost interest — Earth‑Binding Spirits were too dangerous; risking oneself to fetch a Storage Pouch was not worth the reward.
Thus among the five who had been together, aside from Qian Xin who had revealed his true form, the biggest gainer was Ye Zhiqiu; she alone took two late‑stage Foundation Establishment Storage Pouches.
Ji Yuan got a mid‑stage Foundation Establishment Storage Pouch.
Deng Pinghai returned with nothing.
“Ha ha, all of you living Daoists, hurry up and come up.”
The Mourning Taoist’s laughter echoed from the mountaintop Divine Vulture Palace.
The three exchanged glances, then swept up one after another toward the summit.
Ji Yuan, as usual, remained last.
When he reached the Divine Vulture Palace square and took in the bloody scene, he held his breath. The Mourning Taoist leaned on his broken cane, badly injured, but his aura remained strong.
Behind him stood the Qian Xin Blood Demon, a creature the length of a zhang.
It was drenched in blood; its wide, gaping maw opened and closed, full of human fragments — a truly gruesome sight.
Deng Pinghai, walking in front of Ji Yuan, instinctively dared not step forward.
Seeing this reaction, the blood demon grinned and said, “Deng brother, what are you afraid of? Have you done something shameful?”
Deng Pinghai took a deep breath and said, “No, I was only… only intimidated by Brother Qian Xin’s might.”
“Don’t be afraid, we’re one of us. I’m not going to eat you.”
As he spoke, Ji Yuan came closer but still stood at Deng Pinghai’s side.
The Mourning Taoist scanned the group. “Lu Ping? Is he dead?”
“Dead, he was blown dead by the final Yin‑Erosion Wind,” Ye Zhiqiu answered.
“A pity, alas.”
Though the Mourning Taoist said that, he showed no trace of regret.
Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, Ye Zhiqiu stepped forward slightly and said, “Sect master, you promised Brother Qiu earlier that if the matter was settled you would give the remaining Corrupt‑Firefly Yin‑Huai wood to him.”
“Oh?”
The Mourning Taoist seemed surprised.
Ji Yuan had not expected Ye Zhiqiu to be so bold and to speak so bluntly… Fellow Daoist, you were ruthless.
“Looks like something’s off; better secure the benefit first,” Ji Yuan heard in a transmission from Ye Zhiqiu.
He shuddered and quickly stepped forward, cupping his hands. “Thanks to the sect master.”
Whether they gave it or not, he would thank them first.
The Mourning Taoist glanced at Ji Yuan, frowned with some displeasure, but in the end threw out a two‑jin block of Corrupt‑Firefly Yin‑Huai wood. “This is all that’s left.”
Ji Yuan accepted it.
It was one jin less than the agreed amount.
But it would certainly be enough to build a Chicken Coop.
Old bastard, I’ll remember the jin you owe me… Ji Yuan vowed quietly, then returned to his original spot as spiritual energy began to seep into the Storage Pouch.
Just as Ye Zhiqiu also intended to step back, the blood demon spoke in a sinister voice: “Old cryer, this Ye Zhiqiu seems a bit disrespectful to you — how about I… eat her.”