Wasted Spiritual Root to Embark on Demonic Cultivation

Chapter 145

Foundation Establishment Divine Ability: Fleshly Body Flight.

It required no expenditure at all, like an innate instinct. Its speed was about the same as controlling the Blue Butterfly Sword, but it did not consume true essence. It was as simple as lifting one’s hand or moving one’s feet.

If he wished to accelerate, then True Essence would be consumed.

Wang Yu looked at the approaching Crocodile Dragon below, ignored it, and after fixing his direction continued flying toward the other side of the Withered Leaf Marsh.

An hour later.

He had roughly tested the flying speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. A single drop of true essence could sustain him in flight for three continuous days, and his speed was twice that of a high-grade flying artifact.

If one learned a second-rank escape technique, the difference could at least be stretched to more than tenfold.

In addition, there was also a Foundation Establishment Divine Ability known as Protective True Essence Qi. It had low expenditure, near-instant activation, and its defensive power was equivalent to a normal second-rank low-grade defensive technique.

With these advantages stacked together, the difficulty for a Qi Refining cultivator to slay a Foundation Establishment cultivator was obvious. And that was not even accounting for True Essence, techniques, and other means.

Fortunately, these were abilities unique to human cultivators.Demonic beasts, yin spirits, and strange entities did not possess them, or rather they had different types of realm-specific divine abilities. It was said that after condensing a Core Formation, human cultivators would give rise to even more realm divine abilities.

These traits completely distinguished beings of different realms. However, in combat within the same realm, they did not necessarily grant overwhelming advantages. Their value was real, but not as great as one might imagine.

Thus.

Wang Yu had completed all the goals of this trip home, even exceeding expectations. Next, he should return to claim the benefits for his Inner Sect disciple status.

Establishing a residence, amassing wealth, sitting atop a city, plundering the fertile lands. Just thinking of it made the future seem bright.

At this moment, just as Wang Yu was preparing to depart, he suddenly heard laughter ahead. It carried heavy resentment and killing intent, blocking his path.

“Hahahahaha.

“You little demonic brat. You made me run back and forth through this stinking marsh for months without rest, but at last I have caught you.

“Hmph, surrender at once.”

Wang Yu frowned tightly. He had just taken a breath of fresh air, yet now such a loathsome creature appeared, making him nauseous.

“It’s you.”

“It is indeed I.” Lan Boting pressed his fingers into a sword seal. The long sword that had always rested on his back trembled and unsheathed, pointing straight at Wang Yu. The aura of the fourth level of Foundation Establishment burst forth without doubt.

“Wang Yu, today I will take your head to atone for failing to eradicate demonic cultivators.”

“Ridiculous.”

After dual Foundation Establishment, Wang Yu’s resources were even deeper. So what if the opponent was mid-Foundation Establishment?

“If not for Chang Xi’s scheming, trying to use my identity to gain greater benefits, how would the calamity of Withered Leaf City have arisen? You forced this.”

Lan Boting glared furiously. “Chang Xi’s greed was her own fault. But you should not have dragged me down as well.”

“You? Hah.”

Wang Yu sneered, showing open disdain.

“Such shameless boasting. You think I would need to plot against you? With your temperament, sooner or later you will die in some forsaken corner, with no one to collect your corpse.”

“Insolent!”

The sword light rose, surging like a great river.

The high-grade artifact longsword unleashed waves of sword energy. Each strike carried the power to crush Qi Refining cultivators. Realm combined with artifact was truly the prime of a human cultivator’s strength.

Wang Yu had only just broken through and had not yet refined the Earth Origin Cauldron and Glazed Soul Lamp. His body twisted as he flew upward, but the river of sword energy instantly turned and continued pursuing him.

He could not help but curse inwardly.

“Damn it.”

Strategically, he scorned his opponent. Tactically, he treated his opponent with caution.

Lan Boting, a disciple of the Heavenly Void Sword Sect, even if not the top of his generation, and without ever studying at the Academy of Righteous Qi, still possessed sword arts that were fierce and sharp.

Within the same realm, he was absolutely among the elites.

Not to mention, Wang Yu had just broken through, and his other means had not yet been updated or adjusted. He needed to take this seriously.

In the chase, Wang Yu quickly assessed the abilities he had at hand. First-rank techniques could be discarded. They were fine against early Foundation Establishment, but against Lan Boting they were far too lacking.

That left only the demonic technique Soul-Devouring Evil Armor, and one of the core methods of the Yellow Springs Monastery, the Mysterious Yin Hand. Only these two could aid him in this battle.

Especially the second-rank high-grade spell, the Mysterious Yin Hand.

With Foundation Establishment True Essence and perfected mastery, it could unleash its profound mysteries and full power, far beyond the petty tricks of Qi Refining stage.

To win, the Mysterious Yin Hand would be the decisive key.

It could not be used lightly.

As hundreds of sword energies closed in relentlessly, Wang Yu made a decision and flew back toward the direction he had come from. There, a late second-rank Crocodile Dragon awaited, perhaps a target whose power could be borrowed.

Lan Boting, seeing his embarrassed figure, laughed heartily.

“So what if you broke through. You are still the same ant as months ago. I should even thank you for the spiritual fluctuations you stirred up, which guided me here.”

With that, he leapt forward, drawing out a streak of pale blue light, his speed several times faster than Wang Yu’s.

“Boom.”

At that moment, the river of sword energy finally caught up with Wang Yu. Just as the two forces were about to collide, an ice wall appeared beneath his feet.

He stomped down hard.

The strength of his body erupted, like a charging beast or a spring being released. His entire figure shot out, suddenly accelerating and escaping danger.

The ice wall was instantly destroyed by the sword energy, which continued surging after Wang Yu with a relentless, deathly pursuit.

Lan Boting, who was watching everything from behind, froze for a moment. He seemed not to have expected that spells could be used this way. That he had not yet managed to capture a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator who had not even cultivated an escape technique left him somewhat angry.

With a wave of his right hand, the storage pouch hanging at his waist shone with spiritual light. A magic tool emerged.

“Binding Demon Cord, go.”

He had lost patience and directly used a method specialized for restraining demonic cultivators. Wang Yu, catching sight of that yellow light that far surpassed the speed of sword qi, felt a jolt in his heart. A sense of unease arose.

“Another second-rank high-grade magic tool?”

Fast. Too fast.

Since the distance between them was not far to begin with, that yellow glowing cord arrived at Wang Yu’s side almost in the blink of an eye.

With a swish, it bound him tightly.

His hands were forced behind his back. His legs were clamped together. The Binding Demon Cord actually tied him up like a worm. Even though veins bulged on his forehead from strain, he could not break free using his Body-refining cultivator strength.

This magic tool was not something brute force could undo.

“An ant is still an ant.”

In his tone of disdain, hundreds of sword qi finally crashed into Wang Yu. Amid a sky filled with glowing particles of spiritual energy, the figure clad in black armor condensed by spell was blasted hundreds of meters away.

“Cough cough…”

The Soul-Devouring Evil Armor, being a superior demonic technique, emphasized divine sense defense. The souls it devoured were mostly second-rank spirits, and its power was immense.

Yet before Lan Boting’s sword qi, it was still somewhat lacking.

Struggling up from the mire, Wang Yu coughed blood repeatedly. Luckily, the Binding Demon Cord did not seal his True Essence, otherwise the outcome would have been truly dire.

Lan Boting’s blue stream of light hovered above him, overlooking from high.

“Not running anymore?”

“Heh, why don’t you look behind you.”

Wang Yu’s confident tone made Lan Boting uneasy. His divine sense swept backward but discovered nothing, which instantly left him annoyed.

“At a time like this, you still dare to…”

“Roooar!!!”

In an instant, the swamp burst open into a huge pit. A massive Crocodile-dragon over twenty meters long shot out from underground like a flood dragon breaking free, soaring into the sky.

Its already ferocious head, empowered by bloodline secret arts, transformed into a gigantic earthen dragon head, biting fiercely at Lan Boting.

“I—”

Crunch.

As if eating a small snack, the Crocodile dragon crashed back to the ground. It looked with some confusion in Wang Yu’s direction. But aside from a few messy footprints, there was no one there.

Just as it was about to check, blue light suddenly burst out of its mouth.

Covered in stomach acid and foul digestive filth, Lan Boting shot out in a wretched state. Embarrassment aside, his eyes almost spewed fire.

At his calf was lodged a broken fang, piercing clean through and bleeding nonstop.

“Bastard! Aaahhh!”

River Sword Art: Horizon of Water and Sky.

A mere late Foundation Establishment beast was not in his eyes. Before the third rank, human cultivators held overwhelming advantage, let alone someone like him, a disciple of a hegemonic power.

What angered him was that Wang Yu had misled him with such crude tricks. The attack had actually come from underground.

Sword qi condensed to the extreme formed a long line, carrying the subtlety of sword qi turned to threads. It looked plain, yet carried terrifying lethality.

The Crocodile dragon roared skyward and stomped its short legs.

The nearby swamp began boiling. Filthy muddy water surged upward, but was split apart by that blue line.

Without losing momentum, it cleaved onto the beast’s carapace, leaving a bone-deep wound. The beast howled in pain and rage.

It unleashed the muddy sphere ability Wang Yu had seen before, drawing them into its own domain for a wild one-on-one battle.

But how could Lan Boting willingly let Wang Yu’s diversion succeed? With a pull of his right hand, Wang Yu, who was still bound by the cord though invisible, was dragged into that vast mud-ball domain that would repair itself endlessly.

Through the cord’s link with his magic tool, Lan Boting could sense Wang Yu’s position, though the Crocodile dragon could not. In its eyes, the only enemy was Lan Boting.

Battle reignited.

Sword light and mud splattered. From time to time scales and flesh flew through the air.

At the edge of the mud-ball domain, Wang Yu gritted his teeth and severed his left arm.

With that, a gap appeared in the Binding Demon Cord. Activating Illusory Step, he left behind a corporeal phantom body still bound in place.

His true body shifted swiftly, waiting only for the right chance.

The battlefield of three became a death struggle between one man and one beast. To be fair, the Crocodile dragon’s body was extremely tough. Even covered with wounds, it still erupted with tremendous strength.

Truly worthy of its dragon-blooded lineage, it had real skill.

“Damn it, cough cough…”

As for Lan Boting, though he held the upper hand, he had begun coughing blood. Within this mud-ball domain, the alligator-dragon’s innate techniques grew stronger, forcing him to defend carefully against each strike.

“With blood I sacrifice the scabbard, with my body I devote to the sword.”

“Blood Origin Sword, strike!”

As if having made some final resolve, Lan Boting used his ultimate move. In an instant, blood light flared. Terrifying chilling sword qi surged forth like a jagged crack.

Crooked and twisted, yet carrying the sharpest edge.