Chapter 8: The mantis stalks the cicada
Is he at the initial stage of core formation? No, he is already in the false infant stage, half a step into the Nascent Soul, Feng Yudie thought while cautiously watching the demon cultivator before her. Cold sweat still flowed down her forehead.
She couldn’t help but wonder why there was a demon cultivator with such cultivation and status in the heartland of the Immortal Family. The Gu Poison Sect was one of the five demon sects in the Eastern Region, and its Sect Master’s status was extraordinary.
For her, she was simply unable to resist.
“Yudie, don’t just stand there, run!” Xiao Tian urgently urged her to run quickly.
Feng Yudie knew that escaping was impossible. She might be fast in her flying speed, and ordinary foundation-building cultivators couldn’t catch up, but facing a false infant realm demon cultivator was different. Moreover, if she ran, she would inevitably turn her back to him, making her even more vulnerable.
What to do?
Feng Yudie racked her brain for an escape plan. However, in the next moment, she suddenly felt a piercing pain in her chest, and she couldn’t help but kneel, covering her neck.
“Cough cough—”
“Ah!” Xiao Tian saw her reaction and immediately floated up. “Yudie, what’s wrong with you?”
The man smiled as he approached Feng Yudie, placing his hand gently on her shoulder, and said softly, “Girl, don’t get angry. The more you get angry, the more restless the insects in your body will be, and the more pain you’ll feel.”
“Insects… Insect?” Feng Yudie covered her throat and struggled to look at him, “When?”
Hot blood uncontrollably gushed out of her mouth.
But the man, seeing her in distress, smiled even more, comforting her, “Be obedient, relax, don’t resist. Just sleep peacefully.”
At this moment, when the man’s voice reached Feng Yudie’s ears, it had turned into an ethereal and holy sound. She felt her consciousness being eroded by the man’s voice, but she had no time to think about what would happen next.
“Feng Yudie! Feng Yudie!! Wake up. The worms are devouring your consciousness. Hold on a little longer! Right away… right away!!” Xiao Tian’s voice echoed, but she could no longer understand it.
Her eyelids slowly closed, and Feng Yudie lost all her strength, falling forward. The man quickly reached out to support her.
“I thought that the person who reached Qi Refining a few days ago was my biggest gain this time, but I didn’t expect to encounter a high-quality furnace with heavenly spiritual roots in this poor mountain. I’m really lucky.”
With a chuckle, the man carried Feng Yudie like a package at his waist and summoned his flying sword, preparing to leave. However, just as he stepped on the flying sword to fly away. Suddenly, the man’s spiritual awareness detected that the insects he had implanted in Feng Yudie’s body seemed to have encountered something and were dying.
“What?” He looked puzzled at Feng Yudie on his waist. Even a cultivator in the early stage of Nascent Soul might not be able to remove his poison easily. How could a girl in the Qi refining stage counter his insect?
After contemplating, the man immediately summoned a small dagger from his storage bag, intending to sever Feng Yudie’s meridians. However, as the dagger tip was about to touch Feng Yudie’s back, a towering golden light erupted from her chest.
Boom—
The man hadn’t reacted yet, and the golden light blew him away. A golden dragon suddenly appeared around Feng Yudie, using its tail to slow her fall and glaring at the man with hostility.
Youngster!
Seeing the golden dragon, the man’s eyes widened slightly.
“Is this little girl a descendant of the Immortal Family’s Holy Emperor?”
His eyes showed a look of surprise, but his expression became even more excited. His purpose in coming here was to find exceptional young cultivators with spiritual roots and train them as furnace cauldrons. Meeting the girl who had reached the perfect stage of Qi Refining at such a young age at a recent wedding banquet made him feel that the trip was worthwhile. He might break through to the Nascent Soul realm if he captures her and uses her as a cauldron for refining.
Now knowing that this girl was a descendant of the Immortal Family’s Holy Emperor, this trip was not just worthwhile—it could be considered a great opportunity. Bringing her back to the Gu Poison Sect could secure him a steady supply of elixirs and spiritual herbs, and perhaps the sect could even use her to dominate the entire Eastern Region’s Immortal Family sects.
“Hehe…”
The man chuckled, no longer playing around, and summoned three advanced magic weapons.
“Come, Holy Emperor’s dragon body. Let me see how much you weigh.”
Above the bamboo forest, golden thunder roared, and fire raged. The golden dragon glared at the man, its blood-red eyes intimidating.
Wu You used all the insects he had cultivated for decades to attack the golden dragon, but the dragon’s spiritual energy seemed to counteract his poison. Realizing that the golden dragon was only a remnant, Wu You thought he could handle it with his cultivation. However, he had underestimated the power of the Holy Emperor’s bloodline.
A golden thunderbolt struck Wu You, easily penetrating the evil spirit energy he had condensed around him. His five elements and six meridians shattered, and he spat out blood.
“Tsk!”
Wu You wiped away the blood, controlled his breathing, and observed Feng Yudie wrapped in the golden dragon’s tail.
“No, I can’t endure this.”
The golden dragon was currently a projection using the body of the Qi refining cultivator, and such a projection couldn’t last for long. If he continued to confront the golden dragon head-on, he might perish on the spot. This golden dragon was currently manifested through the body of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator. A cultivator at this stage would never be able to sustain the appearance of the golden dragon for too long.
“Just come back later, for now…”
Boom—
It spewed a stream of dragon flames, heading straight towards Wu You. However, Wu You merely glanced at it, swiftly stowing away his magic treasures, and with a wave of his right hand like a sword, he executed an escape technique, disappearing from the spot instantly.
Seeing his escape, the golden dragon immediately wanted to pursue him. However, Xiao Tian, by Feng Yudie’s side, flew in front of the golden dragon, waving his small hands at it.
“Stop chasing! Yudie can’t endure you anymore. If you don’t go back, her spiritual roots will shatter!”
The golden dragon rolled its eyes and looked at Feng Yudie caught in its tail, frowning.
“That person will definitely come back soon. If you don’t deal with him, I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
“Yudie is only in the Qi refining stage now. How can she possibly endure you? Go back quickly!”
Xiao Tian’s face was impatient as he grabbed the golden dragon’s beard forcefully.
“Go back quickly! I’ll figure out the rest!”
The golden dragon’s beard trembled slightly, transforming into a golden light, disappearing into Feng Yudie’s body.
Feng Yudie fell to the ground with a soft thud without the support of the dragon’s tail. Meanwhile, after Wu You escaped using his technique, he immediately released it upon reaching a safe distance. However, as he set foot on the ground, he staggered, knelt, and spat out a mouthful of black blood, holding his chest.
“This Holy Emperor’s bloodline is too tyrannical. Just a touch has damaged nearly half of my cultivation.”
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Wu You sat cross-legged and started healing his injuries by circulating the meridians within his body. During the healing process, he discovered that the Holy Emperor’s sun flames had ravaged a significant portion of his meridians.
“If I rely on Qi condensation and elixirs to heal, it will take decades, if not a hundred years.”
“Too slow.”
Wu You furrowed his brow, thinking about the two Qi Refining Stage cultivators he had encountered at the wedding banquet—one at the third level and the other at the Perfect Level of Qi Refining. Originally planning to cultivate the latter as a furnace cauldron, he now considered them less critical than the girl with the Holy Emperor’s blood.
Taking a deep breath, Wu You consumed a pill from his storage bag and immediately sensed where he had implanted the insects in the two cultivators. To his surprise, they were now only a hundred feet away from him.
“Huh? So close?”
…