Chapter 487: Comprehension, So Scientific (I)
Wild winds howled as dense tides of demonic qi swept through, carrying the bloody stench of yaos. Mixed within the shrieking black wind was the Wind of Annihilation. Violent tornadoes rampaged madly throughout the demon god barrier. As time passed, the concentration of demonic qi within the entire demon god barrier surged higher and higher. An invisible pressure descended over everything.
More than a dozen golden blade rays slashed through the darkness. An ugly yao resembling an eight-tentacled octopus burst with thick black fluid, then instantly exploded into chunks of black flesh scattered across the ground. Lin Zheyu slowly stepped out from the darkness. He casually swept a glance toward the dark beyond, his brows knitting slightly.
Lin Zheyu looked toward Ji Ziyang, who stood at the center of the formation controlling the entire array, and said with a grave tone, "Fellow Daoist Ziyang, something feels wrong. There are more and more people hiding in the dark."
As time passed and the end drew closer, Lin Zheyu noticed more and more furtive figures lurking in the darkness.
"Brother, this should be enough. It is time to shift from offense to defense," Ji Zitong said as she stopped as well, urgency in her voice.
Her face was slightly pale, her fair skin covered in fine beads of sweat. Black strands of hair clung to her skin. A chilling killing intent radiated from her, giving her a cold and untouchable beauty.
"Mm. Fellow Daoist Lei, stop after killing that yao. There are too many people in the shadows watching us now," Ji Ziyang transmitted.
"Alright!" Lei Yongtao's voice came back.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted as the yao before Lei Yongtao was torn apart by violent lightning and blasted into a heap of mangled flesh. His attacks had been this savage and overbearing from beginning to end.
Not long after, Tu Yuan emerged from the demon-tainted soil and returned to the formation. The group exchanged glances, all of them grim. Clearly, they had noticed the hostile eyes surrounding them as well.
"Everyone has worked hard for a long time, but the hardest moment has not yet passed. Only by holding the formation and enduring until the final moment can we claim the fruits of victory," Ji Ziyang said in a deep voice.
With a movement of his hands, dim formation light suddenly rose from the formation and enveloped it. As Ji Ziyang acted, a strange figure stepped out of the darkness. The man curled his lip, his expression full of disdain.
"Ah... ah..." the man shouted rudely, "It is not over yet. Keep going. This little bit of yao blood aura is nowhere near enough."
"Exactly, exactly. You have not killed enough yaos yet. Kill more. At this level of yao blood aura, I would not even bother looking twice." A second voice chimed in as a burly man in beast-hide stepped out from the darkness.
The man held a massive wolf-tooth club. An extremely dense aura of yao blood clung to him, while an invisible, strange aura shrouded his entire body.
A somewhat displeased voice rang out, "Chi... If you don't like it, then get the hell out. I claimed this place first. Go over there. That one over there is not bad either. The yao blood aura inside is even denser than here."
It was a man with unnaturally pale skin and a tall, slender frame, like a sickly young noble. His complexion was deathly white, while his lips were a purplish red, giving him an extremely eerie appearance.
"Fellow Daoist Ziyang, we meet again. Give me a slot, and I will kill them for you." The eerie man looked at Ji Ziyang, the corner of his lips curling into a faint smile as he spoke. When he smiled, there was a strange, almost morbid beauty to it.
"Gu Jinghong, long time no see. Kill them, and I will give you a slot," Ji Ziyang said calmly.
As Ji Ziyang's words fell, the expressions of the other two shifted slightly. Both slowly stepped back, their eyes full of caution. Clearly, this eerie man, Gu Jinghong, was not someone easy to deal with.
"Heh..." Gu Jinghong let out a soft chuckle and glanced at the other two, a trace of disdain flickering in his eyes.
But he did not move right away. He had dealt with Ji Ziyang for too long not to know what he was thinking. The moment Gu Jinghong made a move and killed the others, Ji Ziyang would dare to go back on his word.
"Damn it, these bastards," Lei Yongtao cursed.
This time, they had slain a huge number of yaos, allowing the formation to accumulate an extremely dense yao aura. Once sacrificed, the rewards would be astonishing. If one could remain within the formation, both the chance of obtaining rule fragments and the completeness of those fragments would be greatly improved. That was also why Lei Yongtao was confident this opportunity gave him a strong chance of securing a Six Thunder-Pattern Golden Core.
"Is that Gu Jinghong an ancient yao?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously. Within his Perception Domain, Gu Jinghong's aura felt strange. There was an inexplicable presence within him, something deeply terrifying.
"Yes. He is a descendant of the ancient Teng Snake[1] and carries its bloodline. Do not be fooled by how sickly he looks. His strength is terrifying. He cannot be underestimated," Ji Zitong explained softly.
Her expression was grave. Because of Lin Zheyu's participation this time, they had slain a massive number of yaos. The enormous yao blood aura gathered within the formation had actually drawn an expert like Gu Jinghong.
"He has a history with your brother?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously.
"My brother fought Gu Jinghong before. They were evenly matched, so I suppose you could say they know each other," Ji Zitong said, shaking her head.
"Oh. Anyone who can fight your brother to a standstill is indeed formidable." Lin Zheyu nodded slightly.
More and more people appeared in the darkness. None moved immediately. They seemed to be waiting for something, perhaps planning to launch a joint attack at the final moment.
"Fellow Daoist Tu Yuan, the underground defense is yours. Zitong, Fellow Daoist Xiao, Fellow Daoist Bai, and Fellow Daoist Lei, the four of you will hold the four formation nodes and kill any enemies trying to break in. Fellow Daoist Mulan and I will control the formation."
Ji Ziyang began assigning tasks. He slapped his storage pouch, and several mid-grade spirit stones, along with medicinal pills radiating a rich fragrance, flew out. Under his control, the spirit stones and pills floated toward the others.
"Mid-grade spirit stones? Fellow Daoist Ziyang is really spending heavily this time!" Lei Yongtao said with a surprised grin as he caught one.
Ji Ziyang had clearly taken out these mid-grade spirit stones and medicinal pills for them to absorb and restore their strength. Even Lei Yongtao would normally hesitate to use a mid-grade spirit stone to replenish spirit power. It was extravagantly wasteful. But since Ji Ziyang was willing to pay, Lei Yongtao gladly accepted. Free resources were free resources. In Lei Yongtao's eyes, Ji Ziyang was a filthy rich magnate. A few mid-grade spirit stones meant nothing to him.
"These rule fragments are crucial to me. Success is the only option. Failure is not," Ji Ziyang said evenly.
Just as Lei Yongtao had guessed, Ji Ziyang did not care about a few mid-grade spirit stones at all. As a genius of the Ji Family, this amount of spirit stones was insignificant. Compared to spirit stones, rule fragments were what truly mattered. He had prepared for this moment for a long time.
"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Ziyang." Tu Yuan accepted the spirit stone and cupped his hands in thanks.
A single mid-grade spirit stone was no small thing. It was equivalent to a thousand low-grade spirit stones. Still, everyone here had deep enough backgrounds that, while valuable, it was not overwhelming. Only Lin Zheyu, receiving a mid-grade spirit stone for the first time, paused slightly in surprise as he took it.
"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist." Lin Zheyu smiled faintly, accepted the spirit stone, and cupped his hands toward Ji Ziyang.
He examined the mid-grade spirit stone. The spirit power within was extraordinarily pure, making it excellent for recovery. In terms of raw energy alone, it still held somewhat less than a thousand low-grade spirit stones. But that was only when comparing total energy volume alone.
For immortal cultivators, the purity of spirit power was far more valuable than the total quantity. Only someone like Lin Zheyu, who did not care about purity, would pay attention to total energy instead. As long as it was energy, he could absorb it through Origin Force. Origin Force was not picky at all. Even from demonic qi energy, he could extract energy usable by himself. It was absurdly powerful.
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, you are not using the spirit stone to recover?" Bai Lin asked curiously when he saw Lin Zheyu put the spirit stone away.
After such a long battle, his own consumption had been enormous. Ji Ziyang's mid-grade spirit stone was exactly what he needed for rapid recovery.
"Oh, I did not expend much. There's no need to waste it." Lin Zheyu smiled and shook his head.
After putting away the mid-grade spirit stone, he took out a wine gourd. It was filled with refined spirit liquid. Lin Zheyu lifted it and drank in great gulps.
"Uh... You are drinking spirit liquid?" Bai Lin asked in surprise.
Ever since advancing to the Martial Innate realm, he had not used something like spirit liquid in a very long time. Even refined spirit liquid still contained many impurities, along with residual demonic qi energy. It was far inferior to purified spirit stones.
After downing a whole gourd of spirit liquid, Lin Zheyu said with a grin, "Yes. I cultivate a special technique that improves my digestion and absorption. And this spirit liquid has some kick to it. It is a lot more interesting than absorbing energy from spirit stones."
With the strength of his current physique and the golden runes within his body, the impurities in the spirit liquid meant nothing to Lin Zheyu. Besides, his consumption truly was not that great. Using a spirit stone for recovery would be such a waste. That was a thousand low-grade spirit stones.
The group was left speechless. Lei Yongtao opened his mouth, then swallowed back whatever he had been about to say.
"Damn, are you secretly an ancient yao in human form...?" Lei Yongtao muttered.
Tu Yuan nodded in agreement.
"Can't be helped. I do not have backgrounds as deep as yours, so I have to calculate everything carefully. This is a mid-grade spirit stone, worth a full thousand low-grade spirit stones. Using it just to replenish spirit power is far too wasteful." Lin Zheyu joked with a smile.
Ji Zitong rolled her eyes. As if anyone would believe that. In this day and age, someone without a background could not possibly cultivate to such a level. Not only Ji Zitong, but none of the others believed him either. Lin Zheyu merely shrugged. Believe it or not, it made no difference. False could appear true, true could appear false. As long as they did not probe his roots, what they believed did not matter.
After drinking the spirit liquid, Lin Zheyu took his place at the left formation node according to Ji Ziyang's arrangement.
Outside the formation, large numbers of yaos still remained. The experts hidden in the darkness struck from time to time, killing one powerful yao after another.
"These people do not set up formations themselves. They hunt alone outside, then wait until others have accumulated massive yao blood aura within their formations before trying to seize the nest for themselves. What a fine scheme."
Lin Zheyu silently watched the cultivators outside battling the yaos, a cold smile touching his lips. He had worked hard to kill so many powerful yaos and accumulate this yao blood aura. How could he possibly let others reap the rewards for free?
1. Teng Snake (螣蛇) is a mythic serpent in Chinese tradition, often linked to flight, transformation, poisonous or uncanny powers, and in some traditions associated with one of the Six Divine Beasts (六神) used in divination. ☜
