Chapter 2431: Chapter 2431
The arrow was deflected by a tree but still managed to pierce through the trunk and embed itself in Ye Liuyun’s shoulder.
It lodged deep in his flesh without fully penetrating.
"Not bad at all!"
Gritting his teeth, Ye Liuyun yanked the arrow out and channeled his Xuan Yuan energy to heal the wound, treating it as nothing more than a test of his endurance.
The fact that the soldier’s arrow had pierced through an entire tree and still penetrated his body spoke volumes about its sheer force.
Bear in mind, Ye Liuyun’s physique was strong enough to withstand attacks from two ordinary second-level Heavenly Realm martial artists—and that was without accounting for the gilded armor he wore.
Without hesitation, Ye Liuyun donned his ancient Demon God Armor as an extra precaution.
That shot had come dangerously close to his heart. Had it struck true, he would’ve needed the legendary Vital Waters to save himself.
Better safe than sorry, he figured.
He strode over, confiscated the soldier’s massive bow, and handed it to Tian Dao.
No sooner had Ye Liuyun finished looting the battlefield than he sensed the tremors of another skirmish in the distance. Instantly, he moved toward the commotion.
Only the strongest and wealthiest martial artists made it this far. If he played his cards right, the spoils here could be substantial.
This time, however, he spotted a young woman being pursued by a black panther.
Unwilling to attack a woman, Ye Liuyun halted in his tracks.
But she had already noticed him—and was now rushing straight toward him.
Seeing the situation, Ye Liuyun couldn’t just turn and leave, so he reluctantly stopped in his tracks.
The woman, however, after luring the leopard over, didn’t even pause—she dashed right past Ye Liuyun without a second thought, clearly having no intention of teaming up to face the beast.
This infuriated Ye Liuyun so much he nearly saw red.
"I stopped to help you, and this is how you repay me? Throwing me straight into the line of fire!"
With a swift activation of his spatial overlap ability, he flashed ahead of the woman and swung his blade horizontally, forcing her to skid to a halt and turn back.
"ROAR!"
The leopard, which had been hot on the woman’s heels, suddenly found Ye Liuyun appearing out of thin air. Just as it prepared to attack him, he vanished again—only for the woman to reappear right in front of it.
Enraged, the beast assumed the two were toying with it. With a furious swipe of its claws, it tore through the woman’s armor from behind with a sickening *crunch*.
Realizing escape was futile, the woman spun around and thrust her sword straight for the leopard’s throat.
The distance was too close for the beast to react in time. Though it jerked aside slightly, the blade still grazed its neck, leaving a bloody gash.
Unaware that Ye Liuyun had no intention of helping, the leopard now feared the two were working together. Panicked, it turned tail and fled into the wilderness.
The woman, stunned that the Thunderstorm Leopard had actually been scared off, immediately rounded on Ye Liuyun, her eyes blazing with fury.
"You dare set me up? You’re dead!" she snarled.
"You started it!" Ye Liuyun shot back, unfazed, as he raised his blade to meet her charge.
"Damn commoner! It’s an honor for you to be harmed by me!" the woman declared shamelessly.
"Royalty?" Ye Liuyun wondered silently.
But then it struck him: "None of the royal family members who entered earlier included this woman. And wouldn’t someone from royalty have guards or protective treasures?"
There was no time to dwell on it—the woman was no weakling, and every strike she aimed at Ye Liuyun was lethal.
Without hesitation, Ye Liuyun unleashed his blade intent and the power of heaven and earth, suppressing her further with his bloodline strength as he calmly countered her attacks.
Soon, the woman began to falter under Ye Liuyun’s relentless assault.
In desperation, she launched a soul attack against him.
"Tch... Did you even consider whether your soul force is strong enough for this?"
Ye Liuyun observed that her soul was nearly half the size of his own.
The moment she charged into his sea of consciousness, she was immediately ensnared by the Ten Thousand Gods Decree. Upon seeing the sheer magnitude of Ye Liuyun’s soul, she realized her recklessness.
"I surrender! I’ll be your woman—just spare my life!" she pleaded, offering herself in exchange for mercy.
Ignoring her words, Ye Liuyun proceeded to search her soul.
He discovered that she was the daughter of a prince and had been among the previous wave of cultivators to enter this place, surviving here for nearly a year.
Initially, she had indeed arrived with bodyguards and protective treasures. But her weakness had forced her to exhaust those life-saving measures long ago.
Over the past six months, she had resorted to attaching herself to several men for survival—only to later betray and kill them in their sleep, stealing their resources.
"Ah..." Ye Liuyun let out a weary sigh.
She truly didn’t know how to judge this woman.
A defenseless woman trying to survive in a place like this had no choice but to resort to desperate measures. After all, the law of the jungle ruled here even more brutally than in the outside world.
Yet she showed no mercy. With a cold command to the Divine Decree, she had the woman’s spiritual essence devoured, converting it into her own psychic energy.
Rifling through the woman’s Interspatial Ring, she found quite a few resources remaining—aside from some protective artifacts that had already been used up.
Ye Liuyun took everything without hesitation, then tossed the lifeless body to the demonic creatures as food.
For some time afterward, she continued wandering through the dense forest. The thick canopy provided perfect cover, concealing numerous hidden figures lurking within.
Among those she encountered was a martial practitioner who had been trapped here for two years without finding an exit.
The forest’s inhabitants came in all varieties—swindlers, cowards who surrendered at the first sign of defeat. None were spared. After extracting their memories through soul-searching, she executed them without exception.
Truth be told, she hadn’t met anyone stronger than herself yet. Those weaker simply weren’t worth her attention.
Meanwhile, Lei Ming, Ye Tiandao, and the others had grown significantly more powerful, frequently emerging to test their skills in combat.
Even the thirty soldiers of the Vanguard Unit had adapted remarkably well to the brutal battles here, now capable of assisting against massive beast hordes.
Liao Yunyang also made appearances during critical moments, leading the four other powerful captives Ye Liuyun had taken.
One of them met his end during a confrontation with a nine-headed eagle—a creature that hadn’t revealed all its heads at once. Mistakenly believing it defeated after severing one head, the man paid for his error with his life.
To everyone’s shock, the nine-headed eagle sprouted yet another head. By the time Ye Liuyun noticed, it was already too late to intervene.
They managed to chop off one of its heads again, but only then did the monstrous creature reveal its remaining seven heads in full fury, engaging them in a fierce battle. In the end, Ye Liuyun and his companions joined forces to slay the beast.
Though Ye Liuyun’s own strength had grown considerably, he had to admit—these exceptionally powerful beasts and dangers were nearly impossible to handle alone.
In this perilous realm known as the "Death Pilgrimage," everyone—humans and beasts alike—resorted to ruthless means just to survive. Every living thing here was locked in a desperate struggle to eliminate the other.
"Death Pilgrimage indeed," Ye Liuyun muttered to himself. Without his allies, he knew surviving this nightmare would have been next to impossible.
