Chapter 165: Chapter 165: A Lucky Escape
Any single one of the wind and lightning attacks in this Wind Lightning Grotto was equivalent to a full-force strike from a First Layer Earth Martial Artist.
In the brief moment Ye Xuan had charged out of the Array, at least several dozen attacks had landed on him. Yet now, he didn’t have a single scratch on his entire body, completely exceeding everyone’s imagination.
’Is this Ye Xuan made of iron? Even if he were, he’d probably have been blasted into scrap metal under such a ferocious assault.’
Only Zhao Wei laughed heartily, a trace of lingering fear in his voice. "Brother Ye Xuan, inviting you was absolutely the right decision! I knew your Body Refining Technique was incredibly powerful, but this... this has truly shaken me. Now I know what it means to have a head of bronze and arms of iron, to be fierce and invincible."
Zhao Wei laughed freely.
The reason he had invited Ye Xuan was precisely because he had witnessed the powerful Body Refining Technique Ye Xuan displayed on the challenge platform.
Tong Hong, a top-ranked expert on the Wind-Cloud List, had failed to even tear Ye Xuan’s arm with a full-force strike.
’A Body Refining Technique like that,’ Zhao Wei had thought, ’might just be useful in this Wind Lightning Grotto.’
He never expected that at the moment of crisis, it would be Ye Xuan who displayed his might and saved them all.
Zhao Wei knew very well that if it hadn’t been for Ye Xuan, everyone besides himself would have been in mortal danger from the attack by his Sixth Brother’s expert.
"So he’s cultivated a Body Refining Divine Ability. No wonder."
A ripple of understanding passed through the eyes of Qing Ling and the others.
As geniuses of the kingdom, they naturally knew how powerful Body Refining Divine Abilities were. However, the difficulty of cultivating any Body Refining Divine Ability was unparalleled, and it required enduring immense pain. Without great perseverance, it was simply impossible to master.
Still, everyone was extremely curious about what Body Refining Divine Ability Ye Xuan was cultivating. It was simply too exaggerated. While in the Martial Master Realm, even an Earth Martial Artist-level attack couldn’t harm him. This was far too astonishing.
Ye Xuan didn’t explain, only saying, "Alright, Brother Zhao, we should get moving. If the Sixth Prince and his people keep following us, I’m afraid we’ll still be in great danger."
"The Sixth Prince probably won’t follow us again, right?"
The others were skeptical. Zhao Gang was so heavily injured; it seemed unrealistic that he would still have the courage to pursue them.
"He might not be able to follow, but that doesn’t mean his subordinate won’t," Ye Xuan said in a low voice.
After a brief rest, the group of six continued forward.
「About half an hour later」
In the open space outside the Wind Lightning Grotto, Zhao Gang was howling in agony.
He was covered in blood, with hardly a single spot on his body left unscathed. Patches of his skin were charred black, and he looked utterly wretched.
Especially from his groin, a foul, burnt stench wafted out. It was extremely nauseating. His "little brother" hung there limply, and it was anyone’s guess if it would ever work again.
Fortunately, as miserable as he looked, his life wasn’t in danger.
"Mr. Mo, didn’t you say he definitely couldn’t break your Array? What the hell happened just now? Tell me, what the hell just happened!"
After taking a Pill and applying some ointment, Zhao Gang roared furiously, so angry that the hair on his head stood on end as he glared viciously at Mosen.
Mosen’s expression was ugly. "Your Highness, in theory, that should have been the case. My Array is a Third Level Array. Even a Third Layer Earth Martial Artist would need some time to break it. That kid just now... I don’t know what happened. His punch landed precisely on the weakest point of the Array—the eye—causing it to collapse instantly."
Mosen was also extremely baffled.
"Are you saying this person actually broke your Third Level Array? What is your Third Level Array made of, shit?"
Zhao Gang was trembling with rage.
"It must have been a coincidence," Mosen muttered, frowning with an expression of disbelief. "That kid’s aura is only at the Second Layer of the Martial Master Realm. No matter how talented he is, he probably can’t even understand the structure of a Third Level Array, let alone break it. It must have been a coincidence."
It was as if he was explaining it to Zhao Gang, but also trying to convince himself.
"Useless."
Zhao Gang cursed aloud. A ’coincidence’ had nearly gotten him killed.
The thought of his ’little bird’s’ unknown fate filled him with dread.
"Mosen, forget about me! Go and kill them! Especially that kid! You must kill him! If you don’t kill him, don’t even think about coming back!" Zhao Gang roared, pointing at the grotto.
At this moment, Zhao Gang had only one thought: only by subjecting Ye Xuan to death by a thousand cuts could he quench the hatred in his heart.
"Then, Your Highness, please be careful."
After setting up some Restrictions around Zhao Gang, Mosen nodded. His figure moved like a ghost as he re-entered the grotto.
He, too, hated Ye Xuan to the bone.
After advancing for several more miles through the dark grotto, Ye Xuan and his group’s view suddenly brightened.
A lush, green valley appeared before them. The air was filled with the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers. Dense waves of Profound Qi surged like a tide, making the place feel like a divine dreamscape.
"There’s actually a valley here."
"What a beautiful place."
Qing Ling and the other girls’ eyes glazed over, filled with delighted surprise.
Even Zhao Wei himself was stunned. "To think such a place exists within Cyan Profound Mountain. I’ve never heard of it before."
The Heaven and Earth Profound Qi here was not the least bit inferior to that in the academy’s Cultivation Tower, making it extremely suitable for cultivation.
SWOOSH!
An agile shadow darted through the mountain forest ahead.
It was a mink-like Demon Beast with an incredibly nimble body. Upon seeing Ye Xuan’s group, it immediately fled.
"It’s a Lightning Mink." Zhao Wei’s eyes lit up instantly.
SWISH SWISH SWISH!
In an instant, everyone present shot forward.
"Get it!"
As Zhao Wei’s voice fell, the group launched their own attacks, trying to stop the Lightning Mink from escaping.
Seeing this, the Lightning Mink suddenly shot several bolts of lightning from its head.
CRACK! The lightning was fast and accurate, striking directly at the six of them.
Ye Xuan’s gaze was like lightning. He suddenly threw a punch. PUFF! SIZZLING currents of electricity ran rampant over his body but were blocked by his Profound Qi defense. Even so, his entire body still felt a tingling numbness.
Within the electric current, there was also a faint trace of a Soul Power assault that tried to affect Ye Xuan’s soul, but he easily repelled it.
The others, however, didn’t fare so well. Zhao Wei, Qing Ling, and Zuo Liu were slightly better off, relying on their Profound Qi to desperately defend themselves. But Duan Ren and Fu Yuling were knocked to the ground, paralyzed and twitching uncontrollably.
In that single moment of hesitation, the Lightning Mink flickered and vanished from sight.
It took a good while for everyone to recover.
"This Lightning Mink is too fast. How are we supposed to catch it if this continues? Eighth Prince, you must have a plan, right?"
Qing Ling looked at Zhao Wei. Profound Beasts were different from Demon Beasts. Even a Tier One Profound Beast possessed a certain level of intelligence. When encountering humans, they wouldn’t foolishly attack like Demon Beasts; they would flee.
A Profound Beast like the Lightning Mink, which excelled in speed, was simply impossible to capture without some special means.
However, Qing Ling and the others also knew that Zhao Wei was not only powerful but also a Tier One Soul Refiner. Plus, he had been planning this trip for so long; he couldn’t possibly be unprepared.
Zhao Wei nodded. "I have a Profound Beast capture net. As long as I get within ten meters of the beast, I can activate it. The success rate is very high. So the key now is to get within ten meters of that Lightning Mink."
’Ten meters?’
The group exchanged glances.
That wasn’t an insurmountable distance.
"In that case, the next time we encounter the Lightning Mink, we should try to spread out, surround it, and drive it towards Zhao Wei. That’s the only way we’ll be able to capture it."
With a plan decided, the group continued forward.
The mountain forest was lush and green, dense with Profound Qi.
To everyone’s surprise, in the time it takes an incense stick to burn, they encountered several more Profound Beasts. These beasts spotted Ye Xuan’s group from afar, then ran off and disappeared into the dense woods.
"There are so many Profound Beasts here," Zhao Wei and the others said, dumbfounded and pleasantly surprised.
In a place like this, didn’t it mean they could find a Profound Beast of any attribute they wanted?
Only Ye Xuan’s brows furrowed slightly.
’This place is too strange. Profound Beasts are different from Demon Beasts; they rarely gather together. In a normal mountain forest, a single Profound Beast is often found leading a large pack of Demon Beasts.’
’And if a large group of Profound Beasts is found, according to the theory of Profound Beast sociology, there’s usually only one possibility: it’s a Profound Beast colony.’
’But for Profound Beasts to form a colony, similar to the habits of Demon Beasts, there must be a king-like existence to lead them all.’
’If that’s the case, this king must be at least Tier Three or higher.’
’Once it mobilizes all the Profound Beasts, Zhao Wei and his group won’t stand a chance.’
’Hmm?’
As these thoughts raced through Ye Xuan’s mind, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
The others looked at him in confusion.
"Watch out! Get back!"
SWISH!
Ye Xuan let out a low shout, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes as he shot backward.
Following his shout, several streaks of light shot out from a nearby bush, as fast as lightning.
The others instinctively retreated, scrambling to dodge the sudden streaks of light.
Among them, Duan Ren was the slowest. With a sickening SQUELCH, a streak of light struck him squarely in the head. It was as if a large watermelon had burst open, splattering white and red brain matter everywhere and staining the ground.
Seeing this, the other students who had dodged the streaks of light thanks to Ye Xuan’s warning had incredibly grim expressions, staring intently at the bushes in the distance.
"Hehehe, I never thought there would be such a good place within the royal family’s forbidden grounds. It seems my hope of raising my Martial Soul to Three-Stars might just be realized this time."
From the bushes that had shot out the streaks of light, a figure slowly emerged, a cruel smile on his face.
"It’s you."
The expressions on Zhao Wei and the others’ faces all changed. This person was none other than Mosen, the Celestial Martial Artist expert who had been following the Sixth Prince.
They couldn’t believe Ye Xuan had been right again.
But this time, they had no ambush prepared, and their hearts sank to the bottom of a valley.
"Why the long faces? Hehehe, don’t worry, Eighth Prince. These are your subordinates. I promise I’ll give them all a very dignified death," Mosen said with a sinister laugh.
