Slaughter

Yan Nu cultivated for a day and a night to heal his injuries. He ate grass twice during this time, and his True Qi stabilized and grew, becoming even more profound than that of the previous Fort Master, Zhang Xu.

Shen Leling was immersed in her cultivation and did not check Yan Nu's True Qi at all. The last time she checked, he was third-rate, and she assumed he still was.

She had also asked about sweeping through Tea Mountain Fort, but Yan Nu couldn't explain it clearly, only saying he had wildly danced and smashed everything.

She had thought Yan Nu was a martial arts prodigy, instinctively imitating others and executing many intricate moves.

In reality, Yan Nu had only been practicing the Great Emperor White Jade Scripture for three days, so there wasn't much to evaluate regarding his True Qi.

This divine technique would take at least a year to master, and she estimated Yan Nu was still pitifully and slowly absorbing vital energy from the acupoints throughout his body.

"Have some peaches."

Yan Nu had depleted his True Qi again. After eating a lot of grass, he felt parched and got up to pick peaches.

"Hiss..." His injuries weren't fully healed, and he winced in pain as he walked, but it wasn't a serious issue.

Shen Leling had saved him from the brink of death with her life-bound water and countless potent medicines. It was a miracle he was alive. She estimated he would need at least two more days of healing before he could walk without risking further rupture of his meridians and bones.

Little did she know that Yan Nu's Hammer True Qi was inexhaustible, continuously supporting the vortex's demand for the Foundation Solidifying Elixir. As a result, the healing efficiency of the Emperor Tai's White Jade Technique over the past day and night far exceeded Shen Leling's expectations.

Yan Nu could not only stand and walk but even engage in strenuous activity! His cultivation had also greatly improved!

"Munch munch..." He gnawed on a peach, hopped onto a large rock, and gazed in the direction of Tea Mountain Fort while eating.

Suddenly, he spotted movement in the distant darkness.

"Huh?" Yan Nu remembered Shen Leling saying that Zhang Family members were looking for him everywhere, intending to kill him.

He immediately ran back to Shen Leling and shook her vigorously, "Stop sleeping, someone's coming."

Shen Leling opened her eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.

She glanced at the sky; it was indeed nearing dawn, and the essence of moonlight was already very thin. She then ceased her cultivation.

"I stayed at Tea Mountain with confidence. If there were no cultivators, the Zhang Family members would be dreaming if they thought they could track me by my Demonic Aura."

Despite her words, she didn't underestimate the situation. She sat up straight and scanned the surroundings with her Spiritual Sense.

However, this scan proved disastrous. Her expression changed as an extremely Yin and cold force injured her primordial spirit, causing her vision to blur, her mind to become unsettled, and her to feel dizzy and unable to sit still, causing her to collapse to the side.

Yan Nu quickly supported her. "What's wrong?"

"Damn it! There are ghosts!" Shen Leling said, her spirit disoriented and filled with hatred. She finally understood how the Zhang Family members had found her – they had raised a Ghost Cultivator!

"Ghosts?" Yan Nu asked blankly.

Shen Leling, her mind unsettled, said irritably, "Thirty-six Martial Artists, and a ghost. They used a dirty trick to injure my primordial spirit!"

Although she was injured, her previous cursory scan had revealed that the enemy had already surrounded the area and was well-prepared.

This group might not be particularly strong, but their most annoying aspect was that fighting them offered no advantage and would instead attract the Mortal World Fire to burn her Dao cultivation.

Now that her primordial spirit was injured, casting spells was extremely difficult. If she wanted to break through, she would likely be severely wounded, if not killed.

"Your primordial spirit is injured? Is it a serious injury?" Yan Nu asked, seeing her pain and knowing it must be severe.

Shen Leling snapped, "Nonsense! A primordial spirit cannot heal itself."

"Then what do we do? Do you have any medicine?" Yan Nu asked, concerned.

However, Shen Leling stared intently at Yan Nu upon hearing this. "Yes... if I absorb your Essence Soul, I can heal completely!"

Humans were potent tonics. She recalled that the person holding her at the moment was indeed human. Yan Nu had no Mortal World Fire, was a young Martial Artist, and even a virgin! Absorbing his Essence Soul would make this injury insignificant!

Did she have to eat him?

Shen Leling struggled for a moment, her jade-like hand forming a claw and reaching towards Yan Nu's face.

Yan Nu, completely unaware of her malicious intent, rejoiced. "If it can heal, then hurry up and absorb it!"

"..." Shen Leling's hand stopped in front of Yan Nu's face, mere inches away, but it froze.

"Hurry up and absorb my Essence Soul to heal yourself. I can endure anything, I'm not afraid of pain!" Yan Nu, unaware that the Essence Soul was the foundation of life, urged her on with concern.

Seeing his innocent concern for her, Shen Leling's expression shifted multiple times before she finally lowered her hand.

"Help me onto the horse and let's escape from here, quickly!"

With that, she scattered a handful of beans, which swelled in the wind, seemingly growing into some humanoid form.

"Abomination, die!" A Martial Artist leaped onto the stone platform and struck out with a palm strike, imbued with cinnabar. A sword then thrust forward, its cold light sharp and piercing.

Yan Nu immediately shielded Shen Leling behind him and took the palm strike head-on. However, the palm's force was strange, carrying a Yang-hot aura that made his blood churn.

The sword also carried this True Qi. A red sword energy pierced a bloody hole in him.

Fortunately, the opponent's True Qi was not as potent as his own. The Emperor Tai's White Jade Technique suppressed the Yang-hot poison with a slight circulation, accumulating it within his body.

He even gritted his teeth and counterattacked with a punch, sending the man flying backward, spitting up blood.

"Get lost!" Several more Martial Artists advanced, their long swords thrusting rapidly.

Yan Nu met them with his bare palms, using his profound True Qi to shake off the sword bodies. However, the potent poison on the swords, which he couldn't neutralize, continuously invaded his body, accumulating more and more in his Dantian and acupoints, making him feel hot all over, as if his internal organs were burning.

An elder leaped forward and unleashed a sword qi from a distance, which was even more terrifying.

At the critical moment, a figure suddenly pounced forward, blocking the sword strike.

Yan Nu took one look and saw a soldier clad in vine armor, gaunt and withered, with wrinkled skin and a vacant expression!

There were over thirty more of the same soldiers, filling the stone platform – all transformed from beans!

"Scattering beans to create soldiers? What slow-acting stuff..." Mr. Feng's ghostly silhouette drifted over, smoke swirling around him, a chill descending upon the entire scene. "Don't be afraid, she won't dare to harm you!"

With that, he waved his hands, sending thirty balls of sickly green ghost fire piercing into the Vine Armor Soldiers.

The wooden soldier puppets rapidly withered and turned gray before their very eyes, appearing decrepit and moving sluggishly.

As expected, the Martial Artist sent the Vine Armor Soldiers flying with two sword strikes, turning them into something resembling humanoid tree sculptures.

The other Vine Armor Soldiers merely advanced to block, acting as a living wall, not daring to fight back, and were cut down piece by piece.

Yan Nu seized the opportunity, holding Shen Leling, and leaped onto a horse. However, he didn't know how to ride, and his grip was too strong, startling the horse!

The warhorse reared and whinnied, nearly throwing them both off, but thankfully Yan Nu held on tight.

"Run, good horse, run!" Yan Nu urged, one hand gripping the horse's neck tightly, the other embracing Shen Leling. He lay half-askew on the horse's back, letting the startled steed gallop wildly.

Mr. Feng suddenly drew his sword and swung, unleashing a gray arc of ghostly energy.

He wore a green robe, a silk scarf, and carried a sword, but in reality, none of it was real, all formed from ghost energy.

The sword he wielded was refined from his own ghost body; it was essentially a part of him. He did this simply because Mr. Feng enjoyed swordsmanship.

The ghost body sword qi flew out, and the Vine Armor Soldiers, transformed from beans, threw themselves in its path, turning into wood shavings in mid-air.

The attack was unstoppable, heading straight for Shen Leling!

"Hmph!" At the critical moment, Shen Leling forcefully gathered her focus and, while on the horse, turned and formed a strange hand seal.

Mr. Feng frowned, thinking, Using magic by force? Let's see how many times you can do that!

Then, patches of white light appeared on Shen Leling, forming the phantom image of a jade armor, easily withstanding the ghost body sword qi.

"What! The Golden Jade Robe! Zhang Quan, you didn't mention she had this!"

Mr. Feng recognized it instantly. At this crucial moment, Shen Leling was using her magic power to activate the Golden Jade Robe's defense.

This item could resist evil spells and was not only an excellent prosthetic body. Even the evil-warding items carried by the Martial Artists, such as cinnabar and realgar, would have no effect on Shen Leling.

"I truly didn't know she had this!" Zhang Quan shouted. Not only did he not know Shen Leling possessed it, but he didn't even know she had stolen it from Zhang Xu.

Third Young Master Zhang Xu had acquired the Golden Jade Robe from grave robbers and had secretly hidden it for his own use later, telling no one.

"It'll be hard to harm her now!" Mr. Feng shook his head.

Zhang Quan said anxiously, "Then use your sorcery!"

"Alas, I haven't used it in so many years, I've forgotten!" Mr. Feng spread his hands!

Zhang Quan snorted coldly, his steps blurring as he flew through the air, unleashing three consecutive sword strikes, mixed with realgar and cinnabar.

However, Shen Leling was unafraid of these evil-dispelling items. Her demonic body was protected by the Golden Jade Robe, and she simultaneously exhaled a curtain of mist that enveloped her, blocking all three sword qi, causing only ripples to spread.

As for the swords and sabers of the other Martial Artists, they couldn't break through at all.

Yan Nu, holding Shen Leling, charged through the encirclement under the protection of the mist.

"Mr. Feng, break her water curtain! Don't tell me you can't!" Zhang Quan called for his warhorse, mounted it, and pursued relentlessly. Dozens of his subordinate troops also quickly mounted their horses to give chase.

Mr. Feng flew through the air, pondering, "Her primordial spirit is injured, and her magic is unstable. If we attack together, we can break it."

"Good!" Zhang Quan shot forward like an arrow. Even the warhorse beneath him couldn't withstand the force and immediately coughed up blood and died.

His body and sword were level, forming a straight line, and sharp sword qi struck like lightning.

This was the Three Essences Body Tempering, where True Qi was externalized into a tangible form.

Mr. Feng also attacked simultaneously, wisps of gray cold air encircling Zhang Quan, swirling forward, and finally converging at the tip of the sword.

Two streams of power, one gray and one white, containing immense destructive force, slammed into the water curtain.

"Swish!" Shen Leling's water curtain was instantly torn apart. The sword qi still had enough force to pierce her chest.

"Clang! Rip!" The Golden Jade Robe was torn open with a crack, and countless fragments and dust of white jade flew out.

At the same time, Zhang Quan also spat out a mouthful of Yellow Springs Water, which coalesced into an arrow-like stream, striking Shen Leling's chest with heavy force.

"Ahhhhh! Do you really think I won't kill you!"

Water gushed from Shen Leling's wound and her seven orifices. Her jade-like face contorted with fury, knowing that if this continued, she would surely die here.

Without further hesitation, countless water tendrils spread from her eyes, exuding a murderous aura.

These water tendrils drew moisture from the air to grow, quickly becoming like streams and springs flowing through the air, surging with immense power through the mulberry grove!

"Hanging River Downpour!"

"Not good! She's going to kill us! Retreat, retreat, retreat!" Mr. Feng shouted, transforming without hesitation into a wisp of ghost shadow and fleeing into the Bronze Contract held by Zhang Quan.

"Protect me!" Zhang Quan also knew that this monster was about to kill them and quickly fled backward.

The thirty-five subordinate troops, however, charged forward fearlessly, as if seeking death. They circulated their True Qi with all their might and scattered all the evil-warding items they carried.

But this only weakened the water flow slightly. A rumbling sound was heard as the subordinate troops were swept into the water, completely submerged.

Not only did the powerful force batter them, causing them to spit blood, but the surging water also contained a force that siphoned away the essence of their bodies.

In a short while, they had all turned into desiccated corpses.

"Swish!" A stream of water shot out like an arrow, extending dozens of feet, heading straight for Zhang Quan.

Zhang Quan was utterly terrified. His body made sputtering sounds as he desperately unleashed his True Qi, increasing his escape speed by a few more notches.

He didn't know how far he'd run before he realized the water stream wasn't pursuing him anymore.

"Hoo... I almost died..." Zhang Quan felt lingering fear. To escape, he had used a secret technique to forcibly unleash his power, and now he had suffered severe internal injuries.

"No loss, no loss..." Mr. Feng emerged from the Bronze Contract and said, "That monster went on a killing spree, and the backlash from the Mortal World Fire is enough to wipe out twenty years of her Dao cultivation! She probably can't maintain her Spiritual Sense Stage realm now."

Zhang Quan cursed, "Damn it! She's still hard to deal with. Her Dao cultivation is gone, but her Magic Power remains, so she's completely unrestrained now."

Mr. Feng observed the receding Demonic Aura and said calmly, "Having Magic Power without a realm is like a rootless duckweed. No matter how much there is, it's still just the quality of the Mystical Stage."

"You're still talking! If you had gone all out, sir, I wouldn't have almost died!" Zhang Quan said angrily. He could tell Mr. Feng hadn't given his all.

Mr. Feng looked wronged. "How can you say that? How could I dare let you die? What would I do if something happened to the Bronze Contract?"

"Then you didn't use your Dao arts, sir. You don't want the Jade Marrow anymore?" Zhang Quan asked furiously.

"Ahem~" Mr. Feng said sternly, "It's been a while since I've used them! Besides, now that her realm has fallen to the same level as mine, I can actually fight her! What's the rush!"

"Quickly gather more troops to hunt her down. Don't give her a chance to recover."

"Next time we find her, she'll be much easier to deal with. I have a plan!"

Zhang Quan said in a deep voice, "Next time, I hope to see your true abilities, sir!"

"Definitely, definitely! Next time for sure!" Mr. Feng agreed repeatedly.