Is This Your Limit?

Chapter 45: Is This Your Limit?

Xiang Pichi rode his horse along the route marked on the map.

Along the way, he encountered some spirit beasts, but thanks to his Qi Refinement stage Spiritual Sense, he detected them in advance and cleared them out without any delay, smoothly arriving outside the Blackskin Barbarian tribe.

"As expected, it's safe. There are no Qi Refinement stage beasts on this path."

His spiritual sense swept across the entire barbarian tribe, finding no threats, and he spotted exactly what he wanted most.

"A Spirit Lake! The lake water is rich in spiritual energy—even mortals can irrigate Spirit Fields with it!"

Xiang Pichi was overjoyed.

With this Spirit Lake water, he wouldn't need to cast the Spirit Rain Technique at all!

He could simply have mortals fetch the lake water to complete the irrigation, and the effect would be even better than the Spirit Rain Technique.

It saved both time and effort.

Cultivators with spiritual roots were hard to find, but mortals willing to work for him were plentiful.

As for these uncivilized Blackskin Barbarians, he would kill them all and bury them in the fields as fertilizer.

He held his head high, urging his horse forward, looking at these wary Blackskin Barbarians as if they were ants.

A Qi Refinement stage Cultivator killing Body Tempering Realm mortals was like slaughtering dogs.

He raised his hand, and a stream of Yellow Earth Spiritual Energy appeared, forming a large spiritual glove around it.

He gently squeezed his hand.

"Earth Puppet."

The stones and clods of earth on the ground writhed and took shape, forming a crude Earth Puppet over three meters tall that lumbered toward the barbarian tribe.

Boom!

The Earth Puppet's fist smashed the nearest Black Ghost, a Body Forging Stage 5 warrior, sending him flying like a cannonball. He crashed through a wooden hut and slammed into a tree before stopping, spitting blood and losing consciousness.

This Earth Puppet was actually as strong as a Half-step Innate Grandmaster!

And with its massive size, it felt no pain or fear—utterly terrifying!

But what was more terrifying than one Half-step Innate Earth Puppet was three of them!

Xiang Pichi squeezed his hand again, and two more Earth Puppets rose from the ground in succession.

Three massive Earth Puppets pressed toward the tribe like bulldozers, their oppressive aura immense!

A bloody massacre was about to unfold.

But the first Earth Puppet charging forward stepped on something.

A violent burst of Fire Spiritual Energy exploded beneath its foot.

Boom!

The fierce blast blew off its left leg, and the Earth Puppet's massive body tilted and collapsed to the ground, losing its mobility.

"Array Stone?"

Xiang Pichi keenly spotted the Array Stone under the Earth Puppet's foot.

"How do these barbarians have—not good!"

Xiang Pichi reined his horse back, but five Array Stones lit up behind him.

"Five Elements Maze Array!"

Clusters of mist materialized out of thin air, trapping Xiang Pichi in place. He lost his normal vision, and his spiritual sense was disrupted by the array. His Spirit Horse panicked, pacing restlessly on the spot.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two massive palms of Yellow Earth Spiritual Energy slammed out, but they hit nothing, instead snapping a thick tree in half.

"Such powerful strikes—if we took one, we'd be badly injured."

In a seemingly empty wooden hut, Yang Shi and Jiang Xiaobai stepped out wearing masks.

The Concealment Array behind them slowly lost its spiritual energy.

"His spiritual sense is disrupted by the array now, but it won't last long. Attack quickly! Xiaobai, it's up to you!"

Xiaobai pulled over a hundred attack Talismans from his bag, most of which could match a full-force strike from a high-level Fetal Breath stage cultivator.

"Watch me crush him!"

"Wood Spear Talisman!"

The Talisman was activated by spiritual energy, forming a green spear crackling with Wood spiritual energy.

This was a pure wood-element attack spell, one that most wood-element Rogue Cultivators knew.

Its power was slightly weaker than fireballs, fire arrows, or metal swords of the same level, but the beauty of it was that it specifically countered earth-element cultivators.

"Earth Armor Technique!"

Spiritual power wrapped around the soil, forming a solid layer of earth armor outside Xiang Pichi's body, making his figure appear much more imposing and somewhat resembling an Earth Puppet.

Xiang Pichi was not skilled in formations and couldn't break through the maze set up by multiple Array Stones for the time being, so he had to first use his magic power to protect himself.

"Heh, I, an earth cultivator, excel at defense. How long can this maze trap me?"

He had figured it out—whoever set up the formation here was weak in strength and didn't dare face him head-on. Otherwise, they could have just cut him down with one sword stroke instead of going through all this trouble.

Pfft!

A green spear shot straight out of the mist, piercing a large hole into his earth armor before being blocked by his protective spiritual power.

"Oh? A wood cultivator. Though it counters me, what can a Fetal Breath stage do? Wait until my Earth Puppets break the formation."

Boom! Boom!

The two intact Earth Puppets outside were successively crippled by the Array Stones exploding.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Three Wood Spear Techniques emerged from the mist, punching three more holes, and the Earth Armor Technique shattered completely.

Xiang Pichi wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, his rage boiling over.

"Enough!"

"Earth Venerable Divine Arms!"

Boom!

Two massive earth-formed arms and hands burst out from within the formation, viciously smashing five Array Stones into fragments. The Five Elements Maze Array shattered on the spot.

Xiang Pichi stood in place, two enormous Thick Earth Arms behind him, three meters tall, swinging like colliding hills as they moved.

Hidden Array Stones on the ground were swept away by the giant hands, tearing up the earth's surface and exploding midair.

Xiang Pichi's face, twisted with fury, and the ferocious earth arms behind him made him look utterly terrifying!

The Divine Arms, condensed from spiritual power and earth and stone, rose high, making Xiang Pichi resemble a God or Devil!

"A bunch of ants, daring to ambush me?"

"Who exactly are you people?!"

But facing the erupting Qi Refining immortal, Yang Shi and his two companions showed no panic at all, as if they had anticipated this.

"Rotten Wood Poison Powder!"

The three Talismans in Jiang Xiaobai's hands ignited, spewing out a massive cloud of poison powder.

Boom!

The scattered specks of green poison powder covered a vast area. Xiang Pichi had no room to dodge left or right and could only grit his teeth and charge straight through.

The "Earth Venerable Spirit Art" he cultivated excelled at using the surrounding environment to defeat enemies but was weak at long-range attacks.

The wood-type poison art completely countered his Earth Venerable Divine Arms. Though weaker in power, it still corroded a layer of spiritual power and rock from the arms, shrinking their size by a notch.

Jiang Xiaobai retreated while hurling out Wood Spear Techniques one after another.

He flung Talismans as if they cost nothing.

But since most were Fetal Breath stage Talismans, they posed little real threat to Xiang Pichi.

His Divine Arms swung, smashing the wooden spears apart midair. These spells could only continuously drain his spiritual power.

However, a yellow gem appeared on Xiang Pichi's chest, radiating waves of light. Pure earth spiritual power surged into his body, rapidly repairing the recent damage and consumption.

"Hahaha~ What good are plenty of Talismans? Just chickens and dogs, nothing more."

"Let's see who gave you the guts to ambush a Qi Refining cultivator!"

The earth arms behind him swung as he put on his Earth Spiritual Power Gloves.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Massive spiritual power surged out, summoning three more Earth Puppets!

The three puppets advanced alongside his main body. Jiang Xiaobai threw out even more Talismans, but they only slowed him down and drained his spiritual power without dealing effective damage.

And once the Earth Puppets got close, they would completely lose the initiative.

Seeing this, Yang Shi directly tossed out three Array Stones.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Array Stones landed on the Earth Puppets and detonated, blasting their chests apart and sending them staggering.

Clearly, their toughness couldn't compare to those earth arms.

"Spirit Puppet Fusion!"

A bright yellow light flared in Xiang Pichi's hands as earth spiritual power poured into the three damaged Earth Puppets, thin threads of spiritual power seemingly connecting to them.

The three puppets moved together, their bodies pressing tightly against each other to form a large clump of rock and earth. After shifting on the ground, it grew into a Puppet Giant over four meters tall!

Roar!

The Earth Puppet's eyes glowed red as it opened its ferocious maw, spitting out a hail of rocks.

Bang bang bang!

Yang Shi drew his sword, stepping in front of Jiang Xiaobai to swiftly shatter these stones.

Xiang Pichi's face was now slightly pale. Sustaining two Earth-type spells that only Qi Refinement Stage cultivators could use was already his strongest state. If not for the Earth Essence Stone continuously replenishing his Earth Spiritual Power, he wouldn't have been able to hold out at all.

But seeing Jiang Xiaobi covered in Talismans, he still felt a bit of a headache.

He had to finish this quickly!

Otherwise, sooner or later, those Talismans would wear him down to death.

What kind of person brings over a hundred Talismans to a fight?!

Are Talismans free or something?!

But it didn't matter. When he unleashed these two great spells, the outcome was already decided.

A cruel smile spread across his face as he anticipated the pleasure of torturing these two ants.

Yang Shi looked at the two Earth Methods before him and asked calmly:

"Is this your limit?"