The Death Spirit Locust Tree was one of Ning Ye's important objectives on this trip.
The dead locust tree before him had not been around long—probably only about ten years—but that was enough to meet Ning Ye's needs.
Seeing it, Ning Ye didn't hesitate. He cautiously approached the Death Spirit Locust Tree, one step at a time.
The Death Spirit Locust Tree seemed to sense something. Its branches swayed, and a hideous, ferocious ghostly face appeared on its trunk, spitting a mouthful of evil breath at Ning Ye.
Just a touch of this breath was enough to make Ning Ye's flesh rot and his bones crumble, killing him.
Besides, the Death Spirit Locust Tree didn't rely on sight to detect its enemies, so illusion techniques and the like were useless against it.
At the same moment the ghostly breath shot out, a talisman appeared on Ning Ye.
Golden Light Talisman.
The ghostly breath struck the Golden Light Talisman but was blocked by its radiance. Ning Ye stopped advancing and simply stood at the very edge of the breath's reach, where the Death Spirit Locust Tree could attack him, but the distance weakened its power as much as possible.
The Death Spirit Locust Tree spat out one mouthful after another, while Ning Ye stood there and let it attack, using one Golden Light Talisman after another.
A moment later, the Death Spirit Locust Tree suddenly shuddered and crashed to the ground. A Ground Rat Puppet darted out from beneath it—it had been gnawing at the tree's roots.
The Death Spirit Locust Tree hadn't been unaware of the Ground Rat Puppet secretly biting at it. But the tree had no intelligence; to it, both Ning Ye and the Ground Rat Puppet were enemies. Its instincts told it that Ning Ye was stronger, and since it could attack him, it focused all its efforts on him and ignored the Ground Rat Puppet entirely.
As a result, the Ground Rat Puppet had managed to gnaw through every single root.
Only then did Ning Ye walk over and unleash a Wind Blade Art, cleaving the Death Spirit Locust Tree in two and exposing a section of its wood core.
This was the essence of the Death Spirit Locust Tree.
The wood core wasn't large, but it was enough to make what Ning Ye needed.
Already prepared, Ning Ye processed it on the spot. Before long, a fierce ghost mask appeared in his hand.
Death Soul Mask.
The Death Soul Mask's most important function was to conceal one's aura.
The Stealth Talisman was still too weak. Ning Ye's only goal now was to improve his ability to hide himself. The Death Soul Mask concealed his aura quite well, and when combined with a human-rank Stealth Talisman, it could fool ordinary cultivators of the Hualun Realm—unless they specialized in detection. It worked just as well against demons.
However, this was a standard Heavenly Mechanism Sect creation, and he couldn't let other people see it.
With that done, Ning Ye put on the mask and continued onward.
With the help of the Kunlun Mirror, Ning Ye soon found his second target.
It was a flower.
The flower was black, with three petals, and the area around it was withered and bare, not a blade of grass growing nearby.
Three-Wither Flower.
This flower was highly poisonous. Any poison refined from it would be fatal to almost anyone below the Cang Xiang Realm, and even Hualun cultivators would suffer severe injuries.
Ning Ye had two main targets on this trip into the mountains: the dead locust tree and the Three-Wither Flower.
The Three-Wither Flower had no real means of attack. Its potent poison was its best defense.
But for Ning Ye, who had come prepared, that was obviously no problem.
"Go!" Ning Ye flicked his hand, and the Ground Rat Puppet darted out.
The Three-Wither Flower's poison was undeniably potent. Even the lifeless Ground Rat Puppet rapidly turned black and withered as it approached. But it made no difference. The Ground Rat Puppet quickly bit through the flower's stem and returned with the Three-Wither Flower in its mouth.
"Stop." Ning Ye didn't dare let it come any closer and made the Ground Rat Puppet halt three meters in front of him.
Using Object Manipulation Art, Ning Ye lifted the Three-Wither Flower into the air and began refining it from a distance.
Ning Ye wasn't a cultivator of the pill arts, so his refining technique was mediocre. Fortunately, poisons were different from spirit medicines; it was always easier to destroy than to create. He only needed to preserve the Three-Wither Flower's medicinal properties, and the job would be done.
As Ning Ye continued to refine it, the Three-Wither Flower gradually shriveled, until at last it turned into a pile of black powder.
Ning Ye had prepared for this. A Jade Bottle flew out and caught the powder.
He capped the bottle and breathed a sigh of relief. The task was complete.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard voices coming from the distance.
Someone was coming.
Ning Ye had no time to leave now. The newcomers were clearly powerful, moving extremely fast—and they seemed to be heading straight for him.
Ning Ye hurriedly took off the Death Soul Mask and retreated among a few small trees. He struck them with several consecutive palm strikes. The trees obeyed his command, uprooted themselves, walked a few steps, then replanted their roots.
It was the Heavenly Mechanism Sect's Wood Wheel Armor Dance technique and Yi Wood Formation. But his cultivation wasn't high enough to perfect them, so fortunately, he still had talismans.
Ning Ye sent out several talismans, sticking them onto the surrounding trees. The Yi Wood Formation was complete.
Once he was done, Ning Ye waited quietly.
The formation was difficult to detect when inactive. As long as the newcomers weren't here to cause him trouble, there was nothing to worry about.
Just then, a group of people came rushing from the distance.
At their head was a man with a sword on his back, wearing the robes of a Black and White Divine Palace cultivator. Four others followed behind him.
All five had cultivated their techniques to the fourth or fifth layer and had officially entered the middle stage of the Cang Xiang Realm.
When the leader saw Ning Ye, his expression shifted from joy to alarm. He spat and cursed, "Damn it, I thought we'd found help, but it's just some rookie."
As he spoke, Ning Ye saw a demon appear behind the five of them.
The demon stood about three zhang tall. Its entire body was covered in black scales, it had four arms, and bone blades protruded from its joints. It looked utterly savage and ferocious.
A Blade-Bone Demon!
Ning Ye recognized it at once.
It was a Blade-Bone Demon, with a strength roughly at the peak of the Cang Xiang Realm. No wonder the five of them were fleeing in such a panic.
There had been fluctuations of magical power while Ning Ye was refining the medicine. They must have sensed them and run over looking for help, only to find a disciple in the early stage of the Cang Xiang Realm.
But just then, one of them shouted, "Use him as bait!"
The five were delighted. It really was a good plan, and they all charged at Ning Ye.
Ning Ye wasn't angry. He'd known all along what people from the Immortal Sects were like. Standing in the middle of the Yi Wood Formation, he watched them coldly, a sneer on his face.
All five rushed forward at once, and one of them struck at Ning Ye.
Though he clearly saw Ning Ye right beside him, his claw seemed to grab nothing but air. It passed through as if Ning Ye weren't there.
What was going on?
The cultivator froze. Another beside him shouted, "It's Refraction Art! Don't rely on your eyes—sense him with your mind!"
All five tried to sense Ning Ye's presence at once.
As they released their senses, Ning Ye put on the Death Soul Mask.
The five stared in astonishment as they found they couldn't sense him at all.
Unable to detect Ning Ye, they failed to notice the Blade-Bone Demon charging toward them.
The five were horrified. Forgetting about Ning Ye, they opened their eyes and rushed outward, only to find huge trees blocking them in every direction. They couldn't get out.
"A formation?" The five were stunned.
The Blade-Bone Demon charged into the formation and attacked them.
All five fought back at once, shouting, "We know we were wrong! Let us go!"
Ning Ye ignored them and simply stood aside, watching the fight. It wasn't only because they had tried to kill him; now that they'd seen the Death Soul Mask, they had to die.
For now, Ning Ye was considering whether he could use the five of them to take care of the Blade-Bone Demon as well.
If he used the Three-Wither Pollen, the Blade-Bone Demon would surely die. But the Three-Wither Pollen was valuable to him, and he wasn't going to waste it like that.
Besides, the Blade-Bone Demon's value wasn't in its bone blades, but in the Demon Pearl Essence inside its body. It would be a shame if the Three-Wither Pollen contaminated it.
Under the Blade-Bone Demon's fierce assault, the five were gradually losing ground. Seeing that no amount of shouting could make Ning Ye respond, they were filled with hatred and were about to risk everything to kill him too, when Ning Ye suddenly called out, "Take the Kun position and attack its lower body."
The five were stunned. One of them instinctively did as he was told, taking the Kun position and attacking the Blade-Bone Demon's lower body. The Blade-Bone Demon had thick skin and powerful defenses, but that sword strike made its leg buckle.
The five were overjoyed. Ning Ye called out again, "The Xun position! Use Wind Blade against its chest."
A Wind Blade slashed into the Blade-Bone Demon's chest, spraying a fountain of black blood.
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