Chapter 477 - 350: Familiar Scent (Part 2)
However, if things truly became impossible, he would turn and leave immediately. He had done all he could, and his conscience was clear.
At this moment, the Bow-holding Nascent Soul was so frustrated he felt like coughing up blood. He had initially thought this Golden Core Cultivator before him was just small fry with a few tricks. But after a few attacks, he was shocked to discover that this Golden Core was a piranha in muddy waters—not only slippery and hard to catch, but also armed with sharp teeth. A moment of carelessness could lead to a nasty bite.
The Bow-holding Nascent Soul wanted to ignore Fang Qingyuan. Generally speaking, even if a Nascent Soul Cultivator dropped all defenses and let a Golden Core Cultivator attack, the latter would first have to break through the domain surrounding the Nascent Soul’s body.
But Fang Qingyuan was different. The Bow-holding Nascent Soul had nearly suffered a great loss due to his carelessness.
Take this time, for instance. When the Bow-holding Nascent Soul saw Fang Qingyuan solemnly point a finger at him, his body flickered, and with a WHOOSH, he teleported a great distance away.
Only then did he see Fang Qingyuan give a dry laugh, realizing he had just been tricked.
It wasn’t that the Bow-holding Nascent Soul was overreacting. It was because the very first time Fang Qingyuan had pointed, he hadn’t taken it seriously. Only when an incomparably pure and refined offensive Divine Technique entered his domain did the Bow-holding Nascent Soul realize how formidable it was.
The attack Fang Qingyuan had launched was formless, substanceless, colorless, and odorless. It was unnoticeable at first, and by the time it reached its target, it was already too late.
Fortunately, the Bow-holding Nascent Soul had been tempered by the Thunder Tribulation of his Nascent Soul Transformation. Compared to a Golden Core Cultivator’s soul, his was incomparably resilient, which was the only reason he could withstand Fang Qingyuan’s Godslaying Needle.
But even so, his soul was still operating sluggishly. His spiritual sense, usually clear and agile, now felt congested.
The Godslaying Needle was like a sharp awl that had viciously stabbed into the Bow-holding Nascent Soul Cultivator’s soul. Unable to pierce straight through, it had maliciously detonated, turning into iron sand-like impurities that lingered within his soul.
It was precisely because he had suffered such a huge loss that the Bow-holding Nascent Soul was now so wary of Fang Qingyuan. Less than twenty breaths of time had passed since he had started drawing his bow to shoot at Fang Qingyuan.
Normally, that would have been enough time for him to kill an Early-stage Golden Core Cultivator three to five times over. But now, forget killing Fang Qingyuan—he didn’t even want to get close.
The Bow-holding Nascent Soul knew he had already failed his mission. But now, selfish desires began to stir. ’If I could obtain the cultivation method for this person’s Divine Technique, it would be an incredible asset for me.’
The bow in his hands, though a famed Celestial Spirit Treasure, had a flaw. If he charged it long enough, he could kill even a Late-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator with a single arrow, but the charging time was far too long.
Furthermore, once he began to charge it, the Spiritual Power within a radius of a hundred zhang to ten li would begin to swarm, creating a celestial phenomenon that even a blind man could perceive.
’If I can get my hands on this instant, silent, and incredibly sharp Divine Technique, then this trip won’t have been a waste.’
The Bow-holding Nascent Soul carefully analyzed the attack he had just suffered. He found that the technique used by this Golden Core Cultivator was of an extremely high conception. It even bore some marks of a Sword Cultivator’s path. The way various auras were channeled, constructed, merged, and alternated was so complex that even he couldn’t fully comprehend it at a glance.
’Hmph. I’ve already collected a trace of your aura. I’ll see you off with a Guiding Soul Arrow. What a pity. It takes ten years to craft a single arrow, and I’ll need years to recover afterward. Wasting such a price on a mere Golden Core Cultivator is a true loss.’
At this thought, the Bow-holding Nascent Soul stopped charging forward and began a rapid retreat. Once he was nearly eighty li away from Fang Qingyuan, he finally took a heavy, blood-red arrow engraved with inscriptions from his storage pouch.
He nocked the arrow on the bow and began to slowly draw the string. As the surrounding Spiritual Power swarmed, the very space around him began to distort. The arrow on the bowstring completely vanished, leaving only a nearly ethereal crimson glow.
Then, a wisp of his soul detached from his body and merged with the ethereal crimson glow. This was the technique of the Guiding Soul Arrow.
Once this arrow was fired, even if Fang Qingyuan had an Escape Technique, it would not fly straight ahead as before. Instead, it would circle back and continue to track its target.
His deliberate approach toward Fang Qingyuan earlier was to get a clear lock on the fluctuations of his aura. In this respect, Fang Qingyuan was naturally far inferior to Chu Hongshang. Thus, while this method would be useless against Chu Hongshang, it was extremely effective against Fang Qingyuan. This was suppression by realm.
After fifteen breaths, just as the Bow-holding Nascent Soul felt the power was sufficient to kill a Nascent Soul Cultivator, he prepared to release the arrow. But in the next moment, his expression changed drastically.
In his senses, Tu Ling had suddenly... vanished.
....
Over a thousand silver flying insects trembled in unison, as if letting out a collective, satisfied burp. At this moment, Tu Ling’s body still pulsed with a sea of qi and blood, but it had lost its soul.
No matter how powerful, a soulless thing is just a dead object. And Tu Ling, the once-incredibly powerful Mid-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, had suddenly become a dead object in the span of a single breath.
Within the shared sea of consciousness of the thousand-plus silver insects, Tu Ling’s soul form stared blankly at its surroundings, unable to comprehend why it had suddenly appeared here.
’There were silver insects... they formed the shape of a lion’s head... and then they just gently inhaled at me...’
Never mind Tu Ling’s confused thoughts; the ruling consciousness of the silver insect swarm was quite satisfied.
It had just passed the area where Bear Wind and the Cloud-Clawed Lizard were fighting, but it paid no mind to those two simpletons.
Nascent Soul Ancient Beasts fighting over territory was perfectly normal and not worthy of its attention. What it cared about were the people who had disturbed its sleep.
This one-armed man was the strongest of the group, so Tu Ling was the first to meet his doom.
Next, it was Chu Hongshang’s turn.
Chu Hongshang stared at the swarm of silver insects in terror. She couldn’t believe her eyes. With just a gentle motion, Tu Ling had been silenced forever.
’What in the world is this thing?’
If Lechuan or Fang Qingyuan were here, they could certainly tell Chu Hongshang what it was. However, the moment Fang Qingyuan laid eyes on this thing, he would have immediately run as far as he possibly could.
Chu Hongshang’s body was stiff with fear. She watched, paralyzed, as the swarm of silver insects flew toward her. Finally, terror shattered her instincts, and she desperately unleashed the most powerful Flame Divine Technique of her life.
And at that, the swarm of silver insects did indeed stop, but the reason for it was a peculiar misunderstanding.
’This scent is familiar... Let me think... It smells like that Blood Phoenix Bird. Strange. Is this little thing before me a descendant of that Blood Phoenix’s bloodline?’
’Whatever. I’m hungry. I’ll just eat her. It’s not like that Blood Phoenix and I were close anyway.’
The lion’s head formed by the swarm of silver insects moved beside Chu Hongshang, ignoring the flames erupting like a volcano, and opened its mouth to inhale.
But just then, the silhouette of a blood-red arrow struck.