Chapter 491 - 352: Slaying a Core Formation Cultivator
’Once I accumulate more planting experience and finish refining my second vessel clone, I can start tending to Third Tier Spirit Medicine.’
The Talent Points from tending to Second Tier Spirit Medicine would have been substantial decades ago, but they were no longer enough for him now.
To upgrade his eight-star Life Talent to Nine-star, he needed around 1.1 billion Talent Points.
Right now, the progress bar was only approaching a quarter of the way full.
Fang Yun’s goal was to upgrade all his Life Talents to Nine-star before he reached the peak of the early Core Formation stage. As things stood, it seemed quite hopeful.
As time went on.
Fang Yun finished tending to this plot of Upper Grade Second Tier Spirit Medicine.
With the continuous accumulation of planting experience, his future vessel clones would be able to tend to Upper Grade Second Tier Spirit Medicine on their own, without him needing to divide his attention to help.
He was still in the process of collecting the Spiritual Materials needed to refine his second vessel clone.
He already had most of the Spiritual Materials. With a bit of luck, it was entirely possible he could gather the rest within ten years.
Just as Fang Yun was about to leave the Upper Grade Second Tier Spirit Field, a Communication Spiritual Light appeared before him.
Without a second thought, he received the message.
The next moment, he transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the distant sky.
He disappeared with incredible speed.
The message had come from Battle Peak: the Zhou Family, an affiliated Foundation Establishment Clan, was under attack by an early-stage Core Formation Demon.
Without much thought, Fang Yun chose to head for the Zhou Family at top speed.
At this moment, he wasn’t wearing the Half-Hidden Spirit Boots, but the Light Silk Boots, a Magical Treasure with one Prohibition.
Although the Light Silk Boots were not his Lifebound Magical Treasure, they were a purely movement-assisting Magical Treasure that provided an astonishing speed boost.
As he left the Celestial Cloud Sect, Fang Yun fully activated the boost from his seven-star Combat Talent, striving to reach the Foundation Establishment Zhou Family’s territory in the shortest possible time.
An early-stage Core Formation Demon, operating in their Earth Realm.
On his way there, Fang Yun was already thinking.
’Killing a Peak Foundation Establishment Demon provides 510,000 base Talent Points. How many will I get for killing an early-stage Core Formation Demon?’
Fang Yun was very confident in his speed.
’The Celestial Demon Sect’s Demon surely has no intelligence on this.’
’That means the Demon will miscalculate the time it takes for us to arrive as reinforcements.’
’This piece of information will be fatal for the Demon!’
Through constant testing, Fang Yun had gained an increasingly clear understanding of his own strength. He felt that killing an early-stage Core Formation Demon should be a very easy task for him now.
With a sneak attack, he might even be able to kill his opponent before they could react.
Shortly after Fang Yun left the Celestial Cloud Sect, another Supreme Elder departed from the sect as well.
That was Miao Qinghong.
Fang Yun and Sect Leader Duan Qingyun received the news of the attack at roughly the same time.
Upon receiving the call for help from the affiliated Foundation Establishment Influence, the Sect Leader chose to dispatch Miao Qinghong to reinforce the Foundation Establishment Zhou Family.
The reason Fang Yun received the information directly was because he had made prior arrangements with some of the Elders from Battle Peak.
His message came from Lu Zefeng.
Lu Zefeng now held a respectable position within Battle Peak.
...
「Foundation Establishment Zhou Family.」
As one of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences, their geographical location was relatively close to the border between the Black Ghost Cave’s Earth Realm and the Demon Spirit Sect’s Earth Realm.
This place was far from the Celestial Cloud Sect’s headquarters, but even farther from the Celestial Demon Sect.
Patriarch Zhou had never imagined that a Core Formation Demon from the Celestial Demon Sect would take such a huge detour to attack them.
It was true that reinforcements from the Celestial Cloud Sect would be slow to arrive, but it would also be difficult for a Core Formation Demon from the Celestial Demon Sect to retreat from here.
"How much longer can the Grand Array hold? Can it last until the Core Formation expert from the Celestial Cloud Sect arrives?"
"If the expert from the Celestial Cloud Sect isn’t fast enough, it will be very difficult for us to hold out until then."
Within the Zhou Family’s ancestral land, the mountainside trembled continuously.
These were the aftershocks from the early-stage Core Formation Demon’s relentless attacks on the Grand Array outside.
Their Second Tier Grand Array was already channeling all of its power into defense.
Once the Grand Array was breached, the Zhou Family would be powerless to stop the Core Formation Demon’s assault.
"So all we can do now is rely on the speed of the Core Formation expert’s reinforcement?"
"Yes."
For now, only the Foundation Establishment higher-ups of the Zhou Family knew the truth. The other Zhou Family cultivators had been told that the reinforcement from the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Core Formation expert would definitely arrive in time, and they didn’t need to worry about the family’s Grand Array.
This was to prevent the family’s cultivators from panicking.
With the Celestial Cloud Sect’s overall situation being favorable and the Celestial Demon Sect on the back foot, all the family’s cultivators had great faith in this news.
The Core Formation Demon from the Celestial Demon Sect couldn’t afford to attack for long. It was very likely he would leave even before the expert from the Celestial Cloud Sect arrived to provide support.
Outside the Grand Array.
Celestial Demon Sect Supreme Elder Qi Chuqiao had already entered his half-Demon Beast form.
His iron fists, larger than his own torso and covered in Demon Power, continuously bombarded the protective shield formed by the Grand Array before him.
When he first arrived in the Foundation Establishment Zhou Family’s territory, Qi Chuqiao had used every concealment method at his disposal.
He wanted to emulate that mysterious Spirit Refiner from the Celestial Cloud Sect...
Even though his concealment methods were mediocre, what if he succeeded?
It wouldn’t hurt to try anyway. If he happened to come across a Foundation Establishment Influence whose Grand Array had some problems, it would be a lucky break.
While concealed, he hadn’t even gotten very close before the Foundation Establishment Zhou Family’s Grand Array activated.
At that point, there was no need to stay hidden. He attacked directly, aiming to break the Grand Array with utmost speed.
At this moment, Qi Chuqiao’s heart leaped with joy.
’It’s about to break! Calculating the time, it should still take a while for a Celestial Cloud Sect Core Formation cultivator to get here.’
Time was crucial for his operation this time.
If he couldn’t break the Foundation Establishment Zhou Family’s Grand Array within a certain time frame, he had to leave immediately.
Compared to one of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s affiliated Foundation Establishment Influences, he was undoubtedly far more important to the Celestial Demon Sect.
The conclusion reached by all the higher-ups of the Celestial Demon Sect was to prioritize timing. While their goal was to eliminate a Celestial Cloud Sect affiliated Foundation Establishment Influence, the primary concern was ensuring their own people were not tied down by a Celestial Cloud Sect Core Formation cultivator.
This place wasn’t close to their own Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm. Being entangled by a Celestial Cloud Sect Core Formation cultivator here would be even more dangerous.
From Qi Chuqiao’s perspective, things were developing in his favor.
He threw another heavy punch at the protective shield formed by the Foundation Establishment Zhou Family.
At that instant, his body instinctively sensed the approach of danger.
’What’s going on?’
Qi Chuqiao stopped his bombardment and immediately scanned his surroundings.
He saw a pale golden Long Sword slashing toward him at extreme speed.
’An early-stage Core Formation Spirit Refiner. A Magical Treasure Flying Sword.’
Combining these two pieces of information, his first thought was of Miao Qinghong, the early-stage Core Formation Sword Cultivator and Spirit Refiner from the Celestial Cloud Sect.
But the problem was.
’Where is Miao Qinghong?’
’A Sword Cultivator who hides and skulks?’
"Show yourself!"
With a savage look on his face, Qi Chuqiao roared and met the pale golden Long Sword with both fists.
Facing an early-stage Core Formation Sword Cultivator, he held nothing back, going all out to receive this sword strike.
It was said that the Attacking Methods of an early-stage Core Formation Sword Cultivator who was also a Spirit Refiner were comparable to those of an ordinary mid-stage Core Formation Cultivator.
Therefore, Qi Chuqiao was already treating Miao Qinghong as a mid-stage Core Formation Spirit Refiner.
After taking this strike head-on, he planned to leave this place at top speed.
Qi Chuqiao truly hadn’t expected the Celestial Cloud Sect’s Core Formation reinforcement to be so fast. There was still a long time before his own calculated departure time.
The Sword Cultivator must have used up a lot of energy rushing here at full speed. Qi Chuqiao felt he still had a good chance of escaping.
Facing this sword strike, he could feel that he was completely locked on.
Taking the strike head-on was his best choice. If he chose to flee directly, he would be exposing his back to the sword. If that strike hit him, death would be certain.
Mentally prepared, Qi Chuqiao was already braced for injury.
A strike from an early-stage Core Formation Sword Cultivator was not so easy to receive.
"How is this possible..."
Despite being fully prepared, he never imagined that the power of this sword strike would far exceed his expectations.
Forget him, even if the Celestial Demon Sect’s strongest Supreme Elder, Lu Yaoling, were here, he might not be able to take this strike.