A long time passed before the sound of the explosion slowly died down. The original clearing in the forest, which had been about twenty zhang in circumference, had now become a massive pit about three hundred zhang deep. The shockwave had destroyed the large trees, which took several people to encircle, for nearly three to four li outwards. In the distance, the ground was a mess of broken branches and tree stumps, lying in disarray. Closer to the center, the ground was almost completely bare, the trees having long since turned to dust.
All of this was under He Manhua's deliberate control, concentrating the force on a single point. Otherwise, the trees within a radius of several dozen li would not have been spared. The deep crater in the middle of the field was a testament to the power of a self-detonated low-grade magical treasure.
This battle, which seemed to last a long time, had actually only lasted for six or seven breaths. As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, the area fell silent. A moment later, the soil at the edge of the pit churned, and then a person, covered by a flickering, unstable shield of spiritual light, drilled out from the earth. The moment he emerged, he spat out a large mouthful of blood. Then, looking at the bottomless pit before him, he couldn't help but laugh. "You old ghost, even with your Great Circle of Foundation Establishment strength, you were still blown to smithereens. Hehe... cough, cough." As he laughed, he started coughing again, blood continuously trickling from the corner of his mouth.
This person was He Manhua. His life-bound magical treasure was now gone, and he had suffered an extremely severe backlash. Just before the magical treasure self-detonated, the moment he had cast the seal, he had used an Earth Evasion Art to enter the ground beforehand. But even so, he had still been affected. The spiritual light shield on his body was almost completely depleted, and coupled with the backlash, his internal organs had suffered severe internal injuries.
At this moment, in the distant sky, two figures flew through the air at high speed. It was He Manzi and Bloodhand Flying Sickle. Even now, their qi and blood were still churning, and their internal organs were shaken. They had also suffered minor injuries. Looking at the scene of devastation before them, the muscles on both of their faces twitched. Bloodhand Flying Sickle, in particular, looked at He Manhua, who had just emerged from the ground with a large patch of blood staining his chest. He couldn't imagine how a person with such a temperament had managed to cultivate to this day. To be able to self-detonate his life-bound magical treasure at the drop of a hat... the thought alone was terrifying.
He Manzi landed directly beside his brother and quickly sent several streams of spiritual energy into his body. A moment later, he let out a long sigh of relief. This younger brother of his had excellent cultivation aptitude, but he was far too reckless. If he hadn't always been looking out for him, he probably would have perished countless times. But even so, every time, he would be terrified of his older brother afterwards, only to be just as hot-headed the next time, and he never gave any warning beforehand. That was the most infuriating part; it gave you no time to stop him.
There was another thing that pained him greatly: the hundreds of small snakes he had refined had also been destroyed in one go. He didn't know how long it would take to find such demonic creatures again, and the refining process would require at least three more years. Seeing that his brother was fine, his eyes darkened as he stared at He Manhua.
"Big... Big Brother, that... that old ghost and the boy seem to be finished!" He Manhua looked at his brother's grim face and couldn't help but feel scared. He knew he had been reckless again. He quickly tried to claim credit, hoping to lessen the beating his brother would give him later.
"You're so sure? Let me..."
Before He Manzi could finish, a loud rumbling sound came from the bottom of the several-hundred-zhang-deep pit in front of them. Then, countless pieces of gravel and soil shot into the sky like arrows. The expressions of the three men changed instantly. He Manzi grabbed his brother, who was sitting slumped on the ground, and shot backwards, forming a huge shield of spiritual light in front of him, tightly protecting himself and his brother. Bloodhand Flying Sickle did the same, flying back more than ten zhang. In an instant, they heard their spiritual light shields being hit by what sounded like ten thousand arrows, producing a dense "pfft pfft" sound.
Amidst a shower of gravel, a figure shot up from the pit and then levitated in the air above it. The three men quickly focused their gazes. It was none other than the hunchbacked old man. He looked quite disheveled at the moment, his hair was messy, and his clothes were torn to shreds. There were many wounds on his face and arms, some of which were so deep that the bone was visible, a chilling sight. He was still holding the unconscious purple-robed youth in his hand. The purple-robed youth was still tightly clutching the Jade Purification Vase. The hunchbacked old man himself also had a listless aura, a world apart from his previous commanding presence.
The moment the old man came up, he coughed violently several times and then spat out two large mouthfuls of blood. He Manhua's magical treasure had self-detonated right above their heads, disregarding the damage it took from the black smoke. The hunchbacked old man had never expected someone to be so careless with a magical treasure. And from their previous exchange, he could tell that it was the other party's life-bound magical treasure. He was the one on the weaker side. For them to self-detonate a life-bound magical treasure without any warning while they had a slight advantage... he couldn't understand such a tactic. The cultivators he had met before would only choose to self-detonate their life-bound magical treasures to take the other party down with them when they had no other choice.
In such a sudden situation, with the magical treasure being so close to him, the hunchbacked old man's powerful cultivation was revealed. The moment the magical treasure's aura became unstable, he had sensed it. With his divine abilities, in less than half a breath, he could have escaped at least one or two li at full speed. At the same time, by using a secret art to defend himself, he would have been injured, but not as badly as he was now.
But he hadn't done that. Instead, with a grab and a scoop, he had caught the purple-robed youth. Although his movement was like lightning, he had already lost the opportunity to escape. The shockwave from the magical treasure's self-detonation was already upon him. With no other choice, he had to pour all his spiritual energy into his protective shield. At the same time, his other hand moved like a fluttering butterfly, slapping more than twenty protective talismans on his body. Then he quickly burrowed into the ground. But a power that seemed to want to destroy heaven and earth chased him from above, its speed unbelievably fast, not even giving him a single breath's chance to change direction underground. Amidst the continuous bombardment, the talismans outside his spiritual light shield were all annihilated after supporting their descent for five zhang. But these talismans had withstood the initial, most powerful attack. Then, relying on his spiritual light shield and several other divine abilities and techniques, the hunchbacked old man had managed to save his life, but he was still extremely heavily injured. Although the purple-robed youth had been specially protected by him and had not been seriously injured, he had still been knocked unconscious by the aftershock of the explosion.
He had intended to use the Earth Evasion Art to escape directly from underground, but the speed of earth evasion could never match flying in the sky. And the other party would definitely search this area immediately. He figured that the moment he used his spiritual energy, the other party's Divine Sense would quickly find him. It was better to come out now than to be trapped underground, where most of his techniques would be unusable.
The hunchbacked old man and the purple-robed youth were actually still alive. This shocked both Bloodhand Flying Sickle and He Manzi. To be able to survive a magical treasure self-detonating right on top of him while carrying another person... "Demondog Moonshadow's" strength was truly fearsome. If it had been them, they estimated it would have been extremely difficult to even save their own lives.
But seeing the hunchbacked old man spit out several mouthfuls of blood as soon as he rose into the air, his aura immediately weakening, and his spiritual energy no longer as vigorous, it was clear how many techniques he had used to survive. He Manzi and Bloodhand Flying Sickle exchanged a look, and their spiritual energy suddenly surged as they charged towards the hunchbacked old man, not giving him a single chance to catch his breath. It was clear they were seasoned veterans of the martial world.
Seeing this, a bad feeling rose in the hunchbacked old man's heart. Although he had swallowed a few medicinal pills when he rushed out of the deep pit, he hadn't had time to refine them yet. And his spiritual energy was less than twenty percent of its usual level. If he turned and fled now, he would probably be caught within a hundred li at most. At that time, he wouldn't even have the strength to fight back.
The hunchbacked old man's heart raced. The spiritual light on his right hand, which was holding the purple-robed youth, grew even brighter. At this moment, he was still recklessly pouring spiritual energy into the purple-robed youth's body, hoping he would wake up sooner.
With his other hand, he tapped the space between his eyebrows again. A crescent-shaped wind blade, about a foot long, appeared in front of the two of them. But at this moment, the crescent wind blade was mostly transparent, as if it would dissipate at any moment. But the hunchbacked old man's gaze was like that of a vicious dog, staring intently at the two flying towards him.
"Hehe, you seem to be almost out of spiritual energy," Bloodhand Flying Sickle said with a chuckle as he rapidly approached, looking at the almost transparent crescent wind blade in front of him.
On the other side, He Manzi's eyes also showed a fierce light. He Manhua could only sit slumped on the edge of the pit to rest and recuperate. But with the combined forces of He Manzi and Bloodhand Flying Sickle at this moment, no matter how formidable the demonic dog was, it would soon be a dead dog.
Just as the two sides were about to clash, a clear, cold voice suddenly came from behind Bloodhand Flying Sickle and the others. "Old sir, can you really obtain that 'Netherworld Order'?"
This sudden voice startled everyone present, except for the purple-robed youth who had just woken up and was still a little groggy. Although they were in the middle of a battle, they had always been on guard against their surroundings. Although this place was more than six hundred li away from Linshui City, they believed that the self-detonation of the magical treasure just now would definitely attract the attention of some passersby nearby, so they were even more vigilant. But until the two sides were about to fight again, their Divine Sense had detected no one. But now, this voice was so close. How could it not shock them?
He Manzi and Bloodhand Flying Sickle were even more shocked. The voice came from behind them. The hunchbacked old man in front of them was already looking behind them with an incredulous expression. The two of them quickly stopped flying and turned to look. What they saw made He Manzi's eyes almost pop out of their sockets.
At this moment, a slender figure stood by a pile of rubble under the moonlight. One of his hands was placed on the very crown of He Manhua's head. He Manhua had already opened his eyes, but he didn't dare to move a muscle, his eyes filled with fear.
Cultivators had excellent eyesight. Although the moonlight was faint, they could still clearly see the person's face. Even He Manzi's originally furious face was stunned. Because this person, they all recognized him. It was the young Qi Condensation cultivator from the Xuanqing Temple.
After Li Yan had tracked Bloodhand Flying Sickle here, he had heard everything clearly. At first, he had planned to leave quietly, not wanting to get involved in this mess. But just as he was about to leave, he heard the words "Netherworld Order." This immediately made him dismiss the idea of leaving. He had first heard of the Netherworld Order from the Bloodleaf Elder. This item was a necessary condition for outside cultivators to enter the Pure Land Sect's "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda." He hadn't expected to get news of this item here. In the subsequent conversation between the two sides, Li Yan had already figured out the general situation. The purple-robed youth should be an illegitimate son of a family called "Huchen." Li Yan had heard some information about this "Huchen" family from Daoist Gong at the Xuanqing Temple when he was introducing everyone. It should be a first-rate poison cultivation family, also affiliated with the Malevolent Spirit Sect, but their research on poison was very unique.
The purple-robed youth should have been hiding outside all this time, and now it seemed he was rushing back to the family to participate in some kind of inheritance ceremony. He was currently being hunted by another lineage in the family. Obviously, the people of that lineage were very wary of the purple-robed youth, afraid that he would return and seize the inheritance right. So they hired assassins to hunt him down. And these two black-robed men were assassins from that "Thorn-Shadow" assassination organization. The later Lin-surnamed scholar should have also learned of this matter and wanted to get a piece of the pie. The reward for killing the purple-robed youth was a "Dustless Pill" and a "Netherworld Order," as well as a large amount of cultivation resources. But to get this reward, one had to go through "Thorn-Shadow" to find the client, and the "Thorn-Shadow" assassination organization would take half of the reward. All in all, from their intermittent conversation and his own deductions, Li Yan had already figured out the whole story.
After some thought, he decided to make a move and snatch it.