Chapter 198: Conflict
With a “Bang!”, the two high-grade magic tools merely made two small open cracks in the antennas before being crisply being bounced aside, causing Han Li to be temporarily stunned.
“So hard! They could almost compare to the quality of a mid-grade magic tool!” Han Li secretly cried out that he was lucky; if it wasn’t for him using some small tactics, dealing with this huge centipede would really waste a lot of time.
Han Li, seeing that the flying dagger and the golden alms bowl weren’t very effective, easily retrieved them.
Although this bug had already received a mortal wound, its vitality was too vigorous, and it continued to incessantly roll around. It seemed like it would not die in a short amount of time. Thus, he knitted his eyebrows and displayed his movement technique; with a burst of speed, he flashed over the demonic beast’s head and showed no interest in whether the beast lived or died. Directly following the tunnel pa.s.sageway, he returned to the stone room.
Within the stone room, the few “Purple Monkey Flower” seedlings were still waiting there safe and sound, causing Han Li’s heart to be filled with joy!
He took out a jade box about as large as a bundle of branches from his storage pouch and placed it on the ground before using his flying dagger to carefully cut out the entire small purple rock along with the “Purple Monkey Flower”. Then, he levelled the flying dagger and used it to carry the rock back to his hand. It was placed inside of the jade box and sealed off carefully.
When all of the spiritual medicines had been completely individually harvested by Han Li, it wasn’t until they were all stored that he took a long, relaxed breath. His state of mind had greatly calmed down.
He stretched lazily, then carelessly swept over the stone room again to confirm that he hadn’t overlooked anything in this place before calmly walking out.
When Han Li walked past the place where the giant centipede had received heavy damage, that demonic beast was already lying still on the ground. It was completely dead, and the huge pool of black, poisonous blood from its body caused this section of the cave to be pervaded by a strange smell that made people want to throw up. When Han Li smelled it, he felt somewhat dizzy and lightheaded.
Han Li startled, knowing that this was the effect of the poisonous nature of the blood diffusing into the air, so he quickly consumed some “Pure Spirit Powder”, causing the uncomfortable feeling to abate.
He walked about twenty meters away from the corpse of the centipede and stopped. Then, he let out his flying dagger and wildly stabbed it seven or eight times; seeing that it really had not moved at all, he finally relaxed and continued on his way.
But having just walked a few steps, Han Li’s figure bent at the waist and stooped down to pull out a short black knife. He used two fingers to gently wipe off the black mud around the knife’s edge, and the short knife immediately shone with golden light. In fact, it was one of the children blades of the “Gold Beetle Swarm Blades”.
It turned out that the reason Han Li was able to so easily cut into the demonic beast’s abdomen was because in the moment he had disappeared, he had stuck the eight children blades of the “Gold Beetle Swarm Blades” blade-side-up into the ground of the cave in one breath. He lined them up along the tunnel and left the front half of the incomparably sharp blades on the floor.
Because he was worried the golden blades would be too bright and would be discovered beforehand by the demonic beast, Han Li used some black silt to smother the blade’s edge and turn it black, causing it to become the same color as the pitch-black cave. This way, it would be difficult for the demonic beast to discover it.
Thus, after chasing Han Li to this section of the cave, its abdomen had been secretly sliced open by these golden blades stuck into the ground upside down as the huge centipede was so close to the ground and met its fate of being buried there. The poor poisonous bug, known as a high-level demonic beast, had yet to put to use its a.r.s.enal of extremely potent poisonous techniques, but just like that it had been carelessly and utterly plotted against by Han Li. This was truly an unjust way to die!
Although Han Li had yet to know the centipede that he had killed was a high grade demonic beast, he knew that even if this poisonous bug hadn’t been one, it definitely would’ve been at least one of the medium grade demonic beasts. Thus, he was extremely satisfied in his heart that he had been able to deal with this poisonous bug so easily!
Now, he took seven or eight steps in a row and bent over after every step. Finally, he had cleaned all of the golden blades and retrieved them. Then, he immediately raised his feet to leave the area when he inadvertently glanced at the corpse and hesitated for a moment before walking towards it.
As soon as he walked in front of the huge centipede’s corpse, Han Li impolitely used the gold blade in his hand and cut towards the head, back, and tail sections, piercing them once. In the end he discovered that its back was the section that had the hardest sh.e.l.l; the gold blade’s thrust could only penetrate half an inch deep. Only by continuing to apply force downwards could it slowly cut in.
Seeing this, Han Li no longer hesitated! He immediately released all of the recently retrieved eight Gold Beetle Swarm blades and expended a great deal of effort to cut off the sh.e.l.l of the centipede’s back portion.
In no time, a few chunks of hard sh.e.l.l a few feet wide had been cut straight off and were carefully placed into his storage pouch. These were more than enough to block one attack from a top-quality magic tool and were good items that were hard to obtain. If they were to be made into a makes.h.i.+ft inner armor, it would definitely be very useful to him.
In reality, according to Han Li’s original intention, he was itching to cut off all of the centipede’s sh.e.l.l and bring it away. But if he were to do this, it would waste too much time, and to the current Han Li, time was the most sorely lacking!
Thus, Han Li could only leave the cave with a little regret, and he immediately shot towards the next already predetermined harvesting location. There similarly should be a few “Spirit Sky Fruits” that had yet to ripen in that location.
Meanwhile, as Han Li was continuously following his plan, collecting various kinds of spiritual medicines that were yet to ripen, explosive conflicts had erupted between elite disciples in a few locations where everybody knew there were ripe spiritual medicines to harvest! In addition, there were only these few locations where people precisely knew the spiritual medicines had ripened. The huge conflict between the “experts” from various sects was inevitable!
Within a quiet valley southwest of Han Li, three people who were currently caught in a deadlock, each of them unwilling to back down over two “Purple Monkey Flowers”, a plant that Han Li had just obtained.
Only, these two Purple Monkey Flowers were not a pale-azure color, but rather a glamorous purple, and they released a thick smell of rare perfume. In addition, in front of these two strange purple flowers was a strange deer growing fire-red antlers from its head. Its body had been split into two and lay in a pool of blood; evidently, it died a long time ago.
Not far from the corpse of the strange beast, there were three people standing in a triangle, each with different robes. However, none of them made a move, as if they were very afraid of the other two.
“What exactly are the intentions of you two? This Flaming Antler Deer was killed by me, so the spiritual medicines should also belong to me!” Finally, one person opened his mouth with an expression full of rage.
The speaker was a roughly twenty-year-old youth wearing a blue robe. His appearance was very handsome, and his figure was slender. One of his hands held an azure-colored flying cross, and the other held a yellow pearl. The two objects dazzled with spiritual light; with one glance, one could tell that they were exceptional magic tools. No wonder that person was able to kill that seemingly abnormal high-level demonic beasts on his own.
“Daoist brother, I didn’t expect that we would meet again today; we both truly have a predestined fate!” This time, the one who spoke was an ordinary elderly man wearing an azure robe and leaning on a walking stick. He seemingly appeared to be quite amiable, but he in fact did not even acknowledge the youth’s inquiry, instead beginning to converse with the other middle-aged Daoist Priest.
“Yes, I also had not thought that I would run into Master Li again today!” said the Daoist Priest with a calm expression. He carried a plain and long sword in its sheath and similarly did not even glance at the youth.
The youth from the Heavenly Imperial Fortress flew into a rage; his own talent was not normal, his family background was highly regarded, and his figure was elegant and handsome. He had always been other people’s focus no matter where he went, but now he was being humiliated in this way by these two fellows. How could he not become infuriated!
But before he was even able to open his mouth to say something else, the following sentences from the elder and the Daoist Priest immediately caused the color of his face to greatly change, and he began to panic.
“Let’s not bring up the past. Today, this place has two spiritual medicines; it so happens that you and I can split them evenly. How about if each person gets one?” The elder did not speak any superfluous words and invited the Clear Void Sect Daoist Priest to an alliance in order to split the spiritual medicines.
When the middle-aged Daoist heard this, he did not appear to be surprised; instead, after a brief pause, he nodded his head and complied:
“We might as well. Our strength is roughly even; even if were to battle each other, two hundred injuries would be the result. Let’s do it this way. I have no objections!”
The youth had clearly heard the conversation of the two people in front of him; he was both frightened and angered in his heart!
Although he knew his magic tools were extremely powerful, he instinctively felt that he would not be their opponent once they joined hands. However, if he were to just give up the spiritual medicines that he was just about to obtain like that, no matter what he said he was still unwilling!
After a few hurried spins in his brain, the youth suddenly quickly flashed backwards and shot directly towards the two spiritual medicines. He wanted to grab the spiritual medicines and immediately escape far away.
“You’re courting death!”
The youth had just begun to move when the azure-robed elder’s face fell, and threw the walking stick in his hand. It became an azure streak of light that shot towards the youth. The speed of this walking stick, which had become azure light, was simply too quick; it had only flashed a couple of times before arriving in front of the youth, barring his path.
The youth was very stunned; what was this magic tool, and why was it so fast? However, since things had already progressed to this point, he didn"t give it much thought. He lifted his hand and the his azure flying pitchfork went forward to meet the walking stick; however, his figure showed no sign of stopping and he continued to shoot forward. It seemed that he would not give up before he had grabbed the spiritual medicine!
“Little friend, it is already too late! It would be better for you to leave as quickly as possible. Don’t force this Daoist Priest to go on a killing spree today!” The youth had not taken two steps before a calm and cold voice came from behind him, as if it was directly pressed up behind him, scaring the youth so badly that his soul flew outside of the sky!
The youth’s face became deathly pale and he turned his head around. Sure enough, that Daoist Priest was only three meters away from him. He was currently looking and laughing at him!
The deathly pale youth did not continue to speak; he immediately turned around and shot outside the valley, not daring to even turn his head around for a glance. He knew in his heart that there was a wide gap between his strength and the strength of these other two people. Continuing to fight for the spiritual medicines was asking to die; the opponent’s willingness to let him escape was already hard to believe!
“Hehe! Daoist brother’s Spiritual Fox Steps have become much more powerful than before. It truly has reached perfection!” The elder, seeing that the Daoist Priest had let the youth escape, felt that it was extremely strange; however, he had not made a move to block him, but rather began to compliment the other person.
“It’s nothing, it’s only a minor accomplishment!” The Daoist Priest said leisurely as he glanced indifferently at the disappearing back of the youth.