Chapter 25 – Crisis
Translator: Mr Voltaire
Editor: Master Shadow
“This Heaven-Devouring Sparrow’s fleshly body was actually destroyed?” Xiao Yun was dumbfounded. It was unimaginable to think that such a thing could happen to the incredibly powerful Heaven-Devouring Sparrow. This told Xiao Yun just how terrifying that woman in white was. She was definitely a supreme expert as well.
At this moment, a light flashed in the air as the woman in white appeared.
“That Heaven-Devouring Sparrow was simply too powerful. If I didn’t have my forbidden armament, it would have been difficult for me to survive.” The woman in white looked into the distance where the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow had disappeared to and frowned. Her expression suddenly changed as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Puu!
The blood fell through the air as the woman in white’s aura became significantly weaker. Xiao Yun watched as she slowly descended into a canyon. It seemed that her injuries were quite severe and she had been barely hanging on!
“She’s injured as well.” Xiao Yun stared in shock. It seemed that the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow was quite extraordinary as well. Despite facing its divine tribulation, it was still able to injure the woman to such an extent.
Now that the battle had ended, the ripples of energy had subsided, but the flames still burned where they had fought.
Xiao Yun looked towards a peak in the distance and started to head there. After watching this battle between experts, he felt that there was an opportunity for him to break through.
He climbed over many peaks and finally came to a mountain stream. The incredibly dense Essence Qi from there emanated out like waves. Looking over, he found that there was a spring, which was where the Essence Qi was coming from.
Xiao Yun sat on a large rock beside the Essence Spring with his eyes closed. He looked as if he was comprehending the heavens and the earth and within his dantian, a vortex appeared, continuously absorbing the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi into his body.
At the same time, a jade-green branch came out from his forehead, extending into the Essence Spring. Of course, this was Xiao Yun’s Martial Spirit. The Martial Spirit gave off a bright jade-green light, crazily absorbing the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi to strengthen itself.
Within Xiao Yun’s sea of consciousness, the Martial Spirit’s branch had become much wider and was nearly as wide as a person’s wrist. On the branch, a jade-green twig was growing, giving off a dense aura of life.
Now, there were 3 twigs on Xiao Yun’s Martial Spirit. Two of them had long since been there and there were some dewdrops on their leaves. There was a crimson red dewdrop on one of the leaves, which looked like a fiery gemstone.
“Since big brother is cultivating, does that mean I can have some milk?” Within Xiao Yun’s sea of consciousness, the little fellow stared at the dewdrop as it salivated. While Xiao Yun was cultivating, it rushed up the Martial Spirit, wanting to steal the dewdrop.
The Martial Spirit was occupied with furiously absorbing Essence Qi and had no attention to pay to the little fellow.
Xiao Yun was currently immersed in his comprehension.
In terms of cultivation, if one wanted to reach the Innate realm and go above, they would need sufficient comprehension of the heavens and earth. Xiao Yun had been cultivating for three days and there was a dense fog around him. It was as if he had integrated into the heavens and earth, and his entire aura began to change. He was like a fish about to leap through the dragon’s gate, and was only a single step away from the Innate realm.
During the course of Xiao Yun’s cultivation, the Essence Qi in this area had become much thinner. Most of it had been absorbed by the Martial Spirit.
As Xiao Yun was wholeheartedly cultivating, a group of cultivators suddenly ran over to the area.
“This is where the Violet Cloud Mountain’s Essence Origins are.”
“The Essence Qi here is so dense!”
“Haha, cultivating here for a single day beats cultivating in the Violet Cloud County for a whole month!”
“Thank goodness that Heaven-Devouring Sparrow chased away all the demonic beasts here. Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to come here.” These cultivators were wearing tight clothes and laughed delightedly, as if they were in paradise.
The leader was a middle-aged man and was called Fang Rui. His aura was quite powerful and he was an Innate realm expert. There were four other Innate realm experts with him, as well 15 men of the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering.
“Eh, there’s a person over there!” one of the youths cried out.
“Most of the Essence Qi in this mountain stream is being absorbed by him.”
“What a monstrous absorption rate. Could he be some sort of genius?” The people looked ahead and found that the Essence Qi spiralled and rushed towards the youth.
Ordinary cultivators couldn’t attract and absorb Essence Qi like this!
“He seems to be breaking through to the Innate realm!” Fang Rui’s eyes gleamed as he felt a familiar sensation.
“Innate realm? A cultivator at the Body Tempering realm can attract Essence Qi like this?”
“Does such a genius exist within our Violet Cloud County?” Hearing this, the cultivators all looked at each other.
Apart from having a Martial Spirit, the condition for whether one was a genius or not was the speed at which they could absorb Essence Qi. The more Essence Qi one could absorb and the faster they could absorb it, the more talent they had. After all, this meant that they could break through faster.
The rate at which the person in front of them was absorbing Essence Qi was even more monstrous than someone at the Innate realm!
“Should we go over to have a look? The Innate realm experts all felt quite curious, and looked at each other. They began to walk towards the youth cultivating on the rock, to see what sort of person had such terrifying talent.
The fog was quite dense, making it difficult to see the youth’s face. However, after walking closer, the Innate realm experts finally saw the youth’s face, which caused their pupils to contract and expressions of shock to appear on their faces. The expressions on their faces showed just how perplexed and dumbstruck they were.
“It’s him!” The Innate realm experts looked at each other, standing there in shock.
“Who is it?” The Body Tempering realm cultivators ran over and asked in curiosity.
What sort of person could cause their leader to become so shocked?
“It’s Xiao Yun!” After these people came up and saw the youth, their faces become aghast.
“How could it be him? Isn’t he just trash?”
“How is this possible? Wasn’t Xiao Yun only at the Seventh Layer of Body Tempering?”
“Has his talent returned?” The crowd cried out involuntarily, unable to believe their eyes.
The group of people then turned to look at the leader.
“Captain Fang Rui, what should we do?”
“This brat’s about to step into the Innate realm. The rate at which he’s absorbing Essence Qi is even greater than young master Fang Hao’s. Once he steps into the Innate realm, he’ll become a big issue for our Fang family!”
Needless to say, these people were cultivators from the Fang family. Every large family in the Violet Cloud County would send people to collect medicines in the mountains.
This team was sent by the Fang family to collect medicines and hunt demonic beasts. Before, they had never dared to delve this deep into the mountain, but because the Heaven-Devouring Sparrow scared the powerful demonic beasts off, they decided to try their luck here. However, they never thought that they would run into Xiao Yun.
“Of course we need to kill him!” Fang Rui’s gaze became murderous as he made a motion to slit Xiao Yun’s throat. They had not seen him in a month and this boy who had only been at the Seventh Layer of Body Tempering was nearing the Innate realm. This sort of talent was a grave threat to their Fang family, and if they didn’t quickly get rid of him, he would one day cause a disaster for them. It was possible that he would even be able to overpower their young master Fang Hao.
“That’s right. Let’s kill him,” the other Innate realm experts coldly spoke as they nodded in agreement.
One of the Innate realm experts strode out towards the closed-eyed youth.
“Haha, the heavens are truly helping us for us to meet him here. Otherwise, we would all be doomed if this brat was allowed to grow.” The Innate realm expert continued to walk, but Xiao Yun did not react act all, which caused him to savagely laugh.
It looked like the youth was at a critical stage in breaking through!
“You’re still lost in your comprehension? There’s no chance for you to break through anymore.”
The Innate realm evilly grinned as he held his sabre. When he was about 2 metres way, he suddenly stopped.
“This brat knows how to use poison; maybe he’s waiting for me to get close enough,” the man thought to himself. He then smirked and said, “It’s a pity that I, your granddaddy, am an Innate realm cultivator. I can release my Essence Qi outside of my body to guard against attacks. It won’t be that easy for you to launch a sneak attack.”
The man immediately circulated his Essence Qi. His sabre glowed with a dim light as a faint aura emanated from his body. This aura stirred the Essence Qi around the youth, as he thought to himself, “c.r.a.p, there are enemies.”Within Xiao Yun’s sea of consciousness, the gluttonous little fellow slid down the Martial Spirit. It sent out its spirit sense and immediately realised what was happening as it frowned.
“Big brother’s still cultivating and can’t protect himself.” The little fellow found that Xiao Yun was at the most critical period of breaking through.
Whoosh!
At this moment, the sabre in the man’s hand cleaved down towards Xiao Yun.
As the sharp blade descended, it sliced through the air towards Xiao Yun’s head, causing the surrounding Essence Qi to dissipate. The sabre qi was extremely menacing and could slice through even the toughest rocks, let alone a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering.
“Haha, this brat’s doomed.”
“Once Xiao Yun dies, the Xiao family will have lost all of its hope.”
However, as the crowd laughed, a violet glow suddenly flashed between Xiao Yun’s eyebrows.
Clang!
A violet light radiated outwards, hitting the sabre. This was accompanied by a metallic sound, which jarred the Innate realm cultivator’s hand as the sabre flew out of his grip. The force swept through his entire body, causing him to stumble backwards, and he nearly fell over.
“What’s going on?” The Fang family’s cultivators were completely dumbfounded.
The youth evidently had not acted at all; how could he have blocked this attack?
“Can his Martial Spirit attack by itself?”
“No way! Can’t Xiao Yun’s Martial Spirit only heal?” Seeing this, the Fang family’s cultivators felt utterly perplexed as they looked at the youth with incredulity and a trace of fear.