Chapter 7: Enraged Slaying of the Enemy, Blood Locks the Soul
Xu Yang furrowed his brow, thinking that Song Ren wanted to ask him to report the crimes of Huoyun Daochang and have Qi Mengmen's master go question them, but unexpectedly, what he couldn't forget on his deathbed was his own young daughter.
Raising a daughter is too troublesome, Xu Yang's face showed hesitation, but seeing Song Ren's face turn red and cough violently: "Xu, Xu Yang... I beg of you, on the beam of my house... there is, there is your reward... please, please..."
Before he could say a word, he was interrupted by a cough, and Song Ren spat out a mouthful of dark red blood foam mixed with a small piece of internal organs.
"Needless to say, I'll keep my promise." Xu Yang furrowed his brow, stood up and walked out of the valley without looking back.
Behind him, Song Ren's eyes were dim and he could hold on until now, it was already extremely difficult. If not for the obsession in his heart, he would have died long ago. However, at the moment of his death, there was still a peaceful smile on his face.
Xu Yang hid a map in his bosom and walked out of the valley. He identified the direction and ran rapidly.
About an hour later, three figures flew back into the valley from different directions.
"I didn't find it," Lu Zhuo said in a rough voice.
"I couldn't find him either," Wei Haoshan's voice was like the sound of metal clashing, "Is that kid deceiving us? Does the fish that slipped through the net really not exist? Think about it, a member of the Lin Yuan Permit family, how could he end up in the Hardship Squad?"
"Hmm, it seems we weren't deceived......" Hong Xi, the strategist among the three, observed the situation on the ground and said in a low voice, "You see, Song Ren's pouch has changed position...and the map inside is gone."
The other two were shocked and rushed to Hong Xi's side. After taking a closer look, their faces all sank.
"It seems it's really as that kid said," Wei Haoshan grumbled, "What should we do now?"
Hong Xi's face sank as he said, "In order to avoid being blamed by the master of the sect, what else can we do? Follow the direction that the little rascal named 'Xu Yang' might have gone in and kill him!"
"How can we chase and kill him when we don't even know where he's running to? The Giant Python Mountains are so vast, searching for him is like looking for a needle in the ocean." Wei Haoshan retorted.
Hong Xi shook his head: "We can mobilize those outer disciples to search for him in all directions... That dead kid, isn't it said that Xu Yang only has the cultivation of a Xuan Tu beginner? Any disciple can capture and kill him."
Wei Haoshan and Lu Zhuo's eyes both lit up.
The time had already reached noon, Hong Xi, Wei Haoshan and Lu Zhuo gathered the fifteen disciples of the Fire Cloud Sect. Hong Xi said slowly: "There is a little thief from the Qi Men Dao Chang who stole a Flame Flower and was also very disrespectful to me! Now, I give you a task, disperse and go find that kid, he only has the cultivation of the early stage of Xuan Tu, any one of you can kill him! Whoever finds that kid, the Flame Flower will belong to him!"
The ascetic youths looked at each other, and after a while, one of them stood up and asked: "Master Hong, the Giant Python Mountain Range has strange beasts that are very dangerous. We're worried that if we can't find that thief, we'll become prey for the beasts instead."
Hong Xi smiled: "This is simple, I'll give each of you a warning rocket from the Huoyun Daochang. Once you encounter danger, throw out the rocket immediately, and I and the other two instructors will rush over right away."
Under the temptation of Lieyan Flower, all the disciples who were practicing bitterly accepted this task. It is worth knowing that a low-grade spiritual medicine like Lieyan Flower can be sold for at least ten blocks of Canglang coins in the market of Linwan City, which is equivalent to the monthly income of their master.
Fifteen ascetic disciples and three Xuan Shi masters spread out like a sparse big net, casting down towards the nearby mountains, rivers and dense forests.
The sun was about to set, and Xu Yang, who was walking in the dense forest, suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.
It seemed like an illusion just now, that thicket of shrubs, was there a slight tremble? Was it a wild beast or a person?
Xu Yang silently took note of it in his mind and continued walking forward without making a sound.
"We're here!" A young man's voice rang out, very cheerful. Xu Yang suddenly turned around and found two young men running towards him, one after the other.
"Hand over the Flame Blossom!" A young man in front of him had greedy glints in his eyes.
Xu Yang's eyebrows furrowed tightly, and in an instant, he understood the cause and effect of the situation. Those three Xuan Shi had actually mobilized all their ascetic disciples to come and find him!
"Shall we show off our warning rockets?" asked a disciple who had been practicing hard behind him.
"Fart, he's just a Xuantu beginner, we two, one intermediate and one advanced! Get the Flame Flower first!" The previous ascetic disciple rushed towards Xu Yang, "Little thief, don't run!"
Xu Yang's eyes flashed with a hint of ruthlessness as he coldly snorted, "Fine, since you're so relentless in pursuing the Huo Yun Dao... don't blame me for being heartless!"
Hidden Snake Formation!
Xu Yang didn't dodge or evade, and with a punch from the enemy's hand coming straight at his chest, just as it was about to make contact, his chest suddenly caved in exaggeratedly, allowing the fist to pass by! Immediately following, Xu Yang's right arm bone made a cracking sound, and he heavily struck the opponent's waist. The black-clad disciple immediately hugged his stomach and curled up into a shrimp shape. A fierce glint flashed in Xu Yang's eyes as he chopped down at the other's neck with a pair of palms.
Karara, neck bone fracture!
Xu Yang kicked away this dark disciple and rushed towards another one.
Another cultivator was in the middle of his cultivation, and when he saw his companion and Xu Yang clash, he immediately fell to the ground, unconscious and unknown whether he was dead or alive. He was greatly frightened and jumped up, fleeing in defeat!
Xu Yang's horse rushed out with a majestic momentum, its hooves shrouded in a misty aura, its body fluttering like the wind. In just a few breaths, he caught up to the mysterious cultivator.
"Damn it, I'll fight you to the death!" The dark cultivator shouted as he kicked out with one foot.
"Sixth-grade strength, your body is too weak!" Xuyang coldly evaluated, and with a punch, he hit the monk's foot. The monk was like being struck by a heavy hammer and stumbled to the ground.
"You... how can you be so strong!" The mysterious disciple took out an object from his bosom, infused it with mystic energy, and tossed it out with a flick of his wrist.
Xu Yang suddenly looked up and saw a huge fire cloud bursting in the sky.
"It was actually a warning rocket......" Xu Yang knew he was in trouble, he let out an angry hum, and with one kick, he kicked the dark disciple's brow, the latter's skull split open, and three streams of fresh blood flowed from his forehead, and he fell to the ground.
"Go quickly!" Xǔ Yáng killed two men in a row, knowing he couldn't stay for long. He swiftly started his horse and made several leaps before disappearing into the mountains.
Just a moment later, two figures rushed over, who were Hong Xi and Wei Haoshan.
Seeing the two corpses on the ground, Hong Xi and Wei Hao Shan's faces turned gloomy. They never expected that a beginner in the Xuanmen sect could quickly kill two people in the middle to late stages of the Xuanmen sect!
"What should we do?" Wei Haoshan looked at Hong Xi.
Hong Xi let out a furious hum, raised his hand from beside a corpse on the ground, and extracted a thread of fresh blood: "The fresh blood has not yet coagulated. I will use the 'Blood Soul Lock' technique to find that little thief!"
Blood Soul Lock is an auxiliary mystic technique that uses the victim's fresh blood as a guide to track down the killer's trail within a certain range.
Hong Xi's palms fluttered and changed seals, the fresh blood on the ground that had not yet dried slowly steamed and transformed into a bloody mist.
In the dim light, Wei Haoshan seemed to see the vengeful spirit of the deceased crying out, guiding this bloody fog in one direction, passing through the forest and turning into a faint blood line.
"It's done, let's chase!" Wei Haoshan was a hot-headed person, his spiritual energy flashed and he shot out like electricity. Hong Xi followed closely behind him.
"Hurry up, the distance guided by these blood mists is limited. We must catch up with him before the blood mist dries up!" Hong Xi said somewhat urgently, no longer as calm and composed as he was originally.
That seemingly spiritual blood mist gradually faded and disappeared after traversing a hundred feet.
"How detestable! That little brat ran away so quickly." Wei Haoshan said in anger.
"Don't worry, the Blood Mist has already shown us the way. This is the southern region of the Giant Python Mountains. If we head southeast for another ten days, we'll reach Lin Yuan City!" Hong Xi furrowed his brow and analyzed, "That kid should be in a hurry to return to Lin Yuan City. We'll dispatch our disciples to form search parties of four or five people on the necessary routes. As soon as they're discovered, they'll sound the alarm immediately!"
Xu Yang still didn't know he had narrowly escaped disaster. He was being cautious and kept a safe distance from the main road marked on the map.
If you stray too far from the ascetic route, you may end up in some unknown danger zone. Once you encounter a strange beast, you're doomed.
Night fell, and Xuyang found a secluded valley to practice "Moving Quietly Like Drawing Air".
He cultivated the "Xuantian Eight Scenic Sutra", and for Xuan Qi, he could be said to welcome all comers without exception. All kinds of Xuan Qi were like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, being absorbed by Xu Yang's body, extracting the Xuan energy and then transforming it into turbid Qi that was spewed out.
Xu Yang's strength was also rapidly advancing. His growth wasn't just about improving his cultivation, but also about making progress in physical strength.
With sufficient Xuan energy, Xu Yang strove to refine his body to the extreme, allowing every inch of muscle and every bone to be repeatedly tempered by Xuan energy, making him the strongest in his current realm.
If Xuan Qi is cultivated like water, then the physical body is the container that holds the water. The stronger the physical body, the deeper the cultivation will be.
This tempering process, accompanied by intense pain, Xu Yang practiced while beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead. His face was pale, but his eyes shone with a persistent light.
"Now that I've come to this world where the mysterious energy is abundant, I'll set foot on the pinnacle!" This was Xu Yang's dream for ten thousand years after, and now it finally has a chance of realization. No matter how difficult it may be, he will bravely advance with precision.
Time passed day by day under Xu Yang's hiding and cultivation. Before he knew it, seven days had already passed.
This morning, Xu Yang finished a night of Qigong and physical training. He let out a loud shout as he punched a large tree that was as wide as a person could wrap their arms around.
With a loud crack, a faint cracking sound came from inside the trunk, and the branches and leaves shook violently, as if a giant bear was shaking it.
"His cultivation was still in the early stages of Xuantu, but it had already approached the middle stage infinitely. The Xuan energy mist within the Star Sea was full and overflowing, and he could break through at any moment." Xu Yang looked inward to examine his own state, "His physical strength had also reached 17 jin, stronger than that of a Xuantu cultivator in the same realm in later generations!"
What's more important is that Xuyang has been diligently practicing the eight postures of "Dynamic and Static Unity, Guiding Qi", especially the "Galloping Horse Posture" which represents speed. Now his speed has increased by half compared to before, almost comparable to the running speed of an ordinary Xuan Shi.
"In the distance, Lin Yuan City is already in sight," Xun Yang thought to himself, "But those fools from Huo Yun Dao Chang are still like a thorn in my side, making me feel disgusted... Among them, that instructor named Hong Xi, who also knows the secret technique of Blood Soul Lock, is indeed not simple."
In these seven days, Xu Yang saw the Huoyun Daochang disciples who came to search twice. He was afraid of the three great Xuan Shi behind them, so Xu Yang did not take action.
These days of hiding cannot last long, Xu Yang made up his mind to make a desperate effort, knowing that there were strong Xuan Shi blocking the way ahead, he had to kill and break through a bloody path, and return to Lin Yuan City.