ng Tingfeng bit back the scream threatening to escape his lips as soon as the shimring red blood touched him. It hadn’t been the first ti he had caused his opponent’s blood to gush out, but it was the first ti that his opponent’s blood caused so much damage.
As soon as the red blood touched his skin, it began to corrode it. Not even an immortal’s body could last long against it. ng Tingfeng imdiately ford a barrier of immortal qi by reflex, but it only stalled the corrosion for a split second. In fact, the more ng Tingfeng tried to defend, the faster the red blood corroded his qi, dwindling his reservoir.
And so ng Tingfeng retreated before he could finish his slash.
Once he reappeared, ng Tingfeng expelled the red blood off his body with a burst of qi. However, it was already too late. Blotches of his skin had been eaten away, and his robes, artifacts at the immortal monarch level, had dimd considerably. If that wasn’t enough, ng Tingfeng discovered that nearly two percent of his total qi reservoir had disappeared.
Two percent might not sound like a lot, but it ant that if the red dragon blood covered him for fifty seconds, less than a minute, he would beco powerless, like a fish on the chopping block.
He stared at the gash trailing down the black dragon’s arm. The blood had long stopped flowing, and it was even forming a scab at an accelerated rate. Among the many martial monarchs or demons ng Tingfeng had seen, the black dragon definitely reached the forefront in terms of healing ability.
What displeased ng Tingfeng was the depth of the wound. Sure, the gash was long considering ng Tingfeng’s and the black dragon’s size, but the depth didn’t even reach the bone. When he slashed, it felt like cutting through quicksand. The deeper he cut, the slower and duller his blade beca.
ng Tingfeng looked up from the wound on the arm and stared into the black dragon’s eyes, which resembled twin suns. From those pair of fiery eyes, he no longer saw the sa burning intent to fight. It cooled to a temperature similar to a brown dwarf star.
His instincts, which honed in his long years of cultivation and life-and-death battle, told him that the black dragon hadn’t fully gone all out. ng Tingfeng had no proof, but he subconsciously believed this gut feeling. More often than not, a cultivator’s feelings would not lead them astray, especially those who have traversed far on the immortal path.
The black dragon’s gaze flickered to Ba Shifang for a split mont and opened its gigantic maws. Instead of flas or so other powerful breath attack that ng Tingfeng expected, the dragon expelled black gas. However, he dared not underestimate the black gas because it shimred exactly like the red blood that caused him so much trouble.
The black gas rapidly expanded as soon as it left the dragon’s mouth and covered the surrounding area in a mist. ng Tingfeng didn’t stay idle and allow whatever the black dragon wanted to do. He unleashed several strikes of sword-shaped qi fused with sword intent.
But when his attacks entered the black mist, they did not cause any fluctuations. It was as if they had disappeared into nothingness. However, ng Tingfeng could still detect them because the sword-shaped qi carried his willpower.
Inside the black mist, his attack did not collide or hit anything. Instead, they were rapidly deteriorating under the effect of the black mist. The deterioration soon reached a point that the technique could no longer sustain itself and collapsed into immortal qi, which was rapidly eaten away by the black mist.
ng Tingfeng wanted to attack again, but Ba Shifang stepped forward. “Allow .”
Ba Shifang ford several hand seals and then pointed at the mist with his forefinger and middle finger. Wind condensed of five colors blew against the black mist. Ba Shifang didn’t intend to attack whatever was inside the black mist but blow it away.
The black mist refused to move. It was as if the black mist was so sludge that stubbornly anchored to the space. Ba Shifang outwardly frowned and increased the power of the five elent wind he conjured. It was until the space in the Vast Void started to distort that the black mist moved. At that point, the black mist just disappeared, as if its previous resistance was an illusion.
And when the black mist disappeared fully, there was no dragon in sight. Not even a scale or fragnt was left behind.
“He ran away,” ng Tingfeng said.
Ba Shifang nodded, also silent. In fact, he also expected this. It’s why he deliberately increased the ti to move the black mist. “Our enemy is more powerful than expected. According to the Demon Clan’s usual modus operandi, they should avoid returning to their territory until they are sure they shook off our trail. Do you want to request reinforcents?”
ng Tingfeng didn’t say anything. Finally, he sheathed the Seven Star Sword. “Just for more searchers. I have a feeling that the guy will appear in front of us soon. When that happens, I’ll be the one to behead him.”
“As long as you take all responsibility,” Ba Shifang said. He didn’t care either way. If ng Tingfeng wanted to shoulder all the responsibility, he’d be more than happy to oblige.
Both Ba Shifang and ng Tingfeng entered the unnad realm. Although it was an unranked realm, qi still existed. It was just more biased and took extra ti to convert. Well, for ng Tingfeng. Ba Shifang could convert almost all types of qi.
ng Tingfeng found a quiet location to recuperate. He already contacted the Numinous Sword Sect and had the investigators search for any traces. At once, he began to absorb the surrounding spiritual qi.
Ba Shifang looked over from his own spot. He was quite surprised when he saw ng Tingfeng absorbing five types of qi. Most immortal monarchs could only absorb five different types of qi when they beca a fifth-step immortal monarch, however immortal monarchs who cultivated a law outside of the five elents were different.
He knew ng Tingfeng comprehended the Law of the Stars, so it didn’t surprise him that he absorbed stellar qi. However, he never expected ng Tingfeng to beco a fourth-step monarch so quickly. Once Ba Shifang recalled ng Tingfeng’s strength from their previous bout, a hint of urgency appeared in his heart.
Aside from Tianyi and his clones, Ba Shifang never felt that other cultivators could have the sa power as him in the sa realm. Logically, he knew this was false, an illusion brought about by Tianyi’s monstrous power and talent. The world was full of the unknown. Nothing was absolute.
There might be monsters even greater than Tianyi. Ba Shifang hadn’t forgotten about Bao Ling.
He knew Tianyi. While others might disdain winning through attrition, he knew Tianyi had no problem winning with such a tactic if he was not in a rush or because of rules. However, he still gave up and conceded victory to Bao Ling. That already explained a lot.
Still, knowing was knowing. Only after experiencing it did Ba Shifang feel a sense of threat. So, while he also reported to the Immortal Court and requested for more true immortal investigators, he also asked Tianyi to supply him with more energy of the five elents.
Not long later, a beautiful white pillar pierced the dinsional boundary of the unranked realm and landed in front of Ba Shifang. The pillar dwarfed any conventional structure made by human hands. The exterior of its multi-level structure was filled with relief sculptures depicting the accomplishnts of the Immortal Court.
The appearance of the Descending Immortal Embassy surprised Ba Shifang. Strictly speaking, the Descending Immortal Embassy could be classified under a subcategory of an immortal boat. As an immortal artifact, its defensive ability was not top-notch. It could still defend against everything under the Immortal Realm, but its true purpose was to transport cultivators through the Vast Void.
Tianyi and many other disciples once used it to enter the Demon Cage Realm. At its core, there was an abundant supply of qi to make up for the fact that only those in the Origin Immortal Realm could replenish their qi in the Vast Void.
Once the immortals exited, Ba Shifang learned that the Immortal Court directly dispatched a hundred true immortals. As for materials he requested from Tianyi, they were also delivered. When he inspected the spatial ring, even Ba Shifang was shocked by the amount of materials containing the energy of the five elents. It didn’t contain ten tis the amount he needed to upgrade his martial body to the peak, but it was still around seven to eight tis the amount he requested.
His forr main body, Tianyi, was probably the only one in the entire Three Thousand Immortal Realms System who could hand out so many resources with a flip of his hand. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Tianyi an endless resource point. The only problem was collecting them, but it seems that Tianyi had been doing a fine job at that, with no prompting.
Ba Shifang shook his head. He wasn’t Tianyi’s minder, and he was sure Tianyi didn’t want a re forr clone to tell him what to do. So, he hunkered down and started to absorb the energy with the materials provided by Tianyi. In this way, years passed.
It wasn’t until the true immortal investigator finally discovered Jiaohu and Donghai Longzi’s traces did they report to Ba Shifang. Actually, they discovered faint traces of the demons long ago, but they couldn’t be sure. It was ssy, like soone had deliberately obscured the tracks and left false clues, so it took a long while.
After Ba Shifang and ng Tingfeng chased after the trail, they arrived at a lower-rank realm. However, the Demon Clans had long evacuated, leaving only the native demons of the lower-rank realm. Although they missed their target, neither Ba Shifang nor ng Tingfeng gave up. After all, there was a reason the Demon Clan could evade the investigation of the Numinous Sword Sect and Immortal Court for so long. So, the two found a secluded place and resud cultivating.
Every once in a while, the true immortals would report that they caught the trail of the Demon Clan. Sotis it would only take a few months at the shortest, but other tis it would take more than a decade to find their trail again. Most of the ti, they would only find an abandoned outpost or just evidence of the Demon Clan once staying in a certain realm.
A few tis, the duo would encounter Jiaohu or Donghai Longzi, where the forr would escape while the latter acted as a distraction and shield. ng Tingfeng took this ti to evaluate his growth.
Ba Shifang discovered that after repeated clashes, ng Tingfeng’s swordplay would beco faster, sharper, and more accurate. The wounds he caused in Donghai Longzi couldn’t cause any fatal injuries, but the number increased dramatically.
Of course, Ba Shifang knew that Donghai Longzi hadn’t used all his strength. Otherwise, ng Tingfeng might have already died. Still, neither Ba Shifang nor Donghai Longzi wanted to see ng Tingfeng grow so fast. It was both based on personal feelings and a strategic outlook. The stronger ng Tingfeng beca, the more troubleso he would beco when the Immortal Court and the Numinous Sword Sect vied for hegemony over the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
So, after many considerations, Donghai Longzi resigned himself as a punching bag. Sword immortals were known for their explosive growth under pressure in battle. As long as Donghai Longzi didn’t actively fight and reduced the pressure as much as possible, ng Tingfeng should not receive much benefits. Plus, ng Tingfeng hadn’t displayed any powerful attack that could threaten his life yet.
ng Tingfeng also discovered this. Even if he worked with Ba Shifang, they couldn’t take down Donghai Longzi by themselves. Left with no choice and seeing no more hope of tempering himself, ng Tingfeng finally asked for reinforcents. Ba Shifang followed suit.
Soon, the Immortal Court and the Numinous Sword Sect each dispatched two more immortal monarchs. And this ga of cat and mouse continued for a hundred and forty-seven more years until they discovered the Demon Clan’s true plot.
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