Chapter 111: The Spreader Of News
The saber edge passed by, and those four Blood Moving Realm Martial Artists never expected that Pang Tianfeng, a Spirit Nurturing Realm Martial Artist, would have such a fast saber.
Their throats only felt a trace of anomaly, and the next moment, salty and bloody blood surged into the trachea and mouth… then continuously spurted out.
One saber killed instantly, and the remaining two Spirit Nurturing Realm Martial Artists blocked horizontally with their sabers, barely dodging this saber.
Under the saber edge, the black cloth covering the face was sliced off, leaving a shallow saber wound on the cheek.
Only Reed Hat Saber Yang Fang steadily blocked the curved saber in front of him, resisting Su Yan’s attack.
“Good, good, good! Poison Thief Pang Tianfeng’s methods are indeed formidable, killing four Blood Moving Realm Martial Artists with one strike, as expected he has a treasure on him!”
Yang Fang was both shocked and delighted; shocked that Pang Tianfeng’s strength far exceeded his expectations.
Delighted by that green-scaled poisonous flood dragon phantom; such a beast spirit phantom was definitely not just a first-order beast spirit.
“Kill!”
He was anxious in his heart, and the curved saber in his hand swept toward Su Yan’s entire body like a gale.
The two beside him were afraid, but since their big brother had already charged, they couldn’t drag their heels.
The three surrounded and attacked Su Yan, with dense saber light assaulting the upper, middle, and lower routes.
They were originally good brothers, with years of coordination; they had captured wanted criminals like this hundreds of times, and now fighting together, they were extremely in sync and ruthless.
Su Yan’s Mountain Traversing Saber was bold and sweeping; when the saber fell, the aura was like a galaxy hanging over the river, naturally possessing a majestic artistic conception.
A set of Falling Peak Saber Technique learned from Pang Tianfeng, when executed in his hands, vaguely touched the threshold of the Transformation Realm.
The three fought ferociously, with beast spirit phantoms constantly clashing behind them, even if not yet transformed from virtual to real, becoming true intent.
But the aura of three apes fighting a poison dragon intertwined, forcibly pressing down a patch of shrubs and weeds flat.
Yang Fang’s face no longer showed the previous wild joy, gradually becoming solemn.
Clearly, he was at Spirit Nurturing Realm Perfection, with thick true essence circulation.
The Pang Tianfeng in front of him had true essence fluctuations at most at Great Accomplishment, but his great strength far surpassed theirs, and with increasingly exquisite saber techniques, he was actually suppressing them in return.
They grew more anxious the more they fought, while Su Yan’s saber grew steadier and steadier.
‘Falling Peak, falling peak, the majesty of mountain momentum, the sharpness of the falling saber, like a mountain collapse, rising like a peak blade…’
Su Yan’s gaze grew calmer, experiencing the Falling Peak Saber Technique in this battle.
He slightly closed his eyes, as if perilous peaks were beside him, each mountain peak a sharp dagger…
“Take my saber!”
Su Yan opened his eyes, a strand of sharp light sweeping over the mountain peak tops, dividing dusk and dawn.
The Mountain Traversing Saber in his hand was like a mountain range, pressing toward the three.
Mountain collapse and saber fall
This saber!
Yang Fang had nowhere to dodge, exerting all his strength, eyes splitting, holding his curved saber horizontally in front.
A crisp clang, and the curved saber broke instantly.
Along with Yang Fang, half his body was sliced off, and he fell straight to the ground.
The two beside him had no time to block and were directly decapitated.
Su Yan held his saber standing beside Yang Fang, only hearing a faint voice from his mouth.
“You, you’re not Pang Tianfeng!”
As the voice fell, he also breathed his last.
“Pang Tianfeng has been dead for so long, yet rumors of him carrying a great treasure still spread. And this Yang Fang doesn’t even know what it is.”
Yang Fang was just a knife, used by others; there must be someone behind him wanting to find Pang Tianfeng, perhaps even knowing what he had on him.
Thinking of this, Su Yan slightly frowned; it really was a time of troubles.
He released the Blood Fiend Mother Worm to destroy the corpses and traces, then changed direction before leaving the territory of Tiger God Temple City.
——
“Boss Yang, we must send someone to San Die Stream to notify Lord. Now rumors are spreading below the mountain, all saying Pang Tianfeng found heavenly treasures in a Dan Qiao True Person ruin; I’m afraid someone will have crooked ideas…”
On Grindstone Mountain, the Jiao Yang Sou brothers, along with Ding Meng, Cai Peng, and Wang Cang, gathered in the hall, brows tightly furrowed.
Cai Peng countered: “Do you really think Lord is Pang Tianfeng?”
They had all investigated Su Yan’s identity; the chance it was Feng Ruohan was higher than Pang Tianfeng.
His methods were unheard of, especially that terrifying insect control ability; even Beast King Sect people might not have such might.
In any case, Cai Peng was certain Su Yan was not Pang Tianfeng.
Yang Kun slightly raised his eyes: “If Lord says so, then it is. Two days have passed; even if the three furnaces of pills are hard to refine, Lord wouldn’t delay to this point. We must probe the truth.”
“Big brother, I’ll go.”
The speaker was Yang Lun; at this time, Yang Lun was full of spirit, true essence slightly leaking then gathering back into his body, continuously integrating Ghost Sheep True Intent at the dantian acupoint position.
Under Yang Kun’s guidance, and with the Blood Marrow Worm constantly exerting force, devouring waste blood, refining essence blood, enhancing Yang Lun’s body.
After some time, he had also entered half-step true intent.
“Good.”
As the group was talking, Su Yan strode in from outside the hall, still in that masked black robe appearance.
However, in his tone, all five heard that his mood seemed good.
“Lord.”
The several immediately cupped hands and bowed; after so many events, especially seeing Su Yan casually control insects to fight and kill the Rock Mud Fierce Tiger.
And letting the Jiao Yang Sou brothers step into half-step true intent first, even they three had made progress, successively reaching Spirit Nurturing Great Accomplishment.
Under such changes, loyalty gradually grew.
“What news from below the mountain? Where did the information about Pang Tianfeng come from?”
Su Yan got straight to the point; seeing him ask this, the several exchanged glances.
‘As expected, Lord is just borrowing Pang Tianfeng’s name to act.’
Cai Peng stepped forward and respectfully said: “Reporting to Lord, the news came suddenly; all say Pang Tianfeng once entered a certain Dan Qiao True Person ruin and obtained a treasure. To monopolize it, he defected from Nine Peaks Sect.”
“What treasure?”
Cai Peng shook his head: “Unknown. Some say cultivation manual, some say spirit tool or spirit armor, some say heavenly materials and earthly treasures; no consensus.”
Weapons have tiers; first and second-order are sharp weapon grade, cutting hair like mud, extraordinarily hard, mostly used by Body Tempering Realm and True Intent Realm Martial Artists.
Higher up are spirit tool grade, spirit-infused into form, stored in dan qiao for nurturing, with mystical abilities, even usable by beast spirit true intent.
Of course, for little Yun Cang Town, such things only exist in rumors; even Tian Feng Weapon Shop can’t forge them.
“Came suddenly; which faction is most proactive in this regard, and which is most low-key?”
Su Yan’s question stunned the five; after careful thought, Ding Meng uncertainly said: “Hundred Herbs Hall is weak and has no time for this; Golden Ape Martial Arts School has no actions, mostly probing their own disciple. Besides that, each faction has probed Pang Tianfeng to some extent.”
“Little Mountain Association also probed?”
“Yes, and Tianhe Gang, Eight Directions Trading Company all sent spies.”
‘All sent spies, and about the same as Tianhe Gang?’
Su Yan’s gaze flickered, thinking to himself: ‘Liang Ying’s group is so domineering, and at the height of their power, yet only sent that few people; could they have found some new information?’
Su Yan didn’t speak, and the several didn’t dare interject casually, quietly waiting.
After a moment, Su Yan on the seat looked up at the five.
“I’m very satisfied with your performance just now; it’s time to give you some rewards. Take them to cultivate, do not spread outside.”
Su Yan tossed the Red Leopard Mountain Suppressing Technique in his hand to them; Jiao Yang Sou and the others immediately caught it, and upon close look, the Crimson Spotted Leopard mountain-seeking visualization diagram immediately entered their eyes.
“This, this is a true intent visualization diagram?!”
“Thank you, Lord!”
The several immediately knelt, hands trembling slightly with excitement.
This was a visualization diagram, the proper path to visualize true intent and nurture beast spirits.
Though they were already Spirit Nurturing Realm with their own beast spirit phantoms.
But those were step-by-step from stance training, without visualization, all relying on self-comprehension of artistic conception, bit by bit tempered out.
Only they knew how hard such a path was.
Now with this, though it wouldn’t let them break through directly, it undoubtedly gave them hope.
“Casually taken from Du Erniang. Your beast spirit phantoms are naturally different from hers; whether re-cultivation, dual cultivation, or reference, decide yourselves.”
Dual cultivation meant cultivating multiple beast spirit true intents, naturally more methods in battle.
But tempering true intent and condensing it into form required more true essence, energy, and comprehension; not for those without great perseverance and talent.
Especially after True Intent Realm, advancing beast spirit true intent needed massive resources, large time accumulation and comprehension; not easy.
Usually only geniuses have such ambition; most, even dual cultivating multiple true intents, choose mutually compatible true intent beast spirits to boost power and efficiency.
Re-cultivation meant re-comprehending the cultivation manual, condensing true intent, taking Crimson Spotted Leopard as main true intent henceforth.
Reference meant using this Crimson Spotted Leopard’s meridian cultivation path to perfect one’s own cultivation manual path. Tempering one’s beast spirit true intent with the visualization diagram; this was also a path, but not easy.
The several had varied expressions, each considering.
The Jiao Yang Sou brothers thought for a moment, then solemnly said: “Reporting to Lord, we brothers are already at half-step true intent; whether re-cultivation or dual cultivation requires more time, so mainly reference, still mainly cultivating Ghost Sheep True Intent in the future.”
Ding Meng and the other two also each decided.
“Lord, we wish to switch to cultivating Crimson Spotted Leopard True Intent.”
The three meant the same; though switching required time to re-comprehend Crimson Spotted Leopard artistic conception, observing its spirit, learning its form.
But having experience comprehending beast spirit phantoms, unless extremely special beast spirit true intent, they wouldn’t get stuck easily.
“As you wish.”
Su Yan naturally understood their request, waved his hand, approving their decision.
“I casually wiped out San Die Stream; whether to take over the territory, decide yourselves. With your five thousand Blood Bees, within seven days I want to see three thousand Feral Beast Essence Blood.”
Su Yan just waved his hand, and five thousand Blood Bees appeared in a dense mass before the five.
And that one ghostly cold Blood Fiend Mother Worm also appeared in the hall, with chilling aura, frightening.
“Yes, Lord.”
The five immediately nodded, accepting the task.
After Blood Marrow Worm parasitization, they vaguely gained further ability to communicate with Blood Bees.
Simply leading Blood Bees to hunt Feral Beasts wasn’t difficult.
The Blood Bees had hatched and would naturally die if kept.
Hunting more Feral Beasts, devouring flesh and blood, refining essence blood; this was the way to recoup.
Jiao Yang Sou and the others, hearing the San Die Stream news, were starting to feel numb.
Du Erniang was also a True Intent Realm Martial Artist, yet now killed by Lord.
No wonder he could take her main cultivation manual from her.
After responding, the several slowly exited the hall, somewhat dazed even standing outside.
“Everyone, we need to come up with a plan; Lord is so formidable, if we can’t keep up, I’m afraid…”
The first to speak was Yang Kun; his words already somewhat explicit.
They were tools in Lord’s hands; only things with use value could be tools.
“San Die Stream is a fat piece; Du Erniang was surely killed by Lord, but how many mountain bandits remain is unclear; also need to worry other strongholds noticing something wrong and driving them off…”
Wang Cang showed contemplation: “Boss Yang, this time probably you or second brother Yang must go personally, and need to borrow Lord’s tiger skin to suppress others.”
“I’ll go.”
Yang Lun volunteered: “Lord ordered us to collect Feral Beast Essence Blood; that’s the top priority. Big brother must stay here to watch.”
Wang Cang said: “I’ll go with second brother Yang.”
——
“Beast Essence Pills are all eaten; now can only use Blood-Strengthening Pills to hold on, need to refine another batch to let White Bone Poison Centipede and Red Armored Mad Scorpion enter Metamorphosis Stage…”
“Five Aggregates Pills and True Essence Pills are also nearly depleted, though Blood Essence Condensing Pills are enough for a while, but also need to refine a batch, plus Blood Changing Pills and True Intent Pills.”
Besides pills for his own cultivation, Blood Changing Pills that elevated beast spirit forms were equally precious.
“Human Marrow as catalyst, to induce resonance, or to offset conflict between Feral Beast Bloodline and human bloodline?”
Su Yan showed contemplation; modifying a pill prescription was either replacing and balancing superior/inferior medicinal herbs, or analyzing medicinal property combinations to find better pairings, thus updating the prescription.
To modify Blood Changing Pill well, he needed to understand the role of this Human Marrow in the Blood Changing Pill.
He simulated several times in his mind, roughly forming an idea.
‘In a couple days, let them try Blood Changing Pills and observe; should confirm it.’
‘If it’s a resonance catalyst, then not necessarily Human Marrow; could be human-derived things, or implanted things, like people fused and parasitized with Blood Marrow Worm.’
The use of Blood Changing Pill wasn’t for him, but for Jiao Yang Sou and them; more precisely, people parasitized by Blood Marrow Worm.
They were refined into insect people, essentially linked to Blood Fiend Mother Worm; if further advanced, perhaps could even condense insect beast true intent.
Then reverse-engineering, this true intent comprehension might aid his own cultivation.
Clearing his thoughts, Su Yan took out the alchemy furnace, placing medicinal herbs one by one, especially for Beast Essence Pills.
Two second-order Feral Beast corpses were placed out; Black Snake Dagger shaved clean the flesh and blood, keeping special parts, only using flesh and blood for pill refining.
The alchemy furnace blazed hot; medicinal herbs were put in one by one, true essence tempering impurities, essences fusing into pills.
Refining like this, from Beast Essence Pills, Five Aggregates Pills to True Essence Pills, in a flash six days passed, barely completing.
“Beast Essence Pills 72, Five Aggregates Pills 34, True Essence Pills 143, Blood Essence Condensing Pills 18…”
Su Yan listed the pills, exhaling long, feeling utterly fatigued.
Medicinal herbs consumed clean; Blood Essence Condensing Pills and Beast Essence Pills especially material-intensive; if sold outside, these pills alone would be worth no less than tens of thousands of silver.
But these were merely Su Yan’s materials for a period of cultivation.
“The poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts; I’m a bit too rich.”
Su Yan smiled, muttering to himself.
He knew even True Essence Pills and Five Aggregates Pills for Spirit Nurturing Realm, ordinary wealthy Martial Artists took one every three days, five days, or ten days.
One reason expensive, two, body needs to withstand considerable medicinal potency.
But he had a strong body; Insect Bone Armor Body constantly reinforcing his foundation, plus several hardening techniques, especially strong medicinal potency tolerance.
Plus Insect Yuan’s properties for harmonizing, no worry of medicinal potency or pill poison accumulation.
Practicing martial arts, growing strong, popping pills, strengthening foundation; this was his path.
“Cai Peng should be mostly familiar with Red Leopard Mountain Suppressing Technique by now; time to try it.”
