Chapter 86: Blood Locust
The stall owner was named Jiang Ming, only thirty-five or six years old.
When Su Yan saw him, his body was still quite sturdy, with Muscle and Bone Realm strength.
But now, with this hunched figure and withered essence blood, he looked instead like an ordinary old man of fifty or sixty.
His realm had long since fallen, and this aura was just Skin Refining Minor Accomplishment strength.
He recognized Lu Ba’s identity and carefully welcomed the two inside.
“Jiang Ming, I’ve brought you the buyer for that news of yours. As for how you two negotiate, that’s your own business.”
“Thank you, Mister Lu.”
Jiang Ming’s tone was very low; his strength was already gone, and right now he only wanted to exchange for some money, then leave this place.
Lu Ba went out the door, leaving the space to the two of them; he was just a middleman and naturally couldn’t stay to listen to their news.
Eight Directions Trading Company still had some integrity in this regard.
“What is your honorable surname, sir?”
Jiang Ming still wanted to ask Su Yan’s name to build a relationship, but he heard Su Yan’s cold and calm voice.
“Give me the news, and all this gold is yours.”
Su Yan took out several shiny small gold ingots, roughly equivalent to a thousand taels of silver.
Lu Ba had said bargaining was possible, but rather than haggling here and wasting time, Su Yan preferred to throw money at it.
Seeing Su Yan’s cold demeanor and that strange mask, Jiang Ming was already somewhat afraid in his heart.
“Don’t be hasty, my lord. I’ll tell you. The Blood Locust is fifteen li southeast of Yellow Stone Peak. There’s a stone gorge there, two men wide. Enter a hundred or so steps, and you’ll reach a cave. The Blood Locust is in the cave, but I’ve never found its lair. I only stole some blood larva out to grind into medicine.”
Jiang Ming told Su Yan the news in full detail; with his current physical condition, he could never touch the Blood Locust again.
Rather than hiding things, it was better to tell everything he knew, so as not to offend the expert opposite him and preserve his life.
“Blood larva?”
A flash of surprise crossed Su Yan’s face as he asked, “How are there blood larva?”
Insect-type feral beasts were already rare, and Blood Locusts even more so; Su Yan naturally had no way to know about Blood Locust information.
Jiang Ming explained, “They are blood larva, but they feel like its means. It sends out blood larva to suck feral beast blood, which then become its rations. I was unlucky and got surrounded by blood larva, leading to my current state.”
The more Jiang Ming said, the more curious Su Yan became; without a doubt, this insect-type feral beast had special abilities.
Blood larva weren’t offspring, more like worker insects under its control, also a means.
“How strong are the blood larva? How many are there?”
“Not very strong, unranked, just ordinary beast class, but numerous. My strength had greatly fallen, and with nowhere to hide in the cave, I got surrounded.”
Jiang Ming answered every question; whatever Su Yan asked, he definitely didn’t dare conceal a bit.
Fully a quarter of an hour passed, and the questions were nearly done; Su Yan also discovered that Jiang Ming knew very little about the Blood Locust, aside from accidentally seeing the main body, he didn’t understand much about its habits.
What he spoke of was mostly how to avoid large swarms of blood insects, capture blood larva, and after they naturally died, grind their corpses into the main material for Blood-Strengthening Powder to make a living.
Giving the gold to Jiang Ming, Su Yan walked out the door.
Lu Ba had been waiting outside for a long time and came up: “Was the news satisfactory?”
“Not bad.”
Su Yan nodded, and Lu Ba quietly asked again, “Brother Feng, I wonder if there’s any progress on those Bone Forging Pills, Jade Skin Powder, Body Tempering Pills?”
Hundred Herbs Hall and Little Mountain Association had clashed, freeing up quite a bit of market in the short term; now Eight Directions Trading Company wanted to take over those markets and was naturally anxious.
But Su Yan had his own matters; how could he nod and agree.
He just brushed it off: “In a few more days.”
Having gotten the news from Lu Ba, Su Yan went into the black market.
After buying the news, Su Yan only had a few hundred taels of silver left on him, and he had no intention of holding back now.
Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique was just one step from Great Accomplishment; even using all the silver to buy materials for Poison Dragon Pills and Poison Dragon Powder wouldn’t be too much.
Entering the black market, he browsed the various stalls, buying up all the Primordial Snake Poison Stems, along with blood essence, snake venom, and other things, acquiring them separately.
A few hundred taels of silver were all spent in less than half an hour.
“Got a lot more Primordial Snake Poison Stems than last time; this should be enough for a month. If Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique can reach Transformation Realm and condense Green-scaled Poisonous Flood Dragon True Intent, the poisonous creatures it absorbs won’t be limited to Poison Dragon Powder.”
Just as he exited Tiger God Temple City gates, Su Yan’s expression slightly changed; the Jade Beetle under his robes had already issued a warning.
He remained calm, turned his steps, and headed down the mountain path straight into the forest.
Suddenly, a fierce wind came from behind, aiming straight for his back.
It happened in a flash; his figure moved, dodging the attack, and a Black Shadow Saber was already in his hand, carrying surging qi and blood with thunderous speed as he slashed out.
The sneak attacker had no idea Su Yan was prepared and hurriedly dodged, but was ultimately a step too slow.
The saber slashed across his chest, tearing the black clothes and leaving a bleeding white mark on that green-scaled skin.
The mask on his face was struck by the saber light, splitting into two, revealing a proud and sinister face inside.
“Pang Tianfeng?!”
Seeing that face, Su Yan immediately recognized him; wasn’t it the wanted Pang Tianfeng?
Pang Tianfeng’s current appearance was far more wretched than on the wanted poster; his face still bore unhealed old wounds, haggard features, eyes full of blood threads, staring deadly at Su Yan.
“You dog thing, daring to steal my stuff; I’ve finally caught you.”
Pang Tianfeng gnashed his teeth, his muscles and bones crackling all over; on his exposed areas, one could see green qi condensing into patterns like flood dragon scales.
From his neck down, he was all green-scaled in appearance; Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique was already at Great Accomplishment level.
True essence fluctuated behind him, faintly condensing a half-virtual half-real Green-scaled Poisonous Flood Dragon, its oily green eyes locked tightly on Su Yan.
“You thief, slandering people with empty words; you can’t be left alive.”
Su Yan’s tone was mocking, but in his heart he raised twelve levels of vigilance; this Pang Tianfeng was a Spirit Nurturing Realm martial artist.
Hearing his words, Pang Tianfeng nearly lost his reason.
What a shameless thief, not only stealing his things but also so brazen about it.
Recalling the hardships of fighting those martial world guests along the way, searching so long, suffering so many injuries, with not a bit of news.
If not for changing his search direction and using Primordial Snake Poison Stem, the main ingredient of Poison Dragon Powder, as a clue, he really wouldn’t have found Su Yan.
Furious in his heart, he gripped a Mountain Traversing Saber and charged straight at Su Yan.
His aura locked onto Su Yan, feet stepping Nine Peaks Steps, and one slash was Peak Falling Slash.
This saber light was sharp, with great momentum of splitting mountains and cracking stones, arriving before Su Yan in an instant.
What fast saber!
Su Yan was startled in his heart, retreating two steps and sidestepping to dodge the saber edge.
Seeing Pang Tianfeng sweep back with his saber, he blocked with his armguards, qi force exploding in Old Ape Lifts the Mountain, shaking off the saber.
Pang Tianfeng grew anxious; this guy in front of him was clearly only Blood Moving, yet his moves were so exquisite, actually resolving the technique like this.
He swung his saber even more fiercely, wanting to cut through the chaos quickly.
But Su Yan pulled back several steps, and a white shadow flew out from the side, straight at Pang Tianfeng’s face.
Not good!
Pang Tianfeng’s peripheral vision caught it: a ferocious White Bone Centipede, claws bared, extremely terrifying.
Before its body arrived, it had already shot out several White Bone Poison Centipede Nails.
Pang Tianfeng was startled and hurriedly used his Mountain Traversing Saber to block the attack.
Clanging rang out, the huge force making his heart linger in fear.
If it hit his body, even with Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique at Great Accomplishment, he feared it would still hurt badly.
Seeing his state, Su Yan sneered, and the Red Armored Mad Scorpion was also released.
Red armor clad, claws sweeping horizontally, it charged at Pang Tianfeng like a wild bull.
Pang Tianfeng swung his saber to chop, producing clanging sounds, nearly bouncing the Mountain Traversing Saber from his hand.
On the Red Armored Mad Scorpion’s claws, only a half-finger-deep white mark was left, not yet breaking its flesh.
The Red Armored Mad Scorpion entangled him, the White Bone Poison Centipede waiting for chances to attack.
The two coordinated, their attacks echoing each other; Pang Tianfeng had to block the Red Armored Mad Scorpion’s charges while guarding against the White Bone Poison Centipede’s sneak attacks.
The Red Armored Mad Scorpion’s claws were like hammers, sweeping heavily and clashing the Mountain Traversing Saber with huge rings.
Suddenly at this moment, its ferocious tail hook extended from behind, shooting out rolling red clouds as poisonous mist assaulted.
Even Pang Tianfeng couldn’t dodge; most of his body was enveloped, clothes completely corroded, and his scale-patterned body also showed an unnatural red.
Such strong defense!
Su Yan was startled in his heart, but opposite him, Pang Tianfeng’s mind was full of shock and doubt.
‘Damn thing, this guy couldn’t be from Beast King Sect, could he?’
He hated the other deeply but worried he was from Beast King Sect, and provoking him would bring bigger trouble.
He was a discarded disciple of Nine Peaks Sect, having fled down from Hidden Bamboo Peak, not even a true disciple, just an inner sect disciple.
But precisely because of that, he knew the troubles of these major sects.
True essence gathered in his Mountain Traversing Saber, under the moonlight like a silver moon glow, suddenly slashing out a powerful saber light straight at the Red Armored Mad Scorpion.
As long as he killed this strange scorpion, he could break the situation.
The saber light was extremely fast, arriving before the Red Armored Mad Scorpion in an instant.
This sharp saber light was much stronger than the previous Peak Falling Slash, enough to completely break the Red Armored Mad Scorpion’s defense.
In the flash between lightning, suddenly a layer of milky white jade armor appeared on the Red Armored Mad Scorpion’s body surface.
Buzz
The saber light fell on the jade armor, stirring up countless ripples; the hard carapace behind the jade armor supplemented the defense, firmly resisting the saber light.
“Impossible!”
Seeing the Red Armored Mad Scorpion covered by a white jade-like beetle, Pang Tianfeng completely lost his composure.
The two exotic insects entangled him, fighting together and forcing him to constantly parry.
‘Hm? Something’s off with this guy!’
However, Su Yan keenly noticed that Pang Tianfeng’s saber had slowed.
Clearly a Spirit Nurturing Realm martial artist with thick aura and long-enduring qi and blood, but now he was even using less true essence.
There were pauses between moves, especially when swinging the saber to chop; his right arm always slowed a bit due to pulling the injury.
Su Yan wasn’t without experience against Spirit Nurturing Realm; Li Jinshan, Bai Yun, and that Lu Ling who ambushed him.
He naturally knew the abilities a Spirit Nurturing Realm should have.
Now seeing Pang Tianfeng’s changes, he immediately sensed the opportunity.
‘He deserves to die by my hand; turns out his old wounds aren’t healed. No wonder a Spirit Nurturing Realm could hide intact for so long?’
Su Yan drew his bow and nocked an arrow, pouring inner qi and blood into the arrow: Green-scaled Poisonous Flood Dragon, White Ape, White Bone Poison Centipede, Red Armored Mad Scorpion.
The power originally used to stall and delay now fully erupted, all his qi and blood infused into one arrow.
The Red Armored Mad Scorpion and White Bone Poison Centipede received orders and suddenly attacked under the saber light.
In Pang Tianfeng’s shock, he instinctively parried with full force; between saber swings, even the Red Armored Mad Scorpion gained two terrifying wounds.
“Hit”
The Blood Qi Arrow shot out like a long rainbow piercing the sun.
Not good!
The thought just arose in Pang Tianfeng’s mind when the puffing sound was already ringing in his ears.
The Blood Qi Arrow pierced through his body, hitting dead center in the chest; he looked down to see blood gushing out, a huge blood hole.
Pang Tianfeng fell down, full of resentment and unwillingness, eyes glaring deadly.
“Puff”
Su Yan fired three more arrows, hitting Pang Tianfeng’s head and neck respectively; seeing him motionless, he finally exhaled.
He took out two Blood-Strengthening Pills to eat, and tossed the whole bottle of Blood-Strengthening Pills to the Red Armored Mad Scorpion and White Bone Poison Centipede.
The two insect tamers’ bodies, even clad in hard shells, now had saber marks crisscrossing, blood steadily seeping out.
‘Such strong techniques; with true essence boost, both attack and defense rise a level. If not for this guy being injured and unhealed, I’d probably have to run.’
Su Yan had the ability to preserve his life under a Spirit Nurturing Realm; that was beyond doubt.
With his means, Blood Moving Beginner plus insect tamers, it wasn’t impossible to tangle with Spirit Nurturing Realm.
But in the end, he still lacked techniques and realm; truly winning wouldn’t be easy.
“If I refine a fourth insect beast, the situation should be different.”
Insect beasts each had traits; even if a bit weaker in strength, coordinating together could produce unimaginable effects.
Two insect tamers equivalent to Blood Moving Realm, relying on defense and toxin, could restrain the Spirit Nurturing Realm Pang Tianfeng as proof.
Su Yan strode forward and searched Pang Tianfeng’s body, wanting to find something useful.
But after a search, he frowned; on a Spirit Nurturing Realm body, he only found two small gold ingots, just equivalent to two hundred taels of silver?
“Impossible. Wait, this is a martial skill?”
He looked down and saw three or four rolls of beast hide paper from Pang Tianfeng’s body; opening them, it was clearly Falling Peak Saber Technique.
Su Yan immediately sensed something wrong: “Pang Tianfeng is a discarded disciple of Nine Peaks Sect; he should have long learned this beginner saber technique. Why carry it on him?”
Saber techniques weren’t visualization diagrams that needed constant visualization until fully comprehended.
He opened the remaining three rolls of martial skills; they were all Falling Peak Saber Technique, with one roll’s handwriting newer than the last, some even more so, with smudged ink.
An absurd idea popped into Su Yan’s mind: could this old boy Pang Tianfeng be broke and planning to sell martial skills in the black market?
Fishing for people on one side, selling martial skills for money on the other.
This idea was extremely absurd; how important martial skills were to martial artists.
But Su Yan thought again and felt it wasn’t impossible.
‘This guy is injured and being hunted; I burned seventy or eighty percent of his stuff, so he really might be out of money for healing medicine.’
One thing linked to another; Pang Tianfeng falling to him really had a bit of fateful vibe.
Holding the Falling Peak Saber Technique, a bold idea emerged.
“Pang Tianfeng has Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique, and I have Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique. He has Falling Peak Saber Technique, and now I have Falling Peak Saber Technique too. Now that Pang Tianfeng is gone, isn’t who Pang Tianfeng is up to me?”
Su Yan grinned; this Pang Tianfeng was great, specially delivering a new vest with his life.
A new vest was good; Poison Thief Pang Tianfeng, kills without blinking.
“Me as Pang Tianfeng killing a true disciple of Golden Ape Martial Arts School for fun shouldn’t be a big problem, right?”
