Chapter 42: Mysterious Silk Book (Please keep reading, please vote)

"Kill!"

Wang Yu's hand seals shifted, and a dense thicket of ice spikes pierced through the entire ice coffin, turning it into something resembling a sea urchin. No matter how strong Xu Jiaojiao was, she was still made of flesh and blood.

This perfected, high-grade spell possessed power that neared the absolute limit for a Qi Refinement cultivator. Had the Ice Coffin Curse not been a spell that wasn't purely offensive in nature, there would have been a high probability of an instant kill.

Having exhausted more than half of his internal spiritual power, Wang Yu hurriedly swallowed a top-grade Spirit Recovery Pill. Over the past six months, he had participated in alchemy trades and had accumulated several bottles of first-grade top-grade pills.

The recovery speed was incredibly fast; in just a few breaths, his depleted spiritual power was fully restored.

This was the dominance of the top-grade Spirit Recovery Pill: its medicinal potency was gentle and extremely easy to refine, and the excess energy would continue to take effect steadily for the next half hour.

At this moment, Xu Jiaojiao's body was riddled with holes, but her vital points—such as her head and heart—had been avoided; the ice spikes had not delivered a fatal blow.

"Wang Yu, I want you dead!"

*Rumble—!*

The ice coffin exploded!

Amidst his startled gaze, Xu Jiaojiao's massive body began to shrink. Streams of black smoke shaped like ghostly faces erupted from her wounds and facial orifices—it was actually malevolent spirits being swallowed into her body!

It shared similarities with the Ghost Servitude Method of Five Yin Peak, yet was fundamentally different. Her bloated physique shrank to the opposite extreme, her skin clinging to her bones until she looked as gaunt as an ancient corpse.

The black smoke with ghostly faces clung to Xu Jiaojiao's body once more, forming a suit of black armor capable of flight, which then lunged toward Wang Yu with its head lowered.

The variety of her methods and the strangeness of her transformations were both beyond Wang Yu's expectations; he had not imagined that a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator could possess such a diverse repertoire.

He immediately raised an Ice Shield Technique, attempting to block Xu Jiaojiao's charge.

However, with a shake of her shoulders, a Mountain Barbarian Ghost manifested, forming the character "Mountain" (山). With a violent collision, the ice shield instantly shattered, sending a spray of ice fragments flying.

It was another high-grade spell from the Barbarian Ghost Peak inheritance: Mountain-Shaking Crash!

Using a single arm to guide his Qi, Wang Yu retreated, creating distance. His movement technique was exquisite; he pressed close to Xu Jiaojiao's form, narrowly avoiding the strike by a hair's breadth.

Though he appeared to be struggling, he was actually handling the situation with ease. Even without employing the Nine Illusions Body, his Phantom Step was sufficient to handle any combat within the Qi Refinement stage.

As the opponent crashed into the ground, dust billowed and rocks and soil flew chaotically. Wang Yu quickly contemplated a way to break the deadlock.

He had used all the spells he knew; he could suppress her, but it was difficult to land a killing blow. In true combat, he had discovered his own deficiencies.

Fortunately, they were within the sect. If he truly could not win, fleeing to a populated area would be enough to resolve the crisis—a stroke of luck.

But he did not want to retreat. With his departure from the sect imminent, it was possible that Zhao Shang would deal with him personally. If he could defeat Xu Jiaojiao of the eighth layer of Qi Refinement now, it would prove he had the strength to fight Zhao Shang, which would be of profound significance.

As he was thinking, Wang Yu looked down in shock.

Two pitch-black iron chains erupted from the earth, firmly binding his legs.

"A high-grade magical tool?"

In a flash, Xu Jiaojiao lunged again, a triumphant smile appearing on her gaunt face: "Didn't expect that, did you? How could a mere spirit slave like you compare to my combat skills!"

*Rumble—!*

Xu Jiaojiao unleashed the Mountain-Shaking Crash once more, charging straight at him with an unstoppable posture.

Wang Yu activated the Ice Coffin Curse, but this time he used the ice coffin to protect himself rather than to bind his enemy.

In the next instant, the two collided.

The incredibly hard ice crystals of the Ice Coffin Curse proved effective, and Xu Jiaojiao's Mountain-Shaking Crash was far from being at the perfected stage; as her strength spent itself, she only left a large number of cracks on one side of the ice coffin.

—He blocked it!

Before Wang Yu could catch his breath, the ghostly armor on Xu Jiaojiao's body suddenly transformed into a massive, malevolent ghostly head, opening a bloody maw to bite down.

*Crack, crack, crack—*

The ice coffin held for three breaths before completely shattering. Wang Yu fell backward, but his legs were shackled in place by the chains. The giant mouth of the ghost head snapped shut against his chest, narrowly missing him!

A mere half-foot away, he would have been bitten in two.

The more dangerous the situation, the calmer Wang Yu became. The volume of Xu Jiaojiao's ghost armor was not infinite; after transforming into the giant ghostly head, the black smoke had vanished from her body.

Wang Yu took the opportunity to lunge forward, his body springing up like a coiled spring.

His right hand was coated in Yin and Corpse Qi, causing his fingernails to extend significantly as he delivered a claw strike toward her heart!

Possessing the incomplete Corpse Demon Bone, Wang Yu had zombie-like traits that granted him immense strength—a fact known to no one. Xu Jiaojiao, who relied on the Barbarian Ghost Peak cultivation to dominate through physical prowess, did not dodge.

Instead, she met Wang Yu's strike with a direct palm clash.

What followed was an expression of absolute horror. Upon impact, Xu Jiaojiao's right arm snapped 180 degrees, and Wang Yu gripped her wrist tightly, pulling her violently toward him.

He slammed his head upward!

Wang Yu's iron forehead collided with her brow, nearly knocking Xu Jiaojiao unconscious. In that moment, her right hand loosened, and a ruthless claw pierced through his chest.

A small heart, dripping with viscous black blood, appeared in Wang Yu's hand.

Forced to hang from his single arm, Xu Jiaojiao coughed up blood repeatedly.

The giant ghostly head in mid-air rapidly weakened, splitting back into black smoke with ghostly faces, wailing incessantly.

"You... you won."

As she spoke, Xu Jiaojiao's life force vanished, and the malevolent ghosts linked to her life dissipated entirely.

With a complex expression, Wang Yu collected the corpse into his storage bag. The high-grade magical tool chains wrapped around his feet were also spoils of war; he gathered everything up.

Killing Xu Jiaojiao meant his relationship with Deacon Xu had evolved into a blood feud of a father losing a daughter. Although the other party was currently detained in the Law Enforcement Hall, they would undoubtedly be released eventually.

After all, he was the victim. No matter how domineering the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect was, they wouldn't kill him; it would merely mean a longer period of detention. The sect's order and rules were essentially what the upper echelons required, so they would naturally uphold them.

They would not allow the prestige of the law to erode for the sake of minor gains.

For Wang Yu, this meant gaining a Foundation Establishment-level enemy, which was not good news. His departure from the sect had to be carried out.

With this in mind, Wang Yu checked Xu Jiaojiao's storage bag while walking toward the agreed-upon location.

That inner disciple from Heavenly Corpse Peak who had betrayed him would have to be dealt with properly.

Aside from the main items, much of the contents of Xu Jiaojiao's storage bag were ordinary goods. There were nearly two thousand spirit stones and a large quantity of various pills—she was a true woman of wealth.

There were also several jade slips and magical tools that described their usage and effects.

The high-grade magical tool, the Nether Spirit Iron Chains, had the effect of splitting and binding. It could extend up to a hundred meters and split into three parts, and it also had a slight suppression effect on spiritual power.

From Wang Yu's personal experience, the spiritual suppression was almost non-existent, but the binding effect was excellent.

Xu Jiaojiao's highly aggressive combat style was very well-matched with such a high-grade tool, and now it had become his trophy.

The other magical tools were weaker, mostly mid-grade.

The net and the whip were useless to Wang Yu; he could deal with them later by passing them to the Ice and Snow Pavilion.

Among the many gains, only one item truly caught Wang Yu's attention.

It was a mysterious silk book.

It featured black paper and blood-red writing, clearly an object of the Demonic Path. Unfortunately, it was written in ancient demonic script, which he could not read.

(End of Chapter)