Chapter 50: Times Have Changed (Please keep reading, please vote)

The Ice Sword Technique was merely a feint. Under the rapid assault of the Phantom Step, Wang Yu had already reached the cultivator controlling the bowl-shaped dharma treasure, sweeping his sleeve to unleash a massive spray of green venom.

This was the venom he had extracted from the corpses of the Corrosive Poison Bee swarm; though not a vast quantity, it was sufficient for two or three battles.

The sudden deluge of venom immediately corroded the alms bowl.

The dharma treasure malfunctioned.

A left fist, carrying a miniature ice storm, struck fiercely. The cultivator reacted with extreme speed, opening his mouth to spit out a white, silkworm-like Gu insect.

In the blink of an eye, it exploded, forming a cocoon-like shield that enveloped Wang Yu's left fist. However, under the near-second-tier strength of the blow, there was no deceleration whatsoever.

*Boom!*

Having taken a full-force strike, the seventh-layer Qi Refinement cultivator's body burst like tofu. His internal organs were pulverized and his bones shattered, exploding into a blood mist laden with corpse fragments.

Wang Yu had struck to kill.

"You are a disciple of Barbarian Ghost Peak?!!"

Another person trembled with terror. The disciples of Barbarian Ghost Peak possessed powerful physiques; within a ten-foot radius, they were nearly invincible among cultivators of the same realm. But to kill a seventh-layer Qi Refinement cultivator with a single punch at the fifth layer was simply too exaggerated.

It was like facing a peak first-tier Body Refiner.

"Golden Snake Gu, Strangle!"

Fortune favors the brave in a narrow encounter. Even with his companion dead, the man did not give up; instead, he continued to drive his natal Gu insect, hoping to gain an advantage while Wang Yu's momentum was spent and his new strength had yet to rise.

To his surprise, the numerous shattered ice swords that had been deflected had already re-condensed into six heavy ice walls, closing in on him.

The originally extended phantom of the Golden Snake quickly retreated to defend, its tail whipping out to push the two ice walls back slightly. Just as he attempted to retreat during this opening, an iron chain lunged from the ground, wrapping around his legs with the flexibility of a serpent.

Under the power of the dharma treasure, he was flipped upside down and thrown directly into the encirclement of the ice walls. The situation took a sudden turn for the worse.

The Gu Poison disciple quickly produced a bronze bell to protect himself, only to see a branch of the iron chain wrap around the bell he had just summoned. This time, the ice walls closed completely.

As the Ice Coffin Curse took shape, Wang Yu changed his hand seals.

"Kill!"

A massive array of ice spikes grew and interlaced, turning the area into a bloody gourd in an instant. The man's life force dissipated rapidly. The Golden Snake Gu remaining at his brow let out an unwilling hiss before falling and being frozen into a block of ice, its life extinguished.

He had won, but Wang Yu's expression did not improve. Killing two ordinary late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators changed nothing; the truly difficult opponents had always been the collective group of Liu Jinxian's followers, rather than any single individual.

He collected the corpses and took the storage bags.

The surge of spiritual energy from this skirmish immediately drew Liu Jinxian's attention, as the chaotic aura of three cultivators fighting was clearly not the kind of fluctuation expected from an attack on the Bone Lion or the bee swarm.

Thus, she descended from the sky, riding a giant, winged mosquito beast.

The moment she saw Wang Yu, her brow furrowed deeply.

"You killed my Gu Poison Peak disciples?!!"

Wang Yu looked up. His body, modified by the [Corpse Demon Secret Method], featured pitch-black eyeballs and eerie green irises, making him look like a man of pure evil.

"Yes. They insisted on seizing the territory I had conquered. They sought their own deaths; what harm is there in killing them?"

"Good, very good. To dare to act with only a fifth-layer Qi Refinement cultivation in this situation—do you think you can defeat me?"

"Not at all."

The fact that she had not attacked immediately proved there was still room for negotiation. Wang Yu's eyes darted around as he spoke: "I have long admired Senior Sister Liu's talent and have intended to join your service. Unfortunately, my realm is too low; to join rashly might result in being overlooked. These two simply ran headlong into my blade."

After a round of flattering words to explain his reasoning, he shifted the focus toward Gu Zhengshun, preparing to launch his attack!

"Is Senior Sister not curious as to why Gu Zhengshun is cowering on the thirtieth floor without offering any resistance?"

Liu Jinxian's brow twitched.

"Oh? You mean to say he has other plans? And that he is not merely intimidated by my pressure?"

"Precisely."

Wang Yu nodded in affirmation, using rhetoric to guide Liu Jinxian into her own conclusions: "Does Senior Sister truly believe a great-grandson of a Core Formation Elder is that simple? There must be interests in this Profound Bone Mountain far greater than the Profound Essence Flowers to make him abandon it so easily. Otherwise, what would be the point of him exhausting himself to obtain this Mountain Lord Token? Is he a fool?!!"

This logic was more sound and fit the atmosphere of scheming among demonic cultivators; it was highly plausible.

However...

Liu Jinxian suddenly laughed.

"So what? By killing my Gu Poison Peak disciples, you have shown contempt for my authority. You seek death!"

With a cold snort, Liu Jinxian drove her mosquito beast to attack.

Wang Yu retreated quickly, feeling cold in his heart; this Liu Jinxian was even more domineering than he had anticipated.

It made sense. While away from the sect, if he had nearly three hundred cultivators at his command, he could naturally do as he pleased. With Gu Zhengshun's strength being what it was, Liu Jinxian would not pay much of a price even if she launched a full-scale assault. Naturally, she cared even more about her own reputation.

In that case, he would have to fight a battle; she had to taste both the soft and the hard before he would have the capital to stand against her.

Identifying the problem, Wang Yu spoke rapidly.

"If Senior Sister wishes to fight, I shall accompany you. If I lose, I will give you these two floors. But for the next five years, Senior Sister must remain vigilant against the dangers of the mountain beasts."

"You dare threaten me?"

Before she could react, Wang Yu performed a hand seal.

*Swish, swish—*

He opened with the Ice Sword Technique again. The perfected mid-grade technique immediately alerted Liu Jinxian to the problem. Coming from a different background, her insight was naturally superior, and she remarked in surprise

"A perfected mid-grade technique? Your comprehension is decent, but pity your cultivation is lacking."

With that, she opened her mouth and exhaled a puff of pale pink mist.

As the cloying, sweet scent drifted toward him, Wang Yu immediately held his breath, yet wisps of poisonous smoke still clung to him, causing massive hallucinations to appear before his eyes.

The mosquito beast also charged forward, its long proboscis spraying a barrage of blood needles that collided with and annihilated his ice swords in mid-air.

This was a Gu Beast—using Gu insects to control the body of a demon beast, either by nesting within it or using the Gu's effects to create a symbiotic mutation, resulting in specialized Gu Beasts. Their status was similar to cultivators who practiced the Way of Beast Taming.

Most importantly, this mosquito beast was also at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement. Since the Ice Sword Technique had failed to deal damage, Wang Yu relied on his divine sense to suddenly throw a punch, meeting the Gu Beast in a head-on collision.

The moment they collided, the giant insect was sent flying like a kite with a broken string.

The second-tier divine strength of a corpse arm was truly terrifying!

The chitinous shell on its body nearly shattered completely, and just as it seemed it would die, Liu Jinxian shouted

"Stop!"

Wang Yu actually stopped his pursuit, watching as Liu Jinxian exhaled a cloud of blood-colored mist. Upon contact, the wounds on the Gu Beast's body healed rapidly.

A moment later, it shed a layer of mucus-covered dead skin and returned to its original state.

Only then did Liu Jinxian breathe a sigh of relief, casting a wary glance at Wang Yu's clearly abnormal left hand.