Chapter 25: Huo Ya (Part 1)
In the northern outskirts of Yunhuang, there is a small town called Yunhuang Town. Here, a large number of cultivators from Yunhuang bring out cultivation supplies, and at the same time provide replenishment for cultivators entering Yunhuang to explore, including elixirs, artifacts, talismans, and spirit stones. This is a place where dragons and snakes mix together, and there are often cases of treasure snatching and murder. Although the town is simple, the flow of goods is very large, and the quality is also high. There are also high-ranking cultivators passing through, buying and selling things, so the guardian of the town is a Golden Elixir expert from the Lianjiang Sword Sect, ensuring safety within the town, but once outside the town, it's no longer within the protected area.
Outside the city of Yunhuang, in a dense forest leading to the depths of Yunhuang, three men in black were meditating. A small cloud sparrow flew down from the sky and landed on one of their shoulders. The man communicated with the cloud sparrow for a moment before standing up. The other two also stood up. A tall man asked, "Big brother, what's wrong?"
"They didn't take this road, they took a detour east and went straight into Yunhuang. Fourth Brother told us to hurry up and follow them."
"Then let's hurry up, unexpectedly they are quite cautious."
"Let's go, Old Fourth's Skylark has already given us their direction." With that, the leader stepped onto his black flying sword and flew off in a southeast direction.
Feng Tao and his group of five did not fly in the direction of Wangyun Wubu City, where there were too many people, and it was likely that they would encounter robbers or be followed. Feng Tao and Hu Xin brought enough supplies with them, so they didn't need to stop and replenish along the way. Although cultivators in the Qi Refining stage could go for a long time without eating or drinking, even up to a month, they still needed to eat something in their daily lives. After all, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth couldn't completely replace food and drink. Only when they reached the Foundation Building stage could they use spiritual energy to replace food and drink, and their usual diet consisted of some spiritual fruits and wines. Except for cultivators with special hobbies, most cultivators above the Foundation Building stage rarely ate ordinary food from the mortal world.
Feng Tao and the others were only at the 7th or 8th level of Qi refinement, so it was impossible for them to directly control their flying swords to fly deep into the Cloud Wilderness. Now they could fly over 2,000 miles in a day, but that would be too exhausting. The five of them didn't fly with all their might, and they only flew over 1,000 miles per day. After two days of flying, they entered the Cloud Wilderness.
The night in Yunhuang is much more dangerous than the daytime. The five of them entered Yunhuang and it was almost evening, so they didn't continue on their journey but instead set up a formation of flags, marked out an area, ate some food, sat down to rest and recover their spiritual energy.
One night passed peacefully, and by the second day's early morning, Feng Tao gathered the five of them to discuss how to enter. Generally, when entering Yun Huang to search for treasure, they would fly at low altitudes slowly, using their spiritual sense to scan the surroundings and look for spiritual medicine and minerals. But this time was different; Feng Tao wanted to hurry.
"Everyone, in the past we've always flown slowly and searched for treasures with our divine sense. But this time we're going to venture deep into the Cloud Wilderness, if we still fly slowly, I'm afraid it will be a long and eventful night. I propose that we directly dive in from high altitude, this way everyone's chances of encountering demonic beasts will be lower, even if we do encounter some, they'll likely just be flying creatures, with less chance of unexpected surprises. What does everyone think?"
"I have no opinion." Yuan Futong had never been to Yunhuang, and after hearing Feng Tao say it was not very dangerous, he agreed.
"I'm the same, this time anyway there's a big goal, once successful, these small gains are not to be missed." Han Tianhang also expressed his attitude.
Four people looked at Zhao Yan Zheng, and Zhao Yan Zheng hesitated for a moment: "Originally I wanted to tame a few more demon beasts, since everyone agrees to hurry up, I don't have any opinions."
Several people agreed to enter from high altitude, Feng Tao put down his heart. Packed up and set off again.
Everyone's speed has clearly increased this time, and Yuan Futong observed that his own speed was almost the slowest. Feng Tao's flying sword is a top-quality item, so its speed is naturally unmatched. He has been leading the way in front, if he hadn't waited for them, looking at his carefree appearance, it's estimated that his speed can still be improved a lot. Hu Xin's flying sword seems to be a high-quality product as well, but her path doesn't allow her to fly too fast, and she has always been behind Feng Tao. There is a black aura surrounding her waist, which can instantly protect the master if needed, this is the advantage of condensing the aura. Zhao Yan Zheng's crane-like mount seems to be a second-tier spirit beast as well, it is naturally very skilled at flying, carrying this short and chubby kid, its speed isn't slow at all. The ones who are lagging behind are Han Tian Xing and Yuan Fu Tong, both of their flying swords are mid-quality items, so their speeds are much slower. Although Yuan Fu Tong's cultivation is higher than Han Tian Xing, he flies less often, so his speed can't keep up. Looking at Zhao Yan Zheng riding the crane, Yuan Fu Tong secretly envies him.
Actually, the terms "yao beast" and "ling beast" are just different ways of referring to the same thing. Those that are violent and prone to harming humans are called yao beasts, while those that do not easily harm humans or have been domesticated are called ling beasts. In reality, they are all types of beasts that can utilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
In the cultivation world, ling beasts are divided into seven ranks. The first two ranks are equivalent to the Qi Refining stage and can be dealt with by cultivators at that level. For example, the giant python that Yuan Fugui had a deep grudge against was only a rank one ling beast, and its combat strength was far inferior to Zhao Yan's ride, the immortal crane.
Rank three and four ling beasts have combat strengths equivalent to those of cultivators in the Foundation Building stage. If five people were to encounter them now, they would definitely be defeated. However, these ling beasts usually live deep within the Cloud Wilderness and have their own territories. As long as one does not provoke them, there is generally no great danger.
Of course, if one's luck is bad and they were to encounter a ling beast with a bad temper or that was in a bad mood, then it would be their misfortune.
Rank five ling beasts correspond to the Golden Dan stage, and their combat strength is truly astonishing. If the previous ranks of yao beasts were insufficient against cultivators of the same rank due to differences in magical tools and techniques, then rank five yao beasts have their own yao dan, innate abilities, and spiritual instruments that they have cultivated themselves. They can already hold their own against human Golden Dan cultivators.
Rank six yao beasts correspond to the Nascent Soul stage, but they have an advantage in terms of combat strength. The bodies of these yao beasts are much stronger than those of human cultivators, and they all possess their own innate abilities and magical tools. Unless a human cultivator's cultivation is far superior to that of the yao beast, it would be very difficult for them to defeat it.
However, such yao beasts are extremely rare and rarely seen.
Rank seven yao beasts belong to the same realm as those who have attained the Great Ascension stage, and they are the stuff of legend. Even if they do exist, they are probably still in the midst of bitter cultivation, hoping to ascend to the Spiritual Realm.
The first three ranks of yao beasts can be domesticated and cultivated. Rank four yao beasts begin to develop their spiritual intelligence, and by rank five, they can transform into human form, at which point they are called "yao".
It is said that in the distant land of Shen Guo to the north of Da Song, there exists a Beast Tamer Sect that can subdue high-ranking yao beasts and make them into combat companions. However, such a powerful sect has never been heard of in Da Song.
Zhao Yan's rank two immortal crane was already considered very high-end, and its appearance was extremely majestic. No wonder Yuan Fugui envied it.
Entering high-altitude flight, it's indeed less troublesome. Along the way, they didn't see many flying demon beasts. Even if there were any, they were just a few first-tier flying eagles and vultures that Feng Tao easily killed with his sword energy. When encountering second-tier demon beasts, the others would take action. Yuan Fugong observed along the way and discovered that the golden system was indeed powerful in attack. His own fireballs could also have such an effect, but their speed and power were slightly inferior to sword energy. Of course, if the energy of the fire jade merged with the fireball, its power would increase greatly, but Yuan Fugong didn't want to expose himself and had always kept his abilities within reason. He felt that being low-key was beneficial. Hu Xin mainly used the mystic water to defend against enemies, and its power was also impressive, with quick reactions. Zhao Yanzheng's flying stone technique was also effective, and he could ride on a crane, using magic tools, unlike Yuan Fugong and the others who had to drive flying swords and could only use spells. However, he hadn't used any magic tools, and his performance was also very low-key. Han Tianxing's wood system basic spell was entanglement technique, which wasn't suitable for use in mid-air. However, his giant tree technique was also quite skilled, although slightly slower than the others, its power was considerable. The five of them worked together, and second-tier demon beasts basically died with just one encounter. Zhao Yanzheng collected many demon beast corpses and put them in a乾坤袋 (a type of bag), saying it was to prepare food for his spirit beast. The others didn't mind, as the items on first and second-tier demon beasts were mostly worthless. They let him collect them.
On the third day, the five of them continued on their journey as usual. The road was very quiet. At this moment, Feng Tao stopped his flying sword in front and transmitted a message with his divine sense: "Everyone be careful, there's something ahead." At this time, Yuan Fu Tong's divine sense had also sensed that there was a patch of scarlet fire in the distance. The five of them all used a defensive charm on themselves, and when they looked up again, they could already see a large flock of Fire Crows flying towards them from the distance. Fire Crows were first-tier demonic beasts that only knew how to use fireball techniques, with weak killing power, but flew quickly and liked to gather in flocks; once their numbers grew, they became difficult to deal with.
"It's too late to take a detour. It seems we've intruded into the Fire Crow's territory, they won't let us off, everyone get ready for battle!" Feng Tao shouted.
As they flew forward, Hu Xin hurried to keep up, and Xuan Shui flew up, vaguely protecting the two inside. Yuan Fu Tong and Han Tian Xing also rushed forward, falling down a cliff below. The speed of their flying swords was not fast, and it was better to fight on the cliff with their feet on solid ground, where they could use magical instruments. Zhao Yan flew sideways, forming an angle with Feng Tao and Hu Xin. He released a banner-like magical instrument, with black air hanging down, protecting him and the immortal crane in the middle. At the same time, he opened the spiritual beast bag at his waist and released a flying centipede.
In a short while, hundreds of fire crows flew to the vicinity of no man's land. The front dozen or so fire crows simultaneously released fireball techniques, all targeting Feng Tao and Hu Xin in front. Hu Xin's Xuan Shui immediately transformed into a layer of water curtain, blocking the dozen or so fireballs. At the same time, Feng Tao released two sword energies, striking and killing two fire crows. The Hu Xin behind also released an ice freeze technique, a cold air bursting open among the flock of fire crows, greatly reducing the speed of the affected fire crows. The two flew up high, dodging the flock's pounce.
At this time, Zhao Yan Zheng's flying centipede had flown to the bottom of the Huo Ya group and swallowed the corpse of the Huo Ya. Immediately afterwards, he sprayed a mouthful of poisonous gas onto the body of the Huo Ya at the back of the team, and several Huo Ya were poisoned to death. A part of the black air on Zhao Yan Zheng's banner also rolled towards the edge of the Huo Ya group, and the Huo Ya wrapped in the black air struggled for a while before becoming motionless, and he put them into his spiritual beast bag. The spiritual beast bag is a special container for storing live spiritual beasts, much more expensive than the Qian Kun bag, but basically all cultivators who can summon beasts are equipped with one.
Yuan Futong and Han Tianxing landed on the cliff, released a defensive artifact to protect themselves, and then began to attack the Fire Crows. Yuan Futong's main cultivation method was fire-based, which had little effect on the Fire Crows, so he simply used talismans to attack. Anyway, he had collected many low-grade talismans before, but they were not very useful, and there wouldn't be many opportunities to use them in the future, so he might as well use them today. As a result, the sky was filled with low-grade spells flying everywhere. Han Tianxing's Giant Wood Technique was also quite powerful, able to knock down several Fire Crows at once, disrupting their formation.
In a short while, the five of them killed dozens of fire crows. A particularly large and powerful fire crow let out a loud cry, and the flock split into three groups. One group chased after Feng Tao, one group chased after Zhao Yan Zheng. The largest group stayed behind to prepare for the Fireball Technique. In an instant, over 200 fireballs flew towards the mountain cliff where Yuan Fu Tong was standing. Yuan Fu Tong didn't dare to be slow and raised his Xuan Gui shield to protect himself. Han Tian Xing hid behind a large rock on the mountain cliff while urging his defensive artifact, the Lü Li Ta, to block the fireballs.
After a series of loud explosions, the mountain cliff was blown to smithereens by the fireball technique. Yuan Futong's Xuan Gui shield withstood the test and withstood the attack. However, he was blasted to his whole body, his blood and energy were violently shaken, and his magic consumption was huge. Han Tianxing's Luli Tower did not completely block the fireball technique, two fireballs hit Han Tianxing's body, no serious injury, but two big holes on his clothes, his whole body smoked, extremely embarrassed.
