Chapter Thirty-Two: Counter-Killing in the Forest

  Desolate mountain path, the setting sun is like blood.

  Chen Yuan did not ride on the imperial wind arrow, but walked on foot.

  The swallows fly and the grass grows long, the old trees are shaded by the evening crows, in the natural scenery, a few strands of withered grass.

  Chen Yuan walked slowly and leisurely, as if he were touring a mountain and playing with water.

  A deserted mountain road, an empty field blowing in the wind.

  Suddenly, Chen Yuan stopped in his tracks.

  Gazing at the distant mountains and sunset, I raise my head and sing loudly: "The universe is vast and clear, the heavenly path is high and bright. Those who are enlightened walk alone in the darkness without fear. The cowardly ones hide their heads and tails, they are powerless."

  But there was no response at all.

  He couldn't help but shake his head at the old mouse hiding behind him with its tail between its legs.

  But the other party actually didn't make a move, so I'll just continue to drag it out with him.

  "Do not listen to the evening wind blowing sand, why worry about chanting towards the setting sun. Green clothes and red feet are better than riding clouds, who is afraid? A life of dust and wind is worth living. The lonely tree's cawing sounds harsh, annoying, but the mountain top's slanting sunlight welcomes me instead. From now on, I'll go to the ends of the earth with a heroic spirit, also having joy and love."

  A song and a tune, following the scene and the heart, Chen Yuan fully reveals the carefree life, but it's necessary to look at those who hide their heads and tails behind, after all, how long they want to be despicable.

  At night, the desolate wilderness had no scenery to speak of, the starry sky was vast, the wind blew and the grass moved, faintly and sparsely, as if hiding some kind of terrifying monster.

  "Further ahead is the 'Night Owl Forest', it's not suitable for traveling at night, let's find a place to rest by the road for the night!" Chen Yuan muttered to himself, turning his head back to glance behind him, still without any movement.

  "Zhū Héng is indeed a patient old thief." Chen Yuan thought to himself, he had already made it clear that he had discovered his tail.

  But Zhu Heng did not retreat and did not force his hand, but still followed secretly. What was this old ghost planning?

  Inside the Giant Tree Fortress, he bumped into Zhu Heng, and Chen Yuan knew that things had taken a turn for the worse.

  Even if Zhu Heng didn't look for him, he would still find a way to resolve this trouble.

  "I'm not in a hurry either. As for me, Zhu Heng, there's no need to worry about anything now. But the fact that he's following behind without moving makes me wonder if there's still something lurking ahead? If I recall correctly, after passing through Night Owl Forest, it's 'Baihua Manor' right in front of us. Zhu Changrong's wife is from Baihua Manor..." Chen Yuan closed his eyes to think about the road ahead and roughly guessed what lay in wait next.

  "Hmph! Do you think you can gang up on me and take me down?!" Chen Yuan let out a cold snort, his mind already racing with calculations.

  Anyway, knowing that Zhu Heng didn't dare to make a move, Chen Yuan directly slept soundly. With the divine snake in his body warning him, he wasn't afraid of Zhu Heng's sudden sneak attack either.

  "This kid has a big nerve, actually daring to sleep." Zhu Heng, hiding behind a rock 200 meters away from Chen Yuan, looked at Chen Yuan's bold move and was itching to take action.

  But several times he wanted to make a move, and then withdrew his footsteps: "It won't work, this kid doesn't know what kind of strange encounter he's had, not only has he repaired the formation, but also has an extremely powerful spell. This morning when we fought, I almost fell into his trap. He discovered me early on, yet still remains so relaxed, clearly wanting to lure me out. I want to kill him, and naturally he wants to kill me too. Hmph! As long as we leave the Night Owl Forest, there's Old Man Baihua lying in ambush, when the time comes two peak cultivators will make their move, I don't believe this kid will have any way to survive."

  Zhu Heng pressed down on his abacus, staring intently at Chen Yuan, continuing to wait for an opportunity.

  It was just past midnight, and although he was a cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining, Zhu Heng was after all old and his lifespan had entered its final stages. His body had long since begun to show signs of decline, his spiritual energy insufficient, and now in the dead of night he was somewhat drowsy.

  But for the sake of avenging his son, he obviously wants to hold on.

  As expected, at midnight, Chen Yuan actually sneaked out.

  "This old ghost is only afraid of falling asleep, I'll hurry and slip away." Chen Yuan said in his mouth, then quickly took out the Wind Chaser, mounted the flying device and left.

  "Hmph! Think you can escape? It's not that easy. Last time I didn't have a flying device, but this time I came to Giant Tree Fortress and spent a lot of money on a flight device."

  As soon as Chen Yuanfei left, Zhu Heng opened the cloth bag and a flying disc floated in front of him. He jumped onto it, his speed no slower than Chen Yuan's pursuit.

  Night Owl Forest, territory of the second-class demon beast Night Owl.

  As soon as I entered the forest, I suddenly heard countless owls screeching, mournful and ferocious, chilling to the bone.

  Zhu Xiang closely pursued Chen Yuan, and the true energy mixed in the air represented that Chen Yuan was right ahead.

  The night is very dark, and the eerie atmosphere is even stronger.

  Zhu Heng had no choice but to fly carefully, after all, night owls were extremely aggressive.

  Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!

  Suddenly a flock of birds chirped in front, and more than ten night owls rushed towards him frantically.

  "Not good!" Zhu Heng didn't dare to be careless and immediately grabbed out ten talismans.

  "Fire Seal Array!" With a flick of his hand, ten fire talismans shot out and transformed into a ring of flames in mid-air, igniting the Night Owl.

  This trick is also considered an array method, but it's not a decent array method, and it can't even be called a first-class array method. Zhu Heng himself is not an array master, his position as the owner of the manor was obtained by usurpation, although he got the previous owner's manor and collection, but the array methods he got were never fully understood, and he couldn't learn them. Until now, he can only set up some small arrays.

  Although the Huo Fu Lian Zhen was not a top-notch spell, they were all second-grade talismans with considerable attack power. In an instant, Ye Xiao lost seven or eight Night Hawks. The remaining Night Hawks, Zhu Heng held a flying sword in his hand and fought them fiercely.

  Zhu Heng, although old in years, had a wealth of battle experience. Before long, the night owls that had been killed were left with only four or five, he didn't want to continue entangling, wanting to continue pursuing Chen Yuan, when a chill rose from his feet.

  He suddenly lowered his head, but saw a strand of cyan sword light rising into the air.

  "How treacherous!" Zhu Heng cursed inwardly, suddenly urging his magic tool to rise up and dodge the sword underfoot.

  But just then, an owl suddenly swooped down at him. He was startled and killed the owl with one sword stroke, but soon he found something wrong, the owl seemed to have been dead already.

  Just then, a silver light flashed from behind Night Owl's back.

  It happened so quickly that it was hard to defend against, the silver snake bit down on Zhu Heng's neck.

  "How...there are two..." Zhu Heng's life slipped away, his eyes wide with incredulity as he pointed at Chen Yuan.

  "Go ask your son!" Chen Yuan sneered slightly, and with a swift motion of his Silver Snake Plucking Star hand, he directly snapped Zhu Heng's neck.

  The corpse's head was severed and fell to the ground.

  Chen Yuan quickly settled the remaining few night owls and then landed on the ground to take down Zhu Heng's sack.

  The smell of blood from the battle would easily attract a large number of demonic beasts, so Chen Yuan immediately took out the Xiangxiang pouch from his cloth bag and put it on again, then summoned the Yufeng dart to fly away.

  "Good job, kid. This move of yours is quite impressive. You have patience and cleverness, without wasting any unnecessary energy." In mid-air, the divine snake praised Chen Yuan with added appreciation.

  However, Chen Yuan shook his head and said: "We cultivators should not take pride in killing people. In today's world, the demonic tide is causing chaos, and countless humans can only barely survive. Now that I have a great opportunity, I should use it to benefit others, give them a stable home, and allow humanity to thrive."

  "You're indeed knowledgeable about the grand scheme of things and have a sense of responsibility, but the world of cultivators is not much different from that of demonic beasts - it's all about the strong preying on the weak. If you're too kind-hearted, it won't be beneficial for your future development." The divine snake reminded him.

  Chen Yuan nodded and said: "I have my own standards in mind, and I will never be lenient with those treacherous and evil people."

  The divine snake didn't say anything more, and Chen Yuan also started checking Zhu Heng's cloth bag.

  Inside, there were tens of thousands of demon crystals, with first-class crystals being the majority and second- and third-class crystals being relatively rare. To Chen Yuan at present, they could only be considered small change. However, there were quite a few magic tool spirit symbols, but their value was not high either. Just as Chen Yuan felt that his gains were ordinary, a diagram paper fell into his eyes.

  This drawing depicts a stone tower with a lifelike fire snake coiled at its top.

  Chen Yuan instantly recognized this picture:

  "This is it! The Spirit Law Building Diagram! The Fire Snake Arrow Tower!"