Spirit Realm

“Do you want the Silver Flame Spider’s eyes?”

“No, give me the legs, I might be able to use them.”

“Okay, I want the spider silk they spit out. It’s very tensile and pretty good spirit material.”

“Give me the teeth.”

“Mn.”

Qin Lie and Gao Yu were crouched beside the Silver Flame Spider that had been dissolved and were going through the spirit materials to decide how to split them up.

The two quickly divided up the Rank Two Silver Flame Spider.

The cloth pouch on Qin Lie’s waist was bulging full of spirit materials. It was the same with Gao Yu. His pouch was also stuffed full.

Several Silver Flame Spider feet were still on the ground. No matter how, the two were unable to put them away.

“If we had a spatial ring, we wouldn’t have to waste any spirit materials, and it would be more convenient to carry everything.” Qin Lie looked at the jade-like spider feet and said with regret, “But we can’t do anything about it currently.The spirit materials are pretty good, but we can’t take them with us.”

“In all of Icestone City, only three people have spatial rings, we don’t even need to think about it.” Gao Yu struck where it hurt.

“If you two can even enter Dark Asura Hall someday and obtain a high-ranking position, then you can obtain a spatial ring.” Liang Zhong’s voice suddenly sounded out. When his voice landed, the Profound Nether Beast arrived. “Both of you, do not waste my time right now, come up here. We need to proceed inside.”

On the Profound Nether Beast, Liang Zhong was wearing dark brown armor. His chest, arms, legs, and even neck were all covered in that kind of hard brown armor. The armor did not seem like metal but some kind of special wood that even had dense wood grains on its surface.

The armor that covered more than half of his body added an intimidating presence to Liang Zhong.

“Uncle Zhong, your armor looks really good,” Qin Lie praised.

“Pleasing to look at?” Liang Zhong’s expression was strange. “This Hempwood Armor is a type of spirit artifact and made by Great Master Lu of Dark Asura Hall. This spirit armor isn’t just good to look at, its defense is also pretty good. Even if I stand here without moving, the two of you would not be able to break through it even if both of you attacked at full power, do you believe it?”

“I don’t believe it.” Gao Yu shook his head.

“Come up and try.” Liang Zhong beckoned with a hand and motioned for the two to sit on the Profound Nether Beast. “We are charging into the depths of the stone forest, quick!”

Qin Lie and Gao Yu exchanged a look. They did not dawdle and sat onto the Profound Nether Beast.

The Profound Nether Beast of the Nether Battlefield was a size larger than even the most ferocious horse. It was not a squeeze for three people to sit on it together.

Because the Profound Nether Beast was large enough, Gao Yu sat behind Liang Zhong and Qin Lie was behind Gao Yu. There was space between them so that their chests and backs were not pressed together which meant there was a great deal of free space.

“Hempwood Armor… let me try.” Gao Yu reached out and pressed on the dark brown armor plate on Liang Zhong’s back. Spirit energy suddenly flooded out like a sword and stabbed in!

“Bang!”

The spirit energy seemed to have stabbed onto a thick rubber ball. It did not manage to break through the armor but violently bounced back and shook Gao Yu, rocking him back and forth.

His dark face showed how astounded he became. “This Hempwood Armor is actually so strong that I cannot break through. Qin Lie, how about you try?”

“Okay!” Qin Lie was also interested. Seeing Gao Yu turn his body to the side, he also gathered his power.

A ball of light blue lightning slowly grew in the center of his palm. A hazy blue Thunder Lightning Ball slowly formed, and a violent and domineering lightning ripple slowly appeared.

“Change spots, change spots first!” Seeing this, Gao Yu’s face shook. He hurriedly got Liang Zhong to slow the Profound Nether Beast down and he moved from in front of Qin Lie to behind him.

He knew the power of the Thunder Lightning Ball was astounding.

“Boom!”

Just as Gao Yu moved away, that Thunder Lightning Ball exploded behind Liang Zhong’s back. Liang Zhong faltered due to the explosion and almost fell off the Profound Nether Beast.

Yet, while his back was burnt black, that Hempwood Armor still did not have any holes from the explosion.

But Gao Yu had been hit by the Thunder Lightning Ball even after he had moved behind Qin Lie and was propelled off the beast.

“Such a wondrous Hempwood Armor! This armor is really powerful. Is this armor impenetrable?” Qin Lie did not notice that Gao Yu had been blown away and shouted with a surprised expression.

“Wait for me!” Gao Yu suddenly shouted.

Liang Zhong slowed the Profound Nether Beast down. When Gao Yu climbed back up again, Liang Zhong turned and looked at Qin Lie, saying, “Kid, you are vicious. If this Hempwood Armor wasn’t strong enough, if I wasn’t… wasn’t prepared beforehand, I would definitely have suffered!”

Glaring at Qin Lie, he snorted, “It isn’t that the Hempwood Armor is powerful but that you kids are too weak. You are just in the Refinement Realm, and your spirit energy hasn’t even been refined, so the power is limited. If the two of you had broken into the Natal Opening Realm, the Hempwood Armor might not be able to protect my body entirely. If you break into the Manifestation Realm, naturally, I will not dare to allow you two to attack without preparing beforehand.”

“In Dark Asura Hall, the Hempwood Armor is only slightly precious and was just forged by Great Master Lu. The ‘Blackscale Armor’ that Miss wears is truly a high-level spirit armor and is much more powerful than my Hempwood Armor. You will see later.”

Liang Zhong gave a simple explanation. The Profound Nether Beast suddenly accelerated and flashed deeper into the stone forest like a wisp of smoke.

Along the way, Qin Lie and Gao Yu saw Na Nuo and the others from Water Moon Sect and Xiong Ba and the others from Crimson Flame Association that were also travelling deeper into the stone forest.

Qin Lie noticed that, then discovered that there were two less females with Na Nuo. Na Nuo and the other young women had grave expressions. No one was smiling as though they had experienced a tragic event.

“Their luck was not as good as you two. You two weren’t just unharmed, you also killed spirit beasts.” Liang Zhong sighed lightly. “Two from Water Moon Sect died, two from Crimson Flame Association have died, and there are also three from Shattered Ice Manor that have died. Only Nebula Pavilion has gotten away with only heavy injuries and no deaths…”

Qin Lie and Gao Yu’s expressions became grave as they heard him speak and said no more.

They quickly passed the stone peaks as the Profound Nether Beasts rushed forward. Soon enough, the squeals of horses came from up ahead.

Qin Lie and Gao Yu focused their attention to the front and found that there were ten variant unicorns up ahead. The unicorns were a hybrid between fierce horses and Dragonhorn Rhinoceros. They had the gentleness of horses, the healthy and resilience of the Dragonhorn Rhinoceros, and were the standard steed for Dark Asura Hall soldiers.

Astride the unicorns, Ban Hong and the other Dark Asura Hall martial practitioners were also wearing armor. That type of armor was made from the hard hide of spirit beasts and was called “Beastskin Armor.” It was the standard outfit for normal soldiers and relatively simple to make. Its defensive capabilities were limited, and it was low quality armor.

When Qin Lie and Gao Yu saw that it wasn’t just Liang Zhong that had put on the “Hempwood Armor,” and that even Ban Hong and the others had put on “Beastskin Armor,” they knew that the people of Dark Asura Hall were preparing for a bloody battle. They also could guess that the leader of these people, Xie Jingxuan, had probably changed into the “Blackscale Armor” that Liang Zhong had spoken of.

As expected, when the Profound Nether Beast passed the unicorns, amidst the shouts of “Mister Liang” from Ban Hong and the others, Qin Lie and Gao Yu saw Xie Jingxuan at the very front of the procession.

The white robes had disappeared. Xie Jingxuan had changed into closely-fitting black martial robes, and outside the robes, was thick black armor—Blackscale Armor.

It was a kind of armor made from scales. Each scale was palm-sized and tightly pressed to her black clothing. The black and shiny scales flashed with a cold metallic light.

The scale armor densely covered her arms, stomach, chest, and legs, mixing into one with her black clothing. It caused her to be attired completely in black, presenting a cold and authoritative presence like a black ghost.

There was also a black mask that had been forged into the appearance of a vicious ghost that was attached to the Blackscale Armor and covered her beautiful face, which caused her to appear as though she was standing in the darkness.

The demonic mask, the cold and black scale armor covering her body, the Profound Nether Beast she rode that came from the Nether Battlefield…

At this moment, Xie Jingxuan was the death god that reaped souls. She charged on her steed at the very front, deeper into the stone forests as though she would kill all she encountered.

In the past few days, the four sides had been working together to draw away the spirit beast herds that had surrounded the Soul Devouring Beast. In reality, a large portion of the spirit beasts started to move.

Yet not all spirit beasts left this area. There was still a small portion of spirit beasts that were guarding the place.

The advance of Xie Jingxuan and Dark Asura Hall disturbed many of the spirit beast horde that had stayed back. As the Profound Nether Beast howled, three Golden Haired Apes popped their heads up first, the golden hairs on their bodies standing up on end as they beat their chests and howled. The eyes of the beasts were sharp as swords as they suddenly charged at the group.

The largest Golden Haired Ape was about four meters tall, its body seemed to be carved from gold-colored metal. As it howled, golden light surrounded it, and its presence was astonishing.

A scythe almost two meters long suddenly appeared in Xie Jingxuan’s hand. That scythe was even longer than she was tall, and its body was shiny and cold.

Waving the her scythe with one hand, Xie Jingxuan charged at the Golden Haired Ape, the scythe drawing an elegant curve in the air.

The crescent was dazzling.

“Crack!”

The Golden Haired Ape’s stone-hard body was divided in half by the crescent light. Its organs spilled free and onto the ground, becoming two pieces of dead flesh.

That scythe was still shiny and did not have a drop of blood on it as though it never had touched the Golden Haired Ape at all.

“Hiss!”

Another beautiful crescent beam appeared in the air. The crescent flashed and then abruptly disappeared.

The two Golden Haired Apes that were charging suddenly split into pieces when the crescent disappeared, once again being dismembered.

Elegant crescents appeared in front of Xie Jingxuan as the scythe moved. One after another, bloody beast corpses fell to the ground in pieces.

The Profound Nether Beast under Xie Jingxuan continued to advance.

Qin Lie and Gao Yu looked at her waving the scythe while she used her wondrous technique to dismember the spirit beasts. Everywhere she passed, the ground was covered in pieces of flesh. Their backs felt cold and so were their hearts.

Any spirit beasts that were in front of her, regardless of whether it was rank one or two, regardless of whether it was one or several, if it raised its head, it would instantly land on the ground in pieces.

The scythe remained untouched by fresh blood, and the Blackscale Armor she wore was still as bright. She seemed to have not actually come into contact with the spirit beasts from beginning to end.

But the spirit beasts were continuously cut up into pieces and slaughtered. Not a single one was able to even slightly hinder her advance or cause her gaze to change at all.

Xie Jingxuan was unstoppable.

……