Everyone could clearly see that four flaming mystical dragons were circling Wu Yu's Demon Subduing Staff. He charged into the range of Ni Hongyi's sword dao technique, swinging wildly!
Gold clashed with red. It was still the wild strength of gold that reigned supreme, breaking through everything. Wu Yu's tremendous physical force sent Ni Hongyi's immortal treasure flying. With another heavy blow, Ni Hongyi was defeated!
A spray of blood descended. The Demon Subduing Staff was in Wu Yu's hand, one end propped at Ni Hongyi's throat. Evidently, if not for the fact that Wu Yu was uninterested in killing her, she would already be dead.
"You're so full of vigor."
Wu Yu looked down and saw that his own body was densely covered with many sword wounds. They had been caused by the Sanguine Blade Dance's sword qi.
However, the scattered attacks only had sword qi, not the physical sword itself. They could only pierce Wu Yu's skin, as the Inner Vajra Buddha guarded his inner body. The sword qi that pierced him was no different from common steel, albeit being harder.
This was the benefit of the Invincible Vajra Body.
At present, the advantages that the Invincible Vajra Body brought about were much more useful than the Great Way of Immortality Art.
A hush fell over this scene of dominance.
Wu Yu retrieved the Demon Subduing Staff and looked over at Lan Shuiyue. Lan Shuiyue was as thunderstruck as the moment when Wu Yu had kissed her. Her face was frozen in shock, her gaze uncomprehending, as though someone had given her a knock on the head.
"I'll say this again: I'm completely unafraid of any challenge you may offer. Because from this moment on, I, Wu Yu, will leave you far behind in my dust. You have no chance of beating me within this lifetime."
Wu Yu hefted the Demon Subduing Staff. Ni Hongyi was crawling to her feet with great difficulty. Her face showed pain, and she was not content.
"Ni Hongyi, a loss is a loss. Don't make things any more difficult for yourself," a disciple who was not in their group said. And now everyone understood that the strongest person here was not Ni Hongyi, but Wu Yu.
Previously, Wu Yu had intended to search for immortal roots alone, only the Black Bear Spirit had thrown everything into disarray. Now that the matter had been settled, he turned to bid his farewells. "My five senior brothers, many thanks for your aid. If you ever have troubles in the future, please do not hesitate to call on me. But I wish to walk the paths of the Valley of Immortal Fate from hereon. I will not impose on my brothers any further."
"Junior Brother Wu, are you certain you won't come with us?"
Wu Yu smiled and said, "This time, I have been helped by you. If I were with you, and we came across an immortal root, I would be embarrassed to contest for it."
They all smiled.
Although this was but one of the reasons, they understood that Wu Yu had made up his mind. They did not hold him back further, but simply cautioned Wu Yu against attacks from the Black Bear Spirit.
"Please do not worry. If I encounter him, I can escape even faster when I'm alone. Worst case scenario, I will use the Beacon of Flame."
After Wu Yu spoke, he shouldered the Demon Subduing Staff and left without even looking at Lan Shuiyue, whose color was not looking good. He soon vanished into the mist. He had made a cool impression.
"Hongyi."
Lan Shuiyue and the rest were green in the face. They pulled Ni Hongyi up. Because she had taken a staff hit to the chest from Wu Yu, Ni Hongyi was pale in the face. She had to use an immortal essence to treat her wounds, but could not recover even after an hour and a half.
"I must kill him to release the hatred from my heart!" Lan Shuiyue's eyes were wild.
"Wu Yu is so strong, and his improvements astonishing. How can we kill him...." Even the blue-clothed disciple spoke of him with respect now.
Ni Hongyi said, "His flaw is his arrogance. If he had followed those five, we would have been helpless. Now that he is separated from the group, he has to take us four on. What are we waiting for?"
"That's right. He's basically challenging the four of us. If we can't even kill him like that, then how can we ever remain at the Heavenly Sword Sect without shame?!" Lan Shuiyue gritted her teeth as she stared at the direction that Wu Yu had gone toward.
"Chase!"
All four rose as one, moving in Wu Yu's direction without another word.
"Should we stop them?"
The five disciples looked at each other. They had thought that Lan Shuiyue and her gang had let the matter drop. After all, they were all of the same sect.
"If Wu Yu dared to leave alone, then he must know that they would chase. He's strong enough that even the four of them combined will be hard pressed to finish him. I think we should focus on finding immortal roots. After all, they are the Sect Leader and Sect-Protector's disciples. Interfering in their business does us no good."
They conferred for a while, then decided to go in search of immortal roots.
The Valley of Immortal Fate was vast and endless. They had no clues as to the location of the immortal roots. They grouped together to look for the other two demons. They were at least easier to deal with than the Black Bear Spirit.
......
"Who would have thought that the Inner Vajra Buddha would be so powerful? I'm only at the third tier of the Qi Condensation Realm, but not even Ni Hongyi is my match.
"I just don't know who is more powerful, me as I currently am or Senior Sister Su with her immortal root."
Wu Yu was quite eager to surpass Su Yanli. That had always been his goal. And now that he had the inheritance from an immortal, he grew bold.
"I hope I can find the fox demon again. I can counter her. As long as I can dominate her, attaining the immortal root should be a piece of cake."
Wu Yu searched everywhere.
"Someone is following me."
After just a few steps, he could sense it.
Turning back, he could sense movement tracking his own within the fog.
"It must be Lan Shuiyue and the others. Ni Hongyi is injured, but they're still chasing. They really won't rest until they're dead. This time, I have to send them all out of the Valley of Immortal Fate."
At least he had the Inner Vajra Buddha, which made it difficult for them to deal with him. To them, it must've seemed like Wu Yu was invulnerable. He was not afraid of them ganging up. After all, he had even broken the Rainbow Lasso.
The fog moved.
Wu Yu sensed a sudden threat.
The one that came was alone.
And the person emerged. It was a tall, dark-skinned man. It was the Black Bear Spirit, who stared hungrily at Wu Yu.
"You're following me!"
The Black Bear Spirit was still the strongest existence within the Valley of Immortal Fate. After seeing that it was the demon, he had already made his escape route ready. He matched each forward step of the Black Bear Spirit with a backward step of his own.
The danger was soaring.
"Why is this Black Bear Spirit following me alone? Is my luck that bad?"
He reckoned that the Black Bear Spirit had not actually escaped very far, and then had locked onto him.
However, the Black Bear Spirit was in no hurry to attack.
He pondered, sizing Wu Yu up. He said, "Are you human or demon? Why do you have his bloodline within you?"
This was a strange thing to say. Wu Yu had the Immortal Ape Transformation, which indeed looked demonic, but he was not a demon. And who was the "he" that the Black Bear Spirit was speaking of?
Wu Yu faced him and said calmly, "If you don't say who 'he' is, how would I know?"
Wu Yu felt that something was strange, especially that the Black Bear Spirit would say something so curious to him. But he could not figure it out.
The Black Bear Spirit was not clever. He scratched his head, the very picture of puzzlement. But he could not care so much. He thought, "He should be on his way over. I just need to calm this guy, and not let him run all over."
The Black Bear Spirit could not ascertain the movements of the Ghost-Faced Ape. He only knew that his command was to scatter the martial cultivators and then get a hold of Wu Yu. The scattering had not been successful, but at least he had done something right by getting hold of Wu Yu.
The Black Bear Spirit did not reply, he simply stared at him with huge eyes.
"If you don't speak, I'm leaving."
Wu Yu felt that something was off. He turned to leave and prepared to charge into the mist.
Just at this moment, there was movement in the mist ahead, and a heavy wave of bloodthirst descended.
There was danger both in front and behind!
Whoosh!
Four people rushed out from the mist ahead. It was Lan Shuiyue and the others. They had chased Wu Yu, circling to end up ahead of him. They barred his way.
Enemies ahead, and a demon behind.
He could only run right or left now.
If not for the Black Bear Spirit being present, Wu Yu would have liked to clean Lan Shuiyue up. But now he had to give it up.
But at this moment, Lan Shuiyue and the others had not yet spotted the Black Bear Spirit.
Wu Yu had a brainwave!
"Wu Yu, your doomsday has arrived."
The four of them pulled out their immortal treasure longswords without a word and came killing.
They spread out into a formation, their bloodthirst heavy.
Wu Yu pulled out his Demon Subduing Staff. With a hearty cry, he turned into a bolt of golden light and flew forward.
"Lan Shuiyue, you have made trouble for me time and again. This time, I won't let it rest until you die!"
Wu Yu cried savagely. This was a life and death battle.
Ping, ping, ping!
The ground shook.
Lan Shuiyue and the others were completely focused on Wu Yu.
Just as Wu Yu neared, he suddenly veered, first heading for the green-robed disciple. And then he veered again, charging past the sword of the blue-robed disciple, coming up behind them. And then, with a cloud of dust, he rushed into the mist.
"Don't let him get away!"
Lan Shuiyue had guessed his plan. But it was too late.
Just as they turned to chase Wu Yu, a huge shadow loomed in front of them. It was the Black Bear Spirit!
"Ahhhh!"
Just the four of them alone encountering the Black Bear Spirit, they were given the fright of their lives!
What they did not know was that the Black Bear Spirit was chasing Wu Yu alone.
They only thought that they had bad luck to meet the Black Bear Spirit here!
Out of the four of them, Ni Hongyi was injured, and Lan Shuiyue was only at the fourth tier of the Qi Condensation Realm. Such a lineup could not withstand the Black Bear Spirit. If they fought, all four would be sent out of the Valley of Immortal Fate.
In that instant, Lan Shuiyue was so frustrated, she began to cry.
"Disperse and escape!"
That way, the Black Bear Spirit - being alone - could only chase one person.
Whoever was chased would be unlucky and could only use the Beacon of Flame to exit the Valley of Immortal Fate, having return next year.
If not for Wu Yu drawing their attention, the Black Bear Spirit would not have been able to get this close without them detecting his presence. But now they could do nothing else but scatter and escape. At least three would be saved.
They had a pact amongst them. No matter where they dispersed, they would immediately regroup back at the Lake of Jade.
As for killing Wu Yu, that was a matter that had to wait for their own escape.
Lan Shuiyue responded quickly enough, giving orders the moment they saw the Black Bear Spirit. All four knew the consequences of fighting the Black Bear Spirit. They all scattered immediately in different directions.
No one dared to linger. They ran for their lives!
They had not yet found a single immortal root. Who had the heart to leave?
"I-"
Ni Hongyi was taken with fright. The Black Bear Spirit had chosen her. She immediately held the Beacon of Flame in her hand, preparing to activate it and leave safely at any time.
"Run! Run!"
She constantly changed directions. Suddenly, she realized that the Black Bear Spirit behind her had vanished.
"Shaken off?" Ni Hongyi was gasping for breath. The wound on her chest was still very painful, and her color was still pale.
"I wonder if Shuiyue can escape this time round." She started to worry, and prepared to turn back to search.
Suddenly, a voice came from beside.
"Beauty, hold a moment."