Chapter 391: Breaking Off a Tail for Survival
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
‘The elder in the room borrowed the hand of the junior girl, Lu Luoxing, to take down the whip.
However, this time, when it came into contact with the blood of a Lu family junior, the whip did not glow.
The old man received the whip in confusion. This thing still did not react in his hand.
After trying to infuse spiritual qi into it, the whip finally lit up with a faint light.
However, before he could rejoice, the light only lasted for two breaths before the whip shattered on the spot, turning into a handful of fine dust.
An Earth-rank artifact was gone just like that.
It was no wonder that the old man cried out in disbelief.
This scene was a little unbelievable.
Logically speaking, their ancestor, Lu Shoushan, had only died less than a thousand years ago.
Moreover, it was not in an era without dense spiritual qi. How could it be destroyed to this extent?
The few beast controlling artifacts outside were still considered to be intact, so how could an Earth-rank artifact shatter and be unable to be grabbed?
He grabbed another few things in the room.
Several of them were famous artifacts recorded in the family records.
However, the current situation was the same as the Earth-rank artifact, the Demon Control Whip. For some reason, it was all damaged. As long as spiritual qi was injected, it would immediately turn into ash.
It was as if he was watching mountains of gold and silver turn into bubbles in front of him. The old man in the room became more and more crazy. His right hand held his heart. If not for the Nascent Soul in his body protecting him, he would probably have gotten a stroke.
The Nine Nether clone outside the door also saw the scene inside clearly.
“It seems that something has eaten the spiritual essence of these artifacts? It’s very thorough.”
However, he had seen it before. This hut was sealed tightly, and not a single gap was connected to the outside world.
It did not look like it had been destroyed.
If someone had not come to destroy it in advance, the guy who had eaten the artifact might still be in the house!
Jiang Li became vigilant in his mind. In any case, he felt that he did not have the ability to destroy an Earth-rank artifact to that extent.
“Ancestor, there must be something left on our ancestor!”
‘The continuous setbacks made the old man appear a little agitated.
He finally looked at a skeleton sitting cross-legged on a mat in the deepest depths of the hut.
It was the corpse of their Lu family’s ancestor, Lu Shoushan.
He had still held a little reverence for his ancestors.
However, now… the Daoist robe worn by the ancestor seemed to be quite good.
“Luoxing, go out first.”
Stripping a person’s clothes was not suitable for children to see.
The old man waved the young woman away. The young woman had just seen her elder brother die, and her face was ghastly pale. How could she dare to disobey him? She immediately ran out of the stone house.
‘The old man stepped forward and lit three sticks. He used his spiritual qi to stimulate the fragrance to burn away at an extremely fast speed.
“Ancestor, please don’t blame me.”
It was as if his ancestors would not blame him after burning three incense sticks.
The elder grabbed the robe on the skeleton.
Due to the fact that the flesh had long rotted, the Daoist robe seemed to be slightly loose on the remaining bones.
As he pulled, the Daoist robe was completely torn off.
This commotion was too great. The bones that were originally sitting upright shattered and fell to the ground, actually shattering into pieces.
‘The corpse that was originally at least an Earth Immortal should be tougher than many Profound-rank artifacts. How could it be shattered like this?
Something was amiss, and coupled with the seal on the door, it meant that there was definitely some unknown danger in this room.
However, the elder of the Lu family could not care less about this. He only checked the robe in his hand nervously.
Fortunately, this precious garment still emitted a faint spiritual light. Although it was also heavily damaged, it should still be salvageable.
“Eh? What is this?”
He turned the robe over and over and discovered that there was a black stain on the inside of the robe.
Could it be that the corpse water when the ancestor’s corpse was rotting had dirtied this robe?
The old man did not mind and reached out to touch it. However, the stain wriggled that made one’s scalp go numb.
In the next moment, the stain suddenly turned into a black dot that spread out and enveloped the Lu family’s elder.
The distance was too close, and the old man was unable to dodge in time. In an instant, he was densely covered by those black dots.
On the black dot, a blood-colored light flickered like breathing.
Then, his originally weak body shriveled like a deflated balloon.
In just a moment, he turned into a shriveled corpse that fell to the ground. He was beyond dead.
This black thing had been locked in the small room for nearly a thousand years and was actually not dead.
‘There was no doubt that the artifacts in the small room and some of the savings of the Lu family’s ancestors had clearly been cleaned up by this thing.
It was also relying on the spiritual qi of those artifacts that the black dot had survived until now in this confined space.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
After absorbing everything from the old man, a dense black dot that was like smoke flew out of the stone house with vibrating wings.
As it flew, the blood color in the black dot quickly disappeared. The blood that it had just absorbed was completely not enough to satisfy the thirst of a thousand years.
Then, this black ball discovered the young girl from the Lu family not far away.
Tiny wings shook the air and immediately rushed towards the girl.
A Nascent Soul cultivator had all been sucked dry in a few breaths. This young lady was at most at the Foundation Establishment realm. If she was touched, she would die.
Nine Nether Death Ray!
At this moment, a green pillar of light shot over and struck the ball of smoke formed by the black dots.
This was the moonlight of death that shone into the Back Yin Mountain. It silently took away most lives.
The black dot was hit by the death light and suddenly curled up. However, some black dots could not withstand it and fell to the ground.
However, even more black dots slowly adapted to this death light. They turned around and absorbed the energy in the light, rushing towards the Nine Nether clone.
Abone-chilling malice enveloped him, and the Nine Nether clone decisively chose to escape.
A tree root emerged from the ground and wrapped around the girl’s ankle, pulling her into the ground.
After the ground was broken, it closed again. Fortunately, the black smoke that was vibrating with an ugly sound did not have the ability to escape the ground. After crashing into the ground, it could only stick to the ground and hum.
The prey hid underground. However, after a thousand years, the hunger of this black dot seemed to never satisfy them, urging them to hunt and eat.
The black dots transformed into various shapes in the air. After flying for a while, they finally smelled the scents of various other creatures in the air outside.
They flew out with a buzz.
It was not until a long time later that the Nine Nether clone dared to appear from the ground.
“What kind of thing is this?”
Earlier, on the black thing, the Nine Nether clone had felt a powerful sense of danger.
It was as if being tainted by that thing was a calamity to him.
He carefully approached the black dot that had fallen to the ground after being hit by his Nine Nether Death Ray.
Observing those tiny things carefully, even with the vision of the Nine Nether clone, it was very difficult to see them clearly.
These black dots seemed to be mini mosquitoes?
500 kilometers away, Jiang Li who had shared his vision and senses turned around to look in the direction of Five Banishment City.
Those mosquito-like black dots did not seem easy to deal with.
However, it was not his territory. If anything happened, it was not Jiang Li’s turn to worry for the time being.
At this moment, he had already arrived at Tu Mountain.
Green water covered the mountains, and insects and birds cried endlessly.
After tens of thousands of years, this Tu Mountain was still a beautiful place.
‘There was a barrier ahead that sealed off the mountain.
Jiang Li had no intention of charging in forcefully.
After landing, he stood at the edge of the barrier and reached out to knock. A circle of water-like ripples spread out from the barrier.
The foundation of the array formation barrier was not bad, but it seemed to be a little lacking in the supply of spirit stones and could not completely unleash the power of the array formation.
If Jiang Li used his full strength, he could forcefully break through it with some effort.
However, this time, he was here to pay his respects. There was no need to fight like this.
‘The fox fur in his hand had already been pulled taut by a suction force.
As soon as he released his hand, the strand of hair darted into the Tu Mountain barrier.
Then, the water-like ripples dispersed, revealing a passage that could allow a person to enter and leave.
Jiang Li thought for a moment before taking out Daji’s finger bone and holding it in his palm. Only then did he pass through the passageway and enter.
The fox demon was good at illusions, but as long as he held Daji’s finger bone, 99% of the illusions in the world would be thrown in front of it.
Behind the barrier, there was a group of fox demons guarding it.
They all held weapons and looked very nervous.
They were probably afraid that the Five Banishment City would attack them.
However, after sensing the subtle aura of Daji’s finger bone, all the fox demons lowered their weapons and respectfully lowered their heads towards Jiang Li.
“Honorable Lord, are you also a fox demon?”
“Your body is really perfect. Please follow me. Our Spiritual Maiden Wu Ya is already waiting inside.”
This group of fox demons probably treated him as a wandering member of the Nine-Tailed Race.
Previously, they should have obtained the news that he would come to Tu Mountain and did not make a mistake with him.
However, in Tu Mountain’s Wu Ya, was there a second Wu Ya?
Under the pursuit of such a number of demons, could the heavily injured fox demon really escape?
No, Yan Hong had clearly sent him a message four hours ago.
Four of the Five Banishment Daoists had already returned to the city.
They also brought back a bloody fox tail and hung it at the city gate.
That Tu Mountain’s Wu Ya should have died already. Why did another one appear here?
He was not worried that Tu Mountain would harm him. On the surface, they only had Wu Ya, that Great Demon.
Even if another one appeared, Jiang Li’s current strength was completely sufficient to deal with it.
Furthermore, with Daji’s finger bone in hand, the fox demon’s best illusion technique was nothing in front of him.
If they wanted to use array formations to deal with him, they could learn about the artifact, Ground Control Flag.
It would make one understand in a moment what it meant to have their territory occupied.
After walking for a while in the mountain, the environment ahead became more and more beautiful, but the fox demon who led him stopped.
“Lord, my status is low. It’s no longer convenient for me to enter.”
“Aunt Three-Tailed, please lead the way.”
Jiang Li noticed that there was an obvious boundary on the ground in front of him.
This Tu Mountain was divided into the inner and outer mountains.
On the border, there were only ordinary single-tailed fox demons.
Perhaps they had some thin nine-tailed bloodline, but most of them did not have any bloodline at all and could not grow a second tail in their lives.
On the inner mountain on the other side of the boundary, there were orthodox Fox Race members with at least two tails.
There was also a huge gap in status between the two.
They were not powerful and were not strong. This group of foxes had quite a strong sense of hierarchy.
“Lord, please let me lead you in next.”
A fox demon with three tails jumped in front of Jiang Li.
Behind them, many fox demons with two to three tails stopped and looked over.
They all felt the resonance from their bloodline. Jiang Li’s body carried a smell that made them feel very close.
The fox demon with three tails brought Jiang Li deeper.
They walked to a palace dug out of the mountain and stopped.
In the following place, even the three-tailed fox demon was not qualified to enter.
Jiang Li understood what she meant and pushed open the door.
There were also traces of repair on the wide hall wall.
This should have been a historical ruin.
There was no one else in the hall, only a ball of snow-white fur curled up on the throne above.
‘When it heard Jiang Li’s footsteps, the ball of fur unfolded. It was made of five soft fox tails.
The fox tail opened, revealing a petite and cute white fox.
Jiang Li felt a familiar spiritual qi fluctuation from the white fox. It was exactly the same as the Tu Mountain’s Wu Ya he had seen not long ago.
“T’ve brought the pearl you wanted.”
Jiang Li took out the pearl from his bosom.
‘When the white fox saw the pearl, its eyes became a little sorrowful.
It gently jumped down from the throne and slowly walked to the back of a screen beside him.
Behind the screen, the white fox burrowed into the green clothes that was hung there. Then, through the screen, Jiang Li only saw a graceful figure holding up her clothes.
“Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist. I can’t thank you enough.”
‘When she walked out of the screen, she had already transformed into Wu Ya’s elegant appearance.
However, the aura on her body looked very weak for some reason.
“Are you really Tu Mountain’s Wu Ya? But I heard that at that time, she had already been killed outside the city.”
Jiang Li voiced his doubts.
Tu Mountain’s Wu Ya strolled closer to him and directly answered Jiang Li’s question without hiding anything.
“Toriginally had six tails. That tail and 80% of my demonic power were thrown there.”
‘When she said this, Jiang Li understood.
Tu Mountain’s Tail Abandonment survival technique.
It was true that Wu Ya, who was in the Five Banishment City’s stronghold, was the real deal. However, she knew that if she went there, she would definitely die.
Therefore, she left behind five tails and 20% of her demonic strength in Tu Mountain.
After she died, as long as her Essence Soul could escape to the sky, she could revive in Tu Mountain using the five tails here.
However, every tail of the Nine-Tailed Race was important. The price of cutting off one tail was not small. Who knew how many hundred years it would take to cultivate it again?
“I see. Fellow Daoist paid such a price for this pearl?”
Jiang Li was still slightly puzzled by this.
Tu Mountain’s Wu Ya took the pearl and blew at it. The white surface of the pearl gradually became transparent, and the phantom of a fox demon with six tails appeared.
“To be honest, this pearl seals my mother’s Essence Soul.”
“Treally can’t bear to see my mother suffer at the hands of those five demons, but I’m not their match. I had no choice but to take the risk to exchange for her Essence Soul.”
“Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist. I can’t thank you enough.”