C269 Capture Alive

The Evil Body Refining Skill was renowned for fortifying the physique, making it commonplace to achieve a body as tough as steel upon reaching the Profound Break Stage.

The distinctive Fallen Moon Forbidden Area, with its uniquely harsh environment, inherently aided in the tempering of the Evil Body Refining Skill.

Moreover, his compatibility with the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation meant that the relentless pounding from the Soul Transformation Pool and its walls had already endowed him with an almost steel-like body by the time he reached the Spirit Accumulating Stage.

Upon advancing to the Yellow Court Stage, the mysterious microcosm within his lower dantian unfolded, allowing him to draw in spiritual energy and significantly enhance his combat prowess.

His confidence surged when he discovered that the residual poison from Wei Feng's dagger could be ground away using the Evil Body Refining Skill.

A Tusk Troops soldier, grimacing through the pain of his severed arm, unfurled his Penetrating Stage Spiritual Sense.

His Spiritual Sense, fine as a gossamer net, actually brushed against Yu Zhu, lurking in the shadows.

Fear seized him in that moment.

As soon as his Spiritual Sense made contact with Yu Zhu, he sensed a boundless vitality, like an expansive ocean.

The aura within Yu Zhu's Qi and blood was so overwhelming that it caused his Spiritual Sense extreme discomfort.

Without a second thought, he knew that the hidden figure who had manipulated a bone to sever his arm was far beyond their squad's ability to contend with.

He immediately shouted, "Wei Feng!"

Wei Feng, whose confidence Yu Yuan had been verbally undermining, turned towards him at the sound of his voice.

"Prepare to retreat!" he commanded with a grave look.

Wei Feng, having battled alongside him for years, recognized the urgency in his eyes and tone; something was amiss.

This was not the demeanor of a man without a sliver of hope for victory.

She nodded subtly, signaling her understanding and intent to seek an escape.

"Everyone, get ready to pull back."

He cast a brief glance at the other three, disregarding Bai Shenshen and Ning Ji, who had stealthily approached on Yu Yuan's orders, and prepared to make his exit.

Following his command, another Tusk Troops soldier, quicker on his feet, darted out first.

Clad in the black Tusk Armor, this soldier, with his Profound Break Stage cultivation, seemed to merge with his Spiritual Spell as his armor erupted with a brilliant black radiance.

A peculiar sense of agility emanated from the figure before me. His heavy armor, now enlivened by a special secret art, activated the hidden Penetrating Matrix Diagram, propelling him forward with increased speed.

"Puchi!"

A ghastly white bone spike, swift as lightning tearing through the heavens, pierced his heart and lungs in an instant. The spike passed clean through and vanished into the earth without a trace.

The Tusk Troop soldier, desperate to escape, met his end at the hands of Yu Zhu without so much as a cry of pain.

This abrupt turn of events left the retreating Tusk Troop soldier, who had been as firm as a frostbitten persimmon, utterly deflated.

Wai Feng stood there, dumbstruck.

It was then that Yu Yuan's smile shone brilliantly as he launched a full-powered assault.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The swirling, chaotic Spiritual Qi, drawn by the Evil Body Refining Skill, surged toward Wai Feng.

Left with no choice, Wai Feng brandished her dagger, the black gleam of the blade dancing before her with each swift movement of her hand.

The 'evil qi'—not of Yu Yuan's making but aggregated by the Evil Body Refining Skill—burst apart one after another. Yet the eerie 'evil' that emerged, laden with a spectrum of dark emotions, crept silently towards Wai Feng.

Merely at the Spirit Accumulating Stage, Wai Feng lacked Yu Yuan's prowess and had not mastered the Soul Forging Technique to refine her Heavenly Soul, leaving her without the keen awareness and insight to detect the encroaching danger.

Unaware as the 'evil qi' enveloped her, it was only when it erupted at Yu Yuan's command that Wai Feng sensed the peril.

Caught off guard, she was assailed by visions of malevolent spirits and ghastly apparitions, of severed limbs and lifeless bodies draped over her, of blood raining down like a cascade upon her head and drenching her entire being.

Overwhelmed by terror, she lost her clarity of mind and let out a piercing scream.

In a frenzy, she slashed wildly with her black dagger at the nonexistent specters and wiped frantically at her forehead and cheeks, desperate to cleanse herself of the imagined filth.

"I'm well-versed in the Voodoo Cult's techniques. You think you can affect me with a few spells you've picked up? How utterly naive."

Gazing at Wai Feng, whose mind had been eroded by a malevolent force, Yu Yuan clenched his fist in determination.

With the "Glorious Heavenly Wheel" in motion, a vast surge of spiritual Qi from the Yellow Court Little World cascaded out, tracing a unique path through special meridians and converging into his fist.

His raised fist shone brilliantly, reminiscent of the dawn's first light.

Boom!

His fist, cutting through the dark blade light, struck Wai Feng's back with a thunderous impact.

Wai Feng let out a pained groan, her backbones snapping like brittle twigs.

Yu Yuan flashed a wry smile and shook his head, remarking, "For both at the Spirit Accumulating Stage, the refinement of their flesh and bones is disappointingly inadequate, crumbling at the slightest challenge."

The Voodoo Cult's disciples neglected the fortification of their physical bodies, preferring rapid advancement through the stages.

This approach was mirrored by many cultivation sects across the Heavenly Source Continent, all eager to ascend to the Yin God, forge the Yang God, and ultimately pursue the Primordial Spirit's grand path.

Yet, the elite, including the Profound Sky Sect, Primordial Yang Sect, Sword Sect, and even practitioners from the seven lower sects, focused on methodical progress within each realm.

A prevailing wisdom suggested that only by mastering each realm and establishing an unshakable foundation could one traverse to the far shore and grasp the ultimate Great Dao of the Primordial Spirit.

Clearly, the Voodoo Cult did not subscribe to this philosophy.

The frailty of Wai Feng's physique left Yu Yuan taken aback after his strike.

He could feel that the spiritual Qi within Wai Feng's Yellow Court acupoint was impressively robust, perhaps even more so than his own. Yet, her physical conditioning at the Spirit Accumulating Stage was evidently lacking.

This shortfall meant that when Wai Feng's mental clarity was compromised and she was struck by his fist without a protective layer of spiritual Qi, her bones shattered instantly.

"You..."

Reeling from the strike, Wai Feng abruptly snapped out of the baleful illusion, her clarity returning. As her gaze fixed on Yu Yuan once more, it was icy, though her complexion betrayed a hint of pallor.

"The Tusk Troops will not forgive this."

With a tone of exceptional detachment, Wei Feng uttered those words and abruptly brandished the black dagger in her hand.

Yu Yuan's face changed instantly as he cried out, "Stop!"

Trapped and gravely wounded by Yu Yuan, Wei Feng showed no hesitation; she was ready to slit her own throat and end her life.

She was acutely aware of the shadowy figure lurking in the darkness, a figure so formidable that even soldiers at the Penetrating Stage trembled in fear, a figure who stood a cut above the rest.

With such a presence, they stood no chance of survival; suicide seemed the only decisive option.

"Clang!"

The white bone spikes, previously concealed within the earth, emerged as if by magic and struck the black dagger.

The dagger clattered to the ground, and Wei Feng's hand, poised to slash her throat, was now pinned just below her neck.

She gazed at the bone spike, bewildered. Realizing her suicide attempt had failed, her gaze hardened, and she prepared to bite her own tongue to achieve her grim objective.

"The Tusk Troops have all gone mad."

Yu Yuan watched her, a woman so intent on death, and felt momentarily powerless. He resigned himself to her fate.

But the white bone spike shifted once more.

"Thud!"

It descended sharply, striking Wei Feng on the head and knocking her unconscious.

Yu Yuan's eyes gleamed with opportunity. He quickly stepped forward, ripped a large swath of black cloth from Wei Feng's attire, rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it into her mouth to prevent any further suicide attempts upon waking.

As he was about to look for something to bind Wei Feng with, he suddenly picked up on an unsettling sensation from Yu Zhu.

His expression darkened, "Who could be arriving at a time like this?"

Yu Zhu's signal indicated another group was on the move, one even more formidable than Wei Feng's Tusk Troops, and they were closing in fast.

"The Tusk Troops aren't just Wei Feng and her six comrades. Could they have communicated with their nearby allies to summon them here?" Yu Yuan pondered.

It didn't take long for him to realize his mistake.

The newcomers were not the Tusk Troops. Instead, they were familiar faces from Elfview Town: Lau Wei of the Cold Yin Sect, Lei Xiao of the Thunder Sect, and seven others garbed in the attire of their respective sects.

There were nine of them in total, with Lau Wei and Lei Xiao being the most formidable.

The remaining seven were all at the Profound Break Stage, just like the soldiers of the Tusk Troops—none had reached the Penetrating Stage.

These seven appeared exceedingly young, and upon a brief glance, Yu Yuan perceived their naivety, reminiscent of sect disciples venturing out to the Profound Sky Continent for the first time.

"Yu Yuan, did you kill these Tusk Troops warriors?" Lau Wei asked, his face a mixture of shock and awe as he surveyed the two bodies on the ground and the Tusk Troop general with a severed arm. "Remarkable, truly remarkable! These Tusk Troops are no pushovers. We've pursued them for ages without managing to take them alive, yet you've succeeded."

Lei Xiao from the Thunder Sect was notoriously domineering in Elfview, showing little satisfaction with Yu Yuan and no respect for Yu Cann. But now, even Lei Xiao looked at Yu Yuan with a grave expression, as if seeing him in a new light. "How did you manage it?" he wondered, his curiosity piqued.

Upon the arrival of the nine, the Tusk Troops general with the broken arm and his comrades all showed a deep-seated enmity. It seemed as though there was an intense, unresolvable feud between them and Lau Wei's group, the kind of hatred that made Yu Yuan feel as if they were ready to tear Lau Wei and Lei Xiao apart with their bare hands.

"What's the connection between the Tusk Troops, the Cold Yin Sect, and Lei Xiao?" Yu Yuan pondered, his mind swirling with questions.

"I am Bai Shenshen from the Medicine Sect. May I ask who you are?" Bai Shenshen inquired, her voice cutting through the tension.

"The Medicine Sect?" Lau Wei stroked his chin, nodding thoughtfully. "Are you unharmed? Did these remnants of the Tusk Troops cause you any trouble?"

Bai Shenshen offered a slight smile, about to clarify, when she caught Yu Yuan's gaze. His look sent a chill through her, and in a moment of realization, she responded, "Thank you for your concern. I'm fine."

"That's good to hear," Lau Wei replied with a nod and a smile, turning his attention to Yu Yuan. "Young master of the Yu family, my thanks for capturing Wai Feng alive. She was our primary target. We've been on their trail for a long while, wanting her alive, which tied our hands somewhat. But you— you've actually done it."

"No thanks necessary; she belongs to me," Yu Yuan responded with a smile.

…