Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter Forty-Seven: A Head-on Blow

Deep within a dense forest in Broken Soul Ridge, Xiao Chong leaned against a towering ancient tree, resting with his eyes closed. The contents of the Forging God Manual flowed through his mind again and again, quickly relaxing his mind.

The days of fleeing had left him physically exhausted, but his spirits were high. In their three encounters, aside from being somewhat overwhelmed and suffering some depletion of his internal energy, Tie Changqing had not gained any substantial advantage.

However, Yuan Qi can be replenished at any time. As long as there is time, the Yuan Qi in Broken Soul Ridge is abundant, and one can easily cultivate back to its original state. Moreover, after giving a pill formula to Fatty last time, he obtained four of the seven pills refined, and his absorption rate of Yuan Qi after consuming them was much faster than before.

The Yuan energy within his three acupoints was now fully replenished, significantly enhancing both his running speed and striking power. In his three encounters with Tie Changqing, he managed to withstand the attack for longer each time than the previous one.

Although his progress was limited and he was still far behind his opponent, there had indeed been changes, which made him more and more confident in defeating his opponent.

This confidence comes not only from the improvement of one's own cultivation, but also from the changes in the cauldron spirit.

To be fair, Dingling has lived for so long, so it must have some skills. Although it can be unreliable at times, its role in crucial moments is truly invaluable.

Since absorbing so many beast cores at once last time, the cauldron spirit's perception of its surroundings has greatly improved, easily surpassing Xiao Chong's by leaps and bounds. Its contribution to their successful escapes from Tie Changqing on both occasions is undeniable.

Moreover, the cauldron spirit often comes up with many schemes and tricks, which it of course does not admit. According to it, that is called the accumulation of wisdom.

“Someone is heading this way; I can sense the change in the surrounding energy.”

The cunning voice of the cauldron spirit came from his mind, and Xiao Chong stopped cultivating the Divine Forging Manual and suddenly opened his eyes.

"Great! With the support of the cauldron spirit, it's like having a small radar. Within a radius of a hundred feet, no mission activity can escape my watchful eye."

Xiao Chong secretly gave the cauldron spirit a thumbs up in his heart, and took out his clairvoyance to closely monitor Tie Changqing's route.

Eighty feet!

Fifty feet!

Thirty feet!

Close, closer!

Seeing the big fish about to be caught, and knowing that his hard work all night was finally about to pay off, Xiao Chong was very excited, but he became even more calm and collected, not daring to make a sound, and even holding his breath for the time being.

Tie Changqing felt very weak while walking, so he wanted to stop and rest.

"I bled too much this morning, I guess I need to take some time to recover." Tie Changqing found a rock and sat down.

But as soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt as if there were eyes watching him from all around, a feeling like being stared at by a wild beast, which made him very uneasy.

Why is this happening? Is it an illusion caused by insufficient Qi and blood?

Looking around but finding nothing amiss, Tie Changqing muttered to himself and sat back down on the rock.

Just then, a slight noise came from under an ancient tree more than ten feet away. Looking closely through the gaps in the leaves, a figure was furtively turning to escape.

Xiao Chong! It's like finding a needle in a haystack, only to have it come to you effortlessly.

Tie Changqing recognized the figure at a glance, gripped his iron spear, struck a dashing pose, and leaped forward.

Normally, given his cultivation level, he could have easily crossed the distance of several dozen feet in one step. But now, weakened by exhaustion, his landing position was slightly off, and he ended up behind Xiao Chong.

"Bah!"

Seeing that Xiao Chong was about to run away, Tie Changqing pushed off the ground with both feet and thrust his spear forward.

Why do my legs feel weak? Even though the nosebleed was a bit rapid, it shouldn't be this bad, right?

Tie Changqing looked down quickly and saw that the ground beneath his feet was rapidly collapsing.

An ambush! That was Tie Changqing's first thought.

A flash of light passed before him, and Tie Changqing swiftly withdrew his spear, barely touching the ancient tree before launching himself into the air.

However, the blade did not strike him, but instead cut a rope tied to a tree.

A large net woven from animal hides was laid down overhead, and the light above suddenly dimmed.

"Wrong judgment!" This was Tie Changqing's second thought.

This thought made him somewhat flustered, but he still held his breath, lowered the tip of his gun, and planned to use the force of landing on the ground to bounce off his body before slowly making his move.

Before he could land, three cold stars flashed before his eyes, and three crossbow bolts spun rapidly, silently heading straight for him.

Left with no other choice, Tie Changqing raised his gun.

"Ding Ding!"

With two sharp sounds, two crossbow bolts aimed at his face and chest were deflected by the spear, but a third crossbow bolt was already close at hand.

Tie Changqing sighed inwardly, twisted his waist with all his might, and the crossbow bolt left a bloody groove on his waist before disappearing behind him.

Although he wasn't pierced by the crossbow bolt, a sharp pain shot through his waist, and the breath he had been holding in finally escaped, his feet sinking into the pit in the ground.

A beam of light flashed overhead again, and a cleaver, accompanied by a fierce wind, slashed down. Before the blade even arrived, the gale was already so strong that Tie Changqing couldn't open his eyes.

Tie Changqing raised his arms, gripped the gun barrel with both hands, gritted his teeth, and held it horizontally above his head, hoping to get some relief.

If I just slow down and block this attack, I can turn the tide and win!

This was Tie Changqing's third thought.

"Hall!"

With a loud crash, the thick back of the blade struck the spear shaft, bending it downwards, and Tie Changqing's feet plunged hard into the bottom of the pit.

"We escaped danger after all!"

The moment Tie Changqing felt his feet touch the solid object, his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.

Just as this fourth thought arose, a sharp pain suddenly shot through the soles of his feet, as if something had pierced through them, and he was unable to move for a moment.

"flutter!"

The large animal skin net at the top of the tree finally fell, plunging Tie Changqing into complete darkness, making it impossible for him to see anything.

Although he is blind, his hearing is even more acute.

The fierce wind of the blade rang out again from above, the whistling sound penetrating through the diaphragm as if it were about to pierce the most vulnerable and tender part of a person's heart, scaring Tie Changqing out of his wits.

In that life-or-death moment, his peak martial arts skills were fully revealed. Tie Changqing abandoned his spear, clenched his fist, and threw a punch in the direction of the blade's wind.

"Boom!"

A dull thud rang out, the cleaver was deflected, and a gash appeared on the fist, from which white bone fragments flew out.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Tie Changqing tore off the animal skin net above his head with one hand, reached out with the other to grab the iron spear, and with a burst of strength from his feet, his body soared into the air.

They're iron skewers used for catching animals!

Looking at the three or four sharp metal objects piercing through his feet, Tie Changqing felt like bursting into tears!

All's fair in war, and it's one thing to use such a wicked method as iron skewers, but why shamelessly stick them full of barbs?