287: Chapter 287 Attribute Counter

Ye Jing wasted no more time, leaping onto Hei Feng's back as they continued galloping toward the Ice Abyss Cave.

Before long, they returned to the front of the concealed cave.

Just as Ye Jing was about to melt the ice, Hei Feng suddenly seemed to catch the scent of something good and began scratching the ground incessantly with his claws.

Ye Jing was momentarily stunned, then projected his Divine Sense inside to investigate.

He saw the White Ice Ape, whose shoulder he had injured, holding a blood-red bead and using its hand to rub the bead continuously against its wound.

Miraculously, the wound that had been scorched by the Blue Flame was healing rapidly.

The bead was only the size of a pigeon's egg, its entire body flowing with a gentle blood light; even through the thick ice and stone, one could sense the pure vitality and dense spiritual power contained within—it was clearly no ordinary treasure.

It seemed this White Ice Ape had occupied the Cold Marrow Spring for many years, not only guarding the dan-nurturing spirit lingzhi but also hiding such a rare healing Spirit Treasure.

The shoulder that had been burned by the Blue Flame just moments ago had already stopped bleeding and closed up; even the charred flesh was slowly regenerating, an effect that could be called Heaven-Defying.

The White Ape seemed to sense the Divine Sense prying from outside and snapped its head up, its crimson eyes staring fixedly toward Ye Jing through the frozen cave entrance as it let out a low, violent roar.

With one hand gripping the blood bead and the other grabbing its ice crescent shovel, the icicles around its body rattled; it was actually intending to break through the ice to fight once more.

“That is quite a fine treasure.”

Ye Jing's eyes brightened slightly; far from being wary, his desire to subdue the White Ape grew even stronger.

This ape not only possessed high intelligence, the ability to manifest weapons for combat, and secret treasures, but it could also use the Cold Marrow Spiritual Qi to Cultivate pure ice power.

If he could take it for his own use, it would undoubtedly be a great asset. Moreover, with the dan-nurturing spirit lingzhi close at hand, there was no reason for him to return empty-handed.

Hei Feng was already unable to restrain himself and pounced toward the White Ape to Bite it.

The White Ape thought Ye Jing was attacking again without having learned his lesson, so it immediately shot several cold beams from its eyes, intending to freeze Hei Feng and Ye Jing.

“Bang!”

Just as the cold beams appeared, a large swarm of Golden Erosion Insects formed a shield, directly blocking the cold light.

While the White Ape was caught off guard, Ye Jing swung his meteor hammer to attack once more.

Knowing well that this ape feared fire, he immediately activated the Thunderbolt Flame Art, pushing his fire-attribute spiritual power to the limit; the flames spread along the meteor hammer, transforming into a ring of fire that enveloped the White Ape.

The blazing heat forced the White Ape to retreat repeatedly, its white fur curling from the heatwave; its ice-attribute spiritual power was countered by the fire energy, making it difficult to manifest, and the ice crescent shovel in its hand gradually grew dim.

A trace of fear flashed in its eyes as its offensive weakened, yet it still stubbornly protected the blood bead in its chest, refusing to back down.

Suddenly, a slithering sound came from above; the White Ape turned to see a water snake had appeared by the Cold Marrow Spring Water at some unknown time.

With a single breath, it enveloped the dan-nurturing spirit lingzhi, using the chill of the Cold Marrow to uproot the lingzhi entirely.

Towering rage instantly ignited in the White Ape's crimson eyes; it had been pinned down by Hei Feng and the Golden Erosion Insects, and now, watching the Spiritual Plant being stolen before its very eyes, its roars became increasingly shrill.

The ice crescent shovel in its hand vibrated violently as the icicles around it suddenly shattered; it was prepared to fight with its life on the line.

The White Ape slammed the blood bead against its wound, and the pigeon-egg-sized blood marrow spirit bead erupted with light, its gentle blood light transforming into a protective light screen that forcibly endured the scorching of Ye Jing's fire ring.

Simultaneously, it lashed out with both claws, condensing several ice blades that whistled through the air as they lunged straight for the water snake, vowing to take back the Spiritual Plant.

“Too late!”

Ye Jing snorted coldly and flicked his wrist; the meteor hammer, wreathed in raging flames, struck like a crimson meteor, accurately smashing toward the White Ape's right arm which held the spade.

The blistering temperature instantly caused the White Ape's wrist to go numb; the ice crescent shovel flew from its hand, slamming heavily into the cave wall and shattering into ice dust.

In that instant, Hei Feng found an opening and lunged like black lightning, his fangs locking onto the White Ape's left leg; his sharp claws tore through its thick fur, and bright red blood immediately seeped out.

Hei Feng then bit down on the White Ape's nape, firmly pinning it beneath him so it could not move an inch.

The Black Water Giant Python coiled its body and brought the dan-nurturing spirit lingzhi before Ye Jing.

Ye Jing said coldly, “You have two choices: one is to submit to me, and the other is to die here!”

The White Ape continued to roar in anger, slamming its palms against the ground; it looked as though it were cursing quite foully.

But having tamed so many beasts, Ye Jing could still understand what the White Ape was shouting.

It did not accept Ye Jing; in its eyes, it was Hei Feng who had defeated it. If he wanted it to acknowledge him as its master, he had to fight it himself!

Hearing this, a hint of a smile crossed Ye Jing's eyes; he reached out to pat Hei Feng's neck and said deeply, “Release it.”

Though Hei Feng was reluctant, he obediently let go, though his fangs remained bared at the White Ape as he watched its every move to prevent a counterattack.

Once free, the White Ape immediately staggered back a few steps; the wound on its left leg was still bleeding, and though the burn on its shoulder had been stabilized by the blood marrow spirit bead, it still throbbed with pain.

Yet the defiance in its eyes had not diminished in the slightest; its crimson eyes locked onto Ye Jing, its chest heaving violently as it let out low growls, as if urging Ye Jing to make his move.

It tucked the blood marrow spirit bead into the fur on its chest and clawed the ground fiercely, sending ice shards flying as the ice-attribute spiritual power around it surged once more.

Even though it was countered by the fire energy, it still condensed two half-foot-long ice claws that radiated a bone-chilling cold.

It did not fear the human before it at all; after all, it was a Middle Stage Second-Order Demonic Beast, and a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator would normally be unable to deal with it without teaming up with several others!

This battle would be its victory!

“You certainly have some backbone.”

Ye Jing chuckled and put away his meteor hammer, slowly withdrawing the fire-attribute spiritual power around him until only a faint layer of flames lingered. “Since you want to fight, I shall fulfill your wish.”

“But let it be understood: if you lose, you must willingly submit to me and follow my orders from now on without the slightest disloyalty.”

“If I lose, I will let you go, return the dan-nurturing spirit lingzhi, and gift you a healing Medicinal Pill. How about it?”

The White Ice Ape flashed a look of surprise upon hearing this, then let out a high-pitched roar.

Its claws kicked off the ground as its body shot out like an arrow from a bow, carrying a bone-chilling cold.

Ye Jing's expression remained unchanged as he stepped into the mysterious footwork of the Azure Feather Wind-Riding Art, his body shifting like a breeze to barely avoid the strike of the ice claws.

The ice claws struck the ground, forcibly smashing out two deep pits; ice shards sprayed in all directions, freezing into new icicles upon hitting the cave walls.

“Good speed,” Ye Jing praised, then swung his meteor hammer to continuously besiege the White Ape.

It had been a long time since he had fought so satisfyingly; he would enjoy this battle to the fullest!

The meteor hammer carried raging flames, each swing bringing a whistling hot wind that caused the surrounding chill to sizzle as it burned.

Although the White Ape was countered by the fire-attribute spiritual power, it did not appear particularly pathetic.

Relying on its Second-Order Demonic Beast's powerful Physical Body and agile movement, it wove through the shadows of the hammer and the firelight; the ice blades on its claws counterattacked fiercely from time to time, and the collision of ice and fire exploded into bursts of white mist in the cave, making it hard to keep one's eyes open.

Ye Jing grew more excited as the fight went on, pushing the Azure Feather Wind-Riding Art to its limit.

His form was elusive, sometimes moving like a swift wind and sometimes rooted like a monolith; the meteor hammer's attacks shifted between fast and slow, heavy and light. Though seemingly chaotic, every strike was accurately locked onto the White Ape's openings.

The wound on its left leg and the burn on its shoulder were the main targets of his suppression.

He did not use his full strength; firstly, he wanted to completely subdue this defiant White Ape, and secondly, he wanted to use this fight to temper his Mid-stage Foundation Establishment spiritual power and familiarize himself with the feel of the meteor hammer.