Chapter 40 Close Combat

On Black Magpie Mountain, after the few people at the gate dispersed, Chen Li immediately set up fifteen dense Spirit Trapping Formations around the area, which had not yet been activated.

Returning inside the mountain, he informed everyone not to go out and not to teleport to other mountains recently; Brother Ox could only stay on Black Magpie Mountain.

Liangxi County was probably going to descend into chaos!

Three more days passed. Although Liangxi County remained calm, the events that occurred within the county had already spread to other counties. The miserable state of the Luo Family and the An Family was being whispered about by many.

Several members of the Luo Family at the Mid-stage Qi Refining level had all had their Divine Souls and vital blood drained. Many members at the Third Level of Qi Refining also suffered misfortune.

Among them, Luo Zihan, who had just advanced to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, could not escape the arrangement of fate and also turned into a hideous dried corpse.

The Luo Family was left with only three juniors at the Qi Refining First Layer and two clansmen at the Qi Refining Second Layer—a truly horrifying sight!

They certainly could not defend such a large territory and influence. They had already explained the situation to the Lu Family, only asking for some clan lands and a few spirit fields. The remaining territory would be decided by Lu Xilou.

The An Family suffered even worse. After the An Family Cultivator returned, he buried the clansmen who had become dried corpses, then harvested all the several dozen acres of spirit wood and distributed it to the few remaining clansmen at the Qi Refining First and Second Layers, before announcing the dissolution of the An Family.

The An Family announced that their clansmen were to fend for themselves; they could not hold onto this family legacy.

Wanted posters for the An Family Head and Luo Sheng spread throughout Yuanwu Prefecture. Many people treated it as a major threat and activated their Defensive Formation Arrays. Meanwhile, the two of them were on a high mountain two hundred miles away.

On the high mountain, Luo Sheng was under a tree, urging the Blood Soul spiritual power of the Spirit Entrusting Soul Transfer Great Method's parasitic jade finger to annihilate the original soul. Beside him, the An Family Head was doing the same.

After a short while, two faint screams were heard—the voices of the original Luo Sheng and the An Family Head—sounding utterly miserable!

At this moment, Luo Sheng exhaled, "Finally annihilated!"

The An Family Head beside him also breathed a sigh of relief. Just as the two felt they could stop urging the Blood Soul power, a strong sense of detachment spontaneously erupted from within their bodies, terrifying them!

They subconsciously urged the Blood Soul power, and the symptom disappeared!

The Possessed Luo Sheng exclaimed, "Didn't we annihilate the original soul? Why is there still such a strong sense of detachment?!"

The Possessed An Family Head was also fearful, shaking his head, "I don't know! It shouldn't be! Shouldn't annihilating the original soul mean we no longer need the Blood Soul power?"

"Could this Spirit Entrusting Soul Transfer Great Method have this side effect? That we must rely on the Blood Soul power for our entire lives to prevent the Physical Body from detaching?" Luo Sheng muttered to himself; no one answered him.

He flipped open the book of the Spirit Entrusting Soul Transfer Great Method again, reading through the entire thing, but he still couldn't find any description of this side effect.

Could it be that this person deliberately omitted this side effect, specifically setting a trap for Cultivators like them who wanted to extend their lives?

Luo Sheng's face darkened. Unwilling to accept it, he tried a few more times, stopping the Blood Soul power, but the feeling of detachment immediately resurfaced. He felt the pain of his Divine Soul being stripped from his Physical Body if he didn't use the Blood Soul power immediately, or he would turn into a ghost!

The An Family Head's face was grim. "Husband, the Blood Soul power can last at most one more day. If it runs out, I'm afraid we'll face the agony of soul and flesh separation!"

His expression shifted several times. Luo Sheng stood up with determination, "It must be because our cultivation is too low. Once we Cultivate back to Golden Core, there should be a good solution!"

The An Family Head also felt this made sense. "Then what we should do now is stabilize our Divine Souls and then Cultivate back to Golden Core! But stabilizing the Divine Soul requires absorbing Blood Soul using the Spirit Devouring Great Method, which means constantly capturing living Cultivators. This will inevitably lead to us being treated as demonic Cultivators by other Cultivators!"

The An Family Head's tone revealed fear. "Demonic Cultivators have a hard time surviving among the various powers in the Southern Border; we can only go to the East Sea Islands!"

Luo Sheng was unwilling to let his life end like this. "Then we'll go to the East Sea. Before we go, we must stock up enough Blood Soul power! Let's kill a few more people. Yuanwu Prefecture is our blood bag. Let's start with a few weak Qi Refining Immortal Clans, especially Chen Li! We'll take him as the first target!"

"Husband, that Chen Li is a Third-Rank Formation Master. If he has a Third-Rank Defensive Formation Array, even with our current cultivation, it will take time to break through. If we are then besieged by other Qi Refining Immortal Clans, we will be at a disadvantage!"

Luo Sheng sneered, taking out two Fourth-Rank Talismans from his Storage Pouch. "These two Wall-Breaking Talismans are Fourth-Rank Talismans. With our Late Qi Refining cultivation, we can just barely activate them. Once activated, one can break any Defensive Formation Array below the Third-Rank!"

The An Family Head also smiled. "Then there's no problem. I assume that Qi Refining Immortal Clan is poor and doesn't have many good things. As long as we get close, he'll just have to wait for death!"

...

Dog barks were heard from down the mountain late at night.

Inside Black Magpie Mountain, Chen Li was already on high alert. His intuition told him there was a very high probability those two would come looking for him.

Outside the mountain, a gust of cold wind blew, and two stealthy figures appeared.

Luo Sheng looked up, gazing at the Second-Tier Defensive Array ahead. He took out his staff and, without wasting words, struck the Second-Tier Defensive Array directly. The Second-Tier Defensive Array shattered!

Luo Sheng laughed disdainfully, "That's all? A mere paper tiger! What is this?"

Before he finished speaking, the moment it shattered, the Fourth-Rank Defensive Formation Array instantly activated, and a powerful defensive energy shield instantly condensed.

Luo Sheng was stunned. Wasn't Chen Li a Third-Rank Formation Master?

The two exchanged a look. If even the Fourth-Rank Wall-Breaking Talismans couldn't break it, their immediate thought was to run!

In those one or two seconds of hesitation, the fifteen sets of Spirit Trapping Formations activated in parallel—some trapping air, some trapping mosquitoes, some trapping wild boars, and two of them trapped the two people!

Inside the mountain, the instant the Second-Tier Defensive Array shattered, Chen Li simultaneously activated the fifteen sets of peripheral Spirit Trapping Formations. He didn't care what they trapped; he activated them first!

Chen Li immediately flew out of the mountain. He only heard the booming sound of the Wall-Breaking Talismans striking. By the time he reached the outside of the Spirit Trapping Formations, the two had just broken out and were trying to escape.

Chen Li didn't have time to set up the Profound Bone Immortal Slaying Formation. He rushed forward directly, carrying the frost condensing sword.

He truly wanted to test the power of his Five Spiritual Root Eighth Level of Qi Refining, having opened an additional Qi Sea, and with the Profound Shadow Ice Art cultivated to Perfection.

Seeing Chen Li rushing close, Luo Sheng and the An Family Head, who had intended to flee, almost burst out laughing when they saw Chen Li closing in.

"Good, good, good! You're looking to die, aren't you!"

The two had just turned around to pull out their Magical Artifacts when the chilling aura of the Profound Shadow Ice Art arrived. A bone-piercing cold made them shiver!

As soon as they engaged, they faced sword shadows too fast to see clearly. They were forced to quickly retreat, daring not to be distracted. The staves they had drawn were completely unable to block the incoming Sword Qi.

Then they discovered that their retreat speed was no match for Chen Li's. Some chilling Sword Qi could only be blocked by their Physical Bodies. Before long, traces of Sword Qi damage appeared on various parts of their bodies.

Chen Li saw the two constantly retreating and defending. After inflicting some damage on their bodies and realizing it wasn't fatal, he increased his speed and strength.

Luo Sheng and the An Family Head, realizing they were being suppressed, tried hard for a while but found they couldn't counter-suppress based on their own cultivation, causing them surprise! They could only pull out Fourth-Rank defensive Magical Artifacts. Artifacts of the Fourth-Rank from a Golden Core background were still quite numerous.

Chen Li saw the two pull out an Iron Shield, a Fourth-Rank item, and immediately retreated backward! Because he couldn't break it, these Possessors were quite wealthy!

After retreating near the Formation Array, he realized he couldn't kill the two of them; they had too many items. He immediately set up the Profound Bone Immortal Slaying Formation behind him!

At this point, the three formed a standoff!

After all, the two had previously been at the Golden Core cultivation level, so their vision was not low! Upon seeing the Profound Bone Immortal Slaying Formation behind Chen Li, they exchanged a look, pulled out two escape Talismans, and instantly vanished from the spot.