337: Faction Change

If he could clear the opponent's checkpoint and obtain the exclusive item after clearing it, then even if the opponent died within the checkpoint, he wouldn't be left with nothing.

Thinking of this, Xiao Shi no longer hesitated.

He immediately prepared to follow this official road to the opponent's checkpoint.

However, he had just taken one step forward when— Buzz!

A barrier suddenly appeared in front of him, instantly pushing him far away, preventing him from entering the opponent's official road.

“It seems I can’t enter other people’s official roads…” Xiao Shi felt deeply regretful about this.

Apparently, this was a form of protection from the area for them, the Martial Demon Realm cultivators.

Without such protection, those who cleared checkpoints quickly would have too great an advantage.

Now that he couldn't enter the opponent's official road, Xiao Shi could only wait here for the opponent to arrive…

Meanwhile, on an official road still some distance from Xiao Shi, “Hoo!”

“Hoo!”

A young man with disheveled black hair and a slightly gloomy demeanor was panting heavily.

It was clear that some broken vines still clung to his body, deeply embedded in his flesh.

Fortunately, now that the vines were broken, they had lost their previous function.

The young man, while panting, pulled off the broken vines from his body one by one.

Though a lingering fear remained in his eyes, it was quickly replaced by a surge of ecstasy.

“A good harvest!”

The young man looked excitedly at the eerie blue vine he had obtained after clearing the checkpoint.

Although he couldn't see detailed item information like Xiao Shi, the moment he successfully acquired this eerie blue vine, he already knew its specific function.

As long as this eerie blue vine pierced into the target’s flesh, it would rapidly grow within the target’s body.

With such growth, the target's movements would be greatly restricted, and their speed would continuously slow down over time.

And it wasn't just movement speed; all speeds would become incredibly sluggish.

Eventually, they would become like puppets, moving with extreme slowness.

What excited and delighted the young man the most was the extremely high grade of this eerie blue vine.

Even a Saint Grade would be unable to avoid the slowing of movement caused by this eerie blue vine if it pierced their flesh.

Such a treasure was of immeasurable value to the young man, giving him immense confidence for his subsequent actions.

Immediately, the young man, accompanied by his guards, proceeded along the road until he reached the intersection with another official road.

From a distance, he was already highly vigilant, staring at the intersection to prevent any surprise attacks there.

He knew clearly that if the person on the other official road arrived here before him and set up an ambush, he would be at a significant disadvantage.

He had to be cautious.

As he observed, he found the intersection of the two official roads to be peaceful, and he didn't detect any abnormalities.

However, the young man was still uneasy about this.

He thought for a moment, then quickly took out a clay figurine from his storage bag.

Under his kneading, the entire clay figurine rapidly transformed into his own likeness.

As the young man placed the clay figurine on the ground, whoosh!

The clay figurine immediately grew and expanded on its own.

In an instant, it transformed into a body identical to the young man's.

And it wasn't just the appearance and physique that were the same; even the aura it emitted was completely identical.

Whether viewed with the naked eye or perceived through Soul Consciousness, no discrepancies could be detected.

After completing all of this, the young man immediately manipulated his clay figurine clone.

He had this clay figurine clone walk in front, with the guards positioned as usual behind him, while he himself hid at the very back.

This way, if there was an ambush, the enemy's attack would first target his clay figurine.

Although his clay figurine possessed no offensive capabilities and was merely a simple substitute, through this substitute, the young man could effectively probe, thereby turning a passive situation into an active one!

As soon as he detected the enemy's attack, he could immediately launch a counterattack from the rear!

This allowed him to maintain a strong initiative.

He knew very well that when both sides were at the first stage of the Martial Demon Realm, whoever could seize the initiative would hold the advantage.

Soon, the young man led his team, via the clay figurine substitute, onto the intersection of the two official roads.

The surroundings were calm, and nothing happened.

“It seems I worried too much…” The young man breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he was about to continue forward, suddenly, “No!”

He abruptly lowered his head, as if he had sensed something.

He found that the ground beneath his feet rippled like water, causing both of his feet to feel as if they were stuck to the ground, completely unable to lift them.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time…” A low voice then came from behind the young man, instantly making the hairs on his back stand on end and causing a strong fight-or-flight response.

At the same time, the moment the opponent’s voice sounded, he had already swept his Soul Consciousness behind him.

But what he didn't expect was that under the sweep of his Soul Consciousness, he found nothing!

Not only did he not perceive the opponent's strength or cultivation, but he didn't even see the opponent's appearance.

It was as if he had swept through empty air, yet he distinctly felt the opponent standing right behind him.

The young man quickly turned his head, clearly seeing a figure completely shrouded in a black cloak, standing silently behind him like a phantom.

This caused his pupils to constrict.

His Soul Consciousness couldn't detect this person!

This situation… he had never encountered before!

Usually, only when encountering someone with a higher cultivation realm would Soul Consciousness detection be ineffective.

However, the opponent was clearly at the same first stage of the Martial Soul Realm as himself, yet his Soul Consciousness sweep was completely ineffective against him.

This greatly shocked the young man!

If he had used his Soul Consciousness to detect the enemy behind him at the first moment, he could have immediately reacted.

But now he needed to turn his head to see the opponent, which put him completely on the defensive.

The time it took for him to turn his head… was already enough for Xiao Shi to complete an attack!

Pfft!

Almost the instant the young man turned his head, a blurry black blade light had already flashed past his side.

It directly severed the young man's right arm, along with the eerie blue vine he held in his hand, sending them flying.

Xiao Shi's strategy was very clear.

He knew the best way to deal with this young man was to not give him a chance to use his exclusive item.

The only thing that could threaten him was the exclusive item in the opponent's hand.

Therefore, Xiao Shi chose to sever his arm right away!

Before this, he had first used the domain formed by the heaven officiant robe to conceal himself and his guards.

This heaven officiant robe domain, in addition to isolating power, could also conceal people within the domain.

Under the effect of concealment, people outside the domain would be unable to detect its existence through either the naked eye or Soul Consciousness.

Only upon entering the domain would they be able to see the concealed people within it.

And Xiao Shi had already calculated that after the opponent entered this domain, he would most likely choose to use his exclusive item.

Therefore, from the moment the opponent stepped into the domain, he had already fixed his gaze on the opponent's hand.

No matter what was in the opponent's hand, he would cut it off immediately, not giving the opponent a chance to use it.

Within this domain, Xiao Shi held absolute initiative.

The pain of his severed arm made the young man's facial muscles twitch, but compared to this pain, the anxiety in his heart was even stronger!

He knew that this exclusive item was his greatest reliance in this place, and it absolutely could not be lost!

He had to get it back!

Immediately, accompanied by the young man's low roar, a shocking crack suddenly appeared in the center of his eyebrows.

Crimson blood flowed down this crack, extending across his face to form a bloodline.

Both of his eyes also turned completely crimson.

He directly used his powerful killing move, igniting a Soul Seal buried deep within his soul.

The ignition of this Soul Seal caused his soul power to burn and surge wildly at this moment, instantly reaching the pinnacle of the Martial Soul Realm!

This then condensed into a blood-colored Soul Hand, which with astonishing speed, directly grabbed towards the severed arm that had flown and fallen far away.

During this process, barriers continuously formed within the domain, attempting to block this blood-colored Soul Hand.

However, this blood-colored Soul Hand had now reached the pinnacle of the Martial Soul Realm.

It was completely beyond what these barriers could obstruct.

In less than a second, this blood-colored Soul Hand had already pierced through numerous barriers and reached the severed hand.

It grabbed towards the severed hand on the ground.

But just as the blood-colored Soul Hand touched the severed hand, hum!

A transparent, illusory battle saber suddenly trembled violently and struck the entire blood-colored Soul Hand.

Under the high-frequency vibrations unleashed by the battle saber, even the blood-colored Soul Hand, at its level, could not withstand it.

It directly shattered and exploded amidst such high-frequency vibrations!

The young man's eyes instantly widened, his face filled with disbelief.

“This… how is this possible?!”

He had clearly pushed his soul power to the pinnacle of the Martial Demon Realm.

Logically, this blood-colored Soul Hand should have possessed an unstoppable force.

Yet, it was shattered by a single strike from the opponent.

“Could it be that this saber strike he unleashed… is also a Saint Grade exclusive item??”

The young man felt that only this possibility could explain why his soul power, which had reached the pinnacle of the Martial Demon Realm, was so easily shattered by the opponent's single strike.

At this moment, with the shattering of the blood-colored Soul Hand, the young man's soul began to become unstable.

After all, the killing move he had used itself carried significant hidden dangers; once unleashed, his soul would also suffer severe damage and become unstable.

His mind was hazy, and his vision was blurry.

In this state, Xiao Shi didn't even need to use the Soul Tremor Blade to deliver a second strike.

Whoosh!

Xiao Shi's figure flashed, and he instantly teleported behind the young man using the teleportation ability from the Kuihu Vajra Bloodline.

Pfft!

He pierced the young man's body with a single punch, successfully killing him.

With his current strength, killing a first-stage Martial Soul Realm cultivator like this was basically effortless.

The only thing to be mindful of was not giving the opponent a chance to use their exclusive item.

Besides this, Xiao Shi also realized that the Martial Soul Realm cultivators in this area were somewhat different from ordinary first-stage Martial Soul Realm cultivators outside.

The Martial Soul Realm cultivators here had, after all, fallen from the second stage.

Even if they no longer possessed the power of a Demonic Body Clone, they themselves still had some powerful killing moves.

He couldn't be too careless, or there was still a chance of things going wrong.

The reason it was so easy this time was mainly because the strongest killing move the opponent unleashed happened to be a soul-based power, which was perfectly countered by Xiao Shi's Soul Tremor Blade!

Now, with the young man's death, an item immediately dropped from his corpse.

After Xiao Shi picked it up, he didn't rush to examine it, but instead focused his gaze on the young man's guards nearby, his eyes flashing with killing intent.

He couldn't kill his own guards, but he could freely kill the guards belonging to this young man.

Whoosh!

Immediately, Xiao Shi's figure flashed, appearing directly in front of one of the guards.

He raised his hand and grabbed at his neck.

With the strength of these guards, he could easily crush one with a single hand.

But the moment his palm touched the guard, his hand passed directly through the guard's neck, as if passing through air.

“Hmm?” Xiao Shi frowned.

He tried grabbing at the other guards, but the result was the same.

His palm simply couldn't touch these guards.

Then he tried to exterminate them with soul power.

But even with soul power, there was no change; he still couldn't touch these guards.

“Which means…”

“Neither my own guards nor other people’s guards can be killed…” Xiao Shi frowned deeply.

He had originally thought that by killing these guards, he would be able to acquire many exclusive items.

But he didn't expect… these guards couldn't be killed at all.

To acquire exclusive items here, besides clearing checkpoints, one could only kill other Martial Demon Realm cultivators.

However, Xiao Shi knew that he was lucky this time to have encountered a Martial Demon Realm cultivator from the Three Great Domains, and not one from the Great Wu Dynasty.

If he had encountered a Great Wu Dynasty Martial Demon Realm cultivator, he wouldn't have been able to kill them.

“Given this, it will be very difficult for me to acquire many exclusive items at once here…”

Xiao Shi had originally thought that by just killing one Martial Demon Realm cultivator and then killing the numerous guards around him, he would naturally obtain a large number of exclusive items.

But he didn't expect that the guards couldn't be killed.

This meant that his collection of exclusive items wouldn't be able to speed up.

Just then, Xiao Shi suddenly noticed that the armor on these guards, who originally belonged to the opponent, began to change, continuously transforming into… the armor of his own side!

At the same time, the fear in these guards' eyes when they looked at him gradually turned into reverence and fanaticism.

They seemed to have transformed into his own guards!!