352: Chapter 352 Hollowing Out

"Wait me out?" Lin Bei immediately revealed a cryptic smile. "I don't have the time to waste with you!"

Hearing this, a sneer flashed through Lady Shiji's eyes. "Oh? Do you think you can suppress me?"

Lin Bei shook his head and raised his hand, suddenly clutching at the air in front of him.

Empty Hand Skill!

An illusory giant hand swept across, and in an instant, tens of thousands of wood spirit stones appeared by his side.

Lady Shiji's expression went blank. Only after a moment did she react, screaming, "Ah! You bastard! Mine, those are my Spirit Stones!"

"Now, they are mine!" The corners of Lin Bei's mouth curled up. He stowed away the wood spirit stones before him with one hand and reached out again with the other.

"Dammit! Do you think I'll fall for the same trick twice?" Lady Shiji gritted her teeth and waved her hand to set up a barrier around herself.

Unfortunately, when their strengths were roughly equal, the Empty Hand Skill was nearly invincible. How could she possibly block it at will?

In the blink of an eye, another pile of wood spirit stones appeared beside Lin Bei.

This time, he didn't even need to move; Kunkun swept all the wood spirit stones away with a flap of his wings.

"Ah... damn you! Damn you!" Lady Shiji seemed to go mad as she lunged toward them of her own accord.

Lin Bei didn't confront her head-on at all, shifting his position again and again, yet the movements of his hands never stopped for a second.

After a dozen breaths, the Empty Hand Skill could no longer pull out anything useful.

In addition to hundreds of thousands of wood spirit stones, Lady Shiji had been completely stripped of everything else, including Medicinal Pills and Magic Treasures.

At this moment, she felt as if her body had been hollowed out. Driven to total madness, her hair was disheveled and her eyes were bloodshot as she swung her jade sword, carving tunnel after tunnel through the mountain's interior.

The wood spirit birds present had long since fled through various tunnels.

"Die! Die! Die! I'll kill you!" Her voice sounded as if it came from the Nine Serenities, filled with endless resentment.

Lin Bei teleported once more to dodge the attack, his brow furrowing slightly.

"What's going on? She clearly has an immortal bell fragment on her, so why can't the Empty Hand Skill take it?"

Previously, it was precisely because he sensed the immortal bell fragment in this mountain that he changed his mind and came in to investigate.

The moment he saw Lady Shiji, he was certain the fragment was on her.

"It seems I'll have to take action after all and beat her back to her original form first!"

Having made up his mind, Lin Bei no longer held back!

With the moral seal in one hand and the Nine Dragons Immortal Sword in the other, he charged straight at the madwoman.

"Good! Good! Come then!" Seeing that Lin Bei was no longer dodging, Lady Shiji's eyes lit up with excitement.

However, in the next instant, her excitement froze on her face.

Looking at the broken jade sword in her hand, her madness quickly receded as she finally realized the truth.

She simply couldn't win!

Without wood spirit stones to replenish her and with her jade sword unable to re-solidify, Lady Shiji could only take the beating passively, devoid of any power to resist.

"Ah! Spare me, please spare me!" By this point, she finally began to feel terror. "I don't want them anymore, I don't want any of those things, I beg you to spare me..."

"Spare you?" Kunkun also seized the opportunity to slam down a universe seal. "Weren't you the one saying all birds are your slaves?"

"I... I... Ah!" Before Lady Shiji could even speak, she let out a blood-curdling scream and transformed into a massive wood spirit stone.

The wood spirit stone was crystal clear, emitting a hazy green light. In its center, a bronze fragment was clearly visible.

Seeing this, Lin Bei gained a bit of understanding.

"So the immortal bell fragment had already fused with her. No wonder the Empty Hand Skill didn't work!"

"Perhaps this wood spirit stone was able to take human form because of the immortal bell fragment..."

A wood spirit stone of this size was certainly of immense value, but since it was attached to the immortal bell fragment, he didn't hesitate to strike down with his sword.

"Crack!" To Wu Dalang's pained expression, the wood spirit stone split into two halves.

Lin Bei moved like a flash to catch the immortal bell fragment, his heart racing with excitement.

There were basically no traces of fragments left on the Ancient Desolate Continent, yet he had already obtained a new one just after arriving in the Immortal Realm.

This immediately made his mind race with possibilities.

...

Mist swirled outside the mountain peak, and under the cover of the barrier, it was even harder to see what was happening inside.

None of the seven Young Lords of the Seven Cities of Beidou had left, occasionally paying attention to the movements within the barrier.

"Heh... it looks like the struggle is quite intense!" Xu Feng leaned back in his seat, sensing the ripples emanating from within the mountain.

"It is indeed intense!" Shen Haoran, who sat opposite him and seemed naturally at odds with him, immediately spoke up in mockery. "Xu Feng, perhaps all eight people from your Tianshu City are already dead!"

Xu Feng glanced at him with a cold sneer. "Shen Haoran, if this Young Master remembers correctly, your Yaoguang City hasn't had a share in any of the twelve mining mountain ranges in recent years, right?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Haoran's gaze instantly turned icy.

In recent years, Yaoguang City had indeed been down on its luck, suffering repeated defeats in the struggle for mineral veins.

"Hahaha!" Seeing his expression, Xu Feng laughed heartily. "It's alright, Brother Shen. If my Tianshu City wins this time, I'll give you eight or ten wood spirit stones as a souvenir!"

"You..." Just as Shen Haoran was about to speak, the barrier outside the mountain suddenly shuddered.

Caught off guard, more than twenty silver-armored guards retreated two steps in unison as the barrier vanished.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Figures immediately rushed out from all directions, fleeing into the distance.

It had been less than an hour since they entered the barrier, and these True Immortals had basically not found a single wood spirit stone.

If they returned to the ranks of the Seven Cities of Beidou, they would only find death. It was better to flee for their lives and have a slim hope of survival.

"Apprehend them!" Before the seven Young Lords could understand what was happening, they could only hastily issue orders.

Thump, thump, thump... Before the silver-armored guards could move, two people stepped out of the mountain one after another.

Every step seemed to land on a spatial node, producing a sound like a beating drum.

"It's them!" The two silver-armored guards from Tianshu City who had brought Lin Bei here suddenly cried out in surprise.

"Heh... interesting!" Xu Feng's eyes turned cold. "It seems the two you brought along halfway are not ordinary characters!"

The people from the other six cities also looked at him with half-smiles.

They could naturally see that Lin Bei was extraordinary, and such a person would generally have an extraordinary background.

If the other party's background was so great that the Seven Cities of Beidou couldn't afford to offend them, then Tianshu City would likely have to pay a heavy price...

Xu Feng naturally understood this logic as well. His cold expression instantly transformed into a smile as he took the initiative to greet the two.

"Brother Dao, you've kept me in the dark so well, making me look like a fool... I'm truly ashamed..."

Wu Dalang's figure paused slightly, and his already trailing position widened even further.

Now, everyone knew who the protagonist was!

A cold light flickered deep in Xu Feng's eyes, but he still cupped his fists toward Lin Bei. "May I ask where Brother Dao hails from?"

Lin Bei's lips curled up. "Young Master Xu of Tianshu City, right? I, Lin, am but a nobody. Coming here this time, I indeed have a small matter I need Tianshu City's help with..."