84: The self-cultivation of a hostage! The most wanted criminal in the Great Wilderness!

In the Great Desolate jungle, ancient trees reached for the sky.

A golden afterimage streaked through the woods at extreme speed. Everywhere it passed, trees fell and dust billowed, forcibly carving out a "straight-line path."

Gu Yang carried a black-clad woman on his shoulder who was tied up (actually just wrapped twice with a vine) and was sprinting at a staggered speed.

"Slower! Slower! I'm going to throw up!"

Saintess You Ruo was tossed about until she was dizzy, her face pale, no longer possessing her previous coldness and arrogance.

She was the dignified Saintess of the Heavenly Demon Cult, a Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, yet now she was being carried like a tattered sack. Moreover, this savage's shoulder was as hard as iron, bruising her stomach.

"Throw up?"

Gu Yang didn't stop, speaking without looking back:

"If you dare throw up on me, I'll toss you into the swamp ahead to feed the crocodiles."

Saintess immediately covered her mouth, forcibly swallowing the nausea.

She could tell this savage was definitely capable of doing such a thing.

"Roar—!"

Just then, a Golden Scaled Python (a Fourth-rank Desolate Beast, comparable to the Early Nascent Soul Stage) covered in golden scales suddenly lunged out from ahead, blocking the path with its bloody maw.

"Get lost! A good dog doesn't block the way!"

Gu Yang didn't even look, directly using the Saintess on his shoulder as a shield, thrusting her forward.

"Ah—!" Saintess screamed, her face turning pale with fright as she saw the snake's fangs right before her eyes.

But the moment before impact, Gu Yang pulled her back and threw a backhand punch at the Golden Scaled Python's seven-inch mark.

Bang!

The Golden Scaled Python's head exploded, its massive body slumping to the ground.

"This snake skin is decent; I'll skin it to make a pair of shoes."

Gu Yang skillfully skinned and gutted it, then dug out the best part—the snake gall. After a thought, he handed it to Saintess.

"Here, nourish your body. You're too thin. If you starve to death, my hostage will have been caught for nothing."

Saintess looked at the dripping, foul-smelling snake gall, tears welling in her eyes.

"I... I don't eat raw things..."

"High-maintenance." Gu Yang rolled his eyes and swallowed it in one gulp. "If you won't eat it, fine. I'll nourish myself."

At nightfall, the two settled in a hidden cave.

Gu Yang built a fire at the cave entrance and roasted the Golden Scaled Python meat.

Saintess huddled in a corner, watching the man feasting, her feelings complicated to the extreme.

Anger? Of course.

Fear? That too.

But more than that, it was a... never-before-felt sense of absurdity.

Although this man was crude, barbaric, and gluttonous, he was indeed ridiculously strong.

Along the way, no matter what Desolate Beast they encountered, it was settled with a single punch.

And when Mo Yi and Mo Er caught up, he actually protected her behind him immediately (though it was to use her as a hostage).

"Hey, woman."

Gu Yang suddenly spoke, tossing over a piece of roasted snake meat.

"Eat some, don't starve to death. If you die, I'll have to refine you into a Corpse Puppet to trade for money."

Saintess looked at the charred piece of meat, hesitated for a moment, then picked it up and took a bite.

Although there were no seasonings and it tasted a bit burnt, at this moment of hunger, she actually found it... unexpectedly fragrant?

"Let me ask you something."

Gu Yang said while picking his teeth, "I saw those two bodyguards of yours using Moves that seemed to have a hint of 'Law'? Like gravity, tearing... how do you train that stuff?"

Saintess wiped her mouth, recovering a hint of her Saintess arrogance:

"That is the Law of Heaven and Earth that can only be mastered in the Soul Transformation Stage! It requires comprehending the Heavenly Dao and condensing a Dao Fruit. A brute like you who only knows how to train muscles will never learn it."

"Oh?"

Gu Yang pulled out the bitten heavenly demon bell from his robe.

"Then does this thing also contain Laws?"

Saintess's expression changed: "That's the heavenly demon bell! It contains the 'Law of Soundwaves' and the 'Law of Illusions'! Don't... don't do anything reckless!"

"Since I can't learn it, I'll just eat it."

Gu Yang grinned and, in front of Saintess, took another bite of the heavenly demon bell.

Crunch!

[Devouring Top-grade Demon Treasure fragments... Analyzing Law fragments...]

[Obtained a trace of "Law of Vibration" comprehension!]

Gu Yang closed his eyes, feeling the mysterious ripple within his body.

He casually threw a punch into the air.

Buzz—

Where the punch passed, the air didn't explode; instead, it produced a high-frequency shockwave that directly vibrated the rocks ahead into powder!

"So this is Law?"

Gu Yang opened his eyes, which were full of excitement. "As long as I eat enough, even a brute can understand the Law!"

Saintess was completely dumbfounded.

Eating Magic Treasures? Comprehending Laws?

Just what kind of monster is this?!

Just then, a violent spatial fluctuation suddenly came from outside the cave.

"Found you! Little thief!"

Mo Yi's cold voice echoed in the valley.

Immediately after, countless streaks of Devilish Qi soared into the sky, surrounding the entire valley so tightly that not even water could leak through.

It wasn't just the Heavenly Demon Cult; other forces in the Great Desolate that moved upon hearing the news also wanted a piece of the pie.

"Gu Yang! Hand over the Saintess! Hand over the Sacred Object!"

Gu Yang stood up and brushed the dust off his buttocks.

He glanced at the pale Saintess and suddenly smiled.

"Looks like we're surrounded."

He walked up to Saintess and hoisted her onto his shoulder.

"Hold on tight, woman."

"Next, I'm taking you for a thrill!"

Gu Yang walked out of the cave, looking at the enemies covering the mountains and plains, and the two Soul Transformation Stage Protectors in the distance emitting terrifying pressure.

His gaze passed over everyone and landed on a direction further away.

There was a Forbidden Ground perpetually shrouded in blood-colored lightning—God-Falling Valley!

Legend had it that a True God had fallen there, and even Soul Transformation Stage experts would get lost; it was a dead end with no escape.

"Wolves in front and tigers behind, so let's jump off the cliff!"

Glazed Golden Light erupted from Gu Yang's body, and the Extreme Dao Force Field fully opened.

He didn't choose to break through the encirclement, but instead did the opposite, launching a death-defying charge toward the Forbidden Ground that everyone else avoided!

"Survival through certain death! Maybe there's something good to eat inside?!"