“Are they really his companions?” Within a bush, Ling Feng questioned Tian Xuan.
“Do you believe them?” Tian Xuan looked at them since there was an indifferent smile on Cheng Yu’s face. He was doubtful.
“I can’t be sure. But what should we do? That brat is currently injured. It’s the best time for us to make our move,” Ling Feng saw Cheng Yu’s complexion was still pale, so he reminded Tian Xuan.
“If you want to go, go ahead. We can only choose to be his friend,” Tian Xuan paid attention to the situation before speaking.
“Why?” Ling Feng enquired doubtfully.
“What’s the reason for us hunting him earlier?”
“His soul tool!” Ling Feng replied quickly.
“That’s right! But now that the soul tool is no longer on him, why should we risk our lives to kill him? Furthermore, I don’t believe that he doesn’t have anymore hidden trump cards. If the three Golden Core middle stage cultivators are really his companions, do you think that we, being in the Golden Core initial stage, would be able to resist them?” Tian Xuan spoke objectively.
“Right! Watching them battle has caused me to become muddle-headed,” Ling Feng patted his forehead. Becoming too anxious had made him almost take a misstep. Frankly, that brat could not be counted as their enemy. The reason why they wanted to deal with him was because of the soul tool. Now that the soul tool is no longer on him, for what reason would they get rid of him?
Those three Golden Core cultivators, regardless of the others being his companions, had to seize the soul tool from them. But all of them were in the Golden Core middle stage. Just by relying on themselves, they would not be able to defeat them. Therefore, regardless of what reason they gave, the plans they had for the soul tool had all been destroyed.
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“Who are you people?” After a period of time, the plump man had finally gotten weak from drastic Qi consumption. After all, the other party had three people. However, he still wasn’t convinced that the trio were Cheng Yu’s companions. Because they battled for so long, their fighting pattern was totally different from Cheng Yu. It was impossible for them to be in the same group.
“Hmph! Return the soul tool to us, then we will tell you,” The person who had received the soul tool yelled at that plump man. Although he was the first person to snatch the soul tool, after battling for so long, the soul tool had changed hands a couple of times. Ultimately, it landed into the plump man’s hands. This caused him to be extremely angry.
“Return it to you? Since when is the soul tool yours? If you are tactful, scram! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite,” The plump man stated complacently. He was very excited at that moment but having been entangled by three other people, he was unable to get out of the situation. This caused the duo to be stuck in a stalemate. Furthermore, what was worse was that even though the soul tool had landed in his hand, he was still unable to control it. Even after numerous tries, he was still unable to manipulate it. On the contrary, he was actually pressured by it.
Because the soul tool had an owner and the owner was still around, it wouldn’t accept others using it. Therefore, he basically couldn’t utilize it. Moreover, the soul tool had its own spirit. Without going through the refinement process, it couldn’t be kept inside a storage pouch because the tool’s spirit would resist it. This was also the reason why when Cheng Yu wanted to put Tian Xue and Tian Xing into the Mountain River Diagram, he had told them not to resist or reject his will. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to enter Cheng Yu’s storage treasure because they would be suppressed by Cheng Yu’s treasure.
This was the same thing that happened when Cheng Yu was collecting the soul tools at the different palaces. Fortunately, he had the keys. Thus, he was able to collect them and place it into his storage easily. If not, he would have had to refine them one by one. Holding onto the soul tool yet not being able to use it had made the plump man feel extremely gloomy. In addition, he couldn’t place it into his storage pouch. This had severely affected his fighting power, making a huge problem for him. In the end, the soul tool could only be used to block incoming sword attacks time after time, so it became a burden for him.
“Since it’s like this, we can only continue exchanging moves!” That person knew that in wanting to seize the soul tool, he had to defeat them. After speaking, he thrust his sword towards his opponent. Watching the few of them initiating another round of battle, Cheng Yu stood a distance away, cheering silently. The Qi in his body slowly regenerated. After a few moments more, although the Qi within him was yet to be sufficient for him to fight another intense battle, it was not a problem for him to escape.
The plump man was being confronted by two other Golden Core middle stage experts as he got beaten hard. At that very moment, he truly hoped that he possessed the overbearingness of Cheng Yu when he was facing a dozen Golden Core experts. However, he was only an ordinary Golden Core middle stage cultivator. Don’t talk about fighting a dozen Golden Core experts alone, even fighting two similar realm experts was already a problem for him. One of them leaped up from the bush, cleaving down at the plump man. As the plump man was defending against the other guy, he was cleaved down directly, flying away by dozens of meters.
That plump man rolled on the ground a few times before coming to a stop with one of his knees on the ground. With his sword being inserted into the ground, he vomited mouthfuls of blood as he glared at the duo. He glanced at his companion who was fighting as well. Similar to him, his companion was holding the lower hand. The situation caused him to start feeling anxious.
“Return the soul tool to us. We can spare your lives,” Although they were holding the upper hand, they still weren’t willing to fight an all out battle. Because wanting to kill a Golden Core middle stage cultivator was too difficult. If they were to force them into desperate straits, they would certainly detonate their golden core. With their strength, they were not able to block the might of a Golden Core detonation. Therefore, without absolute strength or any particular method to prevent the other party from self-detonating their golden core, Golden Core experts would not fight a deathmatch. Not until there was no alternative left, they would still hope that their opponent would compromise.
“Hmph! Want the soul tool? Over my dead body!” The plump man held the soul tool in his left hand, showing a resolute expression. It was a soul tool. A majority of the people yearned for soul tools. Now that it had landed into his hand, why would he hand it over so easily? Unless the other party would dare to risk their lives.
“Since you want to die, I shall grant your wish! Breezing slash!” That person shouted, leaping up once again. He slashed towards that plump man as a sword image charged over. The plump man’s complexion changed. He placed the soul tool in front of him. The Purple Light Sword shined, blocking the sword image. But even so, the plump man was still forced to retreat by the explosiveness. That plump man was injured once again. However, the majority of the explosiveness had been cancelled out by the soul tool. The explosiveness he bore was very little. The plump man looked at the soul tool in his hand excitedly. This soul tool was out of the ordinary. Even before it belonged to him, it already possessed such powerful strength.
If he was able to fully refine it, making it acknowledge him as its master, then how strong would it be? At the very least, he could deal with these people easily, without any problem. After his thoughts, the plump man tightened his grip on the soul tool. Such a formidable treasure, he must not let someone take it away. Meanwhile, that person was shocked. He had never imagined that his signature move would be cancelled by the soul tool so easily. Looking at the soul tool in his opponent’s hands, he grew even more resolute on seizing it.
These few people were all loose cultivators. They didn’t have much wealth. For them to be able to advance to Golden Core Realm, they had spent lots of their savings. The weapons they had on hand would at most be a supreme-grade treasured tools. Even if they used all the strength they had, it still wouldn’t be comparable to the strength that the soul tool could bring forth. For the soul tool to cancel out a signature move, it wasn’t difficult. All of a sudden, that tall man was also slashed down by one of the trio and inflicted with serious injuries.
“Kill! Must get the soul tool back!” That person was delighted when he saw the situation. The trio joined hands and started attacking the plump man. Although he couldn’t use the soul tool, the soul tool’s defensive mechanism was still around. Once it was met with attacks, it would automatically block them. But such a lackluster defense ultimately wouldn’t be able to defend against the trio together. The plump man was forced back to the side of the injured tall man. After that, the trio surrounded them.
“As I said before, hand over the soul tool. We will not kill you! This is your last chance. Otherwise, we will force you to self-detonate your golden core, even if we have to be injured severely.”
That plump man was taken aback. His complexion turned very ugly. After much difficulty was he able to advance into the Golden Core Realm. How could he possibly be willing to self-detonate his golden core? Suddenly, that plump man saw the nearby Cheng Yu. He spoke, ”Are you truly his companion?”
That person turned his head to glance at Cheng Yu. He shook his head, ”Nope!”
“Haha! Good! What a scheme of using someone else’s strength to kill others! Brat, you are very smart! But now that your soul tool has landed into others’ hand, aren’t you at the same end as us?” The plump man narrated to Cheng Yu.
“Hehe. Formerly, it might be so. But now…it’s hard to say!” Cheng Yu smiled. They had battled for so long. In addition to the Qi Gathering Pills he had consumed, he had recovered a substantial amount of Qi, making his confidence bloom. At the very least, fleeing wasn’t a problem to him anymore.
“What do you mean?” Everyone looked at Cheng Yu in confusement.
“Hehe, you will know of it soon. Return!” Cheng Yu smiled faintly before he shouted. All of a sudden, the Purple Light Sword in the plump man’s hand released dazzling purple rays before flying out of his hand. Everyone felt that their vision had been blocked, rendering them blind.
“Go!” Cheng Yu retrieved the Purple Light Sword and waved his hand. He placed Huo Yu, Tian Xue and Tian Xing back into the Mountain River Diagram before flying away.
“Chase!” When everyone recovered their vision, they saw Cheng Yu leaving. The trio’s leader got anxious as he shouted, bringing along the other two to chase. The plump man did not go on to pursue. When he saw everyone had left, he was filled with regret, pity and joy. Originally, he thought that he would be able to obtain the soul tool with ease. He never expected that he would get nothing and would even be injured gravely. Luckily, both of them had managed to preserve their lives. This could be counted as a blessing within the adversity.
Cheng Yu saw the trio pursuing him unrelentlessly, making him to feel anxious. If he were to continue flying like this, the Qi within him would run out sooner or later. Looking at the dense and lush land in front of him, Cheng Yu flew in directly.
“Eh? Weird, I had clearly seen him flying in here. How did he disappear?” The trio flew into the dense flowery land, but did not discover Cheng Yu’s shadow.
“Quickly search. He is certainly hiding nearby!”
“Look! He’s there! Quickly chase, he’s flying off again!” One of them pointed at the human figure that had just took off.
“Hu! Luckily I had bought this Metamorphosis Pearl previously!” When he saw the trio was chasing after his cloned shadow, Cheng Yu sighed in relief. He quickly fled in the other direction.
