Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 410: Chapter 410: Foundation Establishment’s Might

The words had barely left Hua Ling’s lips when Xu Yunfan’s eyes flickered. He caught the nearly imperceptible tremor of her pinky finger.

’This woman...’

A Silver Needle suddenly shot from Hua Ling’s slender fingertip. Its tip glinted with a sinister blue light as it stabbed toward Zhao Ti’s throat like a scorpion’s stinger.

This "Heart-Eroding Needle" was a Low-grade Magical Artifact she had gone to great lengths to gather materials for and have someone refine. The needle was as fine as an ox’s hair, yet it concealed a seven-layered poison. Spurred on by Hua Ling’s True Essence, its tail trailed a faint green mist that filled the air with the smell of blood.

"What audacity!"

Xu Yunfan praised her silently.

’One moment, this Demon Sect woman was the picture of pitiful beauty; the next, she dared to make a lethal move against the direct grandson of a Foundation Establishment Elder. No wonder she’s survived in the Primordial Sect for this long. Her Cultivation is solid and steady, after all.’

Within the Primordial Sect, low-level disciples struggled to survive. It was one thing inside the Sect’s territory, but outside, even they would fight to the death if pushed too far.

A Foundation Establishment Daoist Master might be able to divine what happened, but that would be after the fact. Besides, one could always find a way to obscure the Celestial Secret and prevent divination.

When the poisonous glint was just half an inch from Zhao Ti’s throat, the Soul-locking Chains of the three black-robed Profound Nether Guards shot out like black dragons emerging from an abyss.

The bone-corroding inscriptions on the chains flared with a crimson light, and though unleashed later, they wrapped around Hua Ling’s wrist first.

With a sickening CRACK of bone, her entire right arm was instantly twisted at a bizarre angle.

"Bitch!"

Zhao Ti stumbled back three steps and touched his neck. The black blood seeping from his fingertip made his face twist in a grimace. He had been poisoned.

But Hua Ling showed no fear. On the contrary, her success only made her more brazen.

A bewitching smile curved her lips, and her eyes gleamed with a nearly crazed triumph.

"This is Desire Poison..."

She stroked the hair at her temple, her voice as cloyingly sweet as a snake’s hiss. "It’s refined from a hundred kinds of mortal desires. Besides me..."

She suddenly lowered her voice, a mocking tone creeping in. "Even a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master would have a hard time dealing with it."

This was the essence of desire she had spent years harvesting.

Zhao Ti’s expression turned savage. As a disciple of Hundred Desires Peak, how could he not know? For someone in the Qi Cultivation Stage, this Desire Poison could only be cured by the one who cast it. And gods only knew what kind of layered effects she had created with those hundred desires.

A Foundation Establishment Daoist Master, of course, could easily divine the cure.

But he was only in the Mid-Stage of Qi Cultivation.

"Get her for me..."

BOOM!

A sword cry that shook the nine heavens suddenly exploded in the northern sky.

Xu Yunfan felt a tingling numbness shoot up his spine as the True Martial Demon Suppression True Qi in his body began to circulate on its own, as if facing a great enemy.

He turned to look and saw a thousand-mile sea of clouds swiftly appear on the horizon, only to be instantly cleaved in two by a beam of cyan jade sword light. Where the Sword Momentum passed, the Anomaly known as "Purple Mansion Flying Mist" manifested, as if countless rays of light were connecting heaven and earth.

"It’s a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master from the Wansheng Sword Sect!"

Li Ergou cried out in shock.

Everyone looked up. They could faintly make out a figure on the horizon, no bigger than a mustard seed, standing on a Jade Ruyi amidst the sword light. Yet with a wave of a sleeve, boundless Sword Qi surged forth.

The sword light was like the Celestial River inverted, drawing upon all the Cold Evil Qi that had accumulated in the Arctic Profound Ice Abyss for ten thousand years. It formed a three-thousand-foot ice dragon that plunged toward the depths of the Earth Vein.

"It’s the Dragon-Slaying Sword Momentum!"

Xu Yunfan’s pupils constricted.

As the Forehead Blood Pattern pulsed, his Martial Arts Celestial Eye clearly saw a completely transparent, sword-shaped Dao Foundation floating at the core of the Sword Qi.

"It’s the Wansheng Sword Sect’s Taiyi Cyan Sky Dao Foundation."

Yuu Congling, who hadn’t spoken up in a long time, finally said something, her voice tinged with a sigh.

"Li Qingling of the Wansheng Sword Sect. This Dao Foundation requires three hundred years of condensing the Nine Heavens Pure Spirit Qi to form. Wherever its sword light points, it can pierce the Nine Netherworld. No wonder even the Arctic Earth Vein was shaken."

Hearing Yuu Congling’s transmission, the utterly shocked Xu Yunfan snapped back to his senses slightly.

"You know her?"

Yuu Congling said, "My dear junior sister... I never thought she would reach Foundation Establishment before me..."

She couldn’t help but sigh softly. "One wrong step leads to a cascade of errors. If I had known, I would not have chosen to face my tribulation in the Divine Martial Realm."

At that moment, the ice sheet let out a mournful cry under the pressure of the sword, like a Primordial Giant Beast in agony.

Countless streams of profound-black Earth Vein Dragon Qi were forced to manifest, coalescing within the Sword Qi into nine struggling black dragons.

The Sword Cultivator formed a sword with her fingers, swiped down, and her sharp cry was like a heavenly decree: "Sever!"

In an instant, it was as if the river of stars had reversed its flow.

Xu Yunfan had to close his eyes to avoid the brilliant edge of the attack.

When he opened them again, the thousand-mile ice plain had been split by a chasm like an abyss, and the nine streams of Dragon Qi had been severed at the neck.

The aftershock from the residual Sword Qi swept over everyone’s heads. Xu Yunfan’s pupils shrank, and the blood in his veins seemed to freeze solid.

The aftershock of the Sword Qi swept past like a display of heavenly might. Zhao Ti’s Jade Pendant instantly turned to dust, while Hua Ling coughed up blood from her nose and mouth, a wretched sight.

And this was merely the aftershock of a casual strike from a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master—from a thousand miles away!

His heart pounded violently as an unprecedented thrill and desire surged in his chest.

’The Foundation Establishment Realm... it holds such power?’

’If a mere aftershock could shatter a Magical Artifact and injure a Cultivator, what kind of earth-shattering devastation would a full-powered attack from a Foundation Establishment Cultivator unleash at its epicenter?’

He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

He had originally thought that, at the Peak of Qi Cultivation, he was only a single step away from Foundation Establishment.

But now, seeing the difference with his own eyes, he realized that single step was like a heavenly chasm!

Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment were two entirely different worlds!

"Foundation Establishment..."

He murmured in a low voice, a blazing fire igniting in his eyes.

’Until I reach Foundation Establishment, I am nothing but an ant!’

"Young Master, run!"

A Profound Nether Guard suddenly grabbed Zhao Ti. "It’s the Cyan Nether Daoist Master from the Wansheng Sword Sect! Three years ago at Cold Crow Pass, she was ruthless, killing several Daoist Masters from our Primordial Sect. One of them died by her sword! I don’t know why she’s here now!"

Zhao Ti shot a reluctant glare at Li Ergou, only to see that the coward had already scrambled into a crevice in the ice.

Seeing the sword light flare up in the sky again, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and crush an Escape Talisman. "You got lucky!"

A flash of purple light, and Zhao Ti’s group vanished. But Xu Yunfan whipped his head around.

Li Ergou had appeared behind Hua Ling at some point. In his palm rested a spinning, grayish-white Pill.

"A Profound Yin Soul Slaying Pill?!"

Hua Ling’s face contorted in horror.

It was a vile object refined from resentful souls. Once detonated, it could defile a person’s True Essence.

She tried to muster her remaining True Essence to dodge, but a strange smile appeared on Li Ergou’s simple, round face. "I’m sorry, Senior Sister, but I’ll have to borrow your body for a moment. If I achieve the Dao in the future, I will be sure to guide you out of the Sea of Suffering Reincarnation and help you continue your Immortal Path."

She instinctively looked toward Xu Yunfan, a hint of a plea in her eyes.

Xu Yunfan, who was ten feet away, saw this. His eyes flickered for a moment before returning to their usual calm. He watched impassively as the expression in Hua Ling’s eyes shifted from pleading to resentment, and finally to despair.

’These Demon Sect disciples... every last one of them deserves to die. Their deaths are not worth pitying.’

The instant the Pill exploded, Xu Yunfan clearly saw a flash of regret in Hua Ling’s eyes.

In the end, this disciple of Hundred Desires Peak had underestimated the viciousness of her fellow sect member.

She thought Li Ergou was just the worthless dreg Zhao Ti had called him, but she didn’t realize that for him to have survived this long, he naturally had his own ruthless methods.

As the gray mist engulfed her delicate body, the sight of her flesh melting like wax sent a slight chill through even Xu Yunfan.

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