Chapter 306: Obtaining the Spirit Clarity Fruit, a Massacre at the Valley Entrance

Chapter 306: Obtaining the Spirit Clarity Fruit, a Massacre at the Valley Entrance

The Azure Wind Eagle and the middle-aged man soon engaged in an intense battle.

Although Tan Tai Song had just been flipped over by the eagle, the claw attack hadn't caused any serious injuries.

However, at this moment, he dared not linger in the vicinity any longer.

With a grim expression, he cautiously maneuvered around the fighting Eighth-rank demon and the middle-aged Nascent Soul cultivator. He then took out a larger storage bag from his waist, put on a new set of robes, and fled in the direction of Wu Lingwei.

Startled and shaken, he naturally didn't notice the small storage bag that had fallen to the ground.

At this moment, Chu Ning was eyeing the storage bag covetously, but with a Nascent Soul cultivator and an Eighth-rank demon not far away, he dared not make any hasty moves.

However, soon enough, Chu Ning noticed that as the battle raged on, the cultivator and the demon gradually began to move away from their original location.

Although there was a steady stream of Golden Core cultivators and Seventh-rank demons arriving, none of them dared to venture close to the ongoing clash.

"Perfect timing!"

At that moment, after several exchanges of attacks, the Azure Wind Eagle and the middle-aged man had once again created some distance between them.

Although the eagle was in its true form, it spoke in a human language.

"I didn't expect that by spreading the news of the Spirit Clarity Fruit, we would attract not only so many Golden Core cultivators but also Nascent Soul cultivators.

Human cultivators are truly foolish beyond measure."

As the eagle's words spread, the faces of the present cultivators turned ashen.

"So, the Spirit Clarity Fruit was just a false rumor!"

"It was all a trap set by the demons!"

The first instinct of the cultivators was to flee immediately. Since the Spirit Clarity Fruit didn't exist here, they no longer had any desire to fight.

However, at this moment, there were not only four Eighth-rank demons but also several dozen Seventh-rank demons in the area.

Even if the cultivators wanted to leave, they were no longer in control of their own destinies.

The Azure Wind Eagle and the middle-aged man in the brocade robe clashed once more, and the cultivators could only think about escaping from the demons they were currently fighting with as quickly as possible.

They had no time to spare for anything else.

"This is actually a good opportunity to escape, but I might as well try my luck with that storage bag!"

Hiding underground, Chu Ning muttered to himself. Instead of emerging from the ground, he used the Earth Shadow Evasion Technique to escape in the direction of the valley entrance.

After traveling a considerable distance, Chu Ning finally tapped his spirit beast bag.

He released the Iron Rock Beast, the lowest-ranked among the spirit beasts he had been raising. It was only at the peak of the Third-rank, just a step away from becoming a Fourth-rank beast.

It had already been surpassed by the Golden Thunder Eagle.

However, as an earth-attribute demon beast, it was the most suitable for the current situation.

If things went awry, Chu Ning would only lose a Third-rank spirit beast at most.

The massive body of the Iron Rock Beast nimbly burrowed through the earth under Chu Ning's control, quickly reaching beneath the storage bag.

Using the Earth Evasion technique, it emerged just enough to reveal its head, its eyes scanning the area.

In the next moment, the Iron Rock Beast dove back into the ground.

The middle-aged Nascent Soul cultivator and the Azure Wind Eagle, despite being engaged in battle, had still noticed the Iron Rock Beast.

However, upon sensing that it was only a Third-rank demon beast, they paid it no further attention.

They assumed that the Iron Rock Beast was a native demon of this valley, curious enough to emerge and take a look, only to be frightened back underground by the presence of so many powerful demons and cultivators.

Thus, neither the middle-aged cultivator nor the Azure Wind Eagle realized that when the Iron Rock Beast re-entered the earth, it had also pulled the storage bag underground with it.

From a distance, Chu Ning saw that neither the battling cultivator nor the demon paid any heed to the Iron Rock Beast, and his heart rejoiced.

He directed the Iron Rock Beast to bite onto the storage bag and quickly return with it. Chu Ning swiftly tucked the bag into his embrace.

After returning the Iron Rock Beast to its spirit beast bag, Chu Ning used the Earth Evasion technique to continue his escape toward the valley entrance.

The cultivators and demons fighting in the air naturally wouldn't have imagined that a Golden Core cultivator was slipping away right under their noses.

After traveling nearly twenty miles, Chu Ning finally stopped. He used his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings and found no trace of any cultivators or demons.

Chu Ning quickly emerged from the ground.

While the Earth Shadow Evasion Technique was indeed swift, it couldn't compare to the Wind Evasion technique for aerial flight.

"Hmm, the spiritual energy here is rather dense."

As Chu Ning pondered, his gaze swept the area, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Did something just burrow underground?"

Maintaining his cautious attitude, Chu Ning extended his spiritual sense to probe further.

He soon discovered, about fifty feet beneath the ground in front of him, two infant-like spirit fruits with colorful hues. They were dragging a one-foot-tall spirit plant as they fled through the earth.

However, the two spirit fruits seemed to be aiming in different directions, causing the plant to veer left and right unpredictably.

"Could these be... the Spirit Clarity Fruits?"

Chu Ning's eyes narrowed slightly.

The Azure Wind Eagle had clearly stated that the news of the Spirit Clarity Fruit in the Snow Mist Valley was a lie they had fabricated.

It was all a trap set for human cultivators.

But at this moment, the two infant-like spirit fruits clearly matched the description given by Wu Lingwei.

Moreover, even the sinister old demon, Shi Tuo Yan, had acknowledged them.

They had to be the real deal.

This thought flashed through Chu Ning's mind in an instant. Almost simultaneously, Chu Ning, who had just broken through the earth's surface, dove back underground.

He rapidly pursued the Spirit Clarity Fruits.

"This Earth Shadow Evasion Technique truly excels in underground speed!"

As he watched his distance from the Spirit Clarity Fruits rapidly decrease, a smile flashed in Chu Ning's eyes.

The Spirit Clarity Fruits ahead seemed to have a sense of awareness. Originally, the two fruits were veering left and right unpredictably.

The speed of his Earth Shadow Evasion Technique suddenly increased by a third.

He quickly caught up to the spirit plant and grabbed it with one hand.

Suddenly, a huge pulling force dragged him forward, almost yanking him out by a full three meters.

"Now that you've fallen into my hands, don't even think about escaping."

Chu Ning smiled faintly and released his spiritual sense once more to scan the surroundings.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual on the ground, he pulled the Spirit Clarity Fruits out of the ground.

Without pausing to examine the fruits, Chu Ning quickly took out a large jade box from his storage bag and placed the entire spirit plant inside.

He then took out a talisman and pasted it onto the jade box before putting it away.

As Chu Ning tucked the jade box into his storage bag, he looked up and flew towards the valley entrance.

Although he was extremely curious about the Spirit Clarity Fruits, he dared not linger and instead prioritized escaping to safety.

"Even the outskirts of Snow Mist Valley are filled with such dense demonic aura. I wonder how many demonic beasts have entered this valley this time."

Chu Ning's expression turned solemn as he flew forward.

"It's hard to say about the Golden Core later stage cultivators inside, but the Golden Core early and mid-stage cultivators, as well as the Foundation Establishment cultivators on the outskirts, have probably suffered heavy casualties."

Although Chu Ning hadn't seen a single cultivator corpse along the way, he occasionally sensed traces of bloody aura, indicating that cultivators had perished to the demonic beasts.

As he rushed forward, Chu Ning soon reached a point about a hundred li away from the valley entrance.

At that moment, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

The next instant, he opened his mouth and expelled the three-colored giant sword formed by the Fire Spirit Sword, Wood Spirit Sword, and Earth Spirit Sword.

He slashed down at a boulder-like existence in front of him.

"Crack!"

Accompanied by a faint cracking sound, a tiny head poked out, its two eyes filled with shock and fear.

Chu Ning now clearly saw that it was a huge Earth Armor Turtle.

The color of this turtle's shell was almost identical to the stones on the ground, and it had no aura, so if not for Chu Ning's strong spiritual sense and keen perception, it would have been impossible to discover.

The Earth Armor Turtle's small eyes turned, scanning Chu Ning, and then it tried to retract its head into its shell to escape.

This turtle had been lying in ambush for a long time, occasionally ambushing scattered Golden Core cultivators who passed by.

But it never expected to encounter a hard nail when it tried the same trick again.

A cultivator who could crack its turtle shell with a single strike was not someone it could withstand.

However, its movements were far slower than Chu Ning's.

Just as it started to retract its head, Chu Ning's giant sword slashed down again.

The turtle's head was directly severed and fell to the ground.

A Sixth-rank demonic beast had lost its life in just two strikes from Chu Ning.

He casually put the beast's corpse into his storage bag and continued flying forward without hesitation.

Before long, he arrived at the passage leading to the valley entrance.

When Chu Ning saw the scene before him, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

At the valley exit, there was a pile of corpses, both cultivators and demonic beasts.

Twenty or so cultivators were currently fighting against the demonic beasts guarding the valley entrance.

Among the twenty or so cultivators, there wasn't a single Foundation Establishment cultivator. As for the Golden Core cultivators, more than half were mid-stage Golden Core, and there were also six or seven early-stage Golden Core cultivators.

The demonic beasts they were facing were all Sixth-rank beasts, comparable to mid-stage Golden Core cultivators, and there were more than thirty of them.

Chu Ning recognized Chang Ling Shan and Wu Rong Feng among the cultivators fighting the beasts.

However, he did not see Han Shi Hong and He Yong Zhi.

Chang Ling Shan and Wu Rong Feng also noticed Chu Ning's arrival, and their eyes lit up with surprise and hope.

Chang Ling Shan shouted, "Brother Chu, your timing is perfect! These demonic beasts are blocking our way out of the valley."

The other twenty or so cultivators fighting the beasts heard Chang Ling Shan's words, but their expressions didn't change much.

To them, a single mid-stage Golden Core cultivator wouldn't be able to change the situation much.

The fact that not a single late-stage Golden Core cultivator had shown up was what truly worried all the cultivators.

Only Wu Rong Feng's eyes shone with a glimmer of hope.

She had witnessed Chu Ning's terrifying abilities on the island before.

She knew that as long as Chu Ning took action, these Sixth-rank demonic beasts wouldn't stand a chance.

Chu Ning's eyebrows furrowed as he hesitated to reveal too much of his abilities in front of so many cultivators.

However, he then thought of the four Eighth-rank demon kings and the numerous Seventh-rank demonic beasts behind him.

At this moment, Chu Ning could not afford to hold back. He opened his mouth and expelled the three spirit swords.

Then, he made a pinching gesture with his hands, and the three flying swords directly slashed towards the three Sixth-rank demonic beasts attacking Chang Ling Shan and Wu Rong Feng.

However, Chu Ning did not use the Metal Fist Technique to follow up with an attack as he had done before.

After all, he had already used that technique when fighting against Dan Tai Song, the young sect master of the Illusion Spirit Sect.

If he used it again, his identity might be exposed.

But even without that technique, it was more than enough! The three Sixth-rank demonic beasts were already besieging Chang Ling Shan and Wu Rong Feng.

At this moment, Chu Ning made a quick hand seal.

The three flying swords in the air instantly merged into a giant sword, slashing through and breaking the spell in the middle.

The tri-colored giant sword then transformed into a graceful swan, swooping down towards the demon and delivering a fierce blow!

As for the two spells launched by the blue snake carp, they were blocked by two fiery sun spirit birds that Chu Ning had casually summoned.

The sixth-rank blue snake carp clearly hadn't expected Chu Ning to exhibit such variations in an instant.

Just as the tri-colored giant sword was about to land a heavy blow...

The demon finally reacted and tried to cast a spell to defend itself.

But it was too late!

The giant sword descended, and the demon's body was cleaved in two!

Chang Ling Shan and Wu Rong Feng were overjoyed to see that Chu Ning's attack had easily slain the sixth-rank demon beast.

The other Golden Core cultivators were also greatly encouraged by this display.

Each of these sixth-rank demon beasts had some degree of spiritual intelligence, and seeing Chu Ning's formidable prowess filled them with dread.

Several of the sixth-rank demon beasts immediately surrounded Chu Ning, launching a group attack.

This was when Chu Ning truly began to showcase his capabilities.

Even without the ability to use the Metal Fist Technique, the combination of his three flying swords, the Heaven Fire Sword Art, and the Blazing Inferno Art was more than enough to handle the situation.

From time to time, he also unleashed the Void Finger, each strike finding its mark with unerring accuracy.

In just a short moment, the four sixth-rank demon beasts surrounding Chu Ning were all slain!

Casually collecting the demon beasts' remains into his storage bag, Chu Ning didn't wait for them to regroup and attack again.

Wielding the tri-colored giant sword, his figure flashed, and he appeared in front of Wu Rong Feng.

She was currently under relentless attack from a sixth-rank demon beast and was clearly struggling to hold on.

A flash of blue light, and the tri-colored giant sword slashed at the sixth-rank demon beast.

Before the demon could react, Chu Ning followed up with a Void Finger strike.

The demon was completely annihilated.

Chu Ning repeated this process, helping Chang Ling Shan kill his opponent before moving on to the next person.

In a short span of time, the number of sixth-rank demon beasts slain by Chu Ning had reached ten.

The situation at the valley entrance underwent a noticeable shift.

The cultivators now held the advantage in numbers.

Seeing that things were turning against them, the sixth-rank demon beasts let out ear-piercing roars.

At this, Chu Ning's expression changed drastically.

If they attracted the eighth-rank and seventh-rank demon beasts from behind, escaping would become much more difficult.

Chu Ning reached out and produced a high-grade superior talisman.

Infusing it with spiritual power, the talisman burst into a dazzling display, scattering and assaulting the five demon beasts.

Each demon beast faced the onslaught of three or four talisman spells.

Even against sixth-rank demon beasts, high-grade superior talismans posed a significant threat.

The demon beasts had no choice but to dodge or activate their defenses to counter Chu Ning's talisman assault.

This put them at a clear disadvantage compared to when they were holding off the cultivators.

"Fellow cultivators, we must end this quickly! If any seventh-rank demon beasts arrive, things will get troublesome!"

Chu Ning deliberately avoided mentioning the eighth-rank demon beasts, not wanting to reveal that he had encountered them deeper in the valley.

However, upon hearing Chu Ning's words, the cultivators dared not hesitate. They unleashed their signature moves, determined to finish off the demon beasts.

One of the demon beasts, struck by Chu Ning's hidden Void Finger amidst the barrage of talisman spells, fell first to the cultivators' attacks.

Realizing that this method was more efficient than his own attacks, Chu Ning took out another high-grade superior talisman.

As he infused it with spiritual power, he used the Split Spirit Technique to control the talismans, directing them towards several demon beasts.

Simultaneously, his Void Finger and three flying swords trailed behind the talisman spells, striking at the demon beasts.

In a short while, several more sixth-rank demon beasts were slain.

Only about ten sixth-rank demon beasts remained.

Seeing that the situation was turning against them, a few demon beasts attempted to flee towards the valley's exterior.

"Kill these vile beasts!"

"Don't let them escape!!"

As the demon beasts tried to flee in disarray, the cultivators' morale soared, and they gave chase.

At this point, Chu Ning didn't need to exert himself. The cultivators who had been oppressed earlier were now displaying their unique skills.

Before eight of the demon beasts could escape the Snow Mist Valley, they were cut down by the cultivators.

Only two demon beasts with exceptional speed managed to break through the valley's entrance, heading deep into the Snowpeak Mountain Range.

The cultivators saw a flash of blue, and in two blinks of an eye, Chu Ning was in pursuit of the escaping demon beasts.

"It's Fellow Cultivator Chu!"

The cultivators naturally recognized Chu Ning, and their faces lit up with anticipation.

And Chu Ning did not disappoint.

He swung the tri-colored giant sword, aiming for the Snow Eagle Beast.

The sixth-rank Snow Eagle Beast's speed increased slightly, allowing it to dodge the giant sword's strike.

Just as the giant sword was about to miss, Chu Ning's hand moved, and a scarlet sword flew out from the giant sword!

"Screech!"

Accompanied by the cry of a fiery sun spirit bird, the Snow Eagle Beast was enveloped in flames.

Before it could put up further resistance, the cyan and yellow flying swords pierced its body.

As the demon beast fell, the three flying swords shot out again, targeting the next sixth-rank demon beast.

In a few breaths, the last sixth-rank demon beast was also slain by Chu Ning's sword.

The initially exuberant group of over twenty Golden Core cultivators suddenly fell silent.

They watched as Chu Ning, having collected the remains of the two demon beasts, returned to them. Complex emotions played on their faces—shock, admiration, and wariness.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end