The illusory golden dragon conjured by Wu Tao and the ten-meter-long tail of the Lion Savage Giant Beast collided head-on.
With a loud boom, the immense force generated a palpable ripple in the air, which quickly spread outwards.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment...
Wu Tao and the Lion Savage Giant Beast, man and beast, remained locked in a stalemate for a considerable period. The spiritual energy within Wu Tao's body gradually depleted as time passed, and he was on the verge of collapsing.
Sensing the dire situation, a ruthless glint flashed in Wu Tao's eyes. He retrieved the high-grade spiritual artifact, the Soul-Fall Bell, from his storage bag and poured the spiritual energy within him into it.
The Soul-Fall Bell chimed, and its peculiar resonance echoed throughout the surroundings.
An intangible divine sense attack vibrated through the souls of all living beings within the surrounding area.
On the ground, the ferocious and terrifying expression on the Lion Savage Giant Beast's massive face froze. Its continuous, storm-like assault came to an abrupt halt.
...
Seizing this opportunity, Wu Tao formed hand seals.
The five-zhang golden dragon, transformed from Magnetic Essence Qi, shattered under his control.
Fragments of Magnetic Essence Qi, like a torrential downpour, pierced through the Lion Savage Giant Beast's colossal, mountain-like body, creating countless pinprick holes.
A large volume of blood sprayed out from the pierced holes in its body like a fountain.
Within a radius of several hundred meters, deep red droplets of blood shimmered like stars, creating a strangely beautiful, yet melancholic scene.
...
Strike while the iron is hot. Following this, Wu Tao took out dozens of low-grade talismans from his storage bag – Fireball, Fire Serpent, Earth Thorn, Golden Sword, and more. They swarmed forth, overwhelming the troublesome Lion Savage Giant Beast and finishing it off in one decisive blow.
"It's finally over. This battle was truly exhausting!" Wu Tao breathed a sigh of relief as the Lion Savage Giant Beast let out its last breath.
He then instinctively scanned with his divine sense and, upon discovering that his dantian's spiritual energy was nearly depleted, with less than ten percent remaining, he couldn't help but let out a wry smile.
After collecting the most valuable parts of the Lion Savage Giant Beast – its teeth, fur, and inner core – and placing them in his storage bag, Wu Tao discarded the rest of the carcass due to the size limitations of his bag.
Wu Tao then began to search meticulously around the deep lake for "Heaven and Earth Spirit Treasures."
Logically, areas where rare Heaven and Earth Spirit Treasures appeared would also be guarded by powerful demon beasts, and vice versa.
Although the deep lake was extensive, its area was not overwhelmingly large, and Wu Tao soon found what he was looking for.
In a low-lying area by the lake, grew more than a dozen small, fluffy purple grasses.
Each stalk had five leaves, was entirely red and purple, and emitted a faint purple aura, as if shrouded in mist, truly resembling a spiritual root of heaven and earth.
"That's right, this is indeed Purple Smoke Grass, exactly as described in the records!" Wu Tao murmured softly, a hint of joy in his heart.
Although this herb was not considered a particularly precious spiritual medicine, a single stalk of Purple Smoke Grass could fetch a few spirit stones. Over a dozen stalks could be sold for tens of spirit stones.
...
It had been seven or eight days since he left his original location. Wu Tao had gathered numerous spiritual medicines and herbs and had encountered attacks from several foolish disciples of Demonic Cultivation Sects and his fellow disciples.
...
Now, Wu Tao no longer felt surprised by the frequent appearance of spiritual medicines and herbs. He also no longer felt "reluctant" when fighting and killing his fellow disciples, and then subsequently plundering their storage bags.
Instead, he felt it was the natural order of things, with little fluctuation in his heart, remaining as calm as still water.
The strong prey on the weak, and survival of the fittest is the most brutal truth of this world.
The cultivation world is a world where people devour each other. To survive in this world, one must become more ruthless and more powerful than others.
...
Squatting in front of a ginseng plant estimated to be about one hundred and fifty years old, Wu Tao used a talisman for a "Low-Grade Maze Formation" to set up a small concealment array. He then carefully began to harvest the ginseng.
This "Low-Grade Maze Formation" talisman had been found in the storage bag of a fellow disciple who had attempted to ambush him from behind.
He was still inexperienced in harvesting spiritual medicines and herbs and had never considered the need to set up an array while doing so.
...
The result of this was that during one harvesting, he was ambushed, not only were the spiritual medicines damaged, but he himself had almost capsized in a ditch and died in the secret realm.
It was from that assaulting fellow cultivator that Wu Tao had found this set of array talismans.
After fiddling with them for a while, Wu Tao immediately understood the efficacy of these talismans. Having learned from this bitter experience, he could be considered to have gained wisdom from his mistakes.
Wu Tao gently cleaned the mud and sand from the ginseng roots. He took out a jade box from his storage bag and carefully placed the ginseng, with its complete limbs and dense roots, into the box.
...
As soon as Wu Tao stood up, his expression subtly shifted. Following this, he paused his hand gesture for retrieving the talisman.
In the distance, an outer disciple of the Demonic Cultivation Sect, dressed in a pink robe, was holding a compass-like spiritual artifact and sensing something around.
After a slight hesitation, Wu Tao retracted the talisman, and the effect of concealing his presence vanished.
Wu Tao's figure was immediately exposed to others.
...
Upon discovering Wu Tao, the Demonic Cultivation Sect disciple was momentarily surprised. After a brief sensing of his aura and recognizing him as someone from the Taiyi Immortal Sect, he became delighted and said in an extremely sharp voice, "Esteemed Senior Brother from the Taiyi Immortal Sect ahead, please do not make a move. I have something to say to you!"
The sharpness of his voice and his unusual behavior made Wu Tao frown involuntarily.
The reason Wu Tao chose to reveal himself instead of continuing to hide was that he had discovered something else.
The needle of the compass in the hand of this Demonic Cultivation Sect disciple had begun to point towards his location.
Since he had already been discovered, there was no point in being clever and bringing disgrace upon himself. It was better to come out early.
...
Gently adjusting his flowing pink dress, Wang Siyuan carefully examined Wu Tao, her delicate eyebrows furrowed and her small mouth slightly parted. She said in a soft and delicate voice, "What a handsome and dashing Senior Brother, I like you so much..."
Before Wang Siyuan could finish speaking, a thick, golden arrow shot directly towards his head, cutting off the rest of his words.
Seeing this, a flicker of surprise flashed across Wang Siyuan's face. Then, without any apparent movement, he raised his eyebrows, and several streams of pitch-black qi erupted from his body, writhing and whistling like venomous snakes, weaving a watertight net of darkness in front of him.
The thick, golden arrow collided with the dark net of cold, ghostly qi, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and did not even cause a ripple.
"You... you, you are so despicable! How could you ambush me? I liked you very much at first and didn't want to oppose you. How can you attack me first?" Wang Siyuan reprimanded, a mixture of shock and anger on his face.
"Ridiculous. The winner is king, the loser dies. What is there to speak of despicable or not? And why do you talk like that! So... sissy!" Wu Tao shuddered as he spoke, goosebumps rising on his skin.
"You... This concubine will kill you." Wang Siyuan, who had never been so disregarded, had his handsome face, more beautiful than any woman's, contort in anger.
With a slight wave of his slender hand, six or seven bare, white skull-shaped magical artifacts floated into the air around him.
Wang Siyuan extended a palm and struck the skullcaps of these skulls in rapid succession.
The next moment, these skulls instantly enlarged to the size of cartwheels. Their bone-white exteriors were faintly shrouded in black qi, making them appear even more ferocious and eerie.
With surging ferocity, the several giant skulls, manipulated by Wang Siyuan, let out a few whimpers before charging directly forward, instantly appearing before Wu Tao.
Seeing this, Wu Tao let out a cold smile. A large handful of talismans flew from his hands – Wind Blades, Fireballs, Ice Shards, Golden Spikes, Falling Rocks... an uncountable number of five-element spells enveloped Wang Siyuan, unleashing a barrage of attacks.
However, the skulls simultaneously opened their mouths and spat out several pitch-black light beams, which converged into a single colossal beam.
In a head-on confrontation with the dozens of talisman spells cast by Wu Tao, it fought to a stalemate.
"Ptooey! You wicked scoundrel, I will definitely kill you."
Wang Siyuan raised his pink handkerchief, vigorously wiping his face, and pointed his orchid-like finger back and forth, saying hatefully, "You are dead, you are absolutely dead! I will kill you, dismember you, and tear your flesh into ten thousand pieces."
Wu Tao, of course, paid no attention to his words.
A gleaming golden rope, about a foot long, shot out like lightning from Wu Tao's storage bag. Moving as if an extension of his will, it changed its length and size, temporarily binding the giant skulls floating in mid-air.
(New book being updated, please collect, recommend, and share. Give more support, thank you friends. Your support is my motivation!)