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Chapter 42 - Chapter 42 The Mysterious Silk Manuscript

"Die!"

Wang Yu's hand seals shifted. Dense clusters of sharp ice spikes shot through the entire coffin, transforming it into a sea urchin of crystalline death. No matter how strong Xu Jiaojiao was, she was still flesh and blood.

His perfected, high-grade spell's power was near the peak of what a Qi Refining cultivator could achieve. Had the Ice Coffin Curse been a purely offensive technique, a single strike killing her would have been highly likely.

Feeling more than half of his spiritual power depleted, Wang Yu quickly swallowed a top-grade Spirit Restoration Pill. Over the past six months, he had participated in alchemy trades and had accumulated several bottles of top-grade first-rank pills.

The restoration was rapid. Within a few breaths, his consumed spiritual power was fully replenished.

This was the overwhelming advantage of a top-grade Spirit Restoration Pill. Its medicinal power was gentle, easily refined, and the excess efficacy would continue to take effect for the next half hour.

At that moment, Xu Jiaojiao's body was pierced in hundreds of places, but her head, heart, and other vital spots had been avoided; the ice spikes had not delivered a fatal blow.

"Wang Yu, I'll kill you!"

"BOOM—"

The ice coffin exploded into fragments!

Under his astonished gaze, Xu Jiaojiao's massive body began to shrivel. From her wounds and her facial orifices, streams of black smoke, formed into ghastly faces, poured out—these were the malicious ghosts and Yin souls she had devoured and stored within her body!

It resembled the ghost-subduing methods of the Five Yin Peak, yet was fundamentally different. Her obese frame withered to the other extreme, her skin clinging tightly to her bones, desiccated like an ancient corpse.

These ghost-faced black smoke streams then swarmed back over Xu Jiaojiao's body, coalescing into a set of black armor that granted her the ability to levitate. She shot towards Wang Yu head-on, a helmet of darkness forming over her head.

The variety of her methods and the strangeness of her transformations were all beyond Wang Yu's expectations. He hadn't realized that a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator could possess such a rich arsenal.

He immediately summoned an Ice Shield spell, attempting to block Xu Jiaojiao's charge.

But he saw her shoulder dip, and a Mountain Savage Ghost manifested, forming a "Mountain" talisman seal. With a mighty crash, the ice shield shattered instantly, sending shards of ice flying in all directions.

Another high-grade spell from the Savage Ghost Peak inheritance—Mountain Toppling Charge!

Using the recoil to fly backward, creating distance, Wang Yu's movement technique was exquisite. He moved with perilous precision, narrowly avoiding the attack by staying just ahead of Xu Jiaojiao's trajectory.

It seemed precarious, but he was actually in control. Without using the Nine Phantom Steps, his Illusory Form Step alone was sufficient to handle most combat within the Qi Refining stage.

As his opponent crashed into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and debris, Wang Yu rapidly considered how to break the stalemate.

He had used all the offensive spells he knew. They could suppress her, but delivering a killing blow was difficult. In real combat, he was discovering his own shortcomings.

Fortunately, they were within the sect. If he truly couldn't win, fleeing to a populated area would resolve the crisis. A small comfort.

But he didn't want to just escape. With his planned departure from the sect imminent, he couldn't rule out Zhao Shang making a move against him personally. If he could defeat Xu Jiaojiao here and now, it would prove he had the strength to contend with Zhao Shang—a significant milestone.

As he pondered, Wang Yu looked down at his feet in shock.

Two pitch-black iron chains had burst from the earth, firmly binding his legs.

"A high-grade magical instrument?"

In the split second that followed, Xu Jiaojiao surged forward again, a triumphant smile on her withered face. "Didn't expect that, did you? This young lady's combat skills are far beyond what a mere spirit slave like you can match!"

"RUMBLE—"

Xu Jiaojiao executed the Mountain Toppling Charge once more, watching as she charged forward with uninhibited ferocity.

Wang Yu cast the Ice Coffin Curse again, but this time he used it to protect himself within a coffin of ice, rather than to restrain his enemy.

The next instant, the two forces collided.

The incredibly hard ice of the Ice Coffin Curse held firm. Xu Jiaojiao's Mountain Toppling Charge was far from the Perfected stage. When her force was spent, it had only left a web of cracks on one side of the coffin.

—It held!

Before Wang Yu could relax, the ghost armor on Xu Jiaojiao's body suddenly morphed into a gigantic, spectral head, which opened its bloody maw and bit down.

*CRUNCH CRACK~*

The ice coffin held for three breaths before shattering completely. Wang Yu was thrown backward, but his legs were still anchored by the chains. The giant ghostly jaws snapped shut just half a foot from his chest—a hair's breadth from being bitten in two!

The more dangerous the situation, the calmer Wang Yu became. The mass of Xu Jiaojiao's ghost armor wasn't infinite. After transforming into the giant ghost head, the black smoke covering her body had vanished.

Seizing the opportunity, Wang Yu lunged forward, his body uncoiling like a spring.

His right hand became sheathed in the dual energies of Yin and Corpse, causing his fingernails to lengthen sharply. A single, heart-piercing claw strike!

Possessing the incomplete Corpse Demon Bones, Wang Yu had the traits of a Jiangshi, including immense strength—a fact no one knew. Xu Jiaojiao, confident in the physical supremacy of her Savage Ghost Peak techniques, didn't dodge or block.

Instead, she met him with a palm strike of her own.

What followed was a look of sheer horror on her face. Upon impact, Xu Jiaojiao's right arm bent backward at a grotesque 180-degree angle. Wang Yu, gripping her wrist tightly, yanked her violently closer.

He jerked his head forward—a brutal headbutt!

Wang Yu's iron forehead connected squarely with her brow. Xu Jiaojiao was stunned, nearly knocked unconscious. In that moment, he released her wrist and delivered a ruthless claw strike, piercing straight through her chest.

A small, still-beating heart, dripping with thick black blood, appeared in Wang Yu's hand.

Forced to hang from his single arm, Xu Jiaojiao vomited blood repeatedly.

The giant ghost head in the air rapidly weakened, splitting back into the streams of ghost-faced black smoke, which let out mournful wails.

"You... you win."

With those words, Xu Jiaojiao's vitality ceased. The malicious ghosts linked to her life all dissipated into nothingness.

With a complex look in his eyes, Wang Yu stored the corpse in his storage pouch. The high-grade magical instrument chains binding his feet were also spoils of war, and he collected them carefully.

Killing Xu Jiaojiao meant his relationship with Steward Xu had evolved into a feud of killing one's daughter. Although the steward was currently detained by the Enforcement Hall, he would eventually be released.

After all, he was the victim. However霸道 (overbearing) the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect was, they wouldn't kill him for this. He would just be detained longer. The sect's rules and order ultimately served the upper echelons, and they would naturally maintain them.

They wouldn't undermine the law's authority for minor gains.

For Wang Yu, this meant he had gained a Foundation Establishment-level enemy. This was not good news. Leaving the sect was now an absolute necessity.

Thinking this, Wang Yu began checking Xu Jiaojiao's storage pouch as he walked towards his original meeting place.

That inner disciple from the Heavenly Corpse Peak had sold him out. He needed to pay him a visit and have a thorough... discussion.

Examining the contents of the storage pouch, he found many ordinary items. There were nearly two thousand spirit stones, and a large quantity of various pills—she had been a genuine wealthy cultivator.

There were also several jade slips and magical instruments, detailing their methods of control and effects.

The high-grade magical instrument, Nether Spirit Iron Chains, had the ability to divide and bind. They could extend up to a hundred meters and split into three separate chains, with a slight suppressive effect on spiritual power.

Based on Wang Yu's personal experience, the spiritual power suppression was almost negligible, but the binding effect was truly excellent.

Xu Jiaojiao, with her extremely aggressive style, was well-matched with such a high-grade instrument. Now, it was his trophy.

The other magical instruments were weaker, mostly mid-grade.

A net and a whip, useless to Wang Yu. He could later sell them off at the Ice Snow Pavilion.

Among all the loot, only one item truly caught Wang Yu's attention.

It was a mysterious silk manuscript.

Black paper, blood-red characters. It looked every bit a demonic path artifact. Unfortunately, the script used to record it was an ancient demonic text he couldn't read.

(End of Chapter)

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