nycdaug Chapter 186 Wilderness 7
Chapter 186 Wilderness 7
"what!"
"What happened?" Hearing the shrill scream, the group was startled and forgot about fishing, looking in the direction of the sound.
Li Wei breathed a long sigh of relief. Being watched by so many people and not getting any fish on the hook was really stressful.
“That place seems to be…” Cheng Jiu confirmed, “the cave where my senior sister who asked me to fish before rested.”
"Boom!" The cave entrance was blasted open by a tremendous force, and a ghostly figure, carrying the aura of a biting winter wind, rushed towards the group. Even the array set up in front of the five of them could not stop the strange figure's steps!
The five people's pupils contracted, and they left the ice cave before the opponent's attack landed! Thick ice mist exploded, and ice flowers bloomed on the ice!
"what!"
"stone!"
The little snow monster and the little pebble monster, who were eating, were terrified by the commotion and screamed as they disappeared into the snowfield!
"What exactly is this thing?" Li Weixin asked, his pupils contracting as he looked at the other person.
The other party could no longer be called human. Its slender body was twisted strangely, its long fingernails were covered with metallic hairs, it was bare-handed and barefoot, and the clothes it was once neatly dressed on were now tattered. Its eyes gleamed with an inorganic, hunting light.
"Senior Brother Shangguan, be careful, she's charging at you!" Cheng Jiu shouted a warning, seeing the direction of the attack.
But this figure was even faster. In the instant before Cheng Jiu's voice had even fallen, the attack came head-on. The sharp claws cut through iron like mud, directly tearing through the earthen shield that Shangguan Song used for defense, and tearing through the external protective energy he used for defense. One claw scratched the back of Shangguan Song's hand, and blood gushed out, but it was quickly frozen by the ice. The cold air continued to surge up and spread along the back of his hand!
Shangguan Song quickly pressed his acupoints, secretly gathering his strength.
After seeing blood, the opponent became even more frenzied, attacking Shangguan Song's vital points with every move.
Shangguan Song dodged at lightning speed, but the opponent was too fast. He couldn't dodge every attack, and even the robes he was wearing were torn in several places by the opponent's attacks.
"Overlord Tiger Fist!" With his strength fully gathered, Shangguan Song stopped dodging and faced the monster head-on. His other intact hand gleamed with a metallic light. A tiger's roar could be heard, and the power capable of shattering a mountain quickly gathered at his fist, sending the monster flying!
Although he couldn't use one hand, Shangguan Song pressed his advantage and engaged in a fierce, hand-to-hand combat with his opponent!
The other four people were not watching from the side. Li Weixin held a sword and made a hand seal. The sword in his hand quickly turned purple!
"Swift as thunder!"
The sword, crackling with lightning, charged relentlessly towards its opponent, its sharp light piercing deeply.
The powerful lightning seemed capable of wiping out everything!
"Ha!" A sound of metal clashing was heard. The attack failed to break through the opponent's defense. The opponent gripped Li Weixin's sword tightly with one hand and pulled it backward with great force.
Li Weixin gripped his sword tightly, and lightning surged along the sword towards the monster!
"Ah!" With a domineering and brutal burst of lightning, the opponent screamed and subconsciously let go, his whole body covered in arcs of electricity.
A spear carrying unparalleled flames broke through her defenses and pierced her body heavily. Brilliant snowflakes exploded, and she screamed in pain, her attacks becoming even more ferocious as she frantically attacked the person who had wounded her.
An arrow gleaming with cold light slammed into her, deflecting her attack. Gong Yu, standing by, constantly countered her brother's attacks, each arrow incredibly precise, further enraging the opponent.
Cheng Jiu, on the other hand, used her footwork to counter the four people's attacks and prevent them from escaping. She was the only one present who could keep up with the speed of this monster. In the vast snowfield, the monster was so fast. The snow storm was not only the monster's attack method, but also its best cover.
If no one is watching from the outside, it's easy for the other party to escape and enter the vast ice field, making it much harder to attack or capture them later.
"Lure her into the formation! Activate the trapping formation!" Cheng Jiu said.
"Alright!" The four fought while luring their opponents to retreat towards the formation.
As soon as the opponent stepped into the formation, Gong Yu quickly activated the formation.
The other person reacted quickly and darted outside, but the group had been waiting nearby and wouldn't let her leave.
Cheng Jiu reacted swiftly, grabbing the other person and kicking them hard before they could attack, yelling, "Get inside!"
"Ah!" The heavy blow sent the opponent crashing to the ground, where he rolled several times.
By the time she got up, the formation had already closed in. She shrieked and launched a heavy attack on the formation that trapped her. Countless ice and snow storms surged rapidly within the formation, and the entire formation was on the verge of collapse.
Cheng Jiu, Gong Yu, and Gong Cheng exchanged a glance, working diligently to maintain and set up the formation, ensuring that if the enemy broke through this layer of formation, there would be another layer of formation to trap them.
The attack formations originally set up inside have all become ineffective under the enemy's attack.
"Senior Brother Shangguan!" Shangguan Song looked at the person trapped in the formation and felt a sense of relief. He couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood, and his vision blurred as he collapsed heavily to the ground!
Li Weixin quickly helped him up. Of the five, he had faced the enemy head-on and was the most injured.
"Junior Sister Xiao Jiu, go check on Senior Brother Shangguan. My brother and I are here! Don't worry, we won't let her escape!" Gong Yu urged confidently, as Cheng Jiu was the only alchemist here who could save her.
“Okay!” Cheng Jiu nodded. The three of them exchanged a knowing glance, quickly changed positions, and smoothly handed over the duties, freeing up Cheng Jiu.
"Junior Sister Jiu!"
"Leave it to me!"
Cheng Jiu grabbed the other's wrist, and the cold energy within the other's body surged like a tidal wave, causing the earth elemental energy used for protection within the other's body to retreat step by step.
The gentle wood elemental energy flowed into the other person's body to protect their heart meridian. With the support of the wood elemental energy, the earth elemental energy quickly counterattacked, and the two were locked in a stalemate.
Cheng Jiu fed him another Grade 8 Blazing Flame Pill. The scorching warmth quickly attacked the cold air, and soon the cold air condensed at his injured wound.
This is what makes cultivators with ice spirit roots so troublesome. Not only are their attack powers extremely strong, but the residual cold energy is also very difficult to remove. If left unattended, it can easily relapse!
Cheng Jiu summoned a small green flame, and the scorching fire spirit energy baked away the cold energy. After removing the cold energy, Cheng Jiu fed him a Xuan Yu Pill.
"Wait half an hour, and Senior Brother Shangguan will wake up!" Shangguan Song's face was visibly rosy, and the originally ferocious and terrifying injuries on his body were visibly healing under the effect of the pills.
"I'll carry Senior Brother Shangguan to rest first!" Lying down on this icy plain isn't a good idea!
"Please, Senior Brother Li, I'm counting on you!"
"Leave it to me!" Li Weixin carried Shangguan Song on his back to the cave where they had been resting.
"Junior Sister!" Gong Cheng and Gong Yu's combined strength was more than enough to trap their opponent.
"Senior brother, let me drain the ice spiritual energy inside first!" Cheng Jiu said, sizing up the person who was still attacking and causing trouble.
Cheng Jiu created a small spirit-transferring array based on the original remaining array, and also set up an isolation array.
The biting winds of the icy plains couldn't penetrate the formation, and the heavy snowfalls in the sky also avoided this area. The icy spiritual energy within the formation dissipated rapidly, and the persistent icy storm visibly weakened.
"Hah!" Without the replenishment of spiritual energy, the aura of the people in the formation weakened visibly.
"And then there's this! A good find I made before, soft and fluffy!" Cheng Jiu took out a pink medicine packet and threw it in.
Seeing the object thrown at them, the other party quickly dodged. The pink medicine packet landed on the ground, emitting a pink mist that was dreamlike and filled the entire formation.
It looks like a beautiful dream!
"boom!"
After a long while, the sound of someone falling to the ground was heard. In the enclosed space filled with smoky smoke, what use was strength if you were still susceptible to being tricked?
"I have a Binding Immortal Lock here!" After seeing Shangguan Song off, Li Weixin took out a rope and threw it in. The rope quickly found its target.
"Senior Brother Gong Yu, I remember you were injured earlier too. Do you want me to check you out?" After dealing with the people inside, Cheng Jiu looked at Gong Yu with concern.
"It's alright. My master gave my brother and me three sets of life-saving talismans before. Her attack didn't break through my master's defenses." Gong Yu showed her the part of the other party that had been injured.
There was indeed no injury.
"Then, Senior Brother Li!"
“She didn’t hit me!” Li Weixin said, still letting her check me over to put his mind at ease.
"I'm fine too!" Gongcheng said, her extreme fire body being a natural counter to her opponent.
"That's good!"
The commotion within the formation gradually subsided.
Cheng Jiu gave each of the three an antidote: "The formation can be opened now!"
The pink mist dissipated, revealing the girl bound hand and foot lying on the ground, emitting a low growl like a wild beast.
"Junior Sister, come and see what's wrong with her?" Gong Yu looked at her curiously.
Cheng Jiu walked over, but instead of touching the other person's hand, she placed her hand on the other person's most vulnerable neck.
After a long while, Cheng Jiu confirmed: "Of the three souls and seven spirits, one soul and one spirit are missing!"
"Isn't that...?" The three of them asked in surprise, hesitating to speak.
“When I first saw her, she was perfectly fine!” Cheng Jiu nodded.
Because he lost one of his souls, the opponent became like a wild beast, left only with the instinct to attack.
“If the soul is fragile and has been separated from the body for too long, and there is nothing to nourish it, the soul will easily dissipate.”
"Junior Sister, I have a piece of Spirit Nourishing Wood that my parents gave me. Do you think it will work?" Gong Cheng took out a piece of wood and handed it to Cheng Jiu.
"It's not that I don't have treasures to house souls, but we have no connection to her, and we don't know her name or origin, so how can we summon her soul?"
Cheng Jiu pointed out the biggest difficulty: this girl was unlucky. When he invited her to go fishing, they didn't even exchange names, and she was just a novice who knew a little bit about mystical arts.
It's impossible to summon the soul of a complete stranger. Why should a wandering soul with no relatives or friends respond to a stranger?
"That's really difficult!" The others sighed, knowing the situation. For this kind of soul-loss illness, only a close relative could successfully call back the soul.
As for strangers, the success rate is extremely low; it seems that the chances of success are practically zero, since they don't even know the other person's name.
“But should we give it a try?” Li Wei suggested, “According to what my junior sister said, her master is quite protective of his own. If he comes back and sees her like this, he might take his anger out on us.”
Cheng Jiu and the other two put themselves in Cheng Jiu's shoes and found it made sense.
"But how do we try? The soul-summoning ritual definitely requires knowing the name!" Cheng Jiu said, troubled.
"Why don't we ask Senior Brother Nan? We should be able to contact him here!" Gong Yu thought of Nan Yanzhe, who, unlike Cheng Jiu, specialized in this field.
"I'll give it a try!" Gongcheng sent a message: "Brother Nan said he was very busy before, and I haven't heard from him at all."
But this time, Nan Yanzhe quickly replied to the message. The first message was that Long Tian, who had been captured by Guiyuan Sect, was quite valuable, and they had successfully contacted the Heavenly Dao.
The second point is the answer to their question. In addition to the ordinary soul-swapping ritual, there is another method called the blood sacrifice, which uses the other person's blood essence as a medium to absorb the other person's soul.
"Blood Sacrifice!" Looking at the rune sequence Nan Yanzhe sent, Cheng Jiu felt dizzy. After all, only Cheng Jiu knew how to draw runes: "After this whole process, she'll be drained of all her blood!"
"Okay! Please take care of it, junior sister. My two junior brothers and I will go set up the altar." Li Weixin pulled the two brothers aside to prepare the site.
"Hah!" Upon seeing Cheng Jiu approach, the other party instinctively wanted to attack.
"Don't blame me, I was just trying to save you!" Cheng Jiu knocked the other person unconscious with one palm. It was good that she was a little unconscious, so she wouldn't move.
First, you need to prepare 361 talismans, and each one must be written on in one go using a talisman pen dipped in the other person's blood.
After writing them, these 361 sheets must be offered to Heaven and Earth, and after Heaven and Earth regain their spirit, they will be pasted all over the recipient's body.
The ritual involves offering sacrifices to the Big Dipper, and finally, accurately identifying the other person's destiny star. With the protection of the destiny star, the soul manifests. Using the other person's essence and blood as a guide, the ritual gathers the other person's scattered soul at the moment the soul manifests.
It's easier said than done. The most crucial point is that they don't know which star this guy's destiny star is. They don't even know his birth date and time, so how would they know his destiny star?
So you have to keep trying. If you're lucky, you might succeed on the first try. If you're unlucky, you might have to try seven times. And the talisman paper has to be made in one go! And making it in one go is the highest praise for a talisman master.
When bleeding someone, she also has to prevent them from dying from excessive blood loss. In other words, she has to be both a talisman master and a healer!
She really wanted to say, "Let whoever wants to do this do it! What about her master? Let these customers handle it!"
These guests were not only attacked, but now they also have to save the attackers. In short, they're having a tough time!
A drop of light blue blood fell into the prepared jar. Looking at this strange blood, Cheng Jiu looked at the girl and thought, "She really isn't human!"
She drew ten pictures in a row, and every single one was a failure. Cheng Jiu was starting to doubt her life. She was confident in her talent, knowing that although she hadn't succeeded every time, her success rate was still very high.
She was starting to doubt whether the runes Nan Yanzhe had sent her were fake.
After struggling through the entire jar of blood, Cheng Jiu finally managed to scrape together 361 usable slips.
Gong Cheng, Gong Yu, Li Weixin, and Shangguan Song, who were standing to the side, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that she had finally finished drawing. Not to mention Cheng Jiu, the person involved, the four of them were all a little scared watching from the side.
"This is only happening once! I don't want to draw anymore!" Cheng Jiu was starting to doubt her life. She kept failing and failing. She wondered how she had the willpower to keep going and finish 361 drawings. It was something no human could do!
"Okay!" The four nodded immediately. They felt more sorry for Cheng Jiu than for the stranger. Looking at the huge pile of discarded manuscripts on the ground, they could imagine Cheng Jiu's mental journey.
"Senior Brother Shangguan, how are you feeling right now?"
"All done, thank you, junior sister!" Shangguan Song waved her arms. "I'll take care of carrying her!"
The Seven Star Altar was set up, with an ice platform in the very center. Shangguan Song placed the person on the platform in the middle.
Cheng Jiu placed the talisman on the platform and offered incense in worship!
After a long time, a faint ray of light fell on these runes, quite sparingly.
The group didn't mind covering each other's bodies with runes.
The palace attendants step forward and light the seven-star altar in the order of the previously given ritual, with the last one being the other person's destiny star.
As one altar after another was lit, seven bright stars appeared in the sky.
A thick white mist rose from the ground, and the last star shone brightly, landing on the corresponding altar.
"Senior Brother Li! It's up to you now!"
"Don't worry!" A faint soul appeared in the light, seemingly adrift and without support.
Li Weixin took out a blood jar. The other party quickly approached, and Li Weixin swiftly attached the Nourishing Spirit Wood to the other party's body. The soul was quickly absorbed by the Nourishing Spirit Wood.
"Success!"
"Great! That's wonderful!" Cheng Jiu exclaimed with a beaming smile. "Now we're just waiting for her master to return!"
Cheng Jiu shed a tear of bitterness. All her previous efforts were thankfully not in vain!