Chapter 29 : Fox Frost

The space rippled.

A strikingly enchanting woman appeared, dressed in white, with a fluffy tail behind her split into six branches, swaying gently as she walked out slowly.

The fox woman lowered her eyes and looked down at the metaphor frantically attacking the air below.

“Where did this illusion formation come from?”

Muttering to herself, the fox woman was about to raise her hand to assist.

Although she looked down on humans, she knew this human was the key to helping her fellow demons escape their sealing, and now they were essentially collaborators.

Moreover, he was the crucial figure for the demons to break through this secret realm.

But before she could move,

Her nostrils flared suddenly, and she caught a scent.

A scent that left a deep impression on her.

Immediately, the image of a young boy surfaced in her mind.

It was the boy who had escaped from her grasp and caused her no small amount of trouble.

Her eyes brightened slightly, and a faint smile curved on her lips.

“Besides that, there’s the smell of blood, and another presence… that of a girl.”

“Your lover?”

“Hmph, boy, this time, I, Hutianshuang, will never let you escape again…”

She retracted the thought of awakening the metaphor and immediately turned, flying toward the direction of the scent.

…

The wound began healing at a visible speed.

But merely healing the injury was not difficult; the real challenge was to prevent any lasting aftereffects.

Therefore, Yanluo needed to circulate her energy to reconnect the broken meridians and use spiritual energy to nourish them until they could fully restore to their original state.

Yanluo needed to focus.

But she had only just begun when a piercing screech came from outside the cave.

A beast!

Yanluo had heard similar sounds countless times these days.

She did not know what had gone wrong with the Ziyang Secret Realm; all she knew was that ever since the earthquake a few days ago, these beasts had begun emerging nonstop.

During these days, she had personally slain many and knew full well their strength was considerable.

Judging by the direction of the screech, it was heading straight here.

“Damn it!”

Yanluo gritted her teeth, opened her eyes, and stopped her cultivation.

Chen Yuyang also quickly rose, frowning.

What was going on?

Could they also be hunting this girl?

Had those demonic cult bastards reached some kind of agreement with the beasts?

It seemed very likely.

Thoughts flashed rapidly through Chen Yuyang’s mind as he saw the girl stand up, and his frown deepened.

“Have you recovered?”

“I’ve only healed the flesh and connected the broken bones… the flow of qi and blood is still not smooth, but I can fight for now!”

Yanluo said as fierce flames flared across her body.

“In that case, you should keep recuperating.”

Chen Yuyang sighed helplessly.

Yanluo in her current state could only offer limited combat strength and might not be able to hold off the beast outside.

At the same time, if she missed this best chance for a full recovery, she would bear the aftereffects for life.

Yanluo was stunned, asking in disbelief:

“If I’m recuperating, then what about the beast?”

“I will deal with it.”

Chen Yuyang said as he strode toward the cave entrance.

“You’ve just reached Foundation Establishment—how can you stand against those beasts?” Yanluo shouted incredulously.

“Since you know that, then quickly recover and come to assist in the battle.”

Chen Yuyang was too lazy to say more and vanished from Yanluo’s sight.

The girl stared blankly at the unwavering figure of the boy, feeling as if something within her had been touched.

Without delving further into what that ripple meant, Yanluo quickly crossed her legs and began circulating her cultivation method to nourish her body.

She did not know how long Chen Yuyang could hold out.

But since he had chosen to buy time for her…

She could not afford to betray such determination.

At that very moment of Yanluo’s resolve, she suddenly felt a breakthrough.

The seventh level of Golden Core loosened, and with a surge, she broke through two minor levels to reach the ninth level of Golden Core!

…

Outside the cave.

Sticking to the principle of helping others to the end, Chen Yuyang arrived at the cave’s mouth.

He looked ahead at a horse-shaped beast trapped inside an illusion formation, its strength roughly at the fifth level of Golden Core, standing over two meters tall.

He pondered seriously.

But mostly, he was thinking about how to make the beast’s death appear “reasonable.”

He was only Foundation Establishment level himself; winning against a Golden Core might shock others, but it was somewhat believable.

A genuine death match?

No one would buy it.

So, what to do?

Here was a shattered killing formation left behind by an ancient Shanggu great master.

This beast had undoubtedly activated it, and after being severely wounded, it gave Chen Yuyang a chance to finish it off.

He quickly settled on this excuse.

Though far-fetched, since this was a secret realm, such situations were plausible—at least more believable than a Foundation Establishment defeating Golden Core.

Luckily, Yanluo was inside focusing on cultivation, so she could not see what he was doing.

With that in mind, Chen Yuyang pulled out two intermediate spiritual stones and threw them onto two nodes on the edge of the illusion formation.

A subtle change, but the formation instantly transformed from a third-grade illusion meant only to trap into a second-grade killing formation with initial power.

The killing formation activated.

The illusory shadow instantly transformed into a real deadly attack.

The beast’s body was torn open with dozens of wounds, blood spraying forth.

The beast roared, but within the formation, a giant beast shadow much larger than the horse-shaped beast appeared and knocked it to the ground.

The giant beast phantom fiercely fought the trapped beast, while Chen Yuyang pulled out his spiritual dagger.

Spiritual energy flowed and transformed into blazing flames infused into the dagger.

The dagger instantly split into more than a dozen crimson phantoms, floating in the air around Chen Yuyang.

With a pointed gesture from him, the dagger phantoms shot toward the beast.

Boom!

The dagger phantoms exploded on contact, blasting blood-sized holes all over the beast’s body.

The final strike hit precisely at the beast’s head, shattering its skull.

“Is this move a little overpowered?”

“But… still barely contained within Foundation Establishment level.”

Chen Yuyang muttered quietly to himself, then flipped the dagger to sheath it.

But before he could gather his spiritual energy, a rushing sound pierced the air.

Dozens of azure feathers, three inches long and sharp as swords, sliced through the air.

Chen Yuyang lightly tapped his feet and shifted his form, executing his self-created Unnamed Body Technique, leaving trails of Fiery Sword Technique phantoms to dodge the deadly assault.

Behind him, the ground burned red-hot from his fiery footsteps.

Looking up, Chen Yuyang saw a strange azure bird that had been hiding in a nearby forest suddenly take flight, letting out a low cry.

The air vibrated, and a rolling wave of force shattered trees and crushed stones along its path before slamming toward Chen Yuyang’s body.

But only a human-shaped flame remained in its place.

Scorch marks dotted the air as Chen Yuyang leapt into the air.

The azure bird lunged fiercely, its wings blotting out the sky, claws sharp as blades.

Its flapping summoned a storm carrying countless scattered feathers.

Caught off guard, Chen Yuyang couldn’t think much about “reasonableness,” instinctively unleashing a technique.

This was still a sword move of his own creation, so he hadn’t bothered naming it.

In the next moment, he drew a real blade as his weapon.

A sword shadow about three feet long appeared silently behind him.

Sword out, it left a scorched black streak in the air.

With his movement, the sword followed swiftly.

Chen Yuyang passed through the azure bird, arriving at its back.

The sword shadow lagged behind Chen Yuyang’s movement by half a beat but closely followed.

Whether Chen Yuyang had done something to the azure bird, no one knew, but the sword shadow spun with his blade’s trajectory, burning the air and leaving a brilliant orange-red trail that effortlessly pierced through the bird’s body.

The wind died down, but the fire still burned.

Blood evaporated before it could fall.

The scattered feathers turned to ash, and the enormous carcass of the azure bird fell.

Its flesh and skin were gone midair, leaving only a charred skeleton that crashed to the ground, shattering into coal-like fragments.

Chen Yuyang exhaled a hot breath, sweeping away the lingering sparks from his sword.

However, the next moment, countless withered vines rose from beneath the ground, entangling him in the air.

At the same time, a massive rhinoceros beast roared angrily, its sharp horn shooting out a purple lightning bolt aimed at the airborne youth.

Chen Yuyang’s pupils constricted, his brow instantly furrowing.

More beasts!

And judging by the well-prepared stance, this one didn’t seem to be hunting Yanluo—it looked like it was after him.

Could it be…

Chen Yuyang’s eyes narrowed to a slit, and his mind immediately recalled a woman.

A six-tailed fox demon at least at the Consolidation realm.

There was no time to think further.

The joint attack of two Golden Core-level beasts forced Chen Yuyang to focus.

Spiritual energy flowed as he lightly wielded his sword.

An orange arc cut through the air before him.

The sword shadow behind him instantly split into twelve pieces, transforming into a sword wheel.

The sword wheel circled Chen Yuyang’s body, rotating rapidly following the arc of his sword stroke.

Buzzing.

The air scorched and vibrated.

Before the vines could reach him, the sword blades conjured by the Fiery Sword Technique illusions turned the vines to ash.

The purple lightning bolt struck the sword wheel but vanished without a trace, like a stone sinking into the sea.

In the shadows,

Hutianshuang watched the scene below, her heart trembling violently.

She hadn’t directly intervened because she didn’t know how many cards the boy had up his sleeve.

Instead, she summoned some subordinates to attack him.

Unexpectedly, this boy brought her so many surprises.

Though only Foundation Establishment, he could easily display combat power far exceeding that level.

His sword techniques were exquisite, producing mystic changes equivalent to Nascent Soul even at Foundation Establishment.

But most astonishing to Hutianshuang was the flame.

The fire that seemed capable of burning everything to ashes, blazing to the extreme—

The Fiery Sword Technique!

This boy was the Fiery Sword Body!