Chapter 172 Becoming The Fisherman
Becoming the Fisherman
The Law Engraving realm was a realm that divided many cultivators.
When cultivating the Law Engraving realm, one could choose many different paths.
By using the comprehension of their law, a cultivator would transform their law into runes and engrave them on an object of their choice.
The object could be anything, but most people usually would engrave the runes on their Dharma Idol, further enhancing their natal Dharma Idol.
But some cultivators took different paths and would instead engrave their own skeleton with their law runes. This way, the cultivator could always be at full power even if their Dharma Idol was broken, was healing, or even if it was knocked away from them.
People who took this path weren\'t rare, but they also weren\'t common.
So while Xue Bai was surprised at the man\'s decision, the shock didn\'t last long, and after a quick thought continued to watch the fight.
Gao Feng, who was now at full power, slashed his door wide broadsword at Tian Yu and, thanks to his sneak attack, managed to sever an arm before the fight even began.
He had aimed for Tian Yu\'s neck, but thanks to his wealth of combat experience and instincts, Tian Yu was still able to dodge the slash and managed to keep his head attached to his body. However, he couldn\'t dodge the slash completely, as to save his head, he needed to bear the cost of losing an arm.
"Gao Feng, what the hell are you doing!" Tian Yu screamed out in a panic.
"Taking care of a piece of trash that\'s been bothering me for the last two decades!" Gao Feng laughed as he continued his assault. "Boys, don\'t let any of them leave here alive!"
"YES, BOSS!" The members of the Iron Wolf Hunting Squad laughed merrily in response as they continued their attack.
Their first attack had severely injured 4 of the 9 people of the Red Fang Mercenary Squad while giving the other 5 slight injuries. It was a good sneak attack, and they didn\'t plan to let down the tenacity.
Gao Feng wasn\'t the only person with grudges against this rival cultivator group. Most of his subordinates had also been long fed up with the arrogance of the Red Fang Mercenary Squad, and with such a good chance to kill some of their rivals in front of them, how could they not take it?
A battle ensued, but because Tian Yu lost an arm and most of the Red Fang Mercenary Squad suffered injuries before it even began, a favored side was created almost instantly.
And because Gao Feng held Tian Yu back from helping his subordinates, the Red Fang Mercenary Squad started falling one by one.
"Gao Feng, our leader won\'t let you off!" Tian Yu yelled out as he watched his comrades die.
"Ha! How will that man-child know how you died and if I did it? By the time he even gets the news of your death, I\'ll be long gone." Gao Feng didn\'t care for the threat and continued hacking away at Tian Yu.
His skin glowed once more, and another three runes showed up on his body as he activated all of the runes he had engraved so far. From the four runes shown, it was obvious that he was at the 4th stage of the Law Engraving realm.
Tian Yu could see that Gao Feng was no longer holding back anything, and in response, the spear in his hands also started glowing, and four runes also appeared on it, showing his cultivation was the same.
"Rise of the White Dragon!" Tian Yu\'s right arm glowed with power as he cleaved his spear upward, sending out a blast of white Spiritual Qi that seemed to form the body of a winged serpent.
"HAHA! There is the Tian Yu I know! Tyrant Slash!" Gao Feng didn\'t fear a head-on fight at all, especially since Tian Yu couldn\'t put out his full power. So instead of dodging, he also sent out a sword slash full of power toward his opponent.
Tian Yu\'s White Dragon and Gao Feng\'s sword slash collided, and immediately all of the land around the two for hundreds of meters was turned into scored earth.
After the apocalyptic-esque blast, the members of the Red Fang Mercenary Squad and Iron Fang Hunting Squad were sent flying away with varying injuries.
But one thing was certain, Law Engraving realm cultivators were on a completely different level!
However, even after Tian Yu stopped holding back, he still couldn\'t bring out his power, and his White Dragon lost the first exchange, and he was sent flying back miserable.
"Damnit! Gao Feng, are you really forcing me!" Tian Yu yelled back as he fended off the persistent Gao Feng.
"Forcing you? I want your head, not your efforts, you burly fuck!" Gao Feng laughed as he once again sent out a sword slash. This time it was twice as large, showing that he still had some gas in the tank.
"Shit!" Tian Yu cursed.
Not daring to take the sword slash head-on, Tian Yu quickly rolled away, dodging it. However, his subordinates weren\'t so lucky.
The closest three people were hit by the sword slash and quickly turned into corpses, with one even exploding into a mist of blood.
"Oh, Tian Yu, how long I have waited for this moment." Gao Feng sneered in disdain as he continued putting on pressure on his rival.
Tian Yu could see his subordinates die slowly and could sense his less-than-positive chances of escaping with his life. So after a quick thought, he reached a destructive decision.
Grabbing his spear firmly, Tian Yu did something that shocked everyone in the area. Pulling it forward, he plunged the Dharma Idol into his Dantian.
"Shit! Everyone run!" Gao Feng wasn\'t a fool and knew what Tian Yu was planning to do, and he warned his subordinates before he himself turned tail and ran.
"TOO LATE!" Tian Yu\'s miserable-looking face, which was covered in mud, dirt, and blood, put on a fierce and mad-looking expression, "Profound Penetrative Spear! Combust!"
To his command, the natal weapon that followed him for almost 100 years obeyed his commands. All of the Spiritual Qi that the weapon stored and wielded over its century-long life turned violent.
"BOOM!!"
Tian Yu and his Profound Penetrative Spear natal Dharma Idol exploded to his command, and instantly a mushroom cloud over a dozen miles tall and a few dozen miles wide appeared.
Flames, scorched earth, and destructiveness were guaranteed, and the once picturesque and beautiful landscape turned into a crater almost 3 miles wide and a mile deep.
Scattered near the crater were various corpses, but none of them were recognizable and looked no different than a burnt piece of steak.
"Cough, cough!" Suddenly at the edge of the crater, a large boulder the size of two humans was turned over.
"That piece of shit! How dare he blow himself up. What if the Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree gets hurt?" Gao Feng cursed as he pulled out some healing pills from his spatial ring.
Swallowing 4 in quick succession, Gao Feng refined them quickly.
"Boys! Any of you still alive?!" Gao Feng yelled out.
Sadly his yells weren\'t meant with silence, indicating his answer.
"Boss is gonna kill me." Gao Feng was angered at the outcome, but after he remembered the most reasonable reaction from his boss, he could only shiver in fear.
However, there was little he could do.
So after a deep sigh of melancholy, he stood up and looked for the culprit of the carnage.
–
A few miles away, in a tree, a tall figure in a full-body cloak manifested.
"That idiot actually blew himself up." Xue Bai was slightly surprised at the outcome of the fight, but after he thought about it, he became happy.
"One less competitor to me then." Xue Bai didn\'t care about the death of Tian Yu, but the fact that Gao Feng was now severely weakened from the explosion meant that he would definitely lose his next fight.
"Gao Feng, don\'t disappoint me. All you have to do is unroot a tree. Surely a Law Engraving realm powerhouse like you can do such a simple task." Xue Bai muttered to himself as he once again entered the void.
He was too far to participate in the next series of events. Only by being close could he truly be a fisherman and snatch the Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree.
–
Seeing the man who annoyed him at every turn die, Gao Feng looked refreshed and took a moment to appreciate the moment, ignoring his injuries. The huge amount of damage he took from Tian Yu was nothing compared to the dopamine rush he was currently feeling.
Time could heal the wounds, but the Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree was something he might never find again in his life.
Not only had he killed his long-time rival, but he was also getting such a fantastic piece of loot all in the short span of an hour.
\'Maybe I am a child of the heavens.\' Gao Feng arrogantly thought, \'Child of the heavens or not, nothing is stopping me anymore! Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree, come to Daddy!!\'
Gao Feng, unaware of the fisherman behind him, floated over the lake and quickly arrived at the \'island\' that held the Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree.
"Thank the heavens I got the Essence Sealing Storage Box from Boss before leaving." Gao Feng muttered as he grabbed at the roots of the Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree.
An Essence Sealing Storage Box was a tool that was a storage ring and a sealing box combined.
It was only the size of a water basin but had an internal space the size of a small house. And its main feature was to keep all of the essence of newly plucked natural treasures inside.
They were extremely convenient, but at the same time, they were also extremely expensive.
Just one Essence Sealing Storage Box could cost upwards of 2000 Spirit Stones, which to people Gao Feng was just as much as their salary of 5 years.
So the Iron Fang Hunting Squad only had 2.
Thankfully Gao Feng was one of the most important cultivators in the groups making him able to use the tool whenever he wished.
But just as he touched the base of the tree, something happened.
The land underneath his feet started to rock, and before he knew what had happened, he was swallowed by the Spirit Fruit Serpent.
"Huh?" Starstruck at the sudden change of events, Gao Feng, now at less than half his full combat strength, could only mutter stupidly before his instincts took over, and he struggled for his life.
Though injured, Gao Feng was still a Law Engraving realm rogue cultivator. Rogue cultivators lived their entire lives on the edge of a blade, tethering between life and death. They fought for resources with their lives, and while impoverished and ignorant compared to sect disciples, they also had extremely high combat power. So how could he not have keen instincts and superb reaction time?
If it weren\'t for the fact that he was overtaken by greed, making him slightly reckless, his injuries, and the Spirit Fruit Serpent\'s special scales that reflected Spiritual Sense, he wouldn\'t have even been in such a mess.
Thankfully after he was swallowed, he figured out the serpent\'s cultivation base.
"A puny snake in the 2nd stage of the Law Engraving realm dares to swallow me?" Gao Feng was enraged and rather amused at the gall of the Spirit Fruit Serpent, but after a quick giggle, he once again pulled his broadsword.
Yet to his shock, the Spirit Fruit Serpent, which had a much lower cultivation base, started to try and refine him!
And before Gao Feng could laugh at the folly of the serpent, Gao Feng\'s expression changed quickly.
The Spirit Fruit Serpent\'s refining process was very swiftly crushing the shield of Spiritual Qi he had made in defense.
Not accepting to die to a weaker opponent, Gao Feng panicked and unleashed a Martial technique inside the mouth of the serpent.
"Bright Moon Slash!"