Chapter 78 - Eldest Senior Brother

Chapter 78: Chapter 76: Eldest Senior BrotherXue Fei, having revealed his identity, did not conceal himself any longer. On one hand, he assisted Qingling in dealing with the Nine-headed Snake, while on the other, he secretly guarded against Ming Jing.

Although both Ming Jing and he were Qingling’s men, the Western monks had always taken it upon themselves to eradicate the Demon Clan. Even though the cultivators from the other sects had just made it clear that they would not attack him temporarily, Ming Jing was still eying him like a tiger watching its prey.

At the same time, he felt immensely disdainful in his heart. Weren’t the monks supposed to be pure in their five roots? How come they acted without any scruples just like this demon that he was? Hah, pretending to be noble, yet still revolving around a woman.

The Nine-headed Snake might have been in the Late Tribulation Crossing Stage, but it was confined in place and could not move. This gave the cultivators many opportunities. Over at Ye Qiu’s side, there were many sword cultivators, each of whom possessed extraordinary combat abilities. Hence, taking down two snake heads was not an issue. Qingling, though only accompanied by a few people, had many trump cards at her disposal. The men around her were all geniuses with exceptional cultivation levels and swiftly gained the upper hand as well.

As a result, the other forces found it much easier to deal with a single snake head. In less than two hours, the Nine-headed Snake was exhausted and covered in wounds.

"Let’s go." After Ye Qiu chopped off the last head and noticed that Qingling and her group didn’t even care to vie for the Snake Demon’s inner core, he was the first to enter the fourth layer of space and urged the others to quickly follow, with himself trailing behind them.

No sooner had he entered than danger presented itself. A vine with barbs viciously lashed towards his face, the vine dark in color, evidently highly poisonous.

"Be careful, Senior Brother. This space is full of such things." Chen Qingchi cautiously dealt with the vine, warning Ye Qiu. Perhaps due to his Wood Spiritual Root, he was being attacked less than Ye Qiu.

Hearing this, Ye Qiu looked up, and as expected, the size of this space was unknown, but as far as the eye could see, it was filled with such things. It was impossible to discern the main root’s location. Even Qingling and her group, who had entered first, were entangled by these vines and didn’t get far.

The vines seemed impervious to pain and appeared to regenerate instantly; chop one down, and immediately two more would entangle, endless and boundless.

"Little Wood Spirit, can you sense it?" Ye Qiu whispered, knowing that unless the main root was cut, these things would keep growing incessantly.

"It’s over there." The Little Wood Spirit, sitting on Ye Qiu’s shoulder, pointed in a direction where the Wood Spirit Qi was even more intense, which should be where the main root was.

"Follow me." Ye Qiu called to Chen Qingchi, Shun Hua, Shun Ying, and the others.

Qingling watched their movements and after thinking for a moment, followed behind Ye Qiu as well. Over the years, she always had the feeling that Ye Qiu had taken something very important from her, and hence she had always been fixated on him, to an extent where a Heart Demon emerged during her cultivation. She felt that only by killing Ye Qiu and taking back what belonged to her, could she advance further.

However, what she didn’t realize was that since she had changed her own Spirit Root and embarked on a path different from her previous life, even if she retrieved those things, she could no longer dominate and stir the winds and clouds as she did in her past life.

Qingling decided that during this trip to the Sky Tower, she must stick closely to Ye Qiu. She wanted to snatch back her opportunities and to kill him to extinguish the hatred in her heart.

"What is that thing?" Qingling, with her sharp eyes, spotted a green snake on Ye Qiu’s shoulder.

"That’s a Wood Spirit, and I can also smell the aroma of Earth Spirit and Water Spirit on it," the Fire Spirit within her Dantian replied. They were all primordial sources of the world and could sense each other’s presence.

Water Spirit? Qingling’s eyes lit up. She now possessed Water and Fire Dual Spiritual Roots and had already contracted with the Fire Spirit. If she could contract the Water Spirit, her Spirit Root would become purer, her cultivation speed would be faster, and the power of her Yin Yang Polar Ring would be unmatched.

The temptation of Water Spirit was too great; no matter what, Ye Qiu must die, and Qingling stared fixedly at Ye Qiu’s back.

Ye Qiu naturally felt her hostility and was always on guard against her.

Perhaps they were approaching the main root of these vines; Ye Qiu only felt that the vines were becoming tougher and tougher, causing numbness in the web of his hand even as they struck against his sword.

"There it is." Shun Hua pointed out a huge black mass like a meat tumor, from which countless vines spread. The red liquid flowing on this tumor was the blood of the cultivators who had died in battle, all transported here as nutrients for the main root.

Such vines had departed from the identity of devil plants to become demon plants indifferent to flesh or vegetation.

"Die." Feng Bianyi, who had arrived at some point, unleashed a sharp Wind Blade from afar. His cultivation was now at the Body Integration Realm, and he practiced the Feng Family’s top cultivation technique. This ordinary, disheartening Wind Blade couldn’t even damage the flesh tumor, causing the crowd’s faces to darken.

After this attack, the vines around the tumor suddenly went crazy, and their strength had increased much more than before. Tens of thousands of vines lashed out at the people, equipped with reverse thorns and potent poison; a moment’s carelessness could lead to affliction.

Chen Qingchi personally witnessed a cultivator in the Divinity Transformation Stage struck by a vine, the venom in the thorn causing a moment of delirium. In that instant, countless vines pierced through his chest and drained his blood, leaving only a shriveled corpse.

Chen Qingchi was horrified, feeling he was no match and squeezed next to Ye Qiu for a sense of security.

Qingling was also in disarray, but with the demon cultivator Xue Fei and a Mahayana Realm poisonous snake by her side, she seemed to be having an easier time than Ye Qiu’s group.

However, her partners Xue Yang and Fanxing were not so lucky. Competitors as they were, Xue Fei and the Snake Demon would not protect them. Fortunately, thanks to the countless Protective Dharma Treasures provided by Qingling, they were exhausted but not in mortal danger for the time being.

"I’ll do it." Shun Ying held a fiery red longsword, her expression resolute.

She possessed the Fire Element Heavenly Spirit Root and had recently contracted a strand of Earth Fire, the bane of wood spirit plants.

A fiery red longsword hovered above her head, transforming into a Fire Dragon, roaring towards the tumor. The appearance of the Fire Dragon instantly raised the temperature of the space, and the tumor also seemed to sense the danger, summoning countless vines to protect itself.

Seeing this, Qingling also summoned a Fire Phoenix, attacking from another direction.

The blue-black vines burnt under the assault of the two flames, emitting a pungent, fishy stench, as the tumor experienced pain and shrieked piercingly.

The scream seemed capable of shattering eardrums, and at the same time, the surrounding vines became wilder, retracting the branches that had spread far away and attacking Ye Qiu and his companions.

However, despite the attack of the dragon and the phoenix, the tumor not only did not die, but its demonic nature grew explosively, swelling to more than ten times its original size in an instant.

Transparent blood vessels supplied nutrients to the tumor, pulsating rhythmically like a human heart.