Chapter 54: Recovery
The troop of large-crowned flying snakes didn’t reappear after being eliminated.
However, Shi Mingfeng still urged the procession to advance quickly and leave the Lonely Swan Rampart as soon as possible.
On the sixth day after leaving Castle Garrison, a billowing cloud of sand appeared in the distance once again.
Shi MIngfeng and Zhu Baiyu flew into the air to take a look, and then came down and said, “They’ve chased us all the way here. This time it’s a large group of them, and Pall is with them as well.”
“How many soldiers are there?” Su Chen asked.
“Around three thousand or so.”
“That’s quite a large number! It seems like we’re in for another fierce battle,” Ba Lieyuan sighed.
“That might not necessarily be true,” Su Chen said.
Hm? What does that mean?
Everyone stared at Su Chen simultaneously.
Su Chen looked up at the sky.
He said, “Brother Shi, in a little bit, can you create some wind and have it blow in their direction?”
“I can.”
Su Chen pulled out a vial of medicine. “Then, Brother Shi, please blow the stuff that’s in this vial in their direction.”
A strange look appeared in Shi Mingfeng’s eyes. “This is……”
“You’ll know once you use it, Brother Shi.”
Shi Mingfeng opened the vial of medicine, causing a pink smoke to waft out through the opening. Shi Mingfeng knew that this pink smoke definitely wasn’t anything good, and he generated a current that began to blow the pink smoke towards the opposition. The pink smoke began to dissipate as the wind blew it downstream, making it very difficult to spot.
At this moment, the large group of Sand Race soldiers on wolf mounts had charged into the dissipated cloud of smoke.
Ba Lieyuan glanced at it and said with some curiosity, “It seems like it didn’t do anything.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. You’ll see the effects soon,” Su Chen laughed.
As even more Camel Wolves charged into the fog, the Sand Race calvary that had charged headfirst into the strange fog all soon began to howl. Their faces were corroding away as chunks of meat began to melt off of their bones. The same went for the Camel Wolves they were riding, who howled painfully as their bodies fell apart.
Very quickly, even more Camel Wolves had charged into the wave of corrosion. Camel Wolves began to topple one after the other as they cried out bitterly with pain.
Only the Sand Race soldiers whose cultivation bases were at the Yang Opening Realm or above were able to avoid this cloud of poison, but they also experienced varying degrees of corrosion by the fog of poison.
Not long after, the poisoned Sand Race soldiers stopped whimpering and fell silent.
The now-calm desert was strewn with the corpses of the Sand Race soldiers, who had markedly suffered an extremely tragic fate.
Only a few of them were still standing, but they were so stunned by this scene that they could only tremble and howl in fear.
Even Zhu Baiyu couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of poison is this that is so frightening?”
“A kind of poison refined from Corpse Spirit Flowers,” Su Chen replied.
Corpse Spirit Flowers were extremely poisonous. Any plague-like medicine refined from them could wreak large-scale havoc. The medicine Su Chen hadn’t concocted wasn’t even a plague but more of a common disease; even so, it had instantly wiped out a few thousand soldiers. The frightening power of the medicine could be seen from its results.
No one had expected that an alchemist could be this frightening. Their gazes towards Su Chen were filled with veneration and fear.
Zhu Baiyu said, “Would you be willing to sell some of this poison to the Zhu Clan?”
Su Chen shook his head. “Forget about it. The power of these things is too great. If anyone were allowed to use it, they would be easily able to wipe out a whole city. Using it to deal with these evil Sand Race soldiers is okay, but as for other circumstances, it’d be better not to think about it.”
Upon hearing that he wasn’t willing to sell it, Zhu Baiyu didn’t try and force him. “Yes, that’s fine as well. This poison is just too fierce; if it really does spread far and wide, it would be a disaster.”
“Okay. Then there’s no need to waste words. The battle we need to fight still needs to be fought. Don’t forget that there are still people who haven’t died yet.” Su Chen pulled out his Mountain-Beheading Blade.
The Sand Race soldiers were regathering themselves on the battlefield in front of them.
Pall was there, along with his two Light Shaking Realm cultivators and twenty or so Yang Opening Realm cultivators.
They were the final group of elites still pursuing them, the truly strong, and they showed no sign of falling back even amidst a deeply distressful situation.
Pall’s sturdy body was standing in the lead. He stared at Shi Mingfeng and the others and yelled, “Follow me. Charge!”
“Charge! For our brothers that died in battle!” all of the remaining Sand Race cultivators howled.
A frighteningly powerful sandstorm began to billow around them as they advanced ferociously.
No matter how effective the medicine was, it looked like a battle was unavoidable.
“They have an additional Light Shaking Realm cultivator on their side,” Shi Mingfeng said.
His gaze fell onto Su Chen.
Indeed, Su Chen lived up to his expectations and casually replied, “Leave him to me.”
After one battle after another, his understanding of how strong a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was had grown. Additionally, the difference between his strength and the Light Shaking Realm also only grew closer and closer.
After bestowing the Mountain-Beheading Blade with a soul, he no longer had any reason to fear Light Shaking Realm cultivators.
Shi Mingfeng said with a slight smile, “Someone without a bloodline at the Yang Opening Realm can fight against a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. Prince Su will definitely be a name that reverberates throughout the heavens.”
Su Chen replied calmly, “I have no wish for my name to reverberate throughout the heavens. I’m only interested in research subjects that are at the Light Shaking Realm. If you are willing to help me, then you don’t need to tell me anything — you only need to hand over the Light Shaking Realm cultivators that are still alive to me.”
Zhu Baiyu stared at Pall. “Five Lotus Platforms won’t be easy to deal with.”
Su Chen tossed him a set of medicine.
Zhu Baiyu caught them and took a look at it before revealing a satisfied expression. “That’s more like it.”
“Then let’s prepare for battle.” Su Chen waved his hand, and a large pile of medicines was distributed to everyone.
With an alchemist present, things were always this efficient.
The dust devil surged forward along with the charging Sand Race soldiers.
Everyone yelled as they charged forward to meet their attackers. A fierce battle was now underway.
There was no mercy and compassion here — only a bloody, vicious battle of hatred. Even someone as powerful as the Sand Race’s leader was just a normal soldier at this point who wanted to take revenge for the deaths of his comrades.
Desert sand and blood mixed together and flew everywhere. Every person was fighting with their life on the line.
Perhaps Zhu Xianyao was the only person here who could be a bit more relaxed — she had used her Heavenly Fox Bloodline’s bewitching techniques to control a Sand Race member and made him fight for her to his death, before changing to another puppet.
She could stay far behind and observe the development of the situation. If anyone was in trouble, she would direct her troops over to save them.
Most of the time, however, Zhu Xianyao’s gaze was focused on Su Chen.
He jumped back and forth amongst the fighters, killing as he pleased amidst a storm of blood. His Primordial Blood Incarnation was infused with Shadow Flames. When combined with the Mountain-Beheading Blade, even a Light Shaking Realm cultivator would be forced into a disadvantageous situation.
He really was incredibly powerful!
Zhu Xianyao felt her heart tremble.
Someone without a bloodline had actually grown this powerful. Her concepts and ideas about bloodlines from before had been completely rocked.
As she watched him fight, Yue Longsha’s words suddenly began to ring in her ears.
She began to recall the truth and everything that had happened.
Her mind was flying all over the place as image after image burst into her mind.
These images mostly came from the descriptions that Su Chen and Yue Longsha had provided, but the more she thought about it the more the truth seemed to come out.
Zhu Xianyao suddenly felt like she could see the fight between her and Su Chen that evening, everything that happened within the small forest, and their schemes against one another in the Hidden Dragon Institute.
She also saw her and Su Chen walking through the covered path as they conversed with one another.
“Don’t you think that’s too big of a leap1?”
“Is it? I think that this doesn’t count for much when compared to a bloodline-less cultivation technique for all seven cultivations realms. Besides, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It’s because the goal is so far away that I need to get going a little faster.”
“Could you make some changes to the ending we agreed on?”
“The original plan was to have Miss Yue and me together…… I want you to change it to yourself.”
I want you to change it to yourself……
I want you……
Zhu Xianyao suddenly began to tremble.
She remembered!
She remembered it all!
So she had fallen for him since all the way back then!
1. This conversation occurs in Book 2, Chapter 110.