Whoosh. Clang!

The Purple Thunder Demon-Slaying Saber slashed out, erupting with brilliant lightning from its blade. Lin Zheyu targeted a weak point of the Black Tortoise Shield, yet the attack was blocked again. This defensive dharma artifact was clearly extraordinary. Unless it was shattered, he would not be able to get close to Wu Yi at all.

Crack... crack...

More cracks spread across the Black Tortoise Shield, and Wu Yi's expression turned extremely ugly.

"Damn it!" Wu Yi's expression changed. Grinding his teeth, he lightly tapped his storage pouch, and a thin black needle suddenly appeared in his hand.

"I did not intend to kill you so soon..." Wu Yi said with a vicious grin.

He had originally planned to keep Lin Zheyu alive and interrogate him about the secrets of Shamanic cultivation and hidden treasures before handing him to Priest Fan to gain a favor. Yet he had not expected this fellow to be so troublesome and far stronger than anticipated. Wu Yi could only abandon the plan of capturing him alive. After returning, he would simply buy a death-type dharma artifact and summon the soul for interrogation.

Shing.

Wu Yi sneered coldly and flicked his right hand. The black needle shot toward Lin Zheyu.

"Damn it! Why does this guy have so many dharma artifacts?"

The sudden appearance of the needle within his Perception Domain caused Lin Zheyu's expression to change again.

Damn it. A real man should fight properly with fists and flesh in a straightforward battle.

If Luo Mang had heard Lin Zheyu's thoughts, he would have wholeheartedly agreed. Luo Mang had thought the same when he fought Lin Zheyu at Wuji Manor.

Pfft.

The black needle was even faster than the Colorful Star Sword and far harder to defend against. Lin Zheyu was caught off guard, and the needle pierced toward his chest. He tried to dodge, but it was already too late. He could only extend his left hand and grab toward the needle. The needle pierced through his palm. He exerted force with his left hand and altered its direction, causing it to fly past his ear as it exited.

Hiss.

"What a strange dharma artifact!" Lin Zheyu was deeply shocked.

That was close. If the needle had struck his chest earlier, he would likely have died here. The left hand pierced by the needle quickly turned black as the darkness spread up his arm. Lin Zheyu felt the entire arm go numb. He controlled his true origin and poured it frantically into the arm. The moment the true origin entered, the darkness's flow slowed dramatically, changing from a galloping horse into a sluggish snail.

"I must kill him! Once he dies, I can recover using Origin Force." Lin Zheyu gritted his teeth and ignored his numb left arm.

A hint of ruthless madness appeared in his expression as the Blood Burning true intent fully ignited, and the blood throughout his body began to boil. In an instant, the gray true origin was tinged with crimson, like fresh blood.

Boom!

Lin Zheyu's speed surged again, skyrocketing to more than five times the speed of sound. After reaching the Force Transformation realm, the growth of his strength mainly came from long-term cultivation and the accumulation of increasingly dense true origin. At this stage, the Blood Burning Saber Technique no longer had as great an effect. Its enhancement was not as obvious as it had been in the Marrow Refining realm.

But Lin Zheyu had no choice but to gamble everything. He did not know what other methods the opponent still possessed. If there were more dharma artifacts like the black needle earlier, he would be in serious trouble.

"He actually avoided it!" Wu Yi had not expected Lin Zheyu to dodge even that.

However, a cold smile appeared again on his lips, and another black needle appeared in his hand. He had purchased these needles from Priest Fan. They were extremely powerful, but there were only three of them. Wu Yi had intended to keep them in reserve to deal with powerful opponents. He had not expected to use them on Lin Zheyu.

Shing.

A needle shot out again, slicing through the air and stabbing toward Lin Zheyu's brow. Lin Zheyu tilted his head slightly to avoid it, and the Purple Thunder Demon-Slaying Saber in his hand slashed down fiercely. Lightning tinged with blood colored radiance erupted brilliantly, so dazzling that even Wu Yi felt a chill.

"This is bad!" Wu Yi's expression changed drastically as he controlled the Black Tortoise Shield to block in front of him while he retreated quickly.

The moment the blade light struck the Black Tortoise Shield, the shield could no longer endure and exploded with a loud boom. Countless fragments of the dharma artifact were scattered in all directions.

It finally broke!

What he feared most was that even after using the Blood Burning Saber Technique, he would fail to break the opponent's defensive dharma artifact. If that happened, he would be in grave danger. The Blood Burning Saber Technique burned life essence with extreme ferocity. If he delayed even a little longer, it would be enough to burn him out completely.

Whoosh.

Under Wu Yi's control, the Colorful Star Sword finally caught up and stabbed toward the back of Lin Zheyu's head. Lin Zheyu showed no reaction to the incoming sword. With a step of his foot, he surged forward at even greater speed.

The Purple Thunder Demon-Slaying Saber slashed again and again, deliberately avoiding Wu Yi's vital points. Amid Wu Yi's screams, his limbs were severed until he was reduced to a human stump that fell to the ground.

"Ahhh!"

Wu Yi let out a shrill scream. The intense pain and shock prevented him from controlling the Colorful Star Sword. The sword dropped with a thud and stabbed into the muddy ground not far behind Lin Zheyu.

Bang.

Lin Zheyu smashed a punch into Wu Yi's forehead. The heavy blow knocked him unconscious instantly.

Lin Zheyu panted heavily, his chest rising and falling. The battle with Wu Yi had been the most difficult fight he had faced so far. Wu Yi's own strength was not particularly strong, but relying on his artifacts allowed him to unleash formidable power.

"I cannot stay here for long. I need to deal with the body quickly."

After catching his breath for a few moments, Lin Zheyu did not dare to linger. He grabbed the limbless Wu Yi, picked up the Colorful Star Sword from the ground, and turned to enter the demon god barrier. Wu Yi could not be killed by his own hands. He knew little about the methods of immortal cultivators and could not guarantee that killing Wu Yi personally would not be discovered by the Directorate of Celestial Observation.

Roar! Roar, roar!

As soon as he entered the demon god barrier, the roars of demon puppets reached his ears. Lin Zheyu identified the direction of the sound and rushed toward the nearest one. Suddenly, he felt the Colorful Star Sword tremble as it tried to break free from his grasp.

Bang.

Lin Zheyu reacted instantly and smashed his fist heavily into Wu Yi's forehead. The trembling of the sword stopped again.

"Do not... do not kill me... What you want... I can... give you anything... I am from the Directorate of Celestial Observation... My master... is..." Wu Yi struggled and said weakly.

His heart was filled with fear of death. He did not want to die. Wu Yi looked at Lin Zheyu with pleading eyes, yet in his heart, he thought that if he survived, he would have Lin Zheyu cut into pieces and make him wish for death.

"Annoying!"

Lin Zheyu gave no reply and slammed Wu Yi hard against the nearby tree trunk with a loud boom. Although immortal cultivators had far weaker physical defense than martial artists, the spirit power within their bodies made them far from easy to kill.

Roar!

At last, Lin Zheyu found a nearby demon puppet. He searched Wu Yi's body, removed the valuable items, tossed them aside, and then threw Wu Yi toward the demon puppet. After tossing him out, he quickly retreated and distanced himself from the area.

The demon puppet roared and lunged at Wu Yi, opening its blood-soaked maw and biting down toward his torso.

The horrifying sound of chewing filled the air. Wu Yi was jolted awake by the intense pain. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the terrifying maw tearing toward him.

"Ahhh!"

A miserable scream rang out. The once arrogant immortal cultivator of the Directorate of Celestial Observation died just like that beneath the ferocious maw of the demon puppet.

"I'll wait a bit longer. I should recover my strength first."

Lin Zheyu did not hurry to collect Wu Yi's corpse. To prevent any unexpected changes to Wu Yi's belongings after his death, he did not dare keep them on his person. He had already taken everything from Wu Yi and left the items aside. Demon puppets were mindless creatures and had no interest in such objects, so there was no need to worry about the items being lost. He moved and leapt onto the treetop.

Use 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate the Primordial Wuji True Technique. As the thought spread, Lin Zheyu's spirit wavered slightly, and he entered his consciousness space, beginning endless cultivation.

Mysterious energy surged out and swept up the energy from the two spirit stones stored against his body before entering Lin Zheyu's body. The true origin consumed during the battle, the life essence burned by the Blood Burning Saber Technique, and the left arm crippled by the black needle all began to recover rapidly.

After several breaths, Lin Zheyu slowly opened his eyes. Although his body had recovered, his spirit and will were extremely exhausted. Today, he had used 21 units of Origin Force in succession, almost reaching his limit.

"Uh... Not only has my true origin failed to recover, but it has actually dropped by nearly another fifth..."

Lin Zheyu sensed his current condition and felt somewhat speechless. He reached into his clothing with his left hand and pulled out the two completely drained spirit stones. Only foul energy that could not be absorbed remained within them. Clearly, when he used Origin Force to recover this time, insufficient energy prevented his body from returning to peak condition. Fortunately, the injuries left by the battle on his left arm and body had recovered.

Lin Zheyu shook his left arm. The arm that had been stiff earlier had now returned to normal with no lingering damage. This allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

As long as I stay cautious and avoid encountering someone as strong as that fellow just now, there should be no problem.

He leapt down from the tree. In just a short time, Wu Yi's corpse had almost been completely devoured by the demon puppets. A flash of purple blade light appeared, and the demon puppet gnawing on Wu Yi's corpse was instantly cut into more than a dozen pieces.

"So this is the legendary storage pouch... There are also immortal cultivation artifacts, some silver, and an unknown energy crystal... Truly tempting," Lin Zheyu looked at the items on the ground and muttered softly. He pondered for a moment and struggled inwardly for quite some time.

I will take the gamble. I will hide these items first, just as I did with the Ink Jade Disk and the blood lotus before. If no one finds them after a few months, then they will be mine.

He picked up the items from the ground and quickly disappeared. Lin Zheyu did not leave the demon god barrier; instead, he rushed deeper inside.

"This is a storage pouch! With a storage pouch, life and travel would become much more convenient."

Lin Zheyu reluctantly hid the storage pouch in a concealed place, followed by the Bronze Gold Drum and the Colorful Star Sword. Finally, he needed to hide the unknown energy crystal away.

What kind of energy crystal is this? It looks completely different from a spirit stone. The energy aura inside it is also very different from spirit power. If I had to say, it is somewhat similar to the aura from the demon god seed.

Thinking of this made him even less willing to keep the object on his person. The scene of the blood lotus inexplicably merging with a tree and turning into a strange creature was still vivid in his memory.

I will hide it inside the tree trunk and see whether it merges with the tree as the blood lotus did. If I return next time and the energy crystal is still here, without any strange changes, I will try enhancing it with Origin Force and see if I can use it.