Chapter 78 — Making a Move

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Wen Tie the Wanderer had his disciple Xue Yun openly purchase earth yin beads while he himself lay hidden in the shadows.

When he saw the yin thunder bead in Fairy Yunxia's hand, it was as if a thunderbolt had struck him.

The various uses of yin beads were scattered among the sects, and many knew of them, but surely no one knew them more intimately than Wen Tie the Wanderer. In the eyes of others, his origins had always been shrouded in mystery; all they knew was that he came from a minor sect called the Tian Sha Sect. Yet no one knew that this obscure Tian Sha Sect was a branch descended from the Yin Sha Sect after its collapse.

The Yin Sha Sect had been a renowned great sect three thousand years ago, with numerous disciples and no small number of offshoot branches. It had been annihilated in the great war against demons and monsters three thousand years earlier, but those branches survived. Without yin beads, however, the various methods they had learned from the Yin Sha Sect were useless; some branches declined and died out, while others actively absorbed the methods of other sects and endured.

The Tian Sha Sect to which Wen Tie the Wanderer belonged was one of them.

The Tian Sha Sect was a minor sect through and through; by his generation, only he remained. Yet Wen Tie the Wanderer was extraordinarily gifted. Though the sect's core methods were nothing remarkable, he had still cultivated to the Golden Core stage. But at Golden Core, he had essentially reached his limit; further progress was nearly impossible.

So when he saw Fairy Yunxia's yin thunder bead, his wild joy can well be imagined. He knew exactly whence his sect's methods came. The sect's records dealt most extensively with arts related to yin beads. Those unfamiliar methods and incantations were a hundred times more exquisite than what he now practiced—no, far more than a hundred. If he could find the method for condensing yin beads, he would have hope of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

For cultivators, the level of cultivation directly determines the length of one's lifespan. The Golden Core stage is the first watershed; before it, lifespan does not exceed one hundred fifty years. Once one breaks through to Golden Core, one can live three hundred years. Nascent Soul cultivators have five hundred years; Return to Void cultivators can reach seven hundred; and Mahayana cultivators have at minimum a thousand years.

Wen Tie the Wanderer looked no different from an ordinary middle-aged man, but he was already two hundred thirty-two years old, and little time remained to him. So when he learned that someone could actually condense yin beads, how could he not be beside himself?

The origin of the yin bead in Fairy Yunxia's hand was quickly traced, and he sent Xue Yun to openly buy yin beads in the free market while he himself hid in the shadows, watching for suspicious figures.

The temptation of yin beads—never mind tearing faces with Yunxia and the others; even if it meant risking his life, he would grit his teeth and press on.

When Zuo Yan appeared, though his heart raced, he still held himself in check. He knew very well that word of the yin beads had long since spread, and many coveted them. Like a seasoned hunter, he waited patiently. To have broken through to Golden Core with those ordinary methods, Wen Tie the Wanderer was no ordinary man.

Sure enough, the situation in the market soon unfolded exactly as he had predicted, and the crowd fell to fighting.

Only when the fighting reached its hottest did he finally make his move!

Using the escape art he excelled in, he appeared silently behind Zuo Yan. When his hand touched Zuo Yan's shoulder, even a man as seasoned and ruthless as he could not help but feel a surge of excitement.

Wen Tie the Wanderer had also had his strokes of fortune. During the Meridian Condensation stage, he had chanced upon an earth escape technique of considerable wonder. With it, he had escaped grave danger time and again.

He knew he had succeeded!

The yellow-robed Daoist was the first to discover Wen Tie the Wanderer, and he shrieked at once. Ignoring his entanglement with his opponent, he raised his hand and struck out a conical golden shuttle. The moment it left his hand, it turned into a streak of golden light with a wailing hum.

The silver-robed man also gave two cold snorts, and a cloud of silver sand, glittering speck by speck, descended toward Wen Tie the Wanderer.

And that dark red rope, as if alive, bent nimbly and shot toward Wen Tie the Wanderer with a swoosh, like a sharp arrow, emitting a shrill tearing sound through the air!

Another man was clearly frantic as well; his pale blue flying sword flared brilliantly, gave a soft hum, and slashed at Wen Tie the Wanderer!

Four Golden Core masters struck at once, with a momentum so terrifying that heaven and earth seemed to lose color.

But Wen Tie the Wanderer was not alarmed. A smug smile rose at the corner of his mouth. Gripping Zuo Yan's shoulder, he was about to activate his life-saving earth escape technique when his expression suddenly changed. With a miserable scream, he flung himself backward!

On his palm, at some unknown moment, a wisp of dark red flame had appeared.

The flame was not large, burning faintly, yet in the blink of an eye, Wen Tie the Wanderer's right hand had become bare white bone.

Ahhh!

A wretched scream echoed through Dongfu. Wen Tie the Wanderer's pupils dilated, his face twisted horribly, and he curled into a ball, rolling ceaselessly on the ground.

This sudden turn of events stunned the others as well.

Zuo Yan raised his head, extended his right hand, and lightly pointed at the void. A wisp of dark red flame floated silently before him.

The yellow-robed Daoist's conical golden shuttle, the silver-robed man's cloud of silver sand, the dark red rope, and the flying sword radiating dazzling blue light all rushed toward that dark red flame, like moths to a fire.

The four men's expressions changed drastically!

Just moments before, they had felt their treasures and flying swords suddenly seized by an immense force, drawn toward that faintly burning dark red flame.

Wen Tie the Wanderer, rolling and screaming on the ground, shocked everyone. The yellow-robed Daoist's face changed drastically; he formed incantations again and again, trying to recall the golden shuttle, but it only wobbled twice and continued flying toward the flame. The silver-robed man was far wiser; without a word, he withdrew and fled. The mysterious master wielding the dark red rope reacted just as swiftly—the rope that had been swift as an arrow suddenly slowed.

Only the flying sword radiating dazzling blue light did not diminish but instead grew in force, its sword intent grim and cold, filled with the resolve of one who would not return.

The golden shuttle and silver sand touched the flame and vanished into it without a sound, like mud oxen plunging into the sea.

The cultivator commanding the dark red rope exhausted all his strength and finally halted the rope's advance, but the tip of the rope still touched that wisp of flame.

Sizzle!

A string of sparks raced along the rope toward the other end at astonishing speed!

The cultivator who had been hiding in the shadows was terrified. He could no longer care for his treasure; he let go and fled, turning into a streak of flowing light and escaping in panic!

When the spark reached the other end of the rope, with a soft pop, the dark red rope turned to ash and scattered in the air.

The blue flying sword, radiating fierce sword intent, struck accurately at the wisp of flame before Zuo Yan's chest. Without any obstruction, the flame was cleaved in two by the sword! But at that very moment, the cultivator in the sky, eyes glaring, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and, in utter horror, turned and fled!