Stop grinding, I'm really just a free spirit.

Chapter 66 A Thousand Blades Grinding Against Each Other

Chen Bai lowered his eyes and patted Xiao Liu, who was perched on his shoulder.

"Ah—"

Xiao Liu sensed his intentions, transformed into an inconspicuous wisp of blue flame, and returned to his dantian to recuperate.

He knew very well that Yao Ye, a disciple of a celestial sect, didn't care about the lives of rogue cultivators at all.

"If there are no objections, let's set off immediately."

Yao Ye put away the map and waved to signal them to set off.

The group of several dozen people then left the plateau in a grand procession and headed deep into the Shifang Mountains.

There are no ready-made paths in the mountains, and the vines and miscellaneous trees that have grown for many years are as hard as iron and stone.

It was only through the efforts of the outer disciples and rogue cultivators at the very front, who expended their energy and even their precious embryonic breath, that they managed to carve out a barely passable path.

Dozens of people trudged through the dense forest, their feet sinking into the deep water.

Yao Ye sat on the tiger's back, his gaze occasionally sweeping across the dense forest ahead, his brows slightly furrowed.

He spoke with great bravado, but he was not entirely unaware of the dangers of the Ten Directions Mountains. Although the beast tide had receded, the remaining monsters on the outskirts were the hungriest and most bloodthirsty of them all.

Having lost the protection of the beast tide, and with their territory squeezed to the periphery by stronger members of their kind, they were in their most volatile and fearless state.

as predicted.

They encountered their first wave of trouble after walking for less than half an hour.

It was a spiky wolf, gray-black in color, with a row of half-foot-long bone spurs standing upright on its back.

It was larger than a calf.

The demonic wolf was lying on a moss-covered boulder, tearing at the corpse of some unknown animal.

The wolf sensed the commotion, abruptly raised its head, its eerie green eyes fixed on the group, and let out a low growl.

"Awooo—"

"Spiky Backed Demon Wolf! Early Stage of Fetal Breathing!" the disciple leading the way exclaimed in surprise and hurriedly retreated.

Several experienced rogue cultivators reacted quickly, drawing their swords to protect the front of the group.

Yao Ye, riding on the tiger's back, didn't even lift his eyelids. He merely gestured with his chin toward the few rogue cultivators and said in a light tone, "Kill it."

All the materials are yours, plus a reward of fifty spirit stones.

Upon hearing about the reward, the eyes of the several rogue cultivators lit up.

Leading the charge was Duan Heisi, who charged forward with a slash of his blade, the edge igniting a blazing crimson flame as he slashed down at the demon wolf.

Two other rogue cultivators followed closely behind, one of them wielding a long spear and stabbing the demon wolf in the waist and abdomen from the side.

The other person took out a longbow and fired three arrows in quick succession. The arrows had fire talismans attached to them, and when they touched the grass and wood, they ignited into a line of fire that gradually spread and blocked the wolf's retreat.

The demon wolf was forced back half a step by Duan Heisi's knife. It jumped off the boulder and was about to escape when it discovered that the fire behind it had already started burning.

"Ugh!"

Just as it was distracted, a long spear suddenly thrust out from the side and slashed its right hind leg.

The thorny wolf was instantly enraged, letting out a mournful howl as all its bone spurs stood up.

……

The battle lasted less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Although the demon wolf was fierce and quite intelligent, it was still only at the early stage of the embryonic breathing stage.

Facing an attack from both sides by three experienced demon hunters, he was ultimately outnumbered and had his nape severed by Duan Heisi's blade.

But before it died, the ribs still pierced the thigh of the rogue cultivator with the gun, and blood splattered all over the ground.

Duan Heisi wiped the wolf blood from his face, bent down and cut off the fangs from the wolf's mouth, as well as the thickest bone spurs on its back.

He grinned.

Although the money was split equally among the three of them, the materials plus fifty spirit stones still amounted to a decent sum.

Yao Ye didn't glance at it again, but urged the team to keep moving forward.

His attitude couldn't be clearer: in his eyes, these rogue cultivators were nothing more than consumables that could be dealt with using spirit stones.

Although they knew perfectly well what was going on, some people were still willing to take the risk in the face of the lure of the spirit stone reward offered by Yao Ye.

The road ahead is even more difficult.

The dense forest is full of ancient trees with intertwined roots and slippery moss; one wrong step and you could slip and tumble down the steep slope.

The air grew increasingly humid and sultry, and swarms of mosquitoes attacked. Several rogue cultivators were bitten by a type of bright red poisonous ant, and immediately developed fist-sized pustules on their skin, wincing in pain.

The second encounter came sooner than expected.

Beside a rocky mountain stream, the group startled a black-scaled water python lurking in a pool.

This black-scaled water python was even thicker than the thorny-backed demon wolf from before, with a body length exceeding ten zhang. Its entire body was covered with slippery black scales, and the water splashed several zhang high when it burst out of the water.

"what!"

It grabbed a rogue cultivator closest to the water's edge and dragged him into the pool. The man only had time to let out a short scream before falling silent.

The water churned a few times, and streams of intense scarlet red rose up.

"Danger! Back off! Back off now!"

Chen Bai stood at the back of the group, watching the crimson stain on the water spread rapidly, his heart sinking slightly.

This was the first time he had seen a rogue cultivator die in the mouths of demonic beasts in the Ten Directions Mountains, without even a chance to struggle.

The few rogue cultivators who were walking ahead were so frightened by this scene that their faces turned pale and they instinctively stepped back.

But the group of people driven by Yao Ye dared not retreat.

Taking a step back would be disobeying orders, and the consequences of disobeying orders could be worse than dying in the mouth of a monster.

"You beast! Take this!"

Two outer disciples joined forces to perform a Taoist technique:

"The Sword Incantation of Sharpening Each Other with Ten Thousand Blades"

This Taoist technique is ranked in the middle of the first tier and is one of the more popular methods among the many types of Taoist techniques in the outer sect's collection of the Spirit Sword Sect.

This is because it is easy to cultivate and quick to learn. By simply chanting incantations and making hand seals, one can transform the true qi of the fetal breath with the qi of the lung metal and condense it into tiny, incomparably sharp metal sword blades.

In terms of its origins, this technique is derived from the earliest "Qi Sword" method of ancient sword cultivators.

When used alone, a cultivator in the early stage of embryonic breathing can create twenty or thirty qi swords; if two people use them together, their true qi will rub against each other and become each other's whetstones, and the blades will be created by grinding against each other, multiplying exponentially, with hundreds of blades swirling like a river.

However, this technique is extremely mentally taxing and requires a high degree of harmony between the two people's energy; the slightest mistake will cause the sword flow to dissipate.

The two made hand seals almost simultaneously, their left hands forming a sword-shaped seal and pressing it against their dantian, while their right hands formed a sword-shaped seal and pointed diagonally at the pool of water.

The two stood half a step apart, their breathing rhythms gradually becoming synchronized, and a layer of silvery-white aura appeared around them, faint yet distinct.

That is a sign that the true qi of fetal breathing has been stimulated to its extreme.

The next moment, the two opened their mouths and gave a soft rebuke, their lips pursed as if blowing a blade.

"laugh--"

A dense, sharp sound of air being cut rang out.

A burst of silver light flew out from each of their dantian. At first, there were only twenty or thirty of them, but they collided and rubbed against each other's sword blades in mid-air, like metal striking metal, bursting out specks of golden light.

Each collision gave rise to more blades, dozens of them multiplying into hundreds, as fine as cow hair and as dense as locusts.

Countless sword blades swirled and coiled in mid-air, converging into a flowing golden river of swords.

Golden light shimmered, and sword blades surged like waves.

Therefore, when this technique is performed, it is also called "Golden River Sword Washing".

More than a hundred tiny sword blades swirled and intertwined, emitting a buzzing and vibrating sound, like the flapping of wings of a thousand bees, or like gold and iron pebbles rolling in a bronze plate.

The sword river swept through the air, descending upon the ink-scaled water python.