Chapter 53 Yanghua Cloud Sea (Forty)
The powerful spiritual energy within the artifact left numerous wounds on Jiang Gu's primordial spirit, but Jiang Gu's speed did not slow down at all; on the contrary, it became faster and faster.
If he and Wei Feng cannot recognize the artifact as their master before Lu Zhenyi, their chances of escaping unscathed are extremely low.
The surrounding spiritual energy surged in, and Jiang Gu looked back and saw a small wisp of primordial spirit flapping its wings and charging towards him amidst the fluctuations of spiritual energy, almost disintegrating several times.
Behind Wei Feng's small primordial spirit was Lu Zhenyi's enormous and powerful primordial spirit, with dark blue spiritual energy swirling around him. Wei Feng was not even as big as his fingernail. Just as Lu Zhenyi was about to devour Wei Feng's primordial spirit, Jiang Gu suddenly turned back and grabbed Wei Feng, who was still flapping his wings and tail, barely dodging his attack.
Jiang Gu, carrying the bundle of things, was furious. As he ran, he shouted angrily, "What are you doing putting your entire primordial spirit in here?!"
A cultivator needs to use their primordial spirit to recognize a divine artifact as its master. The more primordial spirit a cultivator brings in, the higher the success rate. However, no one would be foolish enough to put in their entire primordial spirit. Once someone else recognizes the artifact as their master first, their entire primordial spirit will be trapped inside the artifact and slowly corroded and consumed by it, becoming nourishment.
"I want to! This is my master's divine weapon!" Wei Feng struggled in his hand, roaring angrily, "Let me go, you pervert!"
Jiang Gu then realized that his primordial spirit was also blind, but before he could think about it, Lu Zhenyi's primordial spirit launched another attack. The dark blue primordial spirit swept across, and Jiang Gu nimbly dodged it while holding Wei Feng. He did not want to fight Lu Zhenyi's primordial spirit head-on, since the odds of winning were too low, and he mostly focused on dodging. Holding Wei Feng in his hand was too much of a hindrance, so he simply stuffed the little primordial spirit into his arms.
"Let me go!" Wei Feng shouted in horror, "Getting too close will cause a spiritual connection!"
Jiang Gu glanced at him expressionlessly, "We cannot communicate spiritually without being in each other's sea of consciousness."
Wei Feng's struggles suddenly lessened, but he was surrounded by the aura of another person's primordial spirit. He couldn't see the current situation, but he could clearly feel the movements and strength of Jiang Gu's primordial spirit. The strange and soft touch of their primordial spirits touching each other seemed to be magnified dozens of times, making him dizzy and even wanting to lie on the other person and take a nap.
Hiding like this isn't a solution. Jiang Gu dodged Lu Zhenyi's attack again. The opponent's primordial spirit was clearly running out of patience. If it was discovered that she only had a wisp of primordial spirit left, she would definitely choose to recognize a master first rather than carefully clear away obstacles.
Jiang Gu glanced down at Wei Feng's primordial spirit and said coldly, "Concentrate your spirit and gather your essence!"
"W-What the hell?!" Wei Feng looked up in confusion, but in the next instant, Jiang Gu transformed into a streak of light and disappeared straight into his brow.
Wei Feng instinctively struggled, and a spirit that didn't belong to him entered his body. His survival instinct made him roar, "Zhou Huaiming! How dare you seize my body—"
This was even more terrifying than soul searching. His body was gradually being invaded and controlled by a primordial spirit that did not belong to him. Intense horror and fear overwhelmed Wei Feng. Wei Feng's body, which was clutching the divine artifact in the statue, convulsed violently. His white eyes turned black for a moment, and the merman's fangs suddenly grew several inches longer. Hard feathers and scales pierced out of his bones. The disfigured boy screamed and howled in horror, like a dying beast struggling desperately.
Across from him, Lu Zhenyi stared blankly, clutching the divine artifact tightly. His robes were torn to shreds by the melting spiritual energy, and blood trickled down from his eyes.
Beside Lu Zhenyi was Wan Haomiao, whose head had been pierced. Her soul and body had been completely destroyed, and her corpse had been melted by spiritual power, leaving only half of it.
Not far from the statue, the remaining four disciples of the Spirit Dragon Sect were fighting a fox-faced ram-horned beast. One of them was accidentally caught by the monster's long tongue and dragged straight into its mouth, letting out a shrill scream. At the feet of the monster and the statue, there were severed limbs and foul-smelling blood.
This was the scene that Lu Ziming saw as he climbed the steps after emerging from the illusion.
The boy hid behind a tall stone pillar, his face pale. He had been protected by Lu Zhenyi since he was a child and had never seen such a miserable scene. He thought that the punishment his brother had given him in the illusion was terrifying enough.
"Brother..." Lu Ziming looked at Lu Zhenyi, whose eyes were bleeding in the statue, and the monster that was neither fish nor bird opposite him. He grabbed his flying sword and muttered to himself as if to encourage himself, "Brother, I... I'm coming to save you!"
After saying that, he gripped his sword and carefully began to move toward the statue.
Jiang Gu was completely unaware of the situation outside.
In just a few breaths, he completely enveloped Wei Feng's primordial spirit. Then, countless complex and turbid auras tried to erode his primordial spirit. Jiang Gu almost lost his mind. He hurriedly used the mark he had left on Wei Feng's primordial spirit to stop it, and looked at Wei Feng with lingering fear.
This fellow's soul is so... filthy.
Jiang Gu couldn't think of a better way to describe it, and with a formidable opponent in front of him, he could only temporarily borrow Wei Feng's body. He endured the nausea and split Wei Feng's primordial spirit in two, forcibly sending half of his own and half of Wei Feng's primordial spirit back into Wei Feng's body.
Wei Feng was perfectly lucid, but his primordial spirit was sealed and he could not move, so he could only cooperate with Jiang Gu's actions.
Beyond the artifact, the boy who had been holding on tightly suddenly opened his eyes, his dark pupils filling his white eyes. Jiang Gu knew Wei Feng's artifact inside and out, and reached out to pull out the dragon-locking chain wrapped around his bones, smashing it towards Lu Zhenyi.
Lu Zhenyi also had half of his primordial spirit remaining in his body. He suddenly woke up, raised his hand and grabbed the chain. His expression hardened, and he said sternly, "How dare you try to possess a divine artifact!"
Possession is against the laws of nature, and those who attempt to break through will inevitably die in the tribulation of lightning. Once a cultivator has possessed a body, they will be forced to keep possessing bodies and will be unable to improve their cultivation. Unless absolutely necessary, no one would choose such a dead end.
Jiang Gu never wastes words when fighting. He held the divine artifact in one hand and manipulated the Dragon-Locking Chain with the other to fight Lu Zhenyi. Meanwhile, his primordial spirit inside the artifact had also invaded Wei Feng's primordial spirit and was fiercely fighting against Lu Zhenyi's enormous blue divine soul.
Wei Feng's cultivation level was extremely low, almost negligible to Lu Zhenyi, but his Divine Kite Shark physique was extremely special. In addition, Jiang Gu constantly absorbed external spiritual energy, so the two were able to fight back and forth.
However, Lu Zhenyi quickly discovered Jiang Gu's flaw.
"You didn't completely possess him?!" Lu Zhenyi looked at Jiang Gu in shock. "How did you do that?"
It's amazing that they were able to seize control of the other person's body while preserving their primordial spirit. Moreover, it's clear that Jiang Gu's primordial spirit wasn't entirely here. This is practically like having an extra life!
This is a great temptation for cultivators. Who wouldn't want to have an extra life during a battle without being exposed by the Heavenly Dao?
"Call me 'Dad' and I'll tell you." Jiang Gu sneered.
Lu Zhenyi was immediately enraged, "How arrogant! Then I'll kill Wei Feng first!"
He realized Jiang Gu didn't want Wei Feng dead, so he focused his attack on Wei Feng's location. Wei Feng was trapped inside Jiang Gu's spirit, unable to move or see, and could only scream, "You pervert! Get away!!!"
Jiang Gu was an excellent escape artist, but the allure of the artifact was clearly greater. Moreover, it was Wei Feng's body, and he had no sense of cherishing it. In his Divine Kite Shark form, Wei Feng was agile and extremely strong. Jiang Gu tilted his neck, which was half slashed, somewhat unaccustomed to it. "That depends on whether you have the ability."
"My neck! Blood is gushing out!!!" Wei Feng howled in pain, "Zhou Huaiming, be careful! Claws! My claws are broken!! Tail—my tail isn't a hammer, what did you just hit me with!? It hurts so much!"
He didn't know how much time had passed. Wei Feng was numb with pain, but his consciousness was forcibly kept clear. He muttered weakly, "Wings can't be used as swords... Zhou Huaiming... Zhou Huaiming, can you hear me... I'll never forgive you... Zhou Huaiming... Zhou Huaiming, you bastard... you pervert... you dog... I'm going to kill you..."
As Jiang Gu listened to his rambling, he expressionlessly reattached his broken wrist. Half of his wing had been melted away, hanging limply on his shoulder, a bloody mess. This kind of pain was commonplace for Jiang Gu, but his disciple was clearly going crazy from the pain.
This was the first time Lu Zhenyi had encountered such a formidable opponent. Despite being of lower cultivation level than him, the opponent was impossible to kill. He couldn't help but feel impatient. If the opponent didn't acknowledge him as its master soon, half of the primordial spirit within the artifact would be completely melted and devoured by it.
We must act swiftly!
His eyes flashed with a sharp light, and with one hand he made a hand seal, the spiritual power he condensed rushed straight towards Jiang Gu's heart. Wei Feng's primordial spirit was hidden there. As long as Wei Feng's primordial spirit was destroyed, this man would definitely be thrown into chaos!
"Brother!" A panicked voice suddenly rang out behind him, "I've come to save you!"
Lu Zhenyi turned her head sharply, looking at Lu Ziming who appeared behind her in disbelief. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jiang Gu made a move with the Fire Rope, directly entangling Lu Zhenyi's primordial spirit in the artifact and heading straight for the core of the artifact, imprinting his own primordial spirit into it.
A blinding white light shot into the sky, piercing the dome of the ancient temple. The vast spiritual energy fluctuations caused the entire Xiyuan Secret Realm to shake and tremble. The cultivators inside and outside the secret realm looked up in astonishment at the direction of the white light.
"That's... a divine artifact?"
"An ancient temple exists within the Stream Source Secret Realm!!!"
"It's the light of a divine artifact recognizing its master—"
"The Zhou family didn't discover the divine artifacts in the ancient temple?"
"Quick—go and grab it!"
At the same time, various teleportation talismans flew out of the Xiyuan Secret Realm and teleported to all directions. Many families such as Zhou, Jiang, and Song, as well as major sects such as Linglong and Tingze, received the news of the emergence of the divine artifact and took action one after another.
The hidden realm of Xiyuan, the ancient temple.
The artifact recognized its master, and the fox-faced ram-horned beast that guarded it vanished.
However, Jiang Gu's expression was rather unpleasant.
A dark black jade bracelet was fastened to Wei Feng's slender wrist, frantically absorbing his blood. At the same time, a dark black jade bracelet also appeared on Jiang Gu's primordial spirit's wrist, absorbing the power of his primordial spirit. The two jade bracelets were exactly the same, the only difference being that as soon as he felt displeasure, the jade bracelet on his primordial spirit dared not absorb any more power, but instead turned around as if it wanted to devour Wei Feng's body.
Jiang Gu frowned slightly, and the jade bracelet immediately stopped, as if it had been thinking for a moment, before releasing all its spiritual power.
Wei Feng's tattered body and Jiang Gu's primordial spirit were instantly enveloped in white light, and surging spiritual power rushed towards them. Soon, Wei Feng's body, which was almost reduced to a skeleton, became completely intact, and even the feathers and scales on his body became radiant. Jiang Gu's primordial spirit was covered by a layer of hazy spiritual power. This layer of spiritual power even followed the wisp of the primordial spirit to find him and wrapped up his entire primordial spirit. The original brilliant gold of the primordial spirit turned into an inconspicuous grayish-white.
Once the surging power dissipated, Jiang Gu decisively withdrew from Wei Feng's body, returned his primordial spirit to its place, and then manipulated this wisp of primordial spirit to re-enter the new puppet, transforming into the appearance of 'Zhou Huaiming', and caught Wei Feng who fell from mid-air.
"It's you!" Lu Zhenyi recognized him as the culprit who had kidnapped her younger brother. However, his primordial spirit was severely injured after being recognized by the divine artifact, and he had barely escaped from the artifact. Now, his cultivation level had plummeted.
Jiang Gu raised his hand, gesturing for him to look behind him.
Lu Zhenyi turned her head and looked at Lu Ziming, who was tightly bound by the Dragon-Locking Chain and the Fire-Leaving Rope. Her face immediately turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Then I'll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Lu to clean up the mess." Jiang Gu smiled slightly. "I don't want the news that Wei Feng is the Divine Kite Shark and has obtained a divine artifact to spread."
Lu Zhenyi's forehead veins bulged, and spiritual power surged around her. Jiang Gu's fingertips twitched slightly, and he controlled both the Dragon Locking Chain and the Fire Rope. Lu Ziming immediately let out a miserable wail.
"Stop!" Lu Zhenyi gritted her teeth and said, "Release my brother first!"
“This time it won’t be that simple.” Jiang Gu casually tossed Lu Ziming into the spirit pet pouch and looked at Lu Zhenyi with a calm expression. “Three months from now, if Wei Feng is alright, you can come to Yanghua Sect to pick up your brother.”
Lu Zhenyi said with a gloomy expression, "Even if you obtain the divine artifact, do you really think I can't do anything to you?!"
“I’m looking forward to it, but then you’ll only be able to collect Lu Ziming’s corpse.” Jiang Gu waved the spirit pet pouch in his hand at him.
"Okay, I promise you," Lu Zhenyi squeezed out through gritted teeth.
"Thank you for your trouble." Jiang Gu nodded politely to him, and then disappeared with Wei Feng.
Lu Zhenyi slowly raised her head, looked at her seriously injured fellow disciple in the distance, and gripped the sword in her hand.
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