Chapter 199
Tao Youyu ran so fast, Jiaojiao in his arms, that his legs left afterimages. He didn't even glance at the flashing swords and sabers behind him, simply running with all his might, gritting his teeth. A strong gust of wind struck from behind, and he ducked sideways without even turning. A strand of hair on the side of his face was snipped off by the gust of wind, swirling to the ground and being stepped on by him. He continued to dodge the attacks from behind, quickly searching for trees nearby that could provide shelter.
At this moment, he was very glad that he was traveling in a soul and not a body. Although his physical fitness was already top-notch in modern times, it was really a world of difference compared to the physical fitness of the cultivators who had been training their bodies since they were four years old.
If it was his own body, there would be no need to think about running away. Just lying down and waiting to die would be the greatest respect for him.
Tao Youyu was not familiar with the monks' methods of attack. Although he avoided most attacks with his keen senses and the intuition he had developed from past fights, the occasional misjudgment was enough to make him suffer.
Tao Youyu was blown away and didn't stop until he hit a tree. He hugged Jiaojiao tightly in his arms because of the pain. After a long time, he stood up again by holding the tree trunk and continued to run with a limp.
Jin Bingwen, who had barely stopped five people by himself from a distance, saw this scene out of the corner of his eye, frowned and cursed him as an idiot.
He looked at the wandering cultivators and demonic cultivators in front of him, two of them were in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, and three were in the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Realm. If he had not specialized in talismans, he, a cultivator in the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Realm, would not have been able to hold back so many people for a while.
No matter how powerful Jin Bingwen was, he could not block all the attacks from these casual cultivators and demonic cultivators, so he selectively missed some of the attacks that were originally aimed at Tao Youyu.
He originally thought that no matter how low Tao Youyu's cultivation was, he would have to rely on Jin Liuyan's legacy. In addition, he felt that although these attacks were troublesome, they did not cause much damage and were not fast enough so he could dodge them. However, he did not expect that he was such a waste.
As he thought of this, the runes floating around Jin Bingwen became denser and denser.
The thunderclouds in the sky were getting thicker and thicker. Fortunately, they hadn't run too far before. Before they could no longer bear it, Tao Youyu finally stepped into the minefield with Jiaojiao in her arms. However, as soon as she stepped into the minefield, the hairs on her body stood on end. The feeling of imminent danger made Tao Youyu want to turn around and walk back.
This kind of power between heaven and earth always makes people in it tremble. Tao Youyu looked at Gu Yufei in the center of the thundercloud in the distance and the three corpses lying around him. He was frightened and walked forward with gritted teeth. As a result, he had just taken a step when he was hit on the forehead with a fan by Jin Bingwen who was chasing him.
"Are you crazy? That's a Nascent Soul Lightning Tribulation. How could someone like you in the Qi Training Stage withstand it? It's fine if you're courting death, but why are you bringing this little guy along?"
Jin Bingwen said this in a bad mood as he grabbed Tao Youyu's collar and dragged him out of the minefield. After that, he frowned and glanced at Gu Yufei in the distant thundercloud. Seeing that Gu Yufei's brows were furrowed and his face and clothes were stained with blood, he reached out with an impatient look on his face: "Where's the bottle?"
Jiaojiao, who was curled up obediently in Tao Youyu's arms, reached out her hand upon hearing this. She reached over and placed the bottle that Brother Youyu had given her into Jin Bingwen's hands, saying in a muffled voice, "Brother, give it to me."
Tao Youyu, who was grimacing and wiping the blood from his face, heard that something was wrong in his voice. He quickly blinked his eyes, which were dripping with blood and felt extremely uncomfortable, and looked down at him. Only then did he realize that Jiaojiao's eyes were red and tears were about to fall. He looked very pitiful.
Tao Youyu's heart skipped a beat. He anxiously reached out and touched his arms, legs, and back: "Where are you injured?"
"I'm not hurt." Jiaojiao shook her little head.
Hearing this, Tao Youyu felt relieved, but then frowned again: "How could you be scared?"
“I wasn’t scared.”
"Then why are you crying?"
Jiaojiao looked up at Tao Youyu with red eyes, pursed her lips, and stretched out her hand to wipe the blood off her brother's chin.
Tao Youyu grinned when he realized something, raised his hand and stroked Jiaojiao's head: "Are you worried about your brother? It seems that his love for you is not in vain!"
Jin Bingwen, who had taken the bottle and thrown it to Gu Yufei in the distance, rolled his eyes slightly when he heard this. He lowered his gaze to look at Jiaojiao, whose eyes were red in Tao Youyu's arms, and wiped away the tears from his eyes with his fingertips: "He deserves it. Although his talent with three spiritual roots is a bit lacking, it's not too useless. As long as he practiced diligently, it would be impossible for him to still be stuck in Qi training after so many years. But he insisted on spending so much energy on finding the Spirit Cleansing Grass and neglected his practice. Is that thing so easy to find? So don't feel sorry for him, it's all his own fault. Take this as a warning and don't learn from him in the future."
"Hey, hey, hey, is this how you teach your child? It seems like you talk too much, doesn't it?" Tao Youyu covered Jiaojiao's ears and glared at Jin Bingwen unhappily.
Tao Youyu seemed to recall something and asked, "What was that you threw over there?"
"Guyuan Pill."
Tao Youyu was surprised: "That pill is quite expensive, and you just threw it away like that?"
"It's okay. I'll owe you this favor."
Tao Youyu had a toothache: "If you lose it, we have our own."
"One more piece means more chances of winning. The left and right pieces don't conflict with each other. They might be able to help at a critical moment."
Tao Youyu didn't refute, but only asked: "What about those people? Have you dealt with them all?"
Jin Bingwen chuckled, fanned himself, and leaned back against the tree trunk. "You think highly of me, but unfortunately, I'm not as capable as you think. I've only trapped you temporarily with a formation."
Tao Youyu couldn't stand his nonchalant and somewhat sarcastic attitude, so she stuffed Jiaojiao into his arms.
Jin Bingwen froze instantly. He didn't dare to move at all. He could only glare at Tao Youyu and keep signaling with his eyes, "Take her away, take her away, take her away quickly!"
Tao Youyu pretended not to understand what he meant, and sat cross-legged on the ground with a grimace to treat his injuries.
There was no way Jin Bingwen could only look to Jin Yaoer for help. Jin Yaoer waved her hands hurriedly. She was very polite to such soft things that would break at the slightest touch.
In desperation, Jin Bingwen could only adjust his posture awkwardly and awkwardly, trying to make Jiaojiao in his arms more comfortable.
Jiaojiao looked up at him, her big eyes filled with confusion: "Brother, do you really dislike Jiaojiao?"
Hearing him say this, Jin Bingwen looked down at him, and when he met his bright eyes that seemed to contain starlight, he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, and then asked, "Why do you say that?"
Jiaojiao blinked her eyes and said, "My brother had a weird expression when he held Jiaojiao in his arms."
"It's not that I don't like it, I'm just not used to it because I've never held a child before." Jin Bingwen unskillfully lifted Jiaojiao up and held her in his arms. After a moment, he added, "But I don't like it very much either."
Jiaojiao tilted her head and thought for a moment, then stretched out her arms and tried hard to return the hug: "Then if brother hugs you more, Jiaojiao will get used to it."
Jin Bingwen was silent, looking at the little Jiaojiao in his arms. Suddenly, he freed one hand, bent his fingers and poked Jiaojiao's soft face, and chuckled, "Is this how you always coax people?"
"No coaxing." Jiaojiao rubbed his hand, then tugged at his clothes with her little paws to indicate that she wanted to get off.
After Jin Bingwen put him down, he ran towards the thundercloud with his short legs. After running for a while, Jiaojiao found that he was still standing still. He stopped in confusion and reached out to touch the back of his collar, which was a little tight. After feeling a hand, he looked back curiously and saw Jin Bingwen's face: "Brother?"
Jin Bingwen covered his raised mouth and said in a serious tone, "What are you doing?"
Thinking of how Jin Bingwen had previously forbidden Brother Youyu from going with him, Jiaojiao pointed at Gu Yufei, who was not far away, feeling a little guilty, and said with concern that could not be hidden in her tone: "Brother Yufei."
Although he didn't know what tribulation was when he was little, he knew that it must be a very dangerous thing.
Jin Yaoer, who was standing by, reached out and poked Jiaojiao's forehead. "Things like overcoming tribulation require the cultivator to carry them through on their own. Outsiders can't help. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many cultivators dying from thunder tribulations."
Jiaojiao didn't understand and looked at her in confusion.
Without waiting for Jin Yaoer to explain again, Tao Youyu pulled Jiaojiao into his arms, resting his chin on his furry head and changing the subject: "So are we just going to wait like this?"
"What are you thinking?" Jin Yao'er said unhappily, her eyes fixed on the front, one hand gripping the whip handle at her waist. "The cultivation levels of those independent cultivators and demon cultivators are comparable to my brother's. If it were just one or two, we wouldn't be unable to deal with them, but there are six or seven of them. We were able to hold them back for a while, thanks to my brother being one of the Seven Beauties."
Jin Yao'er didn't need to explain much; Tao Youyu had already spotted the figures of the independent cultivators and demonic cultivators in the forest. He placed Jiaojiao behind him to block them, and said in confusion, "No way! Are they crazy? Why are they chasing us for no apparent reason?"
Jin Bingwen looked at him in surprise: "Don't you know why they are chasing you?"
"You know shit, you just start beating me up like a mad dog without saying anything."
"They are after the Guyuan Pill."
Tao Youyu was surprised: "Guyuan Pill?"
"Haven't you noticed that the independent cultivators hunting you down are all at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage? In a few months, the Immortal Alliance Competition, held once every ten years, will be held. This competition determines the number of spots for the Taixu Secret Realm. There aren't many spots, or even enough to go around. However, for the sake of reputation, each major sect will still allocate one spot to independent cultivators. To get this spot, independent cultivators must perform exceptionally well in the competition. However, this isn't easy. The cultivators competing in the competition are all disciples that the major sects have focused on training. It's incredibly difficult to outshine them. Only independent cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage can barely compete."
"So these independent cultivators wanted to break through to the Nascent Soul stage at this last moment to compete, but the Nascent Soul stage is not so easy to break through. To be safe, they naturally set their sights on the Gu Yuan Dan."
Tao Youyu had never encountered someone who so brazenly murdered and robbed people in broad daylight. His mind froze, and he blurted out, "Can't they just buy it themselves?"
Jin Bingwen waved his fan and looked at me like I was stupid: "They can't afford it."
A casual cultivator is a type of cultivator who is even poorer than a sword cultivator. The spirit stones they spend on buying the Gu Yuan Dan are enough to last them for eight or ten years.
During the conversation, Jin Bingwen pinned his fan to his waist. Just as he was about to do something, he suddenly stopped, frowned, and looked up at the sky.
Tao Youyu noticed something was wrong with him and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jin Bingwen clicked his tongue impatiently, took out the bottle of Gu Yuan Dan from his storage jade pendant, and tossed it up and down: "Nothing, I just have to overcome the tribulation too."
I didn't expect that a thunder tribulation would be triggered at this critical moment. I am so unlucky.
Tao Youyu froze in place, looking slowly towards the thunderclouds in the sky. He said, "Why are these thunderclouds getting bigger and bigger and are about to cover their heads? There must be an emotional reason for this!"
Tao Youyu felt something was wrong, and her eyes suddenly fell on the Gu Yuan Dan in Jin Bingwen's hand: "No, didn't you just throw the Gu Yuan Dan away?"
"Oh, I bought two." Jin Bingwen quickly made a series of gestures and several runes flew out from his body, occupying the directions of Heavenly Stems, Earthly Kun, Water Kan, Fire Li, Thunder Zhen, Wind Xun, and Mountain Gen respectively.
Tao Youyu looked at him with dead eyes: "...Are you the idiot who deliberately raised the price with me?"
"What you said is so boring. Why can't I buy Guyuan Pill?"
Tao Youyu would be a fool to believe him. "When has your Jin family ever been short of Gu Yuan Dan? Do you want to come to the Bahuang Auction House to buy one? Are you childish? Do you know what it means when a person dies, it's like a light goes out? My mother died a long time ago. She didn't even mind the little disagreements we had in the past. Why do you care about it?"
Jin Bingwen pretended not to hear. At this moment, the group of people broke through the illusion that Jin Bingwen had left in the woods and looked at them from afar.
The next moment, a cold sword intent attacked from all directions. Jin Yaoer's eyes became fierce, and she swung the whip. After a "ding" sound of metal and stone whirling, the whip burning with flames and the magic weapon thrown by Tao Youyu in pain blocked the sword attacking from the right front.
Jin Yaoer's cultivation level was not as high as the man's. Although she blocked the attack with all her strength, she was also shocked and retreated several steps, with blood flowing from the corner of her mouth.
Jin Bingwen took advantage of this opportunity to quickly complete the final arrangements. As he made his last gesture, a semicircle with flashing runes fell and covered them.
Tao Youyu pulled Jin Yaoer back and couldn't help but complain when he saw this: "Whenever something happens, you cover yourself in the formation like a turtle."
Jin Bingwen looked at him coldly: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll throw you out, you bastard."
Tao Youyu stopped talking immediately. I can’t afford to offend him! I can’t afford to offend him!
The next moment, the formation shattered and was smashed head-on by someone.
Jin Bingwen suddenly looked up, his pupils shrank slightly. There was one more person among the demon cultivators, a demon cultivator with the out-of-body stage of cultivation.
Tao Youyu and Jin Yaoer also discovered this. She secretly took out the communication stone to inform her uncle, but the demon cultivator noticed it and slapped her from the air. The cold and bloody palm wind flashed in front of her eyes in an instant. Jin Yaoer had no time to dodge. At the critical moment, Jin Bingwen held her in his arms. The two of them were instantly thrown out and broke a tree, which required two strong men to surround them before they stopped.
Tao Youyu ran over to help Jin Bingwen up. Seeing Jin Bingwen covering his chest and turning his head to vomit blood, his heart suddenly sank. He suddenly understood that Jin Bingwen in front of this man was no different from him, a Qi Refining Stage cultivator in front of a Golden Core Stage. He was equally powerless to fight back.
He panicked and kept yelling in his head: "System, system, help, help! Is there any temporary unlockable abilities or newbie gift packs? Hurry and get them out!!"
System: 'No.'
"Is there any big killer weapon I can buy on credit?"
'No'
"What about its function of protecting the host?"
'No'
Tao Youyu clenched his teeth and said, "What's the point of having this system if I don't ask anything?"
The system remained silent, as if it felt this was indeed excessive. After a moment, it said, "This system can take over the host's body for a short period of time."
"I'm a Qi Refining Stage cultivator. Can you defeat someone in the Out-of-Body Stage after you take over my body?"
System: 'No.'
'Then you take over!'
Jin Bingwen pushed Jin Yaoer into Tao Youyu's arms, stuffed something into his hand, and said in a whisper, "I'll use the lightning to strike that demon cultivator later. You can take Yaoer and Jiaojiao and run away."
Tao Youyu was startled: "What about you?"
Jin Bingwen laughed, his mouth full of blood: "If you are lucky, you won't die."
The thunderclouds in the sky grew thicker and thicker. Tao Youyu clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying to himself, "Take over my body."
At this time, rather than trusting himself, he believed that the system could make the most of Jin Bingwen's thunder tribulation to take Jin Yaoer and Jiaojiao away.
Jiaojiao, who was not far away, was looking for something in his collar. He remembered that Yuyu had given him some talisman paper similar to the one in Brother Jin Bingwen's hand.
Wanting to help, Jiaojiao frowned and searched for a long time before finally finding a talisman from the collar that had the full power of a Mahayana cultivator.
Jiaojiao, who didn't know how to use it, stared at the talisman curiously, then stood up from the ground and ran towards Tao Youyu with the talisman in hand: "Brother, brother...ah"
Jiaojiao suddenly stopped and blinked at Tao Youyu in front of her, tilting her head in confusion: "Yuyu?"
"I'm not Yu Yu." A hint of blue flashed in Tao Youyu's eyes, and there was no emotion in his tone.
Just as he was about to bend down and pick up Jiaojiao, he saw the talisman paper in Jiaojiao's hand. After feeling the exceptionally powerful aura on the talisman paper, he began to think.
The host asked him to do his utmost to protect the safety of Jiaojiao and Jin Yaoer, so eliminating the threat is also a form of protection.
Thinking of this, he took the talisman paper from Jiaojiao's hand and injected a trace of spiritual power into it.
I wasn't in the right state to write this chapter, and I don't know what I wrote. I'm really stuck with writing in the world of cultivation. It's okay to update twice a day, as I have time to think about it and revise it over and over again. I'm really stuck with updating daily. I persevered a bit today and stayed up late into the night, but I don't know what I wrote. From now on, I should update twice a day. I haven't missed a chapter yet. If you mind, I'll just post a note asking for leave every other day.
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