Chapter 573: Everyone Has a Heart of Compassion, Except Bai Hongtu
If a questionnaire had been handed out to Jiang Li’s peers back when he was still a Human Sovereign candidate, their evaluations of the three of them would probably have looked like this:
Jiang Li — full of tricks; when you see him with Bai Hongtu you should cover your ears and not listen to a single word.
Bai Hongtu — full of tricks; when you see him with Jiang Li you should cover your ears and not listen to a single word.
Yu Yin — extremely formidable in a fight; run as soon as you see her.
Now that the same questionnaire was issued again among Jiang Li’s peers, their evaluations would probably read like this:
Jiang Li — worthy of the name Human Sovereign; he’s gone from being openly mischievous to being secretly mischievous.
Bai Hongtu — lucky he didn’t become Human Sovereign; better for him to stay obediently in the Dao Sect.
Yu Yin — extremely formidable in a fight; run as soon as you see her.
Yu Yin left an indelible aura of terror across an entire generation. After she had defeated Nascent Soul practitioners, she had no intention of hiding—she walked openly through the dense forest with complete confidence.
Countless people hid among treetops and in ponds, none daring to act. Whoever struck first had to be prepared to take the earliest blows.
In the end, an elder of twelve hundred years finally took action. He had refined a Spiritual Treasure Golden Core; this golden core could leave the body and become a usable Spiritual Treasure.
Using a golden core as a Spiritual Treasure made it exceptionally convenient—his spellcasting speed increased by thirty percent.
“Wind Spirit Scatter Mind!”
The elder roared, activating the golden core. A small whirlpool condensed in his palm; striking a person, it could briefly scatter their focus.
He hurled the little whirlpool.
Yu Yin casually snapped off a willow twig, refined it into a temporary weapon, and with a light flick the supple twig dispersed the small whirlpool.
Another whip cracked out, and it struck the exposed Spiritual Treasure Golden Core, leaving a fissure across it.
The elder planned to continue using his divine skill, but Yu Yin’s fist came in and landed directly on his face.
“Do you still have time to use spell skills in close quarters?”
The elder fell straight to the ground and tumbled into the puddle behind him.
“Remember Elder Sun’s kindness—everyone, charge!” someone shouted. If an elder was willing to sacrifice himself, how could these later generations not be moved?
“Sun—Elder—” someone sobbed in grief, and while screaming they charged forward.
“Avenge Elder Sun!”
“Attack!”
“Defeat Empress Yu Yin today!”
A head broke the surface of the water. The elder watched the crowd who had leapt to action and took note of who was shouting the loudest; his gaze was full of rue.
You’re all Unity Stage cultivators—don’t go too far.
The temporarily refined willow twig quickly lost its effectiveness. Yu Yin stamped her foot and countless stones leaped up from the ground; she refined them all into weapons, waved her hand, and sent the stones flying, drawing innumerable cries of pain.
Luckily, these attackers were not the old-style Golden Core practitioners—they were Golden Core innovators who had developed new techniques and thus had a fighting chance against Yu Yin.
“Hahaha, I finally lasted ten moves against Yu Yin.”
“Ten moves? I’ve already taken eleven…” The man hadn’t finished speaking before Yu Yin kicked him flying.
“I’ve broken my own limits; I dare fight Yu Yin…” That man’s words were cut off as a branch wrapped around his waist and hurled him spinning like a top.
Yu Yin couldn’t understand how anyone could keep talking during a fight—didn’t these people know that losing focus during combat was taboo?
She fought like a valkyrie, facing enemies from all directions, winning every duel, and leaving opponents trembling.
All those flashy, personalized golden cores were mere show to her: pretty but useless, easily neutralized with casual movements.
“Watch our combined attack!”
“What kind of golden core did Yu Yin refine?” The defeated clustered together to discuss, realizing that even after trading blows they couldn’t discern what made Yu Yin’s golden core special.
Yu Yin’s combat noise attracted countless cultivators; even Li Er, Sword Sovereign, and the Old Dragon King arrived.
Li Er had carved all sorts of shapes of female demon beasts onto his golden core; each activation filled his ears with countless coquettish encouragements, like a horde of female demon beasts standing behind him cheering him on.
“Li Er, come on, if you win you can marry me.”
“My hero, you are the strongest.”
“Defeat the enemy and I might reward you once—why not?”
Self-hypnosis worked well; Li Er fought with blood-bolstered zeal and grew braver with each clash.
Sword Sovereign’s sword-qi golden core made him the strongest sword cultivator among the Golden Core stage; his released sword qi even forced Nascent Soul practitioners to avoid its edge.
Yu Yin avoided a direct clash, using ingenious gestures to dissipate the sword qi.
The Old Dragon King’s golden core was inscribed with a True Dragon imprint that fully activated his bloodline at the Golden Core stage.
The Old Dragon King’s combat experience was vast; he unleashed dragon-unique divine skills in seamless succession.
The most impressive, however, was the former Pavilion Master of Heaven’s Kill Pavilion. He had truly witnessed the might of Jiang Li’s statue and had vaguely sensed that Jiang Li had reached an unfathomable height. He chose to engrave Jiang Li’s image onto his golden core.
Under the golden core’s influence, his body became incomparably rigid—so hard that he couldn’t move.
The former Pavilion Master of Heaven’s Kill Pavilion was immobilized like the statue.
The Tower Master of Tianji Tower saw this and cheerfully hoisted the immobilized former Pavilion Master like a handy weapon.
The Tower Master of Tianji Tower’s golden core was also unusual: he had etched the Tianji Tower technique “Seize Control of Fate” onto it, and combined with his understanding of the method, he achieved the ability to avoid any attack.
Against any assault, the Tower Master’s body could make instinctive responses and automatically dodge.
Only his repeated reckless deaths had driven his comprehension of the technique to a level even the sect patriarch couldn’t reach. If someone else had the same golden core, they would not necessarily achieve this.
The Tower Master and the former Pavilion Master teamed up perfectly—balanced offense and defense—unstoppable.
Even Yu Yin found herself at a loss.
“Yu Yin’s about to break—should we step in to help?” Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu watched the fight covertly, discussing their options.
“Give her a hand; after all, they’re all friends,” Bai Hongtu said, pity stirring within him. As he spoke, he planted a sign into the ground that read: five hundred meters ahead is Yu Yin; please detour with caution.
When cultivators saw the sign, they followed its direction to seek Yu Yin.
The two of them left at once, leaping through treetops toward Yu Yin.
On the other side, the Holy Maiden Jingxin happened upon someone playing tricks—deliberately placing a sign that pointed directly to Sister Yu Yin’s location.
“Which scoundrel did this?”
She tore up the signs she found, easing the pressure on Yu Yin’s side.
“Haha, Yu Yin, you’re so unpopular—so many people gang up on you,” Bai Hongtu laughed. His move immediately drew a lot of attention; many turned and attacked Bai Hongtu.
A perfect opening had been seized.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed your little schemes.”
Yu Yin’s lips curved with a cold smile. Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu’s petty maneuvers were exactly to her taste.
Battle, after all, is battle: win or lose aside, the more opponents the better.