A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 67 Heavenly Thunder Child

The burly man from the Giant Sword Sect was surging with spiritual energy. He was about to secretly send the Thunderbolt, which was exuding a violent aura, to Luo Ming's side to detonate under the cover of the Thunderfire Pearl's explosion. However, he never expected that Luo Ming's divine sense would be so sharp, and he was completely unprepared for this unpredictable soul attack.

That condensed, needle-like fire god thorn, carrying scorching divine soul power, instantly pierced through his sea of ​​consciousness barrier, stabbing into his divine soul like a red-hot branding iron.

"ah--!"

A piercing scream tore through the sky above the wilderness.

The intense pain caused the burly man to stiffen, his eyes widened suddenly, bloodshot, and he clutched his head tightly as he crouched down, his screams heart-wrenching. The spasms from the damage to his soul made it impossible for him to even stand, and he could barely maintain his spiritual energy shield.

Just then, a black afterimage suddenly darted out from the shadows beside the big man!

"Pfft—"

The Wind Fox Beast's claws gleamed with a chilling luster, their sharpness far surpassing that of ordinary magical artifacts. With almost no resistance, they tore open the burly man's skull, sending red and white matter mixed with shattered divine soul power flying out. The piercing scream abruptly ceased, and the burly man's body crashed heavily to the ground, utterly lifeless.

A crystal, entirely azure blue with tiny arcs of electricity crackling around its surface, struck the gravelly ground with a soft "thud." The arcs flickered slightly, as if recounting the danger that had just occurred.

Luo Ming's figure flashed like a ghost, a faint protective spiritual energy swirling around his fingertips as he carefully picked up the Heavenly Thunder Stone. His hand felt slightly numb; the violent energy on the verge of exploding made his fingertips tremble slightly. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

"That was close! If he had successfully detonated such a ferocious weapon, even with my protective aura, I would have been severely injured." Luo Ming didn't dare to delay and carefully placed the Heavenly Thunder Seed into a jade box. After doing all this, he raised his hand to take away the big man's storage bag and then collected the flying sword and Thunderfire Gourd that were scattered to the side.

Luo Ming glanced around to make sure there were no other signs of life, then took out a piece of green gauze and draped it over his body. His figure transformed into a green shadow and sped off to the south.

He had only been gone for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn when groups of two or three cultivators passed by in the sky above this area. Most of these cultivators had solemn expressions, and their clothes bore traces of battle. They were in a hurry.

Even when they caught a glimpse of the corpses on the ground, they only glanced at them quickly, their eyes showing no emotion, before hastily fleeing in the same direction.

As time passed, news of the seven factions' crushing defeat at the hands of the demonic forces at Jingu Plain spread rapidly throughout the Yue Kingdom like a plague.

As the news spread, the reason for the crushing defeat gradually came to light—it turned out that Spirit Beast Mountain had betrayed them and become an accomplice of the demonic path!

Upon learning the truth, the surviving cultivators cursed the betrayal of Spirit Beast Mountain with gritted teeth, yet they were powerless to stop the impending invasion of Yue Kingdom by the demonic army.

In fact, long before the war broke out, the core disciples of the six sects had already received secret orders from their sects and made preparations for their retreat.

Now that news of their crushing defeat has arrived, they are fleeing south towards the territory of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, following their pre-arranged plan, hoping to seize a foothold there, preserve the flame of their sect, and continue their lineage.

Meanwhile, the demonic army also dispatched large numbers of teams to intercept the core disciples of each sect. These core disciples carried a great deal of sect resources, and the gains from successfully intercepting one of them would be immeasurable, making the battle even more intense.

On this day, Luo Ming opened up a temporary cave in a secluded place, preparing to make good recovery, while the Wind Fox Beast and the Fat Sun Bird kept watch for him outside.

"In this war, I'm afraid the six factions will lose at least half of their manpower, and even the Spirit Beast Mountain will probably not fare too well." Luo Ming slowly opened his eyes.

Looking back on the past month, he finally understood the cruelty of the cultivation world. He learned what it meant to be utterly defeated and to have one's life treated like dirt. Low-level cultivators were treated like ants, killed at will. Not only were their storage bags stolen, but their bodies and souls were also taken away.

Demonic cultivators utilize resources to the extreme. Their physical bodies are either used to feed spirit beasts or to create corpse puppets, while their souls are refined into soul banners. This is why, when the demonic army attacks, almost all cultivators flee in a frenzy.

Taking advantage of the rest, Luo Ming checked the burly man's storage bag and began to examine the jade slips inside.

"Greatsword Technique?" Luo Ming examined it carefully, but was somewhat disappointed.

Although the moves inside look very powerful, and can be mastered to create a hundred-foot-long giant sword for attack, that's only for the opening move of creating a giant pancake. It requires at least the Core Formation stage, while he only has a technique that reaches the late Foundation Establishment stage.

There are many types of cultivation techniques in the world of cultivation, but there are not many like the Spirit Control Technique that do not require specific spiritual root attributes. Most of them have restrictions based on spiritual root.

Just like this Greatsword Technique, it requires at least one of the two spiritual roots: metal or earth, and it's even better if you have both.

When a cultivator practices this technique, they will use their magic power to slowly cultivate a sword aura in their dantian. With the blessing of this aura, the flying sword attack will be more fierce, rather than just the magical aura enhanced by ordinary magic power.

True sword cultivators and ordinary cultivators, even when wielding the same flying sword or magical artifact, can have vastly different levels of power. This is why Luo Ming envies sword cultivators.

"I wonder if I can try this attribute-less cultivation technique by following the instructions. Anyway, I have an earth elemental root." Luo Ming had a sudden thought, but then dismissed the crazy idea.

In the world of cultivation, which cultivation technique isn't the result of continuous trial and error by predecessors? It might not seem like much when you first start practicing, but as you progress to more advanced levels, any mistake can lead to damage to your meridians or even severe qi deviation.

Luckily, he didn't have a master, otherwise, if he had heard what he was thinking just now, he would have given him a good scolding.

Although Luo Ming didn't understand the deeper aspects of the cultivation technique, he knew that if he practiced it incorrectly, it would delay his breakthrough in realm. For this reason alone, he dared not act recklessly.

With his nascent dream of becoming a sword cultivator shattered, Luo Ming stopped deliberately considering cultivation techniques. Given his luck in being able to travel through time, top-tier cultivation techniques should have been delivered to him automatically. The fact that he hadn't encountered any yet meant that his time wasn't right. Luo Ming comforted himself with this thought.

"Hmm? Someone's passing by." Luo Ming was startled. The Zhiyang Bird outside sent a warning that two powerful auras were coming this way.

After recalling the two spirit beasts, Luo Ming, draped in a wind-spirit veil, hid in the shadows and quietly observed. He had been encountering this kind of thing frequently lately, so it wasn't surprising to him at all.

The next moment, two immense and unparalleled spiritual auras suddenly pressed down from the sky. Luo Ming froze, his heart pounding wildly—it was the pressure of a Core Formation cultivator!

He dared not extend his divine sense, but only peeked through the cracks in the cave walls. He saw two figures rushing past overhead with astonishing momentum, the aftershocks of their battle causing the surrounding rocks to tumble down.

The fleeing figure ahead was a woman dressed in a moon-white Daoist robe, her skirt and cuffs stained with dark red blood. Her face was ashen, clearly indicating she had suffered serious injuries; she was none other than a Core Formation cultivator from the Qingxu Sect. A ring of crimson silk shadows swirled around her, radiating astonishing flames—this was her magical artifact, the Crimson Flame Silk. As the silk shadows danced, they cast scorching spiritual light, barely managing to deflect the poisonous clouds pursuing her.

The pursuer was a black-robed cultivator with a sinister face. A large gray-black poisonous cloud hovered around him, within which countless poisonous insects surged. As the poisonous cloud rolled, it continuously dripped blackish-brown venom, instantly withering and scorching the vegetation wherever it passed.