Chapter 460: Chapter 452 Man’s Dying Words are Good_1
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This Soul Craving Tendril Wood, because it grows in places with extremely dense yin aura like deep abysses and graveyards, is relatively easy to obtain, yet still quite rare.
If it reaches a purple-brown hue, its value is not inferior to that of the Thunderstruck Soul Nourishing Wood.
After realizing the value of this vine staff, Qin Niu’s thoughts turned, wondering, could the Everlasting Spring Technique bring this vine staff back to life?
At the moment, the head of the staff had nearly had all its energy absorbed by the Ink Blade.
He picked up the broken end of the staff in his hand, weighed it, and found it surprisingly heavy. The vine staff had been cut down for many years, and its life force probably had long been severed.
If it were a freshly cut vine staff, he would have great confidence in using the Everlasting Spring Technique to help it revive.
Qin Niu’s Medicine King Sutra had now advanced to the Innate Realm. Not only could he sense the medicinal aura and energy of plants, but he could also detect some of their subtler aspects. He tried injecting a strand of the Medicine King Sutra’s power into the interior of the vine staff.
As he had expected, after so many years, the vine staff had completely dried up.
He could not feel any vitality at all.
However, when his Medicine King Sutra’s power seeped into the body of the staff, he was pleasantly surprised to discover a hidden mechanism.
Inside, there was a mass of energy.
With his experience, he could tell that this energy had a hint of vitality, meaning its core still harbored a trace of life force.
Lacking the conditions to plant it now, Qin Niu immediately carefully tucked it away in his bosom.
Once the battle was over, he would bring the vine staff home and plant it either in the backyard or within the Qifeng Mountain Range.
The Mysterious Gu Master was dead, and the Insect Formation had been broken, the battle likely wouldn’t hold any more suspense.
Indeed, half an hour later, the situation on the battlefield had completely reversed.
The Black Tiger Gang now held a complete advantage, their morale surging like a rainbow. In contrast, the Nine Insect Gang and the Shennong Sect were at the end of their tether.
The death of the Mysterious Gu Master had dealt a significant blow to the Nine Insect Gang.
Many were even starting to flee outright.
The Nine Insects Gang Leader was severely injured, no match for the Black Tiger Gang Leader.
“Xue Qiuhe, today I’ll let you enjoy your brief triumph. The mountains and rivers are evergreen, we will fight again another day,” the Nine Insects Gang Leader might have said because of her injuries, her once fair and tender face now had lines of wrinkles appearing.
And she was aging at a visible rate.
Her once jet-black hair now had strands of white, particularly noticeable at the temples.
Her Tyrant Demon Spider no longer exuded its fearsome aura, as it had lost two of its legs, and its body bore many wounds.
“Retreat!”
The Nine Insects Gang Leader led the gang’s experts in a retreat.
With this retreat, the pressure on the experts of the Shennong Sect instantly doubled.
“Think you can escape?”
The Black Tiger Gang Leader was a ruthless man.
It’s said that a man without poison is no real man, and he who is small-minded cannot be a gentleman.
Having finally inflicted a severe wound on the Nine Insects Gang Leader, even if the Black Tiger Gang Leader had once harbored feelings for her in his youth, he was not willing to let the tiger return to the mountain.
This was an excellent opportunity to eliminate the Nine Insects Gang Leader.
By killing her, the Black Tiger Gang could definitely wipe out the Nine Insect Gang in one fell swoop, and then settle the score with the Shennong Sect. At that time, the Black Tiger Gang could directly absorb these two sects.
“Protect the Gang Leader!”
One of the close confidants of the Nine Insects Gang Leader shouted sharply.
Yet the elders of the Nine Insect Gang seemed to have their own designs and did not protect the Gang Leader or cover her escape.
Instead, they fled even faster and more desperately.
The Nine Insect Gang originally had four great elders remaining, but now after another had died in battle, only three were left.
The shrewdest of them, the Great Elder, had already escaped until only a silhouette remained.
The Black Tiger Gang Leader, brandishing his sword, directly pursued the fleeing Nine Insects Gang Leader. Some loyal high-ranking members of the Nine Insect Gang emerged to block him.
Alas, not a single one of them was a match for the Black Tiger Gang Leader, who swept them aside with two strokes of his sword.
In the face of the Black Tiger Gang Leader, experts of the Innate Realm were as frail as chickens.
“Sister, go quickly!”
At this critical moment, the wife of the Shennong Sect Leader drew her sword and resolutely stood in front of the Black Tiger Gang Leader.
Her cultivation was at the bottom of the Spirit Qi Realm and was nowhere near powerful.
On the contrary, the strength of Pan Jianjun, the Shennong Sect Leader, was much greater; he had already reached the peak of the Spirit Qi Realm and was only one step from breaking through to the Immortal Scholar Realm.
Indeed, the love between sisters was deep.
The Nine Insects Gang Leader did not even signal her when fleeing.
Now, knowing she was no match for the Black Tiger Gang Leader, she still bravely stepped forward to cover her sister’s retreat.
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The Nine Insects Gang Leader rode the tyrant demon spider swiftly fleeing from the battlefield.
Though she was seriously injured at this moment, there was hardly anyone daring to block her way.
“You are courting death!”
The Black Tiger Gang Leader watched in rage as his formidable enemy escaped, his anger reaching its peak.
He swung his sword fiercely at the Shennong Sect Leader’s wife who was attacking him.
Boom!
Like a kite with its string cut, the Shennong Sect Leader’s wife was sent flying backward, her treasured sword slipping from her hands and flying away as she did.
She, only at the early stage of the Spirit Qi Realm, dared to fight against an Immortal Master and a tiger demon, truly overestimating herself.
“Xiang Rou!”
Seeing his wife struck down, the Shennong Sect Leader was filled with immense sorrow. Everything had happened in the blink of an eye, too quickly for him to intervene.
Pan Jianjun’s strength was extremely formidable, as he flew to catch his wife in midair and then slashed twice at the Black Tiger Gang Leader with his sword.
The two terrifying sword Qis forced the Black Tiger Gang Leader to hastily retreat.
The crisscrossing Sword Qi spread around, forcing Vice City Lord Bai and others to hurriedly defend themselves with their swords.
This Sword Qi was highly spiritual, capable of automatically pursuing enemies.
One could only find safety by neutralizing it.
Otherwise, it was easy to be cut down by it.
These two Sword Qi were also Pan Jianjun’s most powerful sword techniques, the ultimate moves in his repertoire.
His wife was now so weak her body was limp; fresh blood constantly spilled from her mouth, and her gaze became listless.
It was obvious that her injuries were extremely severe.
“Retreat!”
Pan Jianjun let out a thunderous roar, holding his wife and swiftly escaping into the distance.
There were experts covering their retreat from behind.
Looking back at the Nine Insects Gang Leader, she indeed was a poisonous woman. Her sworn sister had paid such a heavy price to buy her time to escape, yet the Nine Insects Gang Leader didn’t look back once, focusing solely on fleeing as fast as she could.
From beginning to end, the woman named Xiang Rou was nothing but a tool in the eyes of the Nine Insects Gang Leader.
It was truly sad.
“Xiang Rou, I will take you back to Shennong City immediately to find the best doctor to heal you. You must hold on,” the Shennong Sect Leader said, his heart wrenching as his eyes and heart were filled only with his injured wife.
“I can’t make it… I won’t be able to watch the sunrise and sunset with you nor practice swordplay together…”
Her mouth gushed forth a copious amount of bloody foam.
Her gaze lovingly fixed on the man of her heart.
“Everyone says I’m a vixen, deceiving you and making you henpecked… If I die, no one will call you foolish anymore!” A tragic smile appeared on her face.
“No… no, you won’t die! Everything I have done for you has been of my own free will. I never cared about what others thought; all I know is that every day spent with you has been joyful. Even if the whole world scolded us, so what? Who I love is not for others to judge or criticize. Xiang Rou, you must hold on; you promised to join me in seeking the Immortality Technique at the Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect,” Pan Jianjun said as he looked down at his wife in his arms, shaking his head in denial.
He didn’t want her to die.
He couldn’t bear to imagine life without her.
Qin Niu watched the couple from a short distance away, sighing softly in his heart.
What is love in this world, if not a promise to live and die together?
The Shennong Sect Leader’s devotion to his wife was deeply moving.
It was just a pity they had been used by the Nine Insects Gang Leader.
“Jianjun, it was so good to have met you in this life!”
A glow like that of a last burst of radiance lit her face, showing an unprecedented sweetness and happiness.
“When I first met you, it was my sister who intentionally created the opportunity for us. But after getting to know you, I found myself uncontrollably falling in love with you. Since then, I’ve never deceived you…”
With death imminent, her words were kind.
She finally revealed the truth; initially, she approached the Shennong Sect Leader under the direction of the Nine Insects Gang Leader.
From the very beginning, their meeting was with an ulterior motive.
“I know all of it! And I’ve never blamed you. In the jianghu, one can’t help oneself, and everyone has their own difficulties. All I wanted was to be with you. I don’t care about the position of Sect Leader, nor about power, territory, or wealth. Once your injuries heal, I will take you away to hide in the mountains, never to concern ourselves with the world’s enmities and grudges,” Pan Jianjun cautiously wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.