Chapter 36: Great Profits
At the moment when Ji Yuan broke through the surface of the water, the black mist that had entered his body along with the lake water finally dissipated.
He let out a long sigh of relief.
Otherwise, even if he had avoided being killed by that Ghost Island Lord, he would have drowned from holding his breath underwater.
However, just as Ji Yuan emerged from the water and his body hovered in mid-air, the Ghost Island Lord waved the black banner in his hand.
The two black mist ghost heads flew toward him again.
Ji Yuan immediately urged the White Water Flying Sword to meet them.
The Ghost Island Lord then extended both hands and tapped several times into the void. Each tap released a faint blue spiritual light.
Water Drop Finger!!
It was the very same Water Drop Finger that Ji Yuan was extremely familiar with!
This old thief actually knew this technique too... Ji Yuan’s body fell back toward the water but was caught by the white boat. The incoming Water Drop Finger was also blocked by the Dragon Scale Shield.
Using the momentum, he retreated several more zhang.
Seeing the flying sword entangled once again by the ghost heads, Ji Yuan raised his hand and madly tapped forward.
Faint blue spiritual lights shot out like they cost nothing.
Earlier, the Ghost Island Lord had only cast five or six Water Drop Fingers and was already overwhelmed by the backlash. Yet Ji Yuan… had unleashed sixteen consecutive Water Drop Fingers without showing any signs of discomfort.
“What?!”
The Ghost Island Lord was stunned by Ji Yuan’s Water Drop Finger.
In that moment of distraction, the two ghost heads were blasted into pieces by Ji Yuan’s Water Drop Finger.
The White Water Flying Sword, freed from its entanglement, shot toward the Ghost Island Lord once again.
After a brief shock, the Ghost Island Lord sank his dharma boat and immediately disappeared beneath the lake surface.
This time, it was his turn to enter the water.
Ji Yuan recalled his flying sword with a wave of his hand, and the white boat sped forward.
Just as he was preparing to flee this place, the black mist hovering over the lake began to churn violently. He sped away for several li, yet still could not escape the black mist.
Strange… something was wrong.
Earlier, the black mist had only covered an area of about one li, yet now, after moving so far, he was still within the mist?
A word suddenly popped into Ji Yuan’s mind.
Formation!
It had to be a formation to have such an effect.
That black banner in the Ghost Island Lord’s hand was most likely the formation flag.
But how could there be such a formation in this small Yunyu Marshlands, especially in the hands of someone at mid-stage Qi Refinement? Could it really be related to the sect inheritance he had mentioned?
Since he couldn’t escape, Ji Yuan stopped trying to run.
He slowed the boat and began to rapidly think of a way to break this deadlock.
Whether it was the dharma artifacts or the formation used by the Ghost Island Lord, Ji Yuan observed that they were all sinister and evil in nature.
Naturally, he thought of the Rooster Crest Blood in his storage pouch, a substance filled with pure yang energy.
Whether or not it could break the formation, it should at least have some effect.
With that in mind, he took out a bottle of Rooster Crest Blood, sprinkled a few drops onto his flying sword, and swept it through the air. Immediately, streaks of blood appeared on the blade.
Wherever the sword passed, the black mist was cut open like a curtain.
It worked!
The Rooster Crest Blood could actually disperse the black mist!
Ji Yuan poured half the bottle of Rooster Crest Blood onto the blade of the flying sword and then continuously slashed at the mist.
After a brief moment, he finally cut open a path.
He steered the boat through the opening, but just as he emerged, he saw the Ghost Island Lord sitting cross-legged on his black boat, looking as if he had been waiting for a long time.
“You do have some skill, even possessing Rooster Crest Blood from a Red-Crested Rooster.”
The Ghost Island Lord curled his lips, seemingly mocking him.
Ji Yuan’s heart tightened.
Without hesitation, he activated the high-grade Water Escape Talisman he had bought for over twenty spirit stones.
His figure instantly vanished from the lake surface.
Yet, just as he disappeared, a massive golden seal suddenly descended out of thin air, smashing into the lake.
“Boom—”
As the seal hit the water, a huge wave surged, causing the lake to churn violently.
The high-grade talisman, the Golden Seal Talisman, had missed its target.
The Ghost Island Lord slapped his thigh and stood up abruptly, shouting, “You damn thief!”
Before he could act again, Ji Yuan’s cold voice echoed from the distance, “Why don’t you taste what it feels like to be smashed yourself?”
Before Ji Yuan’s voice had even faded, a golden glowing character “镇” (Suppress) appeared out of thin air and descended toward the Ghost Island Lord.
It was another high-grade talisman—the Demon Suppression Talisman!
“Senior brother, must you go this far?!”
The Ghost Island Lord panicked and shouted, then hastily slapped a talisman onto himself.
In an instant, his black robe grew countless black scales, and the phantom of a large black snake appeared, its head raised high to block the descending Demon Suppression Talisman.
Even so, the black scales on his robe began to fall off continuously.
Although Ji Yuan could not identify the exact origin of the defensive talisman the Ghost Island Lord had just used, he knew that the Demon Suppression Talisman had a natural suppressive effect on evil cultivators like him!
Not wasting the opportunity, Ji Yuan sent the White Water Flying Sword to assist.
With the Rooster Crest Blood still on the blade, the flying sword seemed even more effective than the talisman. With just a single sweep, it cut down wave after wave of black scales.
With both the talisman and the flying sword attacking, the black snake phantom began to crumble even faster.
However, the Demon Suppression Talisman also began to dim.
The Ghost Island Lord’s body sank slightly, and with a low shout, he retrieved the black banner formation flag he had placed at the bottom of the lake, gripping it with one hand and giving it a twist.
The White Water Flying Sword was once again trapped by the flag.
But compared to before, the blood-stained sword nearly broke free several times… the formation flag wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer.
At that moment, Ji Yuan extended his hand and cast several more Water Drop Fingers, aiming directly at the pale-faced Ghost Island Lord.
The Ghost Island Lord sneered and made no effort to dodge.
Instead, he summoned a skull-shaped token to block in front of him.
The Water Drop Finger was powerful, but it wasn’t very effective against defensive dharma artifacts.
Although two of the blue lights barely pierced through the token, they were stopped by the Ghost Island Lord’s robe.
Seeing the Water Drop Finger dissolve into splashes of water, the Ghost Island Lord secretly sighed in relief.
Yet, in that moment, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a red glow within the splashing water.
It was like the heart of a blooming flower.
Realizing something was wrong, he reacted too late.
The red glow pierced through both the talisman and his robe’s defenses, arriving directly in front of him, and finally… burrowed into his forehead.
The Ghost Island Lord grunted and instinctively stumbled backward, driven by that red glow.
The formation flag that had trapped the flying sword lost control and scattered.
The White Water Flying Sword broke free once again, growing in size as it turned into a three-foot-long sword.
A flash of snowy white sword light swept by, and a large head was sent flying.
Even then, Ji Yuan wasn’t reassured. He immediately fired two fireballs, burning both the head and the corpse to ashes.
All that remained on the surface of his dharma boat were a tattered black robe, the black formation flag, the skull-shaped token, and a storage pouch.
Ji Yuan quickly approached and swept up all the spoils in a single motion.
He also retrieved his White Water Flying Sword and the Death Needle.
Returning to the earlier battlefield, he found Wei Caishan’s corpse. However, as a Qi Refining early-stage cultivator, she had no storage pouch.
The only dharma artifact she had was her dharma boat.
Ji Yuan took the dharma boat and the jade box hidden in her chest. With a drop of Corpse Dissolving Water, he destroyed the body completely.
With his remaining spiritual power, he urged the white boat to quickly leave the area.
After such a prolonged battle with such loud commotion, and having used four high-grade talismans, it had surely drawn the attention of others.
He needed to leave immediately.
Sure enough, less than half a stick of incense after Ji Yuan’s departure, two flying boats descended from the sky.
“Who fought here? The disturbance is enormous.”
“Judging by the lingering aura, it was likely a late-stage battle, maybe even casualties… This isn’t far from Jing’an Alley. Let’s ask Old Man Ge if he knows anything.”
The two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators soon flew off again on their boats.
Low-grade dharma boats could only operate on the water’s surface. Mid-grade boats could submerge. And high-grade… they were known as flying boats.
Because they could not only operate on water but also served as flying dharma artifacts.
Not long after the two had left, several more figures surfaced from beneath the water. But after sensing the lingering spiritual fluctuations, they all fled in fear.
A place where late-stage Qi Refining cultivators had just fought was not something mid-stage cultivators like them dared to meddle with.
Few who had reached mid-stage in Yunyu Marshlands were fools.
Ji Yuan steered the dharma boat, wandering aimlessly around Yunyu Marshlands while holding a spirit stone to replenish his spiritual power.
After circling around for a full day, ensuring he wasn’t being followed and that his condition had fully recovered, he finally found a nearby reed marsh, put away the white boat, and leaped into the reeds. He then took out the Ghost Island Lord’s storage pouch.
With the restriction already lifted, he infused his spiritual power into it.
With just one glance, he knew… this trip had been immensely profitable!