Chapter 452: Earth Book

After a brief numbness, excruciating pain surged over him. His chest and internal organs felt like they were burning; the injuries were severe. Fortunately, he had refined seventy percent of the immortal soil, allowing his muscles and internal organs to reach seventy percent of the strength of an Immortal Body. Otherwise, his internal organs wouldn't merely be cracked; they would have been shattered by the powerful shockwave unleashed by the bronze pen.

Li Wei felt as if his body had been pierced through. His vision blurred, turning dark, and the spiritual energy within him was in complete disarray. Yet, he refused to surrender or accept his fate. The moment he fell to the ground, he relied on his formidable will to maintain his mental connection with the Immortal Corpse.

A dozen yards away, the Immortal Corpse glowed with a four-colored aura. Like an arrow released from a bow, it attacked Fu Wenyan, giving the enemy no chance to press his advantage. Li Wei needed to buy himself time to recover.

Li Wei's internal spiritual energy was chaotic, and his limbs were nearly powerless. He immediately mobilized the liquid spiritual power and Pure Radiance Immortal Mist from his Divine Palace, channeling them along twelve energy meridians. These twelve meridians, extending from his Divine Palace, connected to his five internal organs and his Hundred-Essence point on the crown of his head. At this critical moment, they played a crucial role, protecting his internal organ injuries and stabilizing the cracks, as if an internal armor had covered him.

Within the first breath after being ambushed, Li Wei, with superhuman willpower and emergency reaction speed, completed his self-rescue, stabilized his injuries, and got back on his feet. His Mind Sea and mental power remained unaffected by the chest injury.

He formed a hand seal and activated the "Escape" incantation. A dazzling fiery glow erupted from his body as he flashed away, creating distance between himself and Fu Wenyan. A Divine Mobility Talisman appeared on him, and he rapidly fled into the distance.

Behind him, while dealing with the Immortal Corpse, Fu Wenyan mentally controlled the over hundred-meter-long White Mist Dragon Soul to restrain the Grey Corpse Ape, giving it no chance to escape. He also knew that the Grey Corpse Ape might carry a large amount of wealth and resources. He wanted both.

The Grey Corpse Ape was incredibly strong and fast, comparable to a peak cultivator of the Ninth Heavenly Layer of the Dao Seed Realm. Only a successor of the Ninth Heavenly Layer could overpower it. Fu Wenyan, splitting his attention between two opponents, could still keep his gaze fixed on the rapidly fleeing Li Wei. He called out loudly, "Brother Li, you are the person I'm most interested in since coming to the Lingxiao Living Realm. Why are you in such a hurry?"

His official robe was spotless, his hair neatly tied, and his face radiant. He exuded an air of calm and elegant composure. The bronze pen in his hand glowed with over nine thousand scriptures. Powerful energy ripples spread out in waves. The pen's shaft lengthened to seven feet. With a graceful and seemingly effortless flick, Fu Wenyan sent the Immortal Corpse, which possessed the combat power of a Ninth Heavenly Layer martial cultivator, flying. At the same time, he severed its mental connection with Li Wei. When the Immortal Corpse landed, all its energy was gone. Though it seemed easy, that single stroke was executed with his full power, containing profound Daoist magic, as he never underestimated any opponent.

Li Wei had already fled two miles away. Fu Wenyan glanced at the Grey Corpse Ape in another direction, stood his ground, and did not pursue Li Wei. Instead, he unleashed his Dao Heart Manifestation. In an instant, the spiritual energy and the scriptures from his Dao Fruit overtook Li Wei, enveloping him in his personal domain.

As Li Wei fled, he rapidly circulated the spiritual energy within his body, hoping to restore his martial combat power as quickly as possible. Escaping from Fu Wenyan with only mental power was impossible. Yu'er was very sensible; knowing the situation was extremely dangerous, she held back her tears, tightly shut her mouth, and dared not cry, afraid she might affect her master.

"What a powerful Dao Heart Manifestation!" Li Wei thought. "Although Fu Wenyan is only at the Eighth Heavenly Layer, his combat power is so immense that even the strongest cultivators below the Immortal Realm in the Lingxiao Living Realm might not be able to defeat him." He continued, "A 'Young Emperor' cultivating to his level finds it hard to find an opponent below the Immortal Realm. No wonder an Immortal Realm powerhouse like Yao Qian couldn't do anything to him."

Ten yards in front of Li Wei, the flowing spiritual energy solidified into a scripture. The scripture, a hundred yards tall and gaseous, rose like a wall. Azure scriptures pulsed on its pages, like a blue sky pressing down upon him, raising tremendous waves of air. Li Wei had nowhere to dodge. He plunged his Myriad Things Staff-Spear into the ground, drawing out tendrils of underground Yin energy, which coiled around and enveloped his entire body. In the Land of the Departed, the earth's Yin energy was dense. "Boom!" The pages of the gaseous scripture descended as if turning, causing dirt and shattered stones to surge from the ground.

Fu Wenyan watched from a distance, seeing Li Wei sent flying backward by the scripture's Daoist magic. Only then did he finally feel a sense of security, that "everything was under control." He could see that the previous attack had severely wounded Li Wei. Li Wei's spiritual energy had to be used to protect his injuries; to escape from him with only the mental power of a Six-Star Spiritual Mind Master was undoubtedly a pipe dream. "He's truly no ordinary person," Fu Wenyan mused. "After taking such a blow, not only did he not die on the spot, he could even rapidly mobilize spiritual energy again to protect his injuries and use escape techniques within an extremely short time." Fu Wenyan secretly admired him, but this also solidified his resolve to eliminate Li Wei today.

"Brother Li, why are you in such a sorry state? Come back! Are you going to abandon your seven rare insects and flee alone? How could you possibly escape?" Fu Wenyan swung the bronze pen, a Ninth-Grade Thousand-Character Artifact, through the air. Its white bristles transformed into a long river flowing eastward, extending hundreds of meters to sweep and coil around Li Wei. These white bristles, refined from extraordinary hair, were fine as spider silk, sharp as blades, and seemingly endless, sealing off all of Li Wei's escape routes. The myriad bristles contracted towards the center, as if to slowly carve him apart, intending to tear him to shreds.

"Whoosh!" Li Wei's Governor's Robe erupted with purple light. Spatial ripples emanated from it, and his body vanished into a purple mist.

Fu Wenyan let out a soft exclamation of surprise. He had not expected Li Wei, in such a state, to still be able to mobilize a large amount of spiritual energy to activate the Governor's Robe. Even more to Fu Wenyan's surprise, Li Wei, who seemed to have lost his combat power, did not use the Governor's Robe to flee further away. After escaping the bronze pen's binding attack, he landed a hundred yards away, his gaze sharp as he stared back.

With bloodied hands, he pressed them onto the yellowish-brown ground. Ripples of light emanated from Li Wei's brow, and the spectral image of the Fusang Divine Tree rose behind him. He let out a loud roar, "Descend!" The blood that had previously spilled from his mouth and nose onto the ground transformed into a crimson mist. It rose in tendrils, mixing with his mental power's spiritual light. The area for several miles around turned crimson and eerie. "Whoosh!" Rotten, skeletal arms stretched out from underground. Dense crowds of corpses broke through the earth and crawled out. Even the Immortal Corpse stood up again and charged towards Fu Wenyan.

Li Wei's internal spiritual energy had resumed circulation. The liquid spiritual power from his Divine Palace flowed through the twelve energy meridians, protecting his injuries. The spiritual energy from his Wind Mansion circulated through one hundred and eight energy meridians, supporting his martial combat power. Even if he had to flee, he couldn't abandon the seven little ones. As for the cloak that contained the power of a Dragon-Headed Camel's attack, Li Wei had no intention of wasting it on Fu Wenyan. That was his last trump card for when he encountered an inescapable danger. Fu Wenyan wasn't yet strong enough to make escape impossible for him.

Li Wei used the Cicada Sprint footwork, his body becoming ethereal like green smoke. He dashed across the battlefield, collecting the weakened seven little ones, one by one, into his insect pouch. With their cultivation at the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Dao Seed Realm, having taken a direct hit from the Grey Corpse Ape, even the strongest defenses would have sustained injuries.

"Thump! Thump..." Fu Wenyan swung his bronze pen, sending the continuously charging corpses flying. Then, he unleashed his Governor's Seal. "Whoosh!" The official seal transformed into a massive square white print. It unleashed immense energy, making the air seem heavy, and pulverized all the corpses into dust. Then, it transformed into a thick white beam of light, carrying fierce winds, flying towards Li Wei, who had just collected the seven little ones.

Li Wei detected the danger, but had no time to dodge. He sacrificed the Violet Heaven Thunder Seal, which he had already activated. The thunderous seal, several yards in size, stood before him like a shield, colliding with the incoming Governor's Seal. "CRASH!" The impact sounded like two metallic mountains colliding, instantly tearing eardrums. Li Wei, bracing the Violet Heaven Thunder Seal, was forced back over twenty yards, aggravating his injuries and causing blood to surge from his mouth. He had already saved the seven little ones; he could now retreat.

Fu Wenyan felt incredulous. He simply couldn't understand how Li Wei had managed to stabilize his injuries and regain his peak combat power. In that very moment of his distraction, a tall, dark figure burst out from underground behind him. "Whoosh—" It was a woman entirely clad in black, with slender arms and a graceful figure. She held a long sword, appearing directly above Fu Wenyan's head from behind, and swung the sword down. The sword light was like a white waterfall connecting heaven and earth.

Fu Wenyan's entire body instantly stiffened, his hair stood on end, and a chill rushed to his brain. With his cultivation, he simply couldn't imagine how anyone could have silently crept so close to him. He had thought he was the mantis's predator, the oriole. He hadn't expected there to be a sharp sword behind the oriole. Just like Li Wei earlier, Fu Wenyan simply couldn't dodge this sudden sword strike.

"Boom!" The artifact combat sword struck the top of Fu Wenyan's head. It didn't split his body in two as one might expect. From his Hundred-Essence point, a waterfall of characters erupted, along with a plume of azure cloud smoke that shot straight into the sky, blocking the death-dealing sword strike. "Whoosh." The characters trembled, and the azure clouds dispersed. The black-clad woman retreated ten yards, landing silently like a light leaf. She murmured, "So your great fortune is the 'Book of Earth'."

Although Fu Wenyan hadn't died, he was in a bad state. Blood oozed from all seven of his orifices, a wound appeared on his head, and his consciousness was almost scattered by the sword strike. The hidden assailant's cultivation was formidable; the characters and azure cloud energy released by the 'Book of Earth' couldn't completely protect him. Fu Wenyan dared not linger for a moment. He activated his Governor's Robe. Rings of spatial fluctuations emanated outward, and a purple mist gradually formed.

"Possessing a spatial escape battle robe doesn't mean you can rest easy," the black-clad woman said, her voice deep and somewhat neutral. She struck first, before Fu Wenyan could escape into space, sending a crescent sword wave horizontally across his waist and abdomen. "Thump!" Protected by the Governor's Robe, he wasn't sliced in half. Fu Wenyan let out a muffled groan of agony; his internal organs were severely damaged, and his body flew obliquely backward.

Fu Wenyan was exceptionally capable; his combat experience and tactical wisdom were top-notch, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to escape from an Immortal Realm powerhouse. Before even landing, he immediately released two pages of the 'Book of Earth' from his ancestral domain. One page protected his body, while the other attacked the black-clad woman, preventing her from launching a second fatal sword strike. Each page of the 'Book of Earth', enveloped in radiance, transformed into an ocean of characters, coexisting with azure cloud energy, containing infinite divine essence and profound Daoist truths. The 'Book of Earth' was one of the most powerful existences in Yingzhou over the past hundred thousand years. It was compiled by the Sect Saint "Azure Cloud" and was immeasurably profound. Fu Wenyan was able to stand out from countless martial cultivators, forge a foundation like that of a 'Young Emperor,' and refine combat power far surpassing other martial cultivators of the same realm, all thanks to the four pages of the 'Book of Earth'.

The ocean of characters and azure cloud energy from the 'Book of Earth' held back the black-clad woman for a moment. "Whoosh!" Fu Wenyan once again activated his Governor's Robe. His body vanished into the purple mist, escaping by traversing space. Even if he lost a page of the 'Book of Earth', he had to save his life. Staying alive was more important than anything else.

The next instant, Fu Wenyan appeared three miles away. He stepped out of the purple mist, having just stabilized himself. Above his head, another purple mist appeared. Li Wei hadn't even fully emerged from the spatial rift, but his Myriad Things Staff-Spear had already pierced through. The spearhead was sharp and reddish-gold, burning with scorching flames, aimed directly at Fu Wenyan's head. Fu Wenyan dared not engage Li Wei in combat. He sensed that the black-clad woman in the distance had already retrieved the page of the 'Book of Earth' and was rapidly approaching using an escape technique. If he were to be held back by Li Wei for even one or two moves, he would certainly die here today. Fu Wenyan did not attempt to block the Myriad Things Staff-Spear above his head; instead, he fully activated his Governor's Robe.