In the dark valley, Lu Li twisted and turned amidst the constant banging explosions and the unceasing mournful howls of the wolf pack.
At first, Lu Li had been single-mindedly focused on escaping the battlefield. But as time passed, he grew more and more fired up. Even with his clothes torn and ragged, and his entire body covered in countless wounds, he did not retreat half a step.
Because he discovered that as he continuously dodged and counterattacked, he became increasingly able to control his own physical strength. Each punch was delivered with just the right amount of force-not a fraction more than needed, nor a fraction less.
Every punch could fell a young wolf, leaving it unable to get back up.
In the blink of an eye, half an hour had passed.
Only slightly more than twenty of the over one hundred young wolves were still circling him. Lu Li himself had also begun to sway unsteadily. He still had True Qi within his body, but his physical form felt incredibly heavy.
In the distance, the Wolf King, which had been quietly watching Lu Li all this time, seemed to have found its opportunity. Suddenly, it arched its body and shot towards Lu Li like an arrow.
"I've been waiting for you!"
Lu Li's swaying body suddenly straightened bolt upright. Just as the Wolf King approached within one zhang of his body, he threw two explosion talismans directly at its face.
Two thunderous explosions rang out.
The Wolf King fell from mid-air, though it did not seem to suffer any major harm. It shook its body and was about to charge at Lu Li again when, right at that moment, another talisman landed at its feet.
Instantly, the earth caved in, and its entire body rapidly sank down.
The Wolf King let out a shocked cry. It slapped the ground with its tail, trying to use the momentum to leap back up.
How could Lu Li allow it to succeed? The moment the other party began to sink, he himself shot forward. In one motion, he rode onto the Wolf King's back. A pitch-black axe suddenly appeared in his hand, and he hacked it down fiercely onto the Wolf King's head.
Thump!
A dull sound rang out as the axe buried itself five cun deep into the Wolf King's skull.
Ao-!
In pain, the Wolf King exerted tremendous force and violently leaped up from the mud pit.
"So strong!"
Lu Li's pupils constricted. He grabbed the long fur on the Wolf King's neck and, holding on tightly, raised the axe and began a frantic series of hacking blows.
Ao...
The Wolf King wailed continuously while jumping up and down wildly.
Thump!
Another axe blow descended, and the Wolf King finally fell to the ground, unable to rise.
Lu Li, too, lost all his strength. He lay panting heavily on the Wolf King's back, while also vigilantly watching the twenty-some young wolves in the distance. He was genuinely exhausted now.
The young wolves in the distance, seeing their king dead, hesitated for a moment and then scattered in a rush.
Seeing this, Lu Li's nerves relaxed, and he directly fainted.
He did not know how much time had passed.
Lu Li felt warmth on his face, and someone was patting his cheek. Waking up and looking, he saw a gray-robed figure wearing a hood crouching before him. He immediately flared up in anger: "You damned, unscrupulous bastard! You still have the nerve to come back!"
Wu De chuckled awkwardly: "Ahem, don't be so angry. I'm back now, aren't I? If it were not for this old man keeping watch over you all night... you might have been eaten by some monster."
"Hmph! Kept watch all night? You were just afraid no one would help you lure away that sixth-layer Qi Refining expert, weren't you?"
"How could that be? Kid Lu, you think too poorly of me. Honestly, I did not leave last night. I've been watching you from above the whole time. If I had not wanted you to get some real combat experience, I would have intervened to help you long ago." Wu De said this without a trace of shame or shortness of breath.
"Heh, so by that logic, I should be thanking you." Lu Li sat up, patting the weeds off his body. Only then did he realize his entire set of clothes was already tattered and torn beyond recognition.
He channeled his spiritual power, and the clothes instantly returned to their original state.
This was the Ink Cloud Treasure Garment. No matter how damaged it became, it could always restore itself to its original form.
"Thanks is..." Wu De did not finish his sentence before suddenly widening his eyes. "Kid, that's a fine garment you have there. Could it be...!"
"No!"
"Alright then." Wu De curled his lip, but his gaze remained fixed intently on Lu Li, seemingly still coveting Lu Li's treasure garment.
Lu Li could not be bothered with Wu De. He had already seen through this person's character-a typical 'better the fellow Daoist die than the poor Daoist,' and extremely greedy at that, the kind of person who wants to possess any treasure he lays eyes on.
But just as he was about to gather the wolf corpses, he discovered that all the wolf bodies on the ground had completely lost their pelts, leaving only the bloody, crimson carcasses. It seemed the pelts had already been skinned off by someone.
Lu Li's expression immediately darkened. He turned to look at Wu De, stretched out his hand, and said in a low voice, "Hand them over!"
"What?"
"Do not pretend. Who else could have taken all these wolf pelts if not you!"
"Ahem, so stingy." Wu De chuckled awkwardly. Seeing Lu Li seemed genuinely angry, he did not argue back. He took out a storage bag and tossed it to Lu Li. "Worked for you all night for nothing."
Lu Li snorted coldly. He projected his divine sense into the storage bag to check and found over eighty wolf pelts inside. Only then did he put away the storage bag.
"Eh? My storage bag!"
"This is compensation for you selling me out last night!" Lu Li had absolutely no intention of returning it. He had already lost all goodwill towards this person, and he believed that even if this person was at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, he would have no way of dealing with him if he wanted to run.
"Fine!" Wu De gave Lu Li a profound look. "Shall we set off?"
Lu Li looked up at the deep blue mountain ridge above. "Let's go."
He did not say anything like 'don't try to screw me over again' because he knew even if the other party promised, it would be false. And... he also planned to thoroughly screw this old man over.
Because it was already daylight, the two of them proceeded with extreme caution, fearful of being discovered.
Two hours later, the scorching sun hung directly overhead.
The two finally arrived once more on the main ridge of the Lightning Fire Mountain Range. Upon reaching this point, they became even more careful. Wu De continuously released his divine sense ahead of time to sense their surroundings, afraid of falling into an ambush by the Daylight Fort.
Not until the sun began to tilt westward did the two finally emerge from the dense, deep blue jungle. What met their eyes was a vast expanse of grassland.
The grassland was also a deep blue. At first glance, Lu Li thought it was covered in Lightning Fire Orchids. However, upon closer inspection, it was all just weeds. This grassland was probably no less than thirty li in circumference. The open, pleasant scenery lifted his mood somewhat, lessening the oppression he felt. He looked at Wu De and asked:
"How much further to the Shiri Pit?"
"Probably right at the center of this grassland. We need to get closer to see it." Wu De pointed ahead, then took the lead walking forward.
Lu Li followed at a measured pace, his gaze shifting slightly as he looked at Wu De's back, though it was unclear what he was thinking.
In less than two quarter-hours, the two came to a stop at the edge of a circular sinkhole.
The sinkhole was no less than a hundred zhang in diameter and equally deep. Looking down, one could faintly make out many round, rolling boulders at the bottom, as well as clusters of green plants. After seeing nothing but deep blue wilderness for so long, suddenly spotting several clumps of green vegetation actually made Lu Li feel a sense of familiarity.
It was like the feeling of someone who had walked through a desert for months suddenly seeing a stretch of green mountains.
The area surrounding the sinkhole was a sheer vertical cliff face. However, right in front of them was a steep, narrow path that should allow them to descend. Lu Li asked, "Go down from here?"
Wu De nodded, pointing at the largest gray boulder down in the valley below. "Once we're down, I'll hide behind that giant boulder."
Then he pointed at an inconspicuous, dark hole in front of the boulder. "Going in there will lead to the stone pool. Beside the stone pool, under a rocky hollow, there's a fellow cultivating there. You'll need to look carefully to spot him. Don't get too close. Just curse his mother from a distance to lure him out. Then, use your movement technique to trick him out of the sinkhole..."
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