Chapter 240: Chapter 240: Wild and Primal (6)

Yao Xin didn’t move, her mind racing as the dying scream around her gradually disappeared.

The camp behind her had turned into hell as broken limbs and crushed torsos lay scattered haphazardly across the ground.

Blood soaked into the soil, slowly dyeing the earth crimson.

Some of the disciples hadn’t even died cleanly. Their bodies still twitched faintly as the vines coiled tighter and tighter around them, bones creaking under the pressure.

And the black-cloaked figure…

Didn’t even look at them.

As if killing them was no different than stepping on ants.

Instead, it seemed far more interested in her.

As much as she enjoyed the thrill of having her life on the line, that was only when it was within her control… not this kind of absolute, suffocating death.

’Good thing this guy didn’t attack me immediately…’

Yao Xin’s eyes gleamed as the thought surfaced.

At least those useless sluts had bought her some time.

She didn’t know what its intentions were, but that didn’t matter.

Because of them—

She finally had the chance to activate her technique.

…Heaven Stealing Scripture.

Slowly, she raised her eyes and met his gaze.

Or rather—

Where his gaze should have been.

Beneath the hood, there was only darkness.

Yao Xin smiled.

“…Senior,” she spoke first.

Her voice was calm and steady.

“I admit we were the ones who attacked your puppet.”

No excuses.

No lies.

Against someone like this, tricks would only make things worse.

“I can compensate you.”

Even though her expression was filled with sincerity, her thumb quietly pressed against the talisman hidden in her sleeve—

Ready to activate it at any moment.

“If you want spirit stones, pills, treasures… I can provide them.”

After she finished speaking—

There was still no reaction.

The figure simply looked down at her.

Silent.

Indifferent.

Like a mountain staring at an ant trying to negotiate.

Yao Xin’s throat tightened slightly.

This was bad.

Very bad.

She couldn’t read this guy at all.

There was no killing intent.

No greed.

No lust.

No anger.

Nothing.

Every opponent she had ever faced had at least something.

But this thing—

It felt like… a puppet.

At that thought, Yao Xin seemed to realize something.

’Puppet…? This thing is also a puppet?’

Disbelief flashed across her face.

If that were true, then where were all these monstrous puppets coming from…?

And why was she unlucky enough to run into them?

Meanwhile, unknown to Yao Xin.

Goldie simply stared at her in silence, lost in thought.

It knew this woman used those strange papers to exert power beyond her own strength.

Because of that, Goldie couldn’t help but grow curious about them.

It had a vague impression that they were related to the human cultivation path—something it had skimmed from a few books.

But Goldie preferred plant-type manuals and spirit herb records.

It hadn’t paid much attention to human techniques.

Seems like it would have to read more about how human cultivation worked… to avoid mishaps like this.

With that thought…..

“…”

Goldie no longer felt like letting this woman continue whatever she was doing.

It had already noticed the faint fluctuation around her body, as if something had been activated.

Her little tricks had been obvious from the start.

It simply hadn’t cared.

After all, crushing this weak woman would take only an instant.

Goldie slowly straightened up.

At that small movement alone—

Made Yao Xin’s heart skip.

She sensed something was wrong as the air grew colder and heavier.

Her instincts screamed at her to run.

Yao Xin gritted her teeth, trying to buy more time as she opened her mouth.

“Senior—”

She didn’t even get to finish.

Goldie raised its fist—

And smashed down like a blur.

So fast the fist arrived before the sound.

BAM—!

BOOM—!

The impact exploded outward like something collapsing from the inside.

The ground beneath them cracked apart, fractures spreading like a spiderweb from the sheer force of the strike.

But instead of bone and flesh bursting into pulp—

Ting…

Goldie’s fist stopped.

“…?”

Goldie looked at the transparent, shield-like barrier stopping its fist.

Behind it floated a single strange paper talisman.

Right now, Goldie felt like its fist was being blocked by intense air pressure rather than a solid shield.

As for Yao Xin,

Cold sweat broke out across her back as she watched the fist almost connect with her face.

If she had been even a bit late, her head would have exploded like Yin Yuexie’s.

’Good thing I started using the Scripture early…’

She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Activating a Rank 3 Talisman wasn’t like using the lower-ranked ones.

It required a Golden Core’s worth of spiritual qi… and that wasn’t something she could summon casually.

One of the techniques she cultivated was the Heaven Stealing Scripture, a rather difficult technique to master …. and a useless one for most people too.

At first glance, it seemed useless in combat since it didn’t directly harm anyone nor increase the user combat strength directly.

Its sole purpose was to temporarily borrow spiritual qi from the heavens, boosting her own qi to a higher realm depending on her mastery.

Right now, she could barely push herself to the early Golden Core stage.

But if she could reach Golden Core—

Why was it still considered useless?

The answer was simple.

She couldn’t integrate the borrowed spiritual qi into her own body to strengthen herself.

Her meridians and mortal body were still at the Qi Refinement Realm.

If she tried to absorb that borrowed power into her body—

She would explode and die.

She could only pour that stolen qi into external tools.

Like talismans.

The only thing she could do was channel the borrowed qi into the Rank 3 Talisman to activate it instead.

Which was exactly her intention when she first learned this technique.

Among the Devil Yin Sect, only someone like her with a rich and powerful grandfather would even bother cultivating this technique, since it basically burned resources just to fight.

Just as she was lost in her thoughts—

The air trembled.

Crack…

She heard something and turned toward the sound, her gaze landing on the fist trembling slightly, as if it were exerting pressure.

Goldie tilted its head and look ahead.

Its fist remained pressed against the transparent barrier.

The thin paper talisman fluttered between them, trembling violently.

Golden characters burned away one by one as spiritual qi poured into it like water through a broken dam.

Crack…

Crack…

Crack…

Tiny fractures began spreading across the invisible shield.

Yao Xin’s pupils shrank at the sight.

Her heart nearly stopped.

’So fast?!’

This was a Rank 3 Protective Talisman—

Something capable of blocking a full-power strike from an early Golden Core cultivator.

Yet under that simple, casual punch…

It was breaking.

Like glass.

Her heart couldn’t help but pound in her chest.

Goldie stared at the spreading cracks quietly, as if curious intrigued by this strange thing.

As though wondering how much longer this small slip of paper could stop its fist.

Then—

It pressed forward slightly.

Not even punching.

Just… pushing.

CRACK—

The shield caved inward instantly.

Yao Xin’s scalp went numb.

Without hesitation—

She bit her tongue.

Spurt!

A mouthful of blood sprayed onto the second talisman already hidden between her fingers.

The characters ignited.

BOOM!

A violent burst of wind exploded outward as smoke suddenly covered the area.

Her figure blurred as she used her movement technique.

Illusion Shadow Step plus another Rank 3 talisman — Afterimage.

Suddenly—

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Three Yao Xins split apart and burst through the smoke in different directions at once.

All sprinting extremely fast, and all identical.

All real enough to fool even a Golden Core cultivator’s spiritual sense.

Yao Xin didn’t even dare look back.

Her heart pounded like a drum.

’Run.’

’Runrunrunrun—’

This wasn’t a fight.

This wasn’t even a gamble, nor would it make her feel good. The difference in strength was too huge.

This was certain death.

Behind her—

Goldie slowly lowered its fist.

The broken shield scattered into motes of light.

It watched the three fleeing figures slip through the vines trying to block them, twisting and weaving like snakes as they dodged every attempt to restrain them.

Goldie’s head tilted slightly as it sensed something wrong.

“…?”

All three had the same fluctuations.

All three had the same heartbeats.

All three seemed real.

It was very strange.

Goldie sensed this and once again couldn’t help but think humans were troublesome.

Especially those bad cultivators who were full of tricks.

And Goldie didn’t like people who were full of tricks.

For a moment, it simply stood there as if it began to think.

Then, as if it decided on something—

Goldie slowly raised one of its hands in front of it and pointed slightly upward with one finger.

Like issuing an order as it activated one of its new abilities.

[Divine Power: “Gold”]

Soon—

Crack…

Along with the sound of something breaking…

… the world itself seemed to cry.

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