Chapter 8: Praying Mantis Stalks The Cicada
Was this man in the early stage of *Core Formation*?
No, he should already be half a step into the *Nascent Soul* stage. Feng Yu Die looked at him vigilantly, cold sweat dripping from her forehead, and wondered why there was a demonic cultivator with such a level of cultivation and identity within this realm of immortal cultivators.
At the stage she was now, she simply didn't have the ability to fight this person.
"Yu Die, don't just stand there, run!" Xiao Tian anxiously urged her, but she knew it was impossible for her to escape.
She was indeed lightning fast, and it was impossible for ordinary *Foundation Building* cultivators to catch up with her, but now she was confronting a demonic cultivator almost at the *Nascent Soul* stage.
And once she ran away, she was bound to turn her back on him, and then she would be even more vulnerable.
What was she supposed to do?
Feng Yu Die racked her brain thinking of a way to escape, but the next moment, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest that caused her to stagger a few steps and fall to her knees while clutching her neck.
"Cough--"
"Ah?" When Xiao Tian saw her reaction, she immediately came out, floating around her. "Yu Die, what's wrong with you?"
The man smiled, walked in front of her, put his hand on her shoulder, and said softly, "Don't be angry, girl. The angrier you are, the more irritable the toxic parasite in your body will be, and the more painful you will feel."
"Toxic... toxic parasite?" Feng Yu Die clutched her throat, struggling to raise her head to look at him. "What... when?"
Hot blood gushed out of her mouth uncontrollably. Seeing her suffering so much, the man smiled even more as he comforted her. "Be good and relax. Don't try to resist. Just sleep peacefully."
As the man's voice reached her ears, it had taken an ethereal and holy tone.
She felt as if her consciousness was being eroded by his voice, but she couldn't think about what would happen next.
"Yu Die! Yu Die! Wake up, the parasite is eating your consciousness! Hang on a little longer! ...It will be ready soon!"
Xiao Tian's voice rang in her ears, but she could no longer understand the words.
Her eyelids slowly closed.
Then, she lost all strength and fell forward.
The man crouching in front of her hastily reached out to support her.
"I thought that the kid from a few days ago who achieved perfection in *Qi Refining* would be the best harvest this time. I didn't expect to come across a high-quality furnace with heavenly spiritual roots in the middle of this poor mountain. I guess I'm really lucky."
Smiling slightly, the man attached Feng Yu Die to his waist like a bag and then summoned his flying sword to leave.
However, just as he stepped onto the flying sword and was ready to fly away, his sensitive mind sensed that the parasite he had sent into Yu Die's body seemed to have encountered something and was dying.
"What's this?"
He looked at Feng Yu Die in bewilderment.
Even someone in the early stage of *Nascent Soul* might not be able to get rid of his toxic parasites easily. So, how could this girl in the *Qi Refining* stage have the ability to counteract them?
After thinking for a moment, the man summoned a small dagger from the storage bag, planning to sever Feng Yu Die's meridians.
But just as the tip of the dagger was about to touch her back, a golden light burst from her chest with a loud bang.
Before the man could react, he was blown away by that light.
A golden dragon suddenly appeared around Feng Yu Die's body, dragged her slowly with its tail, and glared at the man, baring its teeth and claws.
"You, little..." At the sight of the golden dragon, the man's eyes widened slightly. "Is this little girl the bloodline of the Immortal Holy Emperor?"
The look of surprise in his eyes turned to excitement. The purpose of his coming here was to find a young cultivator with excellent spiritual roots, bring them back, and use them as a furnace.
Previously, when he met the young girl at the wedding banquet, he already felt that the trip was worthwhile.
After traveling almost ten thousand miles, as long as he captured that girl and used her as a furnace for refining, he might be able to make a breakthrough in the *Nascent Soul* stage.
He was even more delighted when he encountered this girl with a heavenly spiritual root. But now, knowing that she was a descendant of the Immortal Holy Emperor, this was not just a worthwhile trip, but it could be said to be a great opportunity.
As long as he brought her back to the ***Magical Poison*** Sect and handed her over to the Patriarch, he would no longer need to use medicinal pills and herbs.
Who knows, maybe the ***Magical Poison*** Sect could also use this girl to swallow all the other sects in the Eastern Region in one fell swoop.
"Heh..." Wu You sneered, stopped playing around, and summoned the three high-level magic weapons he owned.
"The dragon's body that comes from the Holy Emperor, let me see how much you're worth."
...
Above the bamboo grove, golden thunder rumbled, and flames blazed continuously.
Wu You had sent all the toxic parasites he had raised for so many decades to swarm the dragon. However, its aura seemed to overwhelm his insects. The moment they touched the dragon's body, they were instantly ignited by a wave of solar flames and burned to ashes.
Wu You could tell that the golden dragon was just an afterimage. He thought he should be able to handle it with his own cultivation, but obviously, he underestimated the power of the Holy Emperor's bloodline.
"Cough..."
A golden thunderbolt descended from the sky and struck straight at Wu You. The evil aura he condensed around him was as fragile as paper in the face of this golden thunder and was easily pierced by it.
The moment the golden thunder hit him, he felt that his organs and bones were shattered, and he spurted out a mouthful of blood.
"Tsk!"
Wu You gritted his teeth and wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth. Controlling his breathing, he looked at Feng Yu Die who was wrapped in the golden dragon's tail.
"No, I can't force it."
He felt that if he continued to fight this golden dragon, he might die on the spot.
The dragon was currently supported by the body of a *Qi Refining* cultivator, and at this level, it would definitely not be possible to manifest for too long.
"I'll just be back in a minute. But, for now..."
"You vile spawn! Die!!"
The golden dragon glared at him and opened its bloody mouth.
Boom!!
It spewed out a stream of dragon flames straight at Wu You.
However, he just glanced at it, quickly put all the magic weapons around him back into the storage bag, and after he cast an escaping technique, he disappeared from the spot in an instant.
Seeing him escaping, the golden dragon wanted to chase after him. But at this moment, Xiao Tian, who was by Feng Yu Die's side, flew in front of him, waving her little hands.
"Stop chasing him! Yu Die can't withstand you anymore. If you don't go back, her spiritual root will break!"
The golden dragon rolled his eyes, looked at Feng Yu Die wrapped up in his own tail, and frowned. "That man will definitely be back soon. If I don't dispose of him now, I won't be able to help later."
"She's only in the *Qi Refining* stage, how could she withstand you? Go back!" With an impatient look, Xiao Tian pulled the golden dragon's beard with all her might. "Go back quickly! I'll figure out something!"
The golden dragon's beard trembled slightly, and its figure instantly dissipated into a golden light that disappeared inside Feng Yu Die's body without a trace.
Losing the support of the dragon tail, Feng Yu Die fell to the ground from mid-air with a plop.
...
Meanwhile, after Wu You fled ten miles away, he stopped. As soon as he stepped on the ground, he staggered, covered his chest, and knelt down before spitting out a mouthful of black blood.
"This Holy Emperor's bloodline is so powerful. It was only a touch, but it actually damaged nearly 50% of my cultivation."
He wiped the blood from his mouth and sat cross-legged, then began his recovery process by circulating the Qi through the meridians in his body. When he was healing, he discovered that most of his meridians had been destroyed by the Holy Emperor's solar flame.
If he used *Qi Refining* and elixirs to heal the wounds, it would take decades, maybe even a hundred years.
"Too slow." Wu You frowned slightly and thought of the two young cultivators he had previously met at the wedding banquet. One was at the third stage of *Qi Refining*, and the other had completed it.
The one who had perfected *Qi Refining* was originally intended to be trained as a furnace, but now that he had met the girl of the Holy Emperor bloodline, that person was no longer so important.
He was going to use the spiritual roots and blood of those two to nurse his injuries. Then, he would rush back to take away the girl from the Holy Emperor's bloodline.
Wu You took a deep breath, swallowed a pill from the storage bag, and instantly sensed the location of the parasites he had given to those two people before.
Surprisingly, he tracked their position only a hundred feet away from him.
"Hmm? That close?"