Daoist Competition-Chapter 178 - 59: Xuan Guang Engulfs the Sky with Blood Cloud (Part 1)

Inside the Dragon Tooth Flying Boat, Zhang Yan sat cross-legged in a small room on the second floor. His eyes were slightly closed, focusing inward, fully committed to refining the alchemy fire into two Xuan Guang Seeds. The two faintly shimmering lights had grown noticeably brighter, illuminating his internal organs with clarity, and seemed just a step away from breaking through completely.

Suddenly, a loud shout came from Su YiAng, who was on lookout outside: "Master, he’s back again!"

"He’s back again, is he?"

Zhang Yan slowly retracted his breath, his expression calm and unsurprised.

It had been sixteen days already. Nearly every time he paused his cultivation for a while, Li Weide would locate his whereabouts and resume the chase.

These days had been spent in a constant cycle of pursuit and evasion. Li Weide seemed relentless, determined not to stop until Zhang Yan was dead.

However, as long as Li Weide couldn’t catch him, Zhang Yan saw little reason for concern. The only nuisance was that this pursuit had undeniably disrupted his cultivation progress.

Although the golden and crimson lights in his chest had already taken shape, he originally needed only half a month to advance to the Xuan Guang Realm. Now, thanks to Li Weide’s interference, the process had been delayed by nearly double that time.

What puzzled him the most was why no help had arrived. It was already well past the first day of the twelfth lunar month, when the Sea Eye Gate should have reopened. By logic, the Mingcang Sect should have sent high-level cultivators to rescue them—or at the very least, dispatched someone to investigate. Yet, not a single person had come. Even Zhang Yan couldn’t make sense of the situation.

Unable to figure it out, he decided not to waste time thinking about it. Even with the constant pursuit, at his current cultivation speed, he would step into the Xuan Guang Realm in just seven more days. At that point, he could turn back and face his pursuer head-on if necessary!

He gently activated the talisman, and the flying boat surged forward.

However, this time, it seemed he had been a bit slower in urging the boat forward. Li Weide, originally still a good distance away, suddenly emitted an explosive surge of blood light. His speed increased dramatically, closing the gap in an instant. With a flick of his robe sleeve, two streaks of blood shot forth, heading straight towards him.

As the bloody streaks neared the Dragon Tooth Flying Boat, they acted like flies catching the scent of fresh blood, seemingly drawn to the living being of flesh and blood—Zhang Yan.

Seeing once again those blood threads, capable of devouring flesh and blood, charging toward him, Zhang Yan curled the corner of his mouth into a sneer. With a wave of his hand, two flying swords shot into the air to intercept them.

"Sizzle, sizzle!" The two flying swords clashed with the blood threads. The spiritual energy imbued in the swords was instantly dissolved, leaving behind lifeless shards of iron that fell to the ground. Likewise, the blood threads dissipated into nothingness.

Zhang Yan smiled faintly. Over the repeated clashes, he had come to understand the nature of these blood threads.

These entities actively consumed anything imbued with spiritual energy or vitality. If they devoured flesh, they would nourish themselves and actively seek out more prey. However, if they met a magical artifact, once they consumed its spiritual energy, the blood threads themselves would also be completely depleted in the process, disappearing without a trace.

While Zhang Yan possessed many things, flying sword magical artifacts were especially abundant. Aside from the Sound Escape Flying Sword and the Purple Gold Copper Spear he had taken from Wang Pan, he also had over a dozen flying swords offered as compensation by the Wang Family in exchange for reclaiming Red Cloud Island. He now brought them all out to block the blood threads.

After all, ever since obtaining the Star Sword Ball, he no longer had any need for these items.

Li Weide, seeing yet another pair of blood threads vanish without a trace, felt a pang of anguish deep in his heart.

These blood threads were condensed from the "Blood Worms" of his Blood Essence Skill. They were not only capable of corrupting dharma treasures and eroding their spirit light but could also devour flesh to nourish themselves. If cultivated to a high level, they could swarm an opponent like a tide of writhing blood worms, forcing even the most powerful divine skills to retreat.

However, up to this point, he had only cultivated thirty-two blood worms. Each one lost required him to spend three full months refining a replacement in a blood pool.

Initially, upon seeing his blood worms break through several of Zhang Yan’s flying swords, he had assumed Zhang Yan was at the end of his rope. Little did he know that Zhang Yan was absurdly extravagant, using flying swords comparable to low-grade spiritual artifacts as disposable tools. To Zhang Yan, they seemed as insignificant as scrap metal, tossed out one after another, leading to a staggering loss for Li Weide.

Li Weide’s face twitched uncontrollably. Including the two he had just lost, he had now sacrificed a total of fifteen blood worms.

At that moment, he suddenly felt his energy weakening. He let out a hateful curse under his breath and had no choice but to stop his pursuit, watching as the Dragon Tooth Flying Boat once again sped away into the distance.

Zhang Yan chuckled softly. It was exactly as he had anticipated. After several confrontations, he had figured out that Li Weide had a dharma technique allowing him to sharply boost his speed for a short period. However, this technique seemed to consume an enormous amount of primordial qi, requiring at least three days of recovery before Li Weide could reappear in his field of vision. Zhang Yan surmised that part of this time was likely spent on recuperation.

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