Chapter 403: Open Blind Box Competition

He could only summon his inner strength and let out a loud shout: "Danger! Quickly move near the stone statues!"

The wind carried his words downwards. The people below looked up in astonishment. They had heard him, but no one moved.

"Who is this person? What does he want?"

"Can his words be trusted?"

"Lunatic."

The distance between them was too great, and besides... it was already too late. He Lingchuan could only sigh as he watched them, then urged the argali to leap back into the Feng Bo cave.

The cave was empty.

Where was Second Master Shi? Where had he gone?

Just as the argali came to a stop, the Wind Demon in the sky accelerated its descent towards the old site of the Misty Sect, like a meteor.

The target it aimed for was precisely the enormous chasm within the mountain!

He Lingchuan cautiously retreated back within the Wind Lion God's barrier. Then he heard an immense roaring sound.

It was not the sound of a living creature, but the furious roar of wind emerging from the chasm, growing louder and more immense like a rising tide.

The root-ball dropped to about a zhang above the chasm and could go no further, spinning rapidly.

The strong winds from below easily kept it aloft.

Immediately afterwards, a violent gust of wind burst forth from the chasm, sounding like thunder.

Over forty people were hiding nearby, but none were within the Wind Lion God's barrier. They had not responded to the earlier warning, believing it was safe to stay where they were, but they were caught in the residual force of the storm.

The sound of the wind immediately drowned out their screams.

The gale assailed them, as if they were being sliced by ten thousand dry blades.

He Lingchuan watched as their skin, muscles, and nerves were stripped away piece by piece. Even the last drop of blood was blown dry from their bones, leaving them perfectly clean and white.

This was truly "wind blade and frost sword," killing without bloodshed.

The dozens of skeletons, still in the posture of shielding their heads and faces, lasted less than three seconds before being scattered by the hurricane, swept away to unknown locations.

Only three people, who had clung to the nearby Wind Lion God statues, survived the calamity. They were now terrified and stunned.

The hurricane that had emerged from the chasm circled once before eagerly merging with the root-ball and becoming one with the Wind Demon.

Seeing this, He Lingchuan knew he had once again guessed the origin of this storm:

The Midnight-Noon Divine Wind.

Every day during the hours of midnight and noon, the strongest elemental winds from underground would surge up from this spot, circling Wind Demon Mountain.

It was now exactly noon.

The Wind Demon, carrying the ball, rushed here precisely to draw power from the Midnight-Noon Divine Wind.

Just then, the guard captain finally recited the spell smoothly, perfectly, from beginning to end, without a single mistake.

The root-ball quickly contracted, completely isolating the Wind Demon from the outside world, intending to suppress it entirely.

Wind is formed by air currents. If the space inside the root-ball were static, how much trouble could the Wind Demon cause?

The many root-balls suppressed by the Treasure Tree King beneath his main body were sufficient proof that this method was effective.

However, this place was simply too far from the mighty Treasure Tree King. The Wind Demon had already absorbed the Midnight-Noon Divine Wind, vastly increasing its power and swelling in size.

Although the Treasure Tree King's demonic power was immense and his demonic arts formidable, how could they compare to the mighty force of nature?

The root-ball made creaking sounds, and the gaps between its roots were being torn wider and wider.

Even at this point, the Treasure Tree Spirit Seed still wanted to make one last effort.

Unfortunately, fate was not on its side.

The Wind Demon turned fiery red. After swelling for two rotations, it suddenly pushed outwards—

With a "crack!" the root-ball burst open, tearing into countless fragments.

The Wind Demon regained its freedom. It let out a cry of delight in mid-air, circled freely twice, then turned its attention back to the guard team on the opposite cliff.

He Lingchuan, however, was prostrate at the cave entrance, staring intently at the few objects fluttering in the air.

As soon as the Wind Demon left, the wind force here immediately diminished, and could no longer harm anyone.

He Lingchuan immediately urged the argali to leap towards the mountain's interior.

What he was chasing were the fragments of the root-ball, burst open by the Wind Demon.

The spirit seed that the divine bone necklace wanted must be among these fragments.

He Lingchuan gripped the necklace and said, "It's up to you!"

The divine bone necklace immediately emitted a red glow, and gave him a searing jolt.

It was eager too.

Just then, a figure darted out from a nearby cave. He quickly grabbed a root-ball fragment nearby, and crumbled it into dust with his bare hands.

Nothing. He continued to search for the next piece.

He actually had the same goal as He Lingchuan, and was doing the same thing—

searching for the spirit seed.

He Lingchuan's pupils contracted sharply, because this person was Fu Shanyue.

After abducting the envoy from Chiyan, he surprisingly did not immediately leave. Instead, he secretly returned to the Misty Sect ruins, hoping to gain another advantage.

It also showed that this person was a complete opportunist. Although the primary goal of his trip had clearly been achieved, he still had his eye on the spirit seed, wanting to grab it before leaving.

Fu Shanyue naturally saw He Lingchuan as well, but only kept an eye on him with his peripheral vision, quickly moving to chase the next fragment himself.

After the root-ball exploded, the fragments were scattered everywhere by the strong winds.

The two competitors each chose a section of the area, and a strange unspoken agreement formed between them.

Neither was willing to make a move until all the fragments were collected or the spirit seed was found.

From the sheep's back, He Lingchuan casually broke apart a few root-ball fragments as a diversion, then followed the divine bone necklace's instructions directly to his target.

Yes, even under these circumstances, the divine bone necklace could still precisely locate the treasure. The closer He Lingchuan got to the spirit seed, the cooler the necklace became.

Soon, he caught up with three fragments fluttering in the wind.

These three pieces were still connected by root-like fibers, forming several knots.

When he grabbed one of them, a sudden icy chill spread across his chest, making him shiver.

It seemed the necklace, fearing he might make a mistake, stopped hinting and gave a direct signal instead, accidentally overdoing it.

What luck! The spirit seed was right near him. As soon as He Lingchuan got it, he didn't even examine it, immediately storing it in his storage ring.

This action caused Fu Shanyue, who had been watching him, to pause.

Without checking, how could he know if there was a spirit seed inside?

Without checking, how could he know whether to continue searching?

But He Lingchuan immediately went to chase other fragments, appearing as if he intended to collect all of them before opening them like blind boxes.

"Alright, that's one way to do it." Fu Shanyue cursed under his breath.

The two silently collected, and the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.

Because there were fewer and fewer root-ball fragments in the mountain's interior.

Just then, Second Master Shi suddenly appeared in a stone cave, waving at He Lingchuan:

"Brother He, Brother He! I'm here!"

He, of course, did not sense the strangely tense atmosphere in the area.

He Lingchuan galloped over on the sheep, and pulled the bruised and swollen Second Master Shi onto its back: "Where did you go? I couldn't find you earlier!"

He swore to the heavens that when he was collecting fragments earlier, he had indeed checked the place where Second Master Shi had been hiding, but it was empty. He had thought Second Master Shi had gone down the mountain by himself, not expecting him to emerge from another rock cavity beneath the mountain's interior.

Second Master Shi was about to speak, but he looked up and saw Fu Shanyue on the opposite side glaring at them, and swallowed his words: "It's a long story."

He Lingchuan collected two more fragments, which happened to be very close to the path leading down the mountain. Before Fu Shanyue could react, the argali turned its head and twisted its rear, suddenly darting onto the path, disappearing from his sight in two leaps.

Fu Shanyue was startled. He rushed over to look, and He Lingchuan's back was already nearing the stone bridge.

The dilemma was now his:

To pursue, or not to pursue?

If he pursued, should he abandon the remaining fragments fluttering in the mountain's interior? What if the spirit seed was still among them, and the guy on the sheep had merely given up?

If he didn't pursue, would that kid have already obtained the spirit seed?

Fu Shanyue hesitated for a few breaths, then decided to continue collecting the fragments.

Staying would at least yield a definite result; chasing would lead to complete uncertainty.

He didn't know that He Lingchuan was sneering inwardly:

"I watched the whole battle, only sent out one evil spirit to do the work, yet silently acquired a treasure and gained an advantage. I've already won big. Do I still need to stay here and fight you?"

As He Lingchuan left Wind Demon Mountain, he glanced down. Only about a hundred guards from the Treasure Tree Kingdom remained, showing that the Wind Demon's power had increased again after absorbing the Midnight-Noon Divine Wind, and its opponents, having lost the spirit seed, had no good way to deal with it.

The guard captain sent several riders ahead as bait, hoping to lure the Wind Demon away. Unfortunately, the latter was unmoved.

Clearly, it wasn't falling for it.

Finally, the guard captain had no choice but to grit his teeth, personally mount the strongest swift-beast, and continuously shoot arrows to provoke the Wind Demon, finally making it turn to chase him.

With its intelligence, it could indeed discern who was the leader, and who had inflicted the most damage upon it.

Wind generally moves faster than land creatures, but the Wind Demon needed to constrict its wind vortex to gain power; it couldn't be too dispersed. Thus, its actual forward speed was only slightly faster than a galloping horse. Coincidentally, after turning past this mountain hollow, the path ahead became relatively straight, unlike the twisted mountain road before.

The Wind Demon pursued furiously, expanding the radius of its wind vortex to try and affect their mounts. One of them was indeed swept down the mountain, but the captain continued to gallop furiously.

While it was distracted, the guard team quickly pressed forward, abandoning their supplies and equipment.

After galloping another two li, there would be a fork in the road leading downhill, offering a chance to escape the Wind Demon.

As the chase and escape unfolded on the main road, Second Master Shi, sitting on the argali's back, also spoke to He Lingchuan:

"I was trying to go down the mountain just now, but I slipped into another stone cave and almost fell to my death." The wind at noon was so strong it made him unsteady on his feet.

"But there was a crack in that cave leading downwards, and I heard a whirring sound coming up. At first, I thought it was just the wind, but listening closely, it sounded like a human voice, so I climbed down to take a look. Hey, there really was someone inside. His leg seemed broken, and he was just lying on the ground." Second Master Shi said, "Guess who I saw?"

Someone was hiding beneath the crack in the stone cave, and had a broken leg?

He Lingchuan didn't think twice: "The envoy from Chiyan?"

"..." Second Master Shi choked, incredulous. "Brother He, you're amazing! How did you guess that?"

Throughout this journey, He Lingchuan's stature in his mind had grown steadily, and today, it was as if he was coated in divine light!

He Lingchuan smiled but said nothing. When the Chiyan envoy was abducted from the guard team, Second Master Shi was hiding in the mountain's interior, completely unaware of what had happened on the road outside.

Second Master Shi continued, "The captive saw me too, and kept begging me for help, but then I heard a huge rumble outside, so I... I came back up."