Chapter 144: Fierce Battle at Lanboting

Corporeal flight, a unique ability of the Foundation Establishment realm, required no expenditure of spiritual energy. It felt like an innate instinct, similar in speed to controlling the Blue Butterfly Sword, but without consuming any true essence—as simple as lifting a hand or moving a foot. To accelerate, however, true essence was required.

Wang Yu ignored the rapidly approaching alligator-dragon below. After finding his bearing, he continued towards the other side of the Barren Leaf Swamp.

An hour later, he had generally confirmed the flight speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. A single drop of true essence was enough to sustain him for three days without stopping, and his speed was twice that of a high-grade flying artifact. If he were to learn a second-tier escape technique, this difference would increase by at least tenfold.

Additionally, there was another Foundation Establishment unique ability called the Body-Protecting True Aura. It had low consumption, near-instant casting speed, and defensive strength equivalent to a regular low-grade second-tier defensive spell. With the combination of these two realm advantages, the difficulty for a Qi Cultivation practitioner to slay a Foundation Establishment cultivator was evident, and this didn't even account for true essence, spells, and other methods.

Fortunately, these abilities were unique to human cultivators. Demonic beasts, Yin spirits, and elementals did not possess them, or rather, they had different types of realm-specific unique abilities. It was said that after forming a Golden Core, human cultivators would develop even more realm-specific unique abilities. These characteristics completely distinguished beings of different realms, yet they did not grant a significant advantage in battles within the same realm. Their value existed but was not as high as imagined.

By then, all of Wang Yu's objectives for returning home had been achieved, even slightly exceeded. Next, he was to return and claim his inner disciple benefits. Establishing a manor to accumulate wealth, owning a city, and plundering a fertile land! Just thinking about it made the future seem bright.

Just as he was about to depart, Wang Yu suddenly heard laughter from ahead, imbued with intense resentment and killing intent, blocking his path.

"Hahahahaha~"

"You little devil spawn, you made me run tirelessly day and night in this stinking swamp for months, but I've finally caught you."

"Hmph, hmph—now surrender!"

Wang Yu frowned deeply. He had just taken a breath of fresh air when he saw such a repulsive creature, which truly nauseated him.

"It's you."

"Indeed, it is I." Lan Boting pointed with his sword finger. The long sword he always carried on his back hummed as it unsheathed, pointing at Wang Yu, revealing his Foundation Establishment Fourth-Layer aura.

"Wang Yu, isn't it? Today, I, Lan, will take your head to atone for the crime of failing to eliminate the demon."

"Ridiculous."

After achieving dual-path Foundation Establishment, Wang Yu's strength had grown even greater. What if his opponent was at mid-Foundation Establishment?

"If not for Chang Xi's schemes, wanting to gain greater benefits by using my identity, how could there have been this disaster at Barren Leaf City? You forced my hand."

Lan Boting glowered, "Chang Xi's insatiable greed was her own doing, but you shouldn't have harmed me too."

"Me? Ha—" Wang Yu scoffed, a look of disdain on his face.

"Boastful. Do you really think I need to scheme against you? With your temperament, Fellow Daoist Lan, you'll die in some forgotten corner eventually, with no one to collect your corpse~"

"Impudent!"

Sword light flared, and rivers surged. The high-grade artifact longsword directly unleashed a sky full of sword aura, each strike possessing the power to crush Qi Cultivation practitioners. Realm artifacts marked the peak period for human cultivators.

Wang Yu had just broken through and hadn't yet refined the Earth Essence Cauldron and Glazed Soul Lamp. As he twisted his body and flew upwards, the river-like sword aura collectively turned and continued to assault him. He couldn't help but curse inwardly.

"Damn it!"

Strategically despise the enemy, tactically value them. Lan Boting, hailing from the Sky Void Sword Sect, though not among the top of his generation and having never studied in the Righteousness Academy, still possessed sharp sword techniques. Among those of the same realm, he was definitely a top-tier fighter. Not to mention Wang Yu, who had just broken through and hadn't yet updated his other methods; he needed to be taken seriously!

As they chased and fled, Wang Yu quickly assessed his abilities. First-tier spells were out; they might work against early Foundation Establishment cultivators but were far too weak against Lan Boting. That left only the demonic art, Soul Devouring Evil Armor Technique, and one of the core methods of the Nether Spring Temple, the Profound Yin Hand. Only these two could help him in this battle. Especially the second-tier high-grade spell, Profound Yin Hand. A complete Foundation Establishment true essence realm was sufficient to unleash the profoundness and full power of this technique, far beyond the minor skirmishes of the Qi Cultivation period. To win, the Profound Yin Hand would be the key. It should not be used lightly.

Faced with hundreds of relentless sword auras, Wang Yu's heart stirred. He flew back in the direction he came from, where the late second-tier alligator-dragon was located. Perhaps it could be a target to borrow power from.

Seeing his disheveled figure, Lan Boting burst into hearty laughter. "So what if you broke through? You're still an ant, just like months ago. I even have to thank you for the spiritual energy fluctuations you caused, which guided me here." With that, he charged forward, leaving a trail of faint blue light, moving several times faster than Wang Yu.

"Boom—"

Just then, the river of sword aura finally caught up to Wang Yu. The moment they were about to collide, an ice wall appeared beneath his feet. As he stomped down hard, his physical strength erupted, like a charged-up dash or a spring release. He shot forward, suddenly accelerating to escape the danger. The ice wall was instantly destroyed by the sword aura, emitting a loud sound, yet the aura continued its relentless pursuit of Wang Yu, as if it would never rest.

Lan Boting, witnessing everything from behind, paused, seemingly surprised that a spell could be used that way. His inability to subdue a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator, who hadn't even cultivated an escape technique, made him somewhat enraged. With a sweep of his right hand, the storage bag at his waist glowed with spiritual light, and an artifact emerged. "Demon-Binding Rope, go!"

He had grown impatient and directly employed a method specifically designed against demonic cultivators. Wang Yu's peripheral vision caught the yellow light, moving far faster than the sword aura, and his heart skipped a beat, a sense of unease arising. "Another high-grade second-tier artifact?"

Fast! Too fast! Since the two were not far apart, the yellow glowing rope reached Wang Yu in the blink of an eye. With a whoosh, it bound him tightly. His hands were forcefully twisted behind his back, and his legs were pressed together. The Demon-Binding Rope had tied him up like a worm. Even with veins bulging on his forehead from straining, he couldn't break free using his body cultivation strength. This artifact had a unique property: it couldn't be broken by brute force!

"An ant is an ant."

With a disdainful tone, hundreds of sword auras finally struck Wang Yu. Amidst a sky full of spiritual energy particles, the figure who had cast and condensed a Black Fiend Armor was sent flying hundreds of meters.

"Cough, cough—" The Soul Devouring Evil Armor Technique, as a superior demonic art, primarily focused on spiritual sense defense. The souls devoured were mostly second-tier, making its power extraordinarily great. However, it was somewhat powerless against Lan Boting's sword aura.

Struggling to bounce out of the mud, Wang Yu coughed up blood repeatedly. Fortunately, the Demon-Binding Rope didn't block his true essence; otherwise, the outcome would have been uncertain. Lan Boting's blue stream of light hovered above him. He spoke, looking down, "Not running anymore?"

"Heh, why don't you look back?"

Wang Yu's confident tone made Lan Boting feel uneasy. He swept his spiritual sense backward but found nothing, instantly growing annoyed. "At a time like this, still using..."

"ROAR!!!"

In the blink of an eye, a large hole erupted in the swamp, and an enormous alligator-dragon, over twenty meters long, burst from underground like a flood dragon emerging from its lair, soaring into the sky. Its already ferocious head, enhanced by a bloodline secret art, transformed into a massive mud-dragon head, savagely biting down on Lan Boting.

"I—"

*Squish~*

As if it had eaten a small snack, the alligator-dragon landed with a thud, looking curiously in Wang Yu's direction, but there was no one there, only a few scattered footprints. Just as it was about to investigate, a blue light suddenly erupted from its mouth. Covered in stomach acid and disgusting digestive matter, Lan Boting burst out in utter disarray, his eyes practically spitting fire from embarrassment. A broken tusk was still embedded in his lower leg, piercing through it completely, blood flowing ceaselessly.

"Bastard! Argh, argh, argh!"

River Sword Art: Water-Sky Line.

A mere late Foundation Establishment demonic beast was not something he put in his eyes. Before the third tier, human cultivators held an absolute advantage, let alone a disciple from a dominant force like him. What truly infuriated him was being misled by Wang Yu's crude trick. The attack had come from underground.

The condensed sword aura transformed into a long line, possessing a subtle wonder akin to sword qi turning into threads. It appeared ordinary but contained terrifying lethality. The demonic alligator-dragon roared skyward, stomping its short legs. The nearby swamp began to churn, foul muddy water rising upwards, but it was split directly down the middle by the blue line. The momentum-filled strike cleaved the alligator-dragon's back armor, leaving a bone-deep wound. It cried out in pain and became enraged, actively unleashing the mud ball ability Wang Yu had seen before. Engaging in a wild, one-on-one struggle within this domain.

But how could Lan Boting allow Wang Yu's scheme of diverting disaster to succeed? With a tug of his right hand, the invisible Wang Yu, still bound by the Demon-Binding Rope, was also dragged into this vast, ceaselessly replenishing mud ball domain, which could quickly recover even if broken.

Lan Boting could sense Wang Yu's location through the connection between his body and the artifact, but the alligator-dragon could not. In its eyes, its opponent was only Lan Boting. The great battle reignited. Sword light and mud splattered. Scales and flesh scattered intermittently. Wang Yu, huddled at the edge of the mud ball domain, gritted his teeth and voluntarily severed his left arm. This created a gap in the Demon-Binding Rope's binding. As he performed the Phantom Step, he left behind a solid illusory clone to be bound in his place. His true body quickly shifted direction, waiting for an opportunity.

In the three-way battlefield, one person and one beast were locked in a fight to the death. It had to be said that the alligator-dragon's physique was incredibly tough; even with numerous wounds from the slashes, it still unleashed powerful combat strength. Truly a demonic beast with dragon bloodline, it certainly had some tricks up its sleeve.

"Damn it, cough, cough—" On the other hand, Lan Boting, though holding the advantage, had also begun to cough up blood. In this mud ball domain, the alligator-dragon's innate magical techniques were greatly empowered, requiring him to guard cautiously against every strike.

"Blood sacrifices the scabbard, body sacrifices the sword."

"Blood Essence Sword, haste!"

As if having made a certain decision, Lan Boting unleashed his ultimate technique. Instantly, a blood-red light erupted, and a terrifyingly cold sword qi appeared like a crack. It was twisted and erratic, yet possessed extreme sharpness.