Chapter 695: Poisoning the Nascent Soul

He wrapped his arm around Consort Yunxia's waist. At the instant the giant axe swung down, he pulled her behind him.

"Jiang Fan..." Consort Yunxia exclaimed.

With her blocking, although it was still a perilous situation, there was at least a glimmer of hope for survival. It was better than Jiang Fan facing the attack directly, which would be certain death.

At the very moment the axe came down, a stream of deep blue energy surged from his body, forming the ethereal image of a giant beast, vaguely resembling a Qilin. It was majestic and exuded power. Its eyes commanded all directions, giving off an extremely domineering aura.

The giant axe struck down. The ethereal beast roared skyward, and to their astonishment, shattered most of the giant axe, which represented a Nascent Soul stage attack!

Consort Yunxia was startled. "Demon Emperor Essence? You... how could you have it?"

Yan Dao'an, unable to accept it, roared in despair: "No! No! No!!!"

He roared "no" three times in succession. His final attack couldn't even take Jiang Fan down! He couldn't even drag Jiang Fan down with him! He was not reconciled. Not reconciled!!!

*Rumble—*

The residual image of the giant axe, after a brief stalemate with the Qilin's ethereal image, finally shattered as well. It erupted into a destructive shockwave that swept across the surroundings. At close range, Yan Dao'an bore the brunt of it. His body was like clay. He instantly disintegrated into dust, scattering in all directions.

Jiang Fan and Consort Yunxia also suffered a violent impact. The ethereal beast's image faded considerably after withstanding the axe's power. Under that destructive shockwave, the ethereal beast's image struggled to resist for a moment before being dispersed. The shockwave then fiercely battered Jiang Fan. Fortunately, he was wearing chainmail armor. It blocked most of the attack. Despite this, he was still shaken so violently that he coughed up a large amount of blood mist, staining Consort Yunxia's collar crimson.

"Jiang Fan!" Consort Yunxia quickly used her fox tail to block the residual waves.

After everything had subsided, she nervously watched Jiang Fan, and finding that he was alright, merely more heavily injured, she finally let out a sigh of relief. Then she lightly chided, "Are you crazy? Demon Emperor Essence might not have been able to block this attack. Are you reckless?"

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down uncontrollably. Then she leaned on his shoulder and sobbed: "What's wrong with me, Jiang Fan? Why am I always crying? I barely recognize myself anymore."

Previously, she knew neither sorrow nor joy, so how could there have been tears? Yet today, she repeatedly shed tears.

Jiang Fan chuckled softly, quietly patted her slender back, and said: "Crying is better than losing your temper, right? If you hit me again now, I truly would have to take the beating."

Consort Yunxia's face flushed. She remembered how she used to yell at Jiang Fan, threatening to kill him, and how she hated him so much her teeth gnashed. She couldn't help but say, "I... I already said I'm sorry. Why do you hold grudges so much?" These words surprisingly had a hint of coquetry. Who would believe this was Consort Yunxia, who was supposedly aloof from worldly affairs?

"Hahahaha... *cough cough*..." Jiang Fan kept laughing, but then couldn't help but cough several times. "Let's stop joking. Let's quickly clear the battlefield. This place isn't safe."

He hadn't forgotten that the little Qilin had mentioned dangerous monsters in this place, and it had barely escaped before. It was truly not advisable to stay here long.

Consort Yunxia looked around. She found that the previous Nascent Soul stage attack had destroyed most of the empty halls. It had also triggered array fluctuations in many halls. The scene was chaotic.

"I'll go look for Yan Dao'an's spatial storage artifact. He's the Vice-Head of Jiangshan First-Class Pavilion; his collection is astonishing." Just now, his body was scattered everywhere by the shockwave. That storage artifact would need to be carefully searched for.

After she left, the little Qilin, with two ox horns in its mouth, crawled out from a nearby hall with an array formation. It was not stupid after all. When the Nascent Soul stage attack appeared earlier, it decisively burrowed into the protection of the array formation. Jiang Fan, even with the Demon Emperor Essence, almost lost his life. This fellow didn't lose a single hair.

"Master, here, they're all here," the little Qilin said, dropping the ox horns into his lap.

A hint of a smile appeared in Jiang Fan's eyes. He had already thought about how to distribute them: one for Sea Charm Demon King, and one for Consort Yunxia. He recalled Jiu Yinzhu tempting him to the inner residence, drawing him a grand picture and asking if Jiang Fan wouldn't want to have a female slave who was a Demon Emperor. Now, he was about to get what he wanted.

But just when Jiang Fan's mind was most relaxed, a wisp of cold aura approached silently. A strong warning signal instantly arose in Jiang Fan's heart. Without thinking, he instantly teleported away from his spot like a bolt of lightning. He had been injured by the Nether Poison and then by the aftershocks of the Nascent Soul stage attack. His body was overwhelmed. After teleporting only a dozen meters, he fell down.

He turned his head to look. It was an arrow from a crossbow, emitting a cold aura, which had pinned itself into the spot where he had just been sitting. He looked up. A red-clad girl, tattered and barely clothed, was stomping her foot and complaining.

"Damn it! He could even get away from this?"

It was no one else but Yuan Chen, who had miraculously survived the disaster. He didn't know what method she had used, as she was only at the seventh layer of Core Formation. Yet she had actually managed to survive the Nascent Soul stage shockwave. At this moment, she held a gleaming silver bow in her hand and glared at Jiang Fan with murderous intent in her pretty eyes. Her first arrow failed, so she pulled back the bowstring again, preparing to shoot a second arrow.

Jiang Fan no longer had the ability to activate Cloud Shadow again at this moment. He said in a deep voice, "Yuan Chen! You're looking for death!"

If she hadn't attacked, Jiang Fan would have forgotten about her. She had just barely salvaged her life, and instead of hiding properly, she dared to attack him?

"Hmph! Hand over those ox horns! Also, I want your little spirit beast too! Otherwise, this semi-spiritual longbow of mine will be your death warrant!" Greed showed in her eyes. Originally, she had planned to sneak away quietly. Once outside, she would expose Jiang Fan and Consort Yunxia. The Sky Demon Emperor would certainly kill Jiang Fan! However, when she saw Jiang Fan obtain a pair of extremely potent spiritual liquids, her greed got the better of her. Moreover, Consort Yunxia had left, and Jiang Fan appeared heavily injured. So she decisively launched a surprise attack on Jiang Fan.

"You and your master have both made the same mistake!" Jiang Fan said indifferently, "That is, provoking me!"

Yuan Chen said disdainfully, "A cripple, what can you possibly do to me?" She recalled being suppressed and beaten by Jiang Fan earlier, and almost killed by him. Her heart was filled with humiliation. A murderous glint rose in her eyes!

"Die!" With this thought, she decisively made her move. The arrowhead turned into an extremely fast afterimage and shot straight towards Jiang Fan. This was a semi-spiritual artifact! Far superior to ordinary magic artifacts. Jiang Fan had struggled even to activate Cloud Shadow just now, and currently could not block this arrow at all.

Jiang Fan's gaze was stern. He also felt the danger of this arrow. But he did not panic. With a flip of his hand, he took out a palm-sized bronze eye. It was precisely the Heaven-Gazing Treasure Mirror. He poured a wisp of spiritual energy into it. The eyeball within the Heaven-Gazing Treasure Mirror came to life. It rotated slightly and locked onto the incoming arrowhead. Under the gaze of the eyeball, the arrowhead astonishingly acted like a refracted ray of light. It was reflected back towards Yuan Chen.

Her shoulder was instantly pierced, and she immediately let out a pained cry. In the distance, Consort Yunxia, who had sensed the commotion, raced over.

Yuan Chen gritted her teeth and, clutching her wound, unwillingly retreated. She said resentfully, "You, Jiang! So you won't give me the items? Fine! Then you go explain to the Demon Emperor why you appeared in the inner residence!" A sneer crossed her face. Then she rapidly retreated.

Jiang Fan's face darkened, and he said coldly, "Do you think you'll get a chance to report me?"

Yuan Chen chuckled coldly, "Are you even worthy of keeping me?" Behind her was the exit. Unless Jiang Fan was at his peak, it would be impossible!

But when Jiang Fan took out a whisk, Yuan Chen's pupils constricted sharply!