MJWCATFPITWOC Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Don’t You Dare Die

Chapter 44: Don’t You Dare Die

Upon hearing this, Bai Guchen’s expression didn’t change; he merely furrowed his brow slightly: “Jitan Village? What kind of place is that?”

Shen Yucheng scrutinized Bai Guchen’s reaction. It didn’t seem like he was pretending. He infused spiritual power into the golden threads, tightening them: “A small village in the Northern Region.”

Bai Guchen chuckled, his expression indifferent: “Young Master Shen, the Northern Region is so vast, do you expect me to remember every village I’ve ever been to?”

Yan Quanye, standing to the side, saw Bai Guchen still feigning innocence and angrily shouted, his voice trembling: “Lies! How could you not remember! Hundreds of villagers! All because of your incense burner…”

Hearing this, a flash of insight struck Shen Yucheng, and he suddenly said, “Liu Mingzhen, you must remember this name, right?”

As expected, Bai Guchen’s body stiffened slightly, only for an instant, but Shen Yucheng caught it. This name had struck a nerve.

After a moment, Bai Guchen smiled faintly, appearing even more composed: “So, you’re referring to that village. What is it? Do you know what I went there to do?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Guchen’s outer robe began to slowly transform from black to pure white, and his aura changed along with it, gradually revealing the appearance of the white-robed person Shen Yucheng had seen in the Boundary.

Shen Yucheng’s expression gradually turned serious. Bai Guchen seized this moment, abruptly breaking free from the golden threads. With a flicker of his figure, he flew into the air, lightly waving a paper fan in his hand, looking down at Shen Yucheng below.

Shen Yucheng gazed at the Bai Guchen before him, his eyes cold. At this moment, he was completely certain that this person was indeed that white-robed figure.

“But I am curious, why do you suddenly think I’ve been to that place? Could it be because you have some… miscellaneous person by your side?” Bai Guchen glanced meaningfully at the empty space beside Shen Yucheng.

That was where Yan Quanye was standing. Shen Yucheng’s heart sank. Logically, as a spirit, Yan Quanye shouldn’t be visible to others, but Bai Guchen’s gaze seemed to genuinely see Yan Quanye.

Shen Yucheng said in a low voice, “Go back to the Contract.” Although Yan Quanye didn’t understand, he still obeyed the command and disappeared into the Contract Diagram.

Bai Guchen chuckled lightly, a sly look in his eyes: “Gone back?”

Indeed, Bai Guchen could see spirits.

He didn’t ask Bai Guchen why he could see spirits; he knew the other party wouldn’t obediently tell him. At this moment, he flicked his finger, conjuring golden threads, the cold golden light slicing through the air. If he wanted to force answers from this person, he would have to defeat him first.

The golden threads instantly tensed, as if gathering power. As Bai Guchen smiled, hundreds of threads shot out in an instant, their force like a million-strong army charging forth, with the might of thunder.

However, Bai Guchen remained floating in mid-air, calmly watching the golden threads pass by him, not a single one able to harm him in the slightest.

Shen Yucheng clicked his tongue. He had clearly seen that Bai Guchen had easily dodged several golden threads with extremely subtle movements in the air.

At this moment, he was certain that this fellow’s cultivation was definitely not just at the Nascent Soul initial stage.

Bai Guchen smiled slightly, his tone flippant: “What’s wrong? Why are you hiding and not showing yourself, lurking in the shadows?” As he spoke, he lightly waved the paper fan in his hand, a playful look in his eyes.

With a light wave of the fan, the wind gathered in the air, and several large trees grew out of thin air within the wind sphere, their branches and leaves lush.

However, these trees were not ordinary plants. They seemed to possess life, their branches reaching towards Shen Yucheng like tentacles, the forked branches able to extend and retract at will, as flexible as vines, attempting to entangle him within them.

Bai Guchen chuckled, his gaze fixed on the direction the trees were moving: “So, you were hiding here.”

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Guchen conjured several sharp blades of grass in his hand, stabbing towards Shen Yucheng like sharp weapons.

Shen Yucheng dodged to the side, avoiding the grass blades’ attack, but the tree branches behind him seized the opportunity to attack, striking him hard on the back. Just now he was only guessing, but now he was certain that Bai Guchen’s moves could cause real damage to his [Phasing] body.

He knew that only the contracted person could see his [Phasing] body and cause damage to it. But he had no contract with Bai Guchen; the only possibility was that someone in Bai Guchen’s contract had the same contract as him, causing the power of the contracts to be linked.

Facing these trees, he didn’t dare to linger at all, turning around and using the golden threads to block the tentacle-like branches.

Seeing this, Bai Guchen said with contempt, “Your spiritual power is useless here. You might as well surrender obediently and admit defeat.”

Shen Yucheng gritted his teeth, ignoring his words.

“Truly stubborn.” Bai Guchen smiled coldly, losing his patience: “Just like that person.” As he spoke, the attacks of the several large trees suddenly intensified, all the branches aiming at the blind spots in Shen Yucheng’s vision, attacking the few remaining uninjured parts of his body.

Blood splattered on the ground once more. However, Bai Guchen raised his eyebrows slightly, seeing that Shen Yucheng hadn’t dodged those tentacles, but had instead allowed them to pierce through his body.

Yesterday, while observing Li Yuan’s competition, Shen Yucheng had a flash of inspiration and thought of modifying the golden threads.

At this moment, those tree branches were quietly stained with fine golden threads, hidden extremely well, unnoticed by anyone. Shen Yucheng endured the pain, breathing heavily, and gently flicked his fingers. The several large trees suddenly exploded, flames flickering from their branches, the continuous explosions instantly tearing the trees to pieces.

Shen Yucheng took the opportunity to dodge to the side.

Bai Guchen clearly hadn’t expected Shen Yucheng to have such tricks. In the past images, the golden threads he had seen were just harmless ropes.

A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth: “Interesting, so you have this up your sleeve…”

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Guchen suddenly felt a burning sensation on his shoulder, and his ears were filled with a buzzing sound, unable to hear anything. He looked down and found that a few tiny golden threads had somehow stuck to his left shoulder, instantly blasting his left shoulder into a bloody mess.

Bai Guchen’s expression was extremely ugly. He tried to remove the tiny golden threads from his body, but the threads seemed to be tightly attached to his skin, no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t get rid of them at all.

The buzzing in his ears gradually subsided, and Shen Yucheng’s voice came intermittently: “These golden threads are attached with spiritual power. Unless I untie them, they will stay with you for the rest of your life.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Guchen could no longer maintain his composure, gnashing his teeth, wanting to glare at Shen Yucheng but unable to find him, the pent-up anger finally erupting as red light surged from his hand.

Seeing this, Shen Yucheng immediately became vigilant. Throughout the long battle, he had always felt that the other party’s strength and techniques were somewhat abnormal, a sense of disharmony lingering in his heart, but for a moment, he couldn’t put his finger on what was so strange.

A red light flashed, and a massive stone statue appeared before him. The huge figure forced him to look up, he only came up to its ankles. With the appearance of the stone statue, the scope of the wind sphere also expanded, and the giant sphere swelled up instantly when viewed from the outside. The audience had no idea what was happening inside.

Shen Yucheng stared at the stone statue, and then recognized that this was the stone summoned by Yu Quan in the competition with Mo Yifeng yesterday. Its stone was extremely hard and very threatening.

Did he collect Yu Quan’s stones?

Bai Guchen moved his fingers lightly. The stone statue did not attack as “gently” as the previous big trees. Instead, relying on its huge size, it directly slammed the ground, instantly turning a large area of open space into dust. The flying sparks and vibrations affected the people outside the field, and the vibrations affected the field. Shen Yucheng fled in embarrassment, like a prey being chased.

In his opinion, the stone statue seemed unable to accurately locate his whereabouts, and could only attack arbitrarily with force. It was good if it could hit, but even if it couldn’t, the terrifying destructive power was enough to disrupt his rhythm.

The stone statue hit every blow with deadly force. Shen Yucheng condensed spiritual power between his fingers, and the golden threads turned into a huge hammer-shaped weapon. Although this would consume a lot of spiritual power, he had no choice. He must not die here easily.

With a weapon of the same level, he was finally able to briefly confront the stone statue, and a stalemate ensued.

However, in the tug-of-war, Shen Yucheng was ultimately at a disadvantage. He had to precisely control every wisp of spiritual power to maintain the shape of the heavy hammer, which consumed a lot of his mental and physical strength, and his back was already soaked with sweat.

In the Contract, Yan Quanye couldn’t help but say, “Why not use [Illusion] to directly confuse them?”

“I can’t.” Shen Yucheng’s tone was rather labored: “[Illusion] can only be activated in one place.” If he used [Illusion] here, the white mist in the wind screen would inevitably dissipate, and Bai Guchen would be able to hide in it again.

If this was the case, all previous efforts to force him to show up would be in vain.

Just then, Bai Guchen summoned green vines again. At a glance, Shen Yucheng knew that this was a feint, intended to distract him and take the opportunity to capture him.

Yan Quanye sensed that Shen Yucheng’s spiritual power was about to run out, and couldn’t help but anxiously asked, “Hey, your spiritual power is running out. What should we do?”

Shen Yucheng struggled to swing the heavy hammer, finally cutting off one arm and one leg of the stone statue. However, the vines then entangled him. These vines cooperated seamlessly with the stone statue, and the attacks came wave after wave, without a single pause. He knew that as long as Bai Guchen was still alive, these vines and stone statues would never stop, they were simply like dead objects controlled by Bai Guchen.

“!!” Suddenly, a terrible thought flashed through his mind. His figure stagnated, and the heavy hammer instantly dissipated, his spiritual power unable to maintain its shape. But Shen Yucheng had no intention to care about these. If his guess was true, then he understood why Bai Guchen was so interested in him, and also understood that his secret might have been exposed.

“Be careful!” Yan Quanye shouted.

The stone statue, without the obstruction of the heavy hammer, destroyed again. The huge stone hand was about to swing towards Shen Yucheng. At the critical moment, Yan Quanye rushed out and pulled him away.

“Are you courting death?” Yan Quanye scolded.

A heavy blow landed behind them, and the ground instantly collapsed. If they hadn’t dodged in time, they would probably have been turned into minced meat.

From some point on, this competition had turned into a life-and-death duel that could no longer be intervened in. The battle would only end when one side fell.

Although Bai Guchen couldn’t see Shen Yucheng, he could clearly feel the emotional fluctuations of the other party gradually falling into despair.

Bai Guchen smiled coldly. He knew that the time had come, and had no intention of delaying any longer. He used the last of his spiritual power to have the stone statue deliver a fatal blow.

Watching the stone statue’s huge fist about to fall, Yan Quanye closed his eyes tightly, while Shen Yucheng frowned tightly. At this moment, it was too late to re-condense the golden hammer. He turned around anxiously, thinking about what else he could use to fight against this behemoth.

The stone statue received the order, and the spiritual power contained in its fist surged. With just one blow, it could raze a hundred miles around to the ground.

Shen Yucheng’s eyes reflected the giant fist gradually enlarging, and everything seemed to become extremely slow at this moment. Sweat dripped from his palms, strangely warm, but he could only watch helplessly as death gradually approached.

“Boom—”

A shocking loud noise impacted the entire Lingfeng Sect. The animals in the forest at the foot of the sect were also startled by this huge spiritual power and fled in all directions, and the birds spread their wings and flew away into the distance.

After the loud noise, the world returned to an eerie silence.

The audience outside the field were originally enthusiastically discussing the progress of the competition. However, after the roar sounded, everyone looked up into the sky, only to see the volume of the wind ball expand sharply, almost breaking the boundary, and a huge shadow enveloped the entire audience.

However, the monks not only noticed these, they all stood upright and motionless. What shocked them was that a terrifying force suddenly came from within the wind ball. Not only was that force huge in spiritual power, but it also had an indescribable pressure that made the Nascent Soul stage monks unable to breathe.

They didn’t know what was happening inside, but intuition told them that if they strayed into it, they would definitely die instantly.

The elders also sensed the terror of this power, immediately changed their attitude, and prepared to intervene at any time.

Although the monks did not understand the source of this pressure, there were four people in the field who knew it well.

Lingyi frowned slightly when he felt the pressure: “After not seeing him for a while, this guy has become stronger again.”

Li Yuan glanced at the wind ball lightly: “What happened? Why was this thing released?”

Fu Junxuan stared at the surface of the wind ball and remained silent. Since the trip to the Secret Realm, although he had never discussed the things he discovered in the Secret Realm with Shen Yucheng face to face, he vaguely guessed why this junior brother always hid his strength so deeply.

He glanced sideways at Mo Yifeng and said in a low voice, “You should know what happened inside better than any of us.”

At this time, Mo Yifeng could no longer restrain himself. He walked to the edge of the stage, stared at the wind ball, waiting for it to dissolve so that he could rush in at the first moment.

Since just now, he had felt emotional fluctuations from the depths of his heart, and that emotion clearly came from Shen Yucheng, who had made a Dao Companion Contract with him.

Although he couldn’t see the situation inside the wind ball, he could sense the emotional changes of Shen Yucheng through the contract and understand the battle situation at the same time.

Therefore, when he sensed that Shen Yucheng was injured, he couldn’t wait to rush in immediately, but reason finally suppressed the impulse. He could only anxiously wait for the end of the competition.

Shen Yucheng, don’t you dare die.