Ji Yuan scanned his surroundings. Although no other cultivators could be seen, he dared not relax even a little. After a moment's thought, he continued onward into the distance.
Despite his exhaustion, he dared not stop to rest until he was sure of his safety.
While affixing two Qi-Lightening talismans to his legs and choosing a direction to speed away, Ji Yuan also took out several pills to restore his spiritual energy, swallowing them whole.
Only after the medicinal effects spread through his body, gradually restoring his spiritual power, did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. He then took out two spirit stones and held them in his hands, drawing in their spiritual energy.
The previous consecutive battles had been taxing, even for his profound spiritual energy.
Especially the clash with Yang Qianhe on the mountaintop, which had consumed nearly half of his spiritual energy. Coupled with the efforts to break through, another two to three tenths were depleted. Now, he only had about thirty percent of his spiritual energy left within him.
If not for the two cultivation techniques he practiced, both of which enhanced the total amount and purity of his spiritual energy, combined with the recent blessing of the Nine Refinements Nine Essence Heavy Water Secret Technique, which made his spiritual energy more than three times that of cultivators from renowned sects, he would truly have struggled to sustain such immense expenditure.
However, after continuous battles and skirmishes, he now had only about thirty percent of his spiritual energy remaining. Quantitatively, this was only slightly more than what a typical cultivator in the early stage of the Qi Condensation realm possessed.
In such a state, if he encountered cultivators of the same realm, just three to four rogue cultivators from the wilderness would be enough to deplete his spiritual energy and plunge him into danger.
Even a single cultivator in the middle stage of the second realm might leave him with no other option but to flee in desperation.
After traveling another twenty miles or so, Ji Yuan suddenly frowned. Although the surroundings remained calm, his spiritual sense detected something unusual.
He continued to advance calmly, secretly extending his spiritual sense to its limit, carefully sensing the slightest disturbance around him.
Not long after, he sensed a few faint presences trailing him from a distance. They neither approached immediately nor retreated.
Soon, Ji Yuan understood. The other party was assessing his situation, checking if he still had the strength to fight or if he was already at his limit.
Clearly, these individuals were confident that he absolutely could not escape their grasp, hence their brazenness and lack of concern about him getting away.
After a brief deliberation, he let them continue. After all, the longer the time, the more advantageous it was for him. As long as his spiritual energy could recover to more than half, even two to three cultivators in the middle stage of the Qi Condensation realm would not be a cause for fear.
Even if he couldn't win, as long as he had enough spiritual energy, he could always escape and flee.
Thinking thus, Ji Yuan cast the Illusionary Concealment technique he had used before to hide his cultivation level, making his aura appear weak to deceive the pursuers.
Seeing this, they couldn't help but develop some intentions, planning to wait until his aura weakened further before making a move to seize the precious treasure.
In this way, the risk could naturally be minimized. Even if the opponent fought back desperately in his final moments, intending to trade lives, they could easily suppress him.
However, to deceive the other party, Ji Yuan could no longer restore his spiritual energy by consuming pills or absorbing spirit stones.
After a moment of hesitation, he sighed inwardly. With a slight shift of his thought, pure spiritual energy surged from the Profound Heaven Spirit Devouring Pagoda within his dantian, rapidly restoring his depleted spiritual power.
Originally, this spiritual energy was intended for refining and upgrading this treasure. He would not have easily used it unless it was absolutely necessary.
After all, according to the records in the Profound Heaven Dao Scripture, the complete 'Upper Clarity Spirit Treasure Profound Heaven Pagoda' should have nine layers, whereas his Profound Heaven Spirit Devouring Pagoda only had seven layers in total.
To make it a complete entity would not only require a large amount of precious spiritual materials but also a vast quantity of spiritual energy. This was because the pagoda was not fixed in its design from the start, and later refinements would incur an even greater cost. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
However, he could not afford to worry about that now. If his life was not guaranteed, his accumulated wealth would ultimately become the spoils of his enemies.
Thus, after more than half an hour, Ji Yuan finally recovered half of his spiritual energy. The cultivators lurking in the shadows seemed to have noticed some anomaly.
However, just as they were becoming suspicious and preparing to make a move to test the waters, sounds of fighting suddenly erupted from ahead.
The group was startled, and before they could react, they saw three figures, covered in blood, appear within their sight.
These three were clad in plain cyan robes. Apart from the middle-aged man leading them, who was at the early stage of the second realm, the other two youths were only at the middle stage of the first realm.
The middle-aged man also paused slightly upon seeing the young Daoist priest not far away. After sensing his early second-realm aura, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.
He hurriedly brought the two teenagers, no older than eighteen or nineteen, closer.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan's brows furrowed. He had already gripped more than a dozen talismans in his hand, ready to unleash them into fierce attacks at any moment.
"Stop!"
A shout suddenly rang out through the forest.
However, the shout did not come from Ji Yuan, who was secretly on guard, but from five cultivators who were pursuing the trio from behind.
The five who appeared now included two with early second-realm cultivation, while the other three were at the late stage of the Enlightenment realm, seemingly on the verge of reaching the peak or even breaking through.
All five cultivators wore fierce expressions and exuded chilling killing intent. Without a word, they began their assault.
In the dim forest, light immediately began to flash. The two early second-realm cultivators immediately unleashed their signature techniques.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man, covered in blood, quickly pushed the youth and maiden beside him forward. Then, he took a few steps back and faced the two incoming techniques head-on.
With a flick of his sword, a dense array of sword shadows appeared, and several cold glints flashed.
However, despite the surging spiritual energy, he could not block the incoming techniques. Instead, he was blasted backward, rolling to Ji Yuan's feet.
"Even if you hand over the item now, you will still die!"
One of the attackers roared, his killing intent erupting.
The group surged forward together, their spiritual energy surging as they prepared their next techniques.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan immediately prepared to dodge. However, as his body moved, the hem of his robe was grabbed by a blood-stained hand.
He saw the heavily injured middle-aged man looking at him with a pleading expression. However, due to his severe injuries, he opened his mouth but could not speak, instead spitting out a mouthful of blood.
The two youths, a boy and a girl, ran over. One, unable to support himself, collapsed beside the middle-aged man, panting heavily.
"Please... save us..."
The girl struggled to lift her head, tears welling in her eyes as she pleaded.
Hearing this, Ji Yuan's heart clenched. He was inclined to leave. With his cultivation and strength, he naturally had no fear of being stopped.
Yet, looking at the girl's tear-filled eyes, he found it difficult to act according to his intentions for a long time. The hem of his robe, still firmly grasped by the middle-aged man, was not the issue; rather, his feet felt as heavy as ten thousand pounds.
"Even if I save them, they will still die afterward!"
He couldn't help but mutter to himself.
If he were to intervene now, even if he successfully drove away the five attackers, the cultivators who had been trailing him would surely realize they had been tricked.
At that point, with the combined efforts of the group, Ji Yuan wouldn't even dare to guarantee his own absolute safety, let alone that of the middle-aged man and the two youths. They would surely be casually killed!
But if he didn't save them...
He felt he absolutely couldn't do that either...
Ji Yuan sighed, then looked up to see the fierce-looking five figures now only two to three zhang away.
"Go!"
His body trembled, and then six Heavy Water Beads emerged from his acupoints.
With a low shout, the Heavy Water Beads simultaneously radiated light and shot out fiercely towards the five cultivators within two to three zhang.
Almost simultaneously, four auras erupted from behind him, approaching rapidly with chilling killing intent, and the sound of air breaking through the sky resounded.
He immediately turned and cast the talismans he held in his palm. Over a dozen water blades, water arrows, and other techniques rained down!
This scene naturally stunned the middle-aged man and the other two, and it also caught the five pursuers off guard, as if they hadn't expected such a turn of events.
Boom! Boom boom!!!
Several deafening explosions echoed through the forest, and even the ground beneath their feet trembled slightly!
Under the power of the Heavy Water Beads, all five cultivators were sent flying backward like sandbags, crashing through several trees before coming to a halt.
Apart from the two early second-realm cultivators, the other three could not withstand such power, and their life force was extinguished.
Even the remaining two were severely injured. However, these were merely wilderness cultivators, lacking profound techniques or magical artifacts. How could they withstand the power of a treasure?
On the other side, the four figures, facing the dozen or so techniques that rained down, were forced to halt their advance. Unwilling to expend more spiritual energy to clash head-on, they all quickly retreated.
After evading the barrage of techniques, the four figures began to form hand seals and incantations, or cast spells, or deploy magical artifacts, attacking the area from a distance.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan let out a soft snort and spat out a stream of light from his mouth, transforming into a small seven-story tower a few inches in size, which hovered above his head.
In the blink of an eye, the Profound Heaven Spirit Devouring Pagoda cast down countless rays of light, enveloping himself and the three people beside him.
Rumble!!!
The next moment, the four attacks landed sequentially, and a roaring sound echoed.
However, as the dust settled, Ji Yuan, bathed in the light cast by the Profound Heaven Spirit Devouring Pagoda, remained completely undisturbed.
He glanced at the figures before him, and with a gentle wave of his left hand, the six Heavy Water Beads flew back, slowly spinning in his palm.
"He has actually recovered to this extent!"
"Heh, kid, you really know how to put on an act!"
Among the four, two couldn't help but speak, their voices filled with bone-chilling killing intent.
They had thought victory was within their grasp. The reason they hadn't attacked immediately was simply to ensure a greater advantage and avoid unnecessary expenditure.
They had never expected that their caution would give the opponent an opportunity to recover his spiritual energy!