Chapter 606: Chapter 388: Sneaking a Bite

Xu Yang landed by the Jade Cold Pool. At this moment, the Profound Water Spirit Loaches were still leaping out of the water like crazy. However, after a net full had been scooped away, their numbers had sharply decreased, and the pool’s water was no longer as turbulent as before.

Locking his eyes on a Profound Water Spirit Loach over seven inches long, he flashed into the air above the pool the instant it leaped out of the water, grabbing it in one hand.

This creature was only about eight or nine inches long, but its strength was astonishing. Held in his grip, it struggled incessantly like a large python.

Xu Yang thought, "This thing must be eaten immediately!"

It wouldn’t be long before people from the Celestial Strategy Academy would undoubtedly arrive. The Profound Water Spirit Loach obviously couldn’t be kept in his hands; eating it was the safest option.

With this thought in mind, Gang Yuan surged out to shock the Profound Water Spirit Loach in his hand to death. Xu Yang immediately circulated the Iron Refining Hand, infusing a scorching power into the creature.

Waves of hot steam rose from the Profound Water Spirit Loach, and it was completely cooked in just a few breaths. He shoved it directly into his mouth, chewing vigorously and swallowing it along with the bones.

Before he could circulate his cultivation, the Profound Water Spirit Loach had already transformed into a surging wave of Essence Qi that swept through his limbs and bones.

Xu Yang’s muscles and bones rumbled. His body, like an earth that had been parched for ages, frantically devoured this Essence Qi.

"Not good!" he exclaimed internally.

Just as he was about to circulate his cultivation to refine the Essence Qi of the Profound Water Spirit Loach, his five senses caught a streak of golden light shooting rapidly toward him. It was none other than the Profound Water Spirit Loach King.

The Profound Water Spirit Loach King pierced the air like a sharp arrow, bringing with it a series of shrill whistles. Its speed was so fast it was like galloping thunder.

By the time Xu Yang’s five senses detected it, it was already close at hand. Without even the time to dodge, he could only quickly raise his Protective Gang Yuan.

BANG!

In the next moment, the Profound Water Spirit Loach King slammed heavily into his Protective Gang Yuan.

Xu Yang felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His Qi-Blood churned as his Protective Gang Yuan was quickly covered in spiderweb-like cracks. It felt as though he had been hit by a heavy hammer, and he couldn’t help but take large strides backward.

He raised a hand to grab the Profound Water Spirit Loach King, but the creature had already vanished, leaving his fingers to grasp empty air.

"This beast."

Xu Yang wasn’t actually surprised. Ma Daxing had spent so much time without catching the Profound Water Spirit Loach King, so it was impossible for him to catch it in one fell swoop. This thing’s attack power was only comparable to the Celestial Essence Third Layer, but its speed was terrifying beyond compare, and its body was even harder than a Spiritual Soldier.

Landing on the ground not far away, the Profound Water Spirit Loach King bounced off the surface and charged toward him rapidly once more.

Seeing this, Xu Yang had no choice but to retreat, understanding that his action of eating the Profound Water Spirit Loach had probably provoked it.

BOOM!

The golden light brushed past his body, and a section of his Protective Gang Yuan instantly shattered.

The Profound Water Spirit Loach King landed again, but it didn’t continue its attack. Instead, it bared its teeth at him and opened its mouth to let out an ear-piercing shriek.

Xu Yang continued to retreat, backing up a long distance before stopping. He knew that continuing to catch Profound Water Spirit Loaches was already impossible.

The Profound Water Spirit Loach King’s speed was simply too fast for him to guard against. Furthermore, the Profound Water Spirit Loach he had just eaten was currently churning within his body as rolling Essence Qi, making it unsuitable for battle. He had to absorb this Essence Qi as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if people arrived later, they would easily discover that he had secretly eaten a Profound Water Spirit Loach.

Circulating the Azure Dragon Dominating Body, Xu Yang put all his effort into refining the Essence Qi of the Profound Water Spirit Loach.

This thing was indeed exactly as Zhang Cheng had said; its Body Refining effects were excellent. Every inch of his flesh and blood seemed to be cheering, greedily swallowing the Essence Qi. Nourished by this Essence Qi, the strength and power of his physical body were rapidly improving.

Strands of Qi-Blood, resembling crystal diamonds, were born from his flesh, making his already vigorous Qi-Blood even more majestic. In just a short while, the progress of his Azure Dragon Dominating Body had increased by seven or eight hundred points.

"Save... save me..."

Right at this moment, a faint voice reached his ears. It was Luo Zhao!

Xu Yang looked over and saw Luo Zhao lying in a large crater. One of his arms was severed, and the other was twisted like a fried dough twist, with white bones piercing through the skin and flesh.

He was covered in lacerations, his body on the verge of falling apart. Yet, he still clung to a final breath. Relying on his formidable Body Refining Cultivation, he forcefully managed to keep his wounds from bleeding further.

Xu Yang strode over.

"Xu Yang... save me..." Hope surged in Luo Zhao’s eyes as his face filled with pleading.

Xu Yang crouched down, only then noticing that in some places, Luo Zhao’s internal organs were visible. Even these organs were covered in cracks, but through his formidable cultivation, he had prevented his flesh and organs from completely splitting apart.

"You targeted me before and wanted to harm me. Now you want me to save you?" Xu Yang chuckled.

As he spoke, an imposing pressure emanated from his body and bore down on Luo Zhao. The wounds that Luo Zhao had desperately tried to keep from bleeding began to slowly seep blood, and the lacerations widened.

"Don’t!" Luo Zhao let out a scream. "I... I wasn’t targeting you! I just have a bad temper."

Xu Yang continued to increase the pressure, causing the fissures on Luo Zhao’s body to grow ever larger.

"Do you think I don’t know that you’re a disciple of the Yellow Maple Valley? You wanted to avenge Lin Jingyu, so you had Zhang Cheng and Zhuang Tao goad me into stealing a Profound Water Spirit Loach?" Xu Yang said with a smile.

Previously, he hadn’t known why Luo Zhao hated him so much. But during the earlier battle, seeing Luo Zhao use the White Tiger Shattering Gold Fist made everything clear. Luo Zhao was a disciple of the Yellow Maple Valley.

"I was blinded by foolishness before. I was wrong," Luo Zhao begged, his face pale.

"You don’t know you were wrong; you just know you’re going to die." Xu Yang slowly stood up as his pressure converged on Luo Zhao like a tidal wave.

SQUELCH...

The body that Luo Zhao had forcibly held together instantly split open in multiple places, blood gushing out like a fountain.

"Xu Yang, you’ll die a miserable death!" Luo Zhao roared with the last of his strength.

Knowing that Xu Yang wouldn’t save him, nor give him the chance to stay alive long enough for someone else to rescue him, he immediately began to curse.

Xu Yang’s gaze was ice-cold as he released all his pressure completely. A few breaths later, Luo Zhao’s blood had nearly drained dry. He lay motionless on the ground, entirely bereft of life.

Not far away, the cold pool gradually calmed down, and the Profound Water Spirit Loach King returned to its depths, disappearing from sight.

Xu Yang moved to the side and sat down, putting all his effort into refining the Profound Water Spirit Loach.

A short while later, several figures flew over from the direction of the Celestial Strategy Academy. He hurriedly circulated the Formless Thousand Illusion Skill, suppressing the power of the Dragon Symbols Heart Scripture and the Azure Dragon Dominating Body to feign an injured appearance.

Of course, he had indeed been injured. He had been slashed by a saber; although the wound had already healed, the scar and blood remained.

"Damn it, who did this?"

Five figures landed beside Xu Yang. Seeing the tragically deceased Luo Zhao, Zhuang Tao, and the others scattered around, their expressions all turned exceedingly grim.

The Celestial Strategy Academy always had eight students garrisoning the Jade Cold Pool year-round. Yet, at this moment, only Xu Yang was alive, while the other seven were all dead.

"To answer you, Teacher. I heard from a fallen fellow student that the man’s name is Ma Daxing, a Master of Weapon Forging from Yunzhou City," Xu Yang said, cupping his hands in respect.

He swept his gaze over them, realizing that aside from the leader who was a teacher, the rest were all students of the Celestial Strategy Academy.

However, they likely weren’t from his cohort. The lowest cultivation among these people was the Celestial Essence Third Layer. One of them was even a Middle-Level Student with Celestial Essence Fourth Level Cultivation. There was also an acquaintance among them—it was none other than Han Yingjie, who also hailed from the Purple Sun Sect.

"Ma Daxing... how dare that beast." Sun Hao’s killing intent surged, yet he felt somewhat puzzled.

Ma Daxing was a renowned Weapon Forger in Yunzhou City who frequently purchased water from the Jade Cold Pool from the Celestial Strategy Academy for quenching Spiritual Soldiers. It wasn’t his first time coming here to collect water, so why had he suddenly made a move this time?

"They were after the Profound Water Spirit Loach King," Xu Yang said in a deep voice.

There was no such thing as "how dare he." As long as there were sufficient benefits, a Martial Artist was capable of doing anything.

"The Profound Water Spirit Loach King?"

"There really is a Profound Water Spirit Loach King in the Jade Cold Pool?"

The moment these words were spoken, those students immediately cried out in astonishment, their breathing turning heavy.

"Was the Profound Water Spirit Loach King taken away?" Sun Hao’s expression changed drastically.

Ordinary students might not be sure whether a Profound Water Spirit Loach King existed in the Jade Cold Pool, but as a teacher, he naturally knew that it was real.

"I fired the signal firework in time, so they didn’t dare to linger for too long. They hastily retreated without catching the Profound Water Spirit Loach King, though they did take away several hundred regular Profound Water Spirit Loaches," Xu Yang said, not forgetting to mention his own contribution.

"That beast!" Hearing that the Profound Water Spirit Loach King was fine, Sun Hao breathed a sigh of relief.

"So many people died. You’re merely at the Celestial Essence Second Layer, so how come you’re perfectly fine?" Han Yingjie suddenly spoke up.

These words were a vicious accusation; he was just short of outright saying that Xu Yang was in cahoots with Ma Daxing and his group.

"Are you saying I should have been killed as well, allowing Ma Daxing and his people to take the Profound Water Spirit Loach King away?" Xu Yang looked coldly at Han Yingjie.

"That’s not what I meant. I was just curious," Han Yingjie said with a smile.

"Shut up, Han Yingjie. Now is not the time to discuss this." Sun Hao coldly snorted and looked at Xu Yang. "Where is Teacher An Yuan?"

"He went in pursuit of Ma Daxing and those thieves."

Sun Hao nodded and quickly made arrangements. One person was sent back to the Celestial Strategy Academy to report the news. The Middle-Level Student at the Celestial Essence Fourth Layer was left behind to continue garrisoning the Jade Cold Pool with Xu Yang. Then, he took Han Yingjie and the other student and gave chase in the direction Ma Daxing and his group had fled.

"I’ll trouble you to keep watch, brother. I need to go heal my wounds." Xu Yang found an excuse and continued to circulate his cultivation to refine the Essence Qi of the Profound Water Spirit Loach.

An unknown amount of time passed. The majority of the Profound Water Spirit Loach’s Essence Qi had finished being refined, with the remainder settling into his flesh and blood to be refined slowly over time.

[Azure Dragon Dominating Body • First Layer (7401/10000)]

Xu Yang opened his eyes and looked at the interface. The progress of the Azure Dragon Dominating Body had increased by more than a thousand, roughly equivalent to a month of his past bitter cultivation.

Of course, for a treasure like the Profound Water Spirit Loach, the true benefits weren’t reflected in one’s cultivation level.

Its primary purpose was to strengthen the muscles and bones, elevating the physical body’s potential. More often than not, a Profound Water Spirit Loach was used to break through bottlenecks; no one was extravagant enough to use it as ordinary cultivation resources.

Xu Yang only felt entirely comfortable, possessing boundlessly vigorous energy, and his Dragon Qi had strengthened considerably.

Closing the interface, he looked up. The Middle-Level Student who had stayed behind to garrison the place with him had already gathered all the corpses together. An Yuan, Sun Hao, and the others had not yet returned.

He stood up, intending to get something to eat. Just as he took some meat out of the storehouse and was about to start a fire to roast it, the sound of piercing the air came from the distance.

Xu Yang looked back and saw a group of people flying over from the direction of the Celestial Strategy Academy. The person leading them was none other than his teacher, Jin Yu.

A few breaths later, Jin Yu descended from the sky with the group.

Xu Yang walked over briskly and cupped his hands. "Student pays respects to Teacher."

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