Book 2 - Fame Spreads

Chapter 52.1 - Strangling

A gentle breeze blew across, and He Yiming, along with Reclining Moon Blade, seemingly weightless, drifted along with this wind.

His eyes were faintly closed as he attentively perceived the left behind odor in the air.

Losing an arm, Lu Xinwen escaped as if nothing had occurred. Perhaps others might not be able to see through, but He Yiming clearly sensed that vigorous, almost overflowing life force inside Lu Xinwen’s body thoroughly severed by the blade strike.

The might of this blade light could reach such a level, even He Yiming hadn’t expected so.

Of course, if Lu Xinwen hadn’t probed He Yiming beforehand, resulting him being unable to anticipate such a deeply concealed ace in He Yiming’s arsenal, he wouldn’t have died from what seemed like almost a hidden attack.

For this old man, He Yiming actually felt high admiration.

Even after his bodily functions were practically disabled in entirety, he was able to grab an individual and escape with an inhumane speed. Such a feat was far beyond what an ordinary individual could hope to achieve.

Perhaps, it was this perseverance and undying will that allowed him to have the qualifications to ascend to the Xiantian realm.

After a few moments, He Yiming’s eyes slightly opened. Through the means of left behind odor, he’d determined the direction in which Lu Xinwen had escaped, and moreover it was becoming stronger every passing moment, implying that he’d arrived in his vicinity.

Of course, the odor of death pervading the air was also becoming increasingly strong, indicating that Lu Xinwen would not be able to hold out much longer.

With a thought, the Xiantian True Qi inside He Yiming’s body began to surge.

Strands of True Qi churned through the acupoints like flowing water, and in the wake of the True Qi flow, He Yiming’s body also underwent an inconceivable transformation.

His facial muscles began to rapidly wither, and arms and legs transformed into tree trunk like structures. From his external appearance, he simply seemed to have changed into a different person.

Upon entering the Xiantian realm, Xu family’s Withered Tree technique seemed to be becoming increasingly unfathomable. When the True Qi circulated following the course of this technique, He Yiming’s body didn’t look any different from a wooden stake.

A heavy odor dispersed out of his body. This odor was completely different than that of one from the body of a human, and instead had no difference compared to that of his mountainous surroundings.

If a Xiantian cultivator were to arrive before him with eyes closed at this moment, nine out of ten times he would treat He Yiming as a incomparably ancient, millenniums old tree.

Lu Xinwen had previously used strong True Qi while at death’s door, the last sun ray of the setting sun, to probe his surroundings.

The reason he’d handed over his sheepskin scroll and history to Fan Vastsun was because at this place, there was nobody else, and more importantly, he deeply believed that He Yiming hadn’t chased after them.

For He Yiming’s body to support both water and earth type techniques was already an exceptional feat. Therefore, Lu Xinwen had specifically looked for water and earth attributed powers. If He Yiming were to approach him, the water and earth type odor surrounding his body would intensify by hundred folds compared to the other regions.

When He Yiming pushed the Withered Tree technique higher, although the earth attributed odor surrounding his body was as intense as the brilliance of a lamp in dark, regardless of how Lu Xinwen could think, he could never imagine that it was He Yiming.

Since he couldn’t perceive any extreme change in the odor pertaining to these two odor, he obviously believed that He Yiming had gave up on chasing.

However, he had no idea what He Yiming had comprehended was not merely earth, metal, or water attributed True Qi, instead his body could support all the five attributes.

Therefore, when He Yiming bit by bit drew near, the two of them remained completely clueless.

Of course, after employing the Withered Tree technique, He Yiming had even severed off his breath, and the human odor on his body had been suppressed to the extreme. Attaining such a level would be difficult even for the Breath Restraining technique.

About a hundred meters away from them, He Yiming’s True Qi spread out via the energies of the surrounding forest. In this region of dense forest, even if the earth attributed energies pervading the world were to be intensified somewhat, it wouldn’t attract anybody’s skepticism.

When he listened with rapt attention, the entire conversation between the two of them entered his ears.

In the beginning when he heard Lu Xinwen dissuading Fan Vastsun from embarking on the path of revenge, He Yiming immediately decided to let off these two. However, he absolutely didn’t expect that after Lu Xinwen died, Fan Vastsun would make such a vengeful vow.

Talking about how the latter would completely annihilate He and Yuan families and make him live his whole life in regret.

If Fan Vastsun was truly allowed to do so, he would certainly have his wish fulfilled and He Yiming would spend his remaining life in regret.

As soon as he thought along this line, his mind was immediately flooded by killing intent.

Even when he’d heard them talking about requesting Lu Xinwen to completely annihilate He family, his desire to kill had not been this resolute.

Especially when he heard the forceful and resolute words that came out of Fan Vastsun’s mouth, he immediately understood that either He family or Fan Vastsun, only one would exist. This enmity had gone past beyond the possibility of reconciliation.

His figure moved, jumping forward as if a wooden stake.

In mid air, the Withered Tree technique operating inside his body transformed into slithering stream like Ripple technique.

The muscles of his body quickly expanded and reinstated their original appearance in a few turns. If his mantle was to be changed, nobody would be able to associate him with that wooden plank like human from a moment ago in any way.

Although the operating technique had been changed, He Yiming still didn’t make any sound as he landed on the ground.

After confirming that Lu Xinwen had died, He Yiming’s movements naturally became a lot quicker, not as cautious as before.

An insignificant seventh layer Internal Energy cultivator, Fan Vastsun, was not worthy enough to enter his consideration.

With a turn, he arrived outside that mountainous depression. Currently, Fan Vastsun was digging a grave, seemingly intending to bury Lu Xinwen right here.

He softly sighed and folded his arms over each other.

His sigh didn’t issue any sound, but Fan Vastsun, who was digging the grave, as if having felt some anonymity, suddenly stopped. His body seemed to have turned rigid before he slowly turned around.

When he saw He Yiming outside the depression, his face, which had been originally flushed due to being aroused, completely lost all color.