181: Dry Bone Taoist

"Ah!" The Tall, Thin Cultivator let out a miserable scream as the compass flew out of his hand, his arm dripping with blood.

"This target is tough! Fight together!" Seeing this, the short, fat Cultivator was both shocked and angry. He let out a loud roar and summoned a poison-coated green flying fork, which turned into a green streak of light and thrust toward Lin Feng. At the same time, he waved his hand, unleashing a foul-smelling, dark green poisonous mist that enveloped Lin Feng.

Lin Feng's figure flickered as he drifted backward. Meanwhile, the sword in his hand turned green, and he swung it forward.

Several streaks of Wood Sword Qi, brimming with vitality, shot out and submerged into the surrounding ground. Instantly, countless tough green vines sprang from the ground, entangling the two Cultivators, especially coiling toward the compass that had fallen to the ground.

He intended to end the battle quickly, seize the compass, figure out its origin, and then flee far away. If he were entangled by these two and they attracted their Master, the consequences would be unimaginable.

With his Foundation Establishment Peak cultivation, he was clearly at ease against the two Middle Stage opponents. Amidst the sword light and vine shadows, he had already forced the two into a corner, leaving them in constant danger.

Just as a green vine coiled around the compass Magical Artifact on the ground, a cold, violent pressure, far exceeding the Foundation Establishment Stage, suddenly descended like an invisible giant boulder, shrouding the entire valley.

Even the air seemed to solidify.

A hoarse voice followed, carrying clear displeasure: "Enough. Stand down."

Upon hearing this, the two Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivators felt as if they had received amnesty. Looking ashamed, they hurriedly retreated, stood with their heads bowed, and dared not speak.

With a flash of black light, an emaciated old man in ragged black robes with a withered face appeared silently in the middle of the field. His body was permeated with a faint Evil Qi; he was none other than Daoist Withered Bone.

He first swept a cold glance at his two Disciples and huffed, "Middle Stage Foundation Establishment against Late Stage, it is normal for you two to be unable to win. But to be so vulnerable, toyed with like children, you have truly lost all face for your Master!"

The two Disciples lowered their heads further, silent as cicadas in winter.

Lin Feng restrained his aura and focused, on guard. Daoist Withered Bone's cold gaze landed on him, sweeping over him like a physical entity, filled with undisguised scrutiny.

"Hmph, a junior at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage," Daoist Withered Bone said in a hoarse voice. "Your spiritual power is a bit more refined than others of the same rank, and your sword technique is quite sharp. No wonder you could easily suppress my good-for-nothing Disciples."

He paused, a faint, eerie light flickering in his deep-set eye sockets as if he wanted to see more clearly, but then a trace of imperceptible doubt flashed across his face. The flow of spiritual power within Lin Feng was obscure, and its attributes were unpredictable. Even with his Divine Sense, he found it difficult to fully discern its foundation, only feeling that the spiritual power was sometimes sharp, sometimes soft and resilient, which was quite strange.

He glanced at the messy ground nearby, the very place where the "Mysterious Yin Stone" had been unearthed earlier, which still retained pure Yin Qi.

"I didn't expect that at this critical moment, while I was using the Yin vein here to refine a 'Corpse Puppet', I would run into a junior with your Aptitude. This can be considered an unexpected joy."

Upon hearing this, Lin Feng's heart tightened, and he immediately understood the reason. So, this Daoist Withered Bone was not just passing by, but had long been using the natural Yin vein deep in this place to refine a Corpse Puppet.

Daoist Withered Bone seemed to see through his thoughts and laughed sinisterly: "Boy, you ruined my good deed and disturbed the refinement of the Corpse Puppet. You shall pay with your rather decent bones! Extracting your soul will be perfect to nourish my treasure, and perhaps it can make up for the loss and refine an even stronger Corpse General!"

Before he finished speaking, his withered palm was already raised, and a thick, impenetrable dark green poisonous mist was released from his hand. It was foul-smelling and pungent, the very "Rotten Corpse Poisonous Miasma" that he was famous for.

Wherever the poisonous mist passed, the ground hissed, and the vegetation withered and rotted.

At the same time, the ground behind him split open, and a Poisonous Corpse wrapped in black Qi, with blue-black skin and dark purple nails, crawled out. It let out a low roar, its hollow eye sockets locking onto Lin Feng.

This was the Corpse Puppet he had been refining earlier. Although its aura was strong, its movements still carried a hint of stiffness, clearly indicating that it had not been fully refined.

"Go!" Daoist Withered Bone pointed his finger, and the Poisonous Corpse roared and pounced on Lin Feng, its claws aiming straight for his throat, bringing with it gusts of foul wind. He himself stood in place, controlling the poisonous mist to surround him from all sides, clearly intending to use his most proficient poison techniques and corpse-driving arts to end the battle as quickly as possible, so as not to delay the refinement of the Corpse Puppet.

Lin Feng's pupils contracted sharply; Daoist Withered Bone acted the moment he spoke.

His footwork changed rapidly, and snowflakes drifted around him. As his figure swayed, he simultaneously manifested five indistinguishable phantoms, like Mirror Flower Water Moon, all drifting backward in different directions.

This was his skilled "Mirror Flower Water Moon" movement technique, aimed at confusing his opponent.

At the same time, he formed a seal with his left hand, cold light condensing at his fingertips. A beam of Ice Soul Divine Light shot out, aiming directly at the side joints of the pouncing Poisonous Corpse, intending to freeze and slow its movements.

However, the Evil Qi around the Poisonous Corpse was so dense it was almost tangible. When the Ice Soul Divine Light struck its body, it only covered its surface in a thin layer of white frost, making a "hissing" sound before being quickly dissolved and neutralized by the churning black Qi. The Poisonous Corpse's momentum only stalled slightly before it roared and charged again.

Meanwhile, the surrounding dark green poisonous mist had also closed in, its foul stench nauseating.

"Hmph, mere tricks! My Corpse Puppet has been tempered by Yin veins and a hundred poisons; it is invulnerable to swords and blades. How could your mere Foundation Establishment Cultivation Technique break it?" Seeing this, Daoist Withered Bone sneered triumphantly, his eyes filled with even greater contempt. In his view, Lin Feng's Clone illusions and ice Spell, while clever, were but futile struggles in the face of the absolute gap in strength and his meticulously refined Poisonous Corpse.

He strengthened his control over the poisonous mist, causing it to shrink and surround him, while commanding the Poisonous Corpse to accelerate its offensive, striving to capture this slippery junior as quickly as possible.

Just as the poisonous mist was about to touch Lin Feng's figure, a black light silently slid out from the spirit beast pouch at his waist and landed on the ground. It was the Shadow Scale Snake.

The Shadow Scale Snake raised its head and hissed, the golden markings on its forehead suddenly brightening. It opened its mouth and inhaled, and the surging dark green poisonous mist was continuously sucked into its belly, as if a hundred rivers were returning to the sea.

The sneer on Daoist Withered Bone's face froze. His eyes stared fixedly at the Shadow Scale Snake that was devouring his poisonous miasma like a whale, and his pupils involuntarily contracted. Even Cultivators of the same rank would not dare to easily touch his Rotten Corpse Poisonous Miasma, yet now it was being sucked away as a supplement by a seemingly unremarkable Spirit Beast?

"What kind of monster is that?!" he blurted out, his voice filled with disbelief and astonishment, and his hand seal controlling the poisonous mist even faltered slightly.

But the state of mind of a Core Formation Cultivator was extraordinary after all. The astonishment lasted only for an instant before being replaced by a deeper viciousness.

"Hmph! So what if it can swallow poison? You are just relying on a peculiar exotic beast! Let's see how you block my Poisonous Corpse!" He forcibly suppressed that trace of unease, changed his hand seal, and urged the Poisonous Corpse to pounce with full force, attempting to crush the opponent with absolute power. In his view, no matter how peculiar the Spirit Beast was, the Master's own cultivation was the foundation.

Just at this moment, his two Disciples saw that their Master's poisonous mist had been broken. They exchanged a glance, summoned their Magical Artifacts, and prepared to step forward to help.

Lin Feng did not even turn his head to look at them; he simply flicked his finger.