The Path of the Martial Arts BOSS

"Boom—"

The Qi Force burst forth, and the rocks shattered with noise.

Due to the impact, the sliding arm was ejected and embedded into the rock wall to the right. In the darkness, Qing Yu seemed to see a pair of icy eyes, wanting to carve two holes in him.

Feng Mingxiao's body flowed with Blazing Flames, which almost instantly healed her injuries substantially.

Phoenix Nirvana made death impossible; having trained the Phoenix Sky Strategy of the Northern Zhou Imperial Family to the Divine Realm, her Life Force was now no less than that of Emperor Shitian who had consumed Phoenix Blood.

Feng Mingxiao stood up, her head causing the rock ceiling above to be scorched by the Fire Power, instantly turning it into nothingness, clearing a much larger space.

"It seems the air blast has subsided."

Qing Yu ignored the sharp gaze, stood up, and with a palm, created a walkable passageway, "This time, the Great Princess's rescue is truly appreciated."

With that said, Qing Yu gratefully bowed.

For his gratitude, Feng Mingxiao's icy face showed no sign of thawing as she coldly said, "I believe it would be most fitting for you to die here."

"Haha, I'm afraid I won't be able to die. When it comes to recovery, I am quite confident," Qing Yu said, seemingly missing the implied meaning, and laughed lightly.

Having consumed Dragon Essence, his body's recovery ability was also extremely astonishing. It might not be as good as Phoenix Blood, but it was more than enough to heal these wounds.

From being thrown back into the mountain to now, his cochlea had mostly healed.

Qing Yu himself was proficient in Body Refining Martial Arts and had consumed Dragon Essence. The injuries he sustained in the air blast were much lighter than Feng Mingxiao's, and with his original body transmitting Power remotely, his own Power had now recovered almost ninety percent.

The untriggered aura informed Feng Mingxiao that the strength of this demon path adept had not suffered much. Thus, the so-called dying here was merely an empty talk. Even if Feng Mingxiao wanted to give a bloody lesson, Qing Yu had the strength to refuse.

"Great Princess, our army is still engaged in battle with the grassland armies, and to prevent Jashu from acting out in frustration against our troops, it would be wise to return to Feiyun Pass as soon as possible," Qing Yu sincerely suggested.

At this moment of war, it was not the time to worry about minor issues; the country and its battling soldiers were the priority.

Feng Mingxiao, being the elder princess of the Royal Family, clearly understood Qing Yu's good intentions and knew his concerns for the country and its people.

She turned and left, her icy words reaching Qing Yu's ears, "Don't let it happen again."

With that, her figure flickered and disappeared from sight.

"Ah, just an incident, I don't wish for a next time either," Qing Yu helplessly muttered.

··························

The night attack caused casualties on both the Northern Zhou and grassland sides, but compared to Northern Zhou, the casualties of the grassland army increased multifold.

The intense war resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, bloodshed everywhere.

But unknown to both parties present, deep beneath the battlefield, the earth had been dug out to form underground tunnels, outlining Arrays that spanned the entire area.

At the convergence point of the Array Track Underground Tunnel, in the center of the Array, Gu Chen and Lin Wenhe, two Daoists, watched intently at an ice cone stabbed into the soil above, from which blood strands emanated.

Eventually, the blood strands condensed at the tip of the ice cone, dropping a droplet of essence blood onto the dark red Crystal Stone below.

"The Bloodstain Formation operated very successfully, we finally did not let down Taoist Qingyu's entrustment," Gu Chen blinked his long-unblinked eyes, causing them to feel raw, and then he reassured himself.

The Bloodstain Array was specifically created by the Blood Demon Sect to collect essence blood. When the Blood Demon Sect was at its peak, any large troop movements required carrying the Array Flags inscribed with the Bloodstain Array.

However, when the Blood Demon Sect was destroyed, their legacy conveniently benefited many forces. The Array Map of the Bloodstain Formation fell into the hands of the Feng Family, who were a powerful family back then, and it was found by Qingyu in the Royal Secret Vault recently.

"How is it, is the collection of essence blood still going smoothly?"

On one side of the earthen wall, ripples rose like water waves, and Qingyu's figure walked out from among them, opening his mouth to ask.

"Reporting to the Daoist, the Bloodstain Formation is running normally and has begun collecting essence blood," Gu Chen spoke respectfully, bowing his head, seeming to fear that he would damage the dignity of the white-haired Daoist.

There was nothing to be done about it; previously, though tumbling in the wave blast had its pleasant halves, it was normal for Qingyu's clothing to be somewhat disheveled.

The lotus crown was askew, the Daoist robe somewhat untidy, and it bore a lot of dust, but the most significant was the charred, elegant Handprint on his chest.

It was left by a certain woman who had reneged on her word. She had clearly said it would not happen again, yet she had suddenly struck him with a palm.

Although it did not seem like she had struck him too hard, she definitely intended to teach Qingyu a lesson. The temperature of that palm's force was many times higher than that of an iron, and if it weren't for Qingyu's unparalleled transforming power, he would have needed some time to dissolve the charred marks afterward.

It had to be said: a woman's mouth definitely deceives.

Qingyu said warmly with a smile, "If I cared about face, I wouldn't have come down so disheveled. You all need not worry."

"Daoist is magnanimous," Gu Chen straightened up.

The Bloodstain Formation continued to operate non-stop, drawing essence from the Earth Qi and quietly absorbing the essence blood of the fallen soldiers above. Since essence blood is the essence of blood, its extraction did not cause a significant loss of blood, hence the unusual condition of those fallen soldiers went unnoticed.

Unless there was someone in the Northern Zhou Army proficient in the Blood Dao Technique.

Qingyu looked at the dark red Crystal Stone gradually glowing blood-red and thought to himself, 'Once the crystal is full, it should be enough.'

"Um?"

Qingyu suddenly raised an eyebrow and looked toward the southwest, "Death Qi!"

From the southwest, a massive amount of Death Qi had gathered, causing Qingyu to sense it.

As he was always accompanied by Qiuli, Qingyu was extremely sensitive to both Vitality and its opposite, Death Qi.

Death Qi is a reversal of Vitality, existing as two sides of the same entity. If an object lacks Vitality, it also does not possess Death Qi.

For instance, a Mechanical Man inherently lacks Vitality, so even if it were destroyed, it would not produce any Death Qi. A normal person, if completely drained of Vitality, would not emit Death Qi after death; it would only cause those who witnessed the death to feel utterly terrified.

"Interesting, someone is trying to take the spoils of war from me."

Essence blood, which contains Vitality, must be extracted from a person within a certain time after death, otherwise, it would become dead blood, losing its original function.

So, despite the fierce killing on the surface, resembling a bloody battlefield, in reality, no Death Qi was generated.

But now, someone was deliberately converting Death Qi, similar to how Qingyu collected essence blood, accelerating the decay of essence blood and turning Vitality into Death to collect it.

"You two continue to guard the Bloodstain Formation, I will see which expert is competing with me for possessions."

After instructing Gu Chen and the others, Qingyu once again entered the rippling earthen wall, quickly moving towards the southwest.