Chapter 111: The Tactics of the Lowest Class

"In that case, we shall not disturb you two any longer. My brother and I will take our leave!"

Tang Shi bowed slightly to Fang Junmei and the white horse, then turned to depart. Tang Yu followed closely behind him.

As he turned away, Tang Shi made an extremely subtle and swift flick at his waist, followed by a light snap of his fingertips towards the void, where there was nothing to be seen.

The two figures vanished into the dark passageway.

Fang Junmei glanced in their direction, then withdrew his gaze. He looked at the white horse, said nothing further, and closed his eyes as if to rest his mind.

There is a balance between tension and relaxation; such is the way of the martial and the refined. If he pressed too hard, he might drive the white horse away, making it difficult to find again in the future.

...

Time passed little by little.

A blood-colored mist began to rise from the white horse as it resumed its cultivation.

*Spit!*

From time to time, it would open its mouth to spit, and a skeleton—now stripped of every scrap of flesh—would fall out. Naturally, it would follow this by casting a smug, sidelong glance at Fang Junmei, as if to say, "Look at how impressive I am."

Fang Junmei, of course, could not be bothered to acknowledge it. Deep within his own body, however, a strange anomaly had begun to stir. A sense of burning heat rose within him, accompanied by an inexplicable surge of irritability and restlessness, as if he needed to vent his frustrations.

Silently and abruptly, he opened his eyes.

"I've been poisoned!"

Fang Junmei immediately began to carefully examine his body, but he found no other abnormalities; it felt as if it were all a mere hallucination.

After his eyes flashed with intensity, he quickly circulated his spiritual energy to guard his consciousness. Having tempered his willpower through the seven pills provided by Chun Yuqian, his mental fortitude had reached an unprecedented level. By firmly guarding his inner self, he managed to forcefully suppress the rising surge of aggression.

However, the other one was not so fortunate.

The white horse had also inhaled the "Mind-Disturbing Powder" drifting in the air. Being naturally hot-tempered to begin with, and now spurred on by the drug, its heart grew even more restless, giving rise to an urge to kill. Heavy, ragged wheezing began to echo from its nostrils.

After enduring for a dozen breaths, it could no longer continue its cultivation. It snapped its eyes open and glared in Fang Junmei's direction. Its eyes were suffused with crimson bloodshot veins, and its gaze was filled with cold, murderous hatred, as if Fang Junmei were its mortal enemy.

Upon hearing the heavy, labored breathing, Fang Junmei realized something was wrong and turned to look at the white horse.

"Hold it together!" Fang Junmei shouted. "Those two fellows from Wanman Mountain must have used some despicable trick!"

By now, Fang Junmei realized exactly what had happened.

Hearing this, the white horse’s eyes showed a flicker of struggle. It did not immediately attack Fang Junmei, which proved that in its heart, it held no true malice or hatred toward him.

Fang Junmei had already swallowed a handful of pills. In preparation for this journey into the Wild Jungle, not only had Song Shede given him high-quality pills, but he had also purchased some from the sect's Deacon Peak.

However—it seemed to have little effect.

As time passed, the murderous intent in the white horse's eyes grew stronger, while Fang Junmei himself felt his mind becoming increasingly agitated, as if a fire were burning in his brain.

*Neigh—!*

With an angry, long neigh, the white horse finally launched an attack, its hoof breaking through the air in a display of space-defying speed.

Fang Junmei had anticipated that the creature would eventually lose control. He had already activated the "Three-Breath Divine Stone." The moment he saw the horse move, he flashed toward the direction of the passageway.

"Vengeance has its source, and debts have their debtors. If you want to kill, go slaughter those two!" Fang Junmei shouted in anger, his own eyes beginning to glow with killing intent. If he had known it would come to this, he shouldn't have stopped the horse from killing them earlier.

The white horse still retained a shred of consciousness. Upon hearing this, it let out a huff and gave chase.

Not far outside the passageway, Tang Shi and Tang Yu were monitoring the situation with their spiritual sense. When they saw the white horse’s terrifying space-traversing maneuver, their expressions changed drastically, and their greed receded like a tide. Although they didn't know how Fang Junmei managed it, they knew that if it were them, they surely wouldn't have been able to dodge that strike.

"Little brother, run!" Tang Shi, who was quite protective of his brother, shouted at him.

He did not flee immediately. Instead, he pulled out a bag and tilted it forward. A swarm of mosquito-like creatures flew out, dense and countless in number.

Tang Shi flicked a finger toward Fang Junmei and the white horse; a line of blood shot from his fingertip, and the dense swarm of insects immediately flew in that direction.

*Buzz, buzz—*

The insects were each as large as a fist, half-red and half-black, with long, piercing mouthparts. One look was enough to tell they were no ordinary creatures, and their buzzing sound made one's scalp tingle.

The most terrifying part was that each one possessed the aura of an early-stage Floating Dust cultivator. It was unclear where Tang Shi had captured them, but while they were weak individually, a swarm could bite an elephant to death.

As Tang Shi fled, he continued to release more insects from his bag.

...

Fang Junmei rushed forward, colliding with the swarm first. He activated his Golden Bell Shield and swung his "Bu Gu" sword, sending a howling gale outward.

The insects appeared fragile, yet they possessed a strange ability to stabilize their bodies in the wind. Not only were they not blown aside, but they fought against the gale to swarm Fang Junmei.

A flash of sharp light appeared in Fang Junmei's eyes.

Since that was the case, he would simply use the Bu Gu sword to carve a path and charge out while maintaining his Golden Bell Shield.

*Swish, swish—*

Large swathes of insects were instantly slain by the sword light, but even more attached themselves to the Golden Bell Shield, piercing it with their long, needle-like mouthparts.

These were no natural insects. They were a variant species bred by Tang Shi’s master from a rare breed of blood-sucking mosquitoes, which he named "Blood Demon Mosquitoes." Every one of them was like a little devil with an insatiable desire to consume the blood of living beings. Their long mouthparts were their deadliest weapon—capable of piercing even a Golden Bell Shield!

"Ah—!"

A scream of agony soon escaped Fang Junmei's lips.

Ever since he had tested pills for Chun Yuqian, Fang Junmei had rarely cried out in pain, regardless of how severe his injuries were. But today, the pain was so intense he couldn't help but scream.

Each of the mouthparts piercing through the Golden Bell Shield felt like a short spear stabbing into his flesh, draining his blood.

Pain, itchiness, numbness...

A myriad of sensations assaulted Fang Junmei’s heart. It was excruciating, and he could feel his blood draining away rapidly.

*Hmph!*

At this very moment, a cold, disdainful snort reached his ears.

It turned out the white horse had caught up. Hearing Fang Junmei’s scream, it felt nothing but contempt. It did not take the opportunity to attack him, but instead flickered through the swarm of Blood Demon Mosquitoes with such speed that not a single one managed to land on it.

In the blink of an eye, the white horse darted past him and continued the pursuit.

Fang Junmei quickly summoned his Earth-Escaping Shuttle, driving the treasure to burrow into the side of the earth.

It proved effective; most of the Blood Demon Mosquitoes were left behind, and the remaining ten percent attached to him were scraped off by his friction against the ground.

After burrowing several miles underground, he finally shook off the last of them and summoned flames to burn the dozen or so still clinging to him.

However, the itchy, burning sensation did not fade. Fang Junmei hurriedly took out several antidote pills and swallowed them, which finally brought some relief.

*Buzz, buzz—*

Hearing the sound of insects in the distance, Fang Junmei dared not linger and flew out of the ground.

*Boom—*

Listening to the rumbling sounds coming from an underground space in the distance, Fang Junmei once again drove the Earth-Escaping Shuttle and headed straight toward the source.

...

In another space further away, more than a dozen figures were flickering back and forth.

These figures were all the brothers Tang Shi and Tang Yu. Although the two brothers couldn't track the white horse's movements as clearly as Fang Junmei, both of them had learned an avatar technique.

This technique was known as the "Shadow-Forming Art." When Tang Shi used it, he created seven avatars, while Tang Yu created six, all of which possessed an aura identical to their true bodies.

The white horse was not one for complex thinking, and having been drugged with the "Mind-Disturbing Powder," it was agitated and irritable. Unable to distinguish the real body from the phantoms, it could only lash out with its hooves in a frenzy.

Realizing they couldn't shake the horse off, the brothers knew that to survive, they had to kill it. Both brought out their full arsenal.

Magical treasures!
Spells!
Poisons!
Venomous insects!

One technique after another was unleashed in a deluge, though they could only be released by the true bodies.

Each time they attacked, they exposed their true forms, but the brothers had a way to compensate: their avatars would immediately rush in, and after a few swift, crisscrossing movements, the white horse would lose track of the real one again.

Before long, a sizzling white mist rose from the white horse's body, and large patches of its skin began to rot, blood streaming down. No matter how fast it dodged, it couldn't escape the poisonous miasma filling the small space—especially since it was blinded by rage and had lost the capacity for cautious movement.

*Bang!*

With a solid thud, the head of one of Tang Yu’s avatars exploded, spraying a large mist of blood.

It had been the real body. By sheer blind luck, the white horse had successfully struck Tang Yu first, causing all his avatars to instantly vanish.

"Little brother!" Tang Shi cried out in grief, his eyes filled with agony and hatred. The man, who already looked like a sickly ghost, now appeared truly sinister and deranged.

"You dare kill my brother! I'll fight you to the death!"

Tang Shi reached into his waist, pulling out various powdered drugs and scattering them into the air.

Do not mistake these for low-tier, amateurish substances. When used at the right moment, they could turn the tide of a battle.

In particular, one substance known as "Soft Fragrance Powder" was most adept at sapping strength, proving exceptionally effective against beasts that relied on brute force!