True Martial World - Chapter 193: Absorbing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng

If Yi Yun had directly used the Purple Crystal to absorb a complete herb, it would easily gain the attention and arouse the suspicions of the Tai Ah Divine City alchemists.

But in the current situation, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had suffered serious damages. Yi Yun was only absorbing the escaping herbal essence, which would not lead to any suspicion.

Of course, Yi Yun could only do this occasionally. He could not always bring back herbs that were seriously damaged. Besides, damaged herbs would greatly reduce their value, and the compensation in dragon scale runes paid out by the Tai Ah Divine City would be less.

In conclusion, it was not very beneficial to Yi Yun.

Under the Purple Crystal's control, none of the herbal essences of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was wasted as it was all absorbed by Yi Yun. The energy that gathered into light dots were like dancing pixies.

Just as Yi Yun was planning to absorb these energies, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng which was like a piece of dead wood suddenly made a whoosh and tunneled into the ground!

This Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was still trying to escape, even after it was seriously damaged.

But it was no use. Not a second after the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng escaped, a black light flashed. A light curtain appeared, forming a sealing barrier a hundred feet in radius.

"Peng!"

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng crashed in the light curtain and it bounced back.

This was the cicada array, which was especially used to seal in spirit beings. If the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was in perfect condition, it would be able to escape from this array, but now, it was completely impossible for it to do so.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had never been this seriously damaged before. Its spirit was in chaos and it could feel its energy slowly depleting, and this energy was slowly drifting towards Yi Yun.

With the Thousand Army Saber in hand, Yi Yun approached the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

He was not going to go easy on it at all. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was cunning, so Yi Yun was even considering cutting it into pieces before storing it away. If not, it could escape midway and everything would have gone to waste.

At that moment, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng suddenly let out a shrill baby-like scream. It charged at Yi Yun, using its remaining pure Yang Qi to form a spirit sword that stabbed at Yi Yun's glabella!

It wanted to bet on that one shot, a last desperate strike!

Yi Yun did not hesitate, he slashed forward with the Thousand Army Saber!

"Ka-cha!"

One was a spent force, while the other, who was waiting for an exhausted enemy, was fresh and fit. There was no doubt what the result of the clash was. With a shattering blow, the Thousand Army Saber sliced straight down!

Peng!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was swept away by the Thousand Army Saber!

Yi Yun did not choose to cut the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng into two. If he had done so, its value would drop sharply.

But, Yi Yun realized that even so, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's spirit was growing weaker, as if it was dying soon.

Once a primordial herb died, it meant that the spirit formed from thousands of years of cultivation would disappear.

In this regard, Yi Yun showed no mercy. Between him and the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, they were in a life-and-death battle. If he had not killed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he might be subdued by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's magic illusion. If that happened, he would end up as fertilizer for the Blood Yang Flower.

When Yi Yun looked at the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he noticed that its surface color was dimming. Strand after strand of pure energy left it. It seemed like it did not wish to live on any longer.

Having been caught to be brewed as drugs, it might as well be dead.

"Oh? This energy?" Yi Yun grabbed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's roots. Under the Purple Crystal's vision, he could see pure purple energy leaking out from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's wound. This energy had formed into something like the vital essence from a legendary green dragon.

This was the first time that Yi Yun was seeing essence energy in the form of a green dragon.

The energy he had seen before were all light dots.

Yi Yun hesitated slightly. Using the Purple Crystal Origins, he gathered the green dragon essence and the energy light dots that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had previously leaked into his body.

Immediately, a herbal aroma seeped into his olfactory nerves. It was extremely comfortable!

Taking this opportunity, Yi Yun quickly took out a squarish jade box that was a foot in length.

This was a herb box built using lotus jade. It could preserve the herbal essence to a great extent.

Since the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was seriously damaged, it was unrealistic to preserve all its herbal essence. He had to make do with whatever there was left.

Whatever essence could not be preserved was totally absorbed by Yi Yun's Purple Crystal.

When these energy light dots entered his body, Yi Yun felt his body warm up. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's herbal essence was slowly showing its effects.

What surprised Yi Yun was the energy that resembled a green dragon, which was very unlike the light dots.

This energy surged into Yi Yun's soul.

"Boom!"

When this energy entered Yi Yun's soul, Yi Yun felt a tremor in his soul. Following the tremor, his vision was filled with images.

These images were chaotic and random. Some of them were scenes from the Divine Wilderness or the Tai Ah Divine City. Some of them were from the Lian tribal clan, the difficult life Yi Yun had with his sister. There were also scenes from his previous life. It was an amalgamation of bits and pieces of Yi Yun's life.

Oh? This is…

Seeing these confusing images, Yi Yun suddenly understood that the green-colored dragon energy was the psychic power left behind after the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's spirit shattered!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng may be a plant, but once it gave life to a spirit, it had extremely strong psychic powers.

If not, it would not be able to create illusions.

Psychic power was the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's offensive measure and also its defensive measure. After the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng died, its shattered spirit was the best medicine for the soul.

Yi Yun was delighted. He began to quietly absorb this energy. Soon, it was like his soul had sprouted a gurgling stream. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's psychic energy was like a spring fountain, it cleansed and moistened Yi Yun's soul, this made him feel very fresh.

Slowly, Yi Yun felt that his soul had some minor changes, but he did not know what they meant.

At that moment, besides the psychic energy, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's herbal essence also began to take effect. It flowed into Yi Yun's meridians, and with a dull roar, strong Yang Qi flared through Yi Yun's body.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi contained a rich amount of pure Yang energy. This energy was the essence gathered from thousands of years of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. After numerous times of purification, every bit was precious.

Slowly, Yi Yun's body transpired a warm air. His skin turned red as if he had been scalded by hot water.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's herbal essence was Yang in nature, while it was still in the middle of the night where the lunar Yin Qi was dense. Yi Yun's body was burning with a Yang fire within, but Yin Qi flowed outside his body. Unconsciously, the two, Yin Qi and Yang Qi converged in Yi Yun's body.

Under Yi Yun's deliberate manipulation, the two Qis formed into a wonderful Yin-Yang symbol.

Yi Yun's body was internally hot and externally cold. It was as if he had been alternately dipped into ice and fire.

As the herbal essence was digested, Yi Yun's pores oozed out black blood. This was the accumulated bad blood and dirt that had been accumulated in Yi Yun's body for the past six months. At that moment, it was being forced out by the herbal essence, which refreshed Yi Yun.

Under the forging of the herbal essence, his muscles grew stronger, and his blood was filled with vigor.

This process went on for a long time as Yi Yun fully immersed himself in his own world.

From midnight to dawn.

And then from sunrise to noon…

With the Sun shining high in the sky, the Yin Qi on the cliff had been blown away. Yi Yun sat on the top of the cliff like a motionless statue.

It was a slow process to digest the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's herbal essence. After all, it was a primordial herb. Back when Yi Yun absorbed the chimera's energy for two hours, he took an entire night to fully digest the energy.

Slowly, another day passed. Deep into the night, a thin crescent moon hung in the sky.

It was the second day of the lunar month. The Yin Qi had lessened and some mist had gathered. Yi Yun's body was as if it was encased in an ice cube. His hair and eyebrows had formed a layer of frost.

Slowly, Yi Yun had finished digested 70% of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's herbal essence.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's spiritual energy had given Yi Yun unimaginable benefits to his spiritual well-being.

Yi Yun could clearly feel his mind expand and grow! His spiritual energy was continuously increasing!

As long as Yi Yun wished, his brain would produce all sorts of complex illusions. Yi Yun even felt that if he wished, those illusions could fly out from his mind and affect others!

It was as if the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's power of illusion had been inherited by Yi Yun!

The second night passed.

Yi Yun was still in meditation on the morning of the third day. Suddenly, he heard a light sound within his soul, as if something had cracked.

Immediately after that, he could feel a strong suction force in his head. All his body's spiritual energy, blood, marrow, were all being pulled by a force to the middle of his eyebrows without any warning!

This feeling of all of his blood and soul being sucked out from his body frightened Yi Yun!

What is the meaning of this?

The blood, bone marrow and soul began to consolidate in the middle of his eyebrows as if it was going to give birth to something.

Following that, an intense pain was felt by Yi Yun. He felt as if a drill had been pierced in between his eyebrows and it was continuously swirling deeper.

It's too painful!

Yi Yun's forehead was covered in sweat. He has lost control of his body, which made him panic.

Yi Yun used his spiritual energy to interface with the Purple Crystal in a bid to stabilize the turbulent blood and energy within his body. But at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly 'saw' that in between his eyebrows, a bead-like object had been formed from his own blood and soul.

This bead was covered in blood tracks and it was connected to the surrounding meridians and blood vessels. It had become an inseparable part of his body.

When this bead appeared, the feeling of his body's blood being sucked had away disappeared. The pain also suddenly eased.

Everything returned to normal. The only thing different was that tiny bead that had appeared in the middle of Yi Yun's eyebrows.

Oh? What is this?

True Martial World - Chapter 192: Primordial Herb in Hand!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was particularly good at hiding. Even if a top Human Lord was standing in front of it, he would find it difficult to spot any traces of it. Hence, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng found it unbelievable.

A kid with an extremely low cultivation level had not only discovered its presence, but he had even sent out such a terrifying blow towards it?

Carefully selecting the lunar Yin day, and seemingly placing array disks randomly, and finally having the confidence to grasp its trajectory all meant that the youth had calculated everything. Back when he picked the Blood Yang Flower for the first time, he had already noticed its existence. He had deliberately planned for half a month to set up this perfect kill!

A terrifying youth!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had no time to think further. The Wind Chasing Arrow that Yi Yun had shot over was less than a foot from it!

There was no time left to dodge!

This arrow was more than three times faster than the ones Yi Yun had previously shot!

By pretending to be weak to reduce the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's wariness, making it think Yi Yun's archery skills were mediocre, he could then shoot the arrow that was a one-hit kill!

Even this detail was not omitted by Yi Yun. Yi Yun's plan of capturing the primordial herb was perfect!

In a split second, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng conjured all of its pure Yang energy, pushing it to its maximum. It was planning to resist the arrow even at the cost of losing its spiritual energy!

A mid-stage Purple Blood warrior had limited attack power. Typically, such an attack would not do any harm to its Yuan Qi defense!

But when it tried to conjure its pure Yang Qi, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng realized that it had very little pure Yang Qi left. Firstly, it was due to the Yin Qi being extremely dense on this day of the month and time. Secondly, it had expended a lot of energy while attacking Yi Yun with its illusion magic.

Three-quarters of an hour past midnight on the lunar Yin day that Yi Yun had carefully chosen played its role now!

But, this was still enough. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was confident that the scarce amount of remaining pure Yang Qi it had was enough to defend against the arrow.

It would, at most, be inflicted with minor injuries.

It had already decided. After escaping this time, it would never return to this place. It would tunnel deep underground for a few hundred years before coming out. It did not even want the Blood Yang Flower.

Although the Blood Yang Flower was important, it was not as important as its own life.

This youth was too terrifying. Just by being able to make the herb turn into such a pathetic state by himself, if he were to bring a human Sage, it was doomed to die!

Thinking back to when it wanted to make the youth into fertilizer for the Blood Yang Flower, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng cringed. It had underestimated the enemy. This youth was an evil demon who would not let anything slip past him.

Humans were indeed a crafty species!

With its pure Yang Qi gathered, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng formed a misty layer of pure Yang around it. It was prepared to resist the impact of the Wind Chasing Arrow!

But at that moment, Yi Yun had activated his Minute Subtlety movement skill and fled in the opposite direction. He smiled, and with a simple thought, he silently recited—

"Boom!"

The moment the Wind Chasing Arrow hit the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's Yuan Qi shield, a bright flash emitted from the shiny arrow head. A bead emitting a thunder-fire aura had been embedded in the arrow head.

It was the Divine Hellion Bead!

A sure-kill treasure made by a Tai Ah Divine City master! Yi Yun had spent 2000 dragon scale runes just to buy this tiny bead!

This Wind Chasing Arrow, with the embedded Divine Hellion Bead, had been placed in a special spot in Yi Yun's quiver. Just before he activated the lunar Yin array, he had strung this special arrow and just pulled open the bow!

The thunder-fire exploded at that moment!

Boom!

There was a tumultuous explosion, which tore up the night sky!

Ice-blue flames roared as numerous snake-like black lightning bolts shot out from within the flames!

The fire was ice-cold fire!

The thunder was Yin hellion thunder!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was afraid of thunder-fire power. And among the thunder-fire power, it was most afraid of Yin fire and Yin thunder!

This combination of thunder-fire power was the bane of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Cruel, too cruel!

He had entrapped it with no possible chance of survival!

"Ah—"

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng let out a blood-curling scream. The pure Yang shield around it broke apart with a "Peng" sound.

The Yin thunder and the frost ice-fire interweaved together, sending out countless fire webs and lightning snakes. Upon coming into contact with the pure Yin Qi from the surroundings, it swept over the area like a hurricane.

Ka-cha! Ka-cha!

The cliff's rocks crumbled within the frost Qi. They were also burned by the cold fire, which slowly melted them into ash in the frosted ice!

The extreme Yin thunder power that had completely restrained the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's power exploded at close range, causing the entire cliff to be blown away with it!

Yi Yun had fled the area before the explosion occurred. Just before the thunder-fire power had swallowed the cliff, he had jumped off the cliff.

Boom!

Yi Yun was covered by a lot of soil and dirt!

With a thought, Yi Yun's body was covered with a faint green light. It was like a layer of armor wrapping him within.

This was the last item Yi Yun bought in the Ten Thousand Pagoda, the Green Mystic Protection Charm.

The charm contained the power of green Nature that was endless. When the Yin Qi swept over, the charm produced a strong life force from the green Nature power, reducing Yi Yun’s damage to a minimum!

The Green Mystic Protection Charm was not made by a master, but it was not sold cheap.

Yi Yun had noticed who the maker of this Green Mystic Protection Charm was before buying it. It was made by Luo Huo’er who was first on the Man rankings! Her products were very popular in the Tai Ah Divine City because she made good quality products and there was a guarantee with her reputation.

This Green Mystic Protection Charm did not disappoint Yi Yun. The misty green light blocked a large portion of the Yin Qi's rush. In addition to Yi Yun having jumped off the cliff earlier, he had not received the brunt of the force and he was essentially unhurt.

A small amount of Yin Qi had entered Yi Yun's bloodstream, but it was all absorbed by the Purple Crystal.

Over a long period of time, Yi Yun knew the rules of energy absorption that the Purple Crystal Origins had. It could only absorb energy which belonged to no one, or in other words, the energy that had lost its spiritual connection with its owner.

For example, when herbs were picked, they were already dead, so Yi Yun could absorb their energy.

The primordial strain's statue was also dead. If the primordial strain was still alive, Yi Yun would have no way of obtaining the energy from within its body.

Yi Yun did not know the Purple Crystal's reason behind such energy-absorbing principles. It was likely the Purple Crystal's law.

Falling in midair, Yi Yun forcibly twisted his body. Ever since he reached the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun had precise control over the surroundings Qi flow. Hence, he could move through the air for ten meters before landing in front of the cliff.

"Cha!"

The Thousand Army Saber stabbed into the cliff wall, causing sparks to fly!

Using the Thousand Army Saber, Yi Yun stopped his falling body.

Following that, Yi Yun used his limbs to agilely climb back up to the top of the cliff!

Just before Yi Yun fell down the cliff, he had activated the second disk array, the cicada array.

When Yi Yun had placed the two disk arrays, the lunar Yin array was above the cicada array.

The cicada array was the last item, created by a master, that Yi Yun had bought.

The three items that Yi Yun bought were made by masters, the most expensive was the Divine Hellion Bead, followed by the lunar Yin array, while the cicada array was the cheapest.

The cicada array was just a sealing array. Desolate beasts or herbs sealed by the cicada array would be as weak as a tree plagued by cicadas. Their movement will be slow or they might not even be able to move.

That was how the cicada array got its name.

The cicada array was the last line of protection Yi Yun had set. Yi Yun could not guarantee that the Divine Hellion Bead and the lunar Yin array were sufficient to debilitate the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's ability to move. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

If the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng still had any strength left and it managed to escape through the soil, Yi Yun would suffer a huge loss.

Hence, with the cicada array, he could block off the possibility of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng escaping. Only then was it foolproof!

With a leap, Yi Yun returned to the top of the cliff. At the top of the cliff, the thick Yin Qi was still raging. Every blow of the wind was biting to the bone. The wind that blew on a person was like knives that were slashing on a person's skin and it was extremely painful.

The grass and rock on the ground had been flattened. The cliff top had been shaved, leaving a thick white plume of white smoke that was dispersing from the explosive center. Layer after layer of the smoke made it look like a giant lotus flower.

Such a devastating explosion that gave rise to a lotus flower plume, it was aesthetically pleasing to Yi Yun.

Right in the middle of the lotus flower plum, Yi Yun finally saw the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's real body with his naked eyes!

It was about a foot long and it was as thick as a wrist, somewhat like a wooden stick.

Its body was greenish-purple in color and it was half-buried in the ground. There were thunder-fire bolts lingering around it and a large part of it was frozen in ice. It looked miserable.

Most of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's roots were destroyed in the Divine Helion Bead's explosion, even a huge block of its stem had been blown off.

Of course, this damaged the herbal potency of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

But this could not be helped. Yi Yun had used all his tricks and strength to barely capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

In this process, he did not dare to go easy at all, or he was bound to fail.

But…

To Yi Yun, injuring the primordial herb was not a big deal.

The primordial herb's energy was indeed pure, but in terms of quantity, it was much lesser than the primordial strain.

When people collected a primordial herb, they would be extremely afraid of harming the primordial herb, as Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would leak out from the primordial herb's wound, wasting its herbal potency.

It was the same for this Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

Ignoring primordial herbs, even when normal people dug up ginseng, they had to use a brush to clear the ginseng's roots, in order not to break them, or the ginseng would be drained of its energy.

Yi Yun could feel the pure energy within the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng leaking out from its wound.

Yi Yun smiled. With the spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, the Yuan Qi and herbal essence that was about to dissipate slowly formed light dots and drifted towards Yi Yun.

The dissipated energy was no longer controlled by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng after it left the body. Hence, the Purple Crystal Origins could easily absorb this free energy.

Seeing this pure energy, Yi Yun subconsciously licked his lips. His expression was that of a glutton seeing a feast that suddenly appeared before him.

True Martial World - Chapter 191: The arrow that shot through the night

Yi Yun stopped his attempts at approaching the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. If he came any closer, it was bound to arouse suspicion.

Now, Yi Yun was about eighty feet away from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Yi Yun guessed that this was the distance limit that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could tolerate.

Yi Yun gripped his Thousand Army Saber tightly and carried on slaying the illusions.

Desolate beasts were slain by Yi Yun, splattering blood everywhere!

In the illusion world, Yi Yun had been dyed red from blood!

Slowly, Yi Yun's eyes turned red. Within his originally clear and black eyes, there was now a hint of bloodthirst. It was as if he had completely immersed himself in the world of killing, slowly losing his senses.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could immerse a person in an illusion for eternity. If the person was unable to wake up from it, it would consume all of his Yuan Qi, eventually causing him to die from exhaustion.

Yi Yun slowly became crazy. He was madly swinging the Thousand Army Saber around, the cliff seemed like it was being slashed open by him!

At that moment, Yi Yun drew his Tai Cang Bow!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Yi Yun began to shoot arrows at non-existent primordial behemoth illusions.

The illusions exploded every time they were hit by the Wind Chasing Arrows!

This was Yi Yun's final preparation. By drawing out the Tai Cang Bow, Yi Yun could attack the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the shortest time possible. Switching the Thousand Army Saber to the Tai Cang Bow would inevitably take some time, and that short amount of time could lead to failure against the primordial herb.

Yi Yun purposely slowed his arrows' speed. Each arrow’s speed was one-third Yi Yun's maximum speed. To the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, these arrows were like toys and of no threat to it.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was waiting. To it, Yi Yun was doomed. After this human fully immersed himself into the illusion and went crazy, it was only a matter of time before he died of exhaustion.

By removing this hazard, it could carry on nurturing the Blood Yang Flower within the herb mountain and slowly absorb the pure Yang Qi.

In a few thousand years, it could then complete its evolution, becoming even stronger. When that happened, it could finally escape through the seal array of the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain.

Herb mountain #60's array was set up by the Tai Ah Divine City's first city lord. Because of this, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had been trapped within this herb mountain for thousands of years. It was like a prison that it wanted to escape from.

And when it did so, it could go into the infinite Divine Wilderness, search for wonderlands and find more pure Yang herbs. After swallowing their energy, it could slowly grow and evolve even further!

It was unfortunate that there was only one Blood Yang Flower.

If there were two Blood Yang Flowers, or other pure Yang herbs, they could absorb more Heaven Earth Yuan Qi for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. It might just need a thousand years before it could escape from this herb mountain's array.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng used its lacking intelligence to think about its future. Suddenly, there was a slight change in the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

The two disk arrays from not far away suddenly let out a soft sound, and a flame burned up.

The source of this fire was from the activation charm for the Lunar Yin array!

Of course, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had no understanding of items like activation charms, neither did it understand what that burning flame meant.

As a safety precaution, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng monitored Yi Yun who was the owner of the array, but all it saw was Yi Yun shooting with the Tai Cang Bow randomly. Yi Yun's eyes were blood-red and his pupils had lost focus. His speed was clearly decreasing as if he was slowly losing his mind.

It seemed like Yi Yun had nothing to do with the disk array's change.

But the fact was, once the disk array was activated, there had to be a result.

With the disk array's owner losing his mind, the disk array would still run, but it would slowly lose control, and unable to release its original power.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The activation charm on the lunar Yin disk array burned.

This disk array had been gathering the Yin Qi in a ten-mile radius. When the activation charm burned, this Yin Qi became chaotic and a vortex of Yin Qi spread around.

"Buzz——"

The vortex spiraled, emitting dense Yin Qi fluctuations.

The ice-cold wind had the vortex at its center and it began expanding in all directions, it was as if it was going to destroy everything around it. Its strength was increasing!

It was the time of the day when the Yin Qi was the most intense. This lunar Yin array's burst had pushed the Yin Qi to the extreme.

Not far from the Yin Qi vortex was the Blood Yang Flower. Although it was buried deep underground, it was still suppressed by this wave. Its body's brilliance had disappeared and it was no different from an ordinary red fruit.

As for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, it was a primordial herb, so the current surroundings did not affect it too much.

But this chaotic and thick Yin Qi vortex made the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng feel a sense of dread.

It wanted to take the Blood Yang Flower away as soon as possible. But seeing Yi Yun almost going mad, it did not want to be just one step short of success.

If it could not get rid of this human, then no matter how dumb this human was, he could figure out something was not right. Upon returning to the city and reporting to the upper echelon of the Tai Ah Divine City, its good days would be over. Human Sages would frequent herb mountain #60, making it wary all the time. It had no way of nurturing the Blood Yang Flower or absorb pure Yang Qi.

In just about a dozen more seconds, it could finally destroy this human. It could then leave in peace. Then whatever this disk array did was none of its business.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's thinking was perfect, but suddenly, something strange happened!

That lunar Yin array that had gathered to form a Yin Qi vortex suddenly shot out a vortex arrow the thickness of a human arm!

This vortex arrow looked like it had been shot out by chance from the lunar Yin array due to its overflow in energy,

The vortex arrow did not fly towards the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng because if it did, it could easily avoid it.

But, it flew towards the Blood Yang Flower!

The Yin Qi vortex was very close to the Blood Yang Flower. Since the Blood Yang Flower had no self-defense mechanism, there was no doubt it would be killed by this Yin Qi attack!

This was something completely unacceptable to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had to constantly absorb pure Yang Qi to grow, only then could it escape the Tai Ah herb mountain. This Blood Yang Flower was too important to it.

Not only did it help the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, in a few thousand years, it could even completely absorb the Blood Yang Flower, completing its evolution. How could it allow this Yin Qi vortex to destroy the Blood Yang Flower? If that happened, it will need to spend another two thousand years before it could escape the Tai Ah herb mountain. In such a long period of time, it might be discovered by a human Sage!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not care about using its magic to attack Yi Yun. It desperately rushed towards the Blood Yang Flower!

The lunar Yin array's pure Yin Qi vortex was dangerous, but it was no threat to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

But, at the moment the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng rushed towards the Blood Yang Flower, Yi Yun who had seemingly been lost in the illusion suddenly tensed up!

His eyes flashed and took notice of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's motion like a hawk!

He had set up everything in an elaborate fashion, all for this hundredth of a blink of an eye opportunity!

To the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, it was meaningless no matter how accurate the arrow was. Its speed was very extremely fast and could avoid all attacks. The only way to hit it was to predict its next move!

This was Yi Yun's only chance!

Ever since he entered the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun was able to gauge details and changes to a certain extreme limit. In an instant, he had calculated the trajectory the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would take.

The Tai Cang Bow had been readied, its shiny black bowstring taut, with a thin flash of brilliance!

Yi Yun had drawn the bowstring, pretending to shoot a primordial behemoth's image, but he had been waiting for this fatal blow!

All of Yi Yun's energy surged to the Tai Cang Bow like a tsunami. The exquisitely forged Tai Cang metal issued out a clear sound, and Yi Yun released his fingers.

"Peng!"

It was like a thunderclap had sounded out in thin air. The Tai Cang Bow's bowstring snapped forward, sending a huge force into the Wind Chasing Arrow. With this tremendous force, the arrow formed a visible beam while flying directly at the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

This arrow was Yi Yun's ultimate attack!

The Wind Chasing Arrows formed a line and shot through the night!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, which was eager to save the Blood Yang Flower, was about to get hit by the arrow!

It had never thought that a twelve-year-old child at the mid-stages of the Purple Blood realm, Yi Yun, who had seemed to be in his final moments, would suddenly rise up like a tiger, sending out such a stunning blow!

Using the lunar Yin array to attack the Blood Yang Flower, then completely attracting the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's attention, and finally calculating the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's trajectory.

Everything was too perfect!

True Martial World - Chapter 190: Double arrays

Killing a human was a difficult task for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

Spirit herbs were different from desolate beasts, as they had innate deficiencies.

When a herb cultivated itself into a primordial herb or immortal herb, it could not escape its fate of being picked or captured despite its extended lifespan.

Some primordial herbs were even inferior to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Even as a primordial herb, they had no ability to escape through water or land, they were just sitting there waiting to be picked by humans or eaten by desolate beasts.

Such herb species had little chance of turning into a primordial herb.

Unless these herbs grew in really hidden locations and they were never found by humans, only then would they have the ten thousand years needed to absorb the Heaven Earth essence.

If not, some of them were under the protection by a strong desolate beast. Some primordial desolate beasts would guard a primordial herb for thousands of years and then finally eat it when it matured.

Only under such circumstances would these herbs have the opportunity to turn into a primordial herb.

At that moment, it was simple for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng to use its magic to confuse Yi Yun, but it was not easy to kill him.

It had to absorb Heaven Earth essence and pure Yang Qi for another few thousand years to form a magical illusion that could really kill.

Although it was not easy for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng to kill people, it could immerse them into a most horrifying vision, confusing them to the point of a mental breakdown, eventually making them a lunatic.

If the human died in the process of going crazy, the human corpse could be used as fertilizer for the Blood Yang Flower.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng began to gather energy. It slowly condensed the tiny bit of pure Yang Qi from the surroundings.

It wanted to finish Yi Yun off, or else he might come again and again for the Blood Yang Flower. If an almighty human were to be led to it, they would only cause trouble for it.

It was approaching the lunar Yin day's midnight. The pure Yang Qi in its surroundings had decreased to the lowest point possible.

The powers of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng dropped to 30% at that moment. But even if it had dropped to 30%, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not feel that a youth at the middle-stage of the Purple Blood realm could pose a threat to itself.

Ignoring the Purple Blood realm, even a peak-Yuan Foundation realm cultivator was nothing. The greatest means of survival for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was its ability to hide in its surroundings. Unless it was a human Sage, no human would be able to detect its presence.

As it was gathering its power and was about to launch its magical attack at Yi Yun, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng suddenly realized that Yi Yun had bent down and put two items on the ground.

They were two discs about a foot in diameter. One was black in color and the other ice-blue.

The two round discs looked clumsy and they had numerous runes written on it. It was like a tortoise shell but not eye-catching.

Although the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had some intelligence, it had no understanding of array techniques, desolate heaven techniques or even cultivation techniques.

Cultivating, creating charms or arrays were purely for humans.

In terms of lifespan, strength or affinity with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, humans were inferior to many other species. Humans could survive in the desolate wilderness, while holding on to their land with a firm grip, because of their creativity, their ability to learn and the creation of heritage amongst humans.

It was impossible for a spiritual herb to learn anything about arrays or charms.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not know what the two objects that Yi Yun had placed on the ground were for. It felt that a human teenager was no threat, but as a wary primordial herb, it secretly kept track of where Yi Yun had placed the two array disks.

It was not worried as Yi Yun's mind would shatter the moment it launched its powerful magic attack. So the array disks that Yi Yun had placed on the ground meant nothing.

It was late into the night as the stars were blocked by clouds. Yi Yun was quietly counting the time in his mind. When it was about a minute away from three-quarters of an hour past midnight, Yi Yun slowed down his breathing and he adjusted himself to his optimal state.

Slowly, the surrounding Yin Qi grew denser.

Even the two array disks Yi Yun had placed on the ground were faintly exuding a Yin coolness. They were ice-cold to the touch.

These two disk arrays were also immersed within the lunar Yin day's night, emitting air that mixed with the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Among the two disk arrays, one of them was inscribed with a lunar Yin array, and the other was inscribed with a cicada array.

Both disk arrays were built by array masters from the Tai Ah Divine City. Besides using his dragon scale runes to buy the Divine Hellion Bead, most of the remainder was spent on these two array disks.

On the lunar Yin array, there was a pale purple charm stuck to it. It was a cheap activation charm.

This charm was connected to Yi Yun's mind. As long as he wished, the activation charm would immediately activate the lunar Yin array.

With his setup properly laid out, the appointed time was slowly approaching.

With the lunar Yin Qi density reaching its apex, Yi Yun could feel a coldness that seemed to seep into his bone marrow.

Yi Yun tightened his muscles and as if aimlessly walking, approached the Blood Yang Flower!

At that moment.

Weng!

A tumultuous sound rang in Yi Yun's ear!

Yi Yun felt a huge impact on his soul as his head ached. It was the psychic attack by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

This psychic attack was more than ten times stronger than the other time. It was clear that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had gathered enough energy to shatter Yi Yun's soul!

But, before Yi Yun came to the herb mountain, he had taken a Clear Minded Elixir. This was prepared by Yi Yun early on. Although it was not expensive, it was sufficient.

Yi Yun could clearly feel that at the moment his soul hurt, a stream of relieving power rushed out from his dantian into his soul, which cleansed his mind like refreshing water and lessening the pain.

Yi Yun knew that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's best trick was its magical attack. How could he not prepare for it in advance?

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal's vision field, so together with the Clear-Minded Elixir, he returned to his clear state of mind in almost an instant!

But there still was not enough time to attack the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Yi Yun knew that even at a distance of a hundred feet, there was a chance of missing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng with an arrow shot from the Tai Cang Bow.

Yi Yun could shoot anything immobile, or something that moved in a regular pattern at a distance of five kilometers. But if it was something that could dodge, Yi Yun did not have the ability to steer the arrow.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's speed was too fast!

Yi Yun's arrow might not catch up with it; so the only way of hitting it was to predict the next move of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Yi Yun was waiting for the final opportunity.

At that moment, Yi Yun's surroundings had slowly transformed.

The cliff had changed into a vast wilderness, with the strong smell of the wilderness attacking his nostrils.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The land shook as a behemoth the size of a small mountain charged towards Yi Yun with a relentless force.

After the psychic attack, illusion magic followed immediately.

Yi Yun no longer had any doubt or hesitation compared to the first time he entered this illusion.

He identified the scene as the one he saw when he first entered the Tai Ah Divine City. It was the Divine Wilderness he had seen while in the airship.

With that, Yi Yun pretended to be confused by the illusion. He drew his Thousand Army Saber and charged towards the behemoth.

The illusion was an illusion after all. Yi Yun had no fear, so even though there was a mighty desolate beast in front of him, it was just an illusion.

"Cha!"

The Thousand Army Saber slashed downwards. A mighty desolate beast that could, in reality, kill Yi Yun in an instant, was slashed into two by Yi Yun!

As the saber formed shadows while reflecting off cold flashes, the Thousand Army Saber in Yi Yun's hand began to be splattered by blood!

Terrifying behemoths after behemoths were sliced apart by Yi Yun!

In the apparent chaos, Yi Yun was dodging and moving forward, slowly approaching the primordial herb!

A hundred feet!

Ninety feet!

Eighty feet!

As he slowly approached, Yi Yun held his breath while counting the distance.

He pretended that he was still within the illusion magic, but he was making killing blows in reality!

Just as Yi Yun reached the seventy-feet mark from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng finally became wary!

Although it looked down on Yi Yun, its nature as a primordial herb made it have a habit to avoid humans.

It secretly slipped backward by a tiny bit, but it did not retreat much, or its magic would not be able to carry on its attack on Yi Yun.

Seeing the primordial herb retreat, Yi Yun's heart sank slightly. His plans of slowly approaching the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the chaos had been shot down.

Indeed, primordial herbs were naturally cautious. They would make a subconscious decision to maintain a distance even if the person was no threat to them.

As such, trying to reduce the distance between himself and the primordial herb to under ten feet before using the Thousand Army Saber to attack was impractical.

Yi Yun had to rely on his bow and arrow, issuing a death shot!

True Martial World - Chapter 189: Lunar Yin Day

With the teleportation array's white beams leading on, Yi Yun stepped through the teleportation array.

This herb mountain, labeled #60, was the herb mountain Yi Yun was sent to by the teleportation array. In the past 30 days, he had always been picking herbs in #60. It was considered the herb mountain designated to Yi Yun for the past and the following months.

Cultivators who choose to pick herbs would be randomly sent to a herb mountain and they would not change locations for several months. The benefit would be that they could remember the places they had already searched, removing the need to search again the next time.

If all the cultivators were to be randomly assigned new herb mountains every time, that would be the possibility that a spot one searched was a spot previously searched a few days ago by someone else.

Yi Yun, with his Flowing Mercury Gown, had combed through a large region of herb mountain #60. As such, he was especially familiar with the region a fifty-kilometer radius around the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

The moment he was sent through the teleportation array, Yi Yun traveled through the mountain by the familiar paths, slowly approaching the cliff the Blood Yang Flower was.

At that moment, Yi Yun was about a few dozen kilometers from the cliff.

He was not in a hurry to scale the cliff and he just carried on casually searching for herbs nearby.

He was not practicing his movement skills and he had taken off the Flowing Mercury Gown as well. After wearing 200 cauldrons for an extended period of time, Yi Yun felt weightless with the weights suddenly removed. He felt as light as a dove, and it was as if he could leap into the clouds!

This was Yi Yun's optimal state. With a large battle looming, Yi Yun did not want anything that could adversely affect his speed.

"Another one, a high-grade Yellow-ranked Deathroot. This is a kind of poisonous herb that can be made into a poison." Yi Yun muttered to himself as he kept the Deathroot. The alchemists in the Tai Ah Divine City could not only create elixirs with beneficial effects, they could also create drugs with adverse effects, for example poisons, hallucinogens, or drugs with paralysis effects. There were all sorts of possibilities.

After the Deathroot, there was black fungus, blood coiled roots, purple heart grass…

Yi Yun picked herb after herb at a casual pace, as if he had forgotten about the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

After picking herbs for the entire day, the evening was approaching. Unknowingly, Yi Yun had already approached the cliff where the Blood Yang Flower was.

Yi Yun knew that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had long since discovered his presence as primordial herbs were very alert. With Yi Yun's methods, trying to secretly approach the primordial herb would simply be wishful thinking.

It was about two hours before midnight.

Yi Yun looked up into the sky. There was no moon and the night sky was as black as coal!

Yi Yun had come to herb mountain #60 early in the morning, but he deliberately dragged out time before arriving at this cliff. The reason was to wait for this opportunity.

It was the first day of the lunar month, the day of a "new moon". Without the moon present, it was the lunar Yin day.

The lunar Yin day was the day with the most intense Yin Qi. Three-quarters of an hour past midnight was the time of the day with the densest Yin Qi.

Hence, Yi Yun had timed it to the moment when the Yin Qi was the densest throughout the month!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng liked Yang Qi and it swallowed herbs that were Pure Yang in nature.

The lunar Yin day at three-quarters of an hour past midnight was the moment when it was weakest.

Hence, Yi Yun had chosen this moment to attack!

Even so, Yi Yun had little confidence in hitting the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng with his Tai Cang Bow.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng's speed was terrifying and its reaction speed was extremely fast!

For the past few days, Yi Yun had spent a lot of effort in searching for information on the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Besides the "Divine Wilderness Anthology", he had read all the information regarding it.

He was constantly comparing his archery skills with the abilities of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. His final conclusion was that, within a hundred feet, even if his arrow exceeded the speed of sound, there was a high possibility the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could still avoid it!

And the moment he failed in his attempt, he would not have the slightest chance to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the future.

Hence, Yi Yun had to carefully take everything into consideration and he had to make all sorts of calculations.

"Let's go for it! I'll see if your tunneling skills are stronger or my arrow is faster!" Yi Yun told himself that and leaped up!

Cha!

With inaudible footsteps, Yi Yun set foot on the cliff's rocks with a herb basket on his back.

He was a hundred times more nimble than a monkey and he easily scaled the cliff like he was on flat ground.

In the night, there was a cold mountain breeze that entered the bone.

On the flat cliff top, the weathered skeleton was scattered and it stood there through the successive gusts of wind.

The Yin Qi was extremely dense on the cliff top!

In this land, there were some spirits who would like to appear at that moment.

Yi Yun stood on the cliff for a while and closed his eyes to concentrate. With his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, he could feel something looking at him.

It was the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was extremely sensitive to the surrounding energy. Even so, in the Purple Crystal's vision, Yi Yun could not pinpoint the exact location of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

But in the thick Yin Qi, there was a clear strand of Yang Qi. This belonged to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was not wary of Yi Yun's observation. To the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun was like a wild rabbit that had walked into its territory and he was nothing of significance.

The primordial herb had existed for thousands of years, it had seen countless numbers of cultivators. Those idiots had never found it.

Some of the human experts had tried to catch it, but they could not threaten it. Occasionally, there would be Sages from the Tai Ah Divine City who came to the herb mountain #60. Only then would this primordial herb be on alert and hide in advance. As such, it had been safe.

With Yi Yun's current strength, the primordial herb did not feel any threat.

In the darkness, Yi Yun stayed silent. He was secretly counting the time, and there were still two more hours before the appointed time.

Yi Yun seemed to randomly draw out his Thousand Army Saber. Although he could not pinpoint the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng using his Purple Crystal vision, he had already pinpointed the location of the Blood Yang Flower.

The Blood Yang Flower was about a three hundred feet to the left and it was buried deep underground!

Yi Yun walked to the location he previously found the Blood Yang Flower.

There was still the hole he had excavated.

Yi Yun put on a face of curiosity and muttered, "Isn't this where I found the Blood Yang Flower the last time…? I don't know why, but many corpses had suddenly come out from the graves when I was about to pick the Blood Yang Flower. I killed many, I don't know what happened but after some time. When I woke up, I was full of injuries and all the corpses and Blood Yang Flower had disappeared. It was like a dream…"

Yi Yun was muttering to himself. Not far away, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was quietly watching the interesting human.

It had a certain amount of intelligence and it could understand Yi Yun's words.

Humans were a really stupid species. They could be hit by magic without knowing and they ended up thinking they were dreaming.

This dumb specimen even wanted to try picking the Blood Yang Flower. Such wishful thinking.

After Yi Yun appeared confused for a long while, he swung his Thousand Army Saber and quickly chopped downwards.

"Peng!"

With a splash of soil and rocks, a deep, dark crack appeared on the ground.

Yi Yun hesitated and carefully reached in. In the darkness, he touched around, but of course, he found nothing.

He muttered to himself, "Wasn't it here the last time? This Blood Yang Flower…ran away?"

Seeing Yi Yun being so dumb, if the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could make an expression, it would be one where tears came out from laughing too much.

Are all humans so dumb? They didn't even realize they had been hit by magic, but they were so naive to think that they can still find the Blood Yang Flower at the same spot.

Such extreme dumbness!

At that moment, Yi Yun changed spots and began digging.

Of course, it was another dud.

Yi Yun did not lose heart and rolled up his sleeves. On this cliff, he began to dig around, each about three feet deep.

To the primordial herb, Yi Yun's behavior was humorous.

But slowly, it turned into consternation. It realized that Yi Yun's aimless digging was slowly approaching the Blood Yang Flower's location.

This… Was it a coincidence?

Yi Yun was almost reaching the Blood Yang Flower!

Seeing Yi Yun's digging become more meticulous and deeper, the primordial herb thought that he could really find the Blood Yang Flower if this kept going on!

Was this dumb luck?

Of course, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not want Yi Yun to steal the Blood Yang Flower.

It suddenly felt that the lesson previously given to this stupid human was not severe enough. This time, it had to give him a more severe lesson, hopefully, one that would end him, which would solve the problem once and for all.

True Martial World - Chapter 188: The Final Preparations

The next day in the evening, at the herb-picking job office.

"Sister Wang, this is my harvest today." Yi Yun obediently placed his herb basket on the stone cabinet.

Wang glanced languidly before she reached in to grab the herbs from the light basket to estimate Yi Yun's harvest.

Wang grunted lightly, "It's getting fewer and fewer. What a feeble attempt!"

The number of herbs in the herb basket definitely did not exceed 80 dragon scale runes.

At the beginning, Yi Yun would hand in about 200 dragon scale runes worth of herbs. Wang had previously been surprised by the rookie's handing in of so many herbs.

Although this level could not compare with Zhong Yi, he was not much worse. It wouldn't be impossible to get an income of 15,000 dragon scale runes in the next 2 months. That result would prove his keen observation and senses. As a result, the divine city would likely give out some form of reward.

But Wang never imagined that in ten days, the amount Yi Yun handed over had dropped by half, to about 100 dragon scale runes. But in the last three days, it had turned worse and it was just 70-80 a day!

All these years, Wang had been in charge of the herb-picking office. She had seen many cultivators with keen senses. Usually, they handed in more herbs over time and they were never like Yi Yun, who handed in fewer herbs over time!

If Yi Yun had been initially lucky, it didn't make sense that he would slowly turn unlucky later. Luck was unlikely to all be concentrated in the first few days.

The only possibility was that Yi Yun had not been working hard.

Upon thinking this, Wang turned gloomy.

It was alright if you lacked the talent. After all, your talent was given to you by your parents and it was hard for that talent to be changed through nurturing.

Those who lacked talent would remain mediocre because no matter how hard they worked, there was no way they could become a peerless hero.

Those with talent who ended up wasting their talents were considered scum by Wang. Furthermore, they were in the Tai Ah Divine City. They were taking up the Tai Ah Divine City's resources and yet they did not work hard.

There were a countless number of people in this world who wanted to grow strong but they lacked the opportunity. Not cherishing this opportunity and wasting resources was an unforgivable act!

The Tai Ah Divine City's resources were provided to those who hunted desolate beasts and to the heroes who defended the country. It wasn't something to be splurged, allowing one to attain a noble title to lead a rich life.

"82 dragon scale runes! You are really getting worse by the day. If you want to wallow in degeneration, no one can save you. If you want to dawdle in the Divine Wilderness campgrounds, I advise you to scram early!"

Wang scolded harshly, sparing no effort with her lecture. She even flung Yi Yun's identity token, nearly hitting him in the face!

"Eh…" Yi Yun caught his token and was speechless.

He had initially wanted to ask Wang about thunder-fire items, but seeing her attitude, he could only remain silent.

"What are you still standing there for?" Wang snapped when she saw Yi Yun still standing there.

"Nothing…" Yi Yun said helplessly. Zhao Qingcheng and company were behind Yi Yun. She was also curious about the reason for Yi Yun's poor harvest.

"Little Brother Yi Yun, why are you picking fewer herbs now?"

"Nothing much. I am getting unlucky I guess. Also, I have been a bit tired recently…" Yi Yun shrugged, brushing it off. Naturally, he did not want to mention his preparations to capture a primordial herb.

"Sister Qingcheng, I want to get some strong thunder-fire spells. Do you know where I can get them?"

"Thunder-fire spells?" Zhao Qingcheng paused. She did not know what Yi Yun wanted that for.

"Right. As long as I can use it, the stronger the better!"

After some thought, Zhao Qingcheng said, "There are some districts in the Tai Ah Divine City that specifically sell charms. These charms are made by the masters in the city. When warriors hunt desolate beasts, they can deploy these arrays, evoking the power within the charm if in trouble."

"Oh? So there are such things?" Yi Yun's eyes lit up. They met his requirements.

"Yes. The Divine Wilderness is too dangerous. Some desolate beasts cannot be dealt with by cultivators. Without a protective charm, there would be more deaths and injuries. But, the divine city doesn't encourage us to rely on the charms. Hence, the charms are sold extremely expensive. The stronger charms can go for a thousand, or even two thousand dragon scale runes."

A rookie had to work hard just to earn a thousand dragon scale runes. Even the more senior cultivators would have to work hard for a few days to earn that amount.

Using such a charm was equivalent to wasting the past few days of work.

"I got it. Take me there…"

The charms were sold in a concourse in the Tai Ah Divine City. In the middle of the concourse, there was a huge array with a pagoda inside it that had a light flashing on its spire.

This pagoda had nine floors. On the large door, there were three large words written: Ten Thousand Pagoda!

"Use your spiritual energy to interface with the pagoda. You will then be able to browse through the catalog. Once you pay the dragon scale runes, you will receive it." Zhao Qingcheng explained on the side. Ever since Yi Yun helped her, she would help him readily. Whenever he had any requests, she would take him there, and introduce the rules in details, pointing things to his attention.

Yi Yun closed his eyes, and immediately in his mind appeared a huge wall. The wall was covered with all sorts of small objects.

Not only were there charms, but there were also elixirs, desolate bone relics, array disks, etc. It was a dazzling exhibition that was a feast for his eyes!

Yi Yun realized that just on this wall, there were more than ten thousand objects. And this wall had another wall connecting to it. Just a glance revealed more than a few dozen walls!

"There's so many!" Yi Yun couldn't help saying.

"Of course there's a lot. This Ten Thousand Pagoda is the trading center of the Tai Ah Divine City! This does not only have the products of masters but products of other cultivators. There are many cultivators whose main occupation isn’t fighting, but to produce charms, elixirs, or be Desolate Heaven Masters, etc. Their products will then be brought to this Ten Thousand Pagoda to be sold, making it very convenient."

"Besides that, there might be some rare parts of desolate beasts that some cultivators kill. As the standard price given by the divine city does not satisfy the warriors, they can choose to sell it on the Ten Thousand Pagoda. When a Desolate Heaven Master or alchemist sees it, they might buy it. Everyone puts things into the Ten Thousand Pagoda here, so there might be as many as a million treasures here."

"I see." Hearing Zhao Qingcheng's explanation, Yi Yun felt at ease. With such a huge array, it was indeed very easy to trade.

Yi Yun used his spiritual energy to explore. Soon he found a wall full of colorful charms. They were inscribed with all sorts of strange formations and runes. Some of these charms were made from desolate beast hide, while others were made out of yellow paper. The difference in price was also great.

Some of the cheap ones were worth a dozen dragon scale runes.

These charms were for rookies, which Yi Yun did not consider at all.

He only chose charms that were in the thunder-fire category, and they had to be made by a master.

Finally, Yi Yun found something. It was a round bead the size of a marble. The surface looked like it was made from pure metal.

The bead's surface was covered in strange runes. By interfacing it with his spiritual energy, Yi Yun could feel a killing intent. His spiritual energy felt like it was about to be absorbed by the bead.

This left Yi Yun stunned. He looked at the bead's blurb.

Divine Hellion Bead!

There was a precious desolate beast relic within it. The relic had been engraved with an ancient array rune by a master. It was an offensive item that could be used only once. Using Yuan Qi to ignite it after throwing the Divine Hellion Bead would trigger the thunder-fire power within.

One Divine Hellion Bead was worth 2000 dragon scale runes. The wealth Yi Yun had amassed in nearly a month had shrunk more by half!

"So expensive!" Yi Yun licked his lips. Even for this grade of treasure, only one or two beads were prepared for the top ranking cultivators, who used them for a rainy day.

As a rookie, using this treasure would probably shock others till their jaws fell off.

When Yi Yun chose the Divine Hellion Bead, it was wrapped in a ball of light and flew out of the Ten Thousand Pagoda into Yi Yun's hands. Yi Yun put it in a jade box he had previously prepared and placed it in his bag.

Zhao Qingcheng was watching by the side. She did not know what the ball of light was. But since it was something as a means of preserving life, she did not ask any further.

A Divine Hellion Beads was not enough for Yi Yun!

Yi Yun carried on choosing. He wanted too many things, but due to his limited dragon scale runes, after choosing three items, he had spent them all.

A few treasures had depleted what took Yi Yun nearly a month to obtain. He was really betting it all on one attempt!

If he failed in capturing the primordial herb, Yi Yun might not be able to recover for a long time. As such, he would need to properly pick herbs to break the record. He would have to set aside the cultivation of his movement and archery skills.

With his preparations done, Yi Yun applied for a seven-day period of consecutive herb-picking from Wang.

A consecutive herb-picking period meant he did not need to return in the evening. Eating and sleeping were all done on the mountain for seven consecutive days!

Many cultivators would only pick herbs in the day, and cultivate at night. Previously, Yi Yun did the same; but this time, to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun needed plenty of time.

Wang glanced at Yi Yun and hissed, "Seven consecutive days of herb-picking?" This kid who doesn't know better couldn't even last a day picking herbs. Now, he wants seven days? How many days can he last?

"Can you fill your herb basket in seven days of herb-picking? You do whatever the hell you want!"

Wang could not be bothered for she had no relations with Yi Yun. She would provide some help to the hardworking, but for degenerates, she couldn’t care less.

With seven days approved, Yi Yun carried his herb basket and walked towards the teleportation array towards the herb mountain early in the morning.

The victory was at stake!

True Martial World - Chapter 187: Archery Skills

An archery range existed in the Tai Ah Divine City for practice. Yi Yun found a few people there when he came to the range.

The range was rectangular; it was 300 meters wide and 3000 meters long. On one end of the long edge were the archers, and on the other end were the targets. These targets were made of purple tungsten, similar in material to the purple tungsten wall that Yi Yun had previously encountered. The extremely hard material had left a deep impression on Yi Yun.

In the Tai Ah Divine City's range, there were rows of targets, and even the thinnest ones were half a foot thick. The thickest targets were six feet thick, almost as long as the Thousand Army Saber's blade!

The thickest target was even more ridiculous than the purple tungsten wall that Yi Yun had previously tried piercing with the Primal Arrow.

These targets were secured on the ground with thick black iron frames that were astounding!

When Yi Yun focused on the targets, he drew a cold gasp of air. There were many arrows lodged in the middle of each target. Each arrow had pierced all the way inside, leaving only the arrow fletching stuck out. It was almost like a fully embedded nail!

These arrows were the standard arrows at the range. It was specifically used with longbows and they were four foot two inches long.

How much energy was needed to fully insert a four-foot two-inch arrow into the purple tungsten wall?

Furthermore, Yi Yun noticed that a few arrows had fully pierced through the target, with an arrow head appearing on the other end of it!

Yi Yun felt apprehensive. Almost ten days ago, he had charged with the Primal Arrow at the purple tungsten wall and he could only carve a foot-long hole in it. The arrow had not even been inserted stably.

But the people who had shot these arrows were using light arrows and yet, they were still able to penetrate it so deeply. They were really powerful!

Yi Yun felt penitent. "Brother, who was the one who shot through the target?" Yi Yun asked a cultivator beside him.

"Oh, those arrows… They were shot by Li Xiao, who is third on the Heaven rankings!"

"Third on the Heaven rankings? Li Xiao!"

Yi Yun remembered the name. He had memorized all the top-ranking people on the Heaven, Earth and Man rolls.

In the Divine Wilderness, there was a vast expanse of Desolate Lands. Powerful desolate beasts lurked within the Desolate Lands.

There were many elite-ranked, general-ranked desolate beasts, or even king-ranked desolate beasts! This was not even including the primordial strains, who lurked deep within the Divine Wilderness!

The strongest cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City did not do odd jobs such as being sparring partners or partaking in forging. There were two ways for them to earn dragon scale runes.

First was to trade with others or gamble in a fighting match!

These cultivators were particularly Desolate Heaven Masters, blacksmith masters or master alchemists. They could buy materials and then create relics, elixirs or amazing weapons in exchange for dragon scale runes.

And for those who did not have these skills, or for those who only knew how to fight, their main dragon scale runes income came from hunting desolate beasts!

After killing a desolate beast, they could turn in the desolate beast's bones, meat and all sorts of tendons and horns to the Tai Ah Divine City, and the city would make a comparable compensation in dragon scale runes.

At the same time, based on how many and the type of desolate beasts the cultivators killed, they were given position rankings. And that was the Heaven Roll of Honor!

The three rankings in the Tai Ah Divine City were: Man roll, which was ranked based on the total amount of dragon scale runes a cultivator spent and earned. Earth roll, based on the arena rankings. But from the way "Heaven, Earth and Man" was ordered, it meant that the Heaven roll, the hunting of desolate beasts, was ranked above the other two!

The Dragon scale runes ranking was a symbol of wealth. Although being rich in resources was of utmost importance for a warrior's cultivation, many warriors in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had their family clans or sects supporting them. As long as they had sufficient talent, they would be provided with resources.

To earn resources by oneself usually happened after entering the Sage realm.

As a result, the dragon scale runes ranking, which was a symbol of a warrior's wealth, was listed at third place.

As for the arena ranking, that was related to the battles with other warriors. But the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom believed that the main threat to humans came from desolate beasts.

The desolate beasts occupied a large swath of the wilderness. But it just so happened that in that wilderness, there were endless amounts of treasures waiting for people to find them.

Hence, the divine kingdom did not encourage killing between warriors, but it encouraged the killing of desolate beasts.

Therefore, the Heaven ranking was awarded based on desolate beast hunting, and the corresponding rewards were higher!

"Haha, you must be new here. I see you have a bow on your back, oh? It's even a good bow. It's made by the Zhang family!" Yi Yun had casually chatted up a warrior, but that person had great judgment and could tell the quality of Yi Yun's bow at a glance.

"Practice well. If you practice your bow and arrow well, it will be a great advantage on the Heaven ranking! Senior Li Xiao's archery skills are superb! I have seen Li Xiao use an arrow the thickness of a thumb to rip apart an Armored Rhinoceros with my own eyes!"

The cultivator was about fifteen years old. From the way he described the scene excitedly, one would think that all that glory belonged to him.

It also made Yi Yun feel a surge of emotions.

An Armored Rhinoceros was famous among desolate beasts for its defense. Li Xiao had used one arrow to not only kill it but to also rip it apart!

His archery skills were fearsome!

A warrior’s accuracy at shooting an arrow was not the most important thing. With a warrior's eyesight and mental prowess, shooting an arrow accurately was not difficult!

The difficult part was to inject within the bow and arrow Yuan Qi and strength!

The really terrifying archers did not pierce a willow leaf with an arrow from a distance of a hundred paces, but crumbled a small hill from a hundred paces away!

In fact, those who were good at bows were usually very strong warriors. Their primary weapons were not bows, but either a sword, saber or spear, etc. Bows were just one of their weapons. Their melee attacks were equally strong and their bodies had terrifying strength.

Yi Yun knew that Li Xiao was also within the top ten of the Earth rankings!

In ancient myths, there was the legend of Hou Yi shooting down the Sun. And the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom's cornerstone treasured bow was named the Star Shooting Bow.

When someone's archery skills reached a certain divine level, they could shoot down the stars and the Sun! Although there were some elements of exaggeration, it also illustrated the power of the bow and arrow.

For the current Yi Yun, the bow and arrow were a great advantage for him against desolate beasts. The hunting speed of a bow and arrow was naturally something melee weapons could not compete with.

Seeing Li Xiao's arrow, what else could Yi Yun say? Practice!

In less than a year's time, Yi Yun wanted to use his bow and his saber to obtain a spot on the Heaven and Earth rankings!

To enter the top 1000 in a year meant he was one of the human pinnacles and would gain the attention of the divine kingdom's various factions! But Yi Yun's goal was more than that!

…

The Tai Ah Herb Mountain stretched out endlessly. There were countless of wonders throughout it, with an unknown number of treasures waiting to be discovered!

At that moment, the Sun was hanging in the sky. A youth dressed in linen was traveling through the mountain as agile as a cheetah.

He held a black long bow by his shoulder and a quiver of arrows on his back. The quiver was about the size of an adult's waist, and in it was a bundle of shining arrows!

Although he had a lot of luggage, it did not impede the youth. The steep mountains and dense foliage were powerless against the youth.

"Peng! Peng!"

The youth's footsteps were heavy. Every foot on the ground was like a ten-thousand-pound sledgehammer slamming into the ground.

If he landed on a rock, the rock would explode!

If he landed on a tree trunk, the trunk would be crushed!

Suddenly, the youth pulled out a long sharp saber. With a swish of the blade, three thick trees were cut as if they were grass. The cut was clean as if it had been buffed by sandpaper.

The youth picked up one tree trunk and with both feet on the ground, he flung it out with all his strength!

"Whew!"

With an ear-piercing shrill, the thick tree trunk flew out like a meteor directly into the sky!

The youth did the same for the remaining trees in an orderly manner.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The three trees traveled across the sky. Yi Yun leaped and with the Tai Cang Bow in hand, he strung the bow!

Peng! Peng! Peng!

The bow string, which was made from the ribs of a Giant Python desolate beast, vibrated thrice. Yi Yun had shot three consecutive arrows!

The three arrows immediately created an explosive sound. The arrows formed visible ripples in the air, creating a misty haze around them!

These bows broke the sound barrier forming a sonic boom. Yi Yun was not capable of reaching the speed of sound, but it was easy for him to shoot out supersonic arrows!

The three arrows chased after the three trees.

"Peng! Peng! Peng!"

Three consecutive thunderous claps! The tree trunks that had flown far into the sky were pierced by the three arrows and burst open, sending countless pieces of wood and leaves flying!

Yi Yun took a breath of air when he saw this scene. He had been practicing with his bow for ten days. In the ten days, he had pulled the bow countless times, which turned his fingers into a bloody mess.

And today, although Yi Yun's archery skills were incomparable to the senior cultivators, there were very few rookies who could compete with him.

"In another four to five days, after I make my final preparations, it will be time to capture that primordial herb!"

Yi Yun had come up with a complete plan to catch the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. He had just this one shot at success!