Translator: CinderTL
Song Wen was swept off his feet by the hurricane-force winds generated by the Purple Cloud Dove's wings and slammed to the ground.
The gale persisted, ceaselessly descending from the sky like a torrential flood, pressing down on Song Wen with the force of a thousand tons, pinning him in place and preventing him from escaping.
Ye Bing and the other three Divine Transformation Stage cultivators found themselves in the same predicament, seemingly cornered and powerless to break free from the Purple Cloud Dove's control.
Seeing their plight, Song Wen thought grimly, "It seems I can't rely on these people."
He was about to activate his Substitute Technique to flee when he caught a glimpse of Zhong Jun suddenly spitting a mouthful of blood essence onto the flying ark's control array disk.
In an instant, the flying ark, already battered by the hurricane, erupted with terrifying power. It surged upward, hurtling toward the Purple Cloud Dove's head.
The Qicang Flying Ark's hull was shaped like a shuttle, its prow as sharp as a spear.
Now, it resembled a colossal dart hurled by a giant, aimed squarely at the Purple Cloud Dove's vulnerable underbelly.
The Purple Cloud Dove was clearly startled by this sudden turn of events.
It recoiled sharply into the sky, simultaneously raising its razor-sharp talons to strike down at the flying ark.
Boom!
The moment the Purple Cloud Dove's razor-sharp claws touched the flying ark, a violent explosion erupted.
A surge of savage energy swept outward, engulfing the nearby Purple Cloud Dove.
Instantly, countless feathers, like snowflakes caught in a gale, scattered and swirled downward, only to be pulverized by the raging energy.
Screech!
The Purple Cloud Dove let out a piercing cry, its voice tinged with both anguish and boundless fury.
By the time it managed to shake off the chaotic energy, it discovered that its prey had vanished without a trace.
The explosion of the Qicang Flying Ark had disrupted the hurricane surging from the Purple Cloud Dove's wings. Seizing this opportunity, the eight cultivators activated their escape techniques, fleeing in different directions.
The Purple Cloud Dove's sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, immediately spotting a fleeing figure.
With a gentle flap of its wings, its massive body transformed into a swift afterimage, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
A Nascent Soul Stage male cultivator, the slowest of the group, had no time to react before the Purple Cloud Dove swallowed him whole.
The Purple Cloud Dove's gaze shifted, resuming its hunt for the remaining prey.
Six hundred miles away, atop a small mountain peak, a cloud of Blood Mist suddenly materialized. Song Wen's figure burst through the crimson haze.
Activating the Blood Sea Seal, he conjured several tentacles that devoured the Blood Mist generated by his Blood Escape Technique.
This Blood Mist was too conspicuous, making him an easy target for the Purple Cloud Dove.
Simultaneously, Song Wen cursed inwardly.
All this was Zhong Jun's fault—that fool and miser! His incompetence had destroyed the flying ark, and the nearly two thousand high-grade spirit stones Song Wen had contributed were now lost.
They had barely completed a fraction of their journey. Without the Qicang Flying Ark, Song Wen would have to rely solely on himself for the remainder of the trip.
Turning back was no longer an option.
He was now deep within the Rotting Miasma Ridge's core region, where both advancing and retreating were equally perilous.
After completely devouring the Blood Mist, Song Wen retrieved the Two-Faced Buddha. He spat out a mouthful of blood essence to activate it, using the artifact to conceal his aura.
Then, he leaped down the mountain, gliding toward a ravine at its base.
The ravine had been carved by ancient floods, its depths plunging sharply. Perhaps the Rotting Miasma Ridge hadn't experienced recent flooding, as the ravine was currently dry.
This place was thick with miasma, and every corner could conceal a powerful demon beast or swarms of poisonous insects. Reckless exploration was out of the question.
Earlier, Song Wen had been forced to use the Blood Escape Technique to flee for his life. Now that the Purple Cloud Dove showed no signs of pursuit, it was best to find a hidden place to lie low. Once the dove retreated, he could retrace his steps to find the correct path and continue his journey.
Following the ravine for over ten miles, Song Wen finally discovered a narrow rock crevice at its bottom. He squeezed inside and then collapsed the entrance, burying himself beneath a pile of loose stones.
Deep within the crevice, numerous poisonous insects lurked, stirring restlessly at his arrival.
Song Wen parted his lips slightly, and the Shadow King Gu flew out, devouring the insects one by one.
The Shadow King Gu then flapped its wings, burrowed through the rubble, and soared to the summit of a distant mountain, hundreds of feet away. This allowed Song Wen to monitor the surrounding area through the Gu's senses. Moreover, in case of danger, the Shadow King Gu's extended Divine Sense would enable Song Wen to teleport even farther away when using the Substitute Technique.
Just as the Shadow King Gu slipped into a crevice on the mountain peak, a figure appeared on the horizon, streaking toward them from afar.
The approaching figure was none other than Zhong Jun.
He didn't notice Song Wen hiding in the ravine as he sped overhead, vanishing without a trace.
Just as Song Wen assumed Zhong Jun was merely passing through, he saw him return, retracing his exact path without the slightest deviation.
Zhong Jun's gaze swept the surroundings before settling on the mountain where the Shadow King Gu was concealed—the tallest peak in the area.
He flew to the mountain's midsection, landing in a relatively flat area overgrown with shrubs.
With a wave of his hand, thirty-six palm-sized banners shot forth, embedding themselves among the bushes.
Next, Zhong Jun retrieved an Array Disk and, after executing several magic seals, a transparent barrier, roughly ten zhang wide, materialized abruptly.
But the barrier was fleeting, vanishing without a trace as quickly as it appeared.
Simultaneously, Zhong Jun's figure disappeared, leaving only the shrubs standing in place.
Moments later, a colossal, cloud-obscuring shadow darkened the sky—the Purple Cloud Dove.
It had followed Zhong Jun's lingering aura.
To the Purple Cloud Dove, the faint traces of human presence in this miasma-choked realm were like a beacon in the darkness, easily discernible.
After devouring the two nascent soul cultivators Zhong Jun had used as shields, the Purple Cloud Dove, which had never tasted human flesh before, found it incomparably delicious and rich in Spiritual Qi—a veritable elixir.
Startled by the explosion of the Qicang Flying Ark, it pursued and caught two more fleeing nascent soul cultivators. After consuming them, it abandoned the pursuit of the slowest cultivator, Yan He, and instead followed the lingering scent left by Zhong Jun.
Having already devoured four nascent soul cultivators, it now craved the taste of a divine transformation stage cultivator.
The Purple Cloud Dove gazed suspiciously at the mountain where Zhong Jun was hiding.
It sensed that the human's lingering scent here was slightly different, more concentrated, suggesting he had lingered in this spot.
Just as the Purple Cloud Dove was about to spread its wings and unleash a gale to probe for anomalies within the mountain,
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted from twenty to thirty miles ahead, accompanied by a pillar of fire that pierced through the layers of miasma, casting an eerie glow.
The Purple Cloud Dove's attention was instantly drawn to the commotion ahead, and it prepared to take flight.
(End of the Chapter)
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