Chapter 145: Slaying a Powerful Foe
"Rise!"
He Shaogang formed a hand seal with one hand, and in the next moment, a shield-shaped magical treasure materialized in front of him. It was clearly a top-grade defensive artifact.
Boom!
A third-tier energy pea, mixed in among many others, slammed into He Shaogang's defensive treasure. Ripples spread across the artifact's surface, but it was evident that the attack couldn't penetrate this top-grade defensive treasure.
This was precisely why defensive treasures were valued more than offensive ones—because a good defensive artifact allowed cultivators to face attacks with confidence.
"Gu Mo, so this is the extent of your trump card…"
He Shaogang glanced toward the spiritual field. Finally, he relaxed. From the start, he had been on guard, wary of Gu Mo's hidden cards.
To draw them out, He Shaogang had deliberately stirred things up, baiting Gu Mo into revealing his hand. And now that the trump card had been played, the threat no longer seemed so dire.
But before he could finish his sentence, a bright red cherry suddenly appeared in his sight.
"What?!"
As the large cherry was thrown at him, a sense of danger surged in He Shaogang's heart. He immediately tried to dodge, but the lingering force of the previous attack still weighed on his defensive treasure, making it impossible for him to move swiftly.
It was like holding a shield against a rushing stream—not enough to break through, but enough to press down and immobilize him.
That was exactly He Shaogang's current situation. The third-tier Peashooter's attack was like the rushing water—unable to breach the top-grade treasure but more than enough to pin him in place.
With He Shaogang's movement restricted, it was time for Gu Mo to strike. If he was going to make a move, it had to be decisive and leave no room for counterattack.
Rumble!!
The third-tier Cherry Bomb exploded, obliterating half the mountaintop. Even part of the spiritual field was destroyed—thankfully, the core third-tier section remained intact.
Cough! Cough!
When the smoke cleared, He Shaogang was still alive. However, his top-grade defensive treasure had lost its luster, clearly broken by the Cherry Bomb's force, and he himself was injured.
But not fatally.
"Die!"
Suppressing his injuries, He Shaogang's eyes filled with terror. He had genuinely thought he was about to die, and the sheer presence of death had chilled him to the bone.
Luckily, his defensive treasure had proven reliable, and coupled with a defensive secret technique, he barely survived the blast.
Now, He Shaogang's killing intent toward Gu Mo reached a fever pitch. Where once he viewed Gu Mo as a bug he could toy with, now he realized that bug had the power to kill him—and his attitude changed completely.
With a growl, he summoned a flying sword radiating frigid energy—another top-grade treasure. Having both offensive and defensive artifacts of this level showed He Shaogang's immense wealth and the difficulty in taking him down.
Any ordinary Core Formation cultivator would have been severely wounded or killed by that last attack.
Screech!
Infused with his Core Formation power, the flying sword trembled violently and let out a cry resembling a phoenix's. Then it transformed into an ice phoenix exuding chilling energy.
Gu Mo stared at the distant ice phoenix as flames from a Torch Stump flared up within the spiritual field.
In an instant, both Gu Mo and He Shaogang launched their attacks.
He Shaogang's move—his strongest killing strike—was the ice phoenix formed by the top-grade flying sword. That brush with death left him with no choice but to respond with overwhelming force.
Gu Mo, on the other hand, launched what seemed to be a simple fireball. It didn't clash head-on with the ice phoenix but instead veered toward He Shaogang directly.
The ice phoenix was clearly faster and struck first, crashing into the outermost layer of the spiritual field's formation and shattering the concealment array. Then, it rammed into the Nut Wall array.
This time, the ice phoenix was halted. The Nut Wall array, anchored by a third-tier nut and supported by several top-grade second-tier nuts, had a defense strong enough to block a full-power strike from a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator.
He Shaogang's attack, while powerful, had yet to reach mid-stage Core Formation—at most, it was comparable to the third transformation stage within Core Formation.
For a cultivator at the first transformation stage to unleash power at the third transformation level was already impressive. But it still wasn't enough to take down Gu Mo.
"What?!"
Seeing his strongest attack blocked, He Shaogang's expression turned incredulous. Especially after the concealment array shattered, he sensed multiple third-tier auras—not from cultivators, but from spirit plants.
That moment of rage cooled instantly. Realization dawned: Gu Mo was far more troublesome than expected. He actually had third-tier spiritual plants.
But then, remembering that Gu Mo was the disciple of Qi Chunde from Shennong Valley, it didn't seem all that surprising.
As retreating thoughts crept into He Shaogang's mind, Gu Mo's fireball finally neared. It had taken longer to arrive—flying swords were, after all, faster than Peashooter attacks.
But in terms of raw power, this fireball—created through the cooperation of a third-tier Peashooter and a third-tier Torch Stump—was far superior to the ice phoenix.
At that moment, He Shaogang's defensive treasure had been broken, and his flying sword was entangled with the Nut Wall array—he was at his most vulnerable.
That was precisely why Gu Mo avoided direct confrontation. He knew his formation could withstand He Shaogang's attack—but He Shaogang might not survive Gu Mo's.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Feeling that seemingly ordinary fireball radiating that now-familiar aura of death, He Shaogang ground his teeth and let out a furious growl. From the start, it felt like he'd been on the back foot—despite holding the upper hand in cultivation.
Now, he was being forced to burn his life-saving trump card. As the future head of Fenghua Sect, he not only had top-grade offensive and defensive treasures—he naturally had life-saving ones too.
But once used, he wouldn't be able to leave the sect for a long time. Even as the sect's heir, those cards weren't infinite.
Without them, he wouldn't dare roam freely. As the Fenghua Sect's next leader and a prime Nascent Soul candidate, as long as he lived, he was destined to reach the peak.
"Gu Mo, you're dead!"
He Shaogang activated a life-saving talisman that released a faint white glow, quickly enveloping him. Though he wouldn't be able to kill Gu Mo personally, now that he had located him, the sect's full force would be brought down to eliminate him.
"Sky-Cleaving!"
Just as the white glow was about to encase He Shaogang, a piercing sword light fell from above, pausing the talisman's activation. That brief hesitation was all it took—the fireball slipped through and struck He Shaogang directly.
Boom!!
The fireball's power, rivaling a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, easily tore He Shaogang's body to pieces. From the ruins, a single golden core flew out.
Though Core Formation cultivators couldn't separate their souls like Nascent Soul cultivators, they could temporarily manipulate their core with their spirit, buying time before total death.
But unless they had extraordinary treasures, they couldn't revive. At best, with rare resources, they might return as ghost cultivators.
Ding!
Before He Shaogang's golden core could escape, a green flying sword slashed down. The resulting clash produced a metallic ring as cracks spread across the core. The soul inside suffered heavy damage, on the verge of collapse.
"Who are you?!"
He Shaogang's spiritual sense locked onto the unknown attacker—this person had just severed his last path to survival. He seethed with hatred.
"You kept calling me an old acquaintance. How can you not recognize me now?" Gu Mo's false core clone retrieved the bamboo sword and prepared to strike again.
"Gu Mo? You're Gu Mo?! But you're a false core cultivator!" He Shaogang's spirit shrieked.
In that instant, he was overwhelmed with regret. Had he known Gu Mo had formed a false core—essentially a dead-end path—he wouldn't have been in such a rush to kill him. He had feared the Gu Mo who could slay Foundation Establishment cultivators at the peak of Qi Refining, not a failed talent like this.
If anything, he'd have spared Gu Mo, making him live to see the day He Shaogang ascended as a Nascent Soul True Lord.
But it was too late. His body was destroyed, and his dream of reaching Nascent Soul was gone. Even his soul was about to fade.
"Gu Mo… I'll be waiting in hell for you!" He Shaogang's spirit howled as his cracked core exploded. An invisible wave surged toward Gu Mo's clone.
"What?!"
Sensing the invisible wave, Gu Mo was alarmed and quickly withdrew his consciousness from the false core clone—it was clearly a soul-based attack.
If his true body had been there, it would've been unavoidable. But He Shaogang had mistaken the clone for the real Gu Mo, and by retracting his awareness, Gu Mo avoided the blow.
Once the wave faded, he reconnected with the clone—only to find a strange mark left behind.
It hadn't been an attack. He Shaogang's final move was a tracker. With it, Fenghua Sect could locate Gu Mo.
Fortunately, Gu Mo had withdrawn his spirit in time, so only the clone's body was marked. His true form remained safe.
"A blessing in disguise," Gu Mo muttered. With the enemy locked onto the clone, he had time to escape.
"Fellow Daoist Fang, it's time to retreat."
Gu Mo sent a message to Fang Jiaoyan, signaling her to prepare to leave. Meanwhile, the false core clone burst out of the Lu estate to start clearing out nearby Fenghua Sect members.
As for Gu Mo's real body, he stepped out of the formation, collected the fallen top-grade flying sword and defensive artifact—He Shaogang was truly wealthy—then retrieved the storage bracelet and life-saving talisman.
Of course, he wouldn't use the talisman himself—who knew if it would send him straight into Fenghua Sect's hands.
After storing the spoils, Gu Mo returned to the spiritual field, harvested all the plants into his Black Mist Space, and vanished into the sky.
Having slain He Shaogang, heir to Fenghua Sect, the sect would surely go mad—possibly sending a Nascent Soul cultivator after him.
Just imagining that gave Gu Mo chills. He couldn't stay in this region. It was time to head for Shennong Valley.
Over the past few years, he had learned that Immortal City had interdomain merchant ships. Though the fare was steep, he could afford it—especially after this battle's bounty, which had elevated his wealth yet again.
The real body would flee. As for the clone marked by the tracker—it couldn't go with him. It would serve as bait, distracting Fenghua Sect and buying time.
Of course, the clone likely wouldn't survive—but that was its purpose: to protect the true body. And with four drops of Origin Liquid left, Gu Mo could still create four more.
Losing one? He could live with that.
Not long after Gu Mo left, a staggering figure dragged itself to the mountaintop—it was Yao Shifeng. At this moment, Yao Shifeng's veins bulged like writhing serpents, his entire body resembling a bomb on the verge of exploding.
Indeed, Yao Shifeng was teetering on the edge of self-destruction. He had been bound by a restrictive spell that should have taken his life the moment He Shaogang died. But Yao Shifeng refused to accept such a fate—he couldn't stand the thought of his life being controlled by someone else. So, in secret, he had been studying the restriction embedded within him.
In the end, through forbidden arts, Yao Shifeng discovered a way to break free: by devouring He Shaogang's flesh and blood after his death, he could dismantle the restriction.
"Heh heh!"
Yao Shifeng reached the mountaintop and quickly spotted the scattered remains—shredded flesh and fragments of golden shards. These were the remnants of He Shaogang's body and his shattered Golden Core. At the sight, Yao Shifeng let out a crazed laugh and lunged forward, devouring every last piece of He Shaogang's flesh and the fragments of his Golden Core.
In an instant, a surge of demonic energy erupted from Yao Shifeng. His cultivation began to soar rapidly as he consumed the remains.
By the time he swallowed the last shard of He Shaogang's broken Golden Core, a pitch-black "Golden Core" began to form inside Yao Shifeng's body.
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