Chapter 89: Fragments

In the midst of the jungle lay a stretch of land several miles across where not a blade of grass or a single tree remained. The ground itself was split by countless thick, hideous cracks, a sight so ghastly it was hard to look at.

White mist drifted through the area, leaving it hazy and indistinct.

Yin Tianfang was covered in blood, his robes torn to shreds. He looked utterly miserable. Struggling, he forced himself up from the ground. His body trembled, and the already ruined clothes on him instantly split apart. With a sweep of his hand, a fierce surge of force shot out, and the tattered garments exploded into fragments, leaving only a few scraps fluttering down onto the earth.

With a slight thought, the soil beneath his feet surged outward in all directions. Yin Tianfang slowly sank beneath the ground, and the earth rolled back over him, restoring the surface to the way it had been, indistinguishable from the surrounding land.

A sharp whistle of air came from above. The old man at the middle Foundation Establishment stage arrived stepping through the sky. With a violent sweep of his sleeve, a gale sprang up and cleared the haze from the heavens and earth. As he examined the area, his divine sense spread in all directions. After a moment, he frowned, descended to the ground, and with a beckoning motion drew a bloodstained scrap of cloth into his hand.

"Dead, perhaps?" he murmured, staring at the cloth.

By then, the other old men had also arrived. Seeing the bloodstained scrap, they all let out quiet breaths of relief.

"It seems he really is dead," one of them said after sending out his divine sense to search the area. Within its range, he found no trace whatsoever of Yin Tianfang. In his view, under such a terrifying strike, if Yin Tianfang could still live, then he would truly be defying heaven itself.

"Very well. Let us return for now. This scrap still carries that brat's aura. That old fox Xuan Yin will surely be able to sense it." The old man tucked the cloth away and transformed into a streak of light, heading straight back toward the Mystic Dao Sect.

The others exchanged glances, each of them revealing a look of anticipation.

If they could truly use this to pry some information out of Elder Xuan Yin, they would gain immense benefit.

Without any order, several streams of light left the jungle, cutting across the sky toward the Mystic Dao Sect.

After they were gone, silence returned to the forest. Yet the ravaged ground still bore witness to the terrifying battle that had once taken place there.

Night fell. Under the starlight, the place looked desolate, so empty that not even a wild beast could be seen.

Suddenly, the soil in one spot began to churn. A figure burst from the ground. His white hair was caked with mud and hung in a tangled mess. His bare upper body was covered in wounds, and the blood in those wounds had already congealed. His face was so pale it looked like a sheet of white paper.

He glanced in the direction of the Mystic Dao Sect and was just about to leave when his expression shifted slightly. Raising his hand, he summoned something from beneath the earth: a purple fragment that flew into his palm.

Looking at the purple shard in his hand, Yin Tianfang's eyes flickered with a hint of surprise.

The purple flying sword, ever since he had obtained it, had been refined day and night and nurtured with his own cultivation. Though it was not his personal life-bound treasure, it was nonetheless intimately connected to his mind and spirit.

For that reason, part of his injuries had come from the self-detonation of the purple sword, which had wounded his soul and mind.

Though the purple little sword was an extraordinarily powerful spiritual treasure, its material appeared utterly ordinary. Under that kind of terrifying impact, it should have been reduced to nothing at all. Yet unexpectedly, a fragment still remained.

Had Yin Tianfang not refined it constantly over many days and nights, even this shard would have escaped his notice. He examined it carefully for a long while, but could make nothing of it.

Putting the fragment into his storage bag, Yin Tianfang moved and shot deeper into the jungle.

The forest at night was quiet and peaceful. Now and then, low growls of wild beasts echoed through the darkness. In some places, gray mist hung low, and within that mist powerful auras emanated. Those were the haunts of demonic beasts.

Yin Tianfang's condition was extremely poor. As he moved through the jungle, he took great care to avoid the territories of those beasts.

The sound of rushing water thundered ahead. A waterfall cascaded from the summit of a mountain into a river below, where the water ran crystal clear. Yin Tianfang reached the foot of the mountain, his eyes flashing slightly. With a quick blur of motion, he appeared beneath the waterfall and pressed both hands against the rock wall behind it.

The stone wall trembled, and countless pebbles slid down in a rustling shower. After a short while, a cave appeared in the cliff face, and Yin Tianfang stepped inside.

As soon as he entered, innumerable stones flew up from the ground, completely sealing the opening. Even after this double concealment, Yin Tianfang still did not feel at ease. With a wave of his hand, he set up a barrier over the entrance, cutting off all traces of his presence.

After all this was done, his face had turned even paler, terrifyingly so. He let out a soft breath, and his expression finally eased. Slumping to the ground, he was overtaken by waves of weakness, so drowsy that he almost fell asleep on the spot.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, an alarm suddenly stirred in his heart, snapping him awake. He quickly sat cross-legged, formed a hand seal, and closed his eyes in meditation. The power of heaven and earth gathered around him and was absorbed by Yin Tianfang, flowing like a thin stream through every meridian and limb, nourishing his body.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

Inside the cave, Yin Tianfang opened his eyes. The power of heaven and earth surged wildly into his body, instantly filling his once-empty dantian.

All the wounds on his body had healed. Old skin shed away, revealing skin beneath it that was smooth, white, and lustrous, tender and flawless like that of a newborn child. At this moment, Yin Tianfang felt stronger than ever before.

He exhaled a long breath of turbid air and rose to his feet. With a sweep of his palm, the stones sealing the entrance fell away. Yin Tianfang walked out of the cave and leaped into the river.

After washing himself, he changed into a clean set of clothes and returned once more to the cave.

Turning his wrist, he revealed a purple fragment in his palm.

This shard was the only piece left after the purple flying sword had shattered. It was diamond-shaped and gleamed with a faint violet light. When he had first refined the sword, Yin Tianfang had not noticed anything unusual about its material. Yet the purple flying sword had possessed a strange, miraculous quality: it could traverse space and achieve the effect of instant displacement.

One had to know that only cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm could teleport. Even then, for those extraordinary experts, such movement consumed tremendous amounts of power. And yet this purple flying sword, wielded by someone only at the Qi Condensation stage, could be activated to produce the effect of instantaneous displacement.

If it had not been absolutely necessary, Yin Tianfang would never have chosen to detonate the purple sword.

"Could the sword's ability to teleport be related to this fragment?" Yin Tianfang pondered for a moment, and such a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"If that's true, then if I were to refine this shard into another treasure, wouldn't that treasure also be able to achieve instantaneous movement?"

At that thought, excitement flashed through Yin Tianfang's eyes. For those beneath the Nascent Soul realm, a treasure capable of teleportation would possess devastating killing power.

As he was thinking, his expression suddenly shifted. In a blur of motion, he vanished from the cave.