Chapter 183: Severely Injured
“Hu!”
There was a boom as the yuanyang saber stuck itself into the ceiling of the tunnel. Xiao Chen vaguely saw a blurry figure that quickly dived into the hole in the wall.
Spirit Swallowing Bug! Xiao Chen instantly understood what was going on; he did not see wrongly. The green eyes he saw were the eyes of the Spirit Swallowing Bug.
When he came in, it craftily dove into a hole in the wall. When he turned around, it showed itself; wanting to sneak attack him.
Coincidentally, Mu Xinya saw the situation and immediately attacked; she did not have the time to explain. She wanted to rescue Xiao Chen, who did not know what was going on.
Mu Xinya held the other yuanyang saber in her right hand and pulled it back slightly. There was an invisible ripple in the air that spread through the air, the other yuanyang saber stuck in the ceiling trembled and flew back into Mu Xinya’s hand.
“Senior Brother Ye, are you alright?” Mu Xinya asked Xiao Chen worriedly.
Xiao Chen checked his body and discovered that some green fluids had permeated through his clothes. The fluids entered his body slowly via the pores on his skin before it rapidly mixed with his blood.
The blood that was mixed with the green toxic fluid flowed in his body. Before long, Xiao Chen felt dizzy; this was a sign of being poisoned.
Xiao Chen quickly took out the Detoxification Pill from the Universe Ring. Then he sat down cross-legged and circulated his Essence to quickly spread out the medicinal energy of the pill.
Xiao Chen had not expected that the Detoxification Pill he brought on a whim would be so useful here. The Medicinal Pill quickly dissolved and separated the green fluid from his blood.
After a while, Xiao Chen could taste something sweet in his mouth; he immediately spat out a green liquid. Xiao Chen opened his eyes and instantly felt better. The dizzy feeling he felt earlier had vanished.
The venom of the Spirit Swallowing Bug was really tyrannical. Just coming into contact with a small amount had such serious consequences. If he had not prepared the Detoxification Pill in advance, he could have died here.
Xiao Chen got up and saw that Mu Xinya had an extremely worried expression her face. He smiled and said, “I am fine. I have forced the venom out already. Thank you!”
Mu Xinya smiled when she heard Xiao Chen’s words, she then said, “It’s nothing. Let’s go then. Who knows when that worm would come out again.”
Xiao Chen shook his head. “This is five contribution points here. Furthermore, it injured me. How could I simply let it go like this.”
Since Xiao Chen knew there was a Spirit Swallowing Worm here, he naturally would not let it go. As long as he was cautious and did not get sneak-attacked, it would not be much of a problem. The Spirit Swallowing Worm was about as strong as a Martial Grand Master.
Xiao Chen extended out his Spiritual Sense and sent it into the soil of the tunnel. His Spiritual Sense followed the traces of Qi the Spirit Swallowing Worm had left behind and chased after it.
This sneaky fellow! To think it was nearby. His Spiritual Sense turned around and came back. Xiao Chen looked at the hole above his head and he could not help but exclaim in his mind, The Spirit Swallowing Worm is actually hiding right above us!
“Bang!” Xiao Chen’s feet pushed off the ground and he drew the Lunar Shadow Saber from its scabbard. The saber blade glowed with an electric light, brightening up the pitch dark tunnel.
“Pu Ci!”
The resplendent Lunar Shadow Saber stabbed into the ceiling with a ‘shua’ sound. A ‘zi zi’ sound could be heard; it was the miserable cries of the Spirit Swallowing Worm. A green fluid poured out of the worm.
Xiao Chen knew the terror of this fluid. He sent some Essence to the blade and made it tremble. He immediately flung off all the venomous fluid. In the next moment, he could feel a creature wriggling quickly on the blade.
“Want to run? Too late!” Xiao Chen laughed coldly as his Essence exploded out and blasted apart the ceiling above his head instantly. The Spirit Swallowing Worm fell down together with the rocks.
There was a rumble in the tunnel as the rocks fell continuously. The two of them moved around to avoid the falling rocks. After it became peaceful again, they started to chase after the Spirit Swallowing Worm that dragged its damaged body along the ground.
When it fell on the ground, this Spirit Swallowing Worm had practically lost half of its combat prowess. In addition to the damage Xiao Chen dealt to it, this Spirit Swallowing Worm was hacked into pieces after a while.
These five Contribution Points were in the bag. Mu Xinya was confused so she asked, “Senior Brother Ye, how did you find it?”
Naturally, Xiao Chen could not tell Mu Xinya the real reason. As such, he made up a reason. Xiao Chen dug out the Inner Core from the body of the Spirit Swallowing Worm.
Because it ate Spirit Stone raw ores for a long time, the surface of its Inner Core was incredibly smooth. The Spiritual Energy contained within was comparable to a Rank 5 Spirit Beast.
Xiao Chen put away the Spirit Swallowing Worm’s Inner Core carefully and smiled. “We obtained five contribution points. We will split it in half.”
Mu Xinya smiled gently. “We can just split it three-two in your favor. Contribution points are not useful to me.”
Contribution points are not useful to you? Xiao Chen looked at Mu Xinya in confusion. If contribution points were useless then why did you take up such a mission?
Mu Xinya seemed to have realized that she had said something wrong. She smiled and said, “Don’t misunderstand. I meant a few contribution points would not make a difference to me. You were the one who discovered the Spirit Swallowing Worm, two contribution points are sufficient to me.”
So that was what she meant, Xiao Chen smiled and did not continue to pursue the matter. The two of them left the tunnel and continued to patrol the path indicated by the map.
It was very calm after this and there were no more major events. Along the way, they discovered a few Spirit Swallowing Worm. Unfortunately, they were too quick-witted and dove into the ground to flee far away.
When it became night, the miners rested. Xiao Chen and Mu Xinya’s job also ended. Xiao Chen made his way to Ye Wen and reported the events of the day.
After he handed in the Spirit Swallowing Worm’s Inner Core to Ye Wen and recorded it, he could redeem the contribution points in the Hall of Contributions. Nothing happened along the way back. Xiao Chen thought that there was no rush to go back to the stone room to rest.
In one of the dead passages, Xiao Chen found a spacious area and drew the Lunar Shadow Saber to practice his saber techniques. Although he could not absorb any Spiritual Energy to cultivate, he could still practice his saber techniques; he could not afford to fall behind on this either.
Initially, he practiced the eight basic movements of sabers for two hours. This re-stabilized the Basic Saber Techniques he had practiced to the small perfection already. Afterwards, he started to practice the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique, Three Flowing Cloud Images, and other saber techniques once.
After four hours, Xiao Chen finished his warm up. He rested for a while before he started to practice the Clear Wind Chop. He had already memorized the Clear Wind Chop’s circulation method in his heart last night.
Xiao Chen slowly executed the Clear Wind Chop. The saber danced in the air and instantly created a cool breeze. The saber moved amongst the cool breeze and danced everywhere.
Xiao Chen practiced tirelessly and executed the Clear Wind Chop hundreds of times. He exhausted all the Essence in his body. However, he was still unable to find the trick to it.
Not to mention being able to hide the saber within the cool breeze like Liu Ruyue and Ye Wen did, he could not even hide his killing intent; he was only able to create a cool breeze.
He was not able to attain the state of seeing only the clear wind but not the saber. Xiao Chen sat on the ground and thought about the principles behind the technique.
As the saying goes, the master leads you to the door, the rest is up to you. This principle applies here, Liu Ruyue could only tell him of the essence behind the Clear Wind Chop to prevent him from walking down the wrong path. However, it depended entirely on Xiao Chen to comprehend.
Even if others told him of their comprehensions and allowed him to reach the small perfection, if he did not comprehend it for himself, he would not be able to master it. He would never be able to practice it to the great perfection.
Since he did not dare to absorb the surrounding Spiritual Energy, Xiao Chen took out an Inferior Grade Spirit Stone from the Universe Ring. Xiao Chen absorbed the energy from the Spirit Stone and his Essence was instantly refilled.
Xiao Chen got up and practiced the Clear Wind Chop again. There was a cool breeze that blew in the tunnel. As Xiao Chen got faster and faster, the wind blew even stronger.
Xiao Chen remained calm within the strong wind. Suddenly, inspiration struck; he executed the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art. He soared up like a flood dragon in the raging wind.
The Clear Wind Chop was originally a stand alone Secret Technique, it did not come with an accompanying Movement Technique. When one executed the technique, they completely relied on their own ability to adapt; the technique was unable to be used while moving at a fast speed.
However, his Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art was surprisingly compatible with the Clear Wind Chop. Despite it being only his first time trying it out, Xiao Chen was able to successfully execute the Clear Wind Chop in the air.
Xiao Chen was happy, it was like he had discovered a new land. He executed the Clear Wind Chop as he retreated backward, as he was in the middle of a somersault, as he was spinning… In a short moment, he executed the Clear Wind Chop from all sorts of different positions and angles.
Using the Clear Wind Chop at the same time as the Secret Technique exhausted much more Essence that he had initially imagined. This time, Xiao Chen was only able to execute the Clear Wind Chop twenty-odd times before he ran out of Essence.
Since the Clear Wind Chop was still not at the small perfection he was unable to hide his killing intent. However, Xiao Chen was not too disappointed as he discovered he could use it together with the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art.
Xiao Chen did not continue to practice after he rested for a while. Simply practice without thought would not result in any progress even if he practiced for a hundred years.
Furthermore, the environment in the tunnel was not suitable for training. Relying on Spirit Stones to replenish his Essence would weaken his sensitivity to Spiritual Energy.
Hiding his killing intent was the first step to the execution of the Clear Wind Chop. Xiao Chen pondered about this problem. How could he hide his killing intent amongst the indiscernible clear wind?
When Xiao Chen returned to the stone room, he was surprised to discover that Mu Xinya was not lying on the stone bed. Could she have gone to practice her saber like I did? It is so late already, why is she not back yet?
Xiao Chen had a lot of questions in his head and he could not be bothered with all these. He should just mind his own business. Xiao Chen entered the bathroom and comfortably soaked himself in the pool of water for a long time before he came out.
The next morning, when Xiao Chen woke up, he discovered that Mu Xinya had already washed up and was ready; she was waiting for him to start their patrol.
“Senior Brother Ye, where did you go last night? I did not see you come back after a long time,” Mu Xinya smiled at Xiao Chen as they left.
When Xiao Chen heard this, he was stunned. He did not expect Mu Xinya to initiate this topic. He smiled and said, “I am not used to sleeping so early so I went out to practice the saber.”
Mu Xinya smiled and said, “Let’s go. Then I would be able to see the Martial Technique you have been practicing so hard when we fight alongside each other today.”
Xiao Chen simply smiled without speaking. Next, they started their dry and boring patrol again. The two of them had already finished their patrol once yesterday. This time, they were already familiar with the way. They were not as unfamiliar as they were yesterday.
The first batch of miners they met were led by Supervisor Li like before. When Supervisor Li saw the two of them arriving, he quickly came and greeted them politely. Xiao Chen waved his hand to indicate to him to dispense with the formalities.