MTLNOVEL Chapter 278: Despicable Means
Fox Face stared at the apple in his hand. "This apple... tsk~ What exactly is the reason behind this? Is there some kind of power in this world..."
While Fox Face was pondering, his expression suddenly shifted slightly.
Something underground was approaching.
Fox Face raised an eyebrow. There was still someone else.
A flying sword shot out, aiming straight for Fox Face's forehead.
Fox Face neither dodged nor evaded. The sword qi blew the strands of hair at his temples.
Finally, the flying sword hovered three inches from Fox Face's forehead.
"Hmph, petty tricks."
Fox Face curled the corner of his mouth.
Fine cracks quickly appeared on the sword's blade, spreading like a spiderweb before shattering into fragments.
"Come out!!"
With Fox Face's cold snort, a humanoid puppet underground exploded into dust.
Fox Face furrowed his brows slightly, then suddenly raised his hand.
His slender fingers adorned with a green emerald ring pressed against the sword's hilt.
Several poisonous snakes with glowing green eyes lunged at him from behind.
With a horizontal slash of the sword, all the snakes were cut in two.
"Bang!!"
Unexpectedly, after the poisonous snakes died, their bodies erupted with a pungent white smoke. The white smoke crackled as it corroded the protective spiritual energy surrounding Fox Face's body.
Fox Face immediately formed a hand seal and used a wind-element spell.
A gentle breeze rose around him, attempting to disperse the white smoke.
However, the white smoke clung stubbornly like bone-attached maggots, resisting the wind's dispersal force, tightly entwining his body, continuously eroding his protective spiritual energy.
Only then did Fox Face realize something was wrong. The opponent was by no means ordinary.
At that moment, the ground began to tremble slightly. Under the fallen leaves, something seemed to be stirring.
A thick layer of fresh blood surged forward, quickly spreading beneath his feet.
However, Fox Face soon discovered this was not real blood.
It was countless blood-red insects with fangs!
These dense insects crawled out from the decayed soil.
They seemed to have a natural affinity for sword qi. While the sharp sword qi terrified other creatures into avoidance, these insects actually fed on the sword qi, voraciously devouring it.
One man's honey is another man's poison.
Where the red tide passed, the sword qi instantly dimmed.
Some insects were fatally bloated by the sword qi, yet others continued chewing on the sword qi with relentless enthusiasm.
Fox Face's expression grew increasingly grave.
What kind of insects are these!?
Never heard of them, never seen them before.
These were sword insects discovered by Li Xuanxiao during his research on poisons.
They required special techniques and extremely harsh birth conditions.
They could only hatch inside the remains of sword immortals after death, absorbing the essence of sword intent. After hatching, they fed on the residual sword qi.
Li Xuanxiao had this idea and opened the old man's coffin.
Although the old man had no corpse, the coffin was saturated with sword qi.
Li Xuanxiao bowed three times and explained the situation to the old man.
He expressed that it was out of necessity for Mount Shushan.
The old man was very open-minded and slapped Li Xuanxiao three times.
Li Xuanxiao was instantly awakened.
The old man's meaning was clear: only thirty thousand could be raised.
So, Li Xuanxiao tearfully began by cultivating over a thousand.
After hatching, these sword insects required cultivators to feed them with lifebound sword qi.
However, Li Xuanxiao was not a sword cultivator.
Where would he get lifebound sword qi?
He had tried feeding them ordinary sword qi before, but such sword insects could never be used by him.
Moreover, if not careful, the sword insects would explode and die.
But once Li Xuanxiao obtained his senior brother's lifebound sword, he naturally became a sword cultivator with a lifebound sword.
Only then did he start cultivating sword insects.
A wave of doubt surged in Fox Face's heart. Which heretic cultivator was secretly making a move?
His mind rapidly flashed through possible enemies but he could not confirm the opponent's identity.
The sword qi around Fox Face was rapidly devoured, forcing him to retreat again and again.
"Buzz—!!"
A hidden weapon!
Fox Face snapped his fingers.
The hidden weapon exploded into dust midair.
However, in the center of the weapon, several silver needles emitting cold light revealed their true form.
One of Li Xuanxiao's lifebound magical instruments.
Crane Summit Silver Needles.
Their sharpness was not exposed.
They gave the impression of weakness at first glance and even upon closer inspection seemed weak, with a plain aura.
Fox Face originally had a chance to block but misjudged their power.
At the same time, he wanted to conserve his strength.
Whoosh whoosh!
The silver needles pierced through Fox Face's outer clothes but were blocked by his inner armor.
The inner armor was a golden-threaded silk robe capable of withstanding a full-strength strike from a peak Transformation stage cultivator.
Sizzle~
In the next moment, the sound of corrosion came, still poisonous.
"I don't believe your poison can break the magical robe my master gave me."
But it was not poison—it was still living poisonous insects.
It was unimaginable that these tiny silver needles hid tens of thousands of insects.
They were invisible to the naked eye, and even with the Spirit Eyes activated, it was hard to detect anything suspicious.
These insects crawled through the gaps and into the body protected by the magical robe.
Fox Face's skin turned purple;
he felt discomfort in his body but was already completely unable to react.
At this moment, he finally panicked.
He suddenly felt an indescribable itch spreading from all over his body.
At that time, several black shadows enveloped him.
They were many black chains!
Fox Face was shocked and hurriedly tried to dodge the chains' attack.
However, his body suddenly trembled. He suddenly looked down at his crotch, only to find that it had inexplicably swollen up.
"Th-this..."
Fox Face's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
What the hell was this?
One phrase flashed in his mind.
"Pillar supporting the sky"!
Fox Face's expression turned extremely strange. He had no idea why this situation suddenly appeared.
What kind of poison was this?
Did your family poison someone with this?
He had been nimble and agile, but now his body felt extremely uncomfortable.
Straightening his waist, the trousers made from the golden-threaded robe caused him immense pain.
He let out agonizing screams.
Despicable!!
What kind of despicable person could do such a thing?
Fox Face had always moved lightly and gracefully, but now a certain part of his body protruded so obviously.
It quickly attracted the attention of the chains, which then wrapped around him accordingly.
"Aoooooo~"
Fox Face's mouth emitted even more heart-wrenching screams.
Heretic cultivator!!
What kind of heretic cultivator would resort to such despicable means?