Northern Yan - Chapter 51: Slaughtering Wolves in a Bath of Blood

The Scarlet Flame Tiger charged forward, and Mo Hao’s mind raced as he weighed whether to stay or flee. Just as the beast closed the distance to less than a zhang, he made a decisive move, sidestepping to evade the initial wave of attack. Realizing its pounce had missed, the tiger grew somewhat irritated, turning its head to glare at Mo Hao as white vapor puffed from its nostrils.

Seeing this, Mo Hao knew things were taking a turn for the worse. The tiger wasn't just angry; it was about to unleash a blast of scarlet flames. Glancing back at the smaller Scarlet Flame Tiger, he noted that the Luoping Flower was situated right behind it, allowing him to pinpoint the exact location of the blossom.

The surrounding flames converged toward the Scarlet Flame Tiger. Delaying any further was out of the question. In the first layer, the spatial seals had prevented the use of the Primordial Heaven and Earth Sovereign Art, but now in the third layer, the space was no longer as constrained, and he once again cast the technique.

"Primordial Heaven and Earth Sovereign Art!"

With a single stride, he vanished from his spot. The Scarlet Flame Tiger froze in confusion; the human who had been standing right there a moment ago had vanished into thin air. By the time the beast reacted, Mo Hao had already materialized beside the smaller tiger, raising his sword to strike. Wielding the Azure Sun Sword Technique, he lashed out with a barrage of sword qi toward the young beast. However, the lesser tiger possessed formidable strength—a spirit beast at the first tier of the Meridian Condensation late stage. Caught off guard, it was only knocked back half a zhang, sustaining a few faint bloody gashes.

Yet, his objective had already been achieved. Mo Hao had no intention of getting bogged down by the juvenile beast. Seeing its offspring struck back by several sword beams, the parent tiger flew into a furious rage. Crimson light surged within its maw, and a stream of scarlet flames erupted toward Mo Hao. Faster than thought, Mo Hao invoked the Primordial Heaven and Earth Sovereign Art once more, reappearing right beside the Luoping Flower.

He hurriedly retrieved a jade box from his universe bag. This flower had to be placed into a jade box for preservation immediately; otherwise, it would lose the majority of its medicinal efficacy. He uprooted the Luoping Flower entirely and sealed it directly within the box.

Meanwhile, the Scarlet Flame Tiger was utterly incensed. The human cultivator had performed consecutive leaps, batted away its offspring, and snatched the Luoping Flower that it had been guarding and waiting to consume.

The surrounding space constricted, and the ambient temperature soared dramatically. Some of the flames even manifested physically. Mo Hao had already used the Primordial Heaven and Earth Sovereign Art twice, which was his absolute limit. The technique took a heavy toll on his mental focus. Nonetheless, after slightly adjusting his internal spiritual power, he was confident he could manage one final use. Once he executed this last one, he would flee without looking back!

Just as he prepared to cast the technique for the third time, the Scarlet Flame Tiger’s fiery breath came hurtling toward him. At that exact moment, an unexpected anomaly occurred: the surrounding space was suddenly sealed shut. The Scarlet Flame Tiger, having witnessed Mo Hao repeatedly utilizing the spatial technique, had locked down this area.

This caught Mo Hao completely off guard. Meng Xin had never mentioned that the Scarlet Flame Tiger possessed the ability to seal space! But there was no time to ponder this now; the stream of flames was already barreling toward his face. He had no choice but to deploy the Ice Flame Shield to take the brunt of the blow head-on.

Gathering every ounce of his spiritual power, he resisted the blazing fire with all his might. Amidst the resistance, he could even smell the distinct scent of his own hair singeing. The torrent of flames lasted for a full fifteen breaths. Mo Hao retreated step by step while holding the line, and once he had backed away four zhang, he shoved the Ice Flame Shield forcefully forward, swiveled sideways, and bolted in a chosen direction.

The direction he fled was naturally toward the fourth layer, the Profound Flame Abyss. Even now, he could feel the Scarlet Flame Tiger relentlessly hot on his heels.

Shortly after, he burst straight into the fourth layer. The temperature dropped slightly here, finally allowing him to dispense with the Ice Flame Shield against the extreme heat. Simply maintaining a single layer of spiritual protective barrier was enough to easily keep the searing wave at bay. The Scarlet Flame Tiger followed closely behind, crashing into the fourth layer of the Profound Flame Abyss as well. Mo Hao glanced at the environment and shook his head; the next layer down should allow him to remain within the walls of fire without even needing to expend spiritual power.

Harried by the relentless pursuit, he knew this still wasn't the time to fight the beast to the death. He could distinctly sense that the Scarlet Flame Tiger was practically invincible in this fiery realm, capable not only of strengthening itself with the surrounding flames but also of sealing the space to suppress his Primordial Heaven and Earth Sovereign Art.

Making up his mind, Mo Hao plunged directly toward the fifth layer, intending to exploit its lower temperatures to turn the tables and fight the beast. Seeing that Mo Hao did not pause in the fourth layer and instead hurtled toward the fifth, the Scarlet Flame Tiger hurriedly accelerated.

Mo Hao observed the beast's terrifying speed; amidst these flames, it moved no differently than a fish in water.

He refused to believe that if he poured eighty percent of his spiritual power into driving the Heart-Deriving Sword Technique to empower the Cold Paulownia Sword, this spirit beast could still catch up to him. Acting on the thought without a shred of hesitation, Mo Hao made his move.

"Boom!"

With a burst of extreme velocity, the surrounding flames were sucked into the vacuum left by Mo Hao's departure. This time, it was the Scarlet Flame Tiger's turn to be dumbfounded. It never could have imagined that the human cultivator it was just about to catch could elevate his speed to such a terrifying degree in the blink of an eye.

Mo Hao concentrated solely on rushing forward, terrified of being overtaken by the tiger within this layer. If he could reach the fifth layer and conserve a massive amount of spiritual power, he could deal with the beast however he pleased. His top priority right now was to break through to the fifth layer.

Just as the speed of the Cold Paulownia Sword, guided by the Heart-Deriving Sword Technique, began to gradually taper off, the wall of fire leading to the fifth layer quietly materialized. Strangely, that wall of fire seemed to belong exclusively to the fourth layer, while the fifth layer appeared to hold nothing at all.

Overjoyed, Mo Hao executed the Sea-Overturning Art, his feet treading upon towering flames, and stepped directly into the fiery spatial domain of the fifth layer. Calling it a fiery domain was actually inaccurate, for the environment here was indistinguishable from the outside world—devoid of flames, devoid of even a sliver of scorching heat, and with spiritual flowers and grasses even carpeting the ground.

Now able to take a brief respite, he thought of taking out a middle-grade spirit stone. Once he recovered his state, he would be able to do battle with this half-step Foundation Establishment Scarlet Flame Tiger. He refused to believe that the tiger could remain as arrogant here in the fifth layer as a fish in water!

As for the Scarlet Flame Tiger, upon watching Mo Hao enter the fifth layer, it did not follow him inside, instead stopping before the fourth layer's wall of fire to roar in fury.

Seeing that the tiger declined to enter this spatial domain, Mo Hao heaved a massive sigh of relief and leisurely began to inspect his surroundings.

Gazing at the blossoms and greenery, his mood lifted considerably. These flora not only included rare and precious spirit plants, but many species he didn't even recognize, instantly sparking a desire to harvest them all.

He tiptoed toward the plants. In truth, he didn't dare drop his guard entirely; nothing good had happened to him from the first layer of the Profound Flame Abyss all the way here, so he certainly didn't believe that this abundance of flora was simply real.

Approaching closely without any untoward incidents, Mo Hao finally set his pounding heart at ease. He reached out to gently touch a familiar bloom, and the flower actually leaned away to the side. Mo Hao knew at least some of these plants were genuine.

His next task was to use the jade boxes from his own universe bag and those looted from others to harvest the plants. However, the moment his hand brushed against his universe bag, he knew something was terribly wrong. Mo Hao swallowed hard and frantically circulated his internal spiritual power. Not only could the universe bag not be opened, but even his own spiritual power was entirely inaccessible. A cultivator stripped of spiritual power was no different from a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.

This was far worse than a spatial seal; it was a devastating calamity, akin to having one's cultivation completely crippled. Fortunately, the Sea-Overturning Art could still be utilized, otherwise he would be indistinguishable from an ordinary mortal here.

Looking out over the sea of flowers, a pang of reluctance gripped his heart, yet he ultimately refrained from plucking these spiritual materials. Even if he harvested them, to what end? They would only wither along the way. Looking back, he couldn't transport them to be stored in the other layers either; the Scarlet Flame Tiger was guarding the fourth layer, and the path ahead leading to the sixth layer stretched out endlessly beyond the horizon. If plucked now, while they might not wither instantly, a vast amount of their medicinal efficacy and spiritual essence would be lost.

Mo Hao shook his head, gritted his teeth, and stopped admiring the spiritual flora. With no other choice, he trudged blindly forward. After cresting a hill, what came into view was an endless, boundless sea of flowers. While beautiful, this floral ocean lacked even a single point of reference. Mo Hao briefly suspected he was walking in circles, but upon looking back and realizing the fourth layer's wall of fire was completely out of sight, he knew he had been marching straight ahead.

This ocean of blossoms was like a colorful desert. After walking for a full three days, he still hadn't caught sight of the wall leading to the sixth layer. By this point, Mo Hao was parched and thirsty. If ambient spiritual qi were still present, a Meridian Condensation cultivator wouldn't need sustenance at all, but this place contained nothing save for flowers and more flowers, completely devoid of even a shred of the five elements' spiritual qi—or perhaps even if it existed, Mo Hao could no longer sense it!

Walking and stopping, resting among the floral thickets when exhausted, and tossing recognizable spiritual plants into his mouth one by one when hungry or thirsty, he walked incessantly. Eventually, he lost track of how many days had passed.

Looking past yet another vast expanse of flowers to find still more oceans of blossoms stretching out endlessly, Mo Hao deeply wished he could channel his spiritual power to fly with the aid of the Cold Paulownia Sword. It felt like repeating a single action indefinitely, akin to a mortal walking through an infinite sea of gold coins—you can never walk out, and you can never spend the wealth.

Another five days slipped by, and Mo Hao still failed to find the wall of the sixth layer, plunging him into a sense of despair. Falling backward, he collapsed into the flowerbed, his body and mind utterly exhausted. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to rest within this sea of blossoms.

Suddenly, Mo Hao caught an unusual sound—the rustling of a chilly wind sweeping across the floral expanse, causing the entire sea of flowers to resonate.

Mo Hao flipped to his feet. How many days had it been? This was the first time such a phenomenon had occurred here. Could it mean the sixth layer was fast approaching?

Before he could process the thought, however, a dense, dark mass appeared in the distance, as though some creature was stampeding toward him. The distance was too great to make out what was charging in his direction. Mo Hao only knew that given this speed, running was entirely out of the question, nor could he afford to run.

Staying quietly in place to regulate his physical state, he continued to snatch up spiritual plants to chew on while he waited. Soon, the horde of creatures surged close enough for Mo Hao to see clearly. They were a massive pack of wolves. Much like Mo Hao, they seemed incapable of channeling any spiritual power whatsoever, appearing merely as ordinary wolves.

Mo Hao took a deep breath. The wolf pack numbered at least three hundred strong, and rather than bolting off in another direction, they were hurtling straight toward him. At that moment, he understood: ever since entering the Profound Flame Abyss of the Fluorescent Mist Secret Realm, everything had been a trial. Fail to pass, and you die!

Faster than thought, within a few breaths, the pitch-black wolf pack had completely surrounded Mo Hao. Sweeping his gaze around, he spotted a white wolf amidst the pack. He let out a cold snort. Relying on the Sea-Overturning Art, today he would slaughter this reckless pack of beasts.

The white wolf stood at the very front, acting as the pack leader. The saying went: to capture the bandits, capture their king first; to shoot a horse, shoot the rider first. To break this pack, he had to slay this white wolf first.

Acting on the thought, he used the Sea-Overturning Art to kick off the ground and charge straight at the wolf pack. Spotting him rushing forward, the wolves lowered their stances, crouching low as they fixed their gazes on Mo Hao with low, rumbling growls.

The leading white wolf kicked off its front paws, leaping diagonally into the air while unleashing a fierce howl. As if waiting solely for that roar, the rest of the wolf pack surged forward.

"Boom!"

The earth trembled. The surrounding flowers and grasses were kicked up into the air by the charging pack, creating a rain of blossoms across the sky. To any mortal stumbling upon this, it would undoubtedly seem the most beautiful scene they had ever witnessed in their lifetime. Yet Mo Hao’s heart remained heavy; beneath every picturesque landscape lay a shroud of mortal peril.

As the wolf pack closed in with the white wolf leading the charge, Mo Hao took a swift stride to close the distance to the beast. Ignoring the razor-sharp teeth of the other wolves sinking into his flesh, he lunged with both hands to grab the white wolf. Undeterred, the creature dodged nimbly and snapped viciously at Mo Hao’s arm!

Mo Hao made a split-second decision, transforming his hand into an elbow strike, slamming it downward to knock the white wolf crashing to the ground. Simultaneously, he shook off the wolves latched onto his body, flinging them aside. Reaching down, he grabbed the white wolf by the scruff of the neck, heaved it into mid-air, and brought the edge of his palm crashing down upon its spine. As the old adage went: copper heads, iron bones, tofu waists. A wolf's waist was its ultimate vulnerability.

Once crippled, the white wolf lay paralyzed on the ground, unable to mount another attack, yet its eyes still glared viciously at Mo Hao.

Mo Hao sneered. With death looming on the doorstep, it still dared put up such a defiant posture. Before the rest of the pack could react, he curled the five fingers of his right hand into a dragon-claw shape, channeling the full force of the Sea-Overturning Art to drive his hand straight into its neck. Gripping the spine at the base of the wolf's neck, with a violent rip, he tore the white wolf's spinal column out on the spot!