"Not dead?" Lu Yu frowned.
Looking at Yang Xiu, who was dug out from the ground by other students after the black bear spirit fled, Lu Yu squeezed his fingers, contemplating whether to strike him down directly.
Considering that there were mentors leading the team into Kugu Ridge initially, and now the mentors from Beifeng Academy have vanished mysteriously, perhaps they are watching from the shadows. It’s better not to make a move himself.
Anyway, Yang Xiu looks half-dead already; just find another accident to finish him off.
As he was thinking, Lu Yu suddenly noticed a small black dot in the distance, and came up with an idea. He said to Yu Xiaoman beside him, "Do you want to see a phoenix?"
"A phoenix?" Yu Xiaoman looked up curiously at Lu Yu, "Have you seen a phoenix?"
"I’ve never seen a phoenix, but I have seen a fire phoenix. That fire phoenix was beautiful, lighting up half the sky when it flew."
Lu Yu recalled the fire phoenix attack from the Fire Spirit King and spoke with understanding.
"Beautiful! Lighting up half the sky!" Yu Xiaoman couldn’t help but yearn for it.
Glancing into the distance, Lu Yu smiled and nodded with satisfaction, "Let’s head down the mountain."
Yu Xiaoman was still pondering the beautiful fire phoenix Lu Yu described, the one that could light up half the sky.
"Caw caw caw~" A vulture, almost stripped of its feathers with flames rising from its body, saw the black bear spirit covered in wounds escaping miserably and made mocking cries.
The black bear spirit glanced at the vulture, ignored its mockery, and continued fleeing to areas far from humans.
The vulture followed the black bear spirit all the way, constantly making mocking sounds, with a greedy look in its eyes. It wanted to eat the black bear spirit’s flesh.
The black bear spirit could no longer endure it, stopped, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it at the vulture. The vulture easily ascended, evading the black bear spirit’s attack. Just as it was about to continue mocking, it caught a whiff of a fragrant smell.
It was the smell of fresh corpses.
The vulture looked in the direction of the scent and saw a group of human figures, as small as ants, carrying their companions’ bodies, salivating at the mouth with yellow drool dripping.
Glancing at the black bear spirit below full of momentum, the vulture turned and flew toward that group of humans.
Compared to fresh corpses, it preferred eating rotting corpses, especially those highly decayed with maggots growing inside. The rotten flesh combined with tender, juicy white maggots exploding with juice when bitten was particularly delicious.
But it’s no problem; the vulture itself has the ability to make corpses rot quickly, although it can’t foster those tender, juicy maggots. That’s the highest delicacy one can’t enjoy without the baptism of time.
"Caw caw caw~" A putrid gray-black gale blew toward the disciples of Beifeng Academy.
"Corruption Flame Vulture!"
"Everyone, quickly protect your bodies with spiritual power, don’t let the corruption fire in the black wind get on you!"
A glow of spiritual light shone on everyone’s bodies. The living were shielded by spiritual light, and the corruption fire in the black wind couldn’t harm them. But the already dead, unprotected by spiritual light, rapidly turned ashen when touched by the corruption fire, their bellies swelling quickly like balloons.
Someone wanted to use their spiritual power to protect the bodies, but a student shouted, "Don’t touch those corpses!"
Bang~ The rapidly expanding belly exploded, spreading the innards already rotted by the corruption fire everywhere. Fortunately, everyone was shielded by spiritual light, avoiding contamination.
"Go! Hurry, leave the bodies." A student waved, urging everyone to quickly leave.
Yang Xiu, being supported by a student, struggled to maintain his spiritual light from dissipating and moved slowly forward. If it weren’t for the life-saving spiritual treasure given by his family, he would be dead after the black bear spirit’s slap.
He couldn’t figure out how the rock hit his head. With his perception ability, it’s impossible not to notice an ordinary rock flying toward him. The whole thing seemed eerie.
Bang! Not far from Yang Xiu, a body’s belly exploded, and the liquid mixed with the corruption fire splashed onto Yang Xiu’s face, almost making him lose his spiritual light.
The student supporting him saw Yang Xiu splashed all over his face, his spiritual light unstable. Fearing he might think he did it on purpose, he quickly said, "Senior Yang, are you alright? Do you want me to carry you?"
Wiping the foul-smelling liquid from his face, Yang Xiu replied gloomily, "I’m fine, let’s go, I don’t need you to carry me."
Although the spiritual light covered the body like a thin film preventing the liquid from actually touching the skin, the stench was unbearable. Even if it didn’t genuinely reach the skin, mentally it was uncomfortable, always feeling unclean.
"Ugh~" Yu Xiaoman hugged a rock, vomiting onto the ground. Despite the wind blowing away from her, sparing her the stench of decomposing bodies, the visual impact of exploding corpses, spraying their insides everywhere made her vomit profusely.
"Drink some hot water, drink hot water and you’ll get used to it." Lu Yu handed Yu Xiaoman hot water he had heated himself, comforting her.
Yu Xiaoman looked at Lu Yu with a face of grievance. Was this the phoenix lighting up half the sky (black wind covering half the sky), the beautiful fire phoenix (the ugly featherless vulture)?
Lu Yu turned his head, looking elsewhere, ignoring her questioning gaze.
Don’t look at me, I didn’t say anything. I only mentioned seeing a fire phoenix, not this vulture. It’s none of my business.
After rinsing her mouth with hot water repeatedly, Yu Xiaoman felt the taste in her mouth return to normal, although her throat was still burning and uncomfortable.
Finding it unbearable to be looked at like that, Lu Yu had to say, "Alright! It’s my fault for letting you see something like that."
"Here, this is compensation for your wounded heart." Lu Yu handed Yu Xiaoman a dark blue Primordial Spirit Fruit. The Primordial Spirit Fruit is similar to the Fire Spirit Fruit, except it contains non-attributed spiritual qi, suitable for all Martial Cultivators to absorb, especially for ordinary people, and is slightly more expensive than the Fire Spirit Fruit, costing 40,000 Points.
But to Lu Yu, 30,000 and 40,000 are pretty much the same.
Taking the Primordial Spirit Fruit, Yu Xiaoman curiously asked, "What is this?" The Primordial Spirit Fruit looked like a ripe peach, except it was dark blue, appearing plump and juicy.
"Primordial Spirit Fruit, it can increase your cultivation level after eating it."
For Yu Xiaoman, who has never cultivated, the Primordial Spirit Fruit can indeed increase her cultivation level, allowing her to jump directly to the third level of the Body Refinement stage with no adverse effects.
However, relying solely on natural treasures for realm promotion typically yields little combat power. Their bodies are filled with unrefined spiritual qi, possessing empty realms without strength.
Anyway, since Yu Xiaoman doesn’t need to fight, enhancing her realm and boosting her qi blood, allowing her to walk faster is beneficial.
To explain to the possibly uninitiated Yu Xiaoman what increasing cultivation level meant, Lu Yu added, "It’s like leveling up, enhancing your attributes, making you faster and stronger."
"Can I punch through trees or kick down walls?" Yu Xiaoman asked with stars in her eyes.
"Eating several might let you achieve that."
Even without refining the spiritual qi within, the qi blood enhanced by the Primordial Spirit Fruit could enable Yu Xiaoman to possess enough strength to break trees and kick down walls; Lu Yu wasn’t lying about this.
Then Lu Yu felt Yu Xiaoman’s realm soaring, somewhat beyond his expectations. One Primordial Spirit Fruit elevated Yu Xiaoman to the fifth level of the Body Refinement stage. In his estimation, at least three would be needed to reach the fifth level of Body Refinement.
Ling Yuyan watched Yu Xiaoman, her eyes reflecting a knowing expression. She had long surmised Yu Xiaoman possessed some special constitution.
The fact that Yu Xiaoman could reach the fifth level of Body Refinement with one Primordial Spirit Fruit thrilled her, indicating that Yu Xiaoman’s compatibility with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was excellent, possibly being a natural Spirit Body.