"Cough!"
Chen Xia coughed heavily and spat out no small amount of blood.
The three cultivators at the third layer of the Heaven Mending Realm on the ground were dead beyond dead, their souls even crushed by Chen Xia.
"Are you alright?" Ma Xiaohong asked with concern, hugging her sword.
"I'm fine," Chen Xia shook his head and scoffed disdainfully, "Just a trivial fatal wound."
He spat out another mouthful of blood, clutching his chest, and sat directly on the ground. Looking at the Supreme Bones he had torn open, he raised his eyebrows and said,
"The desperate counterattack of this seventh layer Heaven Mending Realm cultivator on his deathbed is quite frightening. He almost managed to trade his life for mine."
He grumbled again,
"Trading my ninth layer Inverse Sea Realm life for his seventh layer Heaven Mending Realm life is too much of a loss."
As it is well known, nine is greater than seven.
Ma Xiaohong hurriedly came over. She first looked at Chen Xia worriedly, then without hesitation, placed her hand directly on Chen Xia’s bloodied chest. Her beautiful eyebrows were tightly furrowed as she chanted softly,
“Merge, perfect, complete.”
The three-word mnemonic.
Bright rays of light emerged from her downcast eyes, like sacred rays, quickly spreading to her hand and then covering Chen Xia's chest.
The blood flowed back, the wound healed.
Then the spiritual energy circulated back, restoring the meridians and acupoints.
After five breaths’ time had passed, the most tattered thing on Chen Xia’s body was his clothes.
“You’re so capable!” Even Chen Xia was somewhat surprised. He looked at Ma Xiaohong rather shocked. No wonder those old fellows in the Domain wanted to send such a timid and weak Inverse Sea Realm cultivator like Ma Xiaohong into the Domain. Turns out her Physique Mystic Art is so against the heavens!
Ma Xiaohong’s face was pale. She smiled weakly then collapsed onto the ground as well, hugging her sword. She faced Chen Xia.
She had to consume lifespan to utilize her Physique Mystic Art. It was unclear exactly how much she consumed, but since her appearance did not change too drastically, it probably wasn’t too much.
Chen Xia rummaged through his personal storage treasure for a bit before taking out two medicinal pills and handing them to Ma Xiaohong, “Replenish yourself a bit.”
“Alright,” Ma Xiaohong hurriedly accepted them and put them in her mouth. Still weak, she sat on the ground facing him.
And so the two of them sat there facing each other.
"What is... that?" Ma Xiaohong suddenly asked, pointing at the bone frame.
"Haha, an old friend," Chen Xia laughed in reply. He beckoned the bone frame over and waved it in front of Ma Xiaohong a couple times. Chuckling, he asked,
"Can you recognize who this is?"
"Uh..." Ma Xiaohong blinked her bright eyes. She really did not recognize it and did not dare to look too closely at the bloody bone frame either. She could only shake her head.
"This is Yi Huo," Chen Xia said with a laugh. At the same time, he manipulated the half skeleton to make a pose and gave a 'yeah!'.
He had a talent for posing.
Ma Xiaohong's eyes widened in shock as she dumbfoundedly looked at the bone frame, completely unable to associate it with the arrogant Yi Huo in her mind.
Chen Xia, on the other hand, started cleaning up the battlefield. The three Heaven Mending Realm cultivators had some scattered magic treasures on them that were decent quality, but too low for Chen Xia and too high for Ma Xiaohong, making them awkward to use.
Added up, there were 100,000 spirit stones, a satisfactory harvest that Chen Xia took as his share of luck.
Aside from these, Chen Xia also looted Yi Huo. The most valuable thing was estimated to be this half frame of Supreme Bones.
Cultivators had mystic arts that could exchange bones. They could integrate these Supreme Bones into their own bodies to obtain the Supreme Bone mystic art.
Although there would be some rejection, unable to completely integrate with the Supreme Bones, it could at least strengthen and improve one’s talents.
Therefore, some people paid heavy prices for the remains of supreme talents like these Supreme Bones.
The second most valuable thing was the Minor Dao Fruit that Yi Huo had obtained.
The Dao Fruit was the fruit formed from the Great Dao, containing traces of Dao meaning. By consuming it, cultivators could have an opportunity to experience the true meaning of the Great Dao. As for exactly how much one could comprehend, that depended on one’s own perception.
The Minor Dao Fruit was a weakened version of the Dao Fruit. It only allowed cultivators to perceive some truth of the Great Dao, and for an extremely short period of time.
Although this was the case, the Minor Dao Fruit was still an extremely good treasure, especially for twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm cultivators who desperately needed them. Being able to perceive even a hint of the Great Dao’s truth may allow them to take the crucial step to affix the title ‘Saint’ before their name.
While these things were valuable, they were useless to Chen Xia at the moment. He laid out the magic treasures like a street peddler and said to Ma Xiaohong,
"Pick two items if you fancy anything."
"Huh? I can take some too?" Ma Xiaohong was surprised.
"I'm looting and plundering. As my accomplice, you definitely get a share," Chen Xia said matter-of-factly.
Ma Xiaohong blinked. Although she felt his rationale was questionable, she wanted the magic treasures. She carefully picked two inconspicuous items.
And so, their division of the spoils ended. Chen Xia stored away the remaining treasures and continued to manipulate his flying sword to scout information about these Quasi-Saint Ruins.
The flying sword hid amongst the greyish-white mist, concealing its aura and becoming even more covert. But it was still discovered by a few high level cultivators.
Fortunately, the flying sword escaped quickly. And because they were in the Quasi-Saint Ruins, those high level cultivators did not dare chase recklessly either. So Chen Xia’s flying sword had not taken any damage up to this point.
The current situation in the Quasi-Saint Ruins was that several twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm great cultivators were in charge, seizing a lot of opportunities.
But there were also conflicts between them, resulting in many bloody battles. One twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm great cultivator was already heavily injured and went into secluded cultivation inside his own minor heaven and earth to heal.
The Domain’s Supreme Elder had also battled a few times, but he kept winning because of his powerful strength. Along the way, he met other Domain cultivators, increasing the size of his group, and naturally their strength grew even more powerful.
The original nine Domain cultivators who were transported separately now had five gathered. The other four were still missing, possibly having died in battles.
The Supreme Elder was somewhat worried. He kept searching for traces of the other Domain cultivators, but he did not care about cultivators from other Domains. His main concern was finding Yi Huo.
"Have any of you heard news about Yi Huo?" The Supreme Elder could not help asking.
The other Domain cultivators shook their heads. "The Quasi-Saint Ruins are too large. We really have not heard anything.”
The Supreme Elder frowned, also helpless to do anything but reassure himself, “Yi Huo is very powerful. Unless he encountered another twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm cultivator, he should not run into any problems."
He mumbled again,
"Besides, in the Great Death Realm, even twelfth layer Heaven Mending Realm cultivators will have their strength suppressed. To kill Yi Huo would still require considerable effort..."
The Supreme Elder's expression was grave as he repeated in a low voice,
"Impossible. It should be impossible."
"Come, let's make a pose," Chen Xia laughed lightly. He positioned the Supreme Bones to make a pose and framed it together with Ma Xiaohong.
Using his spiritual energy, he recorded this picture, intending to show the Supreme Elder later and give the old man a nice surprise.
"Done... done?" Ma Xiaohong's smile grew stiff as she made an expression like she was under duress.
"Perfect," Chen Xia nodded.
Ma Xiaohong's smile immediately collapsed. She looked at Chen Xia worriedly and asked in a small voice,
"Chen Xia, does this count as us betraying the Domain?"
Chen Xia shook his head and righteously stated,
"As long as we kill them all, then we would be the Domain’s legitimate faction. It is them who betrayed us."
It could only be said that he understood where to stand.