Chapter 1186: 1186

“Zhongdong?”

When he heard what the old man said, Fang Qiu was somewhat surprised.

In addition to Wulin in Huaxia, he thought he knew the situation in the Zhongdong circle best.

To retrieve the plutonium, he had stayed in Zhongdong for a long period of time. That was why he had gained some understanding of the various forces there.

However, he didn’t know that there was such a talent hiding in Zhongdong.

Divine Envoys from two first-class forces, Gospel Division and Truth Division, were known to be the most competent. The strength of the old man before him was as powerful as the two Divine Envoys, but little was known about him in Zhongdong, and no one had even heard of him, which was quite surprising.

“Senior.”

Fang Qiu looked at him and said, “You need to make a breakthrough using the ancient relic in order to become a guru and prolong your life. That is your purpose for coming to Huaxia, right?”

“Humph.”

However, the elder gave Fang Qiu the cold shoulder and sneered, “I don’t want to waste my energy on you. If you don’t want to die, get out of my sight. Don’t block my way. If you make a foolish choice, don’t blame me for killing you!”

“I also have something to tell you.”

Fang Qiu said indifferently, “The last person who wanted to live a few more years like you died in my hands!”

“Ha-ha…”

The old man smiled and looked at Fang Qiu with a cold glint in his eyes.

“If you quit now, you still stand a chance to break through the last barrier in the remaining days. If you fight with me, there will be no tomorrow for you!” Fang Qiu said.

“I’m already dying. Why would I be afraid of threats?”

The elder stabbed the walking stick in his hand into the ground, its blunt end instantly sinking into the thick ice.

With a buzz, a strange aura around the old man surged out, which gave off such a menacing air that no one was willing to get close to him.

It had a creepy and horrifying aura. It was as if one who had a cleanliness compulsive disorder found himself among thickly dotted ants and poisonous insects in the deep mountains.

“Poison?”

Fang Qiu was secretly shocked.

He could feel that the power from this old man contained poison!

How did he manage to cultivate it?

The power of the five elements could be separated and gathered between heaven and earth, but where did he get this kind of poison-type power?

The only possibility would be…

He grasped a technique!

If he used the technique to turn all his internal Qi to poison, he should, first of all, make his body poisonous. When his internal Qi circulated inside his toxic body, he would get the power he wanted!

Of course, Fang Qiu was just surprised but not afraid.

After all, he was almost immune to poison. Using poison to take away his life was only this elder’s ideal wish, though he was merely a Half-step Guru!

Fang Qiu thought it over.

“Boy, you’re in good health. I won’t let you die so easily. I’ll turn you into a poisonous corpse and help you to live.”

As the old man spoke, he couldn’t help grinning evilly.

Fang Qiu heard what he said.

His face suddenly clouded over.

“Poisonous corpses?

“In foreign countries, they’re called living corpses; in Huaxia, they’re known as zombies!

“This old man is capable of doing such things and seems utterly devoid of any conscience. It seems that he must have done a lot of similar things and ruined countless people.

“No wonder he couldn’t break through and become a guru.

“This evil man who is extremely wicked deserves to die!”

“Rise!”

Before Fang Qiu could make a move, the elder uttered a bloodcurdling roar. A layer of faint green light suddenly erupted from his wrinkled face and turbid eyes. Then, a stream of green energy billowed out of his body, which directly transformed into nine dark green crows behind him.

Each crow, about the size of a human head, was entirely green. Even their eyes were as green as the eyes of the old man. At a glance, they looked terrifying and gave one a horrible feeling.

“Mine Crow Bite!”

When the crows took shape, the elder waved his hand violently and the nine dark green crows fluttered their wings and cawed loudly as they flew toward Fang Qiu.

“Hmm?”

Fang Qiu raised his eyebrows, and the internal Qi inside him immediately surged out, condensing into a shield covering him. Then, he made a grasping motion in the void with his right hand and formed his divine sword!

“Three-point Shadowless.”

Facing the nine crows coming rapidly toward him, Fang Qiu didn’t dare to hesitate any longer; his right hand brandishing the divine sword to launch its first strike.

He went on waving his arm.

Three sword shadows were instantly separated from the divine sword.

This time, the three sword shadows didn’t overlap quickly. Instead, under Fang Qiu’s control, each flew to confront the three crows!

“Puff.”

Unexpectedly…

The moment the two sides collided; the three sword shadows cleaved through the three crows as effortlessly as cutting through soft tofu.

The nine crows instantly dispersed.

But…

After they scattered, the nine crows smoothly turned into a large cloud of poisonous green gas which sailed toward Fang Qiu, threatening to engulf him. They didn’t meet any resistance at all.

“Hmm?”

Fang Qiu’s face changed drastically.

He didn’t expect the old man to have such perfect control over his internal Qi!

Fang Qiu crumbled under his attack, but still, he managed to gather his broken internal Qi and continue to attack. This was not something an ordinary practitioner could do.

At least it proved that the old man had gathered all his spiritual force and focused his attention on this move, so he could control his internal Qi and be able to react in no time.

However…

His petty tricks didn’t seem to work against Fang Qiu.

“I can do nothing to your phantoms.”

Staring at the elder who stayed rooted to the spot, Fang Qiu said in a cold voice, “Then I’ll attack your main body!”

With this, he ignored the poisonous green gas that gushed over, taking the initiative to rush forward and trying to pass through this layer of poisonous gas to attack the old man.

“Pa!”

There was a crisp sound.

When he touched the toxic green gas, Fang Qiu failed to penetrate through it. Instead, he seemed to have knocked into a wall. A strong force blocked his way, and he couldn’t get through the gas at all!

“Huh?”

Fang Qiu, surprised and bewildered, stopped his attack.

It was the first time that he had encountered such a situation. How could the elder’s internal Qi be so formidable?

Fang Qiu was in a state of shock.

“Caw… Caw…”

The shrill cries of the crows came. The green energy, which was as impregnable as an iron wall, suddenly turned back into nine crows. They pounced on Fang Qiu from all directions, clawing and pecking at him!

“Whiz!”

Without having any time to think about it, Fang Qiu flexibly waved the long sword in his right hand, drew a pattern before him, and slashed wildly at the nine crows.

His second attack still did not instantly break up these crows. Instead, they crashed into the divine sword in Fang Qiu’s hand like weapons made of steel.

“Interesting.”

Fang Qiu narrowed his eyes and quickly wielded the long sword in his hand to battle against the nine crows and took up a daunting stance.

He attacked non-stop.

Meanwhile, Fang Qiu carefully observed his opponent’s every move.

He found that the elder stood stock-still no matter how fiercely they fought. Usually, an expert better than Martial Superiors would more or less attract some Qi of Heaven and Earth, even without any deliberate cultivation. Unlike them, the old man seemed isolated entirely from the Qi of Heaven and Earth. During the whole fierce battle, he didn’t absorb any Qi of Heaven and Earth. This was the most peculiar thing Fang Qiu noticed about him.

The internal Qi he used had not changed much.

As if…

The internal Qi he possessed was completely fixed. It would not increase or weaken easily. After all, unlike others, the internal Qi he used would not be easily destroyed.

“So that’s how it is!”

Fang Qiu realized the truth in an instant.

What the old man used for cultivation was poison-type power. He even successfully implanted the poison into his body and his internal Qi. However, it was difficult to turn internal Qi into poison. Once his poisonous internal Qi was scattered, he had to absorb and transform a new batch to produce more.

Therefore, to save himself from the trouble, he shut his body off and stopped absorbing the Qi of Heaven and Earth from the outside world. Beyond that, he began raising his internal Qi in the enclosure. With his strong spiritual force, he controlled his Internal Qi well so that it would not be scattered in the event of any heavy attacks.

In other words, the internal Qi he could use was limited.

The elder consumed his internal Qi very slowly. After all, as long as he used up his internal Qi, the elder would require a slightly longer time than ordinary martial arts practitioners to recover!

To ensure the internal Qi he replenished was all poisonous, the only thing he could absorb was the internal Qi generated inside him.

But that special kind of internal Qi grew very slowly!

There was another critical point: the spiritual force!

It was the first time Fang Qiu had met an opponent with such a strong spiritual force.

Without a mighty spiritual force, the old rival couldn’t keep his poisonous internal Qi under effective control.

That was to say…

All the crows that were transformed from his internal Qi were under the control of the old man’s spiritual force!

“You’re really impressive!”

After blocking the nine crows coming at him maniacally, Fang Qiu quickly took a few steps back and said with his eyes fixed on the old man.

He was the strongest among all the Half-step Gurus that Fang Qiu had ever fought with.

It was not only because of his peculiar cultivation method but also because of the strength he showed. This kind of combat capability was incomparable to that of other Half-step Gurus.

Moreover…

After exchanging a few moves, Fang Qiu clearly sensed his strength was almost the same as that of a guru. He might even break through to become a guru in the next second!

It was a pity.

Although the old man was powerful, he wasn’t much of a threat to Fang Qiu.

First of all, Fang Qiu was not afraid of poison!

With his strength as a guru, he could completely ward off the old man’s poison, not forgetting that he was a Chinese medicine practitioner!

Besides…

Fang Qiu’s advantage was precisely the same as his!

“Let me see how strong your spiritual force is.”

The nine crows under the elder’s control launched another vicious onslaught. Seeing this, an idea occurred to Fang Qiu and his Divine Consciousness immediately burst out, turning into an entity. It controlled his invisible internal Qi, which then collided violently against the nine crows.

The two sides crashed head-on.

At that moment, the nine crows that had arrived in front of Fang Qiu suddenly froze in their tracks.

They stopped motionless in mid-air!

The old man, who had been standing where he was without any expression on his face, suddenly raised his head and stared at Fang Qiu. His dark green eyes were full of disbelief!