When he saw the other party yield, Lin Xiao slightly loosened his grip so the youth could speak.
The cyan-clothed youth said at once, “This is Sacred Province, Zixi Forest. Although it is far from our Bimu Clan headquarters, it still counts as beast clan territory. You humans come to our beast clan lands to snatch opportunities. Naturally we will attack you.”
“What? Sacred Province?”
Lin Xiao was instantly stunned.
He had reached Sacred Province already?
Instead of appearing somewhere in Yang Province?
The Domain of Evil, and the Death White Rock that emerged within it, were supposed to be in the southeast of Yang Province. How could breaking out have carried him across an entire province straight into the central Sacred Province?
Did Death White Rock, one of the continent’s nine great forbidden zones, actually span two provinces?
Or had it always been moving?
Perhaps it had been drawn toward the Domain of Evil and then shifted into Sacred Province territory?
Shock and bewilderment filled Lin Xiao’s heart.
Sssk!
Seeing Lin Xiao stunned, the cyan-clothed youth suddenly forced back the spiritual energy enveloping him. His palm turned the colour of wood and, sharp as a blade, stabbed fiercely toward Lin Xiao’s heart.
“Courting death!”
Lin Xiao’s expression hardened. His hand tightened. Crack! The youth’s throat was crushed outright. Cyan blood sprayed as the head flew off.
Yet this youth still dared to counter-attack at such a moment. He was simply asking to die!
However, what happened next left Lin Xiao dumbfounded.
Even with its throat crushed and head severed, the force of that palm did not weaken. On the contrary, it grew stronger and struck Lin Xiao squarely in the chest.
Clang!
Lin Xiao’s physical body was extremely tough. The opponent’s palm failed to pierce even a fraction of an inch.
Meanwhile, the headless youth appeared greatly shocked. Its body jerked violently and bolted madly away.
Lin Xiao was flabbergasted.
Its head had been torn off and it could still live?
Sssk! Sssk!
It had not fled far when a new head regrew.
Sssk!
At that instant, a humanoid mass of spiritual energy containing three types of power shot toward the cyan youth with claws and fangs bared.
Unable to dodge, the youth was struck full in the back by the tri-coloured black energy.
“Aaahhh!!!”
A miserable scream rang out. After being hit by the energy mass, the youth was scorched by lightning, incinerated by flame, and devoured whole. His body vanished completely inside the spiritual-energy cluster.
When the energy finally dissipated, nothing remained of the cyan youth in the void.
Clearly, he had been burned to ashes by the spiritual energy.
Even the ability to regrow a head could not withstand the incineration of spiritual energy.
Lin Xiao looked again at the severed head he had crushed. It had already turned into a straight, wooden-looking object.
“Bimu Clan… could they be spirit insects evolved from Bimu worms?”
Lin Xiao murmured in astonishment.
He had never heard of the Bimu Clan, but he did know of Bimu worms: insects that resembled pieces of wood, similar to stick insects yet far larger.
Like snails, very few ever became spirit insects, and even fewer reached the level where they could assume human form.
Yet according to this youth, there appeared to be an entire Bimu Clan in this region, seemingly a force of considerable strength.
Did that mean a powerful clan of Bimu spirit insects existed here?
Moreover, the vitality of Bimu worms was simply too tenacious. Even piercing the heart allowed regeneration. Snapping the neck allowed a new head to grow.
Just where was their spirit nucleus located?
Whether spirit insect or spirit beast, they all cultivated a spirit nucleus, the true source of their power.
In ordinary spirit beasts, the nucleus was in the head. Once severed or destroyed, it was equivalent to a human having their dantian crippled.
Lin Xiao was certain the cyan youth’s spirit nucleus had definitely not been in the head.
Otherwise, the youth could not possibly have found the strength to flee so quickly afterward.
The nucleus must be elsewhere. If he knew where, he could kill them instantly next time.
Lin Xiao sliced open the wooden head with force. As expected, there was no spirit nucleus inside.
Of course, what shocked Lin Xiao, apart from the Bimu Clan spirit beasts, was hearing the name Tianluo Spirit Snail from the youth’s mouth.
He had no idea what kind of spirit beast a Tianluo Spirit Snail was, but its power was probably similar to his own devouring vortex. Otherwise the youth would not have immediately associated the two.
This region really was extraordinarily strange.
Since the youth had been completely killed and the rest of the spirit beasts eliminated, obtaining more information would require finding others.
The most important piece of news, however, was that Lin Xiao now knew he had entered Sacred Province territory.
That meant he no longer needed to use the Ji family’s province-level teleportation array to travel from Yang Province to Sacred Province.
He could head straight to Spirit Pool Island on his own, without worrying about whether he could catch the Ji family’s array opening, and without fear of any mishaps at an array controlled by the Ji family.
Lin Xiao was overjoyed. By sheer accident, emerging from Death White Rock had brought him directly into Sacred Province.
He simply did not know exactly which part of Sacred Province he was in.
Sacred Province was also vast beyond measure. Spirit Pool Island lay toward the south. If he had appeared in the far north, he would still have a very long journey ahead.
“Yang Province lies southeast of Sacred Province. Logically, after crossing Yang Province we should have emerged in the southeast part of Sacred Province. It shouldn’t be possible to appear suddenly somewhere else…” Lin Xiao speculated silently, though he had no confidence. After all, going straight from Yang Province to Sacred Province was already an immense distance. Appearing even farther away was not impossible.
The nine great forbidden zones of the continent were simply too mysterious.
“There must be other people in this forest!”
Sweeping his gaze around, Lin Xiao flew toward another area.
The moment those beasts had seen a human they had attacked, which meant humans must have trespassed here and provoked their hostility.
This place definitely held more than just him and the dozen-plus spirit beasts from earlier.
After cautiously flying through the forest for half a day, Lin Xiao finally spotted more figures.
It was a team of twelve: four youths, four middle-aged men, and four elders.
Every one of them was at high-tier Martial Emperor realm, and two of the elders had even reached half-step Martial Saint.
Clearly, this was an extremely powerful squad.
Lin Xiao flew straight toward the group.
Now that he had his petrification power as a trump card, he could easily sweep aside even half-step Martial Saints. There was no longer any need to avoid them.
When the group noticed Lin Xiao’s sudden appearance, they all grew wary.
“First Layer Martial Emperor?”
Sensing the First Layer Martial Emperor aura Lin Xiao deliberately released, their wariness turned to astonishment and then to utter disbelief.
A human youth at merely First Layer Martial Emperor realm… could actually survive in this region?
