Chapter Seventy: Beef Must Be Grilled

“Go bluff your own Grandpa Niu!” Niu Dingdong glanced around, finding nothing, and was about to ask where Wu Yun had gone when the latter spoke, “If we leave like this, you’ll have no way to explain yourself, right?”

“If I catch you, I’ll be rewarded with an imperial artifact!” Niu Ding laughed heartily, as if the artifact was already in his grasp.

The next moment, Wu Yun poured cold water on his hopes: “You really believe that? The Azure Wave Imperial Serpent would hand over an imperial artifact just because of me? Are you certain it would end up in your hands? Wouldn’t it be submitted to the Celestial Mirror, supervised by your Grandpa Niu? That way, it’s as if an imperial artifact is indirectly transferred from the Azure Wave Imperial Serpent to her husband! You're just a calf—what benefit could you possibly gain?”

Hearing this, Niu Ding fell into deep thought. His mind, led astray by the prospect of imperial artifacts, slowly returned to reason. If there really were rewards, honestly, they would never fall to him.

“A first-rank immortal artifact can be forged into an imperial artifact. How about this: you cut off a piece of your heart for me and count it as my trial completed. This second-rank Resentful Immortal Sword, I’ll return it to you. Anyway, we’ll already be gone and you won’t be able to find us.”

Wu Yun tempted him gently, and Niu Ding responded immediately, “How do we trade?”

“Straightforward! Your beef must be delicious!”

As long as the transaction was safe, this deal was guaranteed to be profitable. Niu Ding cared not which part of his own flesh he cut off; the immortal sword was all he needed.

“The sword’s spirit has already been erased by me. If the Azure Wave Imperial Serpent asks you for it, that’s none of my concern!”

Wu Yun added, and began discussing the exchange. The process was simple: they drew a short-range teleportation array, placed the items for trade inside. At that moment, the items remained in the spatial channel, but the contract was formed. Once both parties verified and agreed, the items would swap positions instantly, the space would shift, and the trade would be complete.

The array, drawn by Niu Ding, was flawless. As the immortal sword and the cut piece of heart entered the contract channel, swish—the transaction concluded.

Niu Ding was ecstatic, holding the second-rank immortal sword and laughing in anger, “Ha! Ha! It was that easy to trick a second-rank immortal sword out of them—what a bargain!”

He gripped the immortal sword, still scanning his surroundings, roaring, “You can’t escape! Daring to eat my flesh, ha!”

The piece of meat transmitted through the array instantly transformed into a small Niu Ding, its battle power at the early Celestial Immortal stage—a heavy price paid to catch Wu Yun.

Yet, in the next moment, he froze.

Above his head, clouds wrapped around the immortal sword and vanished without a trace. Moreover, the small Niu Ding about to unleash its power within the array was ensnared by the necklace on Yue Qi’s neck.

That necklace, composed of eighty-one dark gemstones, lacked great power but possessed illusory array effects.

In the following second, over ten thousand immortal spines taken from the Porcupine Immortal King burrowed into the small Niu Ding’s mouth, piercing his body with a thousand arrows.

These lowest-level immortal artifacts couldn’t cause him real harm, so a spiked ball appeared, rolling around and launching immortal magic attacks.

Then, the Bewildering Blade, acting independently, severed a patch of immortal spines and plunged into the small Niu Ding’s body. In moments, it stripped him of divinity, leaving behind the finest meat, limp on the ground.

The beef was secured, the immortal sword not lost. Wu Yun, smiling devilishly at Greenleaf, seemed like a demon, while the giggling Little Worm exclaimed, “Careful!”

The next instant, just as Wu Yun was victorious, a blade cleaved open his chest—the Bewildering Blade pierced his body, greedily consuming his immortal flesh.

“Senior!”

Everyone shouted in fury, especially Long Yi, who summoned the Six Talents, only to discover that the Ancestral Dragon of Six Talents was trapped within the Bewildering Blade.

From the dragon’s struggling lips, Long Yi read, “Don’t blame me, I have no control!”

Long Yi stepped forward, but the Bewildering Blade unleashed a surge of power that knocked everyone back. Then, a shadow of a blade appeared, expressionless, muttering, “When the Bewildering Blade appears, immortals and demons alike perish!”

The blade quivered twice, failing to extract itself from Wu Yun’s body, about to unleash further might, when the Ancestral Dragon of Six Talents thankfully emerged.

In the next minute, Wu Yun seized the Resentful Immortal Sword, and, as if it were a laser-engraving chip, precisely down to the nanometer, altered the core array within the Bewildering Blade.

“With the blade, I live; without it, I perish. You’ll never kill me unless you destroy this blade.” The newly born spirit of the Bewildering Blade sneered, suddenly shuddering like lightning.

It stared at Wu Yun in surprise, realizing it had lost control over the Bewildering Blade.

“Too bad, the conditions here won’t allow it.” Wu Yun, satisfied with his own skill, watched the fading Bewildering Blade and added, “Do you know why you dislike chopping heads? It’s the array’s doing—your constant energy consumption and growth caused it. If you’d cleaved off my head, dealing with you would have taken even more time!”

Wu Yun seemed to recall some story, and seeing the spirit still muttering, shook his head, “If not for a certain little serpent here, I’d brag without shame—you’d be terrified by my words. This broken artifact is nothing but basic training for my disciples.”

“Back then, I researched countless super-artifacts. Some super-artifacts even disguised themselves as dimensions, forming countless realms in the three worlds.”

...

“Senior, senior!” Little Worm kindly reminded Wu Yun, but even after the spirit vanished, Wu Yun continued boasting, unable to stop, his voice growing weaker.

That previous strike indeed involved some risk; had the blade come down on his head, he would have died.

But within his chest, three immortal body chips had formed—like fishhooks, luring the fish to bite, while the Ancestral Dragon of Six Talents influenced the opponent’s actions.

The double strategy achieved wonders!

As Wu Yun gradually drifted into sleep, his body reverted to a skeletal form, even worse than before—last time he had organs, now he was utterly empty, not even a single intestine.

Wait, there was still the spatial storage bead Long Yi gave him, simulating all his internal organs.

Greenleaf was stunned, especially as the oath contract took effect and Little Worm became his master.

Little Worm slapped away Bear Old Three as he approached, roaring, “Get lost! My property—don’t even think about it!”

When Long Yi looked his way, Little Worm grinned foolishly, “How about Boss Long takes her as a concubine?”

Long Yi snorted, unsure whether he was dissatisfied with Greenleaf or something else, saying, “Don’t dig holes for me—you’re still too green!”

Little Worm blushed, crawled onto Greenleaf’s head, stroked the long hair atop it, and burrowed inside.

“Bah, still cultivating Buddhism?” Bear Old Three cursed, observing Wu Yun’s injuries with the Battle King. It seemed there was no major issue, just extreme weakness.

“Who exactly are you? There are no people like you on Dragon Extinction Star—which planet are you from?”

Faced with Greenleaf’s probing, Long Yi simply smiled and replied, “Observe more, speak less, and you’ll naturally discover where we come from.”

Long Yi glanced at Wu Yun. Healing his wounds would be easy—just find some peculiar objects, absorb them, and he could transform again, forming the unique three-in-one immortal body.

Meanwhile, the enraged Niu Ding rampaged through the glacier, blood spraying from his horns—his fury was clear, boundless.

Just then, the array trembled—the glacier began to collapse and slide.

Everyone held their breath, as Niu Ding’s divine sense swept through.

In that perilous moment, the weakened Wu Yun pointed at Greenleaf. Long Yi, without hesitation, raised his blade. When Wu Yun’s eyelids fluttered, the blade, poised to cut the serpent’s belly, halted. Long Yi stretched out his hand, saying, “The pill!”