Chapter 160: The Cuckoo Occupies the Magpie's Nest

Zhou Peng was not a wealthy cultivator with deep pockets like Xu Feng, and possessing two superior-grade defensive talismans was already his absolute limit; otherwise, he would not have hesitated to deploy them.

"Hmph! I refuse to believe I cannot blow you to smithereens."

Xiao Wenzi scoffed coldly in his mind. The moment he violently slammed into the protective barrier, his body rapidly expanded and detonated with a deafening roar.

Boom! The Demonic Flame Cauldron self-detonated along with his body. Although the might was somewhat inferior to the explosion produced after devouring the enemy's fireball earlier, Zhou Peng was already injured and drained at this moment.

As the protective barrier formed by the talisman shattered, his inner protective spiritual light held out for only a brief moment before it was once again blasted apart by the shockwave of the explosion. Even so, the destructive force of Xiao Wenzi's self-detonation was nearly spent.

Puff! Puff! Zhou Peng coughed up mouthfuls of fresh blood once more, with wounds tearing open across his chest and lower abdomen. He knew that if he did not flee immediately, another self-detonation from that demonic mosquito would truly inflict fatal injuries upon him.

In this unfavorable environment deep beneath the earth, once severely wounded, there was a real possibility he would perish here—an outcome Zhou Peng was utterly unwilling to face.

Yet just as he pulled out an Earth Escaping Talisman, a piercingly bright blade-light flashed out from the rocky cavern wall, plunging directly through his back.

Screaming miserably, Zhou Peng turned his head to look, only to see yellowish-brown earth light flickering as a graceful, doll-faced young maiden emerged from the rock.

When Chu Xin'er was in seclusion within the subterranean immortal cave last time, not only had she thoroughly consolidated her early-stage realm with the aid of the Flame Foundation Pill, but her cultivation had also progressed by leaps and bounds.

This time, equipped with the stone platform capable of purifying spiritual energy and accelerating cultivation speed, alongside an endless supply of superior-grade water spiritual stones, she had already reached the perfection of the early Foundation Establishment stage a few days prior.

Because the enemy was unknown and terrifying, she had no time to slowly cultivate, comprehend, and steadily advance. Thus, she had taken out and consumed the Crimson Jade Berry, attempting to forcefully breach the bottleneck of the middle stage.

Swallowing the Crimson Jade Berry directly was undoubtedly less effective than refining it into a proper spiritual pill. Coupled with the fact that Chu Xin'er had only recently broken through to the perfection of the early Foundation Establishment stage and her comprehension of the realm had not yet naturally matured, the process of assaulting the bottleneck was far from smooth.

Fortunately, she possessed an abundance of superior-grade water spiritual stones and the stone platform capable of accelerating time by more than tenfold. Relying on the pure spiritual energy currents within the stone platform and taking several days, she finally succeeded in breaking through.

No sooner had she completed her breakthrough than Chu Xin'er faintly caught the sounds of an explosion echoing from within the distant mountain walls. The sound was extremely faint; had she not broken through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage, she might not have been able to perceive it at all.

Deep underground as they were, who would be fighting here? When Chu Xin'er searched her surroundings and failed to find Xiao Wenzi, only to spot a small tunnel carved into one of the rocky walls, she understood instantly.

Therefore, disregarding the danger of being crushed by the immense pressure of the earth, she hurried over in haste using the Earth Escaping Talisman obtained from Wei Suo.

Along the way, Chu Xin'er heard yet another violent explosion. She was intimately familiar with that sound wave; it was the desperate life-or-death measure Xiao Wenzi would resort to when encountering an unbeatable foe.

Anxious at heart and unable to spare time to consolidate her realm, she put away the stone platform and rushed over at full speed. Just in time, she encountered the newly wounded Zhou Peng and without hesitation unleashed her Willow Leaf Blade to launch a sneak attack.

With his heart pierced and shattered, Zhou Peng was truly suffering a devastating blow this time. He gritted his teeth and said angrily, "You conniving demonic girl, knowing only how to shoot cold arrows from the shadows! What kind of a hero do you think..."

From beginning to end, Zhou Peng believed that Chu Xin'er had utilized some special technique to conceal herself in the dark, which was why she was able to despicable and shamelessly gain the upper hand. But at this point, saying anything was already too late.

Knowing he could not fight head-on, he wanted to stall for time with empty words. After all, he was not the only squad searching this region; as long as he could hold out until reinforcements arrived, he still had a chance of survival.

Regrettably, Chu Xin'er's combat experience was immensely rich. Without wasting any breath, she unleashed her Golden Sword, Willow Leaf Blade, and Flying Needle magical instruments all at once, launching a furious barrage of slashing and chopping upon Zhou Peng.

A shattered heart might not be a fatal injury to certain formidable high-level cultivators, but Zhou Peng was merely in the Foundation Establishment stage. The excruciating agony crippled his ability to circulate his spiritual energy smoothly, leaving him completely helpless against the pristine and fully energized Chu Xin'er.

Within mere breaths, amidst his miserable shrieks, his head was cleanly severed, sealing his fate of complete annihilation with his soul scattered into nothingness.

A gray shadow flashed, and Xiao Wenzi materialized out of thin air. Looking at Chu Xin'er, who had arrived just in time to slay Zhou Peng, a long sigh of relief involuntarily escaped his heart.

During the previous self-detonations, he had already consumed four red hearts. If those still failed to eliminate the enemy, he would inevitably have had to stake his life once more.

Furthermore, since Zhou Peng had managed to track them down here, there was no telling if others might follow. Now that Chu Xin'er had concluded her seclusion, the two of them could finally devise a plan to escape.

The best way to evade pursuers was to figure out their "routine" and then formulate targeted countermeasures based on the actual situation.

Consequently, at Xiao Wenzi's telepathic prompt, Chu Xin'er walked toward the trembling young cultivator cowering on the ground and stated indifferently, "Speak. Exactly how many of you are there, and who is in command..."

"Im-Immortal Fairy, please don't kill me! I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!"

Chu Xin'er was naturally exceedingly beautiful, and coupled with the fact that the youth possessed no backbone whatsoever, she did not even need to resort to heavy threats or enticements before he confessed everything.

Knowing that over a thousand Foundation Establishment disciples of the Lingtian Sect were searching for her and had already locked down this region, it would be a lie to say Chu Xin'er felt no fear at all.

Fortunately, the highest cultivation among the pursuers was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment, with no Golden Core cultivators present; otherwise, she would have had zero chance of escape.

Puff! Just as Chu Xin'er removed the storage bag from the youth's waist to gather the rest of the spoils of war, a razor-sharp wing-blade flashed across his neck, completely obliterating him.

It was not that Xiao Wenzi was vicious and untrustworthy, but since this fellow had witnessed him execute the self-detonation and resurrection trick three times, leaving him alive to leak the secret left them no choice but to silence him.

This time, the higher-ups of the Lingtian Sect had distributed numerous supreme-grade Earth Escaping Talismans in order to hunt them down, and both Zhou Peng and the storage bags of the others still contained spare backups.

However, time was limited, and Chu Xin'er did not pause to inventory everything individually. After retrieving two talismans, she took Xiao Wenzi and fled in the direction from which Zhou Peng and his group had originally come.

At this moment, numerous squads were searching underground, and breaking through in any direction carried risks, but lingering here would eventually turn them into turtles in a jar.

Logically speaking, the areas already scoured by Zhou Peng's party should be relatively safer, which was why she chose this route to find a breakthrough and escape.

And indeed, it proved to be so. When Chu Xin'er utilized the supreme-grade Earth Escaping Talisman to slip beyond the boundaries of the "spiritual stone vein," she still encountered no enemies.

She knew that a radius of five hundred miles around them remained the primary focus of the enemy's search. Until they were thoroughly and safely clear of the area, Chu Xin'er did not dare to lower her guard in the slightest, keeping her divine sense extended to its absolute limit as she cautiously monitored every movement around her.

Hiding within the spirit beast pouch to refine and absorb Zhou Peng's fresh blood, Xiao Wenzi felt rather comfortable at the moment. Zhou Peng's physical body had not suffered extensive destruction, and completely refining him should allow him to successfully breakthrough to the thirteenth level of cultivation.

There was no need for surprise. Although Chu Xin'er's original spirit beast pouch had been destroyed when scheming against Xu Feng, disciples of the Lingtian Sect also raised spirit beasts, and among the three youths accompanying Zhou Peng, one happened to carry a Treasure-Seeking Mouse.

At this moment, Xiao Wenzi had unceremoniously usurped the nest. That snow-white little mouse was merely at the late first rank—equivalent to an eleventh-level cultivator—and its abilities relied mostly on its sensitive nose. Having been threatened by Xiao Wenzi, it was currently cowering obediently in a corner, too terrified to even breathe loudly.