Previously, Wu Chao and the Raging Fire Gang leader, Zuo Hu, had refrained from fighting. This was partly because the Soul-Nourishing Flower had not yet matured, and partly because they had already depleted more than half of their spirit energy, leaving both sides injured and suffering from yin energy entering their bodies.
Now that it turned out the skeleton was not yet fully dead, the sheer amount of yin energy in the mass grave meant that once it reassembled, it would be just as difficult to deal with as before.
They hadn't been able to kill the skeleton even when they were at their peak. Facing it now, they would surely be at an even greater disadvantage.
Thinking of this, Wu Chao made his decision. He led his gang back another ten steps, retreating until they were almost behind the group of rogue cultivators watching from the sidelines.
When the rogue cultivators saw them approaching, they moved aside to give them space.
Wu Chao looked at those rogue cultivators and snorted coldly.
He hadn't missed the disdain and contempt in their eyes.
These fools likely thought he was afraid of that brute Zuo Hu—that he didn't even dare to fight and had handed over the Soul-Nourishing Flower to the Raging Fire Gang after just a few threats.
Wu Chao's cold gaze swept over his gang members. Although they looked confused, none of them dared to show any sign of defiance; they all followed him back obediently.
At least they knew their place.
Wu Chao hadn't retreated out of fear of Zuo Hu.
He was waiting for that idiot Zuo Hu to clash with the skeleton. Then, when the Soul-Nourishing Flower matured, he would quietly slip in and pluck it.
Zuo Hu stared blankly as Wu Chao retreated again and again, then suddenly burst into loud laughter.
His cultivation was a fraction stronger than Wu Chao's, and it was exactly that slight gap that had allowed him to fight the Spirit Snake Gang to this point despite Wu Chao's schemes.
Seeing Wu Chao back down now, Zuo Hu instinctively assumed his rival had weighed the pros and cons and decided to yield for the time being.
“Wu Chao, you're quite sensible this time.”
Zuo Hu led the Raging Fire Gang to the center of the mass grave, surrounding the Soul-Nourishing Flower.
“But even if you're obedient, I won't go easy on you the next time we meet.”
Wu Chao didn't bother to respond.
He kept his head lowered, but his divine sense remained subtly fixed on the skeleton's skull.
“Since you're so scared, leave now. Don't stay here—”
Before Zuo Hu could finish his sentence, the skeleton's blue soul fire flared back to life.
As the soul fire stabilized, the skeleton reassembled within the yin energy in less than a breath and struck out with a palm at the members of the Raging Fire Gang.
“Leader, watch your back!”
As the gang members cried out in alarm, Zuo Hu also sensed something was wrong behind him.
He instinctively swung his axe backward, meeting the skeleton's palm strike head-on.
How could a hasty block compare to a palm strike delivered with full force? Zuo Hu felt a massive power slam into his axe. The force sent him flying, crashing into a tree before he slumped to the ground.
His axe slipped from his hand and landed beside him.
The skeleton had painstakingly nurtured the Soul-Nourishing Flower for years. By surrounding the flower, the Raging Fire Gang had touched its greatest nerve.
Once reassembled, who else would it target first if not the Raging Fire Gang?
Even if the skeleton's cultivation was unstable after its recent breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, it was still far beyond what a Qi Refining cultivator like Zuo Hu could handle. Naturally, he was nearly slapped to death by a single blow.
He lay limp on the ground, his position facing the Spirit Snake Gang.
Seeing Wu Chao's face, which showed not a hint of surprise, Zuo Hu finally understood.
Wu Chao hadn't yielded the Soul-Nourishing Flower out of fear; he had seen that something was wrong with the skeleton and sent Zuo Hu in to die.
With the skeleton's momentum at its peak, Zuo Hu could no longer care about the Soul-Nourishing Flower. He shouted to his men in the mass grave, “Retreat!”
At the same time, he swallowed three pills. One was a Return-to-Spring Pill, and another was a Spirit-Replenishing Pill.
The third pill was two sizes larger than the other two, blood-red in color and faintly emitting an explosive aura.
It was clearly an Explosive Flame Pill.
The price of an Explosive Flame Pill was thirty times that of an ordinary pill, and its effect was well worth the cost.
After consumption, it could boost one's cultivation by a full rank for half an hour.
Once the effect wore off after those thirty minutes, the user would fall into a state of total exhaustion and be bedridden for three days.
That was the explanation available on the market.
A sect disciple like Gu Ningyun, however, knew that besides those two points, the Explosive Flame Pill also had the drawback of exhausting one's potential.
She remembered that the Pill Identification Section of the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 clearly stated that it was forbidden to consume unless one was in a life-or-death situation with no other options.
This was one of the pieces of information circulating among alchemists, sects, and great families, so it was naturally unknown to the resource-starved rogue cultivators.
Furthermore, most rogue cultivators lived life on the edge, constantly suffering injuries of all sizes.
The drawback of the Explosive Flame Pill exhausting one's potential was extremely subtle. When these rogue cultivators found themselves unable to progress in the later stages of their cultivation, most would suspect other causes, and only the most perceptive might suspect the Explosive Flame Pill.
Gu Ningyun couldn't help but wonder if the people selling these Explosive Flame Pills truly didn't know about the drawback, or if they were deliberately hiding it for profit or some other reason.
After taking the Return-to-Spring Pill and the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, Zuo Hu likely could have escaped without much trouble.
Yet he had chosen to consume the third pill without hesitation. Either he didn't know the pill would exhaust his potential, or he was so desperate for a rare treasure like the Soul-Nourishing Flower that he simply didn't care.
While Gu Ningyun continued her analysis, the situation at the mass grave became a matter of life and death.
Having provoked the skeleton, retreating was no longer a simple matter.
The Qi Refining cultivators were no match for the skeleton's speed, and several gang members were quickly caught and struck dead.
Zuo Hu was originally at the twelfth level of Qi Refining. Now, under the influence of the Explosive Flame Pill, his meridians swelled, and his cultivation aura surged rapidly. In the blink of an eye, his pressure was equal to that of the skeleton.
He had actually temporarily reached Foundation Establishment.
Once his cultivation stopped rising, he didn't immediately move to save his subordinates from the skeleton. Instead, he arrived before the Spirit Snake Gang in a flash and hacked off Wu Chao's right arm at the shoulder with a single axe strike.
He had intended to take Wu Chao's head, but Wu Chao reacted in time, dodging slightly, which caused the blow to land off-target.
Having lost an arm, Wu Chao's cold face twisted in pain.
In his haste, he used spirit energy to seal the wound and tilted his head to avoid Zuo Hu's second axe strike.
The members of the Spirit Snake Gang also moved to help restrain Zuo Hu.
It wasn't because they were particularly loyal; it was simply because Wu Chao was the strongest among them. The Spirit Snake Gang and the Raging Fire Gang had been fighting for so many years that they were mortal enemies.
If Wu Chao died, they wouldn't escape the Raging Fire Gang's reach either.
For the first time, Wu Chao regretted not having an Explosive Flame Pill of his own.
He had once heard a rumor that the pill exhausted one's potential, so he had been very repelled by it. Naturally, he hadn't bought any, and he had forbidden his close confidants from buying them as well.
As for the ordinary gang members, there were no restrictions.
However, the Explosive Flame Pill was expensive, and ordinary members simply didn't have the wealth to afford one.
He even suspected that the one in Zuo Hu's hand was likely the only one in the entire Raging Fire Gang.
The Soul-Nourishing Flower was extremely important this time, so he had only brought his confidants. He never expected to encounter such a situation.
Now, even if he were willing to pay the price of exhausting his potential, it was too late to take an Explosive Flame Pill.
While the slaughter continued at the mass grave, Gu Ningyun had already been lurking directly beneath the Soul-Nourishing Flower for a while, relying on a yellow-rank top-grade Stealth Talisman, an earth-tunneling talisman, and her wind-attribute movement technique.
Her four companions were also positioned around the perimeter of the mass grave, ready to provide backup.
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