Winds Stir Beyond the Sea – Wu Chou’s Death

Wu Chou had stopped his entanglement with the Profound Bone Saint the moment Wan Tianming’s Nascent Soul took the Heaven-Mending Pill.

He was no fool. He could clearly sense that the Profound Bone Saint was far stronger than him—by more than a little—and seemed to know the Profound Yin Art inside out. Every technique he threw was casually deflected, as if the old ghost had not even exerted himself.

This realization chilled Wu Chou to the bone.

But now that two Tian Du Corpses had appeared at his side, his spirits lifted. Each corpse was at least as strong as a mid-Core Formation cultivator, if not stronger. With two of them, the Profound Bone Saint could not possibly win.

He would take this chance to teach the old ghost a proper lesson.

As the several old monsters left the high platform one after another, Wu Chou immediately let out a dark laugh and fixed a mocking gaze on the Profound Bone Saint.

The Profound Bone Saint glanced at the exit on the stone steps, then turned back to meet Wu Chou’s hostile stare and the two corpses. His calm face suddenly broke into a smile.

“Han Li. This man is Extreme Yin’s only descendant, isn’t he? If I kill him, Extreme Yin should feel some pain, don’t you think?” He turned to Han Li and said this plainly.

Han Li froze for a moment, then quickly returned to his usual composure. He merely watched the Profound Bone Saint with an indifferent expression and did not reply.

But Wu Chou, hearing this, became instantly alert. He looked at Han Li with open suspicion. At the same time, the two Tian Du Corpses at his side received some silent command and vanished in a flash.

“Han Li, so you were colluding with this man all along? No wonder that jade ruyi ancient treasure was knocked toward you. Hand it over now, and let my ancestor decide its ownership when he returns!” Wu Chou’s eyes darted, and he spoke to Han Li with a menacing tone.

Han Li felt a wave of speechlessness at this blatant attempt to frame him and seize the treasure. It was obvious that this fool no longer saw him as useful and had dropped all pretense. Perhaps this was even something Extreme Yin had quietly ordered before leaving.

The corner of Han Li’s mouth twitched. Inside his body, the flying swords buzzed with eagerness to move.

But before he could act, the Profound Bone Saint struck first.

He raised a hand, and a green strange snake shot out of his sleeve, lunging at an empty space.

A muffled “bang” sounded, and a green figure stumbled into view—one of the Tian Du Corpses.

“Tian Du Corpses? Extreme Yin really did manage to refine quite a few of them,” the Profound Bone Saint said with a dismissive curl of the lip.

Without pausing, his hands formed a seal. The green snake swiftly coiled several times around the corpse, then the old ghost flicked a finger toward it. A blooming green lotus appeared on the corpse’s body. Its petals swelled, and giant leaves wrapped the entire corpse inside.

Wu Chou’s heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly tried to command the corpse to break free, but somehow, the lotus had severed his spiritual connection with it entirely. He could no longer drive it.

Cold sweat broke out all over Wu Chou’s body. He tried to activate the second corpse, but the Profound Bone Saint flickered and appeared right in front of him.

A flash of rage crossed Wu Chou’s face. Profound Yin demonic qi surged out of his body in thick waves, enveloping him in defense. At the same time, he bared his teeth, opened his mouth, and spat out a small black sword that shot straight for the Profound Bone Saint’s face—fast and vicious.

The Profound Bone Saint wore a faintly mocking expression. His ten fingers suddenly became razor-sharp, and several inches of emerald nails grew out, giving them a hideous, claw-like appearance.

He reached out with one hand without hesitation. The small black sword flew straight into his ghostly claw as if it had no will of its own, completely unresisting.

Wu Chou could not believe what he was seeing. His face turning pale, he tried to recall the flying sword.

But the Profound Bone Saint, now with murderous intent fully exposed, rubbed his two ghostly claws together. The tiny sword that had been jumping and struggling suddenly had its black qi dissipate, as if it had lost most of its spirit.

At the same time, Wu Chou, whose natal magic treasure had been damaged, went pale and spat out a mouthful of black blood.

“Impossible! You…” Wu Chou stammered, but before he could say more, the Profound Bone Saint lunged forward. A ghostly hand wreathed in green qi flashed out like lightning.

Wu Chou was so frightened he forgot to speak. He sent all his Profound Yin demonic qi roaring to meet the attack, and at the same time reached into his robes to pull out some treasure.

A bizarre scene unfolded. The green and black light on the menacing ghostly hand switched rapidly, and in an instant the green qi turned pitch-black.

Then, as if passing through nothing, the ghostly hand pierced through several layers of Profound Yin demonic qi and plunged straight into Wu Chou’s lower abdomen.

Wu Chou stared down at the ghostly hand in his belly in shock, his eyes full of disbelief. His lips trembled a few times, and then, under the Profound Bone Saint’s cold laugh, countless green flames engulfed him. In a blink, a living man was turned to ash, leaving only a black silk handkerchief, a ring, and a storage pouch.

With no master’s spiritual sense driving them, a flash of black light appeared about three yards behind the Profound Bone Saint—the second Tian Du Corpse materialized. But its eyes were now hollow, standing frozen in place, as lifeless as a statue.

Watching this, Han Li’s heart tightened. A deep fear of the old ghost rose in him.

This old monster really did know the weaknesses of the Profound Yin Art—that was no empty boast. Wu Chou, fighting with Profound Yin demonic qi, had indeed been utterly helpless against him.

But why had the old ghost chosen this moment to kill Wu Chou? Was he not afraid of alarming Extreme Yin? Or did he think that by killing him here, he would tie Han Li to the same wagon, forcing him to help deal with Extreme Yin?

Han Li’s mind raced with cold calculations, while one hand had already grasped the five-colored bronze ring ancient treasure. If the old ghost made a move against him, he would have no choice but to fight him here and now.

Just then, the Profound Bone Saint swept up the fallen items and turned back to Han Li with a knowing smile.

“What are you waiting for? Bring out your other Blood Jade Spider. Those fellows were lured away by Man Brutal Beard, but they might come back any time. Don’t you want the treasures inside the Void Heaven Cauldron?”

The Profound Bone Saint’s words made Han Li’s heart jolt, and his eyelids twitched. The secret he had guarded so carefully—that he had another Blood Jade Spider—had been called out in a single breath.

“What other Blood Jade Spider? Didn’t the Star Palace elder kill my spirit beast?” Han Li had no idea how the old ghost knew this, so he naturally refused to admit it. He glanced at the long-dead Blood Jade Spider on the altar and flatly denied it.

“Hmph, boy, I don’t have time to waste with you. I’ll tell you straight. Back then, I also found a pair of Blood Jade Spiders and gave them to another rebellious disciple, Extreme Xuan, to raise. I planned to bring them to the Void Heaven Palace to fetch the treasure once their grade was high enough. I never expected to be betrayed by that disciple and meet my downfall. Since you obtained that jade slip, those Blood Jade Spiders must have come from that same pair. But you probably don’t know this: Blood Jade Spiders are very peculiar. A nest may produce many eggs, but only two of them are live eggs; the rest are dead. And those two are always a male and a female. That’s because only when a male and female pair can they advance in rank. I learned this after personally observing a wild pair for a very long time. Even Extreme Xuan, who raised them back then, did not know this—he thought I had just happened to catch a mated pair. Your spiders are already decently leveled; you must have the other one. Bring it out now.” The Profound Bone Saint stared at Han Li and said all this in a rushed tone.

Han Li was truly stunned. He had not known any of this. It seemed that the five-colored skeleton from back then was most likely Extreme Xuan. But how had the Yue Emperor obtained the techniques of Extreme Yin Island? And what was his relationship with Extreme Xuan?

A hundred questions flooded Han Li’s mind, but he licked his lips and replied calmly:

“Alright, let’s say I do have another Blood Jade Spider. Why should I help you retrieve the Void Heaven Cauldron? Will you give me half the treasures? And the commotion of pulling out the cauldron is earth-shaking. As soon as those Nascent Soul cultivators sense the disturbance here, they’ll come rushing back. We’d die even faster. Besides, with those fire pythons helping, the spider could only lift the cauldron a little. Now just my spider alone—the odds don’t look good.”

Han Li spoke calmly. Even though he was deeply tempted by the Void Heaven Cauldron’s treasures, he forcibly suppressed the heat and excitement in his heart. He had some self-awareness. He did not want to die because of greed. Fleeing right now was the best choice.

Having thought this over, he did not hesitate. Green light flickered around his body—he was about to fly away.

But the Profound Bone Saint seemed to have foreseen Han Li’s intention. He suddenly said something that made Han Li, who had just lifted off, freeze in midair and stop.

—Author’s Note: The previous chapter should have been 486; I carelessly wrote it as 485. So this chapter is 487! Also, over the next four or five days, because of the holiday, time is really tight. I can only manage one update per day. After the Spring Festival, I’ll resume two updates. Haha! Hope everyone has a great New Year!