Xuling clearly froze for a moment…
It didn't understand.
Why did its previously invincible hand blades fail again?
Xuling ignored Ye Fan in front of it and once again aimed at the two elders.
In its eyes, Ye Fan had no energy whatsoever.
It had just awakened and urgently needed a large amount of food to supplement itself.
Although the energy provided by the two elders was very little in its opinion, a mosquito's leg was still meat.
Just as Xuling was about to charge, it suddenly sensed an even stronger energy fluctuation!
And the source of that energy fluctuation was Ye Fan beneath its feet!
Xuling lowered its head in confusion.
It saw that Ye Fan, who had been unconscious, had actually stood up.
Ye Fan ignored Xuling and looked at his body with a confused expression.
The next moment.
Without Ye Fan making any discernible move, the silver needles on his body vanished!
They didn't fall to the ground but disappeared instantly!
And Xuling's hand blade arrived.
With tastier food available, Xuling naturally chose Ye Fan.
"Bang!"
The hand blade landed on Ye Fan's neck.
Ye Fan didn't fly backward.
He didn't even stagger!
Ye Fan's expression seemed as if he hadn't fully woken up, appearing somewhat bewildered by the situation.
"You're attacking me?" Ye Fan asked Xuling calmly.
Xuling didn't answer Ye Fan but flickered back into the void.
"Where is this?" Ye Fan scanned his surroundings, a hint of confusion appearing in his eyes. "I remember I clearly..."
Before Ye Fan could figure it out, Xuling reappeared!
With its hand blades, it attacked Ye Fan from an extremely tricky angle!
Ye Fan still didn't move an inch, letting the hand blades strike his neck.
"Shatter!"
Xuling's two previously invincible hand blades actually shattered!
And Xuling's body bore its first wound!
A fissure, starting from Xuling's lower abdomen and extending diagonally to its chest, spewed out gray fluid!
However, before it could reach Ye Fan, it vanished!
The sneak attack failed, and Xuling retreated into the void again.
"The ability to traverse the void, quite interesting," Ye Fan suddenly smiled. "However, this venerable one hates mosquitoes the most!"
As Ye Fan spoke, a fluctuation resonated through the air.
The next moment, Xuling appeared just like that!
Its body seemed to be clutched by an invisible, massive hand, being squeezed to the point of near deformation!
Xuling struggled incessantly, appearing extremely terrified.
"A pity it's brainless," Ye Fan glanced at Xuling. "It seems I won't be able to find out anything."
As he finished speaking, Xuling stopped struggling.
"Thump!"
Its entire body fell to the ground, motionless.
Specks of fluorescent light drifted from Xuling's body towards Ye Fan's chest.
A flicker of disdain crossed Ye Fan's eyes.
"What trash dares to plot against this venerable one?!"
Then…
Those fluorescent lights vanished!
Ye Fan glanced at the two elders in the distance. "Two are still alive, I'll ask them then."
Suddenly!
His eyes rolled back, and he fell straight to the ground.
…
After an unknown amount of time, Ye Fan slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw were two familiar old faces…
"Ye Fan, you're awake?"
"How do you feel?"
"Second Elder, Master?" Ye Fan, dazed, touched his head and stood up. "What happened?"
As Ye Fan's memories resurfaced, the previous scenes flashed through his mind.
It seemed he had encountered a Xuling, then his spiritual sea had completely gone berserk, the two elders wanted to treat him, and then he had passed out…
"Holy hell!"
Upon realizing this, Ye Fan jumped aside as if electrocuted.
"Second Elder, Master…" Ye Fan looked at the two with sheer terror. "You guys before… you did something to me…"
"Don't worry, the Second Elder and I have already treated you."
Master Xie Yan flashed his signature [censored] smile, his left eyeball darting erratically.
"It seems you've recovered well," the Second Elder pointed to the alchemy furnace beside him. "After this batch of pills is ready, eat them, and you should be fine after consolidating."
Ye Fan felt utterly dreadful!
Eat your [censored]!
Holy hell!
He hadn't escaped it after all…
Then, Ye Fan nervously checked his body, not missing an inch.
After the inspection, Ye Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
There were no bizarre additions to his body.
At least for now, he was still human.
Well…
Only for now…
As for what he would become in the future, that was damn hard to say…
Ye Fan could only try his best to console himself.
Perhaps the methods of Daye only affected cultivators. As a weak mortal, he might be fine…
After all, besides self-consolation, there was nothing else he could do now…
"Ye Fan, the pills are ready," the Second Elder opened the alchemy furnace and took out a handful of pills. "Quick, eat them while they're hot."
The pills were only slightly larger than soybeans, each a strange greenish-blue.
Coupled with the peculiar smell that could be detected from afar…
It wasn't an exaggeration to say they resembled sheep droppings.
It was exactly like them!
Who in their right mind would want to eat such a [censored] thing!!!
"Second Elder, look," Ye Fan extended his arm as a gesture. "I'm completely fine now, so I don't think I need to take any more medicine."
The two elders stared at Ye Fan for a long time.
"It really does seem like he's fine."
"In that case, he indeed doesn't need to eat them."
"It's just a shame to have refined these pills and not eat them, isn't it?" the Second Elder lamented.
"No shame at all, not even a little bit!" Ye Fan quickly said. "If you feel it's a waste, you two can consider eating them yourselves!"
"Makes sense!" The Second Elder immediately handed the pills to Master Xie Yan. "Master, please!"
"I've been craving them for ages!" Master Xie Yan took the pills and shoved them into his mouth.
The Second Elder also scooped a handful from the furnace and stuffed them into his mouth.
Afterward, the two elders even licked their lips, looking as if they hadn't had enough…
Ye Fan watched in horror as a bluish-black halo moved constantly across the faces, necks, and hands of the two elders.
Sporadic wisps of strange black gas intermittently rose from the back of their heads…
Yet, the two elders themselves seemed completely oblivious…
"Where's Ziyu?" Having narrowly escaped, Ye Fan then noticed something was wrong. "Where are Chen Feng and the others?"
As he asked, Ye Fan also scanned his surroundings.
Then he saw the corpse of Xuling lying on the ground.
And in the distance, the scattered vine roots.
"They were killed by it," Master Xie Yan pointed to Xuling's corpse on the ground.
"Little Ziyu, I don't know what happened, but it turned into this."
The Second Elder flicked open his other hand, revealing a purple sphere in his palm.