Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 179 [Tacit Understanding] (6400)

Sorry, I'm half an hour late, and I wrote this a little slowly.

Chapter 174 [Tacit Understanding] (6400)

The golden-armored man's posture clearly indicated that he harbored no hostility.

Chen Yan did not relax; he simply peeked out from the treetop and remained seated. He had put down his bow and arrow—but the bow was only loosely drawn, the arrow still nocked and pointing at the ground.

"There's no need to go down. I prefer to enjoy the view from up here—it's only a short distance, neither of us is deaf, and it won't interfere with our conversation."

Jin Jia stared at Chen Yan for a couple of seconds, nodded, and then picked up the self-heating lunchbox from the ground: "Yours?"

Chen Yan smiled: "Fellow Daoist Golden Armor, it seems you haven't eaten yet today? Please eat first."

Jin Jia sighed inwardly.

I didn't just skip dinner today; I haven't eaten for the past two days!
He glanced at Chen Yan, then suddenly raised an eyebrow and smiled, saying, "Then thank you very much for your kind hospitality, fellow Daoist!"

As he spoke, this guy actually opened the lunchbox, stirred the still warm rice and dishes, and without caring about his image, grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth.

Seeing the guy eating so messily, Chen Yan said calmly, "Do you need chopsticks?"

"No need." Jin Jia picked up a piece of meat from the lunchbox with two fingers and stuffed it into his mouth, looking completely unconcerned. "I don't need chopsticks, but a bottle of water would be nice."

Chen Yan laughed and took a bottle of mineral water out of his bag and tossed it over.

The man in golden armor reached out and grabbed it, glancing at it before saying, "Thanks!"

"Aren't you afraid the food might be poisoned?" Chen Yan asked with a smile.

"I'm hungry, but not stupid." The golden-armored man chewed heartily, his words muffled as he chuckled, "My arrival was sudden, and this box of food was clearly prepared for you—unless you had precognition, knew I was coming, and poisoned the food beforehand?"

Chen Yan nodded and stopped talking, just watching quietly as Jin Jia wolfed down the food in the lunchbox and drank every last drop of water.

Jin Jia let out a burp without any regard for his image, sighed as he looked at the empty lunchbox in his hand, seemingly still somewhat unsatisfied: "Is there any more?"

"Fellow Daoist, you have to pay for your meal," Chen Yan said calmly.

Jin Jia thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I was abandoned by you in the mine and attacked by those guys. I was injured, my clothes were torn, and I lost a lot of things—and now I'm so hungry, that's all your fault, isn't it? Shouldn't you compensate me a little?"

Chen Yan smiled as he looked at the golden armor, and couldn't help but clap and cheer, "To make such a righteous accusation, fellow Daoist, I admire your shamelessness."

The man in golden armor remained expressionless: "Given the situation, if I hadn't tricked you, I wouldn't have had the chance—besides, Fellow Daoist Wang, you didn't lose out either; you even tricked me back later, didn't you?"

Chen Yan nodded, then suddenly remembered something: "How did you escape?"

Jin Jia looked at Chen Yan: "And you? How did you manage to travel hundreds of miles in such a short time?"

After a pause, the golden-armored man seemed to have thought of something and nodded, saying, "A Swiftness Talisman? Or some other spell?"

Chen Yan remained silent, only staring at the golden armor.

Jin Jia sighed: "You have the Swiftness Talisman, how do you know I don't have a similar method? If I didn't have a trump card to escape, I wouldn't dare go to the mining area to look for the Divine Tree."

"Wang Chuyi, since we've all cheated each other in the mine, let's call it even. There's no point in bringing this up now. Anyway, you didn't gain anything, and I managed to escape in the end."

As he spoke, he glanced at the bow and arrow in Chen Yan's hand, shook his head and said indifferently, "Put this thing down. You don't practice physical combat techniques. At this close range, even if you draw your bow and shoot at me, I will have enough time to rush up to you and kill you."

Chen Yan remained calm and smiled, "Why don't you give it a try?"

Jin Jia frowned, staring intently at Chen Yan. After a long while, his expression gradually became somewhat suspicious—Chen Yan's fearless demeanor seemed to be making him somewhat unpredictable.

"Fine, I did eat a meal from you anyway." Jin Jia touched his clothes, hesitated for a moment, then slowly took out something, folded it in his hand, and threw it far away to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan reached out and caught it, glancing at it; it was a talisman.

He recognized it at a glance; it was a talisman made using a technique similar to his own [Spirit Sealing] method. Although the techniques were not exactly the same, they were largely similar.

"A transformation talisman. I used this to disguise myself as a miner of the Beast Clan and infiltrate the ranks." The golden-armored man was quite frank, saying indifferently, "I don't need this anymore, so I'll give one to you as payment for my meal."

Exchanging a talisman for some ordinary food is an astronomical price no matter what.

Chen Yan thought for a moment, then stuffed it into his arms.

Seeing that the golden-armored fellow Daoist did not show any hostility, he simply put down his bow and arrow, but remained sitting on the treetop: "Fellow Daoist Golden Armor, since we parted last time, you have been wandering around in the forest west of Evil Earth Mountain?"

“That’s right. I spent a long time there the other day, and I even secretly went to check out that village of the ferocious beast tribe that I mentioned last time.” Jin Jia said, then frowned and shook his head. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find that spy. I suspect he might be dead.”

He raised his eyelids and looked at Chen Yan: "That village is rather strange. Many of the buildings look dilapidated, as if the village was severely damaged. Even the village chief is incredibly weak, as if he was just elected. Many of the village's strong men have also died or been injured, and there are not many of my human slaves left."

Chen Yan gave a flat "hmm".

The man in golden armor seemed to smirk: "I secretly rescued a human slave and found out some information."

I heard that a few months ago, the village was attacked by a human expert. The former village chief and warriors were killed, and the person set fires all over the village. No one knows how he caused the explosions, which killed many monsters.

It's a pity that the person didn't seem to be sent by us from Sendai. They didn't rescue any human slaves; they just wreaked havoc in the village and then ran away.

Chen Yan shook his head: "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Of course I suspect you. Wang Chuyi, you couldn't have done this, could you?"

Chen Yan laughed and said, "Jin Jia, are you really that good at making connections?"

Golden Armor shook his head: "In the past few days, the only human I have encountered on the west side of Badlands Mountain is you. Who else could it be but you?"

Chen Yan pursed his lips, about to say something, when suddenly, he and Jin Jia's expressions changed at the same time, and they both raised their heads to look towards the western sky!
Two sharp, loud cries could be faintly heard in the wind, and a dark shadow seemed to hover faintly in the sky.

Jin Jia's face immediately darkened, and he cursed, "You're a persistent ghost!"

With that, he jumped up, pulled the sword out of the ground, and looked up at Chen Yan on the treetop: "Let's go! If we don't leave now, we might be in trouble!"

Chen Yan frowned as he looked at the golden armor.

Jin Jia sighed: "When I escaped, two very powerful beastmen chased after me. It took me two days and several fierce battles to kill one of them, but I was left with all these injuries."

The remaining guy is incredibly skilled; I probably can't beat him in my current state. Besides, he keeps a nightjar, which is excellent at tracking tracks and has been chasing me for three whole days! If I don't leave soon, I'm afraid I'll be caught..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Chen Yan jump down from the tree and run quickly into the woods!
"..."

Jin Jia was stunned for a moment, then suddenly took off after him.

·
"Why are you following me? We're not on the same path, let's go our separate ways!" Chen Yan turned around and saw the golden-armored man chasing after him, and couldn't help but feel a little helpless.

Jin Jia chuckled, his smile completely undisguised: "There's only one pursuer. If he catches up, it'll be a race between the two of us. The one who runs slower and gets caught deserves to be in trouble."

Chen Yan looked at the golden-armored man with some admiration: "Among the cultivators I've encountered, you're probably second in terms of shamelessness."

"Oh, I wonder who's ranked number one?"

“An old man who lives next door to me.”

The two bickered, but their feet didn't slow down at all; they were both running wildly through the woods.

Although Chen Yan was furious at the shamelessness of the golden-armored man, there was nothing he could do.

This guy insists on using the "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you" tactic on himself, and he doesn't have a better way to deal with it.

If they were to turn against each other and fight, Jin Jia's martial arts skills were extremely strong. In this place where there was no spiritual energy and magic could not be used, he would definitely not be a match for him in a pure hand-to-hand combat.

If we use our trump cards, such as the "Ten Thousand Swords Talisman," we might have a chance of winning—but who knows if the other side doesn't have any trump cards?
Most importantly, with pursuers right behind them, if the two were to fight at this point, it would most likely result in mutual destruction, with neither side gaining an advantage.

Jin Jia clearly thought the same thing as Chen Yan.

Otherwise, given Chen Yan's temperament, he would have already broken this guy's legs and left him behind to attract the pursuers.

The two ran through the woods for nearly an hour, only to hear a sharp cry from behind them that seemed to be getting closer and closer, and it was clearly coming from the direction of their escape route.

Jin Jia looked at Chen Yan and realized that this guy was surprisingly fast when he ran, and that he himself was unable to outrun him after his injury.

He thought for a moment, then, slightly out of breath, made a suggestion: "Wang Chuyi! How about we make a deal?"

"Fellow Daoist, please speak," Chen Yan said with a sneer.

"Do you have a White Bone Pill? Give me one, and I'll heal my injuries. Then I won't be afraid of that guy behind me in a one-on-one fight! As long as we kill him, neither of us will have to run away anymore!"

Chen Yan glared at the guy: "Do you think I'm stupid?"

Give you a White Bone Pill? Once you're healed and your physical injuries are completely cured, you'll immediately outrun me—and then leave me behind as cannon fodder?

Jin Jia sighed, "I know you're worried, so let's try another method. Although I'm injured, I'm still 30% confident I can deal with that guy if I fight with all my might! I think you're quite capable too, fellow Daoist."

If the two of us join forces and work together to deal with this guy behind us, we're more than 50% confident we can kill him!

Then we won't be chased around like two stray dogs like we are now, how about that?

Chen Yan immediately nodded: "Okay! Let's cooperate then!"

Golden Armor laughed heartily: "Alright! Let's join forces!"

Chen Yan: "Yes! Let's cooperate sincerely!"

Golden Armor: "Good! I'll hold nothing back!"

The two of them spoke with utmost sincerity, but in reality, neither of them slowed down their running speed by even an inch.

After shouting for a while, the two men looked at each other with strange expressions. "Didn't you say you'd join forces?"

"Yes! Stop first!"

"No, stop first!"

"You first!"

"Damn it! You're no better than me!"

The two bickered and cursed at each other, and in no time they had run several hundred meters away.

Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept in from the front. Chen Yan immediately became alert, took a step back, twisted his waist and turned around, and his body was thrown to the right front by inertia.

With a loud bang, a red light flashed in the gale, and then a strange tree in front of the two running suddenly snapped in half, its thick trunk and huge canopy crashing down and blocking their path!

Chen Yan rammed headfirst to the right front. The golden-armored creature beside him reacted in dissatisfaction, suddenly touching the ground with both feet and leaping into the air. It even touched the treetops with its toes before jumping over them.

Then a beam of red light came hurtling towards us!
Jin Jia cursed and could only roll to the ground. With a loud bang, a red light grazed past Jin Jia's head and plowed a seven- or eight-meter-long trench in the ground of the strange forest behind him!

Seeing that Chen Yan was about to continue running, Jin Jia suddenly raised his hand and made a feint with his sword—this bastard actually slashed at the front of Chen Yan with his sword. After the sword light fell, the trunk of a strange tree in front of Chen Yan was cut off, the tree collapsed, and it blocked Chen Yan's way.

Chen Yan cursed and had no choice but to turn around again, only to be met with a beam of red light shooting out from the forest, forcing him to retreat.

After dodging the red light, Chen Yan had already retreated to a position almost shoulder to shoulder with the golden-armored man.

He glanced helplessly at the golden-armored man: "Fellow Daoist, you are despicable!"

"You flatter me!" Jin Jia laughed heartily.

Just then, a figure slowly walked out from the strange forest ahead!
This was clearly a warrior of the Beast Clan, dressed in a fur coat, but his upper body, which was bare, was covered with scars on his strong and muscular chest.

This ferocious beast monster was enormous, estimated to be nearly three meters tall—it was even taller than the chief monster of the village Chen Yan had killed before.

However, they have similar body types, both being strong and robust, yet with slender figures.

This guy is a beast, but just by looking at his physique, he's no pushover—his build exudes power and gives off a fierce and agile vibe!

Moreover, most ferocious beast tribes have sparse hair—even a ten-year-old girl like Muwan has a nearly bald head.

This guy, however, had a lot of hair on his head, and even had several small braids that swung behind him.

He had a wide, sunken nose, small, long eyes, and large ears.

His eyes weren't the typical grayish-brown of the ferocious beast tribe; they were darker, almost bluish-black.

Her arms were very long, almost reaching her knees when they hung down.

In each of his hands he held a weapon, long like a sword, but without a blade, only with a curved hook at the end.

Jin Jia sighed: "Iron Hook, how did you get ahead of me?"

The beastman warrior named "Iron Hook" shook his head: "I knew you would definitely run west, so after you tricked me and turned around last time, I stopped chasing you and headed west myself. I ran ahead of you first, and then used the Night Hawk to find your trail. Once I found it, I turned back to block you."

Jin Jia snorted: "You've finally learned to be smart."

"Then thank you too," Tie Gou said coldly, his eyes darting between Jin Jia and Chen Yan. "You killed one of my brothers, so I've learned my lesson."

After a pause, the man's gaze fell on Chen Yan, and he nodded, saying, "Is this your companion? The other guy who broke into the Divine Tree Cave?"

Chen Yan immediately took a step back: "Don't talk nonsense! I'm not familiar with this guy next to me! I just bumped into him in the woods."

Jin Jia laughed and said, "A whole jar of divine tree sap is in his backpack."

Upon hearing the two men's words, Tie Gou was taken aback. He frowned, gently twirled the pair of long iron hooks in his hands, and shook his head, saying, "You humans are cunning, spouting nonsense that I can't understand. But whatever you say, you'll all stay here!"

As he spoke, he slowly walked towards the two of them.

Jin Jia sighed, "Fellow Daoist, we have no choice but to fight. This guy is quite formidable."

"How powerful?"

“Slightly stronger than I am now.” The golden-armored man said quickly, “Let’s really join forces this time.”

“…Okay!” Chen Yan nodded.

With Chen Yan's "Good," Jin Jia grinned maliciously and suddenly took a step forward, thrusting his long sword straight into Tie Gou's chest!

Almost simultaneously, Chen Yan suddenly leaped up, flipped backward, and landed on the top of a strange tree. He drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and fired at the iron hook!
call out!
An arrow shot past, and Tie Gou grinned maliciously. He suddenly raised the long hook in his left hand and deflected the flying arrow with a clang.

At the same time, the golden-armored man had already rushed in front of him!
Keng!
Jin Jia's sharp attack was actually slammed into the blade of his sword by Tie Gou's weapon!

Jin Jia's sword suddenly veered off course—this was the first time Chen Yan had ever seen Jin Jia's swordsmanship miss its mark in the two times they had fought together since they met!
As the golden-armored man's sword was deflected, Iron Hook quickly stepped forward, and a burst of red light erupted from his body!

The intensity of that red light was clearly greater than that of the other ferocious beast monsters before!

Keng!
Iron Hook had already raised his weapon and was about to smash it down on Golden Armor, who raised his longsword to block.

Clang! Clang clang!

Several consecutive parries landed on the golden-armored man's sword!
Iron Hook was already tall, nearly three meters in height, and Golden Armor looked almost half his size in front of him!
After being pounded down on him from above, the golden-armored man was immediately shrunk in staggering unsteadiness and began to sway precariously.

At that moment, with a whoosh, Chen Yan fired another arrow.

However, this time the arrow came straight at Tie Gou's face, but Tie Gou did not dodge at all. He just sneered and raised his long hook again to smash it down on Jin Jia!

Keng!
The golden-armored man finally lost his footing and was forced to kneel on one knee, barely managing to raise his sword to block the blow.

With a soft thud, Chen Yan's arrow struck Tie Gou's face, but after a muffled thud, it was deflected by the red light, and the arrow shaft immediately bounced away!
Seeing that the golden-armored man had been forced to his knees, Tie Gou raised his weapon once more.

Chen Yan finally threw down the recurve bow, picked up the rifle he was carrying, and pulled the trigger at the iron hook!

Tap! Tap tap! Tap tap tap!

After several bursts of fire, the bullets struck the iron hook, causing it to sway. On its red body, only a few points appeared, resembling vortexes, but the red light could not penetrate them.

The barrage of bullets caused Iron Hook to take a step back. Golden Armor immediately seized the opportunity to roll away on the ground, tumbling several times before struggling to his feet and quickly retreating to the tree roots at Chen Yan's feet.

"Didn't you say he was only slightly better than you?" Chen Yan cursed from the tree.

Jin Jia curled his lip: "I thought that given our relationship, we should already have a tacit understanding."

"What kind of tacit understanding?"

"...You can't trust anything they say."

Chen Yan: "...Damn it."

He had already jumped down from the tree in a flash, holding a rifle in one hand, and started firing continuously at the iron hook.

Ta da da...ta da da...

Chen Yan continued firing as he strode toward the iron hook!

One magazine was emptied, and the iron hook was hit so hard that his body swayed repeatedly. The red light all over his body blocked all the bullets, but he was not injured. He was just hit in the back leg.

After taking ten steps and running out of bullets, Chen Yan suddenly lowered his body and squatted down. Behind him, the golden-armored figure had already leaped out!

With sword in hand, he shot through the air like a flying fish!

Thud! The sword arrived in an instant, its blade piercing the iron hook's chest!

The golden-armored man thrust his sword through the air, but the sword only penetrated the red-light blade and did not pierce the iron hook's body!
Jin Jia was then struck on the sword by Tie Gou's backhand, and his body flew out again. Chen Yan, however, had already rolled up the ground and was already crouching at Tie Gou's feet!
He pulled out his dagger and stabbed it into the back of Tie Gou's foot with a backhand!

With one strike, Chen Yan felt the blade being blocked by the red light, and then a force deflected it, causing it to veer off to one side.

However, Chen Yan was neither surprised nor disappointed, but instead sneered and rolled away again.

flutter!
A ball of flame erupted from Iron Hook's feet! It transformed into several tongues of fire, which immediately spread towards Iron Hook's legs and entire body!

This is a [Fire Talisman] that Chen Yan hid on his dagger!
Chen Yan rolled on the ground once, and then felt a huge force push him away from his back. He felt a piercing pain in his back and his body flew out. He tasted sweetness in his mouth, as if he had been hit by a car. Before he even hit the ground, he had already spat out a mouthful of blood.

After he regained his footing, he turned his head and saw that the golden-armored man had pounced on him again, ignoring the fact that the iron hook was engulfed in flames, and frantically stabbing at the iron hook with his sword.

But after only three sword strikes, his weapon was struck by the iron hook again. This time, Jin Jia also spat out a mouthful of blood, and his sword flew out of his hand!

Then Tie Gou took a step forward, and the long hook in his left hand had already pierced the shoulder of Jin Jia!
"what!!"

With a scream, Jin Jia, whose weapon was tipped with a hook, was lifted up by the hook as he raised his hand, his legs still kicking desperately.

The golden-armored warrior screamed repeatedly, then suddenly turned to Chen Yan and shouted, "Run! Take the divine tree sap and run!"

He had barely finished speaking when he saw Tie Gou brandishing the weapon in his other hand...

With a snap, the golden-armored man's head was severed! The corpse was also flung away with a forceful swing of the iron hook!

Chen Yan took a deep breath and tore open a "Ten Thousand Swords Talisman" with his backhand!
Instantly, countless bright sword lights surged forth, most of them disappearing into the red light on the iron hook.

Chen Yan struck the enemy with a single blow, but instead turned and ran!
Sure enough, after running only ten or so steps, he looked back and saw that the iron hook had taken a deep breath, and after the sword light had cut across the red light on his body countless times, it had gradually disappeared.

The red light seemed to have thinned out slightly, but the iron hook was already striding towards him!

(End of this chapter)