Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 311 [Cunning and Ruthless]

(I wrote a little slowly and accidentally missed midnight. So this chapter is the update from the 12th (yesterday).)

There will be another update on the 13th!

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Chapter 305 [Cunning and Ruthless]

The wooden-masked man trembled, his voice grew increasingly hoarse, and his breathing became more and more unsteady. He knelt on the ground, unable to support himself any longer, his hands bracing against the ground, his breathing sounding like a bellows.

The purple spider, perched on the wisteria, had three pairs of eyes on its head. It stared intently at the wooden masked man, hissing, before quickly descending and circling around him.

Then it emitted a spider silk that glowed with a pale purple light, which coiled around the wooden masked man's body, circle after circle...

Several minutes later, seven or eight purple spider silk threads had wrapped around the wooden masked man's body. The spider silk threads clung to his body, tearing his original black robe apart. The spider silk threads stuck to his pale arms, leaving marks on his skin as if it had been branded with fire!

The wooden masked man was breathing heavily, but he seemed unable to struggle and his body was becoming more and more sluggish...

pat!

Finally, a spider silk wrapped around the face of the wooden masked man. The stiff wooden mask on his face, once touched by the spider silk, was instantly cut in half as if by a sharp knife, and fell to the ground with a snap!
The wooden masked man finally revealed his face.

His appearance seemed mismatched with his hoarse and shrill voice. His face was handsome, but it carried a hint of cold evil, and his skin was pale and bloodless.

At this moment, due to the poisoning, her face was faintly tinged with a purplish hue.

The purple aura slowly spread beneath his skin, seemingly draining his strength bit by bit.

The wooden-masked man trembled slightly, gasping for breath.

"Don't struggle anymore. It's no use for you to resist with your internal energy. The poison in my innate divine power is already difficult to cure, and with the fruit of this Glazed Purple Vine I've eaten, it's even harder to bear."

The parasitic spider cautiously kept its distance, refusing to approach the wooden-masked man. It simply jumped onto a rock some distance away before continuing to sneer, "Your vital energy will be disintegrated. Then your physical body will begin to stiffen, but the tendons inside will become soft."

You will die shortly after, but your flesh and blood will become even more delicious.

Because after the vital energy dissipates, it further permeates your physical body—in this state, every bite tastes especially delicious!

Boom!
The wooden masked man finally couldn't hold on any longer, his body slumped to the ground, his face was stiff, his lips moved but he couldn't utter a word, he just opened his mouth and desperately tried to breathe.

But as he fell, his body tilted to one side, and his wide sleeves fluttered down.

With a clang, two magical artifacts emitting a faint, precious light fell from the sleeve!

A gleaming golden seal and a small banner. Judging by their layers of radiant light, they were clearly no ordinary items!
The parasitic spider watched silently as the wooden-masked man fell, its eyes fixed on the two magical artifacts that had fallen from his sleeve. It stared at them for a long time, then seemed to hesitate for a moment.

A moment later, seeing that the wooden masked man on the ground was no longer moving and his breathing had gradually stopped, the parasitic spider finally jumped off the rock.

It cautiously circled the wooden masked man's body a few times, seemingly checking the strength of the spider silk it had left behind.

It seemed relieved only after confirming that the spider silk was intact and undamaged.

Finally, the parasitic spider suddenly jumped up lightly and landed on the magic artifact closest to it.

That seal.

This seal, after falling, was furthest from the wooden masked man and closest to the parasitic spider.

After the parasitic spider jumped onto the seal, it didn't move. Instead, it stopped moving, looked up at the wooden masked man for a few moments, and then suddenly raised its head, opened its mouthparts, and bit the seal!
Its breath seemed extremely sharp. With one bite, the magical artifact seal, though made of some unknown material, was bitten through by the parasitic spider, its breath deeply embedded in it!
Then, the golden light on the magical artifact seemed to transform into a stream, which the parasitic spider carefully sucked into its mouth and swallowed bit by bit!
As the precious light on the seal grew dimmer and dimmer, spiritual energy was drawn out and fell into the parasitic spider's mouth. However, it did not become complacent. Halfway through, it cautiously stopped, stared at the wooden masked man lying on the ground, observed him carefully for a while, and then lowered its head to continue sucking.

After the spiritual energy of a seal-shaped magical artifact was completely absorbed, the artifact lost all its luster and reverted to its original form as a square bronze seal.

The parasitic spider then opened its mouth and began to bite into the bronze seal, tearing it apart, chewing it up, and swallowing it whole.

This creature didn't look very big, but the bronze seal was several times larger than it. Yet it still managed to bite and devour it, as if its stomach had an amazing capacity. After eating a bronze seal several times larger than itself, its size remained unchanged.

After it had devoured the seal, it seemed that its vigilance had finally relaxed. It calmly took a few steps closer, walked to the wooden masked man, pounced on the banner, and took a bite!

After a wisp of precious light and spiritual energy flowed into its mouthparts, the parasitic spider ate with relish. In just a short while, a small portion of the precious light and spiritual energy of this magical artifact had entered its belly.

But at that moment, suddenly, a hand rose up, its fingertips like swords, and stabbed into the back of the parasitic spider!
With a hiss, the sharp energy from the fingertip pierced through the parasitic spider's body. The parasitic spider let out a miserable roar and struggled violently, but it was pinned to the ground!
Finally, after struggling frantically, its body was cut open and bounced far away. Half of its original body had already been cut off!

The parasitic spider was so badly injured that it rolled on the ground several times and couldn't get up. When it raised its head again, the wooden masked man had already gotten up!
At this moment, the wooden masked man looked terrifying. His face was covered in purple aura, and even his eyes seemed to have turned purple!

His body trembled, half of his body was stiff, but he only raised one hand, pointing his index finger at the parasitic spider!
The man in the wooden mask gasped for breath, his eyes filled with a mad glint: "Let's die together!"

"You're faking your death to fool me!"

The parasitic spider screamed in agony as a large amount of purple liquid flowed from its mangled body, leaving a large puddle on the ground in an instant. It struggled, but could not move much, only trembling in place, seemingly trying its best to get away, but it was already too late.

The wooden-masked man was panting, pointing his finger at the parasitic spider!
A sharp burst of energy shot out, and the parasitic spider's head was severed from its body, rolling to the side.

It was quite remarkable, still alive. Its mouth opened and closed, emitting a weak voice: "How cunning... You, you actually managed to withstand my poison..."

The wooden masked man was breathing heavily, but he just lay on the ground without moving, and his finger finally drooped down.

The parasitic spider tilted its head, staring at the wooden-masked man, and suddenly burst into laughter: "You won't fare any better! You can't cure my poison! You'll die here too!"

"It's just a matter of mutual destruction." The masked man's breath was weak as he whispered, "Whoever kills me will not let you live!"

The parasitic spider was filled with rage. After cursing a few times, its voice gradually weakened: "I...I'm not convinced...These fruits are all mine...I, I can still live, I can still live..."

As it spoke, its head struggled, as if trying to move.

But its head had already detached from its body, and no matter how much it cursed, it remained motionless in place.

Thus, both the man and the spider on the ground were barely breathing, their lives hanging by a thread.

Both sides were cunning and ruthless, but in the end, they ended up dying together.

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Wow!

With a soft murmur of water, a figure slowly emerged from the underground river.

Chen Yan jumped out of the mirror world, climbed onto the river, and looked at the wooden masked man lying on the ground and the spider head from a distance of more than ten meters.

Chen Yan stared at both sides for a moment, then frowned, seemingly hesitating about something.

At this moment, the wooden masked man lying on the ground seemed to tremble, startled by the sound of water. He suddenly opened his eyelids, and his eyes, which had turned purple, stared at Chen Yan for a moment, as if he had turned around.

A soft sigh escaped his lips. The wooden-masked man's voice was low, tinged with self-mockery: "Fine, fine... I had almost forgotten about you... I thought... your invisibility was superb, and you had already escaped from here. I didn't expect you... you actually kept hiding..."

The spider's head suddenly fixed its eyes on Chen Yan, hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly shouted.

"Come here! Come here quickly!! Save my life, and I'll give you an immense opportunity!!!"

Chen Yan frowned, standing at a distance, coldly watching the two. His gaze fell on the spider's head, and he sneered, "You'll give me an opportunity? You're almost dead, what opportunity could you possibly give me?" "Yes! Yes! Yes!" The spider's head trembled, its eyes filled with pleading, "You...you lift me up to the wisteria, you...you lift me over there!"
"If I just get there, I can live!"

Chen Yan shook his head, his tone disdainful: "I'll elevate you, save your life? And then you'll poison me? Do you think people are that stupid?"

"No, no, no! If you save me, I would never dare to harm you! I, I can even acknowledge you as my master!!"

Chen Yan didn't answer, but looked up at the wisteria on the mountain wall. After squinting at it for a moment, he sighed, "What a treasure! I'll wait until you all die, then this will all be mine. Why would I save you?"

As he spoke, Chen Yanju took a step back, sat on the ground, took out a bottle of water, and gulped down two mouthfuls.

The spider head was still yelling, but the wooden masked man next to it laughed: "You creature born from wet eggs! You only managed to fool me because of your innate ruthlessness and cunning. Do you think people are that stupid?"

As he spoke, he took a breath, raised his eyelids to look at Chen Yan, and said calmly, "Do me a favor, and I'll grant you a wish."

Chen Yan was taken aback, then laughed a few times: "I just cursed him, not you, right? He tricked me into saving him, and I didn't fall for it, but you think I would fall for yours?"

The purple aura on the masked man's face intensified, his voice became hoarse and his breath weak, but his tone was icy: "Don't you want Liang Gui's life anymore?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan raised an eyebrow.

Before he could react, the cloth in his arms trembled, and Yun Zhao couldn't help but pop his head out first, shouting shrilly, "You've got Old Liang?!"

The wooden-masked man ignored Yun Zhao; with his intelligence, he could naturally tell who was in charge between the two.

The wooden masked man simply stared at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan sneered, "Yun Zhao, don't listen to his nonsense. Old Liang is so powerful, how could he be captured by him? What he said is just empty talk."

The wooden-masked man snorted, surprisingly not refuting, but simply said indifferently, "Fine, then let Old Liang die with me."

Chen Yan frowned – this guy was actually not provoked by him even on his deathbed.

Yun Zhao, however, was impatient and couldn't help but shout, "Brother! We can't leave Lao Liang's life unsaved!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly crawled out of the cloth, quickly landed and transformed into human form. Just as he was about to step forward, Chen Yan grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the side.

"With your personality, it's a miracle your family let you go out! If it weren't for Lao Liang following you, you'd probably die countless times on the road."

Chen Yan sighed, glared at Yun Zhao, and said in a deep voice, "Don't go over there! Those two guys just now used all sorts of tricks to kill their opponents. They're cunning and ruthless. Are you just going to your death?"

Yun Zhao said urgently, "But..."

He only managed to utter two words before Chen Yan glared at him fiercely, causing him to immediately shut his mouth again.

Chen Yan sighed, then suddenly walked over and slapped Yun Zhao hard across the body. Yun Zhao staggered, and Chen Yan quickly stuck a talisman on him, rendering him unable to move. He collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Chen Yan casually gagged him, then turned around and looked at the wooden-masked man with a cold smile.

The wooden-masked man, though weak in breath, said softly, "If you are afraid that I am playing tricks, I can swear an oath to the heavens right now: as long as you save my life, I will never harm you in the slightest, let you leave, and will never harm you or use any means to obstruct you."

Seeing that Chen Yan remained silent, the masked man continued in a low voice, "I can also give you a magical artifact..."

Chen Yan remained silent.

The wooden-masked man sighed: "Add another skill."

Chen Yan laughed, but shook his head and said, "I don't trust you. Besides, Lao Liang isn't one of my men. Using his life or death as a bargaining chip to threaten me won't work on me."

The masked man frowned: "You have this young master from the Yun family with you. If you don't save his people, you won't be afraid of the Yun family..."

Chen Yan's expression was cold: "So what? Nothing is more important than my own life! If all else fails, I'll kill him too! Then no one here will know what happened!"

The wooden-masked man was taken aback!
His face was contorted, as if his features were out of control due to the poisoning. However, he had actually cultivated to a certain level. After catching his breath, he looked at Chen Yan with a hint of admiration in his eyes!
His tone remained icy: "Then... what exactly do you want?"

"What cultivation techniques, what magic treasures... I'll wait until you die, and this Glazed Purple Treasure Vine will be mine. Obtaining such a rare and precious treasure is already a huge gain, why would I be greedy for more?" Chen Yan sneered.

The wooden-masked man seemed to ponder in silence for a moment: "I can give you a path to heaven. A set of cultivation techniques, which you can practice, with a 40% chance of transcending the tribulation and breaking through to the Celestial Realm!"

As he spoke, he looked at Chen Yan and said, "I know you have the cultivation of the third realm, but how difficult it is for someone at the third realm to break through to the Celestial Realm! Even the cultivation techniques of a first-class aristocratic family have only a 40% chance of success."

Seeing that Chen Yan still didn't speak, the wooden-masked man continued in a trembling voice, "The magic weapon I gave you can withstand the heavenly tribulation and help you break through to the Celestial Realm, increasing your chances of success by 20%."

"A 60% chance to break through to the Celestial Realm and glimpse the Heavenly Dao—don't you want that?"

Chen Yan smiled inwardly, but remained outwardly calm.

If we're talking about temptation, this offer is certainly tempting enough.

Cultivation is not something that happens automatically; it doesn't guarantee that you'll break through to higher levels.

From the first realm to the third realm, as long as the resources and techniques for cultivation are sufficient, progress will be effortless. However, from the third realm to the Celestial Realm, transcending tribulation is not something to be taken lightly.

If transcending tribulation were easy, would it still be called transcending tribulation?
Even in the realm of the Three Realms, very few cultivators who have completed all three realms can transcend to become Celestials. It would be considered good if one out of tens of thousands of cultivators in the three realms could break through to become a Celestial.

Having a path to the heavens that guarantees a 60% success rate for those reaching the Celestial Realm... This kind of resource is something that only the core direct descendants of top-tier aristocratic families can enjoy. Even second- or third-rate sects and families would envy such a success rate.

Not to mention the countless independent cultivators, enough to make people risk their lives.

but……

This kind of temptation held no appeal for Chen Yan.

He possessed the cultivation techniques left behind by the old lady, and the chances of him transcending the Heavenly Realm were already quite high.

Seeing that Chen Yan was still sneering and silent, the wooden-masked man finally sighed: "Just tell me what you want before you'll save my life."

"How do you know I'll definitely save you? I already said I'd wait for you to die so I can get a precious rare treasure. Isn't that a good thing?"

The wooden-masked man snorted, "If you really wanted me dead, you wouldn't have sat there motionless; you would have killed me outright."

Chen Yan was silent for a while before slowly saying, "Do you know that your cultivation has been disrupted and your techniques have become ineffective? The spell you used to conceal your voice has also become disordered..."

The wooden-masked man's expression changed: "You..."

"I recognize your voice." Chen Yan sighed.

Seeing that the wooden masked man had stopped speaking, Chen Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "I heard your voice at the auction house in the City of No Return."

You... your surname is Gu, and you are the third young master of the Gu family, Gu Tongbing!

Upon hearing this, the wooden masked man on the ground trembled!
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(End of this chapter)