Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

"Fellow Daoist Yu, I advise you not to push your luck too far. No matter how powerful your Myriad Array Body Refinement Technique is, you are only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. How long can you maintain this state? If you push me too far, I will sacrifice these spirit beasts and use forbidden techniques. You may not come out on top then!"

The cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain spoke threatening words with bluster, but felt extremely aggrieved. He had the cultivation of the late Foundation Establishment stage, but facing his Uncle Yu's full power, he felt helpless and had nowhere to attack.

At this moment, Uncle Yu was strong in both offense and defense. When his and his spirit beasts attacked the opponent, most of the attacks were neutralized by the flash of runes, and they could not cause much damage. On the contrary, every punch and kick of the opponent contained enormous power, and they dared not take it head-on. Even the Ironclad Rhinoceros, the strongest of his subordinates, was covered in blood after being hit by the opponent's continuous heavy blows, and it was clear that it could not withstand it for long.

Otherwise, why would he be willing to use forbidden techniques? After all, raising these spirit beasts is not easy, and he wouldn't be willing to waste all of it here.

However, the person opposite him completely ignored him and attacked even more fiercely. With a mournful cry, a weaker spirit beast was smashed to the ground with a punch and fell silent instantly.

"Yu Feng! Are you really determined to fight to the death?"

"Hand over the Sumeru Insect, and I'll spare your life!"

"Fine, fine, you've gone too far! Then you can just die!"

The cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain was furious, knowing that today was destined to end badly. Moreover, he could barely hold on against the enemy's attacks, but his spirit beasts were almost at their limit. If all the spirit beasts died, he would have no chance at all.

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated. Several drops of essence blood flew out from between his eyebrows and entered the bodies of several spirit beasts. The spirit beasts' eyes immediately turned blood red. After roaring to the sky a few times, their entire bodies exploded with a bang.

One after another, illusory beast shadows flew out from the exploded body and rushed into the body of the cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain.

"Spirit Fusion!"

The cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain let out a loud shout, and all the beast shadows merged into his body.

In an instant, the Spirit Beast Mountain cultivator, who had been somewhat thin just moments before, swelled up, sprouting sharp fangs from his mouth and claws from his hands and feet. His bulging muscles burst through his clothes, which were then covered by thick fur.

In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a humanoid demon beast, and its aura had surged to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, even comparable to a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator.

With a roar, the humanoid demon beast lashed out with its claws at Uncle Yu. After its cultivation level improved, its speed had also reached an incredible level.

Just as Uncle Yu raised his hand to block, the opponent's sharp claws had already grabbed him. However, as the spiritual energy runes on Uncle Yu's body surged, a yellow halo appeared where he was grabbed, which actually neutralized most of the force of the opponent's claw, leaving only a faint red claw mark.

"This is... the Profound Gang Formation? Uncle Yu has indeed constructed a defensive formation within his body. In that case, his defensive power is probably no less than that of some body-refining cultivators."

Lin Zui carefully concealed his aura, but his gaze never left the two of them, especially his Uncle Yu. Although he had already transformed his spiritual energy runes into spiritual void array runes, being able to witness Uncle Yu using his internal array to fight was still very beneficial to him.

However, as the cultivators from Spirit Beast Mountain used the Spirit Fusion Secret Technique to enhance their cultivation, Uncle Yu unsurprisingly fell into a disadvantageous position. Although he could still hold on thanks to the defensive formation within his body, it was clear that he could no longer do anything to his opponent.

The cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain clearly saw this as well, and overjoyed, he launched an even more ferocious attack. However, just as he was about to finish off his opponent in one fell swoop, a sudden change occurred.

Suddenly, Uncle Yu threw a punch. It seemed ordinary, but the next moment, the cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain was sent flying like a cannonball. After crashing through countless boulders and trees, his momentum continued until his entire body was embedded in the mountain wall before he finally stopped.

"What... what is this?"

Lin Zui's eyes widened. He had clearly seen it just now: when his uncle's fist landed on the other's body, spiritual energy runes flashed several times from his shoulder to his wrist on his right arm. Each time they flashed, the power of the punch increased by several times. After several flashes, the power of the punch exceeded more than ten times the normal punching power.

"This is an amplification array!?"

Lin Zui was shocked. This Uncle Yu was really crazy. He added so many amplification arrays to his arm. With the continuous amplification, the power of this attack was indeed increased to an unimaginable level. But how could such a terrifying attack be without side effects?

Uncle Yu's entire right hand, along with his forearm, had been completely destroyed in the previous attack, and his aura had weakened considerably, making it difficult for him to even maintain his mid-Foundation Establishment strength.

Of course, the cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain suffered an even worse fate. His right chest was pierced by a large hole, and blood gushed from his mouth. If it weren't for the fact that his body and vitality were extremely strong after fusing with the spirit, he would probably have died a gruesome death long ago.

A flicker of fear flashed in his eyes. The cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain struggled to break free from the mountain wall and dared not linger any longer. Taking advantage of the distance he had been thrown back, he turned to flee.

However, since Uncle Yu has already gone to such lengths, how could he possibly let him leave?

However, the backlash from that attack was far greater than he had imagined. Just as he was about to give chase, a sharp pain shot through his body, clearly a sign that the formation within him was on the verge of collapse.

Left with no other choice, Uncle Yu had to give up the pursuit. He quickly channeled his inner energy to stabilize the formation within his body, and with a wave of his hand, a ten-foot-tall cyan-gold coffin appeared before him.

The coffin lid was opened, and inside lay a young man in white, about twenty years old, with his eyes closed and no breath.

However, as Uncle Yu cast several spells, the spiritual energy runes on the young man's body flowed, as if some kind of restriction had been broken, and fluctuations in magical power appeared, quickly reaching the level of the early Foundation Establishment stage.

"go!"

With a flick of his finger, Uncle Yu sent the young man flying out, chasing after the direction in which the cultivators from Spirit Beast Mountain had fled.

Uncle Yu smiled slightly, just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, when he suddenly sensed a slight fluctuation of spiritual energy from the side.

"Who is it!"

"Damn it!"

Lin Zui knew he was in trouble, realizing he had already been exposed. He could no longer care about the spiritual energy fluctuations that would be generated by activating the Shrinking Earth Talisman, and hurriedly mobilized all his magical power, pouring it into the talisman without reservation.

He wasn't naive enough to think that his Uncle Yu would let him go just because they had made a deal. How could a cold-blooded guy who could turn his personal disciple and blood relative into a human puppet care about the little bit of affection between them?

That's right, the white-robed youth he summoned from the coffin was none other than Yu Yi, the junior disciple for whom he had sought the Foundation Establishment Pill years ago!

If this discovery hadn't been so astonishing, how could Lin Zui have been so distracted that his breathing became unsteady and he gave himself away?

Back then, this Uncle Yu sacrificed his own array formation inheritance to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill for his disciple, helping him establish his foundation. This was once a well-known story in Huangfeng Valley.

Many lower-ranking disciples, including Lin Zui, envied Senior Brother Yu Yi for having such a good master.

However, at this moment, looking at his senior brother Yu, whose eyes were glazed over and whose face was expressionless, and who could only obey his master's orders, Lin Zui felt a chill in his heart.

He probably never imagined, until the moment he was turned into a human puppet, that his mentor, who had supported his cultivation all the way and taught him everything he knew, would be a cold-blooded demon.

In the blink of an eye, the Shrinking Earth Talisman was successfully activated. Although Uncle Yu also threw out several talismans to cover him, it was ultimately too late.

The next moment, Lin Zui appeared in a forest several miles away. Without any hesitation, he activated the skill again and teleported several miles away.

Lin Zui used it five or six times in a row until the spiritual power of the Shrinking Earth Talisman was completely used up before he stopped.

Recalling what had just happened, Uncle Yu had only sensed a trace of his aura, but the invisibility talisman had not been broken, so he should not have discovered who he was.

Still not entirely at ease, he used his spirit-detecting technique to check the area several more times. Only after confirming that there were no traces of tracking did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

If Uncle Yu hadn't been slowed down by the backlash of the formation, and if Yu Yi hadn't been sent to hunt down the cultivators from Spirit Beast Mountain, he certainly wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed given his current strength.

"This cultivation world is far too dangerous. From now on, we really can't trust anyone easily!"

Lin Zui snorted coldly, took out a new Shrinking Earth Talisman, and fled towards the direction of Yellow Maple Valley.