Chapter 444

Chapter 444: Goldleaf

Once transformed, the elder charged at Ji Yang, wielding what appeared to be a bone.

Although Ji Yang wanted to see how many different forms the elder had, considering the unknown dangers of this place, he decided to end things quickly.

At that moment, the bone in the elder’s hand emitted a shimmering white light, and a soul-capturing force descended with its attack.

This was a technique aimed at the primordial spirits, but Ji Yang’s primordial spirit merely trembled slightly, dispersing its power.

As the bone approached him, Ji Yang used his hand as a sword, dodging the bone while aiming directly for the elder’s chest.

Just as Ji Yang prepared to finish him off in an instant, he suddenly felt a void in his hand; his full-strength strike sank like a stone in the sea, leaving no response.

Turning back again, he saw the elder, bone in hand, charging at him once more.

Having just missed his chance, a hint of confusion appeared in Ji Yang’s eyes.

However, this time Ji Yang chose not to repeat his previous tactic; instead, he unleashed several waves of sword energy.

Some were worn away by the elder’s bone, but one beam of sword energy pierced through his defenses and struck his lower abdomen.

Yet when the sword energy hit the elder’s body, it surged like a swamp, and Ji Yang’s attack seemed to pass right through it.

After the sword energy passed, the elder’s body returned to normal, showing no signs of injury.

Upon seeing this, Ji Yang finally understood why his previous attack had been ineffective. This elder was indeed not a cultivator; he could evade Ji Yang’s strikes.

No, it shouldn’t be called evasion; rather, Ji Yang’s attacks were dodged after making contact with the elder’s body.

This state resembled Ji Yang’s own when he used feather transformation, and it appeared that after using this state, the elder’s strength had not diminished in the slightest.

This development created a bit of trouble.

But Ji Yang was not worried; he was in excellent condition, his strength at its peak, and he had plenty of methods at his disposal. He did not believe the elder could ignore all of his attacks.

In the ensuing battle, Ji Yang launched several different attacks.

These included the power of magic treasures, spell attacks, and Talismans.

However, none of these attacks proved effective, instead prompting the elder to once again shift into a more monstrous form, his strength slightly enhanced.

Watching the elder approach with a pair of horns, cloaked in bone armor, and uttering familiar phrases, Ji Yang furrowed his brow.

The elder had been attacking for so long without showing any signs of fatigue.

Meanwhile, Ji Yang had lost a significant amount of magical power.

With this exchange, things were becoming a bit tricky.

If an ordinary cultivator could not resolve the elder’s attacks immediately, they would most likely have no chance against him afterward.

Ji Yang stopped overthinking; even though his previous methods had not worked, he still had other options.

In the next moment, an object appeared in Ji Yang’s hand.

It was the red staff, a semi-spiritual treasure.

Ji Yang had refrained from using it before due to his unfamiliarity with the surroundings and the staff’s significant impact, fearing it might cause other crises.

However, under the current circumstances, where most of his attacks were ineffective, Ji Yang decided to let go of his reservations.

As he summoned the spiritual treasure, the elder’s body paused briefly.

Although it was only a moment’s reaction, Ji Yang noticed it right away.

It seemed the spiritual treasure was effective!

It made sense; as a high-end weapon in the Cultivation World, it contained a trace of the essence of the Way. If the spiritual treasure were ineffective, Ji Yang could not think of any other attacks that could harm the elder.

Seeing the elder attack again, Ji Yang set aside his concerns and fiercely activated the staff.

With the staff’s activation, the surroundings of the attic underwent a change in the heavens, and the feeling of manipulating the spiritual treasure and controlling everything returned.

However, the elder seemed unconcerned about the changes around him.

“Boom!”

A bolt of heavenly lightning suddenly struck the elder’s path, launched by Ji Yang through the activation of the spiritual treasure, carrying the rhythm of the treasure.

The elder could not dodge in time and was instantly hit by the lightning.

Ji Yang watched intently, eager to see if the elder would evade misfortune again like before.

But beneath the thunder’s strike, Ji Yang noticed a faint golden light swirling within the elder’s body.

This golden light hid deep at the center of the elder’s body, flashing and vanishing.

“What was that?”

Surprise flickered in Ji Yang’s eyes, but he could not discern it more clearly.

As the power of the thunder dissipated, the elder re-emerged unscathed but charged at Ji Yang again.

Although the previous thunder did not destroy the elder, his momentum had weakened slightly; he was no longer as fierce, showing signs of damage from the spiritual treasure’s attack.

As the elder attacked again, Ji Yang chose not to continue using the staff but to reflect on the faint golden light he had seen in the elder’s center.

After a moment, Ji Yang put away the staff, deciding not to rely on the spiritual treasure for combat any longer.

At that moment, the elder charged forward again, wielding a weapon that had morphed multiple times, now taking the shape of a massive wolf fang club, with sharp spikes and a heavy presence.

The elder swung the wolf fang club down, but Ji Yang easily dodged it. Just as the elder prepared to strike again, Ji Yang transformed his palm into a fist and aimed at the elder’s body!

Though Ji Yang was physically strong, his prior attacks had proven that physical strikes were ineffective against the elder.

Yet, Ji Yang remained calm, as though everything was under control.

When his fist hit the elder, he felt a sensation of collapse in his hand, as if he were striking a cotton candy instead of the elder’s body, the same feeling as before.

In that moment, Ji Yang suddenly transformed his fist into a palm, adding an invisible rhythm to his hand.

That was the Essence of War he had just activated!

In this state of essence, Ji Yang emanated a unique charm; he appeared unchanged, but in Ji Yang’s eyes, everything had transformed, even the spiritual energy in the heavens could be traced.

The elder, initially unaffected by Ji Yang’s blow, now displayed a glimmer of fear as Ji Yang’s essence enveloped him. He shouted,

“Die!”

As the words fell, a violent golden light erupted from the elder’s body.

Just as this golden light was about to burst forth, Ji Yang exclaimed with delight,

“I found it!”

As he spoke, Ji Yang pulled with all his strength, instantly freeing himself from the elder’s chest. In doing so, he drew out an object.

It was a sheet of paper gleaming with gold.

More precisely, it was a piece of ancient gold foil inscribed with strange patterns, used for writing in Ancient Times.

This was what had been hidden within the elder’s body, the very object Ji Yang had seen during his attack, now successfully extracted.

As the gold foil was drawn out, the previously imposing elder instantly withered away, his eyes losing their light, and his body transformed into a wisp of blue smoke that dissolved in place.

Seeing the elder vanish, Ji Yang looked at the gold foil in his hand.

The gold foil felt smooth, as thin as a cicada’s wing, and upon it was etched a distinct character.

“Fear!”