After using the strike that killed the alligator, Jin Yun began to fall from the air.
His hair floated upward as his body descended in a straight line.
Boom!
Jin Yun hit the devastated ground, forming a crater.
With the impact, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"That hurts…" he murmured, returning to his normal state.
Since he was a cultivator, even falling from such a height only caused minor injuries.
Dizzily standing up, he looked around. He was currently inside a one-meter-deep hole.
There wasn't a single trace of spiritual energy left in his body, and his physical strength was extremely weakened.
That last attack had drained him too much. The only advantage was that his insane state had disappeared.
"I can't use this technique in group fights… let alone in this forest."
Jin Yun thought, feeling somewhat relieved to be inside the crater.
Sitting cross-legged, he began to recover his spiritual energy.
The process was slow. After an hour, he had only managed to restore one percent.
"This is enough…"
"If I keep going like this, it'll take several days to restore my spiritual energy. I'd better go back and fuse some metals I've used before."
"That alligator was quite interesting. Who would have thought it had such an ability?"
Jin Yun muttered and jumped out of the crater.
Before him lay a cracked ground, and further ahead was a massive hole, ten meters deep and nearly twenty meters wide.
"Did I do that?" Jin Yun couldn't believe it. His eyes were full of surprise.
But thinking about it, he didn't find it that unbelievable.
"I have multiple types of Qi. That last strike was a manifestation of all of them. No wonder it had such destructive power and drained all my spiritual energy."
Reaching this conclusion, he moved forward.
It didn't take even five minutes before he found Huo Lie standing on top of a tree, looking at him as if he were a monster.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Jin Yun joked, speaking loudly.
Huo Lie frowned and jumped to the ground.
"Damn! What the hell was that strike? I only saw a river rushing toward the alligator!" he said, shocked.
"If you give me some common swords, I'll teach you."
Hearing this, black lines appeared on Huo Lie's face, but he forced himself to stay calm.
"Here."
He pulled several swords from his storage ring and threw them toward Jin Yun.
Jin Yun smiled. "Rich kids are the best."
"…?" Huo Lie was confused.
"Are you crazy?"
"You idiot, I lent you those so we can take down the fire dragon, not because I'm being nice!" he snapped.
"I know, I'm just joking." Jin Yun grinned, and the next second, he began fusing the metals.
Ten minutes later, inside him, a wave of dark energy descended into his cyclone, which had less than one percent energy, looking like an ordinary cyclone.
Upon receiving the wave, the cyclone's energy was restored to ten percent.
After another hour, Jin Yun had fused a thousand common swords and fully restored his energy.
"Two thousand gold coins… that's how much I spent to restore my spiritual energy." Jin Yun wanted to complain.
Ordinary people could buy eight spiritual energy supply pills for a hundred gold coins.
"A difference of twelve hundred!"
That number put Jin Yun in a bad mood.
Near him, Huo Lie once again felt his pressure increase.
"Why do you have that dumb expression? Don't compare ordinary people to someone with a ton of Qi.
That destructive power you used two hours ago would be enough to kill a tenth-level Origin Condensation cultivator."
"I know." Jin Yun rolled his eyes, feeling déjà vu.
"Do you have control over Blood Qi? Or do you need more time?" Huo Lie asked.
"Let's go now… I learned a lot from that fight." Jin Yun was relaxed.
Huo Lie, on the other hand, had a doubtful expression. "You're not gonna stab me in the back, are you?"
"Relax, trust me." He patted Huo Lie's shoulder.
Without a word, Huo Lie put on a spiritual armor.
"…?" Jin Yun was confused. 'Am I really that dangerous?'
He had doubts, but he didn't ask.
"Are we going on foot? It's pretty far from here to the end. It'd be great if we got there in seven days."
"What's your plan?" Huo Lie had a bad feeling.
"I ask you the same thing."
"…"
Huo Lie felt that the biggest mistake of his life was following Jin Yun.
This guy is such a freeloader…
'Crimson Sunflower.' He mentally recited the mantra to resist the urge to fight to the death.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled a small talisman from his storage ring and whistled.
"Pss-pss."
Then, he threw the talisman in the direction of the sect.
It didn't take long before an eagle appeared. Its plumage was white, its eyes yellow, and its wings, also yellow, emitted faint lightning bolts.
Landing on the ground, the eagle stood before Huo Lie, who stroked its head.
Jin Yun, watching like an NPC, was stunned by the scene.
He didn't expect this rude guy to have such a fondness for animals.
'Appearances can be deceiving…' He shook his head and looked at Huo Lie differently.
"Get on."
Huo Lie climbed onto the bird's back first, then looked at Jin Yun.
Jin Yun nodded and was about to climb when, suddenly, he saw the eagle disappear from his sight.
All he perceived was a yellow flash vanishing with a blur.
And in the next instant, the eagle reappeared.
"Hahaha! Looks like my eagle doesn't like you!" Huo Lie felt satisfied seeing the dumb expression on Jin Yun's face.
But the next second, he froze upon seeing the sword in Jin Yun's hand and his cold gaze locked onto him.
"Jin Yun, calm down!" Huo Lie panicked and started pulling out a bunch of talismans while trying to command the eagle to leave.
But it remained paralyzed under the oppressive aura.
Jin Yun, who was nearby, simply chuckled and, in the next second, deactivated his spiritual soul.
"Why are you trembling?"