Following the direction indicated by the demon fish, Lin Yi flew away at a measured pace. After all, there might be a potentially powerful opponent chasing him from behind.
Not long after Lin Yi left the small island, the Miao Ying King, a giant with a body several zhang long and wings as wide as an umbrella, arrived on the island they had just left.
Sensing the bloody atmosphere in the air, it immediately caught the scent of its son Miao Ying. Miao Ying King, who had been practicing on an island, suddenly felt a disturbance in its son's life lantern. Originally, the reproductive capacity of demonic beasts was low, and Miao Ying King had been grooming Miao Ying as its successor. Now, its successor was gone, leaving it furious.
Holding its son's life lantern, Miao Ying King followed the direction indicated by the extinguished light of the lantern.
When Miao Ying King arrived at the location where its son had been killed, the island was already deserted. However, the human aura was still detectable, making Miao Ying King aware of the presence of humans.
"Humans!" Miao Ying King struck with resentment, causing the entire mountain on the island to collapse into debris. The island disappeared instantly, and the sea gradually engulfed it, submerging it beneath the sea level.
After calming down, Miao Ying King carefully distinguished the human aura in the air. Although it was challenging to track the aura amidst the strong winds and waves at sea, the physical body of demonic beasts was indeed beyond the comparison of ordinary humans.
Just as human cultivators, like Lin Yi, trying to pursue an escaping Jiang Xiao, tracking by scent alone would be difficult and impractical unless Jiang Xiao remained within the range of their spiritual sense.
Finally, in the direction of the south, a different aura was detected. Despite some uncertainty, Miao Ying King rushed towards the south without hesitation.
Lin Yi flew rapidly ahead but found it impossible to control his flying weapon due to the profoundness of his weapons. He could only rely on his internal spiritual power for flight, significantly reducing his speed, unaware that a formidable pursuer was following him like a mini-boss.
Following the faint residual aura, Miao Ying King flew while distinguishing the scent. After several attempts, it consistently pointed towards the south.
Without wasting any more time, Miao Ying King flew directly south, fully restored to its demonic form and adept at flying. In just two days, the human aura became clearer and clearer.
Lin Yi, flying ahead, faintly felt that something was amiss but couldn't pinpoint exactly what. He then asked the demon fish, "Is the Miao Ying King very fast in flight?"
"Demonic beasts are not slow in flight. Even the slowest ones are much faster than us," replied the demon fish with envy.
Hearing this, Lin Yi used his spiritual sense to scan the area a few miles behind him. Suddenly, he felt a powerful aura rapidly approaching. "Wow, it's really catching up!"
Lin Yi immediately accelerated forward, putting the demon fish in his hand into his sleeve. Spatial storage was a must-have skill for cultivators. Unless equipped with the precious relic, the Universe Ring, which could carry anything, including people, relying on scent alone to track was difficult and impractical.
Finally, the figure of the culprit who killed its son came into view for Miao Ying King, providing an outlet for its anger.
Without considering whether the figure ahead was the real murderer of its son, Miao Ying King, as soon as it saw the silhouette, violently flapped its wings in mid-air.
Two crescent-shaped gray vigors attacked directly towards Lin Yi's position.
Lin Yi was startled by the sudden attack. It was a direct assault without any prior interaction. This opponent was ruthless, not afraid of making a mistake in killing the wrong person. Lin Yi easily avoided the two attacks by accelerating his speed, then continued flying forward without looking back.
"Huh!" Miao Ying King saw its two extremely fast vigors being dodged by the human cultivator with a swift movement forward. It couldn't help but be amazed; this human cultivator's agility was impressive.
Miao Ying King didn't waste its spiritual power. After a brief moment, it intercepted Lin Yi directly ahead.
When it saw that the human cultivator was just a teenager, it couldn't help but murmur to itself. Could this young man before it be the one who killed its son, who had already reached the half-awakening stage?
After being intercepted by Miao Ying King, Lin Yi didn't change direction to escape. He knew that with his current flying speed, it would be challenging to escape just by running. Since running away might not work, he decided to conserve some spiritual power and confront Miao Ying King.
"Did you kill my son?" Miao Ying King demanded.
Lin Yi nodded without saying anything. There was nothing to say. The hatred between the human and demonic races was irreconcilable, especially after killing Miao Ying King's son.
No explanation was necessary. Besides, in the conflict between the human and demonic races, words were entirely useless. It was better to conserve energy and prepare for the upcoming storm of attacks.
"Daring! Since you admit it so readily, today I will leave you with an intact corpse. Die on your own, so you can avoid the torment of soul extraction and soul refinement," Miao Ying King declared.
Lin Yi smiled and said, "Taking my life may not be that easy. Let's settle this in action."
Miao Ying King was furious. "You arrogant little brat! Let me send you to accompany my son."
After speaking, it vigorously flapped its wings several times, and several crescent-shaped gray vigor blades attacked Lin Yi's body from multiple positions. This time, the attacks were extremely close, and the vigor blades flew rapidly toward Lin Yi.
Lin Yi didn't dare to be careless. His spiritual power shield had long been activated, and he quickly drew the Tai Chi Bagua diagram, rotating it to block directly in front of him. The vigor blades from Miao Ying King's attacks struck the Tai Chi Bagua diagram successively, and the powerful impact forced Lin Yi to retreat continuously.
"A cultivator from Tai Yi Sect, daring to intrude into the demonic territory at such a young age. Truly, the young are fearless." Miao Ying King thought to itself.
However, seeing that its attacks were blocked by the human youth without any injuries, only pushing him back a few steps, Miao Ying King lunged forward with one wing, intending to engage in close-quarters combat with Lin Yi.
Seeing Miao Ying King wanting to use its strength to defeat him, Lin Yi chuckled silently. This was precisely what he wanted.
In the depths of the Demon Abyss, where demonic energy filled the air, Lin Yi's body had been tempered by the profound energy in the demonic energy, and his entire soul was dispersed, leading to death. However, his flesh was unintentionally tempered to become extraordinarily tough, becoming the coveted pure spiritual body for cultivators.
After his resurrection, Lin Yi, relying on the innate advantages of his flesh and the cultivation he gained from the Sword Ming Hui Yuan technique at the bottom of the Demon Abyss, made rapid progress.
The unique existence of a pure spiritual body could naturally conceal one's cultivation base. Therefore, even the leader of the Sword Tomb didn't know Lin Yi's cultivation level. However, the cultivation Lin Yi usually displayed was merely outstanding.
This led to jealousy from other individuals within the Sword Tomb, and he was secretly sent to infiltrate Tai Yi Sect.
Originally, they wouldn't assign someone who had successfully traversed the Demon Abyss to carry out such a dangerous and futile task. The Demon Abyss was a shortcut for disciples with poor aptitude in Sword Tomb to become elite disciples. By enduring twelve hours in the Demon Abyss, one could receive treatment equivalent to that of an elite disciple within the sect.
Unexpectedly, due to the negligence of the previous owner of Lin Yi's fleshly body, he accidentally fell to the bottom of the Demon Abyss. What was originally a hopeless situation turned into a resurrection due to Lin Yi's soul.
Getting the treatment of an elite disciple, Lin Yi faced envy and jealousy from others due to his inferior strength and failure to find backing in a timely manner. Consequently, he was assigned secret missions.
Having no sense of belonging to the Sword Tomb, Lin Yi took advantage of the opportunity to break free. Originally planning to spend some time in Tai Yi Sect before leaving, he decided to stay longer after sensing differences while practicing the Tai Yi Ling Qing technique.
Normally, it was challenging for cultivators to seamlessly merge two different cultivation techniques. Once two completely different attribute techniques were practiced, conflicts arose within the body due to differences in spiritual power attributes.
Therefore, those assigned to undertake such missions were usually cultivators with extremely poor aptitude. Wen Wenmao, who had been cultivated in Tai Yi Sect with the Tai Yi Ling Qing technique since childhood, did not practice the Sword Ming Zhen Ben technique.
Naturally, the robustness of his fleshly body made Lin Yi unafraid of the physical attacks from Miao Ying King. However, he didn't want to expose this characteristic of his formidable fleshly body too early. He secretly activated the lightning power stored in his dantian, concealed within his fists.
Seeing Miao Ying King fan its single wing, Lin Yi struck out with both fists, producing a "chirp" sound.
Miao Ying King, momentarily unaware, was pleased to see Lin Yi daring to confront it directly. However, upon contact, a paralyzing sensation and a strong burnt smell immediately reached it. Realizing the peril, Miao Ying King suffered a significant loss.
Lin Yi was also sent flying dozens of zhang away due to the force of the single-wing strike. Due to the concealed strength of his fleshly body, he was not injured, but he appeared quite disheveled after being flung.
After stabilizing his body, Lin Yi, seeing Miao Ying King transformed into a grotesque figure by the lightning power concealed in his fists, couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Miao Ying King's current appearance was indeed comical. All its feathers stood on end, and its body volume had expanded several times. The feathers on the attacked single wing were even more miserable.
Almost all the feathers on this wing were burnt to a crisp, and the burning gas emitted black smoke, turning Miao Ying King completely black.
"Sly and cunning human kid!" Miao Ying King gritted its teeth, swinging its single wing again, sending several gray crescent-shaped vigor blades toward Lin Yi. After Lin Yi blocked them once, he was no longer afraid. He dodged and blocked, all vanishing into the void.
After dodging, Lin Yi flew towards the south again. Seeing that its attacks couldn't affect this human kid, Miao Ying King chased after him once more. Intercept, attack, block, dodge, escape - the cycle between man and demon continued endlessly.
After several consecutive days like this, Lin Yi, who had experienced two lifetimes, was originally very patient. However, Miao Ying King stuck to him like chewing gum, making it impossible to shake off completely, and he couldn't completely ignore it either.
After all, Miao Ying King's attacks unintentionally exerted considerable force, and days of continuous mental tension left Lin Yi physically and mentally exhausted.
(End of this chapter)