If one looked from below, the bamboo would seem like a giant green candle, where the tongue of a flame kept swaying at its tip, making it look like a beacon that lit up the whole area.
Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. He had an odd look on his face as he quietly sensed the flame at the tip.
“What’s that?” Big Yellow widened its eyes. It witnessed the entire unforeseen event, but it did not know what happened.
The young fellow twitched his mouth and answered slowly, “Big Yellow, I think… We might’ve obtained a node.”
“What?” Little vortexes were somehow seen in the big yellow dog’s eyes. It wondered, ‘Please speak in dog language. Why can’t I understand you?’
Ou Yangming cleared his throat and noted, “I meant that we found a portable interspatial node.”
Big Yellow blinked before it came to a sudden realization and questioned in disbelief, “A node? Did you mean this thing?”
The young fellow nodded. “I sensed its power property. When the bamboo and my Military Fire combined, interspatial energy seemed to have greatly increased. If I incite my power, I can use this as a node to open an interspatial door.”
“Where does the door lead to once it’s opened?” The big yellow dog wagged its tail excitedly.
“If I open it here, we’ll likely return to the endless space,” Ou Yangming answered after some thought, then he asked Big Yellow with a smile, “Do you want to give it a go”
Big Yellow immediately stopped wagging its tail. It subconsciously tucked its tail between its legs and shook its head. “No! There’s no need to!”
Traveling with a node would indeed be something worth writing a great deal about, but if they were to return to the dark and lifeless place through the node, they would not be able to stand it.
“We can find a place to test it out,” Ou Yangming suggested after some time and added with bright eyes, “This node is a bane to every forbidden area.”
Big Yellow’s eyes gleamed, and it shouted eagerly, “Yes, we’ll hunt for treasures! We’ll hunt for treasures since we have every forbidden area’s bane!”
Ou Yangming gained some information from the little red bird because he found the Phoenixes’ treasure map.
Almighty Beings had set up destructive prohibitions around some treasuries that stored items without owners, by which one that tried to barge in would only cause damage to both sides. As such, all would perish together. It would be incredibly difficult to remove those prohibitions, so much so that it would be impossible.
Having said that, there was a feasible shortcut to get rid of the prohibitions. It could be done through interspatial power.
If one could avoid the prohibitions and access the spaces inside and outside of a treasury, would that not mean that one could give and take anything one wanted?
Of course, it would be difficult to achieve that because the treasury’s owner would definitely be well-prepared. If something were to go wrong, the worst outcome would still happen.
However, what if one accessed the spaces through a node?
As far as Ou Yangming could remember… No, based on the Phoenixes’ memories inside the little red bird’s spiritual world, there seemed to be no such thing as active nodes.
If Ou Yangming was not holding the bamboo and did not sense that the space it was in was a node, he would not have believed that this could happen to him.
Ou Yangming glanced at Big Yellow and responded snappily, “If we’re going to hunt for treasures, we’ll at least have to know where the treasures are, right? Let me observe and consider this thoroughly first. Don’t cause any more troubles.” He scoffed.
Big Yellow was extremely displeased with Ou Yangming’s response, but it also understood that it could not fiddle with the item.
It was content about finding the spiritual item through its instinct. As for what exactly the item was and the wonderful effects it had, they were beyond the big yellow dog’s considerations.
Just as Ou Yangming was fidgeting with the long bamboo in his hand, his face changed abruptly, and he turned to look into the distance.
Over there, an enormous and evil aura was quickly approaching them. It was menacing and appalling.
Ou Yangming shook his wrist and instantly kept the candle-like bamboo into his Long Feather Band. Of course, instead of the space where the lazy turtle was in, he stored the bamboo in the band where the massive aerolite was in.
Following that, he turned around and retrieved his suit that comprised magic tools as fast as he could to face the enemy.
Big Yellow sensed the evil intent from the aura too. It opened its mouth to spit out its battle suit, then it quickly put it on.
They had kept the pieces of the Thunderbolt-resist Equipment that they wore earlier. After all, those pieces of equipment were the best tools to use against the Heavenly Disaster, but they would be abused if they used them against an enemy.
“Roar…”
An earth-shattering roar was heard as a humongous figure descended from the sky and landed somewhere in front of Ou Yangming and Big Yellow.
It was a leopard, which was a spirit beast with an immensely fearsome aura.
While its aura was not as frightening as that of Multi-armed King Kong, it was not inferior to the goshawk’s.
The spirit leopard was more than twice as big as Big Yellow. It seemed as though formidable spirit beasts in the Spiritual World were much larger. In terms of this, the big yellow dog looked like it was inherently weak because it grew up in the lower realm.
Instead of attacking right away, the spirit leopard scanned Ou Yangming and Big Yellow with its sharp eyes as soon as it appeared.
In particular, its eyes glowed when it noticed the suit on Big Yellow’s body.
Big Yellow took a step forward to the side of Ou Yangming. It could tell from the disparity between its aura and the leopard’s that it would not be a match for its enemy. Even with the help of its magic skill tools, the big yellow dog felt like it could not defeat the spirit leopard.
Despite that, Big Yellow was not alone. With Ou Yangming beside it, it bared its teeth and let out threatening growls to not show a weak impression.
‘Do you want a 1v2, or a 2v1?
‘A 1v2 means that you’ll be fighting against the 2 of us!
‘If it’s a 2v1, the 2 of us will be going against you!’
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and thought, ‘What a foolish dog…’
He reached out to press the big yellow dog’s head to block the ferocious look in its eyes. Subsequently, he nodded at the spirit leopard and said, “I’m Ou Yangming from the Humans, and you are…”
Since the spirit leopard did not attack them as soon as it appeared, it meant that there was room for discussion.
It was Ou Yangming’s first time at such a noble place, hence he did not want to fight anyone or anything due to some confusion. At the very least, he would figure out what was going on before he fought.
The spirit leopard withdrew its intimidating look, then it replied to the young fellow in an unwelcoming voice, “I’m Silver Ridge. Why have you entered my territory, fellow friends?”
Ou Yangming was stunned. He looked around and could not help but smile bitterly.
He initially thought this was an inhabited place, thus he did not expect a powerful spirit beast to be hiding here.
“Woof!”
Big Yellow barked as it was displeased. “Your aura was nearly non-existent, so who are you trying to fool by saying that this is your territory?”
Silver Ridge answered with a hostile look on its face, “This entire forest’s in the Silver Ridge’s boundary. Though it’s at the border, it’s still my territory.”
The big yellow dog was about to refute when Ou Yangming waved his hand and spoke, “I see, so we were the ones that offended you. We’ll be leaving now, so please forgive us, Your Excellency.”
Silver Ridge glanced at the scattered pieces of the big tree and uttered, “You may leave, bu
t only if you return the treasure you found!”
The atmosphere became tense and dangerous at once.
Chapter 550 - An Ice Arrow That Turns
Ou Yangming looked at Silver Ridge and said, “Your Excellency, you must be mistaken; we didn’t find any treasure.”
The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard sneered. “Did you really not take what was inside the tree?”
‘Was the spiritual item—the long bamboo—guarded by this giant leopard?’ Ou Yangming was secretly surprised, but he came to a sudden realization when he saw the cunning look in the leopard’s eyes.
If the giant leopard was guarding the item, how could it be far away? Besides, there were no hints of its aura nearby, which was evident that it never came to this area. If Ou Yangming and Big Yellow had not exposed their auras, the leopard could not have been drawn here.
Ou Yangming grinned and answered, “We were exchanging blows here for fun, but the big tree suffered a miserable fate when we were too immersed in our fight. As for its pith, I decided to keep it because it looks interesting. Hehe, you’re not going to ask us for compensation, are you?”
Big Yellow still looked menacing as it widened its eyes behind Ou Yangming. Even so, it mumbled to itself, ‘The leopard probably won’t believe you even if you make up a brilliant story. Instead of wasting your time, let’s just fight it.’
Sure enough, the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard roared and remarked, “How dare a tiny human like you lie to you? You should be punished…” It opened its mouth and spat out an ice arrow.
The ice arrow carried an intense chillness, causing the temperature around it to lower the instant it appeared.
Nonetheless, the ice arrow was not shot out; it was floating above Yin Lin’s head. The spirit leopard stared at Ou Yangming and Big Yellow as it uttered, “I’ll give you another chance. Where…”
“Boom…”
Before the leopard could finish its sentence, a powerful energy fluctuation emerged from the ground beneath it. An enormous stone awl surfaced and was after its abdomen.
Big Yellow made quite an exaggerated response as it struck first. In fact, it went all-out without showing any mercy.
After all, it would be courting death if it showed mercy to an evenly-matched enemy that it encountered in the wild.
The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard stopped talking, but it reacted very quickly and rolled to the side as though it transferred into a strong wind. At the same time, it shot its ice arrow at Ou Yangming.
Although Big Yellow was the one that sneaked an attack on it, its target was Ou Yangming.
A spirit beast’s combat power was remarkable, but one would likely be at a loss one tried to smith pieces of equipment. On the other hand, pieces of equipment smithed by the Humans were not only great and practical, but they could also be provided to beasts.
The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard could tell from Ou Yangming and Big Yellow’s armors who the master was.
Faced with the whistling ice arrow, Ou Yangming simply sneered. Even though he did not want to fight the leopard, he was not afraid when a fight broke out.
Since he could achieve greatness in the lower realm, he would not flinch in the Spiritual Realm.
As he shook his wrist, his shield tilted to block the ice arrow’s path.
Protected by the shield, no matter how forceful the ice arrow was, Ou Yangming believed that it could not hurt him. After all, his shield was more than just a magic tool; it was attached with a skill, which would be activated if it faced irresistible powers. The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard was outstanding among spirit beasts, but it would not be able to destroy the young fellow’s shield with an ice arrow.
“Woosh…”
The ice arrow zoomed toward Ou Yangming, but he got into position and was ready for the attack.
This would be their first exchange of blows, and he wanted to test the gigantic leopard’s power too.
Just as the ice arrow almost hit his shield, it suddenly flashed and left a wonderful afterimage in the air, then it went to his side to stab him.
Ou Yangming widened his eyes.
‘A turn?
‘An ice arrow that turns…’
This was the only thought that crossed his mind at that instant.
Wu Hanning was also adept in ice-mastery spells, and she never held back in front of Ou Yangming. Therefore, the young fellow had a similar Skill Rune in his sea of consciousness, where he could also release ice arrows if he utilized the rune.
Nevertheless, whether it was ice arrows or runes, he never came across anything that could turn halfway.
Even Multi-armed King Kong and the goshawk never displayed anything similar.
Ordinary cultivators would definitely suffer small losses if they encountered the unforeseen change, but Ou Yangming’s states of the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous, came into play at this moment.
His mental power increased, and time seemed to have slowed down.
With a flash of thought, an intense yellow light emerged from Ou Yangming’s body.
It was the Indestructible Defense, which was Big Yellow’s natural ability. It had long been attached to Ou Yangming’s armor, and he stimulated the skill without any hesitation.
Due to the light, the ice arrow’s speed and momentum declined. Though it managed to get past Ou Yangming’s line of defense and stabbed his armor, that was all to its threat because it completely drowned in the yellow light.
Ou Yangming evaded the unforeseen attack, but he became extremely alert.
Given that an insignificant ice arrow could change so unbelievably, how many more abilities did the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard have?
The spirit leopard was humongous, but it was incredibly nimble. While being continuously attacked by Big Yellow, it jumped with ease to dodge the sudden attacks from the ground.
In terms of power only, the damages from the stone awls were probably greater than that of the ice arrow. Having said that, Big Yellow only controlled the stone awls in one way, which was much more childish as compared to the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard. As such, the stone awls did not give the spirit leopard too much trouble.
“Is that all you’ve got? A domestic spirit beast without its wild nature basically doesn’t have a future at all!” The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard sneered after a brief moment, and it widened its mouth in mid-air to release ice arrows continuously until there were 100 of them. As it roared, the ice arrows were shot at Ou Yangming and Big Yellow.
Ou Yangming sighed and smiled at the big yellow dog. “Big Yellow, we’re being underestimated.”
Big Yellow barked as if it was responding to him, but unusual lusters could be seen in its eyes.
Ou Yangming chuckled and reached out his hand to quickly make strokes in front of him.
The Indestructible Defense, the Bones of Steel Art, the Air Wall Defense…
Almost in an instant, defensive runes appeared one after another around Ou Yangming and Big Yellow.
The runes were not profound secret techniques; Ou Yangming had secretly learned them from the newly-advanced Supreme Great Ancestors from the lower realm.
It was worth noting that the secret techniques did not exist as runes at first, but the marvelous effect was incited when they used various unique abilities. In a way, Ou Yangming had secretly learned the numerous magnificent secret techniques created by the Humans during the last millennium.
While the secret techniques were only basic runes, there were plenty of them.
With that, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow were instantly drowned in peculiar lights. If one looked from afar, it would seem like they were bathing in a multicolored sea of lights, such that even their faces could not be clearly seen.
The Silver Ridge Giant Leopard widened its eyes. The 100 ice arrows danced in the air, each one drawing beautiful tracks in the air.
As long as Ou Yangming and Big Yellow exposed their weak points, the ice arrows would attack them in an unbelievable way and would aim
for their flaws until the very end.
However, since the two were completely enveloped by defensive lights, how could there be any weak points?
The spirit leopard had a feeling that if it released the ice arrows, they would be destroyed and would never come back. As for the damage that would be inflicted on its enemies… The more it stared at the intense defensive lights, the more uncertain it was.
It was dispirited and indignant at the same time as it stared at Ou Yangming. ‘How exactly did this human caster learn those magic arts? Why does he know so many low-ranked defensive spells?
‘Is he a unique caster groomed by an influential family? But even if that’s the case, based on his capability, he couldn’t have grasped so many different spells, can he?’
While the leopard was looking at Ou Yangming and Big Yellow and was deep in its thoughts, it did not realize that it had accidentally jumped to the center of those emerging stone awls.
Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up. He turned his wrist and generously released lights on Big Yellow.
The Berserk Art, the Great Force Art, the Vigorous Art…
Over 10 assistive spells were attached to Big Yellow’s body in an instant, causing its Qi and blood to surge, and its spiritual power circulated so much that it was going to explode.
Big Yellow curled its mouth and thought, ‘Did you underestimate me? Let me show you my true powers.’
Followed by a sudden roar from the big yellow dog, the towering and tough stone awls exploded in the massive leopard’s direction.
The Stone Awl Explosion was a spell comprehended by Big Yellow.
Initially, the spell’s power was very limited, by which it could not be used to hurt equal-ranked powerhouses. After Ou Yangming used many assistive abilities on the big yellow dog, the mightiness of the Stone Awl Explosion rose to a greater height.
The countless shards from the explosions carried fatal energies, which were so forceful that even the formidable giant leopard felt deeply threatened.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 324
