Chapter 44

Chapter 43: The Third-Rank Yin Soul Wind

Just after Ding Hao left, a one-eyed man stood where he had been standing.

"Finally found this brat's trail!"

Ding Hao had been walking through the dense forest very cautiously. Lone Wolf had released a man-eyed eagle to search for a long time, and finally found Ding Hao's trail.

"There seems to have been a battle here!" Lone Wolf looked around and noticed that the scale of the battle was quite large, with many trees knocked down.

"Let the Spirit Scent Rat smell it." He then took out a cage from his storage bag.

The Spirit Scent Rat, also known as the Green Fur Rat, is a guinea pig with green fur. It can distinguish over a million different spiritual energy scents, making it useful for tracking enemies or finding treasures. This creature is difficult to raise and very expensive.

Lone Wolf, in order to track Ding Hao, had specially borrowed a Spirit Scent Rat from the Tang Family Trading Company with the approval of the head manager.

The Spirit Scent Rat quickly caught a scent and began to dig into the soil with its nose.

"This soil layer is new!"

Lone Wolf noticed and immediately dug up the soil, finding a corpse of a Demon Dao Master inside.

"What's going on? Could it be that Ding Hao colluded with the Demon Dao Master? No wonder the Old Flower Demon helped him so much! Humph, you must think you're dying too slowly, colluding with a Demon Dao Master?"

Lone Wolf continued, "Spirit Scent Rat, listen carefully. I'm looking for the scent of a middle-stage innate cultivator. Don't get it wrong." He had learned from the gate guards that Ding Hao had reached the sixth stage of innate cultivation.

However, what Lone Wolf didn't expect was that the Green Fur Rat, upon hearing this, started circling around without moving.

"Could the information I got be wrong?" Lone Wolf said, "Then let's track the scent of an early-stage innate cultivator."

The Green Fur Rat then ran back to the cage, indicating that there was no early-stage innate scent here.

"What's going on?" Lone Wolf was puzzled and said, "Then let's track the scent of a late-stage innate cultivator."

As soon as he said this, the Green Fur Rat leaped out of the cage and ran toward one side of the forest.

"Late-stage innate..." Lone Wolf was puzzled, "Could it be that the little waste has reached the late-stage innate? Impossible! This breakthrough speed is too fast! Yes, the Green Fur Rat must have made a mistake. Otherwise, he couldn't have reached the late-stage innate. No matter, we'll find out once we catch up."

At this moment, Ding Hao was still on his way. He didn't know that the man-eyed eagle belonged to Lone Wolf, nor did he know that Lone Wolf was getting closer.

He was thinking about the flower seed given to him by the store owner Tuoba.

The dead woman had a red flower seed in her hand, which grew into a fiery red flower demon tree. So, what kind of flower demon would grow from the flower seed with a strange fragrance given by Tuoba?

Ding Hao wanted to try, but this flower seed was very peculiar. He couldn't activate it with his spiritual energy, as if it were dead.

"That's not right. There's still spiritual energy in it, so it should still be alive, but I can't input my spiritual energy." Ding Hao was puzzled and studied it for a long time but still couldn't find the answer.

However, this flower seed was borrowed from Tuoba, and he would have to return it to Tuoba when he returned to the native city.

On his way forward, there was a plain without trees ahead. As soon as he stepped onto this plain, a sharp eagle cry came from the sky, "Li!"

Hearing this, Ding Hao became alert.

"Bad, this eagle has been following me! Someone is tracking me!"

Ding Hao looked around, but there was no place to hide nearby.

"There's no place to hide. The only way now is to run!"

Ding Hao understood this and immediately used the Beast Shadow Technique to move forward at high speed!

At this moment, he had already covered half of his return journey. As long as he could hold on for about two hours and enter the Heavenly Will, no one could harm him.

Lone Wolf soon felt that Ding Hao's speed had increased. He coldly snorted, "He's noticed and sped up. It seems there's only one way now!"

He then put away the Green Fur Rat, whistled, and called down his man-eyed eagle.

"Now, I can only ask you to lead me to him. I know it's hard for you, but rest assured, once this is successful, I will definitely buy you the best forbidden medicine to help you advance!"

When raising beasts, one must always keep their promises to the beasts, or they won't trust you. If he promised to buy forbidden medicine, he must buy it.

The man-eyed eagle was very happy upon hearing this. It immediately picked up Lone Wolf's shoulders and flew off, chasing through the forest.

After another half an hour, they reached a shrub forest filled with brown, low shrubs.

Ding Hao stopped, and Da Huang kept barking at the back, indicating that the enemy was getting closer.

"It seems there's no way to escape." Ding Hao stopped using the Beast Shadow Technique, took out all the remaining spirit stones, and absorbed them to replenish his spiritual energy.

Soon, another sharp eagle cry came from the sky. The man-eyed eagle flapped its large wings and put Lone Wolf down.

"It seems he's in this shrub forest." Lone Wolf took out the Green Fur Rat again and ordered, "Find the little waste for me!"

The Green Fur Rat obediently entered the shrub forest. After a while, it made two squeaks.

Lone Wolf quickly followed and found that the Green Fur Rat had been hit by two crossbow arrows and was now pinned to the ground.

"Damn!" Lone Wolf's face changed. This creature was very expensive, and now that it was dead, the head manager wouldn't be pleased.

"Where is this brat?" Lone Wolf gritted his teeth.

Actually, he didn't know that Ding Hao was right under his feet.

Ding Hao's Star Absorption Stone now had enough space to contain him. Once inside, the Star Absorption Stone would turn into a pebble, and no one could find him.

"Who would have thought it's Lone Wolf!"

Ding Hao didn't recognize Lone Wolf, but he saw him walking with Zhou Genwei and knew from Zhou Genwei that Lone Wolf was a ninth-stage innate cultivator.

At this moment, Ding Hao could have hidden in the Star Absorption Stone and waited for Lone Wolf to leave, but when he realized Lone Wolf was alone, he had an idea, "Why not take advantage of his solitude and kill him! After all, he's only a ninth-stage innate, and I'm already a seventh-stage innate!"

With this thought, Ding Hao's mind moved, and he flashed out, shooting an arrow at Lone Wolf's back.

Clang!

To Ding Hao's surprise, Lone Wolf was wearing a decent metal armor, and the arrow made of secret steel was deflected.

Instead, Lone Wolf turned his head and saw Ding Hao.

Ding Hao didn't hide back in the Star Absorption Stone. He wouldn't enter it in front of others, as it would be discovered. Even if the person was about to die, he wouldn't expose the secret of the Star Absorption Stone.

"Little waste, I finally found you. I didn't expect you to have broken through to the seventh-stage innate." Lone Wolf looked at the current Ding Hao and was very shocked. In his long life, he had seen many geniuses, but this was the first time he saw someone break through so quickly.

Ding Hao said, "Even so, I'm still only a seventh-stage innate, while you are a ninth-stage innate."

Lone Wolf coldly snorted, "That's right. Little waste, you must have some treasure to break through so quickly. How about this: you hand over the treasure, and I'll spare your life. What do you think?"

In this world, there are no coincidences. Even a fool could see that Ding Hao's rapid breakthrough must have some means.

Seeing the greed in Lone Wolf's remaining eye, Ding Hao said, "I don't have any treasure. I broke through quickly because I have a good immortal root. A super-first-class immortal root, with my spirit energy reaching 20 meters, how could it not be fast?"

"Is that so?" Lone Wolf's face showed disappointment, and he smiled sinisterly, "In that case, you are doomed. I will not leave a talented enemy alive, or you will soon surpass me, and I will die quickly."

Ding Hao laughed, "You will die quickly! Even if your cultivation is higher than mine, you still can't escape death today!"

"Arrogant!" Lone Wolf sneered, "Don't think you're great just because you have a good immortal root. The difference of two stages is not something you can imagine! Little waste, today I will show you that there are no overpowered cultivators in this world!"

Lone Wolf then reached into his storage bag and pulled out a ghost-head broadsword. As he infused it with spiritual energy, the ghost head on the sword glowed, and its eyes shone with a sinister light.

"Common Treasure!" Ding Hao's face changed.

Lone Wolf sneered, "Don't think you're the only one with a Common Treasure!"

"How do you know!" Ding Hao's face changed again. He knew that the only enemy who had seen him use the Spirit Infusion Finger Glove was Zhou Genwei, who was already dead!

Lone Wolf said, "Fool, with enough money, you can find out anything in this world!"

Clearly, Lone Wolf already knew what he had bought from the trading company.

"Since you already know, let's get started." Ding Hao put on the Spirit Infusion Finger Glove and glared.

To be honest, this battle was not easy for Ding Hao.

In terms of weapons, both of them had Common Treasures, but the ghost-head broadsword was more powerful than the Spirit Infusion Finger Glove. If they clashed, Ding Hao's fingers would be injured, while Lone Wolf would suffer no damage.

In terms of armor, Ding Hao had a mid-to-lower grade Snow Silkworm Silk Armor, while Lone Wolf's armor was better, probably mid-to-upper grade.

In terms of spiritual energy, both of them were about the same.

Additionally, most of Ding Hao's techniques were known to the enemy, while Lone Wolf's techniques were unknown to Ding Hao.

"Five Stacks of Fire Fist!"

"Wild Wind Sword Technique!"

Lone Wolf, who seemed to have a wind-type immortal root, used the Wild Wind Sword Technique with great proficiency. The ghost-head broadsword created a green wind shadow, and although Ding Hao's fist wind was powerful, each collision made him feel as if his hand bones were about to shatter.

"Indeed, very strong! Ninth-stage innate, nearly reaching the peak of innate, much stronger than the waste Zhou Genwei!" Ding Hao's eyes narrowed, and he struck again with "Six Stacks of Fire Fist."

"Such a powerful fist technique!" Lone Wolf was startled. The force of Ding Hao's punch, transmitted through the ghost-head broadsword to his palm, almost made the sword fly out of his hand.

However, he smiled sinisterly. He wasn't just a wind-type immortal root but a third-rank Yin Soul Wind. This immortal root was not only wind-type but also had ghost-type elements. Although he didn't choose to become a Ghost Dao Master, he used his immortal root to have this ghost-head broadsword specially made, which could release unique Common Treasure skills.

"Forest of Sword Winds!" He then changed his sword technique, and a series of sword winds raged, creating a dense forest of sword shadows. In this vast expanse of sword shadows, black wind shadows floated out from the sinisterly smiling ghost head.

"Little waste, taste my Yin Soul Wind, blinding you!"