Abundant Martial Arts Virtue
Chapter 579 - 458: He’s Really Skilled

Chapter 579: Chapter 458: He’s Really Skilled

Wu Xiaode stepped on the ground.

He hadn’t had time to observe carefully before, but feeling it more attentively now, he found the ground very soft, as if it were hollow inside.

Considering the overwhelming destruction he had witnessed earlier—

the ground could bear very limited weight.

Wu Xiaode shifted his gaze, quietly sweeping over the Evil Phoenix.

Lucky her, she had chosen a large boulder to sit on as soon as she arrived.

The position of the Evil Phoenix was safe.

That meant—

She must know something but had not shared it with the rest!

Tsk.

Cannon fodder, all of them.

He had wanted to infiltrate the Evil Phoenix’s ranks to uncover her secrets, yet she was after his life.

Wu Xiaode’s mind raced as he moved closer to Lord Zan, whispering,

"Lord Zan, could you lend me some money? Any amount will do."

"What do you need the money for... do you know how to divinate?" Lord Zan whispered back.

"Somewhat," Wu Xiaode didn’t deny it.

His gaze shifted towards a direction.

The Bear Demon was walking on a path that would soon trigger a dark flash.

There was no need to stop it.

Just looking at the path behind the Evil Phoenix, filled with bones, one could tell how many had died to chart such a route.

The path ahead was very fragile; if the Bear Demon didn’t break the ground, others surely would.

The task now was to find a way out for himself.

"As it happens, I have a few copper coins here, said to be old objects with some spirit communication abilities."

As Lord Zan spoke, he placed several copper coins in Wu Xiaode’s hand.

Upon receiving the copper coins, Wu Xiaode instantly pulled out a piece of paper, rapidly wrote down an I.O.U., and despite Lord Zan’s protest, stuffed it into his hand.

Suddenly, an unexpected event occurred—

The Bear Demon let out a dreadful scream.

A dark flash surged from beneath its feet into the midair—

This time Wu Xiaode saw clearly; the ground beneath the Bear Demon was continuously breaking, and more and more dark flashes erupted.

Run!

With a wave of his hand, a cluster of Evernight City’s luminous flames burst around him.

He uttered sharply, "Ulysses."

The Fallen Angel immediately appeared within those luminous flames, glanced at the I.O.U. in Lord Zan’s hand, and declared loudly,

"Owing money? That’s not a thing!"

In a flash, lines of ice crystal small text appeared on the Book of the Dead:

"’Strategic Transfer Master’ activated!"

"Holy Series Causality Law Skill."

"You will immediately break all shackles and escape from your creditor’s control range with unmatched speed."

"—No one can claim money from me, remember, no one."

Instantly, Wu Xiaode transformed into an extremely swift silhouette, flashing through the range enshrouded in black light, heading deep beneath the jagged rocks underground.

Screams followed behind him.

But soon, those sounds were no longer audible.

Wu Xiaode felt his speed reach an extreme, yet Holy Light covered him as if with intelligence, taking him through twists and turns underground, automatically navigating him past various dark and deep caves.

Finally.

He landed before a temple covered in dust.

"Odd, can Holy Light also bring good fortune and avoid calamity?" Wu Xiaode transmitted his thought.

"Of course, when we make our escape—sorry, I mean strategic transfer—we must ensure safety, else what if we get caught?" Ulysses said proudly.

Suddenly, Wu Xiaode shut his mouth.

A voice echoed in his ears:

"Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, Qi Sect, Floating Light Shadow Skill!"

The Void emitted a wave of fluctuations.

The space opened.

The Evil Phoenix, Red-skinned Demon, Lord Zan, and the remaining few guards instantly appeared around Wu Xiaode.

Evil Phoenix looked at Wu Xiaode, her lips curving into a smile:

"Impressive, White Wolf, what skill is this?"

Wu Xiaode looked towards the Array Plate in the hands of the Red-skinned Demon, only to see it documented with flickering light spots.

That must be a master of Formation!

He had heard that a highly skilled Formation Master could lock onto every member of their team and thus maneuver the entire squad at will.

This was a profound knowledge of the Cultivation side.

Divination and Formation both required extremely high related talents to be mastered.

Li Chengfeng and Qilin hadn’t studied them, only knowing a little.

"Reporting to my lord, I possess a skill for escaping, but it can only be activated if I owe money first," Wu Xiaode bowed and said.

Everyone recalled for a moment, and indeed, it seemed to have been the case just now.

The Evil Phoenix also nodded slightly.

She had analyzed the skill from beginning to end and knew that Wu Xiaode had not lied.

Lord Zan looked at the I.O.U. in his hand and shook his head silently,

"Brother White Wolf, I have never heard of such a skill."

Wu Xiaode glanced at Ulysses hidden within the luminous flames and said without any visible emotion,

"This is a skill from the beggar’s sect in the West; my lord, you have plenty of money, there’s no need to learn such low-level techniques."

After thinking for a moment, the Evil Phoenix suddenly instructed,

"Alright, whatever the skill is—now, everyone lend some money to White Wolf. That way, as long as he escapes, we can all follow."

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

Thus, in this mysteriously profound underground place, in front of a temple of unknown origin—

the demons lined up to lend money to Wu Xiaode and wrote down their promissory notes.

Even the Evil Phoenix took out a jade ring as a substitute for silver money and lent it to Wu Xiaode.

Suddenly, Wu Xiaode felt hungry.

He remembered the bottle of Elixir given by Lord Zan earlier contained a few Fasting Pills, and quickly took one and swallowed it.

Immediately, he was no longer hungry.

As for the Soul Power spent, it had already swiftly recovered.

—After all, it was Eternal Soul Power.

Wu Xiaode couldn’t help but silently sigh.

He had only a little more than 500 points of Soul Power. How great it would be if that number were a million.

Such a level of Soul Power could be used forever!

—It would exhaust his enemies to death.

The Red-skinned Demon held the Array Plate, rapidly recording something around it.

The Evil Phoenix watched it.

It nodded and said, "We can teleport directly here in the future."

"White Wolf."

Evil Phoenix suddenly called out.

Wu Xiaode snapped back to reality, clasping his hands politely, "At your service."

Evil Phoenix revealed a satisfied smile and said,

"Having advanced so far, reaching an important location directly, and losing only five people, you have performed an outstanding service."

"It is not worth mentioning, I merely did my utmost," Wu Xiaode said.

"Hmm, I will reward you when we return. Now, everyone pair up, and spread out to investigate this temple," Evil Phoenix ordered.

The group instinctively started to pair up with those closest to them.

Zanjin approached with a smile and said, "Young brother, how about we pair up?"

"Could not be better," Wu Xiaode said.

By then, the others had already headed towards the temple gates.

After a brief discussion, the two decided not to follow the others, and instead skirted the main gate to enter through a side door, heading towards the rear hall.

"Brother Wolf, what is that?" Zanjin asked.

Wu Xiaode focused his gaze and saw two headless statues standing by the rear hall’s entrance.

The statues had graceful and alluring postures, evidently those of women, poised in dance moves that captured anyone’s gaze at first sight.

—But their lack of heads rendered them eerie upon closer inspection, stirring an indescribable sense of spookiness in one’s heart.

Zanjin cautiously lifted a large shield.

Wu Xiaode pondered for a moment, then directly activated Xiao Baihong’s treasure-hunting gift.

In an instant, he sensed an extraordinary value from those two statues.

"Eh? Brother Wolf, what are you doing?"

Zanjin couldn’t help but speak out.

Wu Xiaode simply walked towards the statues, hands empty of any weapons, as if unworried about his safety.

Outside the temple.

Evil Phoenix narrowed his eyes, whispering to the Void:

"Don’t let him die; such a demon, skilled in both treasure-hunting and escape techniques, is exceedingly rare and almost impossible to find another."

Inside the temple.

Zanjin straightened his face, shield in hand, and rushed forward to protect Wu Xiaode.

"Be careful, this place is very peculiar," he said, full of caution.

Wu Xiaode, however, smiled and waved a dismissive hand, "There’s nothing to worry about, my lord. You know I can discern objects—I just discovered that these two headless statues seem to be treasures."

By then, they had already approached the headless statues.

Wu Xiaode reached out and touched a statue.

The statue promptly shrank to the size of a fingertip and was taken into his hand.

"This object can be taken?" Zanjin marveled.

"Yes, I feel it has great value, although I am still not sure of its exact use," Wu Xiaode said.

Zanjin, mimicking his action, placed his hand on the other headless statue.

The statue was directly taken into his hand.

"Brother Wolf... is this safe?" Zanjin asked.

Wu Xiaode was somewhat speechless.

He was unaware of Evil Phoenix’s private command and only thought that his old demon companion was being too careless.

Big brother, I can travel back, so I afford to be careless.

You directly following and mimicking me with the statue—are you really not afraid of dying?

"I do not know either,"

Wu Xiaode honestly replied.

The next moment.

Two lines of ice crystal characters swiftly appeared:

"Be careful!"

"The Evil Spirit imprisoned within this statue is about to attack your Divine Soul; once you are charmed, it will possess you."

Charmed?

Wu Xiaode closed his eyes slightly, then reopened them, warning,

"Be careful, my lord. This statue wants to charm us."

Zanjin immediately panicked, quickly saying, "Brother Wolf, I only know how to fight, I can’t oppose such spiritual tricks, what should we do?"

"Give the statue to me; it only charms the person holding it," Wu Xiaode said.

—He also needed one or two helpers, otherwise, it would be difficult to handle many situations under Evil Phoenix’s command, being outmatched and alone.

Zanjin was about to hand over the statue when he remembered Evil Phoenix’s command, and he grit his teeth, saying,

"Brother Wolf, your life is important—are you sure it’s safe?"

"It is fine, just give it to me,"

Wu Xiaode directly snatched the statue from his hand.

The next second.

The Void shifted, and two enchanting women in black skirts quietly descended.

They flanked Wu Xiaode, one on each side, giggling, "Come with us, there’s endless pleasure to be had."

"Come on, rejoice."

Wu Xiaode scoffed.

He opened the Book of the Dead and borrowed Zhao Junyu’s "Heart of Stone" and "Element Detection·Wave" skills.

Heart of Stone was impervious to any charm.

Element Detection·Wave could predict the opponent’s moves.

As soon as Wu Xiaode activated "Heart of Stone," his body’s immediate reaction subsided, even excessively so.

"Would you like to join me in some fun?" a woman playfully revealed her shoulder and swayed her hips.

"Stop joking, I can look at anything on my side, you are too outdated," Wu Xiaode said emotionlessly.

He weighed the two headless statues in his hand, even finding them somewhat boring.

A thought naturally surfaced in his mind.

Women.

Are a hindrance.

"Is that all?"

Wu Xiaode’s voice was ice cold.

The two women were startled, expressions of disbelief appearing on their faces.

Wu Xiaode activated "Element Detection·Wave," immediately sensing their next strategy.

"What, you want to try using a whip? Twin Dragons Play with a Pearl? Humph, pointless, those are leftovers from games I played centuries ago, utterly uninteresting,"

"Look, if you have no other tricks, just surrender, or I’ll crush your statues,"

he said with an impatient look on his face.

Outside the temple.

Evil Phoenix’s expression subtly shifted.

"My lord, what is it?" the Red-skinned Demon asked.

With an inexplicable tone, Evil Phoenix shook his head and said,

"This fellow... is quite the schemer."