Nine Dragons Saint Ancestor
Chapter 278: Two hundred seventy-eight Joint efforts

Chapter 278: Two hundred seventy-eight Joint efforts

"Rubbish, if it weren’t for the power of the Dragon Summoning Tree, how could these broken bones possibly stand up?"

At that very moment, as Yun Xiao was lost in thought, a slightly peculiar voice suddenly echoed in his mind. Without even looking, he knew it was the Golden Snake Worm speaking.

"Does the Dragon Summoning Tree actually have such a miraculous effect of reviving the dead?"

Upon hearing this, Yun Xiao was stunned. If the Dragon Summoning Tree truly had such a heaven-defying effect, wouldn’t that mean that with the Dragon Summoning Tree, there could genuinely be undying beings in this world?

"You’re thinking too much. What you are seeing right now is not truly a revival from the dead. Instead, due to the power of the Dragon Summoning Tree, it has transformed into a kind of special... Strange Spirit!"

As the Golden Snake Worm tried to find the right words towards the end, it struggled to come up with a term that Yun Xiao would understand, and finally managed to convey the message clearly.

"Strange Spirit?"

Hearing what the Golden Snake Worm had to say, Yun Xiao immediately grasped the concept. He knew that after people die and are subjected to the ravages of time, eventually all flesh dissipates, leaving behind only a skeleton.

Indeed, a skeleton that has turned into bone naturally cannot come back to life. But in a certain sense, they transform into a kind of energy of the Continent.

Just imagine, on the Continent, mountains, stones, flowers, grass, and even dirt and dust, after weathering countless years, could cultivate a trace of Spiritual Wisdom and become a powerful Strange Spirit.

For example, the Fire Spirit Snake Yun Xiao had seen in the Yurong Volcano, or the Fourth Rank Intermediate Earth and Stone Strange Spirit he had encountered in the Jade Pot Cave, are all types of Strange Spirits.

After a person dies, their bones naturally lack Spiritual Wisdom. However, after hundreds of years, who can say for sure whether, due to some reasons, they won’t again cultivate a trace of Spiritual Wisdom and become a unique kind of Strange Spirit?

Perhaps the skeleton of this Intermediate Spiritual Rank Meridian Refining Master hadn’t been dead for very long, but due to the unique power of the Dragon Summoning Young Tree, it had acquired a kind of Spirit Intellect similar to that of a Strange Spirit, yet entirely different from one.

This kind of Spirit Intellect could not make the skeleton as agile as a Strange Spirit. It seems solely to have an obsession with guarding its own treasure, lashing out at anyone who dares disturb the object of its protection.

To the other low-level Spiritual Rank beings, this skeletal corpse might not care one bit and would let anyone take them as they please, but when Zhao Huan and Cao Kong tried to take away the two items on the platform, their owner would naturally not stand for it.

Having realized this, Yun Xiao couldn’t help but feel secretly fortunate that he wasn’t the first one to take the risk. If that had been the case, caught off guard, he would not possess the Early Stage Meridian Union Realm Cultivation comparable to family heads like Zhao and Cao.

As a mere Early Stage Meridian Rushing Realm Cultivator, Yun Xiao would not have been able to withstand such a powerful blow, and that would have truly been a great embarrassment.

"What to do then? Simply stand by and watch?"

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Yun Xiao grew somewhat anxious. The skeletal corpse seemed extremely powerful, and even if they all joined forces, they might not be its match, not to mention these individuals each pursued their own agendas and had no intention of working together.

"Calm your mind; someone will be more anxious than you, and moreover, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Sometimes, being the first to act isn’t necessarily a good thing!"

The Golden Snake Worm spoke with an elder’s composure, its words sounding as if they came from an old demon that had lived for endless years. This gave Yun Xiao a strange sensation as he looked at its snakeskin, only the size of a worm.

"You mean there are others?"

Yun Xiao, catching the implication in the Golden Snake Worm’s words, glanced around but did not spot any other Cultivators, and thus pondered the situation.

"Just wait!"

The Golden Snake Worm was non-committal and finally fell silent. At this moment, everyone, including Yun Xiao, watched the motionless skeleton with a mix of caution and trepidation, their thoughts fluctuating wildly.

"Gentlemen!"

It wasn’t until quite some time later that a voice broke the eerily silent atmosphere. As everyone turned their heads, they saw that the speaker was none other than Yue Qi, the genius from the Poison Vein of the Jade Pot Sect.

"As you all can see, unless we take care of that strange thing, we might not be able to take away any of the treasures here!" Yue Qi spoke again as everyone’s gaze turned towards him, his intentions seemingly apparent.

"All this dithering—if you have a solution, just say it!"

Mo Qing, who had previously butted heads with Yue Qi, retorted impatiently. It seemed to her that the skeleton’s strength was beyond her expectations, throwing many variables into hers and Yun Xiao’s plans.

"It’s pretty simple. The solution would be for us, the four Cultivators who have reached the Early Stage of Meridian Union, to join forces and attempt to deal with that corpse. After resolving it, we can then distribute the treasures. How about that?"

Yue Qi talked with ease, and his approach was indeed straightforward, as it would be hard for anyone to dare say they could handle that skeleton alone.

Especially since there were others present—if one were to fight the skeleton to the death and others reaped the benefits, who would want to be that kind of scapegoat?

"This strategy is feasible!"

After Yue Qi finished speaking, the first one to speak was surprisingly Zhao Huan who had just sustained significant internal injuries from the onslaught of the Corpse Bone Spirit. It seems he took the earlier Bone Claw attack very personally.

Zhao Huan made up his mind that even if he did not want those treasures, he must dismantle the bones of that skeleton one by one, only then could he relieve the hatred in his heart.

On the other side, Cao Family’s Family Head Cao Kong also slowly nodded his head. Relatively speaking, the injuries he sustained were lighter than Zhao Huan’s. He indeed had the Heart Qi to compete once again for one of those three treasures.

"It looks like we can only do this for now!"

Seeing that the heads of both the Zhao and Cao families had agreed, Mo Qing also slightly nodded. She knew Yun Xiao was determined to obtain the Dragon Summoning Tree, but with the eerie presence of the Corpse Bone Spirit before them, there was no chance for her at all.

"Since everyone has no objections, nothing could be better. However, before that, I have to make an ugly statement upfront!"

Yue Qi wore a strange smile on his face and then glanced at Yun Xiao and Xue Gong Chang Qing, among others, before continuing, "During our battle with that Corpse Bone Spirit, no one is allowed to take advantage of the situation to snatch those three items. Otherwise, they would become the common enemy of the four of us!"

When these words from the inner sect genius of the Jade Pot Sect were uttered, faces like Xue Gong Bi Luo’s slightly changed, for they may have indeed harbored such thoughts, but now they were blocked by Yue Qi’s statement.

No matter how confident Xue Gong Bi Luo was, they wouldn’t dare to make enemies with four cultivators in the Early Stage of Meridian Union at once, not to mention it was inappropriate to take advantage of others engaged in a fierce battle.

"Especially some people, be sure not to overestimate yourselves, otherwise...hmph!"

Yue Qi’s gaze finally rested on Yun Xiao. Although the latter’s strength was the weakest among those present, he felt most uneasy about this young man, which is why he particularly emphasized this point.

"If that’s the case, then... make your move!"

Seeing that Yun Xiao, Xue Gong, and others had no objections, Yue Qi waved his hand, and then four cultivators at the Early Stage of Meridian Union stepped heavily and together set foot on the stone platform.

This time, even though none of the four touched the three treasures, the white bones seemed to have sensed something and suddenly stood up.

"Attack!"

As the initiator of this alliance, Yue Qi, of course, had to set an example. Upon his soft command, Meridian Qi surged from his body, and a powerful Meridian Qi Palm Seal was fiercely slammed toward the white skeleton.

It seemed that Yue Qi was somewhat afraid of the white skeleton and didn’t want to block it with his body. The precedents set by Zhao and Cao, the heads of their families, made him keep his pride in check to an extreme.

Whoosh...

At the same time, Mo Qing’s movements were not too slow. As her hand seals changed, a palm seal rich in Fire Attribute was also slapped from another direction towards that white skeleton.

Seeing that these two geniuses from the Jade Pot Sect had made their moves, even though Zhao and Cao were internally injured, they didn’t dare to delay and condensed their own Meridian Qi attacks, slamming them from four directions onto the white skeleton.

Bang bang bang bang!

Four loud noises in a row, the onlookers seemed to see that the skeleton did not dodge. However, when the energy fluctuation dissipated, everyone gasped in shock.

"It’s...useless?"

Including the four involved, their eyes were full of astonishment. These four Meridian Qi attacks were their best Meridian Techniques, and to see that four such attacks hit the skeleton without causing a stir was simply unbelievable.

"Tsks, these inexperienced fools, to actually use Meridian Qi to attack the Corpse Bone Spirit, it’s utterly laughable!"

When Yun Xiao also revealed a shocked expression, there came a disdainful and mocking voice in his mind, naturally from the Golden Snake Worm that claimed to be a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.

With the reminder from the Golden Snake Worm, Yun Xiao finally reacted. He had fought countless battles in the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud against all sorts of Strange Spirits and met many odd ones.

Not to mention others, but take for example the first Strange Spirit Yun Xiao encountered on the Hidden Dragon Continent, the Fire Spirit Snake in the Yurong Volcano. Against such a Strange Spirit, if a human cultivator’s strength was weaker, using some Water Attribute attacks would definitely be ineffective.

For instance, the current Corpse Bone Spirit, which doesn’t have a trace of flesh on its body, let alone Meridian Qi. For such a bone spirit, it’s impossible for Yue Qi and Mo Qing to injure it using a Meridian Qi attack.

Unless the united attack of these several individuals could reach a terrifying level, or the limit that the bone spirit could bear, perhaps it could be shattered.

But now it seems that even if the four joined forces, their attack power still had not reached the limit of that skeleton; naturally, they couldn’t inflict even the slightest damage.

Luckily, the four individuals who were united were not only heads of families but also geniuses from the Jade Pot Sect. Shortly after, they also understood the logic and immediately knew that to deal with this skeleton, they probably needed to change their mode of attack.