<h4>Chapter 244: First Battle Against Heretical Cultivators</h4>
The moonlight was as clear as water in the night sky of Spirit Offering as Pang Jian came to a stop next to a shattered stone statue.
The statue was carved from grayish-white stone and depicted a strange creature with the face of a human and the body of a spider.
Its spear-like spider legs had been severed long ago, leaving only broken stumps. Its spider body had also been sliced into segments, which were scattered across the ground together with its severed limbs.
However, its seductive female face remained perfectly preserved.
The lifelike face of the gray stone statue glowed an enchanting white under the gentle moonlight.
Pang Jian cautiously eyed the statue''s beautiful face.
It was like those who had initially entered Spirit Offering and destroyed the altars and statues had felt a sense of pity after cutting off its spider legs and dismembering its body.
It seemed they could not bring themselves to damage the statue''s alluring female face and had left it untouched.
<i>A human face and a spider body...is this another foreign being?</i> Pang Jian wondered.
<i>Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!</i>
Despite his warnings, the three heretical cultivators had pursued him
Pang Jian shook his head and sighed. "I told you not to follow me."
<i>Whoosh!</i>
A blinding sword light, infused with lightning and cold energy, shed toward the bald heretical cultivator at the front.
"A lightning-attribute cultivator? No, there''s also...cold energy!" The bald heretical cultivator''s expression shifted as he narrowly avoided the sword light. As he watched the sword light shatter a piece of green stone behind him, he sneered, "This clearly isn''t an orthodox cultivation method. It seems you''re also one of us."
He then pulled out a white weapon made of bone.
The bald heretical cultivator swung the thick-jointed beast bone like a heavy hammer, smashing down onto Pang Jian''s spirit sword.
<i>Bang!</i>
The spirit sword was deformed on impact.
<i>Boom!</i>
A surge of powerful energy rushed into it, instantly destroying the arrays within.
The fierce energy surged down the de toward the hilt of the sword, seemingly intending to shatter Pang Jian''s hand.
Pang Jian remainedposed.
"Blood essence, spiritual power, and even a trace of beastly ferocity..." he muttered.
The sword hilt radiated a crimson light.
Fine threads of lightning, mixed with earthme energy and sr energy, exploded outward, destroying his opponent''s ferocious energy in the sword.
Without its core arrays, the spirit sword could not withstand the sh of such immense forces and snapped with a crisp crack.
The bald heretical cultivator was shocked. He quickly retreated with his bone weapon, face full of disbelief.
The other two heretical cultivators also grew serious when they realized they were dealing with a formidable opponent.
"No, you''re not one of us!" the bald heretical cultivator cried, discreetly signaling the other two to surround Pang Jian. "Only naturally formed objects can unleash their full power in Spirit Offering. Anything artificially refined and engraved with arrays loses its effectiveness here!
"Natural treasures are inherently imbued with Dao, but the sects of this era foolishly go against the natural order.
"They vainly attempt to decipher the mysteries of heaven and earth through arrays. How utterly misguided."
The bald heretical cultivator suddenly leaped into the air.
The thick-jointed beast bone in his hand radiated a sun-like brilliance. It was like the innate powers of a long-dead beast had been reawakened.
He dove straight toward Pang Jian.
An illusory fiery-red beast with eyes like zing suns and three tails appeared. It enveloped the bald heretical cultivator and the beast bone as it charged ferociously toward Pang Jian.
The mystical power within the beast bonebined with the bald heretical cultivator''s strength to bring a Fiery Sr Beast to life.
<i>Roar!</i>
The altar that had engulfed Yang Rui in mes red with radiant sunlight in response to the Fiery Sr Beast''s roar.
Pang Jian frowned, sensing the overwhelming blood essence and foreign energy even before the Fiery Sr Beast fully manifested.
The bald heretical cultivator was also skilled in body-tempering techniques and had an exceptionally strong physique.
A blinding sea of sunlight zed outward!
The Fiery Sr Beast descended gracefully as it stepped on radiant waves of sunlight.
Out of nowhere, the image of a sunlit pce appeared, withvishly decorated chariots pulled by high-ranked fiery beasts flying out of it.
The scene struck Pang Jian''s soul with such force it nearly crushed his will to resist. An overwhelming urge to kneel and ept his fate filled him.
<i>It''s an illusionary technique of malevolent beings!</i>
Pang Jian coldly snorted, snapping himself out of it and summoning his green protective shield.
Threads of silver lightning crackled and thunderous booms echoed within the thick barrier.
Pang Jian was like a master of lightning and ice within the protective shield, and its defenses allowed him to break free from the illusion''s control.
Thevish chariots and sunlit pce were gone, but the lifelike illusion of the Fiery Sr Beast remained.
<i>Bang!</i>
The Fiery Sr Beast''s w smashed into Pang Jian''s green protective shield, distorting it as shards of ice and lightning scattered, and leaving it on the brink of copse.
"Hmm?!"
"What!"
Both the bald heretical cultivator and Pang Jian were taken aback.
The other two heretical cultivators took the opportunity to act. One threw a cluster of withered yellow leaves while the other tossed out a smooth piece of beast hide.
Pang Jian''s vitality rapidly drained when the withered leaves appeared.
His protective shield could not block the sinister energy within the withered leaves.
Pang Jian was reminded of Jiu Yuan''s purple-gold pendant from when he had been about to strike Jiu Yuan down in the Primordial Wilderness.
The pendant had absorbed Jiu Yuan''s blood and had released a sword light with a simr aura once it shattered. It was an aura of decay that corroded both vitality and flesh.
<i>Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!</i>
A dark green miasma seeped out of the smooth beast hide, carrying a sinister energy that weakened Pang Jian''s will and made him drowsy.
"These techniques are quite troublesome."
Faced with heretical cultivators'' attacks for the first time, Pang Jian wisely chose not to rely on his protective shield as it did not seem effective.
Pang Jian surged forward before the bald heretical cultivator couldnd another strike and sessfully avoided the trio''s encirclement.
Brilliant white and crimson lightning crackled in his hands as he fired them at the three heretical cultivators.
<i>Crackle! Bang! Bang!</i>
Lightning struck the two cultivators wielding the withered leaves and the beast hide.
They screamed in agony as their bodies were stained with ck blood, but they stubbornly maintained control over their withered leaves and beast hide.
<i>Whoosh!</i>
The beast hide chased after Pang Jian in a cloud of dark green miasma.
The bald heretical cultivator stood inside the illusory Fiery Sr Beast''s menacing maw, roaring in unison with the beast.
"Brat, Spirit Offering is now under the attention of mysterious beings," he bellowed. "Our strength has all been significantly enhanced. But you, having likely never detected the presence of the mysterious beings, are fighting us with methods from the outside world. That clearly shows this is your first time here.
"And yet you still dare to seize our spoils!"
The Fiery Sr Beast roared at Pang Jian again.
A wide stream of mes spewed from its menacing maw, carrying a searing heat capable of melting everything in its path.
The mes targeted Pang Jian, aiming to reduce him into a pool of blood.
<i>Whoosh!</i>
Pang Jian took out the Startling ughter Spear and unleashed a Silver Crescent that stood like a giant shield before him.
Even without the arrays within the Startling ughter Spear enhancing it, the Silver Crescent still emitted a chill, with faint starlight flickering within it, blocking the fiery stream.
Within that time, the withered leaves and the miasma-filled beast hide had closed in on Pang Jian from both the front and back.
The decaying aura of the withered leaves and the green miasma of the beast hide surrounded Pang Jian.
The abilities of Pang Jian''s most powerful spirit artifacts like the Startling ughter Spear and the Star Crushing Umbre were greatly reduced in Spirit Offering.
In contrast, the heretical cultivators'' beast bone, beast hide, and withered leaves were natural objects and were not only unaffected but even slightly enhanced in Spirit Offering.
The imbnce made the fight difficult for Pang Jian and forced him to constantly adapt.
<i>Time to test the ck turtle scute''s innate ability, </i>he thought. <i>Earth Dive!</i>
Pang Jian vanished into the ground like water pouring into the sea.
He disappeared right under the heretical cultivators'' noses.
The withered leaves and the beast hide lost their target.
"Be careful!" the bald heretical cultivator shouted in rm.
The middle-stage Profound Abode Realm heretical cultivator controlling the beast hide sensed a sharp presence beneath his feet.
All he saw when he looked down was the Startling ughter Spear piercing up and through him, killing him instantly.
The Startling ughter Spear once again vanished into the ground.
"He''s underground!" the bald heretical cultivator cried, panicked. He no longer dared to stay in one ce and continuously leaped into the air.
Despite the illusory Fiery Sr Beast enveloping him, he was still on edge. He anxiously watched the ground below, fearing the spear would strike at any moment.
The cultivator controlling the withered leaves also avoided touching the ground and opted to perch atop a broken stone pir.
A few secondster, a silver spear pierced through his body, killing him instantly and leaving him impaled above the stone pir.
The sessive deaths of hispanions caused the bald heretical cultivator''s expression to change drastically.
It was like the ground, the scattered statues, stone pirs, and altars all hid a deadly opponent.
His fearful eyes darted around vigntly, constantly scanning his surroundings as if convinced that Pang Jian could spring out from any object at any moment.
At that moment, he noticed his fallenpanions'' beast hide and withered leaves had both disappeared.
"Brat, what kind of sinister technique are you using? If you have the guts,e out and fight me head-on, instead of sneaking around in the shadows!" shouted the bald heretical cultivator from within the illusory Fiery Sr Beast.
He continuously leaped into the air, circling the arachnid statue.
Meanwhile, Pang Jian was ten zhang underground, body surrounded by a dark yellow radiance despite not having activated his protective shield.
The light came from the ck turtle shell on his chest.
Looking upward from beneath the earth, he saw the bald cultivator, shrouded by the massive figure of the illusory Fiery Sr Beast, anxiously leaping through the air, not daring to stop for even a moment.
As Pang Jian carefully observed him from underground, he soon realized the Fiery Sr Beast was actually a manifestation of concentrated blood essence.
The bald cultivator used spiritual power and blood essence to revive the Fiery Sr BEast using the inherent power of the thick-jointed beast bone in his hand.
"The methods of heretical cultivators truly differ from mainstream cultivation practices."