Dark Blood Path

The moment the blast flame ability exploded, the troll headhunters who were acting as shields in front of the troll witch doctor were blasted to shreds on the spot, with blood and flesh flying all over the sky. Although the explosion was somewhat mitigated by its minions and the energy barrier, the troll witch doctor wasn’t completely unharmed. The explosion’s airwaves sent it high into the air, where it tumbled down like a broken sack, falling tens of meters away, covered in wounds and oozing blood, as one of its arms had been blown off.

The troll witch doctor struggled for a few seconds before raising its staff, about to cast its healing spell, but how could Xiao Yu allow it this opportunity?

He immediately strode forward, and just as the spell was about to be released, he swung his hand down and cut off the raised staff. Immediately afterward, the arm clenching the staff was chopped off with a single blade strike. Now that the opponent was armless, it lost all its fighting power, and with a final chop, dark green blood gushed out and stained the earth green as the head of the forest troll witch doctor slid to the side.

Xiao Yu exhaled a breath of relief, panting slightly due to the constant use of “bullet time” and “blast flame” skills, which had depleted his energy. However, owing to the presence of the “bracelet of spiritual power”, he didn’t have much spiritual power overdrawn. After fully absorbing the massive energy of this first-order monster, Xiao Yu felt his entire body strength and overall spiritual power expand.

He then turned his head to observe Zhao Changping’s situation. Almost breathless, the latter was gradually driven back by a flurry of onslaughts from the fearless troll chieftain. More and more trolls appeared from the neighboring forest, and they were now up against over forty monsters. While resisting the attack of the forest troll chieftain, Zhao Changping was also preoccupied with dealing with the other forest trolls, who were constantly on the attack. The severity of the situation was evident.

As for the other fourteen individuals, despite their frequent cooperation, they could barely fend off the siege of such a large number of mighty trolls, and several of them had already been hurt. Xiao Yu, on the other hand, swiftly killed the troll witch doctor, which raised everyone’s morale.

He immediately rushed to support Zhao Changping. However, right then, four troll headhunters locked on to him, shouted loudly and ran brazenly towards his side. One of the trolls who rushed to the front raised a thin javelin and stabbed toward his heart area. Xiao Yu dodged the stabbing javelin like lightning and held the weapon with his left hand.

The javelin slipped from the headhunter’s grasp, then with a whoosh, the weapon pierced its own chest and punctured its back as it flew a few meters and plunged deep into the chest of another forest troll, sending the latter sailing five meters in the air before coming to a halt.

The tyrannical troll’s body crumpled before him like a piece of paper.

Xiao Yu’s body moved lightly when two troll headhunters stabbed him in the same instant, one from his left and one from his right. He withdrew like lightning, then took a 360-degree spin and whipped one of the trolls hard. The cracking sound of bones breaking could be heard on its back. The troll was launched forward and collided with its companion as the thin javelins in their hands pierced each other’s bodies.

Before landing, Xiao Yu planted his left arm on the shoulder of the last forest troll and swept its head in the air with a whip kick. The troll headhunter was kicked to the point where its head started bleeding. Xiao Yu took advantage of the opportunity to chop off the monster’s weapon and then sliced its throat with a single blade swipe, beheading it quickly and without much effort.

All the trolls that stood in his way were killed swiftly and without exception.

The disparity in fighting power was too large, and there was no doubt about the battle’s outcome. In the event of a sneak attack, Xiao Yu could completely eradicate troll headhunters with a single swipe of his weapon. As for the enemies he faced head-on, they could barely last a few more rounds of exchange. All the troll headhunters nearby were chopped to the ground instantly.

Xiao Yu hauled the four-foot-long luminous beast blade straight towards the troll chieftain, reaching extreme speed and covering a distance of tens of meters almost instantly. The blade struck mercilessly across the monster’s back.

When the troll chieftain sensed danger looming around it, it immediately retreated to the sides. Xiao Yu’s speed, however, was faster than expected, as the latter only took a step forward before the cold blade flashed by, and then on top of the monster’s back, a large gash was cut; blood gushed, revealing a deep visible bone.

“Roar–!”

The troll chieftain was enraged following Xiao Yu’s successful assault, and it turned around with a loud growl.

Its bloody spear plunged down with incredible momentum. Xiao Yu already anticipated the attack as he leapt away, and the place he was standing a second ago got pierced by that spear attack. A tremendous force poured into the ground, blowing a large hole in the land with a boom.

Xiao Yu had yet to take a firm stand on the ground when the troll chieftain wielding the long green spear spun violently and stabbed the weapon into the void in front of him. A swirling energy, difficult to discern with the naked eye, surged out toward Xiao Yu.

Seeing this, Zhao Changping warned loudly: “Be careful; that move is quite powerful!”

For Xiao Yu, the latter’s warning was unneeded. After all, as his strength improved, so did his “eyes of insight” ability. Currently, not only was it stronger than before, but he also had sharper eyesight. Moreover, the skill also developed some other functions. For instance, he could clearly see through his opponent’s attacks’ power.

He instantly drooped down, letting the spiral wave of energy fly over the top of his head as it landed on a big tree behind him. Then, with a loud bang, the tree seemed to have been struck by something; wood shavings scattered around, the bark got peeled off in an instant, and one-third of the tree trunk was crushed.

The troll chieftain rushed over like a hungry tiger and stabbed Xiao Yu’s face with a swipe of its spear. The latter abruptly jumped up, then stabbed the monster with his weapon. The tip of the blade touched the end of the spear, and the body of the spear quickly slid against the blade’s edge, making a sharp friction sound. Xiao Yu moved forward, and his elbow struck the troll chieftain’s chest like lightning, breaking its bones. Sparks splattered in all directions as the spear brushed against the blade, resulting in a shower of light and heat, and as a result, that strong blast tore a large hole in the stomach of a troll headhunter who was trying to sneak attack.

Xiao Yu clasped the troll chieftain’s thick right arm with his left hand, and the latter waved its hand angrily and pulled him up, intending to throw him away. He suddenly let go of the monster’s hand and fell in the air before he kicked the troll with both feet. The first kick shattered the monster’s fangs, and the second crushed its nose flat. Dark green blood flowed out from the troll chieftain’s nostrils. It staggered back, but just as it took one step backward, a shining long sword pierced its body from behind.

At the same time, a single, deadly blow was delivered as Xiao Yu fell down. The troll boss’s body was cut in two, slanting downward from the left shoulder to the right abdomen. The mass of energy was divided in two, most of which was absorbed by Xiao Yu.

Zhao Changping laughed loudly and threw four to five thunderbolts with his hand, smashing and burning five nearby forest trolls into charcoal, “Have fun, everyone; kill them all!”

The two first-order human warriors immediately joined the elementary-level battle. Together with the fourteen high-quality, elementary-level warriors, the remaining forty or so forest trolls were swiftly disposed of. Although the monsters continued to stream out of the woods to replenish their numbers, their rate was significantly slower than the slaughter rate.

After the corpses of seventy to eighty forest trolls were finally spread on the ground, there were no more trolls in the woods, and just like that, hundreds of powerful elementary monsters and two first-order monsters were wiped out.

Five of Zhao Changping’s fourteen subordinates were seriously injured, but none of them died. Their overall strength increased significantly as a result of this battle.

This fight was simply epic!

“Thank you for your help; even if I had brought three times as many people as I have now, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have succeeded!” Zhao Changping seriously bowed to him and added, “We’ll divide the spoils of war and spring water evenly.”

Xiao Yu had no objection.

Everyone started searching for spoils, while Xiao Yu went straight toward the fountain of life. This strange low mountain was exceedingly sturdy, as even the havoc just now did not do much harm to it. A groove the size of a washbasin was located in the middle of the area, and what emerged from it was precisely the sought-after water of life; however, it was only half full, and not much water was left.

After taking out some clean small bottles and filling them up, sixteen bottles were filled, and Xiao Yu bluntly took away his own share, which was eight bottles of the “water of life”. The combat items harvest was likewise rich, with a total of six white-grade items and eleven gray-grade items.

Among the six white-grade items, four were equipment, one was a magic scroll, and the other was an alchemy recipe blueprint.

“Entangling Roots”, a medium white-grade magic scroll, can release a second-rank magic attack of entangling roots. The magic covers an area of twenty square meters, restraining and binding all life forms.

This scroll was a very practical piece with an extensive range and wide area of action. It could often be used in critical situations, such as when chased by a large horde of monsters. Although it had no lethality, it could effectively help people escape danger.

Zhao Changping’s eyes lit up when his eyes fell upon the magic scroll. The strength of a second-rank magic attack was remarkable enough to restrain all first-order monsters for a certain period.

The value of this scroll should be great.

The other item was not a scroll, nor was it a magic item.

“Troll’s Power”, a first-grade alchemy potion recipe

Xiao Yu was very surprised, “It’s actually another recipe?”

Zhao Changping was also very puzzled, “Didn’t you say this stuff was rare? It only took two days for two recipes to drop from these trolls. If you want it, I will give it to you. These blueprints are useless for us, but of course, we have no objection if you want to choose something else.”

“Then I’ll take the recipe.”

Xiao Yu grabbed the blueprint without reservation. The “troll’s power” was also a first-grade potion, but its value was several times higher than that of the first-grade “potion of curing”. In the future, it could easily be sold for a staggeringly high price, and even if you had the funds, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to acquire it. Because consuming the “troll’s power” potion resulted in significant increases in strength for a fixed period of time, which was a decisive factor that directly impacted the outcome of a battle.

The ingredients for the “troll’s power” potion were relatively easy to find, with the most crucial part being the blood of a first-order troll witch doctor.

Xiao Yu saw that the blood of the witch doctor hadn’t drained yet, so he took out two bottles and filled them to the brim.

Zhao Changping didn’t show much interest in other items except for the “Entangling Roots” magic scroll that he wanted dearly. Xiao Yu agreed without hesitation, which pleased the other party since, in the latter’s view, the potion recipe was the least useful, while the magic scroll was the most useful of these items.

After all, one was a potion recipe that was currently useless, and no one knew if they would live long enough to use it.

The other was a practical scroll that could unleash strong second-rank magic, saving people from danger at critical moments and preserving the whole team’s strength.

Faced with such choice, Zhao Changping didn’t hesitate to give up the former and choose the latter.