Chapter 3556: Chapter 3556: A Deal

“Zen, what's wrong with your body?”

Yasamin was the first one to notice the changes in Zen's body. It was weird and kind of creepy too.

The lifespan of powerful masters like Yasamin and Eastern Emperor Taiyi was limitless. As long as they weren't defeated by some extremely powerful entity, they were essentially immortal.

With such impossible ages, they could change their appearance too. Yasamin had made herself look like an old person, and Eastern Emperor Taiyi always appeared as a middle-aged man. They had chosen these appearances just to be in charge of the Oneness Sky Palace.

The strange changes in Zen's body were occurring obviously because of those Jade Bone Arrows.

“The bone arrows are taking his life... They are sucking his existence from within him!” The Snake Goddess frowned.

Zen's life energy was being crazily devoured, and his speed, strength, reaction capacity and so many other factors were all being reduced significantly.

Whoosh!

Four Jade Bone Arrows found a gap between Zen's hands and shot straight towards Eastern Emperor Taiyi.

Eastern Emperor Taiyi sat down cross-legged in a flash and gently pointed with his finger. His sword immediately spiraled over and slashed at the Jade Bone Arrows.

Crack!

The arrows were instantly slashed into two and fell down. However, the Feather Ghosts attached to them were not defeated. They dashed towards Eastern Emperor Taiyi and there was no way to dodge them.

Before Eastern Emperor Taiyi had time to react, the Feather Ghosts bit him and disappeared. Immediately, Eastern Emperor Taiyi turned from a middle-aged man into a very old man with white hair and ragged breathing. From his condition, it seemed that he would be dead very soon.

“Impossible!”

“I didn't know the Jade Bone Arrows were so powerful. How's Zen doing that?”

“He's been hit by so many arrows and yet he lives...”

Seeing that Zen had withstood about three hundred arrows till now, Fuxi, the Snake Goddess, and the others had come to the conclusion that although the Jade Bone Arrows were quite powerful, they were still not as terrifying as they had heard of them to be.

Unexpectedly, Eastern Emperor Taiyi was already at his last gasp after being hit by just four arrows! And Zen was still fighting.

Just how strong was the life energy of the latter?

“Zen... Let's leave the Other Shore first! Squeak!” King Leuan said anxiously.

“There are too many bone arrows here. I'm afraid they will kill us all,” the Snake Goddess also reminded him.

Previously, they had all insisted on not retreating from the Other Shore because they had already been marked. Even if they left the Other Shore and hid somewhere temporarily, they would still be at the risk of being pulled back. As long as the enemy was waiting for them, retreating from the Other Shore was much more dangerous than staying here.

But now that they were facing those Jade Bone Arrows, they would be killed anyway if they didn't leave the Other Shore.

Even the Primeval Lord of Heaven advised, “That's right! We'd better retreat at least for now. It would be unrealistic to pin the hopes on your bloodline.” Ŗ𝓪ꞐꝊ𐌱Ɛṡ

Hearing that, Zen nodded silently.

Then the Augury Dog swiftly drilled into Fuxi's spirit beast bag, while everyone else recited the Illusion Breaking Rune and retreated quickly from the Other Shore.

Zen wasn't too worried. He knew that it would be a piece of cake for the ancestry-level bloodline to replenish the life energy inside him.

The trouble, however, was that the bloodline was not under Zen's own control, and sometimes, it wouldn't be as effective as it should be. It was all up to the bloodline's mood. At the moment, he had no choice but to retreat.

They returned to the Pear Hill once again. The white-haired Eastern Emperor Taiyi was unable to hold on any longer and fell to the ground with a plop like dead meat.

His life energy had been used up and he was on the very verge of death.

The Snake Goddess stretched out her hand and gently brushed the air. A dark green pill appeared out of nowhere on her fingertips, immediately turning into a beam of green light and entering the body of Eastern Emperor Taiyi. However, with the damage the latter had suffered, this wasn't going to be enough.

“Go and ask Gerald to come over here now!” the Snake Goddess said in a hurry.

Without any delay, Fuxi moved away in a flash.

After a short while, Gerald's huge figure suddenly appeared in the sky, emitting green light and looking like a green sun.

Buzz!

Two green light columns shot out from his two pincers.

The columns fell down on Eastern Emperor Taiyi who gradually became strong once again. His white hair quickly turned black in front of their very eyes and his body was filled with vitality once again.

“Thank you, Master Gerald,” Eastern Emperor Taiyi said as he cupped his hands towards the air in a show of gratitude.

Gerald did not respond. Instead, he turned around and shot two more light pillars towards Zen.

Buzz, buzz, buzz...

The light columns shone on Zen's body. A long time passed but no major change was visible! This was unusual!

Gerald's eyes narrowed slightly and he immediately understood what was going on.

It wasn't that his life truth didn't work. But the problem was that the life energy which Zen had consumed was too much for him to recover in a short while. His body was like a bottomless abyss now, and it wasn't going to be easy to fill it up again.

Gerald naturally wouldn't give up. He concentrated and more and more life energy was continuously infused into Zen's body.

On the Other Shore

The Jade Bone Arrows didn't fall down after being unable to find their targets anymore. Instead, they were dragged on by the Feather Ghosts and circled around the place where Zen and the others had been just moments ago.

The Arrow Demons were not surprised at the sudden disappearance of Zen and his companions. They knew that the Eternal Realm warriors who came from the chaos would usually use this means to flee when in too much danger.

In order to counteract this, the creatures on the Other Shore would often prepare the Soul Interdicting Water and use it to lock their targets. However, this time, the incident had happened all of a sudden, and the Arrow Demons hadn't gotten a chance to apply the Soul Interdicting Water on their bodies.

Crack! Crack! Crack...

Numerous Arrow Demons were hanging on the green vines. Suddenly, the vines pierced through the ground and advanced forwards at an astonishing speed.

The Arrow Demons had almost no ability to move. They had to rely one hundred percent on the Heavenly Eye Vine to move.

Pretty soon, using the vines, the Arrow Demons arrived at the place where Zen and the others had disappeared. Once again, the Heavenly Eye Vine grew crazily, and completely surrounded the area.

At the same time, the leader of the Arrow Demons spoke to a hill which was located nearby, “There's no point in hiding! The refracting skill is a mere trick. You cannot avoid being discovered by the heavenly eye!”

At his words, a twisted space suddenly appeared at the back of the hill. As it gradually took shape, three figures with the similar appearance to Norris' appeared. These were members of the Gear race!

“Gah, Gah...”

As soon as the three members of the Gear race showed up, every single arrow was suddenly placed on the bowstrings by the Arrow Demons and pointed at them.

“We're not looking for trouble.” The leader of these members of the Gear race raised both of his hands. Then, he continued, “Look. You've already caught the targets and can obtain the bounty, right?”

“It is none of your business,” the leader of the Arrow Demons replied coldly.

Dozens of Jade Bone Arrows were still circling around in the sky, and below them was a thorny cage made of the Heavenly Eye Vine. The Arrow Demons were totally sure that they could catch Zen and his companions this time.

“But you still have one last step left.” The man of the Gear race made a gesture of grabbing something in the air. “They are outside the Other Shore. We'll bring them back. In return, all we want is one third of the Bone Fragments Secret Soul.”

The leader of the Arrow Demons was not happy at all with this bargain. He replied in a cold voice, “Do you think only members of your Gear race can do this task? That's too much to ask!”

The member of the Gear race chuckled and replied, “You can ask help from the members of the Sickle race as well, but Zen is definitely not an ordinary Eternal Realm warrior. His physical body is astonishingly strong. Even some of the most powerful warriors of our Gear race won't be able to hold on for a single round during a fight with him, and his life energy is too much to drain, which means his recovery speed is also astonishing. It won't be long before he regains his life energy. Do you have the confidence to deal with him on your own?”

The leader of the Arrow Demons fell silent at this question.

He had spent so many Jade Bone Arrows already and had forced Zen to reach his limit, like a spent arrow. If what the member of the Gear race was saying was true, it would be a pity if he were to be stingy now.

“One fifth,” said the leader of the Arrow Demons firmly.

“One-fourth,” replied the member of the Gear race.

“Alright! Deal!”

As soon as the leader of the Arrow Demons finished speaking, the thorny vines that had formed the prison rolled around and created a path.