Chapter Sixty-Four: Two Fall, Crisis Rises Again

Qi smiled faintly and slipped behind the young man surnamed Zhao. Before the massive shield could swing over, a head full of disbelief soared skyward, and the body collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

“Si Pozhao is far smarter than you. Once your shield grows larger, it slows down, and if it can’t keep up with my speed, you’re doomed.” Qi sneered disdainfully.

The sudden turn left the other youth stunned, his face drastically changing. “Immortal Lady, act quickly! This brat is a lightning spiritual root cultivator—looks like a martial cultivator, too. Don’t let him pick us off one by one!”

The young man surnamed Zhao had strength comparable to his own, yet he was killed in the instant they clashed. Even with the all-encompassing defense of his human-faced umbrella, he wasn’t certain he could withstand the opponent’s attack. In the face of death, pride was meaningless.

“Oh dear, I’m not very good at fighting. Handsome boy, please be gentle with me. Go easy—I’m afraid of pain.” The seductive woman was unmoved by the youth’s demise, only surprised to discover he was also a martial cultivator.

She had more or less discerned the youth’s abilities; he was still inferior to her. Even though the lightning might put her at a disadvantage, with the other youth present, she felt hopeful they could suppress him. Yet, capturing or killing him, she had no confidence.

Her first move brought forth a pink miasma and a peachwood fan. The fan’s surface was made of a mysterious beast’s hide, painted with dozens of beautiful women’s alluring figures. As the fan waved, those women seemed to come alive, dancing provocatively amid the miasma.

Qi calmly glanced at the scene, then hurled a concentrated thunderball, instantly dispersing a swath of miasma and several beautiful figures.

The young man’s Soul Capturing Mirror illuminated his opponent again, a second dark ray sweeping out to flank Qi from both sides.

Qi, still smiling, deftly circled around the dark rays, closing in on the youth.

The seductive woman, her smile undiminished despite the thunderball’s bombardment, spat out a pink pearl. With a spell’s activation, dozens of corpses of beautiful women appeared within the miasma. The dancing figures merged with the bodies, immediately emanating the aura of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Though just at the threshold of Foundation Establishment, there were dozens in number, and one elder woman seemed on the verge of mid-stage advancement.

This development caught Qi’s attention, causing him to pause as he approached the young man. Seizing the opportunity, the youth slapped his storage pouch, drew out a beast hide talisman, and flung it at Qi.

Suddenly, the talisman ignited and vanished, erupting with immense energy fluctuations. A blood-red vulture unfolded wings several yards wide and swooped at Qi with its talons.

Qi’s smile faded. He drew a pale bone sword from his storage pouch. The sword was not of human bone, but likely a powerful beast’s leg bone, forged by none other than Blackheart Demon.

He had kept three people alive not only for the villagers but for their storage pouches. Someone like Shui Wuyue Bai, at Nascent Soul stage, would hardly care for the pouches of a few Foundation Establishment juniors, but for Qi, they were valuable.

Three storage pouches, each with more space than all he’d used before combined; Blackheart Demon’s was a top-tier artifact, its space dozens of yards across—a rare treasure. If measured in soft currency, his previous haul was worth over twenty thousand, a considerable sum.

This bone sword was found in Blackheart Demon’s pouch, the hardest and sharpest among the weapons. Although it was a magic treasure and Qi couldn’t fully activate it yet, it was more than enough for hacking.

The blood-red vulture’s huge talon, nearly half Qi’s size, swept toward him. As the pale sword flashed, the talon was sliced cleanly in two, the cut smooth as if cleaving melon.

“Tiger Bone Fiend Sword? How is that possible?” The seductive woman, poised to ambush from behind, cried out in shock. She recognized the sword—it was Blackheart Elder’s regular magic treasure, nearly equal to his life-bound treasure, and his signature weapon. How could it appear in the hands of a mere Foundation Establishment youth?

“Heh, looks like someone recognizes it. I had no idea its name was so famous. But nothing is impossible! Call me Magician Qi—now’s the time to witness a miracle.” As he spoke, Qi had already dismembered the blood-red vulture, its carcass transforming back into several pieces of beast hide.

With a flash of silver in Qi’s left eye, his figure vanished from the woman’s sight and divine sense. Almost simultaneously, a scream echoed and ceased; the other young man was cleaved in half, split cleanly left and right.

“Tch, another boring thing to cut.” Qi rested the bone sword on his shoulder with casual indifference, unafraid of injury.

Earlier, his bloodline erupted and he used time acceleration, yet his combat power didn’t increase. Science, it seemed, had little to do with cultivation.

The seductive woman was finally frightened. The deaths of the two youths meant little, but her own life mattered. The opponent before her truly felt unfathomable; even in the instant kill, he never revealed his true cultivation. He remained at the third layer of Qi Condensation, unchanged.

“Tsk, now it’s your turn.” Qi cocked his head and sneered coldly.

“Fellow Daoist, I’m merely passing through. We have no real enmity—why must we fight to the death? Why not part ways here: you take your road, I take mine. Let’s just call it a day, shall we?” The charming woman smiled coquettishly, simultaneously arranging dozens of Foundation Establishment beauties around herself.

“Qi has a question for you, Immortal Lady. Would you be willing to answer?” Qi put away the bone sword, the lightning on his wings fading as he stood with hands clasped behind his back.

The seductive woman breathed a bit easier, but remained wary, not withdrawing the beautiful women. “What would you like to know, fellow Daoist? I promise to answer everything I can.”

“What great scheme is your Demon Sect up to? Why would you need to blood-sacrifice an entire nation’s mortals?”

The woman’s brow arched, but Qi’s calm face betrayed no emotion. “That, I truly don’t know. But you are mistaken about one thing—our sect master’s plan isn’t limited to the minor Qi Kingdom. There are eight other places in the Southern Region in the same state as Qi Kingdom!”

A flicker of emotion appeared on Qi’s tranquil face, quickly masked. “When will the sky clear?”

“That, I don’t know either. Once the sect master’s plan succeeds, the dark clouds will naturally disperse.”

Such empty words left Qi unsatisfied, but before he could act, a familiar twinge of dread flashed in his heart—the sense of danger returned.

(This is the fifth chapter today. Please vote if you enjoyed it.)