Volume 4 Chapter 97

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Volume 4 Chapter 97: Parting Ways

Number Two, who spent his life using others as his shield, killing without hesitation, with a cold heart, sacrificing companions for his own benefit, was ultimately killed by his own companion—a trusted one. Without any guard, just as he was plotting against Number Three, he was easily devoured by Number Three. Is this karma, or a kind of irony?

As several blood vines pierced his body, Number Two’s body shriveled in moments. His green skin lost all its luster, his flesh drained dry, and his bulging eyes looked up at the sky, filled with unwillingness, as if something was left undone before he died…

Number Three acted swiftly. After the sudden change, though everyone was shocked, they couldn’t stop it. They watched helplessly as Number Two was drained by Number Three, then let out a slight sigh.

With the unexpected deaths of Number One and Number Two, the collapse of "Death God Descending" and "Golden Armored Soldier God" marked the end of this battle.

Although one of the evil cultivators, Number Three, was still alive, he was the weakest among them. Now severely injured, despite absorbing Number Two’s flesh and blood, he didn’t recover much. His blood mist ability, though formidable, could be countered by Xu Qingfan’s "Five Spirit Bell" and "Withered Qi", and Deng Tianao’s "Heavenly Punishment Technique".

Therefore, although Number Three absorbed Number Two’s flesh and blood and turned to glare at everyone, ready to attack, everyone unconsciously felt relieved.

This battle, filled with twists and turns, finally ended. Despite the life-and-death struggles, and with only six of the original sixteen remaining, plus Deng Tianao and Deng Lian, who joined halfway, all injured to some extent, the battle was fierce, but it was over at last.

As Number Three grew restless and Deng Tianao, Ninglingzi, and others prepared to strike, Xu Qingfan suddenly spoke, "Everyone, wait."

Hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, everyone paused slightly, looking at Xu Qingfan with puzzlement.

Xu Qingfan calmly said, "It’s better to keep this Number Three. Although he is not a core member of the ‘Ming’ organization, he must know a lot. It’s best to capture him and let the seniors interrogate him thoroughly."

With that, Xu Qingfan glanced at Little Black, who had returned to his shoulder after the collapse of "Death God Descending." Little Black hadn’t absorbed much of the death aura, and was now filled with frustration. A thought crossed Xu Qingfan’s mind, and he added, "Let me handle it."

Ninglingzi frowned and asked, "Taoist Friend Xu, you previously mentioned the ‘Ming’ organization. Is this the group behind the ‘Art of Tian Sha’?"

Xu Qingfan replied, "Yes."

Upon hearing Xu Qingfan say this, Ninglingzi nodded but did not ask how Xu Qingfan knew about the "Ming" organization. After Xu Qingfan had met Immortal Zizhen, who quickly descended the mountain, Ninglingzi was aware of the formation of the Righteous Alliance. Therefore, after hearing Xu Qingfan, he did not stop him from taking action.

Seeing that everyone agreed to let him act, Xu Qingfan remained still, speaking to Little Black in his mind, "Little Black, use the abilities you gained after your advancement against him, but don’t kill him."

Xu Qingfan wanted to test the power of the new abilities Little Black had acquired after its advancement through Number Three.

Sensing Xu Qingfan’s intention, Little Black spread its wings and turned into a streak of black light, flying towards Number Three. Seeing Little Black approaching, Number Three became alert, but just as Number Three was about to turn into a mist of blood, Little Black suddenly stopped three yards in front of him. Then everyone saw a subtle crack on Little Black’s forehead, which began to glow with a faint red light. As the red glow intensified, the crack grew larger until it resembled a red third eye on its forehead.

As the third eye formed, an aura of extreme terror suddenly emanated from Little Black, who was originally no different from an ordinary crow. This aura bore a striking resemblance to the "Death God Descending" that Number Two had previously used. The red eye on Little Black’s forehead was also very similar to the two points of red light in the black chaos of "Death God Descending", but seemed even more concentrated.

Xu Qingfan knew that this was likely Little Black’s newly acquired ability after advancing, "Eye of the Death God."

Just as Xu Qingfan was about to witness the power of Little Black’s "Eye of the Death God", something unexpected happened.

Upon seeing Little Black’s transformation, Number Three was astonished and began scrutinizing the third eye that appeared on Little Black’s forehead. However, as Number Three’s eyes met Little Black’s third eye, an expression of extreme terror suddenly appeared on Number Three’s face. Then, before everyone’s eyes, Number Three began to age rapidly at a visible speed.

Little Black’s third eye seemed to possess some kind of magic. Though Number Three aged swiftly and was in shock, he couldn’t tear his gaze away, allowing wrinkles to swiftly spread across his face.

In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Number Three’s appearance aged as if decades had passed, leaving him too weak to stand, collapsing to the ground.

After all this, Little Black paid no more attention to Number Three and swiftly flew back to Xu Qingfan’s shoulder. The third eye on his forehead reverted to a shallow crack, and he appeared somewhat weary.

Witnessing this, everyone present was astonished. Though they didn’t understand what happened, their gaze upon Little Black was now filled with dread, and their look towards Xu Qingfan carried a trace of reverence.

Compared to everyone else, Xu Qingfan’s shock was even greater. While others may not have understood, Xu Qingfan clearly sensed that after making eye contact with Little Black’s third eye, the balance of life and death energy within Number Three shifted suddenly, causing a rapid increase in death energy. This resulted in Number Three’s swift aging in such a short time.

Little Black’s "Eye of the Death God" has the power to disrupt the balance of life and death energy in an opponent’s body. Although using the "Eye of the Death God" requires the other party to meet the gaze of Little Black’s third eye, and given Little Black’s current exhaustion, employing this "Eye of the Death God" must also take a toll. Nevertheless, this "Eye of the Death God" is incredibly formidable, isn’t it?

Struggling to suppress his shock, Xu Qingfan turned to the stunned Ninglingzi and said, "Number Three is no longer a threat now. Taoist friend, you may take him to ‘Ronghua Mountain’ for the masters to interrogate."

…

The rest of the tasks became simple. They quickly cleaned the battlefield and collected the bodies of their fallen comrades, though only skin and bones remained. Hu Ming and Xiao Bieshan found only a few broken personal belongings, but at least they could give them a proper burial. Then, they found a hidden spot outside "Ningyun Mountain" to meditate and recover Spirit Qi, in case others from the "Ming" organization came to help. In their current condition, they could no longer engage in any intense battles.

While clearing the battlefield, they discovered a large number of bodies in the hideouts of three evil cultivators. The bodies of another group were also present, but they found nothing else of value.

The "Tian Sha Seed" and the black altar were entrusted to Ninglingzi and Master Guanghui for safekeeping. They planned to take these items back to "Ronghua Mountain" to be handled by the masters there.

Number One had previously been shattered by Xu Qingfan’s "Thunderbolt Pill," and aside from a damaged cultivation method and a red bone staff, Number Three had no possessions of value. Given Number Three’s bloodthirsty and dazed demeanor, though the broken cultivation method seemed mysterious, no one had any interest in deciphering it.

In the end, they only acquired Number Two’s accumulated treasures over the years, but even so, it felt like a significant gain. The fatigue and sorrow over the loss of their comrades were slightly alleviated.

Thousands of spirit stones and hundreds of bottles of various elixirs aside, the dozen high-level artifacts were far superior to most of what they possessed.

According to reason, everyone was sent by the Righteous Alliance to eliminate the evil cultivators this time, but there was no rule that their treasures had to be handed over. So aside from some important records on green slips, the "Tian Sha Seed," and some overly sinister magic artifacts, the rest was divided among them without hesitation.

This is quite a common practice in the cultivation world, so no one felt any shame. Although the magic artifacts created by these evil cultivators were sinister, they were also extremely powerful, so no one acted pretentious about it.

After equally dividing the spirit stones, because Xu Qingfan had bravely turned the tide several times, everyone wanted him to choose first. But Xu Qingfan didn’t take much, only a green flag and a red flag, as well as a black pearl.

The green flag was called the "Five Ghost Flag," which could summon five little ghosts to perform spells like "Five Ghost Transport," "Five Ghost Illusion," and "Five Ghost Detection." It’s quite a practical magic artifact, even though it’s frowned upon by the righteous path, once acquired, most tend to keep it.

The red flag was the "Ghost Binding Flag," a treasure used to deal with ghosts.

Xu Qingfan’s greatest gain this time was the "Death Spirit Pearl," which had the effect of gathering death energy, greatly aiding Little Black’s evolution.

Aside from that, Xu Qingfan also picked two bottles of "Blood Spirit Pill" and two bottles of "Detoxification Pills" from nearly a hundred bottles of elixirs, and there was also a black bottle with the words "corpse poison" written on it.

Number Two unexpectedly had over ten bottles of "Blood Spirit Pill," likely made during his corpse refining. Xu Qingfan took a bottle of "corpse poison," thinking its potent power might come in handy one day. Since Number Two often dealt with corpses, he had a wide variety of "corpse poisons," making his detoxification pills highly effective.

After Xu Qingfan took these items, the rest of the magic artifacts and spirit pills were quickly divided among the others.

Notably, during the battlefield cleanup, Deng Tianao invited Chou Xuan for a private conversation. Xu Qingfan thought, given their past grievances, Chou Xuan wouldn’t agree. Surprisingly, after a slight hesitation, Chou Xuan said yes.

Nobody knew what they discussed, but when they returned, Deng Tianao was all smiles while Chou Xuan’s expression kept changing. As it involved "Liuhe Gate" matters, Xu Qingfan noticed Chou Xuan didn’t mention it and chose not to ask.

After descending the mountain, the two mountain guards were no longer there; only two skeletons remained. Everyone knew this was Number Three’s doing, sighed, and collected the disciples’ remains.

Once everything was done, they hid in a small, inconspicuous hill on the south side of Ningyun Mountain to meditate and recover. In their current condition, they did not dare to go back, as no one knew if the "Ming" organization would intercept them along the way.

A month later, everyone healed their internal injuries and restored most of their Spirit Qi. They bid farewell and went their separate ways.

Among them, Ninglingzi and Master Guanghui hurried back to "Ronghua Mountain" with the "Tian Sha Seed" and some gains from Numbers Three and Two to report to the masters. Deng Tianao and Deng Lian waved goodbye and disappeared, but they agreed Xu Qingfan should remember to visit "Liuhe Gate," as they were impressed by his strength and sought to win him over.

Meanwhile, Xu Qingfan and Chou Xuan quickly flew towards the general’s palace.