Volume 5 Chapter 104
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Volume 5 Chapter 104: Uncertain Future, Trustworthy Treasure Is Hard to Find
After the strong man left Xu Qingfan, he did not fly too far and continued flying north for about a hundred miles before landing on a hill.
On the hill, several people were quietly waiting. Most of them wore black cloaks and had masks that looked like dried wood. They were the "An," who had once reappeared but were now hidden again.
Although members of "An" could only earn low ranks like Lie and Zhang if they entered "Ming," and there was not a single Mahayana Stage cultivator in "An" except for Zhang Xusheng, they had many members. The strong man had already seen more than ten different members of "An" before.
The six "An" members standing before him were different from the more than ten he had seen earlier.
Looking at the scholar in white standing at the steepest part of the hill and gazing into the distance, the strong man, who usually did not care about anything and rarely felt curious, couldn’t help but wonder what thoughts lay hidden behind that mysterious gaze and smile. He seemed alone, yet how powerful was his hidden strength?
"How come you are everywhere, no matter the time or place?"
Gathering his thoughts, the strong man looked at the scholar in white and frowned as he asked.
The scholar in white, however, paid no mind to the seemingly rude question of the strong man and replied with a calm smile, "The battle just now was amazing."
The strong man knew that the scholar had watched the entire confrontation between him and Xu Qingfan. In fact, he had noticed Zhang Xusheng peeking as soon as he left the area of "Ronghua Mountain," but there was no sign of shame on his face, only a frown as he asked, "What do you mean?"
The scholar in white gently sighed, "That Xu Qingfan is really something; he actually managed to push you to such an extent." As he spoke, the smile on his face grew wider. "I am very interested in him."
The strong man naturally understood what the scholar in white meant by being interested; that strange guy was looking for his future opponent again.
"Do you think that Xu Qingfan can become your opponent?"
The strong man asked in confusion. Besides the two extraordinary techniques, "Life and Death Reincarnation" and "Three Body Unity," that Xu Qingfan had used at the last moment, he hadn’t noticed anything special about him. Moreover, those two techniques weren’t something that Xu Qingfan could have created on his own; there must have been some expert backing him up.
After careful judgment, the strong man thought that Xu Qingfan was just an average cultivator with decent skills who had practiced some unusual cultivation methods. Throughout his long time in his pursuit of immortality, he had seen at least eighty cultivators like that, and they didn’t seem to be at a level where this scholar in white would consider them a rival.
The scholar in white shook his head, a look of sighing on his face, but the smile in his eyes grew even brighter as he said, "That Xu Qingfan is the future Master of Jiuhua. Just because of this, with my connection to Jiuhua, he is my natural opponent. Fighting against Jiuhua, especially when it is about to rise again, is truly delightful."
The strong man fell silent, but the members of the "An" organization behind them all trembled slightly.
The scholar in white then added, "Moreover, Xu Qingfan’s interesting qualities don’t end there. He is a disciple carefully taught by an old friend of mine and is now being mentored by another old friend of mine. As the old man becomes more and more tiresome to me, this little guy only makes me more eager. Once he grows up, it will be exciting to defeat him completely. I wonder how those two old friends will react."
As he spoke, the scholar in white looked again toward Ronghua, his gaze cutting through time and space to land on Xu Qingfan, who was standing still in a daze. There was an expression of anticipation in his eyes, "The most important thing is, this little guy is different from Feng Qingtian. Although Feng Qingtian is a rare genius, I already see how far he can grow. There is expectation, but it lacks some excitement. This little guy, however, is completely different. Do you know? According to my information, when he first began his cultivation, his body couldn’t hold even a bit of Spirit Qi, but now he has grown to this extent. Isn’t that surprising? You saw the cultivation method he just used. The two strongest Spirit Qis in his body are one of deadly silence and one of pure life, combining both good and evil. And his physique carries traits of the Feng family, yet it has also been altered by the secret method I created. It is truly unprecedented. All of this makes this little guy’s future full of unpredictability, and a rival like him is far more interesting."
As he spoke, the scholar in white murmured softly, "Good and evil are just a thought away. Is it good? Is it evil? Compared to cutting off a rival’s hope, I prefer to see their struggle."
"So you want me to leave those things for him?" The strong man, hearing the scholar in white, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, thinking "weirdo," while also asking.
The scholar in white smiled and said, "Those two items were originally given to you by me. The treasures of the ‘Treasure Pavilion’ are plentiful; they are useless to you and me, so why not give them to him?"
The strong man sighed slightly but furrowed his brow and asked, "What do you mean by the last thing you told me to say to him? Is there something in the southern part of Ronghua?"
The scholar in white seemed to lose interest, as if for him, only challenges from stronger beings or cultivating opponents who could threaten him excited him. Hearing the topic change, a certain emotion in his eyes subtly withdrew, and he replied lightly, "It’s just a little trick played by those two old fellows, ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth,’ against the Righteous Alliance. Since I’m free anyway, helping that little guy while also causing some trouble for the ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’ elders is quite interesting."
Seeing that the scholar in white did not want to say more, the strong man also did not ask further. After nodding to the scholar in white, he prepared to leave. Although the two regarded each other as friends, most of the time they followed their own paths. Just as he began to leave, the scholar in white suddenly called out to him.
"Is there anything else?"
The strong man asked.
"This is the third sword I promised to give you."
The scholar in white moved his right hand, and an ancient-looking long sword that gleamed with a blue light suddenly appeared in his hand and was handed to the strong man.
"The Spirit Sword?"
The strong man saw the sword in Xu Qingfan’s hand, and a hint of joy flashed in his usually deep eyes, which was quickly replaced by confusion. He took it and asked with curiosity.
The Spirit Sword is said to be the first sword-shaped magical treasure since the appearance of cultivators. After countless powerful beings refined it over thousands of years, its power is now unmatched by any God Weapon.
The scholar in white noticed the confusion in the strong man’s eyes and smiled as he said, "Although I promised to help you find three unique swords, I never said that the third sword had to be the ‘World Defying Sword,’ right? The ‘Eight Gate Sword Formation’ you are practicing should still have ‘Life Door’ and ‘Death Door’ not yet completed, right? With this sword, it will be enough for you to succeed in cultivating the ‘Life Door.’"
When the strong man heard the scholar’s words, he was shocked. He did not expect the scholar in white to see through his cultivation progress. According to his previous guess, the scholar’s power after mastering the dark arts should only be slightly higher than his own. If he succeeded in the seventh gate, the scholar would no longer be his opponent. If he completed all Eight Doors, then there would likely be no one who could defeat him.
But the scholar was able to see through his progress, even knowing he was missing the ‘Life Door’ and ‘Death Door’. Clearly, the scholar’s abilities were much more complicated than he had displayed. He was at least on par with him after completing seven gates.
The second shock was in the meaning of the scholar’s words. The ‘World Defying Sword’ corresponds to the three dangerous doors in the "Eight Doors Technique": the Death Door, the Injury Door, and the Fright Door, while the ‘Spirit Sword’ corresponds to the Open Door, the Rest Door, and the Life Door. Each time the strong man practiced a gate, it required hundreds of years. The scholar giving him the ‘Spirit Sword’ meant he wanted him to focus on cultivating the ‘Life Door’ in the next hundred years and not to disturb Xu Qingfan.
The strong man did not expect this. The scholar in white actually cared so much about Xu Qingfan.
But the strong man did not say much more, as it did not harm him, and he just nodded before flying away.
In the hills, only Zhang Xusheng remained, still staring at Xu Qingfan far away, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, though he did not know what he was planning.
※※※※
Far away, Xu Qingfan was still staring at the spot where the strong man had stood when he left, lost in thought.
The spot where the strong man had stood was where he was supposed to trade the "Dragon Summoning Order" and three "Immortal Ascending Pills" for the "World Defying Sword," but it was left abandoned on the ground!
"Could it be that this precious treasure is just left to me by that mysterious strong man? Or did he simply forget to take it?"
When priceless treasures suddenly appeared before him, easily reachable, Xu Qingfan couldn’t believe it and felt like everything in front of him was a dream.
After all, it felt too unreal…
