Chapter 24: Killing Three to Erase All Traces, Returning Silently to the House
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The gaping wound in his chest and abdomen bled like a leaking faucet—unstoppable and horrifying.
Huang Hanxiao’s face was pale, twisted with agony.
He frantically swallowed healing pills of every kind while casting supportive spells to accelerate his retreat.
But the wound was too severe.
The pills weren’t some miraculous treasures that could heal him instantly. At best, they could temporarily stabilize his condition.
Because of the damage, his spiritual energy was sluggish. His spells were failing half the time due to his trembling hands.
“That damned bastard… that damned bastard!!”
Huang Hanxiao grit his teeth, cursing as he fled deeper into the forest.
He had considered that Yu Xian might resist, or even try to fight back.
But he never expected Yu Xian would strike first!
He never imagined the kid would possess a Golden Core-level talisman!
Such treasures were expensive—Huang knew that very well. He simply couldn’t figure out how Yu Xian could afford one.
“It must be the ore-detecting treasure! That’s how he could gather so many spirit stones and afford a high-grade talisman! Damn that little bastard!”
Blood spewed from his mouth as he let out a pained growl.
“You really are clever!”
A cold voice echoed from behind.
Huang’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t dare look back and instead ran even faster, like a madman.
That brat actually caught up!?
He had deliberately fled in the opposite direction, hoping to mislead Yu Xian—but the brat had seen through it!
If Huang wasn’t injured, his perfected Qi Condensation level would make him far faster than Yu Xian, who was supposedly in the mid-stage.
But now…
He staggered with each step. His spiritual energy flickered in and out, and no matter how desperately he fled, he could feel it—Yu Xian was closing in.
Yu Xian, face cold and expressionless, poured all his spiritual energy into pursuit, running even more desperately than the fleeing Huang Hanxiao.
Don’t let him catch his breath. Don’t give him even a second to recover.
“Yu Xian! Why are you trying to kill me!?”
The deadly aura was so close now that Huang couldn’t suppress the fear in his voice.
“There’s no enmity between us!”
“That’s true,” Yu Xian replied flatly. “Which is why I’m confused—why did you target me? Why did you want me dead?”
“When did I ever try to kill you!? It was you who suddenly attacked me!”
Huang was furious. He’d been planning to kill Yu Xian, yes—but he hadn’t acted yet! It was Yu Xian who struck first!
“Heh,” Yu Xian let out a cold chuckle. “When facing a wild beast poised to bite your throat… do you wait for it to strike before killing it?”
Just as he finished speaking, he raised his hand without hesitation—
Golden Light Slash!
A powerful talisman created by a late Foundation Establishment expert!
“AH!?”
Feeling the spike of spiritual power behind him, Huang instinctively threw up another defense.
Boom!
A wooden armor talisman flared into life, just in time to meet the blinding golden slash.
He was blasted into the air again, blood spraying from his mouth, but even then he struggled back to his feet and kept running.
Qi Condensation Perfection… really is hard to kill!
Yu Xian didn’t know how many more defensive talismans Huang had left, but he couldn’t afford to stop.
His eyes flashed with deadly light as he raised another hand and began forming new hand seals—
Rolling heat surged. Spiritual energy howled.
“What realm are you in!?”
Bloodied and desperate, Huang suddenly turned his head in horror, shouting,
“How are you able to use the Fire Flood Dragon Technique!?”
Yu Xian’s eyes flickered. He was at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation—wasn’t that the requirement to cast it?
True, it drained him almost entirely. Each time he used the technique, his sea of qi, that dark-blue spiritual lake within him, would be reduced by 90%.
If he didn’t use spirit stones, it would take a full day of rest to recover.
But from what Huang Hanxiao was saying, the Fire Flood Dragon Technique seemed to require an even higher realm than his?
“Impossible! You’re just a kid! You’ve only been in Baiyun Sect for four months! How can you already be in the late stage of Qi Condensation!?”
Huang was screaming, his voice sharp and hysterical.
He was thirty-four years old. Discovered at thirteen for his spiritual roots, he had trained in Baiyun Sect for twenty-one years to finally reach Qi Condensation Perfection.
And yet this brat—what was he, sixteen? Seventeen?
He’d only joined the sect three months and thirteen days ago!
And now he was already in the late stage of Qi Condensation, capable of casting high-level spells!?
“Late stage?”
Yu Xian frowned. What was he talking about?
As far as Yu Xian knew, he was at the mid-stage, the “Qi like water” phase.
Late stage was “Qi like mercury.” He hadn’t reached that yet.
But now wasn’t the time to ponder metaphysical differences.
Maybe Huang was confused. Maybe he was lying to make Yu Xian hesitate.
It didn’t matter.
He would not hesitate. He would not stop. He would not leave this man alive.
“Die!”
Yu Xian formed the final seal. His sea of qi emptied in a breath—only a tenth remained.
A wave of crushing exhaustion swept over him, but he roared and pointed a finger.
ROAR!!
A dragon’s cry rang out as searing fire gathered into the form of a beast.
A vague, four-zhang-long crimson fire flood dragon appeared—its shape indistinct, yet its heat and power unmistakable.
This was a real, terrifying attack—one that only late-stage or perfected Qi Condensation cultivators could use.
The fire dragon slithered forward with deceptive slowness—then lunged at Huang’s back like a meteor.
“No! Spare me!!”
Huang screamed in terror, trying desperately to cast one last spell.
But he had nothing left.
His body was ruined. His qi was gone.
He managed a few low-level shields—Earth Shield, Golden Light Barrier—but had no energy to maintain them.
BOOM!
The fire dragon engulfed him.
“AHHHH—”
His scream was brief. It ended abruptly.
The flames devoured him, burning him alive.
Even after he collapsed to the ground, his body continued to burn, until nothing was left but a charred corpse.
Pale-faced, Yu Xian stumbled forward, clutching two spirit stones in both hands and rapidly absorbing energy to recover.
He approached Huang’s body and retrieved his storage pouch.
The corpse was already a blackened husk.
To erase all traces, Yu Xian cast several Fire Serpent Techniques, reducing the remains to ash.
Then he let the mountain wind scatter the ashes and turned to leave.
Back at the collapsed mine, Liu Xue and Sun Bingcheng’s bodies were still there—already swarmed by vultures and insects.
Yu Xian took their pouches and searched their corpses. Finding nothing else, he did the same to them:
burned them to ash, let the wind take them.
Finally, he coughed.
The aftershock of the Golden Core-level clash had injured his internal organs. He had been holding it in this whole time.
A single clash from a Golden Core-level technique… even the residual shock was enough to injure an ant like me.
He stored the three pouches, swallowed a few healing pills, and scanned the area.
Then he turned and swiftly left the scene.
Three people dead.
Baiyun Sect’s Hundred Mines Division would surely investigate.
But they wouldn’t suspect him. There were no traces. No witnesses. No evidence.
As long as he quietly cultivated, mined diligently, and handed in his tributes on time—he would be safe.
With that thought, Yu Xian returned to the mining quarters, sat down to heal, and began examining his spoils.
To kill these three, he had used two powerful talismans—worth a total of eight thousand spirit stones.
Let’s see how much I can recover from their belongings…
He exhaled softly.
The first pouch he opened—was Sun Bingcheng’s.
