Chapter 213: Two Books, One Fated Encounter

At the same time, Qin Haoxuan also condensed a Heaven-Cleaving Slash and chopped out with his blade.

If the man in white still hadn’t realized that Qin Haoxuan was a cultivator, then he would have lived all these years in vain. At this moment, Qin Haoxuan’s Heaven-Cleaving Slash had already been cultivated to the fourth level. A cyan light condensed on his arm, and a five-foot-long blade of cyan qi, with a whistling, sharp sound of breaking air, slashed thunderously towards the man in white.

The man in white had originally thought that Qin Haoxuan was just an ordinary general who had practiced some internal martial arts, but he never expected his true identity to be a cultivator. A hint of panic flashed in his eyes, and he quickly retreated a few steps, condensing his spiritual energy to protect his body. At the same time, he raised his Golden Light Hammer to meet Qin Haoxuan’s slash.

CRASH! The Golden Light Hammer and the Heaven-Cleaving Slash shattered simultaneously. The turbulent spiritual energy kicked up countless clouds of dust. They had fought to a standstill.

Could he be the Taichu Sect disciple that Junior Brother Hulu mentioned? After their first exchange, the man in white discovered that Qin Haoxuan, despite only being at the Fifth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, was able to fight him, a Fifteenth-Leaf cultivator, to a draw. How is that possible? A mere Fifth-Leaf cultivator, even with treasures gifted from his sect, shouldn’t be able to fight me on equal terms!

The man in white was stunned for a moment, then immediately commanded his Vicious Ape Talisman Beast. The ape stomped on the ground and leaped into the air, pouncing on Qin Haoxuan.

Qin Haoxuan was horrified. If he were to be caught by this beast, he would be in danger. Just then, Xing, who had been in the form of a shield, suddenly transformed back into his human shape, activated the Dragon Demon Golden Body, and a faint, transparent gas formed on the surface of his body as he met the Vicious Ape’s blow head-on.

The Vicious Ape was knocked back several steps, and Xing was also pushed back several steps before he stabilized himself. Neither was injured!

“So powerful!” Xing praised, a look of battle-lust erupting in his eyes. It was clear that this Vicious Ape had piqued his interest.

Xing might have been interested, but Qin Haoxuan had no desire to drag this out any longer. The more it was delayed, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. What if he ran away or used some other ultimate move? It would be troublesome. He had to kill him as quickly as possible, to avoid any further complications.

Taking advantage of the man in white’s shock, Qin Haoxuan immediately released a fierce ghost. The ghost’s body rapidly swelled, its form shaking as it grew to a height of five meters, much taller than the Vicious Ape. A mournful ghostly qi swept away the aura emanating from the ape. Ghost God… Advent! The entire battlefield was filled with a mournful yin wind.

Seeing this fierce ghost, the man in white was visibly startled. Is this the Advent of the Ghost God? How did this junior learn it? No matter! I’ll shatter this evil ghost first!

He quickly retreated a few steps and cast the Golden Light Hammer again. A golden hammer appeared in his hand. With a flip of the hammer’s shadow, a dazzling golden light shone, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it struck at the fierce ghost, as if to smash it to dust with a single blow.

However, the fierce ghost let out a strange, jeering laugh and fearlessly swung its fist to meet the golden hammer. The hammer was indeed mighty, but after exchanging a blow with the ghost, it suddenly exploded. The spiritual energy that had condensed it dispersed, and the man in white’s qi and blood roiled. He stumbled back several steps, staring at the fierce ghost with an expression of disbelief. How is it so strong? This Advent of the Ghost God is even more powerful than I imagined.

After his first strike failed, the man in white did not remain idle. He immediately commanded his Talisman Beast to come to his rescue. But just as the Vicious Ape was about to spring up, Xing, with his quick reflexes, grabbed its leg, and the two of them began to brawl.

With the Talisman Beast entangled, a look of panic finally appeared in the man in white’s eyes. Not good! I underestimated this junior from the Taichu Sect! He reached a hand into the bag hanging from his waist, fumbling around, and quickly took out a spiritual talisman.

He still has another trump card? Qin Haoxuan formed a seal for the Advent of the Ghost God. The giant ghost’s shoulder twitched, and its entire arm transformed into a black long spear. The spear grew in the wind, and like a black bolt of lightning, it shot straight through the man in white’s chest, instantly creating a bloody hole.

The man in white let out a tragic cry and collapsed weakly to the ground. The Vicious Ape, having lost its master’s control, stood rooted to the spot in a daze. The man in white stared at Qin Haoxuan with terrified eyes. With a large hole in his chest, he knew he was going to die. He pointed at him and cursed, “You… you’re so despicable… you have no regard for the dignity of a cultivator… you deserve to die…”

Facing his dying accusation, Qin Haoxuan didn’t care in the slightest. He sneered. My cultivation is only at the Fifth-Leaf, and you are at the Fifteenth-Leaf. On what grounds should I not launch a sneak attack on you? Besides, you were killed by my frontal attack. What is there to be dissatisfied about? If you wanted a dignified fight, with your Fifteenth-Leaf cultivation, you should have gone to the Taichu Sect and challenged our Sect Master. You bully me, a Fifth-Leaf, and you think you’re in the right?

The man in white, not yet dead, added, “I will be waiting for you on the road to the Yellow Springs. My junior brothers and sisters will be here soon. You just wait to die…” With that, he stared with unwilling eyes and breathed his last.

After he had died, the somewhat exhausted Qin Haoxuan also recalled the fierce ghost. This time, using the Advent of the Ghost God had consumed a quarter of the spiritual energy in his body. If the man in white had held on for a little longer, it would have consumed even more. Although it used much less energy than the Formless Sword, the consumption was still quite large.

Qin Haoxuan walked over, took the bag of valuables from his body, and at the same time, took the Vicious Ape Talisman Beast, which was standing there in a daze. After searching the body and finding nothing else, he leisurely returned to his camp.

With their cultivator dead, the enemy soldiers, who had been in high spirits just a moment ago, were instantly thrown into a panic. Their soaring morale instantly collapsed, and they all shouted, “Our High Immortal is dead! Run, run…”

Su Wu commanded his troops to press the advantage and chase them back to their original camp. Except for a ground littered with corpses, not a single enemy soldier managed to escape.

When Qin Haoxuan returned to his tent, Su Wu, who had originally been somewhat suspicious of his strength, respectfully came to thank him. “Thank you for your help, High Immortal. With a single move, you swept through the enemy, leading our army to a great victory…”

Before he could finish his compliments, Qin Haoxuan, who had no interest in listening, tore off the general’s battle robe he was wearing and said, “Leave. Do not disturb me.” Su Wu, at this moment, did not dare to speak another word of nonsense and respectfully withdrew.

Qin Haoxuan took out the valuables he had obtained from the man in white. It was a yellow bag. A pile of spirit stones spilled out, along with some low-level talisman-refining materials, a few low-level spiritual talismans, and other such things. The low-level items were of no use to him, but the pile of spirit stones made his eyes light up with a smile. There were nearly a thousand of them. For him, who was currently in extreme need of spirit stones, this was like receiving charcoal in a snowstorm.

Seeing his smiling face, Xing couldn’t help but deal a blow. “It’s just a few broken spirit stones. Is it worth being so happy about?”

Qin Haoxuan glanced at him and said nonchalantly, “If you can get me ten low-grade spirit stones right now, I’ll immediately trade you a hundred for them. Well? Can you get them?”

Blocked by his words, Xing was speechless with frustration and muttered, “You know very well I have no way of getting them right now!” Then, he boasted, “What are a few spirit stones? If you had the guts to go with me to the Netherworld, that’s my territory. With a single order, countless demons would deliver spirit stones to me. I’m afraid you wouldn’t even be able to count them all!”

“I’m not going to the Netherworld with you. You have so many enemies there,” Qin Haoxuan said with a light laugh. Seeing a dark look appear on Xing’s face, as if he were getting angry, he quickly changed his tune. “I was wrong. You have no enemies in the Netherworld. I’m afraid of being chased…”

Xing’s expression improved slightly. “That’s more like it.”

But then Qin Haoxuan changed his tune again. “Yes, how could there be any humans in the Netherworld? All your enemies are demons.”

Xing’s just-improved expression froze again. He hadn’t expected Qin Haoxuan’s witty banter to have improved so much in these past few days. He then changed the subject. “From what that man in white said, he still has junior brothers and sisters who will come.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded, his brow slightly furrowed. “I’m just afraid that the ones who come will be stronger and stronger. It will be hard to deal with them then. After all, I’m just a Fifth-Leaf cultivator. I’ve been able to get by so far by relying on my many combat methods and surprise attacks. But these rogue cultivators who have managed to survive until now are no pushovers.”

As he was speaking, he was casually going through the items in the bag. Suddenly, he saw two booklets inside. He took one out and flipped through it. He was shocked to find that it was the control manual for the Vicious Ape Talisman Beast. After reading it, a look of joy appeared on his face. “So the Vicious Ape is actually called a Red-Blood Ape. Its strength and ferocity are even greater than a lion’s or a tiger’s. Even the kings of the forest, lions and tigers, would have to take a detour if they met one. And this Red-Blood Ape was the king of its clan. No wonder it’s so powerful.”

“Then congratulations on acquiring such a powerful Talisman Beast,” Xing said with a smile, his eyes on the spirit stones in Qin Haoxuan’s hand, a look of greed on his face.

How could Qin Haoxuan not see his action? He quickly put the bag of spirit stones away and said, “Don’t even think about getting any from me.” With that, he carefully read the manual again and then used its method to shrink the two-meter-tall, baleful-aura-emanating Red-Blood Ape and put it away.

As he was continuing to read the manual, Xing was flipping through the other booklet. After a moment, he said to Qin Haoxuan, “Look at this.”

Taking the thin, black booklet, Qin Haoxuan opened it and saw a dense script. He was shocked to find that the cultivator he had just killed had the habit of keeping a diary. This was his journal. Flipping through a few pages, he learned that his name was Xu Changsheng and that he was the senior brother of Perfected Man Hulu. Besides Hulu, he also had a junior brother and a junior sister. Flipping to the back, he learned that Hulu had already notified them to come and kill this “fat sheep” before he had even died. He had just been the fastest to arrive.

Flipping to the last page, it recorded the names of the other cultivators who were coming to help. One of them, a junior brother named Hua Yang, was at the Fifteenth-Leaf. And his junior sister, Jin Yanling, was actually at the Sixteenth-Leaf. Besides his two junior siblings, there was also another cultivator named Long Tian’ao, a friend of his junior sister’s whom she had invited to help.