Chapter 227: My Apologies, Senior

Elder Yufeng was enraged. It had been a long time since he had been in such a wretched state, and now he had been put there by a mere rogue cultivator. He raised his Thunderous Sword again, and a giant bolt of lightning from the dark clouds once again shot towards it. The grievously injured Master Chi Lian, his eyes blazing with hatred, disregarded the pain of his own injuries and frantically began to gather his spiritual energy to form another spell.

In reality, the Mountain Hermit Yunhe was even more seriously injured at this moment. Having been struck by the remnant of Elder Yufeng’s sword qi and Master Chi Lian’s spiritual art, his dantian and meridians were both damaged, and he had little spiritual energy left. He knew he could not possibly take another combined strike from the two of them. So, without a second thought, he mounted his flying sword and fled. Even in a one-on-one fight with this Elder Yufeng, he was no match, let alone with the addition of Master Chi Lian, who hated him to the bone and wanted nothing more than to kill him to vent his anger.

But how could Elder Yufeng allow him to escape after injuring an elder of the Taichu Sect? He once again swung his sword, unleashing a strike that carried the might of thunder and lightning. Yunhe, who had just flown into the air and was fleeing in Qin Haoxuan’s direction, had his protective talisman shattered, and his own spiritual energy barrier was broken. At the same time, another bloody sword wound appeared on his back. This was only because he had managed to crush several protective talismans in time, blocking the vast majority of the attack’s power. If he had taken that strike head-on, even if he hadn’t been split in two, he would have been turned to black ash by the electric current.

After being severely wounded, his figure, which had been standing on his flying sword, began to sway, on the verge of falling. But his speed of escape only increased. He knew that if he were a fraction of a second slower, he would surely be captured and killed by Elder Yufeng. For a rogue cultivator to grievously injure an elder of the Taichu Sect was, in public, a slap in the face to the sect. They would not let this matter rest.

Seeing him flee, the severely injured Master Chi Lian pleaded, “Elder Yu, that man has grievously injured me. I beg you to kill him, to avenge me and to serve as a warning to those who dare to move against the disciples of our Taichu Sect!”

“Hunting him down is a necessity,” Yufeng said, his face cold and grim. “In this land, our Taichu Sect is the heaven! Anyone who dares to move against a member of our sect will be killed! Let’s go! Follow me and kill him!”

Master Chi Lian activated a talisman and followed closely behind him, his heart aching. He had used up all his trump cards. The giant python Talisman Beast he had spent years refining and the precious life-saving talismans were all gone. And all of this was because of Qin Haoxuan. Next time I catch you, I will make you pay dearly, he thought.

…

After the two elders had left, Qin Haoxuan stood on a giant rock, gazing at the battlefield where they had fought. For dozens of li in every direction, the land had been leveled. What had once been a dense forest and small hills was now flatter than a plain.

“A Spirit Tree Realm cultivator… is this powerful,” he lamented.

Xing, however, said impatiently, “What are you lamenting for? Let’s go after that Yunhe!”

“Go after him?” Qin Haoxuan was taken aback. “Why would we go after him? He’s so strong.”

Xing said with a confident tone, “That strike from Elder Yu definitely injured him severely. I saw him stumbling even on his flying sword. Let’s hurry and catch up; we might be able to pick up some benefits.”

Seeing Qin Haoxuan hesitate slightly, he added, “Hurry up! That Yunhe will certainly not let you go. If he’s seriously injured, we can find a way to kill him, and then all his things will be ours, won’t they?”

Thinking of how terrifying Yunhe was, Qin Haoxuan no longer hesitated. To be targeted by such a Spirit Tree Realm expert was not a good thing. He trusted Xing’s judgment. If he said he was seriously injured, then he must be. As long as he was careful, he might really be able to ambush and assassinate him and pick up a great prize.

“But… Master Chi Lian and the others just went after him.”

“We’ll still go and see,” Xing said with great confidence. “You always have to take a gamble on things like this. And I don’t think that Yunhe is a fool. He’ll definitely find a way to shake off his pursuers. If he manages that, then won’t we be able to pick up the benefits?”

“Alright, let’s give it a try!” Qin Haoxuan activated the Thousand-Mile Talisman and quickly chased in the direction Yunhe had fled.

The Mountain Hermit Yunhe was desperately flying on his sword, stuffing recovery pills into his mouth while repeatedly laying false trails to throw off his pursuers. After flying for about half an hour, he finally stopped and, after carefully checking behind him and seeing that the Ninth Elder was not in pursuit, he landed with relief on a stone mountain. “It seems… I’ve shaken them off,” he said, letting out a long breath.

He never would have dreamed that Qin Haoxuan, who in his eyes was as weak as an ant, had followed him under the cover of the Mortal Talisman. Qin Haoxuan stopped using the Thousand-Mile Talisman to avoid being detected and quietly climbed the not-so-high mountain, hiding behind a giant boulder and observing with bated breath.

He saw Yunhe, standing on the summit, walk over to a large rock. With a flip of his hand, a ripple of spiritual energy split the rock open. Inside was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl with delicate features. Her mouth was gagged, and her body was bound with an Immortal-Binding Rope. Seeing him, her eyes showed a look of terror, but she could not move or make a sound.

Yunhe clutched the still-bleeding wound on his body and glanced at the girl with a savage expression. He muttered to himself, “I was originally going to save you, but I can’t worry about that now. I’ll have to use you ahead of schedule.” As he spoke, he agitated his wound and began to cough, more blood flowing out. He stuffed a few more pills into his mouth, and the bleeding gradually stopped.

Damn that Elder Yufeng, he thought, his eyes cold. He truly lives up to his reputation. He had thought that with his own flying sword, he could at least hold his own, but he never expected the power of his single strike to be so great. His meridians and dantian were both injured. If he couldn’t repair the damage in time, not only would his cultivation be unable to advance, but it might even regress.

After pulling the girl out from the rock, he threw her onto a patch of open ground and began to set up a talisman array with spirit stones and flags, occasionally popping a few more pills into his mouth. His injuries were clearly very serious.

Hiding to the side, Qin Haoxuan held his breath completely, waiting for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack. The gravely injured Yunhe had no idea that there was an outsider here.

But Qin Haoxuan’s luck had been terrible lately. Just as he was waiting for the perfect moment, another Spirit Sprout Realm cultivator appeared on the mountain. It was Yunhe’s youngest disciple. He had been ordered to stand guard here but had left for a short while on an errand. He never expected to return and see his master seriously injured, and Qin Haoxuan hiding nearby with obvious ill intent.

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?” he shouted.

Startled, Qin Haoxuan turned his head and saw the Tenth-Leaf disciple. His heart was filled with frustration. His luck these past few days had been abysmal; not a single thing had gone smoothly.

The disciple who had discovered him was not strong. Enraged at having his position given away, Qin Haoxuan pounced like a fierce tiger. With his physical strength, even a Twelfth-Leaf disciple of the Taichu Sect was no match for him, let alone a Tenth-Leaf rogue cultivator. He condensed a Heaven-Cleaving Slash, and a five-zhang-long blade of cyan qi viciously chopped down on the man’s head. Before he could even let out a scream, half of his head was lopped off, and he fell to the ground, deader than dead.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, and at Yunhe, who was now enraged after discovering him, Qin Haoxuan cried out in his heart, Am I really not fated for sneak attacks? Must I always face my enemies head-on?

He knew that even if Yunhe was seriously injured and had less than a tenth of his strength left, he was still not someone a mere Spirit Sprout Realm cultivator like himself could deal with. Without hesitation, he activated the Thousand-Mile Talisman, and his body shot out like an arrow released from a bow.

Yunhe was furious. His heart was on fire. To think that a Spirit Sprout Realm junior, whom he could normally crush with a single hand, would actually dare to try and counter-kill him. And he had actually been tracked to his lair. Today, even if it means aggravating my injuries, I will kill him!

After Qin Haoxuan ran out, Yunhe also mounted his flying sword and gave chase. His eyes were completely red. He had to kill this boy. Not only to avenge his disciple, but more importantly, he was a man of Taichu. All people of Taichu deserved to die.

Qin Haoxuan looked back and saw that Yunhe was only five zhang away, and this was his maximum speed. It was impossible to widen the distance. At such a close range, if he were to just casually cast a spiritual art, he would be blasted to pieces.

“I’m out of options!” Gritting his teeth, he took out the half-finished Bifang Talisman Beast. It had originally been prepared to deal with Master Chi Lian, but if he didn’t use it now to save his life, he certainly wouldn’t see tomorrow’s sun. The great meeting gift he had prepared for Chi Lian would now have to be given to Yunhe, whom he had only met twice.

The Bifang was thrown out and, under his control, immediately grew to be over a man tall. Seeing the Talisman Beast radiating a powerful spiritual energy, Yunhe immediately stopped in his tracks, looking at it warily. Hey? It looks like a half-finished product. It’s not a real Bifang Talisman Beast. His eyes narrowed. This Qin Haoxuan has been pushed to his limit, to even take out an unfinished beast to save his life. He can’t refine it, but I can. Once it’s complete, its power will be considerable. Even against that damned Yufeng, I could injure him.

Greed ran rampant in his heart. Even though he was a Spirit Tree Realm rogue cultivator, he was still a rogue. Obtaining resources was extremely difficult. Now, with a half-finished Bifang, infused with so much spiritual energy, right in front of him, how could he resist?

He flipped his large hand, and a house-sized spiritual palm instantly condensed, grabbing the man-high Talisman Beast.