Chapter 243: Improving Oneself in the Illusory Sea of Consciousness

A shiver ran through Xing as he was stared at by Qin Haoxuan’s gentle gaze. “Damn! I’m afraid of you! Stop looking at me like that! We can go to the laundry room and find their clothes. They go out and kill rogue cultivators every day and get all dirty. They’re not going to wash their own clothes, are they? So, if we look in the laundry room, we’ll definitely find something.”

“That is indeed a way. Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Qin Haoxuan impatiently pulled Xing along, and they headed straight for the laundry room.

When they arrived, they were stunned by the mountain of dirty, stinking clothes piled inside.

“With so many clothes, how are we supposed to find theirs?” Qin Haoxuan asked, staring blankly at Xing.

Xing grinned. “Watch me!” He found a deserted spot, transformed into a dog, and then followed behind Qin Haoxuan into the laundry room. There were only a few mortal soldiers busy washing clothes. In their eyes, the Taichu disciple Qin Haoxuan was a High Immortal. Although they didn’t know what he was doing in the laundry room, how could they dare to ask?

Xing began to sniff the clothes, one by one. Most of them were stained with blood and, after a hot day, were already starting to stink. After sniffing just a few, the transformed Xing looked at Qin Haoxuan with a helpless expression. In his heart, he deeply regretted his impulsive decision to turn into a dog to find the clothes. This was an immense indignation for a genius demon of the Netherworld.

Under Qin Haoxuan’s watchful gaze, he had no choice but to continue. After a full incense stick’s worth of time, he finally pulled two pieces of clothing from the stinking pile, indicating that they belonged to Xi Mufan and Linghu Gang.

Qin Haoxuan found a few hairs on the two dirty, bloody garments and then, under the puzzled gazes of the mortal soldiers, he left the laundry room with Xing.

Once outside, Xing ran frantically to a deserted place and reverted to his human form. “Blargh…” He leaned against a tree trunk and retched violently.

After a long while, he finally recovered. Looking at the calm Qin Haoxuan, he said with dissatisfaction, “We are good brothers. It’s only because I see you as a good buddy that I turned into a dog for you and sniffed a pile of stinking clothes. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have lowered my demonic integrity to do such a thing, no matter how much they offered! You remember, you owe me for this! You’ll owe me for the rest of your life…”

Qin Haoxuan nodded and thanked him, then offered him ten low third-grade spirit stones with both hands. “Brother Xing, please accept this… I owe you, alright?” In their time together, he had learned that Xing could only swallow about ten stones at a time; giving him more was useless.

Taking the spirit stones that Qin Haoxuan had forced on him, Xing watched him turn and leave, stunned for a long moment. “Holy crap, when did this kid have a change of heart? Why is he being so good to me?”

Returning to the tent, Qin Haoxuan handed the hairs to Lan Yan and asked warily, “How many tens of thousands of spirit stones will it be this time?”

Lan Yan blinked and snorted with disdain. “Hmph, to cast a simple Illusory Sea of Consciousness, you need tens of thousands of spirit stones? Do you know that you are insulting my intelligence? Just give me one hundred low third-grade spirit stones, and that will be enough.”

One hundred? Qin Haoxuan was relieved. For a small tycoon like him, who now possessed over fifty thousand, it was nothing. He readily took out the hundred stones.

Lan Yan took them, then produced a small, finger-sized sharp knife and began to carve on the stones. After finishing, she laid out a five-foot-square formation, had him sit in the center, and placed one of Xi Mufan’s hairs in front of him.

“Close your eyes and keep your mind clear. I’m about to begin,” she said. “An opponent will appear in your sea of consciousness. You can use all your techniques to attack him. You can only come out after you have either killed him or been killed by him.”

“Killed?” A hint of suspicion flashed across Qin Haoxuan’s face.

Lan Yan smiled. “Don’t worry. Even if you die, it’s not a real death.”

Only then was he at ease. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and quickly calmed himself.

Under the drive of her spiritual energy, the spirit stones of the formation began to shoot a fine, bright light at his head. At the same time, Xi Mufan’s hair suddenly burst into flames. Soon, it was burnt to ash. A fine wisp of smoke rose and, within the formation, it seemed to have a life of its own, drilling into Qin Haoxuan’s nostrils like an earthworm.

The moment the smoke entered his nose, the light of the surrounding formation suddenly flared, and Qin Haoxuan’s expression changed. His body, which had not been sitting completely straight, suddenly tensed up.

Lan Yan clapped her hands and said with a smile to Xing and Ye Yiming, “It’s done!”

Xing’s eyes lit up. He looked at Qin Haoxuan in the formation and muttered, “This is the legendary Illusory Sea of Consciousness, isn’t it? Little girl, you’re quite capable.”

Lan Yan gave him a big, sidelong glance. These past few days, she had been freeloading off these two. Now that she finally had a chance to show off, she naturally had to act proud.

The moment the light had flared, Qin Haoxuan, with his eyes closed, felt his vision brighten. The darkness behind his closed lids had been replaced by a gray and gloomy world. The sky was gray, and there was no telling how high it was. The ground was a vast expanse of gray, and there was no telling how wide it was. As he looked around, he suddenly saw Xi Mufan standing in front of him. His expression was cold and stern, without a trace of color. His weapon was a Talisman Sword.

Without the slightest hesitation, Qin Haoxuan immediately released the fierce ghosts sealed in his arms. The moment they appeared, the already gray sky became even more dark and sinister. With a thought, he commanded the two ghost soldiers to attack, and at the same time, he threw out the Iron-Backed Centipede Talisman Beast and commanded it to charge as well.

Facing the two ghost soldiers and the centipede, Xi Mufan did not even move. He flipped the Talisman Sword in his hand, and a streak of snow-white sword qi chopped out. The sword qi was like a bolt of lightning, instantly illuminating the gray sky. When the light of the sword flashed and then dimmed, one of the ghost soldiers had been slain.

What a sharp sword qi! What a clean kill! Qin Haoxuan was startled, but it was also within his expectations. The two ghost soldiers only had the strength of the Twenty-Fifth-Leaf. For one to be slain in a single blow by the Thirtieth-Leaf Xi Mufan was perfectly normal. The immortal path was long, and each leaf was a step on a ladder. The difference of five leaves meant there was almost no chance of turning the tables.

At the same time, the Iron-Backed Centipede and the other ghost soldier reached him. The centipede’s speed was extremely fast; even the Thirtieth-Leaf Xi Mufan couldn’t dodge. A black light shot past, slamming viciously into his chest. His protective spiritual energy rippled slightly, but the ferocious attack hadn’t even broken through it. The other ghost soldier’s killing move also arrived, its spear, radiating a dense killing intent, stabbing fiercely towards him. But before the spear could even get close, he blocked it with his Talisman Sword. With a light flick, he sent the ghost soldier flying and then, with another streak of sword qi, the white light flashed, and this ghost soldier was also killed. However, the energy in his Talisman Sword was now depleted.

Qin Haoxuan’s heart was filled with an incomparable shock. Such formidable strength! Is this the true power of a Thirtieth-Leaf cultivator?

He commanded the Iron-Backed Centipede to attack. Since the Talisman Sword was now useless, he prepared to get in close and attack with his body. No matter how formidable he was, he was still a cultivator, and a cultivator’s body was not too strong.

Swish! A cyan blade of qi from a Heaven-Cleaving Slash appeared in his hand. He leaped nimbly, trying to get close to him.

Xi Mufan raised his hand, and his own Talisman Beast appeared. It was a ferocious, evil wolf. Its fur was brown, but it had a circle of white fur on the top of its head. This was the famous White-Headed Wolf. Its combat strength was extremely astonishing, and it was a pack animal. A pack of over a hundred of them, not even a Thirtieth-Leaf cultivator would dare to provoke. The moment it appeared, it swiped at Qin Haoxuan’s Iron-Backed Centipede, pinning it to the ground and stepping on it firmly. Qin Haoxuan tried to command the centipede, but it couldn’t escape.

It wasn’t that the centipede was inferior to the wolf, but that the difference in cultivation realm and beast-taming skill between him and Xi Mufan was simply too great.

With his Talisman Beast defeated, Qin Haoxuan abandoned it and continued to look for an opportunity to get close. As long as he could get close, he could engage in his most proficient form of combat: close-quarters brawling. He prepared to condense a spiritual sense attack. Although his opponent was at the Thirtieth-Leaf, his soul surely wasn’t that strong. As long as he was hit by his attack, he would be briefly stunned, and in that moment, he could successfully launch a sneak attack.

However, he discovered that in this sea of consciousness, he was actually unable to condense his spiritual sense. That meant he could not use a spiritual sense attack. After discovering this, he had no choice but to give up his despicable idea and prepare for a direct brawl.

During his battle with the Pink Immortal, he had found a manual she had written on integrating mortal martial arts into spiritual arts. In this past month, he had read it several times, and his close-quarters combat ability had greatly improved. With his demonic cultivation, his physical quality was extremely tough, far stronger than an ordinary cultivator’s. This was his greatest confidence.

However, after circling him several times, he could not find the best opportunity to get in close. Instead, Xi Mufan changed his hand seal, and a fireball appeared in front of him, which he then shot at Qin Haoxuan. He was startled. He was too close. He retreated repeatedly, leaping and dodging, but he was still too slow. The fireball grazed his shoulder, sending him flying and a sharp pain shot through him.