Chapter 249: A Name of Slaughter Shakes the Four Directions

A cloud of bluish-purple fire blotted out the sky, resembling a palace as it came crashing down, completely enveloping Qin Haoxuan.

Following his example, Qin Haoxuan formed a spiritual seal with both hands. A waterfall, rushing upwards, transformed into a giant blue curtain in front of him, pushing back against the fiery cloud. The two different forces quickly collided.

Hiss! The waterfall made a boiling sound, like ice water dripping on fire, and the bluish-purple flames passed through the water curtain and landed on his body. The soul-searing flames made his entire body convulse. He blasted himself with several frost-type spiritual arts in a row, but the blue flames were difficult to extinguish.

Xing did not rush to attack. He crossed his arms and, with the look of someone watching a good show, said, “Old Qin, I see that your spiritual sense is passable, but the rest of you is simply no match for me…”

“Power of the Gathered Sea! Water of the Pouring River!”

Qin Haoxuan activated the Sea-Gathering Art. A large amount of blue and yellow water washed over his body, and the blue flames were gradually extinguished under the impact. Before he could make any other move, Xing had already raised his hands high, and a tornado, swirling with white ice, enveloped him. The bone-chilling wind, combined with the ice and snow… in just an instant, Qin Haoxuan was turned into a translucent ice sculpture.

“Old Qin, you can handle those rogue cultivators, but compared to a true prodigy, you’re still lacking in practical combat,” Xing said, somehow producing a pile of melon seeds. He cracked them open, one by one, while critiquing him like a teacher. “It seems that I, your big brother, will have to help you more. Let you recognize what reality is, so you don’t get too inflated and lose your life one day…”

Trapped in the ice, Qin Haoxuan’s qi and blood were not circulating smoothly, but at the same time, he knew that this Xing was more than just a single level stronger than him in terms of dueling; it was probably several streets’ worth. To fight him with just normal methods… there was simply no chance of winning.

No, I can’t just compete with this guy in terms of spells. He’s far too much stronger than me, he thought, remembering the effortless way Xing cast his spiritual arts. If spiritual arts won’t work, then I’ll use what I’m best at: close-quarters combat.

Ice covering me? Break for me!

His entire body shook like a great bear shaking off lice, and the hard ice shattered and broke apart. He strode forward, like a meteor shooting straight for Xing’s face, his fist snaking out from his waist like a spirit serpent, a hidden and fast punch aimed directly at his head. This was a move he had learned from the Pink Immortal’s manual.

Seeing this move, Xing’s eyes lit up with a hint of praise, but that was all. This punch would have been enough to deal with the likes of Master Liuyun or Jian Chen, but for him, a demon who excelled in physical quality, and a genius demon at that, this attack… was not enough.

“Average at best…”

Xing raised his hand, his five fingers coming together to form a crane’s beak. Sinking his elbow and raising his wrist, he swung his forearm, his entire arm like a pecking crane, accurately striking Qin Haoxuan’s wrist.

BAM!

He felt as if his arm had been pressed down by a heavy weight, his body’s balance completely thrown off, the trajectory of his fist shifting to the side. At that moment, Xing’s left ankle rotated, driving his body to spin, as if sending his entire person into Qin Haoxuan’s embrace. But his arm was raised high, his fist aimed at his own cheek, and his elbow was like a great spear thrusting outwards, straight for Qin Haoxuan’s chest. The mortal martial art of the Pink Immortal! The Bear Squat and Hard Press of the Eight Vajra Forms. The force of this press was no less than ten thousand jin.

His chest took the blow, and he was sent flying back a hundred meters. He bounced a few times on the ground before finally coming to a stop. Pain! He lay on the ground like a dead fish, his chest so tight he couldn’t breathe, his limbs numb and weak, as if all his bones had been broken.

“That move just now wasn’t bad. If it had really hit me, I would have been in a bad state too,” Xing said, spitting out a melon seed shell. “A pity you couldn’t even touch me.”

My speed is much faster than Master Liuyun’s, yet I can’t even compare to Xing, he calculated silently, his mind racing to think of a way to deal with him. He couldn’t beat him in spellcasting, and he couldn’t even hit him with his strongest close-quarters attack. A sense of powerlessness rose in his heart.

“You could have killed me by now. Why haven’t you?” he asked, looking at Xing, who was watching him with a grin. He felt as if he were being toyed with, and a bit of displeasure welled up.

Hearing him, Xing grinned wickedly and then swiped at him with his claw. With his physical strength, this claw was enough to kill him, but it only left a few bloody marks on his face.

“Don’t hit the face!” Qin Haoxuan was enraged. He was certain he had done that on purpose. He cursed, “You’re so much stronger than me. Why don’t you just kill me in one blow?”

“Killing you would be no fun,” Xing laughed heartily, his handsome white face flushed with excitement. “Speaking of which, Old Qin… I’ve actually wanted to beat you up for a long time. I’ve even dreamed of it. To kill you with one slap would be such a waste.”

Like a hungry wolf pouncing on its prey, he threw himself on him, swiping left and right, leaving him covered in wounds. The pitiful Qin Haoxuan had no strength to fight back. In the sea of consciousness, it was impossible to commit suicide. He was in so much pain his whole body was numb. That bastard Xing was deliberately hitting the most painful places, and after a while, he would let him recover a bit before continuing.

In the sea of consciousness, except for death, everything else was real, especially the pain. It was more real than a pearl.

“Alright, I’m tired too. Let’s go out,” Xing said with a grin. In Qin Haoxuan’s expectant gaze, he smashed his head with a single slap. Before his consciousness dissipated, Xing was still stretching lazily, his expression incomparably content, like a resentful woman who had finally vented years of frustration.

After being abused for three days and three nights, Qin Haoxuan, whose whole body was numb with pain, returned to reality and lay on the ground in a daze, as if he had forgotten the pain in his body and soul.

After the pain subsided, he forcefully said to Xing, “Do you dare to fight me here?”

Xing very cautiously retreated a great distance. “I’m not that stupid. In the sea of consciousness, you can’t use your spiritual sense attack, but here you can. I’d have to be crazy to fight you. I’m telling you, a gentleman uses his words, not his fists. You’re the one who asked me to fight you in there. You can’t retaliate.”

Qin Haoxuan looked at him and finally said nothing. He sat down and began to recover his spiritual energy. The first thing he did after he opened his eyes was to turn his head and look at Lan Yan with a glittering gaze. “Those two people from before, put them in my sea of consciousness again. I want to fight them again.”

Lan Yan was taken aback. He had died one hundred and fifty times and had been cruelly tortured by Xing for three days and three nights. She had thought this was his limit, but she never expected it was still not enough.

“Again?” her voice was a bit dry. “Haven’t you died to the point of mental derangement?”

His eyes were bloodshot. “Fight! Continue to fight! When I can beat two, then send three. Fight to the limit, until I can’t win anymore.”

Although she was astonished by his Dao Heart and perseverance, she said no more and set up the formation. He sat within it, entered the sea of consciousness, and saw Master Liuyun and Jian Chen opposite him.

…

For a period of time, Qin Haoxuan spent his days hunting rogue cultivators and his nights tempering his combat skills in the Illusory Sea of Consciousness. The number of people he fought increased from two, to three, to four.

In the midst of the frenzied war and slaughter, he grew another leaf, reaching the Ninth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm.

In the eyes of outsiders, he was like a killing machine, hunting several rogue cultivators every day. His spirit stones, after subtracting the cost of the illusion, had accumulated to a full two hundred thousand low third-grade spirit stones.

In both the rogue cultivator camp and the Taichu Sect’s camp, he became famous for his fierce and brutal methods and his ability to kill enemies above his level. He was like a rising star, quickly attracting everyone’s attention. Besides him, another person also quickly came into the public eye: Li Jing. For every rogue cultivator he killed, Li Jing would also be sure to kill one. It reached the point where the enemy rogue cultivators began to notice them, believing these two to be even more terrifying than the Twentieth-Leaf disciples. Because their combat power was greater.

In the rogue cultivator camp, countless of them were discussing Qin Haoxuan and Li Jing.

“Li Jing’s cultivation realm is much higher than his.”

“Qin Haoxuan is more terrifying. His kills are much cleaner. He’s more horrifying,” a rogue cultivator who had seen him kill from a distance and had been lucky enough to escape said, still filled with lingering fear.

“If we get the chance, we must join forces to kill this Qin Haoxuan.”

“It’s useless. Last time, three of our Twentieth-Leaf people were all killed by him alone. He’s too good at group battles.”

The more they talked, the more horrified they became. Many of the rogue cultivators who had previously liked to act alone now decided to form teams for safety. In almost all their hearts, they wished for nothing more than to get rid of him.