Chapter 260: A Surprise Attack, a Powerful Strike, Reduced to Ash and Smoke

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave, High Immortal? The welcoming banquet this lowly official has prepared for the three of you is ready!” The prefect knew he couldn’t force them to stay and wore a look of infinite regret.

Qin Haoxuan smiled, then stood up and left. Lan Yan and Xing followed behind him.

Just then, the prefect hurriedly called out, “High Immortal, please stay. This lowly official has taken up so much of your time and feels very apologetic. Since you have important business to attend to, I dare not keep you. Here is a small token. Please do not refuse.” As he spoke, he took out the spirit stones that the two rogue cultivators had given him and presented them to Qin Haoxuan.

Qin Haoxuan took the bag and, after a cautious look inside, saw that it was full of spirit stones, including quite a few low second-grade ones.

The prefect said with a fawning smile, “This small token is, on the one hand, a small apology for taking up your time, and on the other, a way to form a good connection. I hope that the next time you pass through here, you can come and sit in my residence for a while and also see to my mother’s illness. I hope you will accept it.”

Qin Haoxuan seemed to nod with satisfaction, grunting an “mm,” and then, with Lan Yan and Xing, he left without looking back.

After walking out of the prefect’s residence, the three of them quickly left the city. Just as they had reached a sparsely populated area, the Twentieth-Leaf rogue cultivator indeed came chasing after them to kill them.

“Stop!” the rogue cultivator’s voice was low, yet it carried a heavy, magnetic male tone that was quite pleasant to hear. He walked in front of the three of them and sneered, “You are disciples of the Taichu Sect, aren’t you?”

Qin Haoxuan already knew his intentions. As the saying goes, “a visitor with ill intentions.” To avoid any unforeseen changes, he nodded with great certainty. “I am a disciple of the Taichu Sect.”

His words had not even completely faded when his body shot out like a meteor, his fist smashing towards the Twentieth-Leaf rogue cultivator. The man had not expected him to attack so suddenly and hastily condensed his protective spiritual energy. However, he was not too concerned. A little brat not even at the Tenth-Leaf, even if he launched a sneak attack, he couldn’t possibly break through his protective barrier. As long as he had time to react, he could kill a kid like that with a single spiritual art.

SPLAT!

Qin Haoxuan’s punch landed on the expert’s protective spiritual energy. The hastily erected barrier trembled, and several cracks actually appeared on it.

This scene left the Twentieth-Leaf rogue cultivator dumbfounded. He could clearly feel that his opponent’s cultivation realm did not exceed the Tenth-Leaf, yet the combat power he had just unleashed could actually crack his own protective barrier. Theoretically, even a Fifteenth-Leaf cultivator, using their most proficient and powerful spiritual art with all their might, could only make his protective energy tremble; to create a crack was impossible.

Could it be that this youth actually has the combat strength of a Twentieth-Leaf? Although the cultivators of the Taichu Sect were blessed by heaven and obtained resources easily, they couldn’t possibly cultivate such a monster who could fight so far above his level, could they? The gap was a full ten minor realms!

Horrified, he unhesitatingly took out a protective talisman from his robes. After crushing it, a faint yellow light shone from it. This was a Twenty-Third-Leaf protective talisman. Even he himself would have to expend some effort to break it. Under the double protection of the talisman and his own spiritual energy, he began to prepare a spiritual art to counterattack.

But how could Qin Haoxuan give him the chance? His body shot forward, closing the distance, and then he unhesitatingly released the fierce ghost on his hand. The moment the ghost appeared, a sinister wind rustled.

The Twenty-Fifth-Leaf fierce ghost, under Qin Haoxuan’s control, threw a punch at the rogue cultivator’s head. The moment he saw the ghost, he cursed inwardly. But he was too close to it, and the spiritual energy fluctuation it emitted made him feel a sense of danger. As the punch came, he had no way to dodge and could only brace himself and take it head-on.

CRASH!

The protective talisman on his body shattered first, turning into a faint ripple of spiritual energy and disappearing. But the force of the ghost’s punch did not diminish. Next, his own protective spiritual energy shattered like a fragile eggshell. Then, the ghost’s sinister fist smashed into his head. Even with the residual power after breaking through the two layers of defense, it still left a huge bloody hole in his head.

Blood sprayed out. The Twentieth-Leaf rogue cultivator could not have imagined, even in death, that a mere Tenth-Leaf junior disciple from the Taichu Sect would possess such a terrifyingly ferocious creature, one that could shatter his protective talisman and his own spiritual energy barrier with a single punch, and then kill him. Even as he died, his eyes were wide open, as if he wanted to get a clear look at the fierce ghost that had killed him. But Qin Haoxuan didn’t even give him that chance. The moment the enemy was killed, he immediately recalled it. After all, the cost of having it out was the rapid consumption of his own spiritual energy.

“One force breaks ten thousand techniques. Beautiful!” Xing, seeing his move and the ghost’s kill, couldn’t help but his eyes light up as he exclaimed in admiration.

The intensive training of these past few months had been very effective. The release and recall of the ghost soldier was much smoother. If the opponent’s strength and perception were a little weaker, they would only see a black shadow flash by, and then their own small life would also flash away.

Both Xing and Lan Yan could feel that since Qin Haoxuan had returned from his family visit, the faint impetuousness that had been hidden in him was now completely gone. If there was anything about him now that was like a youth, it was that his appearance was not yet too mature, and his very masculine face still had a trace of childishness. Otherwise, from his intellect, his cunning, his temperament, his cultivation realm, his combat strength, and his terrifyingly firm Dao Heart, one could not have imagined that he was a youth not yet eighteen.

If before, his parents had been a worry in his heart on his path of cultivation, now they were his greatest motivation. He had to ascend and become an immortal within their lifetime, to take them with him to live a long and carefree life. To achieve this, he had to work harder than his peers.

After killing the rogue cultivator, Qin Haoxuan immediately began to collect the spoils of war. He did not like the bloody business of killing, but when it came to collecting the spoils, he was more proactive than anyone. Xing sidled up with a greedy look, watching him put the spoils into his pocket. Seeing him approach, Qin Haoxuan protectively covered the pocket tightly, not letting him see what was inside.

This action of his made Xing’s mouth water. From his expression, could there be a pile of low second-grade spirit stones, or even low first-grade ones in that bag? No, I must get a few, no matter what, he thought.

“These spoils of war…” Xing said, pointing to the tightly covered pocket.

Qin Haoxuan gave a fake cough, interrupting him. “Let’s first discuss how to deal with the other one. From their conversation before, they seem to have a formation. If we just charge in, and that formation is an offensive one, then it will be quite troublesome.”

An array was a high-level thing. He was confident in dealing with a Twenty-First-Leaf rogue cultivator, but if that cultivator controlled a powerful formation, then it would be more troublesome. As he spoke, he looked at Xing.

Xing shivered. Being stared at by him was clearly not a good thing. He said warily, “What are you looking at me for? This great master is not interested in men.”

“Hey, stop changing the subject. Don’t you know how to transform?” Qin Haoxuan said, rubbing his chin, looking just like a wicked human trafficker. “You just transform into his appearance, and then ‘capture’ the few of us. As long as that rogue cultivator lets down his guard, we can kill him immediately.”

Hearing this, Xing nodded without any resistance. His eyes rolled, and he proposed a condition. “No problem. But I get half of this person’s spirit stones!” For that miser to be so nervous, this rogue cultivator must have a lot of spirit stones on him, he calculated silently.

Having learned his lesson from last time, he no longer dared to say “a few.” If he said that, Qin Haoxuan would surely just give him two or three and then tell him that two was also “a few.” Thinking of how long it had been since he had eaten spirit stones to recover his strength, although they tasted as bad as rocks, for the sake of recovering as quickly as possible, he was determined to get some this time.

“Old friend, must you? Half is a bit much, isn’t it?” Qin Haoxuan said, slinging an arm over his shoulder. “How about ten percent? After all, I’m the one doing most of the work, right?”

Hearing his heartless words, Xing could no longer hold it in. The muscles on his face twitched, and his handsome face flushed with excitement. “I’ve put in so much effort for you! Even if there’s no merit, there’s still hard work! No, you must share some of his things with me! I don’t want anything else, just half the spirit stones! If you don’t give them to me, then I won’t transform to trick him! Tricking people is very damaging to one’s demonic integrity!”

Qin Haoxuan fell silent, as if in the midst of a fierce internal struggle.

Seeing that he had a chance, Xing quickly grinned, the flush on his face rapidly receding. He slung his arm over his shoulder again and, after his firm declaration, began to wear him down. “What’s our relationship? Brothers in life and death! I’ve been loyal to you; you have to be loyal to me, right? A rogue cultivator doesn’t have many spirit stones on him, at most a thousand or eight hundred low third-grade ones. It’s not much to you, is it? Besides, it also consumes my spiritual energy to transform. A generous and loyal good brother like you certainly wouldn’t treat me poorly, right?”

Lan Yan, who had been silent all this time, could no longer watch. She was also somewhat indignant at Qin Haoxuan’s miserly habits. “You spend one hundred low third-grade spirit stones for just one session in the Illusory Sea of Consciousness. Are you really reluctant to share a few with your good brother?”

With her support, Xing’s confidence grew even stronger. “Exactly, exactly!”

Under their joint pressure, Qin Haoxuan, who had been weighing the pros and cons, finally made his decision. “Alright. I’ll give you half of his spirit stones. But you have to be the one to kill the person in charge at the prefect’s residence, and you can’t fight me for the spoils of war.”

Xing never thought it would actually work. He nodded without hesitation, his face filled with joy, and patted his chest with a thump. “No problem. Keeping my promises has always been my greatest virtue. Haven’t you noticed yet? Hurry up and take out his spirit stones and let’s divide them.”

From his experience killing rogue cultivators with Qin Haoxuan, he knew that they would carry all their valuables on them when they went out. Low third-grade spirit stones were too heavy, so they would also exchange them for low second-grade ones. For rogue cultivators, for whom resources were extremely difficult to obtain, no one would be willing to just leave their assets lying around.

Qin Haoxuan very fairly took out the spoils of war. It was a gray bag, and from how it bulged, one could tell it was full of things. He said to Lan Yan with a look of open honesty, “You saw it just now. I didn’t open the bag, so there’s no way I could have done anything to it, right?”

Lan Yan nodded, and Xing also nodded excitedly. Although he was dissatisfied that Qin Haoxuan was still keeping him in suspense, he was right that he hadn’t had a chance to tamper with it.

“Alright, then see for yourself.” He tossed the spoils of war to Xing.

Xing opened it and took a look, and his face turned pale.

Qin Haoxuan, with an air of “it has nothing to do with me,” laughed irresponsibly. “There are only five low third-grade spirit stones in total. I also didn’t expect him to be so poor. I originally didn’t want to agree, but since you insisted, I had no choice but to agree. How about this? I’ll be generous and give all five to you.”