Chapter 284: Entering the Mortal World Again: Who Will Prevail?

After Qin Haoxuan had completely devoured the Jiaolong soul, the little snake, which had transformed into a golden pillar to pin it down, reverted to its slender form. It gave Qin Haoxuan a glance, a hint of affection in its eyes, before returning to its corner to lie quietly.

Seeing the affection in the little snake’s eyes and recalling the immense power it had just displayed, Qin Haoxuan’s heart trembled. He thought, ‘If the little snake had rejected me and wanted to destroy my soul, I would have been completely powerless.’

Qin Haoxuan tried to approach it, wanting to communicate, but after its display of power, the little snake had fallen into a deep slumber again. He was still unable to communicate with it.

“My Spiritual Sense is much stronger!” Qin Haoxuan sensed his own Spiritual Sense and came to this conclusion. He looked up at the sky; it was getting late. He had to retrieve the Spirit Liquid and leave as soon as possible.

With his strengthened Spiritual Sense, Qin Haoxuan felt that the pressure of the Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley had lessened considerably. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time today. His one-month period would be up tomorrow, and he would have to leave the mountain to enter the mortal world again. Otherwise, he would have loved to venture deeper into the valley’s heartland to explore.

‘The soul of an unhatched Jiaolong, eroded by poisonous qi for thousands of years, was still so powerful. Then how powerful must the Dragon Scale Immortal Sword, which was refined from the scale of a true divine dragon, be?’

Qin Haoxuan was filled with anticipation for the moment he would find the other remnants of the Dragon Scale Immortal Sword in the valley and truly revive the immortal sword.

Arriving at the stalagmite forest, Qin Haoxuan collected a few drops of Spirit Liquid and then glanced at the Cockscomb Grass again.

A month had passed, but the Cockscomb Grass still looked like it was on the verge of maturing. By his calculations, it should have been mature by now. Why wasn’t it?

Qin Haoxuan pondered for a moment, then suddenly slapped his head. “I forgot one thing. The poisonous qi in the Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley is so dense that any plant that can grow here will be mutated to some extent. This Cockscomb Grass looks like it’s about to mature, but who knows how long it will actually take? A year or two? Or even a hundred years?”

“If that fellow Xing were here, he would definitely laugh at me,” Qin Haoxuan said, his face flushing with embarrassment. Having spent the last few months with Xing, he had learned a great deal of miscellaneous knowledge, including information about spirit herbs.

After collecting the Spirit Liquid, Qin Haoxuan quickly returned to his room on Nameless Peak. Once his soul had returned to his body, he took out the heavy petal of the Nine Heavens Red and thought to himself, ‘I don’t know how to perform alchemy. How am I supposed to eat this?’

Qin Haoxuan thought about it for a long time and finally decided to eat it directly, just as he had with the One-Leaf Golden Lotus.

When he ate the golden lotus, he was still a mortal. Now, he was at the peak of the Ninth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm. Whether it was the strength of his body or his Spiritual Sense, he was a hundred times stronger than before. Even if he ate it directly, it wouldn’t kill him.

Thus, Qin Haoxuan opened his mouth and swallowed the petal. As soon as it entered his stomach, he immediately circulated his spiritual energy to begin digesting it.

As the Nine Heavens Red was eroded by his spiritual energy, it instantly released an intense medicinal power. Spurred by this power, the spiritual energy in his body surged like a tsunami, each wave stronger than the last.

‘What potent medicinal power!’ Qin Haoxuan was slightly astonished. Fortunately, his body and meridians had been greatly strengthened by the Dao Heart Seed Demon Art. If it were an ordinary cultivator, they would have been instantly blown apart by the medicinal force.

Under the guidance of his spiritual energy, although the power of the Nine Heavens Red was turbulent, it couldn’t harm him in the slightest. On the contrary, it had the effect of reinforcing his body and meridians, and the spiritual energy in his dantian’s sea of qi began to boil.

Bzzmm.

In the midst of his cultivation, Qin Haoxuan was finally about to break through again!

Waves of pure spiritual qi and vigorous life force emanated from his body, rippling outwards like water. At the same time, a seven-colored rainbow appeared in the sky above Nameless Peak. The rainbow was dazzlingly beautiful and lingered for a long time.

The nearby grass and trees, which had not been growing very lushly and were even somewhat withered, immediately became vibrant with life after sensing the life force emanating from Qin Haoxuan. The Nature Hall disciples who were meditating nearby also felt their bodies relax and their minds refreshed.

Master Xuanji opened his eyes and looked towards Qin Haoxuan’s room, his face filled with pleasant surprise. “Haoxuan, it’s Haoxuan! He’s broken through to the Tenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm! I originally thought it would take him several years to break through this bottleneck, but I never expected him to do it so quickly! He even triggered the Heavenly Rainbow Phenomenon of the tenth-leaf realm!”

On Emperor Peak, Perfected Man Huanglong was strolling through a purple bamboo forest, contemplating the Heavenly Dao, when he sensed the Heavenly Rainbow Phenomenon coming from Nameless Peak. He immediately looked in that direction.

In the sky above Nameless Peak hung a seven-colored rainbow, its light brilliant and pleasing to the eye. What could it be but the Heavenly Rainbow Phenomenon of a tenth-leaf breakthrough?

Perfected Man Huanglong’s heart trembled. When he himself had broken through to the Tenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm all those years ago, no such phenomenon had occurred. But Senior Brother Long Yixuan had triggered one, and at the time, the Sect Master had been very pleased. “The Heavenly Rainbow Phenomenon! Yixuan, your foundation is very solid!”

“Is that… is that the weak-seeded disciple Qin Haoxuan breaking through to the Tenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm?” Perfected Man Huanglong muttered to himself in disbelief. Although he found it hard to believe, the trace of Qin Haoxuan’s aura contained within the phenomenon could not be faked. And besides Qin Haoxuan, he couldn’t think of anyone else in the Nature Hall who could possibly trigger it.

Perfected Man Huanglong turned his head slightly and said to the Guiding Daoist who was always following behind him like a silent shadow, “Qin Haoxuan’s one-month period is up. Have him leave the mountain and enter the mortal world.”

“Yes.” After receiving the order, the Guiding Daoist headed for Nameless Peak.

…

“The Sect Master is really concerned about me. After a whole month, he still remembers my one-month deadline for entering the mortal world, not even letting me stay an extra day.” Qin Haoxuan stood before the gates of the Taichu Sect with a bitter smile. Just a moment ago, the Guiding Daoist had come to deliver the Sect Master’s order, telling him to immediately leave the mountain and enter the mortal world.

There was no time for him to do much. He certainly had no time to refine the Spirit Liquid he had collected. In the end, he simply took out a few drops and secretly dripped them into the spring water pool that Master Xuanji used for his daily tea. That spring was for the exclusive use of the Nature Hall Master, so Qin Haoxuan wasn’t worried about anyone else accidentally drinking it. Although using the Spirit Liquid this way would greatly reduce its effectiveness, it was an excellent way to avoid his master’s notice.

Qin Haoxuan knew that with his master’s personality, he would absolutely refuse to consume it. He would surely save it and return it to him after he passed away.

With everything arranged, his master, Xuanji, escorted him to the mountain gate, repeatedly giving him instructions along the way.

Qin Haoxuan keenly noticed that his master, whom he hadn’t seen for a few days, had aged even more. When they had met a few days ago, his wrinkled face still had some color, but now it was much paler, his eyes were dull, and his posture was a bit more stooped.

He didn’t know that just last night, Master Xuanji had entered the secret room again, burned his lifespan, and used the forbidden art to unlock the ancestor’s Dao legacy. He had finally opened the first restriction, but after eating two Lifespan-Burning Pills to temporarily raise his strength to the Thirtieth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm, the two pills had consumed a total of five months of his lifespan.

Now, Master Xuanji’s cultivation realm had already fallen to the Twenty-Seventh-Leaf.

After bidding farewell to Master Xuanji, Qin Haoxuan strode out of Great Islet Mountain.

Along the way, he kept thinking about where he should go. ‘Should I go back to the battlefield and kill rogue cultivators?’

The thought had just arisen when he immediately dismissed it. Although he could earn spirit stones by killing rogue cultivators on the battlefield, killing them as frantically as he had, to the point of feeling sick, had planted a baleful aura in his heart, which was not very beneficial for his cultivation. He still needed to earn spirit stones, but not now.

‘I should go see Little Sister Xu Yu first! I haven’t seen her in so long!’ Thinking of Xu Yu, her smiling face appeared in his mind, and he couldn’t help but smile. ‘Yes, I’ll go find Little Sister Xu Yu!’

Having decided to find Xu Yu, Qin Haoxuan joyfully took out his Thousand-Mile Talisman. Although the cost of using it was quite high, spending a few spirit stones to see Xu Yu sooner was well worth it.

However, when he took out the talisman, he was stunned to realize that he had no idea where she was!

‘Some of the sect’s higher-ups must know where Xu Yu is entering the mortal world.’ But then, another thought occurred to him. ‘The Sect Master is extremely annoyed that Xu Yu and I are so close. No one would ever tell me. I should probably go to the battlefield first. Senior Brother Ye helped me deliver a letter before, so maybe he knows where she is. Even if he doesn’t, the elders on the battlefield certainly will.’

Having made up his mind, Qin Haoxuan immediately activated the Thousand-Mile Talisman and sped towards the battlefield.

The next morning, as the sun’s first rays painted the sky fish-belly white, Qin Haoxuan arrived at the Seven Zhang Abyss battlefield and walked directly back to his own camp.

The Taichu Sect disciples who saw him, after he had been gone for a month, were all surprised and began to whisper among themselves, “Look, Qin Haoxuan is back!”

“Those rogue cultivators are out of luck. One Li Jing was already enough to make them cry for their mothers and fathers, and now there’s a Qin Haoxuan too.”

“Who do you think is stronger, Qin Haoxuan or Li Jing?”

“How should I know? But Li Jing is an Unsurpassed Purple Seed, and Qin Haoxuan is just a weak seed…”

A disciple who was clearly one of Li Jing’s followers snorted disdainfully. “Of course Senior Brother Li Jing is stronger. He’s just a mere weak seed! How can he compare to Senior Brother Li Jing, an Unsurpassed Purple Seed?”

A disciple who had met Qin Haoxuan once before immediately walked over to him with a fawning expression and complimented, “Senior Brother Qin, you’re back! You’ve been gone for so long, you can go to the registration office and collect a large sum of spirit stones for your battlefield honors!”

Qin Haoxuan was stunned and said, “I haven’t been on the battlefield or participated in the war during this time. How could I have any battlefield honors?”

“You don’t know?” The disciple looked astonished. Seeing that Qin Haoxuan truly seemed clueless, he said with an envious look, “Your little brother Hua Lao, and that girl you brought with you, have been performing incredibly well. They go out to kill rogue cultivators every few days. Although their record can’t compare to Senior Brother Li Jing’s, they’ve accumulated a lot! It’s said they’ve killed over thirty rogue cultivators, and all the battlefield honors were credited to you.”

After saying that, he added in a fawning tone, “Senior Brother Qin’s friends are so formidable, you must be even more so! It’s truly enviable!”

When Qin Haoxuan heard that Xing and Lan Yan had killed over thirty rogue cultivators and all the credit had gone to him, it was as if he could see hundreds of thousands of low third-grade spirit stones raining down on him. He thought to himself, ‘That fellow Xing has finally done something useful and reliable for once. It wasn’t a waste for me to treat him so well!’

‘But, he didn’t eat anyone, did he?’ The thought occurred to him, but then he reasoned, ‘Lan Yan is also a human cultivator. She probably wouldn’t let Xing act recklessly.’

Surrounded by envious gazes, Qin Haoxuan returned to his own tent. Xing and Lan Yan were just getting ready to go out and hunt more enemy rogue cultivators. Seeing Qin Haoxuan return, both of them looked surprised.

Lan Yan’s expression was one of surprise mixed with a hint of delight, while Xing’s was one of delight mixed with a bit of smugness.

The moment Qin Haoxuan saw Xing, he keenly sensed that Xing’s strength had grown much greater. He thought to himself, ‘A month ago, I could barely fight him. But now, I’m afraid I would only be able to defend, with no strength to fight back… No, I can’t even see through his current cultivation realm. If we were to fight, it would be an overwhelming victory for him!’

‘How did Xing’s strength surge so quickly? With his current level of power, his combat strength is probably even more terrifying than Zhang Kuang’s when he controlled the talisman dragon, right?’ Back in the Aqueous Manor, Qin Haoxuan had seen Zhang Kuang kill people through the Thousand-Mile Mirror. That talisman dragon had a faint hint of a true dragon’s might; it was fierce, brutal, and slaughtered people like flies. But the current Xing was much stronger than the Zhang Kuang of that time. If Zhang Kuang hadn’t had any other fortuitous encounters to boost his strength, he would likely be no match for the current Xing.

Qin Haoxuan looked at Xing and said, “How did your strength increase so much? It’s like a volcanic eruption!”

“Haha!” Xing laughed smugly. He didn’t answer Qin Haoxuan’s question but instead asked, “After my strength surged, do you know what I want to do most?”

“What?”

(End of Chapter)

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