Chapter 285: Just Wanted to Rough You Up Once

Xing let out a sinister laugh and pounced at Qin Haoxuan. “I just want to beat you up, give you a good thrashing! Rough you up real good, just once! Don’t you dare fight back. I promise I won’t kill you, just beat you up a bit to vent!”

Xing chuckled as he lunged at Qin Haoxuan. His speed and power were far greater than they had been a month ago. Startled, Qin Haoxuan realized that even with his current strength at the Tenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm, he couldn’t dodge at all.

Although the fellow said he wouldn’t kill him, just vent some frustration, why would Qin Haoxuan let himself be beaten? He instantly condensed a massive golden hammer from his Spiritual Sense and smashed it towards Xing.

Xing, who had just pounced, seemed to crash into an invisible wall. His body froze in mid-air, and with a miserable cry, he fell to the ground. Struck by Qin Haoxuan’s Spiritual Sense, his face turned pale, his handsome features twisting into a horrifying grimace. The way he looked at Qin Haoxuan now was like a mouse seeing a cat. He let out a series of strange cries and shot backwards, hiding in a corner of the tent. He looked on guard and asked in terror, “You… how did your Spiritual Sense grow so much… how did it get so powerful?”

Qin Haoxuan inwardly sighed in relief. Not only had this fellow Xing’s physical strength grown, but his soul had also become much stronger. With his own Spiritual Sense from before he had devoured the Jiaolong soul, he might have been able to injure Xing but not decisively defeat him. In that case, he would have surely been unable to escape a beating. Fortunately, he had devoured the soul of a young Jiaolong, and his Spiritual Sense was now much stronger, still keeping him a firm step ahead of this guy.

Qin Haoxuan sneered and said, “So you’re allowed to get stronger, but I’m not allowed to improve my Spiritual Sense?”

Xing’s face was full of disappointment. He had been so careful these past days, finally managing to catch and eat a few rogue cultivators to recover a good deal of his cultivation. He never expected that this old Qin would make so much progress after a single trip back to the Taichu Sect. It seemed that without a life-and-death battle, it would be truly difficult to determine a winner. But they would never end up in a life-and-death battle with each other, which meant he would be at a disadvantage in any fight.

So, Xing switched to a teasing tone. “Buddy, I was just making a little joke just now, don’t take it seriously! We haven’t seen each other in a month, I just wanted to test how much your strength has progressed. We’re brothers who’ve been through life and death together, how could I really beat you up?”

Qin Haoxuan tilted his head and asked, “Is that so? I’d say, buddy, your joke seemed pretty real.”

“If it wasn’t real, how would I have known you’ve gotten so much stronger?” Xing puffed out his chest and, mustering his courage, walked over to Qin Haoxuan, continuing with a fawning smile. “You’ve gotten stronger, and I’m happy for you. We’re good brothers! Right? Wow, I’m just so happy!”

Lan Yan looked at the sincerely smiling Xing with astonishment. She couldn’t possibly connect him with the ferocious Xing from a moment ago who had been clamoring to teach Qin Haoxuan a harsh lesson. ‘Do all members of the Netherworld Clan change faces this quickly?’

Qin Haoxuan’s gaze fell coolly on Xing. “Tell me, why did your strength grow so fast? Have you been eating spirit stones every day? How many would you even have to eat!”

Xing’s expression became very awkward. He had thought he could easily overpower old Qin. Then he could tell him that he had eaten a few rogue cultivators for the sake of protecting him. But now… he had eaten several cultivators and was still no match for him… This was a disgrace to all demons!

Seeing Xing’s pained expression and his refusal to answer, Qin Haoxuan turned his gaze to Lan Yan.

Lan Yan said very calmly, “How could he recover so quickly just by eating spirit stones? He ate several dozen rogue cultivators.”

Xing’s face grew even more pained. He still remembered Qin Haoxuan’s warning before he left, that if he ate people, he would definitely be killed…

Sure enough, Qin Haoxuan’s expression changed, and he stared at Xing with a stern look. “Do you remember what you promised me?”

Lan Yan continued in an indifferent tone, “If he doesn’t eat people, what does he eat? A wolf eats sheep, not grass. What should a demon eat if not people? Can you make a wolf eat grass?”

Choked by Lan Yan’s words, Qin Haoxuan didn’t know what to say. He stared at her blankly, his voice filled with anger as he scolded, “You are a human too, and a cultivator! How could you condone him eating people?”

“You kill rogue cultivators to take their lives, and Xing eats rogue cultivators, which is also just taking their lives. Do you really think there’s a difference between killing and eating?” Lan Yan was dismissive of Qin Haoxuan’s pedantry. Using her sharp tongue, she looked at him with no small amount of contempt. “You’ve killed at least eighty, if not a hundred, rogue cultivators. You have enough of their blood to bathe in for a month. How many people has Xing eaten? And he only ate our enemies. He didn’t eat any of your Taichu Sect disciples, nor did he cause you any trouble.”

“Killing and eating…” Qin Haoxuan fell silent. Lan Yan’s words made a lot of sense, and he had to admit that there really wasn’t much of a difference between the two. Although in his own view, eating people was a cruel act, Xing was not a human. It was like a human eating a sheep. What human would think that eating a sheep was cruel?

Seeing that Lan Yan was about to continue her lecture, Qin Haoxuan waved his hand and said to Xing, “Forget it, no need to say more. In the future, don’t just eat people whenever you feel like it.”

Seeing Qin Haoxuan relent, Xing was overjoyed. He cast a grateful look at Lan Yan and then pounded his chest, vowing, “I didn’t eat people casually. I only ate enemy rogue cultivators. I didn’t eat a single Taichu Sect disciple or a single ordinary person.”

“From now on, I will give you spirit stones every day. At least in my presence, try not to eat people.” There was a pleading tone in Qin Haoxuan’s sigh as he said, “Can you promise me?”

Being stared at by Qin Haoxuan, Xing felt a tightness in his chest. If he had been given a harsh command, he could have defied it. But faced with this gentle gaze, he found he couldn’t bring himself to refuse!

Although… eating people was a quick way to recover his cultivation, and it was quite delicious… but compared to Qin Haoxuan… Xing decided that old Qin was more important to him.

“Alright, alright… I get it!” Xing waved his hand, putting on an impatient attitude. “I’ll listen to you, alright? I won’t eat them, I won’t eat them!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you tied to my hip every day,” Qin Haoxuan said placidly, giving Xing a deep look. “I won’t give you a chance to be alone.”

Xing didn’t want to continue this topic and quickly changed it. “Are you back this time to continue killing rogue cultivators and earning spirit stones? While you were gone, that kid Li Jing stole all the limelight. He grew another immortal leaf and reached the Thirteenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm. He’s been the fiercest one in killing rogue cultivators! With your combat strength and Spiritual Sense, you could totally surpass him and become the most dazzling butcher!”

Speaking of killing, Xing couldn’t help but think of the delicious rogue cultivators and got excited.

Qin Haoxuan shook his head. “I’ve killed so many people these past few months that I feel like throwing up. I want to take a few days off and go see Little Sister Xu Yu.”

“Xu Yu?” Xing was stunned for a moment. “Oh, right. During the month you were gone, Xu Yu wrote you a letter. Unfortunately, you weren’t here, so Lan Yan replied for you.”

Qin Haoxuan froze. The thought that a letter Xu Yu had written to him had been read by Xing and Lan Yan made his face flush, but he still stared at Lan Yan and asked, “How did you reply to the letter?”

Xing quietly turned his back, struggling to hold back his laughter, so much so that his back was shaking and even his neck turned red.

“What’s going on?” Qin Haoxuan looked at Lan Yan and asked, “Quick, tell me how you replied.”

Lan Yan, in her usual indifferent tone, said, “Oh, I didn’t say much! I just used your tone and said, ‘Little Sister Xu Yu, I think of you every day. I even dream of you when I sleep. The first person I think of when I open my eyes every day is you. When I’m eating, I wonder if you’ve eaten yet.'”

Qin Haoxuan’s entire face turned bright red. If a crack had opened up in the ground, he would have gladly crawled into it. Although he had feelings for Xu Yu, neither of them had ever broken through that thin layer of paper. Besides, it was too early to talk about love. If he succeeded in his cultivation in the future, he would definitely pursue Xu Yu as his dual cultivation partner, but right now, he was just an unknown weak-seeded disciple…

Lan Yan looked at Qin Haoxuan’s crimson face, a flash of imperceptible sadness in her eyes. She continued in a light, teasing tone, “I saw that you two were not being very direct, so later I helped you write a few more mushy lines.”

With an indifferent tone and a teasing smile on her lips, Lan Yan added casually, “It wasn’t that mushy. I just saw that the two of you were beating around the bush in your letters, so I helped you confess a little.”

At this point, Xing, who had turned away, could no longer hold it in. He burst out laughing. “Basically, she wrote a love letter for you!”

Lan Yan shot a glare at Xing. He quickly suppressed his laughter, still struggling, and turned his back again.

“What?” Qin Haoxuan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. So those few sentences weren’t considered mushy in Lan Yan’s eyes? And she even wrote a love letter for him?

“How… how… was it written?”

Seeing Qin Haoxuan’s flustered appearance, Lan Yan smiled. “I just said, ‘Sister Yu, we have been separated for several months since entering the mortal world. For months, we have exchanged letters. Your brother has been foolish and has not dared to confess his infatuation for you. Today, I take the opportunity of this reply to shamelessly say, my dearest Sister Yu, I actually like you very much. I have been deeply in love with you since the first time I saw you…'”

“Enough! Enough!” Hearing these mushy words, Qin Haoxuan’s face felt like it was on fire. Although he did have the intention of making Xu Yu his dual cultivation partner, that was predicated on his future success in cultivation. If he failed in his cultivation, he would never drag Xu Yu down.

Dual cultivation partners not only had to be in love, but more importantly, they had to support each other in their cultivation. If his cultivation was unsuccessful and his strength was low, wouldn’t becoming dual cultivation partners with Xu Yu only hold her back?

Lan Yan smiled playfully and said, “I wrote it so well, shouldn’t you reward me?”

Qin Haoxuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He thought to himself that he would have to find an opportunity to explain things clearly to Junior Sister Xu Yu.

Xing, with his back turned, peeked back at Qin Haoxuan’s flushed face, a sense of vengeful glee rising in his heart. He teased, “It’s fine. Everyone already knows you two have a thing for each other. Now that it’s out in the open, you can just confirm your relationship.”

Qin Haoxuan was too embarrassed to sit still. He shot up and headed straight for the door. He hurriedly walked out of the tent and went to Senior Brother Ye’s tent. At this moment, Ye Yiming was sitting cross-legged in meditation.

(End of Chapter)