Chapter 286: To Take a Full Thirty Rogue Cultivator Heads

“Junior Brother Qin, you’re back! In just a month, your cultivation has improved again.” Ye Yiming’s eyes lit up, and then he asked with great anticipation, “Is Master doing well?”

Qin Haoxuan thought of Master Xuanji’s aged and pale face, and a pang of sadness struck his heart. Fortunately, before he had left, he had secretly dripped a few drops of Spirit Liquid into his master’s spring water. Although using the Spirit Liquid this way was very wasteful, he didn’t know alchemy, so it was the only way.

‘After drinking the spring water with those few drops of Spirit Liquid, Master’s health will surely improve a lot, right?’

“Master is fine,” Qin Haoxuan said, then asked, “Senior Brother Ye, you helped me pass a letter to Junior Sister Xu Yu before, so you must know where she is, right?”

Ye Yiming nodded, looking at Qin Haoxuan in surprise. “You want to go find Xu Yu?”

Qin Haoxuan nodded. “I’m going to ask Deputy Hall Master Ximen for leave first. Xing, you come with me.”

Without waiting for Ye Yiming to say more, Qin Haoxuan, eager to see Xu Yu, took Xing and headed for Ximen Sheng’s tent. Xing was currently disguised as Hua Lao, who had been killed by them in the Aqueous Manor long ago. Moreover, in the past month, he and Lan Yan had killed over thirty rogue cultivators, so he was no longer an unknown figure. If he wanted to take Xing with him, he naturally had to bring him along to request leave.

After Elder Yu had returned, the command of the entire camp had fallen to Deputy Hall Master Ximen Sheng of the Summer Cloud Hall.

As Qin Haoxuan walked into Ximen Sheng’s tent, a faint scent of musk drifted into his nose.

Ximen Sheng was sitting cross-legged on a large, tiger-skin chair, dressed in a light purple robe with a Talisman Sword slung across his back. This combination fully displayed his aura as a Spirit Tree Realm expert. However, at this moment, Ximen Sheng was frowning, worried about the state of the battle.

Although the one hundred disciples sent by the Taichu Sect for training were strong, compared to the endless stream of rogue cultivators, and considering they also needed to rest in rotation, the number of Taichu disciples was stretched thin.

Previously, when the disciples went out to kill rogue cultivators, they would return refreshed and in high spirits. Although there were some casualties, they were not too severe. But now, even if the disciples were lucky enough to gain the upper hand and return, they were more or less injured. Some were even carried back with serious wounds, and many disciples had died in the wilderness, never to return.

Of the one hundred disciples sent for training, only fifty remained. After several months of war, a full half of them had died. As for the new disciples entering the mortal world, apart from a very few like Li Jing and Qin Haoxuan, the rest were not yet competent enough. If they joined the battlefield, they would only be slaughtered.

Ximen Sheng sighed to himself. ‘If only Qin Haoxuan were here, his combat strength is formidable! But that friend of his, Lan Yan, is quite powerful indeed.’

Just as Ximen Sheng was thinking of Qin Haoxuan, Qin Haoxuan called out from outside, “Disciple Qin Haoxuan requests an audience with Deputy Hall Master Ximen.”

“Come in.” Ximen Sheng’s spirits lifted. Qin Haoxuan was finally back. He sat upright in his chair and looked at the approaching Qin Haoxuan with a happy expression. “You’re finally back. How about it, ready to continue the campaign tomorrow? Li Jing’s battle record is much more impressive than yours. You need to hurry up and catch him.”

Although Ximen Sheng said this, his mind was on the strict orders from the sect, the fact that half the disciples were dead or injured, and the unfavorable situation for the Taichu Sect. It was truly great that the exceptionally strong Qin Haoxuan had returned at this exact moment.

Qin Haoxuan said, “This disciple does not wish to fight for the time being. I am here to request leave.”

“Leave?” The smile on Ximen Sheng’s face froze. Although Li Jing’s performance was brilliant, one person alone could not support the entire front. The Taichu Sect had been suppressed by the rogue cultivators for some time now, and Ximen Sheng felt extremely frustrated. He had finally waited for Qin Haoxuan’s return, hoping he would join the battlefield and dampen the rogue cultivators’ spirits. But he wanted to request leave as soon as he got back?

By the second month of the war, when only seventy of the one hundred disciples sent for training remained, Elder Yu had requested instructions from the Sect Master, asking if more disciples should be sent as reinforcements.

The Sect Master’s reply came quickly. The gist of it was: “Only through the tempering of life and death can true talent be discovered! If we wanted to eliminate this bunch of clowns, we could easily send any one of the halls to wipe them out. Why would we drag it out for so long?”

Ever since he learned the Sect Master’s intentions, Ximen Sheng and the other presiding elders had come to agree. If they directly killed all these rogue cultivators, how would they find out who was backing them? These rogue cultivators hadn’t dared to oppose the Taichu Sect for thousands of years, yet now they had all come out of the woodwork. There was definitely something strange going on.

For the sake of the bigger picture, the elders had been holding back. It wasn’t until Qin Haoxuan discovered the formation that could tear open a passage to the Netherworld that the purpose of the rogue cultivators’ rebellion was uncovered. Ximen Sheng had thought they could finally send people to eliminate them, but the Sect Master still disagreed, demanding that Ximen Sheng continue to train this group of disciples in battle against the rogue cultivators.

Now, only half of the disciples sent down the mountain remained, but not only did the Sect Master forbid them from resting, he even gave a strict order to firmly tie down the rogue cultivators, permitting only victory and no defeat.

Ximen Sheng felt immense pressure.

Qin Haoxuan, who had not seemed particularly outstanding in his eyes before, had now displayed formidable combat strength. Under great pressure, Ximen Sheng wanted to keep him here—every extra person was an extra bit of strength. But he never expected that Qin Haoxuan, after staying in the sect for a whole month, would want to request leave again on the very day he returned.

Ximen Sheng pondered for a moment and asked, “What do you need leave for?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Junior Sister Xu Yu. I want to go and see her,” Qin Haoxuan answered with complete honesty.

“And you?” Ximen Sheng’s gaze fell on Xing.

Feeling Ximen Sheng’s indifferent, knife-like gaze, Xing felt as if needles were pricking his back. He was a million times unhappy on the inside, but on the surface, he still said respectfully, “This disciple wishes to follow Senior Brother Qin.”

Although Xing said he wanted to follow Qin Haoxuan, in his heart, he hoped a million times over not to leave. He wished that Ximen Sheng would only approve Qin Haoxuan’s leave, so he could stay on the battlefield and eat rogue cultivators to his heart’s content.

How could Qin Haoxuan not understand Xing’s thoughts? That was why he had specifically brought him along to request leave. He couldn’t feel at ease unless he kept Xing by his side at all times.

“No.” Seeing that this suddenly prominent Hua Lao also wanted to request leave, for the reason of following Qin Haoxuan, Ximen Sheng was annoyed to the extreme. He refused decisively. “The other disciples are all undergoing their mortal world experience. You have already missed a month more than the others. You cannot request any more leave.”

While he said this, he was grumbling helplessly in his heart. ‘If it weren’t for the fact that we’re short-staffed, I wouldn’t care where you went. But I am a Deputy Hall Master, after all. I can’t possibly lower myself to beg a weak-seeded disciple, can I?’

Qin Haoxuan said, neither servile nor overbearing, “According to the sect’s regulations, this disciple has killed enough rogue cultivators to meet the standard for requesting leave. And Junior Brother Hua Lao has also accumulated merits during this time and meets the standard as well. I request Deputy Hall Master Ximen’s approval.”

With Qin Haoxuan citing the sect’s regulations, Ximen Sheng could no longer refuse. After all, Qin Haoxuan’s battle merits had indeed reached the required standard, and it would be unreasonable for him not to grant the leave.

As a shrewd person who had cultivated for a hundred years and risen to the rank of Deputy Hall Master, Ximen Sheng’s eyes darted, and he quickly came up with a plan. He said, “Compared to the other disciples, you have spent one month less in the mortal world. Although the merits from the rogue cultivators killed by Hua Lao and your friend during this month were credited to you, you did not kill them with your own hands. How about this: for the month you were absent, we’ll count it as one head per day. Whenever you kill a full thirty rogue cultivators, I will grant you ten days of leave.”

After saying this, Ximen Sheng’s old face couldn’t help but blush. He thought helplessly, ‘If we weren’t so short-staffed, I wouldn’t have stooped so low as to make things difficult for you…’

Qin Haoxuan had known that requesting leave this time would not be so simple. On his way here, he had learned from Xing that the Taichu Sect was in a tight spot on the battlefield. With no new reinforcements from the sect, the disciples were fighting with great difficulty, and casualties were higher than before. Ximen Sheng would certainly not let him leave easily.

Even so, Qin Haoxuan was still somewhat annoyed by Ximen Sheng’s obstruction. But annoyance was one thing; Ximen Sheng was, after all, the person in charge here. If he were to leave without permission, it would only give those who wanted to deal with him an excuse. If someone used this to get him expelled from the sect, it would be a tragedy for his friends and a joy for his enemies. So, swallowing his dissatisfaction, Qin Haoxuan said, “The Deputy Hall Master has spoken. This disciple will see to it at once.”

Under Ximen Sheng’s indifferent gaze, Qin Haoxuan gave a respectful salute, then turned and left the tent.

‘Sigh… I can finally breathe a sigh of relief… Even for Li Jing, whose combat power and strength have soared, it would take at least seven days to gather thirty rogue cultivator heads. Qin Haoxuan is a weak seed. No matter how strong he is, it should take him some time to complete this, right?’ Ximen Sheng mused to himself. ‘After ten days, I’ll just find some other excuse to trouble him. In any case, I have to find a way to keep you here and prevent you from taking leave. If you really leave, what will happen to this battlefield? I’m not deliberately making things difficult for you; I’m under a lot of pressure too!’

Ximen Sheng recalled Qin Haoxuan’s resolute attitude just now, even using the sect’s rules to pressure him, and felt even more helpless. To think he had been reduced to making things difficult for a weak-seeded disciple—it was truly frustrating!

After leaving Ximen Sheng’s tent, Qin Haoxuan took Xing and walked directly towards the exit of the formation. Several passing Taichu Sect disciples dodged to the side, looking at him with a mixture of wariness and confusion, wondering what was wrong with this prominent figure today. Why was he radiating such a murderous aura?

Only after Qin Haoxuan had walked far away did they begin to discuss in low voices.

“What’s wrong with Qin Haoxuan today? His killing aura is a bit heavy!”

“His cold expression gives me the creeps. Isn’t he usually very friendly? Why is his killing aura so strong today…”

“Did someone provoke him?”

“He looks like he’s going out to kill rogue cultivators. They’re going to be unlucky today. How many do you think he’ll kill? Five? Eight? Surely not ten, right?”

The disciples whispered among themselves, but none dared to ask Qin Haoxuan what was going on. Although his combat strength was comparable to Li Jing’s, and he was a prominent figure on this battlefield, he was usually kind and was also a weak-seeded disciple, which gave him a sense of approachability. But what was wrong today?

Xing, who was following behind Qin Haoxuan, was also secretly alarmed. He had thought that after a month in the sect, his killing aura would have subsided, but instead, it had grown even stronger.

Thinking of Qin Haoxuan’s now-terrifying Spiritual Sense, Xing couldn’t help but shiver, and the smile on his face became even more fawning. “What are we going to do now?”

“Kill people,” Qin Haoxuan replied, his voice icy and allowing no room for argument.

(End of Chapter)

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