Chapter 289: If Only He Had Known

“What a terrifying killing aura!” Even long after Qin Haoxuan and Xing had left, the two Taichu Sect disciples had still not recovered from the bloody slaughter they had just witnessed. Qin Haoxuan’s terrifying killing moves, his brutal killing aura, his cold and bloodthirsty eyes, and his indifference after killing—in their eyes, he was a savage butcher who could remain unmoved even if rivers of blood flowed and a million corpses lay at his feet.

From the time he had left Ximen Sheng’s tent in the morning until now, including the Twenty-Seventh-Leaf rogue cultivator, Qin Haoxuan already had fifteen rogue cultivator badges in his possession. The tense expression on his face finally relaxed a little.

Only then did Xing dare to say, “Your killing aura is very heavy today!”

“I need to kill thirty to see Little Sister Xu Yu. If my killing aura isn’t heavy, how am I supposed to kill people?” Qin Haoxuan’s eyes, as bright as stars, glinted with a cold light in Xing’s view, like the edge of a blade.

The two of them walked for a long time and unexpectedly ran into a team of Taichu Sect disciples. There were eight people in this team, and judging by the auras they exuded, the weakest among them was at the Seventeenth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm.

These eight were currently besieging five rogue cultivators who were fighting a bloody battle and were already at a slight disadvantage.

From the looks of the battle, the five rogue cultivators were certain to die, but they could at least hold out for a while longer.

Xing looked at the eight people and whispered in Qin Haoxuan’s ear, “These eight are all Li Jing’s subordinates. After they kill the rogue cultivators, all the badges go to him.”

“Li Jing’s men?” Qin Haoxuan chuckled softly and walked straight over. He stared coldly at the eight Taichu Sect disciples and said, “You can all leave. Get twenty li away from here. All the rogue cultivators within a twenty-li radius are mine.”

As soon as Qin Haoxuan’s arrogant words came out, the eight subordinates of Li Jing looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Qin Haoxuan, you may have some strength, but do you know whose men we are? You know Senior Brother Li Jing, right? Kid, don’t talk big. Be careful the wind doesn’t carry your tongue away.”

“Hmph, forget a twenty-li radius, can you even handle these five rogue cultivators right in front of you?”

As they spoke, their concentration was slightly divided. The advantage they had painstakingly gained was lost, and the battle fell back into a stalemate.

“I said, I’m booking out this place. Scram!” Qin Haoxuan’s voice was cold and domineering.

The leader of the eight-man team snorted coldly. He thought to himself that his team was already locked in a stalemate with the five rogue cultivators. If he angered Qin Haoxuan and he decided to help the other side, they would be in trouble. So, although he was very unhappy, he still said in a negotiating tone, “If you’ve got the skills, let’s have a fair competition. Whoever you kill is yours.”

“Good!” This was exactly what Qin Haoxuan was waiting for. After exchanging a look with Xing, the two of them charged forward. Xing, in particular, shot out like a meteorite from the heavens, directly sending one of the rogue cultivators flying.

Crack! Qin Haoxuan snapped a rogue cultivator’s neck.

Smack! Xing smashed a rogue cultivator’s head.

Swish! A rogue cultivator’s head flew high into the air, a fountain of blood erupting from his severed neck.

Splurch! Xing ripped a rogue cultivator’s heart out directly. It was still beating in his hand.

In the blink of an eye, four of the five powerful rogue cultivators, who had just been locked in a stalemate with the eight Taichu disciples, had been slaughtered by Qin Haoxuan and Xing.

The last remaining rogue cultivator was surrounded by Li Jing’s eight subordinates and would have been killed within one or two breaths. But Qin Haoxuan unceremoniously rushed over, blew his head apart with a single punch, and then took the badge from his body. “I killed this one. The merit is mine!”

The eight subordinates of Li Jing stared wide-eyed. What in the world just happened? It had always been their boss, Li Jing, who stole other people’s kills. Today, someone actually dared to steal their boss’s kills?

“What? You’re not happy about it?” Qin Haoxuan put away the badge and looked at the group, thinking to himself, ‘Li Jing has caused me no small amount of trouble in the Taichu Sect. Stealing a few of his rogue cultivators is just collecting a bit of interest from him.’

His icy gaze, his immense combat power, and especially the cruel and direct way he and Xing had just killed those men, had completely stunned them. They didn’t dare to utter a word of protest. If Qin Haoxuan could easily kill five rogue cultivators who were a match for the eight of them, he could just as easily take care of them.

So bloody, so violent.

Especially Qin Haoxuan, who radiated a murderous aura like that of an Asura, making it impossible for others to look him in the eye.

After collecting the badges from the rogue cultivators, Qin Haoxuan began to loot their belongings under the envious gazes of Li Jing’s subordinates. The few rogue cultivators had over seven thousand low third-grade spirit stones on them, as well as other miscellaneous items, with a total value exceeding ten thousand low third-grade spirit stones.

Li Jing’s subordinates looked at each other. If these items had fallen into their hands, they could have earned great merit by turning them over to Li Jing. But now, they were all in Qin Haoxuan’s pocket.

However, despite their unwillingness, not a single one of them dared to show any dissatisfaction.

After packing up the valuables, Qin Haoxuan looked coolly at Li Jing’s subordinates and said, “Go back and tell Li Jing that I’m borrowing the rogue cultivators in this twenty-li radius for a bit. He shouldn’t send anyone else to meddle here.”

As Qin Haoxuan’s gaze swept over them, the eight subordinates felt as if a knife were cutting them. They were so shocked they almost fainted. In this place, not even the elders would speak to Li Jing like that. Someone actually dared to do so today? He was just asking for trouble! ‘We’ll go back and tell Boss Li Jing, let’s see how arrogant he can be then!’

…

By dusk, Qin Haoxuan and Xing, both covered in blood, walked into the formation. Their frenzied slaughter today had already spread among the Taichu Sect disciples. Seeing the two of them walk in, covered in blood, was like seeing Netherworld Demons. The disciples’ eyes were filled with both respect and fear.

Ignoring the fearful gazes and whispered discussions of the other disciples, Qin Haoxuan, having reaped thirty lives and now carrying a baleful aura even heavier than when he had left in the morning, took Xing and walked directly into Ximen Sheng’s tent.

After a full day of slaughter, Qin Haoxuan and Xing were splattered with the blood of their enemies. In his haste to get his leave approved and see Xu Yu, Qin Haoxuan hadn’t even had time to wash up.

Seeing the blood-soaked Qin Haoxuan and Xing, and the intense killing aura they exuded, Ximen Sheng was startled. He thought to himself, ‘Are the two of them injured?’

Ximen Sheng took a closer look and found that there wasn’t a single scratch on either of them. All the blood was from their enemies.

To be covered in so much blood, the number of people they had killed was definitely not in the single digits.

“Disciple Qin Haoxuan pays his respects to the Deputy Hall Master.” Seeing Ximen Sheng, Qin Haoxuan, who had unknowingly awakened a bloodthirsty side of his personality after a day of killing, tried his best to be polite and retract his killing aura. But his control was not yet perfect. In Ximen Sheng’s eyes, Qin Haoxuan’s words were laced with a sharp killing intent. Even he, a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator, couldn’t help but feel his heart pound with fear.

Of course, Ximen Sheng knew that the killing aura was not directed at him, but was simply a natural byproduct of having killed many people.

His eyebrows twitched slightly as he thought, ‘Could it be that he killed a lot of people? Ten? Twelve? Fifteen?’

After bowing, Qin Haoxuan took out a bag that was so soaked in enemy blood that its original color was unrecognizable. “Deputy Hall Master Ximen, here are the thirty badges you asked for.”

Ximen Sheng was shocked, and his voice trembled as he spoke. “Really?”

Qin Haoxuan didn’t answer. He silently poured the thirty badges, each one stained with blood, out of the bag.

The iron badges clattered onto the table, a crisp sound like rain on a pipa. One, five, ten…

If it weren’t for the overwhelming smell of blood from Qin Haoxuan, the sound would have been quite rhythmic and melodic.

Thirty badges lay quietly on the table, the thick smell of blood filling the tent.

Ximen Sheng’s brow twitched wildly. He was utterly astonished.

Thirty rogue cultivators, among them even a Twenty-Seventh-Leaf expert, and he had managed to do it in a single day…

Such a glorious battle record, such a frenzied slaughter—even a Thirtieth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm cultivator couldn’t have done it. How had Qin Haoxuan managed it in just one day?

“Deputy Hall Master Ximen, please count the badges. Also, the merits that Hua Lao recorded under my name last time, please trouble yourself to convert them into spirit stones for me.” Qin Haoxuan bowed slightly and said, “Additionally, I ask that the Deputy Hall Master keep his promise and grant this disciple ten days of leave.”

Ximen Sheng’s eyebrows were twitching uncontrollably. He could never have imagined that Qin Haoxuan would slay thirty rogue cultivators in a single day. The various excuses he had thought of to make things difficult and keep him here were now impossible to say.

‘Is this Qin Haoxuan really a weak seed? His combat power is terrifying to this degree? Even Li Jing can’t kill thirty rogue cultivators in a single day! These rogue cultivators who have survived until now all have life-saving trump cards. How could they just stand there like targets and let him kill them?’

Ximen Sheng thought to himself, ‘What a pity. Qin Haoxuan is just a weak seed. With his aptitude, though he cannot hope to attain the Great Dao, he could perhaps become a very good fighter for our sect in the future.’

Indeed, these thirty rogue cultivators were not stationary targets. Qin Haoxuan was also completely exhausted after killing them. Seeing Ximen Sheng standing there in a daze, he couldn’t help but remind him, “Deputy Hall Master Ximen…”

Only then did Ximen Sheng snap out of his thoughts. He began to calculate Qin Haoxuan’s merits and convert them into spirit stones, all the while regretting that he had only said thirty today. He should have said sixty! But to lose at least thirty rogue cultivators in one day was enough to throw the increasingly arrogant rogues into a panic.

‘Qin Haoxuan has completed the task, but I can’t let him take leave so easily. Otherwise, how will the sect’s mission be completed? We’re short-staffed as it is. If I could keep Qin Haoxuan, killing thirty a day would be great…’

Seeing Qin Haoxuan’s glorious record of killing thirty rogue cultivators in a single day—something even Li Jing with his many subordinates couldn’t do—Ximen Sheng was even more reluctant to let him go. But he couldn’t go back on his word.

He calculated the merits while racking his brain for a way to keep Qin Haoxuan.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. ‘I can give him all the spirit stones in low third-grade! A few hundred thousand low third-grade spirit stones would pile up into a small mountain. Let’s see how he moves them! Since he can’t move them, he surely won’t take his leave. Who would carry several hundred thousand low third-grade spirit stones with them when they go out? Not to mention the rogue cultivators who would covet them, just carrying them would require a horse-drawn carriage!’

The more Ximen Sheng thought about it, the more he felt it was a great idea. As for Qin Haoxuan possessing a storage item like a Qiankun Talisman? That was just nonsense. Even Qin Haoxuan’s master probably didn’t have one.

As long as he could keep Qin Haoxuan, Ximen Sheng was willing to go all out.

After calculating the merits, Ximen Sheng said, “The merits recorded under your name by Hua Lao this month total three thousand two hundred points. The merits from the rogue cultivators you killed today total three thousand one hundred points. That’s a total of six thousand three hundred points of battlefield merit.”

After announcing this number, Ximen Sheng’s eyelids twitched again. Six hundred and thirty thousand low third-grade spirit stones…

He calmly opened his own Qiankun Talisman and counted out six hundred and thirty thousand low third-grade spirit stones, which piled up to fill half the tent. “The disciples have performed exceptionally well recently, and we’ve run out of low second-grade spirit stones. All we have left are these low third-grade ones. I’ll have to trouble you to take them with you.”

After saying this, Ximen Sheng felt even more clever. Six hundred and thirty thousand low third-grade spirit stones! Even two horse-drawn carriages might not be able to carry them all. Even with his Spirit Tree Realm cultivation, he wouldn’t dare to travel around with them without a Qiankun Talisman.

(End of Chapter)