Most rogue cultivators were sensible people. Knowing they couldn’t afford to offend, they naturally stopped competing for this opportunity.
Logically, the secret realm of Dragon Burial Valley should only be accessible to cultivators below the Nascent Divinity Stage. This was a rule set by the Ninth Realm Immortal Venerable who had chosen Dragon Burial Valley as one of his burial sites, intending to reserve the opportunities for the younger generation.
Compared to the arrogant and cold gaze in Ji Qingchen’s eyes, the grey-robed rogue cultivator, despite revealing his Fifth Level Transc cultivation, still had a grave expression as he stared at Jiang Huai before him. He slowly drew his blade, gripping it tightly.
“What sort of secret technique is this?” Jiang Huai couldn’t help but ask, filled with curiosity. “Logically speaking, you shouldn’t be able to enter Dragon Burial Valley.”
“It’s a secret technique passed down by an ancestor of the Moon Wheel Sect. It can suppress my cultivation to the late Nascent Soul stage, deceiving the rules set by those Ninth Realm Immortal Venerables. The drawback is that my future cultivation will be capped at the tenth layer of Void Refinement, unable to advance an inch further.”
“Then why are you willing to act as a guardian for him like this?”
“I was chosen by the Moon Wheel Sect when I was young and had a slave seal imprinted on me. I cannot harbor any killing intent towards my master, or I will suffer the torment of soul-devouring spiritual fire. I guarded his father for ten years. Afterward, his father entered the Nascent Divinity Stage, so I continued to guard his child.”
“Alas, a fated unfortunate soul,” Jiang Huai sighed softly. “If I kill him, will you die?”
“Yes.”
“But I will kill him anyway,” Jiang Huai said earnestly.
“I understand,” the grey-robed cultivator replied, his eyes still fixed on Jiang Huai, yet he had yet to draw his blade.
Meanwhile, Ji Qingchen, on the side, seemed oblivious to the wrong atmosphere. Instead, he sneered and said, “Uncle Li, break all his bones and leave him with one life. I want him to personally watch me torment this white snake until she’s convulsing and begging for mercy with tears streaming down her face, willingly submitting to me.”
“Shut up,” the grey-robed cultivator suddenly rebuked Ji Qingchen behind him sharply. Ji Qingchen was startled and was about to retort when Jiang Huai suddenly chuckled.
“He’s already seen through it. Why don’t you understand yet? If I had no confidence at all, why wouldn’t I have fled immediately upon knowing he was Fifth Level Transc?”
Ji Qingchen was stunned, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Yet, he clearly saw that Jiang Huai before him only had a Foundation Establishment first layer cultivation. It would only take Uncle Li an instant to kill him. Even if the snake demon beside him was more powerful, with a cultivation of the great circle of the mid Nascent Soul stage, in front of Uncle Li, it would only take one strike.
“Uncle Li… what are you afraid of?”
“I don’t know, but when something goes against the norm, there’s usually a reason,” the grey-robed cultivator said after a moment of silence, looking at Jiang Huai. “Tell me… if I make him kowtow to you now, will he have a way to survive?”
“What nonsense are you spouting!” Ji Qingchen suddenly roared. “The sect has raised you for so many years for nothing? A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, even with a Heaven-tier Spirit Sword, what can he do? Killing him is no different from slaughtering pigs and dogs! Why are you still hesitating? Draw your sword!”
“Face has never been more important than life. Your father understood this deeply but spoiled you too much, failing to teach you this,” the grey-robed cultivator sighed softly. He slowly raised his blade, frost condensing on its edge, vast spiritual energy flowing around the blade. The aura of the blade locked onto Jiang Huai. Just before drawing it, he said, “What are the chances of me killing you with this strike?”
“Zero possibility.”
“But I can only try. This strike is the culmination of my understanding over forty-two years of cultivation, a desperate move.”
“Then wouldn’t it be a pity if it doesn’t hit?” Jiang Huai sighed slightly, then spoke, “Bai Li, you handle Ji Qingchen. Keep him alive for now. Kill him later.”
With that, his eyes suddenly became bright. Before the grey-robed cultivator, all light seemed to dim. Milky white light enveloped both of them. When he came back to his senses, everything around them had changed. Ji Qingchen and Bai Li, who were beside him, had all disappeared. The world turned pure white, and in front of him, there was only Jiang Huai’s figure.
“Wouldn’t it be a pity to die in such regret?” Jiang Huai asked softly.
“There’s nothing that can be done about it.” The grey-robed cultivator concentrated his soul, attempting to lock onto Jiang Huai’s presence. However, he was suddenly shocked to realize he couldn’t lock onto Jiang Huai. Even though Jiang Huai was standing in front of him, his soul scan revealed only emptiness. And if he wanted to locate him with spiritual energy, it would be even more difficult, as Jiang Huai had no spiritual energy on him at all.
He suddenly understood what Jiang Huai meant when he said, “Wouldn’t it be a pity if it doesn’t hit?”
Therefore, he did not draw his blade but waited for Jiang Huai’s presence. If Jiang Huai wanted to get close to him, he would sense it. With his Fifth Level Transc cultivation, it would only take one-hundredth of a breath to sever Jiang Huai’s neck.
“I don’t need to make a move. By holding you back here now, I just need Bai Li to kill Ji Qingchen. Then, the backlash from the slave seal on you, even if you don’t die, you’ll be severely injured, right?”
Jiang Huai’s voice reached the grey-robed cultivator’s ears.
“Yes,” the grey-robed cultivator said with a bitter smile. “What is this?”
“It’s my sword intent. I named it Mirror Flower, specifically designed for creating illusions,” Jiang Huai said, looking at the grey-robed cultivator before him. “I’ll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Find my position and strike me, and you’ll still have a chance to live.”
“Why go through all this trouble?”
“Mainly, I want to test how long my Mirror Flower can delay a Fifth Level Transc cultivator and what its effects are. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult to assess Mirror Flower’s efficacy in the future,” Jiang Huai replied rather honestly.
During the three months he lay on his sickbed, although his cultivation was crippled, before it was destroyed, his soul had indeed reached the tenth layer of Spirit Transformation with the help of the Experience Scroll provided by the System. He destroyed his Qi Sea, but his soul was unaffected. Thus, for the entire three months, he had been quietly practicing his soul power. He had practiced to a certain extent but had never had a chance to use it. The soul was still a relatively unfamiliar domain to him, so he wanted to take this opportunity to test it.
He couldn’t explain to Chu Xianning how his soul had reached the tenth layer of Spirit Transformation. Previously, his cultivation was at the mid Foundation Establishment stage, which everyone thought was reasonable. But if his cultivation were at the tenth layer of Spirit Transformation, even a Ninth Realm Immortal Venerable might be curious about what secret technique he used to cultivate to such a realm at the age of nineteen. Being too conspicuous would bring risks. At that time, his Foundation Establishment cultivation was sufficient, and Jiang Huai didn’t want to use those Experience Scrolls, intending to save them for later. Who would have thought he would run into a tenth layer of Spirit Transformation Evil Cultivator?
Even if he had used the Experience Scrolls, he had only reached the tenth layer of Spirit Transformation. However, he couldn’t utilize the divine abilities of the tenth layer of Spirit Transformation. Moreover, that Evil Cultivator had accumulated power for years and possessed many evil magical tools refined with living souls.
The grey-robed cultivator closed his eyes, trying his best to sense Jiang Huai’s presence. Time flowed by excruciatingly slowly. He gripped his blade tightly, and beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. Before the time it took for an incense stick to burn, he suddenly unleashed a strike.
That strike was as fast as lightning, but it narrowly missed Jiang Huai.
The grey-robed cultivator was focused on finding his trace. Jiang Huai was the same. If the grey-robed cultivator managed to find his position later, he would have to use his 【Water Moon】. He had only comprehended these two moves, and Water Moon was his last resort, consuming a huge amount of both body and soul, so he wouldn’t use it lightly.
“You lost,” Jiang Huai’s voice sounded in the grey-robed cultivator’s ear.
“I have one last request,” the grey-robed cultivator said slowly. Jiang Huai asked indifferently, “What is it?”
“Since I’m doomed to die, let me kill Ji Qingchen.”
“Alright.”
The next moment, Ji Qingchen also appeared in this milky white space. The grey-robed cultivator walked towards him step by step. At this moment, Ji Qingchen’s eyes widened as he looked at the approaching grey-robed cultivator, his voice trembling, “Uncle Li, what, what are you going to do, Uncle Li…”
As Ji Qingchen spoke, he activated the slave seal. The grey-robed cultivator’s body gradually slowed down, and his steps became heavy. He spat out a mouthful of black blood. But in the next instant, Bai Li’s fingertips hooked, and a faint purple poisonous mist appeared before Ji Qingchen. Ji Qingchen’s eyes were tinged with purple, and his control over the slave seal gradually disappeared.
The grey-robed cultivator had already reached Ji Qingchen. He raised his long blade high, looking at Ji Qingchen, who was now lying on the ground. Ji Qingchen could hear his words but couldn’t move at all.
“Forty-two years.”
“I’ve been a dog for the Ji family for forty-two years.”
“Your father wanted me to teach you more, but unfortunately, you’re an idiot. Besides chasing women all day, you can’t fit anything else in your head. That’s why you’ll never be as good as your brother and will never be worthy of inheriting the Moon Wheel Sect.”
He spat a mouthful of blood onto Ji Qingchen’s face. The grey-robed cultivator’s long blade finally fell, piercing his heart completely. Ji Qingchen’s eyes quickly dimmed, and the grey-robed cultivator was also suffering the backlash from the slave seal, his body gradually withering.
Jiang Huai and Bai Li stood by the lakeside, their expressions quite calm. Bai Li blinked curiously at him. “What did you do to him? Why did he just stand there for so long before striking Ji Qingchen?”
“It’s my ultimate sword intent, Mirror Flower,” Jiang Huai explained to Bai Li.
Ji Qingchen was already dead. The grey-robed cultivator’s eyes also dimmed, and he eventually fell to the ground, becoming a corpse. Jiang Huai approached Ji Qingchen’s body and began to loot it. He opened the Storage Ring, and over twenty thousand spirit stone tickets spilled out. In addition, there was a pile of women’s intimate apparel and a stack of erotic paintings. Huh, and a copy of Floating Clouds Flowery Records.
The corner of Jiang Huai’s mouth twitched slightly.
He collected all the spirit stones. Besides that, there were some life-saving Spirit Treasures, but unfortunately, Ji Qingchen never had the chance to use them. Jiang Huai did not take them away but put them back into the Storage Ring and placed it back on Ji Qingchen. He looked at Bai Li and said softly, “Alright, revenge is served.”
“Thank you,” Bai Li muttered softly.
“Actually, given our relationship, there’s no need for thanks,” Jiang Huai said softly.
“That’s true.”
Jiang Huai turned around and looked behind the trees. He said calmly, “Two fellow cultivators, have you seen enough?”
The two rogue cultivators hiding behind the trees froze. They instinctively wanted to flee, but Jiang Huai slowly said, “You both saw, Ji Qingchen was killed by his guardian, right?”
The two rogue cultivators nodded vigorously.
“I am Jiang Huai of the Tian Xuan Sect. My previous cultivation was crippled, which was merely a joke spread within the Tian Xuan Sect. Hearing is not as good as seeing. You should know what to do, right?”
“We saw nothing today!” The two rogue cultivators raised their hands, bit their fingertips, and used their Origin spiritual energy as a guide to make a solemn vow.
After the solemn vow was made, if they were to speak of today’s events again, they would naturally suffer a backlash. Jiang Huai felt somewhat relieved and then smiled. “This seven-colored lotus is ownerless, but it’s highly likely to be guarded by a Demonic Beast. How about we cooperate? We can divide the petals based on our contributions at the time?”
The two rogue cultivators exchanged glances. After a moment of hesitation, they nodded heavily.
