“Kid, save your breath. Today is your day to die!”
Suddenly, Nie Feng stepped out from behind a large tree up ahead, blocking his path. A sinister smile played on his lips, full of ill intent.
“Brother Nie Feng, are you here to block my retreat?”
Mu Jiuxiao turned back to look at the pursuing Nie Tan, wearing a look of sheer disbelief. “Uncle Nie, I actually treated you like family, and you… you really want to kill me!”
“Nephew, listen to Uncle Nie’s explanation.”
Nie Tan drew his sword and stepped toward Mu Jiuxiao. His expressionless face frightened Mu Jiuxiao into retreating step by step.
“Father, why waste words with him!”
Nie Feng could not stand Nie Tan’s hypocritical attitude any longer and drew his sword to strike Mu Jiuxiao down.
“Uncle Nie, since you treat me like this, I imagine that year when my father went deep into the mountains with you to hunt Demon Beasts and returned severely injured, that was probably your doing too, right?” Suddenly, Mu Jiuxiao stopped retreating and stood straight.
“So what if it is, so what if it isn’t?” Seeing him act this way, Nie Tan grew secretly alert.
“I know I’m no match for the two of you. I just want to die knowing the truth-why must you insist on putting me to death?” Mu Jiuxiao asked again.
“First, old grudges; second, for wealth; third, to use your life to let my son see blood!”
Without another word, Nie Tan thrust his sword straight at Mu Jiuxiao. In the flash of a spark, Mu Jiuxiao acted as though he had been scared out of his wits, flailing wildly as he burst into manic laughter.
“What are you laugh-“
Finding Mu Jiuxiao’s behavior bizarre, Nie Feng stopped to ask, but before he could finish, four bolts of heavenly lightning plunged from the sky, striking directly onto the heads of father and son.
Mu Jiuxiao struck with all his might from the very start. When the dust settled, the Nie father and son had already been scorched into charcoal by the lightning. “I laugh because you are clearly cultivators, yet you still resort to killing people with swords like mere mortals. How laughable!”
As he spoke, he already flicked out two Fireball Talismans, reducing their corpses to ashes.
They had deliberately lured him into the mountains, but how could he not have been playing along with their scheme?
The reason he purposely cried out for help was simply to lure out Nie Feng from his hiding place in the shadows so he could wipe out both father and son in one fell swoop.
Ah, truly pitiful-poor to the point of being pathetic!
Having lived in the cultivation world for so long, not owning a Spirit Weapon was one thing, but they didn’t even have talismans, nor could they afford a single technique!
How did two such impoverished wretches even find the courage to hunt him down? Did they still take him for some mortal below the mortal realm?
The flames gradually died down as the deep night settled in. Reflected against the white snow, the two piles of dark ash on the ground looked glaringly conspicuous. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Jiuxiao shook his head with a sigh, feeling not a shred of fear in his heart, as though it was only natural.
“Pfft!”
A sudden light chuckle pulled him back from his smug sense of cleverness.
“Who is it!”
Shouting aloud, he gripped his sole remaining Lightning Bolt Talisman and bolted away at a full run.
“Hey!”
Watching his retreating figure, the woman hidden in the tree was utterly dumbfounded. Having accidentally stumbled upon the scene, she had found the young man rather interesting and intended to show herself to exchange a few words, only for him to turn tail and run straight off.
Mu Jiuxiao channeled his Meteor Steps, sprinting all the way back to his dwelling, where he bolted the wooden gate and stood gasping for breath.
Dangerous, too dangerous!
As expected, the Qilian Mountains were fraught with experts; he must never carelessly venture deep into them again. Today he had only played the part of prey on the outskirts, yet he had still caught the eye of malicious actors.
The reason he fled instantly was because he could not detect the slightest trace of that woman, implying her cultivation far surpassed his own. If she wished to deal with him, it would take no more effort than crushing an ant.
Since the gap was as vast as that between an elephant and an ant, there was no sense in lingering to wait for her to reveal herself.
Standing inside the room, he circulated his breath for a moment until his breathing steadied. Reviewing today’s clash, he felt his performance had still been somewhat naive.
It was mostly due to Nie Tan underestimating him; had the man unleashed his full strength from the outset, Mu Jiuxiao might not have dodged that initial sword strike. In the future, he must never court danger by standing right in front of an adversary.
Moreover, burning through four Lightning Bolt Talismans right off the bat was far too costly. Twelve Spirit Stones vanished in an instant-a painful loss.
Ten Spirit Stones were enough to acquire a low-grade technique; spending twelve just to dispatch a couple of men was far too extravagant. Perhaps he should have first tested the efficacy of his diligently practiced Earth Spirit Spike.
Yet Nie Tan was an old hand in the rivers and lakes; if his Earth Spirit Spike had failed to injure him, a full counterattack might have left Mu Jiuxiao the one dead.
When all was said and done, his tactic of deploying the Lightning Bolt Talismans was correct. His only real flaw was being too poor!
Fortunately, Nie Tan was even poorer than him!
Simply because Li Shuo and his sister had visited him a couple of times, Nie Tan had taken note, come to test him, and upon discovering they had indeed gifted him spirit beast meat, instantly harbored murderous intent!
Such malice arose far too abruptly, leaving Mu Jiuxiao to conclude that his own father’s death must have also been Nie Tan’s doing. Fearing that resources would allow Mu Jiuxiao to advance as a Qi Condensation practitioner, the man had sought to strike first!
Regrettably for him, he was still a step too late!
Perhaps stimulated by the major event he had just pulled off, the Spiritual Qi within his body proved far more active than usual. After several hours of cultivation, he successfully condensed the Spiritual Qi inside his Dantian to a tenth of its original volume.
Qi Condensation second layer!
Inwardly inspecting his Dantian, Mu Jiuxiao could not help curving his lips into a faint smile.
“You seem rather pleased.”
Suddenly, a voice exploded right beside his ear. Mu Jiuxiao snapped his eyes open to find a woman in white sitting quietly within the cramped room, heaven only knew how long she had been there.
Her long black hair cascaded down her back, and she wore plain white robes that revealed only half of her profile, yet she remained breathtakingly, incomparably lovely.
“Greetings, Senior.”
Suppressing the shock and awe surging in his chest, Mu Jiuxiao stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
“You don’t seem surprised at all?”
The woman tilted her head slightly as she questioned him. Her skin was indeed like congealed lard and her lips like cinnabar, as radiant as an immortal fairy; particularly her pitch-black eyes, which seemed to harbor endless galaxies. Lowering his gaze instantly, he cupped his hands and replied, “This junior surmises that Senior must be the fairy I chanced to meet upon the snow earlier today!”
“You certainly have a smooth tongue.”
The woman spoke lightly, her voice cold and clear. “Come, sit.”
Daring not disobey, Mu Jiuxiao walked obediently over to sit before her and diligently poured her a cup of tea.
After waiting a long time without hearing Mu Jiuxiao ask any questions, the woman took the initiative to speak. “My name is Qu Yunyao. What is yours?”
“This junior is Mu Jiu.”
Mu Jiuxiao hurried to cup his hands in reply.
“There’s no need to be so overly cautious. I am merely a nameless wanderer, not nearly as formidable as you imagine.” Lifting her teacup, she took a gentle sip.
“May I ask what realm Senior’s cultivation has reached?” Mu Jiuxiao mustered his courage to inquire.
“Are you interrogating me?” The woman raised her tone.
“This junior wouldn’t dare.”
Cupping his hands, Mu Jiuxiao fell silent once more.
After a prolonged stillness, the woman finally resumed, “Seeing that you possess some capability, I have a favor I’d like to ask of you.”