Chapter 75: Nascent Soul Escapes
According to Jiang Guanyun’s thoughts, it was a very easy matter for a Nascent Soul Realm expert to kill a Core Formation Realm cultivator.
Even if that wild girl had a trump card and could summon the Vermilion Bird, as long as he acted swiftly and killed her in one blow, she wouldn’t be able to use any heaven-defying means.
Therefore, when Jiang Guanyun caught up to Hua Changxi, he immediately unleashed a fierce sword strike with all his might, not giving her any chance to retaliate.
However, things still exceeded his expectations.
That wild girl had actually learned a Buddhist Sect divine ability and easily blocked his full-power sword strike with a Buddha’s Hand.
What surprised him even more was that in just over two months, that girl’s cultivation had improved so rapidly. Judging by the spiritual energy fluctuations she emitted, she was almost catching up to him.
Is this the advantage of native cultivators?
Blessed by the Heavenly Dao, favored by luck.
His hundreds of years of cultivation and accumulation as an outsider cultivator couldn’t compare to a few years of development for a native cultivator.
Truly unwilling!
Sensing the spiritual energy fluctuations behind him getting closer, Jiang Guanyun sped up again. Due to the rapid consumption of spiritual energy, his internal injuries could no longer be suppressed, and blood immediately began to seep from the corner of his mouth.
Jiang Guanyun raised his hand to wipe away the blood from his lips, his expression terrifyingly grim.
He, a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, being chased by a Core Formation Realm wild girl, how ridiculous.
For that stinky girl to want to kill him was simply wishful thinking.
Looking at the deep mountains ahead, killing intent boiled in Jiang Guanyun’s eyes. Being pursued like this prevented him from using many of his techniques. He had to enter the mountains; once inside, he would have a way to deal with that wild girl.
Hua Changxi closely followed the old Daoist. During this time, she suppressed the surging killing intent in her heart and did not attack randomly. Instead, she waited until the old Daoist flew into the deep mountains and confirmed that the battle would not affect outsiders. Only then did she gather spiritual energy in her right hand and strike out with a fierce palm.
A sharp wave of energy attacked from behind, and the terrifying force made Jiang Guanyun’s flight unstable.
Looking at the Buddha’s Hand attacking from behind, which seemed to cover the sky and suppress everything, Jiang Guanyun’s heart skipped a beat.
At this moment, he no longer underestimated Hua Changxi, and it also forced him to face something he was unwilling to admit: fighting above his level.
That damned wild girl could fight above her level!
Covered by the giant hand, even though Jiang Guanyun increased his speed to the limit, he couldn’t match the speed at which the giant hand expanded and overwhelmed.
“Bang~”
Jiang Guanyun ultimately did not escape the coverage of the giant hand, but as the giant hand descended, he reached its edge, only to be struck by a finger and spit blood as he fell to the ground.
Fortunately, he was only struck by a finger, and Jiang Guanyun only suffered severe injuries, his life unharmed. Seeing the giant hand attack again, he quickly crushed an Invisibility Talisman and disappeared from Hua Changxi’s sight in an instant.
Seeing him disappear, Hua Changxi’s expression changed.
She was unwilling to let the old Daoist escape just like that.
This old Daoist had waited in Qingzhou for so long to kill her. If she didn’t eliminate him, he would bring her endless trouble in the future.
Hua Changxi rode on the clouds and flew high into the sky with a ‘whoosh’. A Fire Lotus appeared in her palm, and centered on the spot where the old Daoist had disappeared, several Fire Lotuses were consecutively unleashed, quickly forming a circle.
The old Daoist was severely injured and couldn’t run fast.
Invisibility wasn’t disappearance; the old Daoist was definitely hiding somewhere nearby.
Hua Changxi unleashed the Fire Lotuses with the determination to kill the old Daoist. To ensure the old Daoist couldn’t cross the Fire Lotuses, the power of each Fire Lotus was condensed to its maximum.
As soon as the Fire Lotuses appeared, the entire mountain peak became scorching hot.
The next moment, Hua Changxi was shocked.
She hadn’t expected the Fire Lotuses she unleashed now to be so powerful. Just a few Fire Lotuses seemed to be on the verge of burning down the entire mountain.
The immense flames caused birds and beasts in the mountain to flee in terror.
Hua Changxi was surprised. Her previous Fire Lotuses were also very powerful in their burning ability, but their range was limited to individuals.
But now, the Fire Lotuses could burn mountains!
Hearing the sounds of birds and beasts fleeing, Hua Changxi snapped back to reality. Looking at the mountain peak rapidly being engulfed by flames, a desire for destruction surged within her.
Burn, burn! As the flames engulf the mountain, the old Daoist will surely die!
Hearing this voice from the depths of her heart, Hua Changxi was startled. To kill the old Daoist, she actually wanted to let the entire mountain burn.
Without further hesitation, she quickly waved her hand and recalled the Fire Lotuses.
As the Fire Lotuses retreated, Hua Changxi looked at the scorched grass and trees with a hint of silence. This emotion was brief, as her attention was diverted by the spiritual light flashing in the scorched earth.
Hua Changxi quickly flew towards the location of the spiritual light. When she arrived, she only saw the spiritual light transform into a stream of light, quickly gliding over the mountains and disappearing.
“What was that?”
Hua Changxi frowned, looked around, and found a charred corpse behind a large rock.
“Is this the old Daoist?”
“Did I kill him so easily?”
Hua Changxi found it hard to believe. The corpse’s original appearance was unrecognizable, but its build was indeed similar to the old Daoist’s.
“Is it really him?”
Hua Changxi still didn’t believe the old Daoist was dead. Thinking of the spiritual light that had just slipped away, and that the spiritual light had appeared in this area, she wondered if it was related to the old Daoist.
Now, she dared not be careless about matters involving cultivators.
Who knew if the old Daoist had any life-saving means, or if he knew some techniques she was completely unaware of.
In any case, Hua Changxi didn’t believe the old Daoist was dead. Looking at the corpse, she felt a bit uncomfortable. The people she had killed before were directly consumed by the Fire Lotuses and vanished completely; not facing them directly meant there was no impact.
Suppressing the discomfort in her heart, Hua Changxi condensed a Fire Lotus, preparing to burn the corpse, when her sharp eyes noticed a silver ring on the corpse’s hand.
Hua Changxi picked up a wooden stick, pried off the ring, and then sent the Fire Lotus over, instantly engulfing the corpse.
Finally, only a pile of ashes remained on the ground.
At the same time, dozens of miles away, Jiang Guanyun, whose Nascent Soul had escaped, felt a complete loss of connection with his physical body and knew that his body was gone.
“Stinky girl, I will definitely kill you!”
However, upon recalling the torment of being burned by the Fire Lotus, a trace of fear entered Jiang Guanyun’s heart: “How did the power of that Fire Lotus become so strong?”
At Five Finger Mountain, he had experienced the wild girl’s Fire Lotus. At that time, although the Fire Lotus could cause him some damage, it was absolutely not like this. It had actually burned his physical body, a Nascent Soul cultivator.
That damned girl must have obtained an incredible opportunity at Five Finger Mountain.
These opportunities should have been his.
No matter how unwilling Jiang Guanyun was, with only his Nascent Soul, he didn’t dare to seek out Hua Changxi. Instead, he had to quickly return to the Jiang Family in Jizhou and lie low for a while.
In the early days of Spiritual Energy Revival, time was the most precious.
Now, it was all ruined because of that damned girl.
She truly deserved to die!
Hua Changxi did not linger in the mountains for long. Holding the cleaned silver ring, she left on her cloud. She did not return directly to the Capital City but went to Daicheng.
Her battle with the old Daoist had not lasted long; it had only been half an hour since she had passed through this area.
The city was still in some chaos at this time. Walking on the street, one could still clearly feel the fear of the people.
It was understandable. They were happily preparing New Year Goods when two people suddenly appeared fighting in the sky above them, almost endangering their lives. If she were an ordinary person, she would also be scared.
Hua Changxi found an inn closest to the city gate and checked in. After entering the room, she gave the waiter extra silver and asked him to bring a mirror.
No one knew she had left Five Finger Mountain except for the Mountain Spirit and Xiao Song. Moreover, her decision to return to the Capital City today was made on the spur of the moment.
The old Daoist blocking her was unlikely to guard the outside of Five Finger Mountain every day. The moment she left the mountain, he followed her. It was too coincidental.
She remembered that the Mountain Spirit had told her that he didn’t know what the old Daoist had done, but no matter where he went, the old Daoist could find him.
Hua Changxi suspected that the old Daoist had used the same method on her as he had on the Mountain Spirit.
She had only had one direct encounter with the old Daoist, which was when she rushed out of the Monkey Cave and was struck by his palm.
Therefore, the old Daoist’s method must have been left at that time.
Hua Changxi removed her clothes and used the mirror to examine her back, but she found nothing on her back.
After pondering for a moment, Hua Changxi circulated her spiritual energy, letting it cover her back. Instantly, a character ‘Jiang’ appeared on her back.
Seeing that the old Daoist had indeed left a mark on her, killing intent surged within Hua Changxi again.
This killing intent came so quickly that Hua Changxi frowned.
Nowadays, she felt like killing people at the slightest provocation. This was not a good sign.
“Is it the influence of the Black Flame?”
Hua Changxi was somewhat worried: “Asura Gate”
The matter of the Asura Gate could not be resolved immediately. Hua Changxi could only shift her attention to the current problem, looking at her back: “How can I remove this character?”
Hua Changxi thought for a moment, recalling the power of the Fire Lotus, and condensed one, directly using it to burn the character ‘Jiang’.
She was not afraid of fire, but she could still feel the burning pain when being incinerated by the Fire Lotus.
Seeing the character ‘Jiang’ indeed fading little by little under the burning of the Fire Lotus, Hua Changxi gritted her teeth and persevered.
Finally, the character ‘Jiang’ was burned away. Although her back was not scarred, she was in so much pain that she was covered in sweat.
“The power of the Fire Lotus has indeed strengthened.”
Was it because the Buddha’s Hand became fuel for the Fire Lotus?
Xiao Song said that the Buddha’s Hand was a top-tier Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, and he was not wrong. After it melted and was absorbed by the Fire Lotus, the Fire Lotus’s power seemed to have directly increased by a notch.
After removing the trace left by the old Daoist, Hua Changxi rested for a while before leaving the inn.
The liveliness on the street had not yet returned, and there were many patrolling soldiers.
Following the discussions of the crowd, Hua Changxi walked to the area most affected by the battle.
Many houses had collapsed, and some people were injured. Government officials had already arrived and were organizing personnel to handle and arrange for the injured.
Hua Changxi looked at the injured people and saw that most of them had external injuries that were not fatal, which slightly relieved her.
These people were, after all, implicated by her.
Hua Changxi felt a bit guilty and wanted to compensate for medical expenses, but she didn’t have much silver. It was at this moment that she noticed the black-robed soldiers wearing masks.
The black-robed soldiers also had injured individuals. Hua Changxi sensed the spiritual energy emanating from them.
These soldiers were cultivators!
“Who are those people? Why are they wearing masks?”
Hua Changxi casually asked someone watching the commotion nearby.
“I don’t know. They came from the Capital City, and I think they’re called the Demon Suppressing Army or something.”
“Demon Suppressing Army?”
Hua Changxi frowned. Suddenly, her expression changed. Demon Suppressing Army!
These people were from the Demon Suppressing Army!
Hua Changxi quickly looked at the black-robed soldiers, curiously observing this mysterious group of guards: “Why are you wearing masks? Are you afraid of being recognized?”
Hua Changxi thought of her own situation. The nail that sticks out gets hammered. With so few cultivators, perhaps she should also buy a mask to wear.
Hua Changxi paid special attention to the few injured Demon Suppressing Army soldiers. Their spiritual energy was chaotic and still leaking out; their spiritual meridians were injured. Such injuries could not be treated by ordinary doctors.
After watching for a while, she saw a scholar setting up a stall at the entrance of a nearby alley. Hua Changxi quickly walked over, gave him a corner of silver, and borrowed his paper and brush.
In front of a collapsed house, Chu Junyi was urging the doctors to treat the injured soldiers.
“External injuries are easy to handle, but internal injuries…”
“When the giant sword was swung down, although the giant hand blocked it in time, Xu Meng and a few others were still injured by the powerful spiritual energy, damaging their spiritual meridians. Ordinary doctors cannot treat them.”
“The strength of those two people was too great. Their cultivation should be above the Core Formation Realm, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to heavily injure Qi Refining cultivators with just residual waves.”
“We need to return to the Capital City quickly and find doctors from the Medical Affairs Department to treat them, otherwise, I fear their injuries will worsen.”
Colonel Meng Ziyu carefully explained the condition of the injured soldiers.
Chu Junyi’s brows furrowed upon hearing this. Damaged spiritual meridians might not even be treatable by doctors from the Medical Affairs Department. “I will report this to the Minister as soon as possible. It’s likely we’ll still have to seek help from the Jiang Family in Jizhou.”
Meng Ziyu showed hesitation: “The Jiang Family… they probably won’t be in the mood to deal with external affairs at this time.”
More than two months ago, during the conflict at Five Finger Mountain, the Jiang Family lost three cultivators, one of whom was the current Patriarch of the Jiang Family.
The Jiang Family’s mysterious old ancestor was also injured. The Jiang Family had been in intense internal strife during this period, and that old ancestor had not appeared to stop it. It was unknown if, as outsiders rumored, his injuries were severe.
Chu Junyi rubbed his temples: “If the doctors from the Medical Affairs Department were more capable, we wouldn’t have to beg the Jiang Family every time.”
Meng Ziyu spoke a fair word: “In cultivation, everything requires inheritance. Trying to grope around blindly on your own is too difficult.”
Chu Junyi agreed with this statement. However, the Demon Suppressing Army was always at the forefront of battles, and there were always casualties. The Medical Affairs Department had never made any breakthroughs in medical skills or alchemy, resulting in most of the pills needed by the Demon Suppressing Army having to be provided by the Jiang Family.
Just as Meng Ziyu was about to say something, his expression suddenly changed. He moved sideways and blocked Chu Junyi, reaching out his right hand and grabbing a bundle.
Chu Junyi also immediately leaped onto the roof of a nearby building, his eyes fixed on the pedestrians on the street.
Unfortunately, he found nothing.
“Commander, come quickly.”
Hearing Meng Ziyu’s call, Chu Junyi abandoned his search for suspects and jumped down from the roof.
“Commander, look.”
Meng Ziyu handed the note from the bundle to Chu Junyi.
Chu Junyi opened the note. It contained only two sentences.
“Passing through this place, I did not wish to cause trouble. My apologies.”
“The bundle contains some healing pills as a token of apology. Please arrange for the injured common folk properly, fellow Daoist.”
Meng Ziyu then handed over the pills from the bundle: “There are Hemostatic Pills, Blood-Restoring Pills, Rejuvenation Pills, Recovery Pills, Meridian-Solidifying Pills, Detoxification Pills, Clear Spirit Pills, and Smooth Spirit Pills. There are three bottles of each.”
Chu Junyi looked at these pills with a surprised expression.
Meng Ziyu, however, looked delighted: “These healing pills are more varied than those provided by the Jiang Family. Is this Meridian-Solidifying Pill for repairing spiritual meridians?”
Seeing Chu Junyi remain silent, Meng Ziyu paused: “Commander, are you wondering who threw the bundle to us?”
Chu Junyi nodded. The two cultivators who had fought in the sky above Daicheng had fled too quickly, and they hadn’t seen their faces clearly.
Meng Ziyu thought for a moment and said: “I think the person who gave us the bundle must have obtained an alchemy inheritance, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to produce so many pills at once.”
“Being able to refine so many pills indicates they don’t lack resources and are likely the descendant of a prominent family.”
Chu Junyi looked at him: “We both know the prominent families that are openly known in Great Jin, and we can estimate their capabilities. Which family do you think can cultivate a Core Formation Realm alchemist?”
Meng Ziyu paused: “You mean, this person comes from those hidden ancient families?”
Chu Junyi shook his head: “I can’t say for sure. The terrain in many places is changing, and ordinary people might encounter ruins and obtain inheritances from within.”
Meng Ziyu: “Regardless, although that person caused the conflict, they also timely stopped the aggressor, and now they’ve sent an apology. I think this person is quite good.”
Chu Junyi remained noncommittal.
Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, Meng Ziyu asked: “Then, may I take these pills to give to Xu Meng and the others?”
Chu Junyi inspected each type of pill before nodding.
After Meng Ziyu left, Chu Junyi summoned another subordinate: “Go tell the Provincial Governor of Qingzhou that the medical expenses for the injured civilians this time, as well as the destroyed houses, will be covered by the Demon Suppressing Army. Ensure that this sudden incident is handled properly.”
After the subordinate left, Chu Junyi looked at the pedestrians on the street again, wondering about the origins of the two people who had fought earlier.
