Chapter 058: Schemes and Deceptions

The night was deep and heavy.

Yuan Qing watched as Wan Fushan departed. After putting away the two bottles of Qi-Gathering Pills and the spiritual ginseng on the table, his face glowed with satisfaction and pleasure. “Wan Fushan is making a mountain out of a molehill. It’s just a newly admitted inner disciple. Even with the help of the Marrow Cleansing Pill, at best he’s at the seventh level of Body Refinement. Hardly worth mentioning.”

Sheltered by the darkness, Yuan Qing moved unhurriedly toward the northern cliffs of the inner sect, his gaze careless and indifferent.

For someone like Yuan Qing—a mere Qi Refinement cultivator—to probe the abilities of a new outer disciple who had just entered the sect was truly overkill.

The northern cliff was some distance from the inner sect’s core, a place remote and desolate.

The small pavilion where Xu Xuan stayed stood on the northern cliff, separated from the territory of the Starfall Sword Sect by only a deep chasm.

Yuan Qing hid himself atop a large tree not far from the pavilion, his eyes fixed on the building perched at the edge of the precipice. A trace of disdain crept into his heart: it was said that, before joining the inner sect, this boy had already had a dispute with Wan Fushan. That senior brother, timid as a mouse, dared not teach the boy a lesson himself, yet still wanted Yuan Qing to test him.

According to his agreement with Wan Fushan, as long as he could gauge the boy’s strength, the task would be considered complete—there would even be a generous reward if he managed to give the boy a lesson.

Surveying the area to ensure the sect’s enforcers had gone off into the distance, Yuan Qing slipped forward, silent and swift, and leapt into the northern cliff’s pavilion.

He barely glanced about as he pressed onward, striding straight through the compound. In his estimation, the boy couldn’t have reached even the Qi Refinement stage; it was impossible for him to lay any defensive arrays in his dwelling—there was nothing to fear.

And indeed, nothing happened, not even as he stepped into the courtyard.

Soon, Yuan Qing drifted quietly to the pavilion’s entrance. The interior was pitch black, no light to be seen.

Just as he was about to make his move, an inexplicable unease crept over him—a chill seeped through his body.

He stopped abruptly, wariness flashing across his face.

Having clawed his way up from the brutal ranks of the outer sect to become a Qi Refinement cultivator, Yuan Qing was no fool. He immediately held his breath and focused his senses.

He glanced aside, feeling a cold wind blow in from the abyss beside the pavilion, chilling his flesh. “Heh, just my imagination.”

The northern cliff’s proximity to the abyss made it far colder than the inner depths of the sect.

But Yuan Qing was unaware that, as he approached the pavilion, his every movement had become meaningless to conceal.

In the third-story bedroom, Xu Xuan’s breathing followed a strange, near-imperceptible rhythm. His eyes were half-closed as his body and mind were gradually enveloped by a cool, chilling energy.

In this state of extraordinary stillness, he could sense the subtlest changes in the wind outside—even the intruder’s steady, carefully restrained heartbeat and breath.

Xu Xuan could vaguely feel a pressure, a faint sense of danger—much like facing a cultivator of Wan Fushan’s caliber.

Cautiously, Yuan Qing climbed to the upper floor, positioning himself at the window. He calmed his breathing and circulated his inner energy.

He produced a black cloth mask, tying it over his face.

At a certain moment, his eyes flashed. Like a black wolf, he leapt, smashed through the window, and slipped inside.

All of this happened in a split second, his movements practiced and ruthless—a veteran of countless inner sect battles.

Swish!

The instant he entered, Yuan Qing lunged at Xu Xuan, who lay on the bed.

“Who’s there?” Xu Xuan sprang up like a startled cat, as if just awakened from sleep.

This was no surprise to Yuan Qing. He hadn’t come to assassinate—the broken window was hardly subtle. If his target had remained asleep, that would have been suspicious.

“Your killer.”

Yuan Qing’s deliberately hoarse voice echoed in the room, his face hidden by the black cloth so that Xu Xuan could not see his features.

“There’s no killing intent in you,” Xu Xuan replied calmly, standing still.

This time, facing a Qi Refinement cultivator whom he once regarded as untouchable, he was at ease, even relaxed.

Yuan Qing’s heart skipped a beat. He suddenly realized that, given Wan Fushan’s cunning, the task could not have been so simple.

“Try me,” Yuan Qing snapped, irritated at having his intentions seen through by a mere Body Refinement mortal.

With that, he lunged forward. Qi surged within him, his palm wrapped in a pale blue aura, bringing oppressive pressure down in the darkness.

An ordinary mortal would have been crushed, barely able to breathe beneath the weight of his power and the forceful display.

But the youth before him remained unmoved, his face as calm as a still lake in the night.

Crack!

His palm swept down—there was nowhere to dodge.

A Qi Refinement cultivator’s attack was simply too fast, far beyond the reflexes of the average mortal.

Yet, at the very instant his strike should have landed, Yuan Qing missed by a hair’s breadth.

The boy had shifted his body ever so slightly.

Smack, smack, thud!

Startled, Yuan Qing launched a flurry of attacks, his anger mounting.

But each strike was evaded with the smallest of movements, as if his opponent were brushing off dust.

After a dozen attacks, Yuan Qing’s efforts were all in vain.

Shocked, he retreated to the window, holding his breath, his palm slowly gathering flames—scorching, terrifying energy swirling in the blue aura.

Immortal magic!

Xu Xuan’s brows knitted as he felt a sudden surge of pressure.

In a normal fight, Yuan Qing posed little threat. But with this immortal technique, Xu Xuan was wary.

“Pitiful mortal, now behold a true cultivator’s power,” Yuan Qing sneered, slashing his hand through the air.

A wave of blue flame and spiritual energy surged forth, carrying a mighty, suffocating force.

In that moment, Xu Xuan felt his blood and energy freeze—a power beyond mortal reach bore down like a tidal wave.

A cultivator was, after all, a cultivator.

Even if a Body Refinement mortal reached the seventh level, a vast chasm remained between them.

The blue flames surged with roaring force; clothes within the room whirled in the gale, and the moonlight outside seemed dimmer for it.

Having unleashed such power, Yuan Qing’s face paled, his breath quickened. Clearly, this technique surpassed an ordinary fireball and would have been deadly for a typical seventh or eighth-level Body Refinement mortal.

Facing immortal magic head-on for the first time, Xu Xuan’s fear was quickly replaced by burning battle spirit.

He drew a deep breath, his inner energy and blood rushing like wild horses. His eyes blazed, pores flaring open, a fierce and masculine aura rising from his skin. Then, a wild, primal energy erupted from him, whistling through the air.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Within each breath, a powerful, raging force surged from Xu Xuan’s body, his inner strength and the whistling sound fusing into an invisible power that rivaled the immortal magic before him.

This had already surpassed the seventh transformation of the Steel Script.

What!

Yuan Qing’s mind reeled. His immortal spell, cast with all his cultivation, was being forcibly suppressed.

The wild, terrifying aura radiating from his opponent shook him to the core—it was like standing in the heart of a storm.

In the next instant, Xu Xuan’s energy gathered to its peak. His blood and Qi erupted like a volcano. His eyes flashed cold as lightning, and he suddenly opened his mouth to let out a thunderous roar.

“Hah—!”

That cry, like the bellow of a dragon or an elephant, rolled like thunder through the night.

The energy, compressed to its absolute limit, burst forth as a pillar of invisible sound, smashing into Yuan Qing.

Crack!

Yuan Qing’s strongest immortal spell was instantly shattered to pieces.

At the very sound of that roar, it was as if thunder exploded in his mind; his head spun, his heart panicked, his Qi surged chaotically.

“Urgh—!”

He was sent flying, blood spurting from his mouth, hurled from the pavilion and falling ten meters to the ground, half-dead.

“What happened?”

Far off in the night, several miles away, the patrolling enforcers vaguely heard a chilling howl.

“Probably just a remnant beast at the bottom of the abyss,” one of them remarked indifferently.

Thud!

Having crashed from the third floor, Yuan Qing felt that wild force penetrate his defenses, injuring his organs.

Pale as death, he rolled across the ground and scrambled out of the courtyard, gritting his teeth. “That Wan Fushan, he set me up! How could a mere Body Refinement mortal possess such terrifying power…?”

“Heh, a first-level Qi Refinement cultivator’s magic is rather feeble. I’m still not quite at the eighth level of Body Refinement, yet I almost finished him off. If I could fully master the eighth transformation—the Roar—wouldn’t a single shout be enough to take his life?”

Xu Xuan stood at the window, watching Yuan Qing’s pitiful retreat, the corners of his mouth lifting in a faint smile.

…

As for Yuan Qing, he returned to his own quarters that same night and immediately swallowed a treasured healing pill.

He rested and recuperated. After a few days, his injuries had mostly healed.

Just then, Wan Fushan paid him a visit.

“It was just a mere seventh-level Body Refinement mortal, nothing worth mentioning. Brother Wan, you’re making too much of it,” Yuan Qing said with disdain.

“Really?” Wan Fushan was slightly skeptical, but under Yuan Qing’s dismissive gaze, he relaxed. “You’re right. Even with the Marrow Cleansing Pill, he couldn’t have reached the Qi Refinement stage in just a month and a half. The boy’s been holed up all this time, acting so low-key—I thought he was about to make some astonishing breakthrough.”

Yuan Qing sneered inwardly. “Hmph, that sly fox Wan Fushan nearly got me killed. I won’t let him know the truth about Xu Xuan’s strength—when the time comes…”

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