Chapter Eighty-Four: Harvest and Hidden Dangers

Qingyuan’s eyes swept across the scene, and he instantly understood what had transpired.

The young man surnamed Sun, knowing he could not evade when the tiger-wolf pressed him down, had grasped two items in his hands.

One released a shroud of mist.

The other was the Iron Heart.

With his shoulder pinned to the ground and unable to move, he had no choice. As he activated the Iron Heart, piercing the tiger-wolf until it was riddled with wounds, he himself was injured by the iron spikes.

He avoided his head, but could not protect his ear. He spared his vital organs, but not his shoulder.

The Iron Heart nailed his ear to the ground, and iron spikes pierced through his shoulder and arm.

When he finally wrenched himself free, he tore off his ear, broke his arm, and shattered his bones.

By the time Qingyuan heard, only a lingering echo remained.

“He did not hesitate to harm himself…” Qingyuan gazed at the blood-soaked ear, the torn arm, and the shattered shoulder bone in silence, thinking, “Such courage and resolve are not to be underestimated… Yet, the Sun family isn’t as wealthy as rumored, else they wouldn’t have fallen so easily.”

Earlier, when the fire talisman was cast, the Sun youth had dodged it instead of using the Iron Heart to defend himself. From that moment, his defeat was sealed.

From then on, Qingyuan held the initiative.

One fire talisman after another.

The encircling tiger-wolf.

The iron staff in Qingyuan’s hand, and… his sharp words.

There was never a pause.

No time to think.

No chance to counterattack.

All manner of tactics pressed forward, forcing the Sun youth solely to defend, retreating into the forest and falling into disadvantage.

The situation worsened; the longer it dragged on, the more exhausted he became, leaving him no space to strategize or use any powerful means to turn the tide. If it continued, death was inevitable.

Even before, the Sun youth was bound to lose. Qingyuan’s words merely unsettled his mind, giving the hidden tiger-wolf in the trees a chance to ambush, settling the outcome swiftly.

For the first time, Qingyuan felt such exhilaration in battle. He closed his eyes, circulated his vital energy to dispel his fatigue, and began gathering the items scattered around.

Over a dozen fragments of wood lay about, each affixed with a piece of talisman paper.

This tiger-wolf was the very one Qingyuan had secretly thrown into the forest while distracting the Sun youth with talk of his shallow mastery of the Iron Heart—a hidden move that lay in wait for the perfect moment.

Although it ultimately proved useful, it was destroyed.

“A pity, I now have one less tiger-wolf,” Qingyuan thought, regretful. “The process of making them is arduous.”

He had crafted nine tiger-wolves in total.

One he gifted to Ge Yu’er, leaving eight.

He sent another with Gu Cang to hunt down a pack of feral wolves, losing one, leaving seven.

Just now, the Sun youth cut down one with his sword and destroyed another with the Iron Heart, leaving five.

Yet three of those were likely tainted by poison when facing that venomous creature by the river. The talisman papers were stripped off, but the wooden carvings themselves still needed cleansing.

Thus, only two remained usable.

Three fire talismans were left.

There were still paper horse talismans, but those were reserved to wrap the Crimson Divine Thunder.

Qingyuan stepped forward and grasped an iron spike.

The usage of the Iron Heart varied, its trajectory determined by the one who forged it.

Without the Sun family’s secret methods, outsiders could hardly wield it, but Qingyuan knew a clever technique.

This method was taught by Senior Brother Qingyang, who, though not the most advanced, was certainly the most learned—perhaps because every moment not spent cultivating was devoted to reading.

Qingyuan closed his eyes for a long while.

Gradually, the iron spikes withdrew.

The Iron Heart reverted to a sphere and dropped to the ground.

Qingyuan crouched, picked up the iron ball, tossed it in his hand, and smiled, “Though the cost was great, the spoils are considerable…”

…

This Sun youth must be one of the rare talents in his family, carrying several Iron Hearts.

One used in his escape, one knocked away by Qingyuan’s staff, and one embedded in the rock, leaving the stone riddled with holes.

These three could still be used.

The other five absorbed Qingyuan’s fire talismans and were scorched, now damaged.

Qingyuan, though familiar with the Iron Heart and able to wield it, lacked the skill to repair them. He stowed the five damaged ones in his ancient immortal pouch, hoping for a chance to fix them later.

Iron Hearts differed from fire talismans.

Fire talismans burned to ash upon use; Iron Hearts could be used repeatedly, retrieved and dispatched at will.

Their manufacture was difficult, the materials rare, the craftsmanship exquisite—ordinary cultivators could hardly make them. Qingyuan guessed these were forged by one of the two Sun family elders.

“The Sun family has two elders of high status… If they crafted these for their descendants, and the materials are scarce, their inheritance is not extensive, so the number must be limited.”

Qingyuan rubbed his forehead, feeling helpless, “If so few exist, yet this youth holds nearly ten, maybe even more—he must indeed be a rising star of the Sun clan.”

Compared to the Daoist guardians, to the Flower Pavilion, or to the Bai family of East Lin, the Sun clan was no major power.

Yet Qingyuan’s own cultivation was shallow, so to him, the Sun family seemed a giant.

The Sun clan’s roots ran deep in Luoyue County, with not only figures of the Third Heaven but also two elders.

As the Sun youth had warned, failing to silence him could bring grave consequences.

For now, only the treasures left by the Celestial Lord could be relied upon.

A smile suddenly appeared in Qingyuan’s eyes, replacing his worries as he murmured, “With these treasures, there is a glimmer of hope. Without them, I fear death is certain. Hmm… at least I won’t let others reap the benefits of my labor…”

He opened the ancient immortal pouch; inside, the Crimson Divine Thunder was barely contained by the talisman papers.

These talismans, shaped as paper horses, were Qingyuan’s own creation, but they were barely enough to restrain the divine thunder.

After all, paper cannot hold fire.

Refining the divine thunder would take much more time, so for now, he left two paper horse talismans to attach to the tiger-wolf carvings. The rest were wrapped tightly around the Crimson Divine Thunder, ensuring its containment.

“At last, some stability…”

Qingyuan took a deep breath and proceeded along the original path.

A divine thunder of unknown inheritance, three Iron Hearts—his gains were considerable.

He followed the river upstream.

The higher he went, the more tributaries converged, the swifter the current grew.

Along the way, he noticed wild deer watching from the shadows.

“That giant stag is cunning, managing to divert disaster by hurling the Crimson Divine Thunder toward me and fleeing. Now it still covets the divine thunder in my possession?”

He withdrew his gaze, paying it no mind.

If the giant stag approached, he would not hesitate to kill it on the spot.

He continued upstream for about half an hour before stopping.

He had not yet reached his destination, but the path was blocked.

Staring at the two figures beneath the trees ahead, Qingyuan’s expression grew grave. With a flick of his sleeve, the iron staff dropped into his hand.

“This time… trouble looms large…”