Chapter Ninety-Four: The Iron Staff Sweeps Across

From the direction of the thunder, a figure slowly came into view.

He wore white robes edged in blue. Though loose in cut, they still could not conceal the upright grace of his figure.

His features were proper, his brow clear, his eyes dark and bright, and within them lay nothing but coldness.

It was Qingyuan.

Qingyuan, his path blocked and his heart choked with frustration.

Qingyuan, whose anger had flared at the sight of Gu Cang gravely wounded.

“Who are you?”

Old Guo’s face was grim. One of his forearms had already been burned to a lump of charcoal, and his expression was twisted with agony.

Beside him, Fellow Daoist Xu and Fellow Daoist Feng were even more stricken with fear.

They had watched from the side and seen it all with perfect clarity.

A bolt of crimson thunder had arrived in an instant, its trail almost impossible for the eye to catch.

It struck the talismanic sword. The wooden blade in Old Guo’s hand shattered at once, and the thunder spread in a flash, burning the forearm into charcoal as well.

Fortunately, Old Guo’s cultivation had already reached the consummate level of the second heaven, and his true qi had been circulating through his body at all times, allowing him to cut off the aftershock before it spread through him entirely.

“Me?” Qingyuan held a steel staff and walked forward slowly, his gaze dropping first to the dying Gu Cang on the ground. Only then did he lift his eyes and meet Old Guo’s stare.

The old man surnamed Guo felt as though he were looking into a pair of eyes where darkness and light were starkly divided. In the next instant, a chill seized him, as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.

Qingyuan’s steps were calm, yet with each one he drew nearer.

Old Guo kept retreating.

As he advanced, Qingyuan said, “I am the one who taught it its methods.”

“What?” All three were startled, and the cultivator surnamed Xu could not help blurting out, “It’s plainly a spirit-creature. How could it be... I think you’ve seen us here and mean to take advantage... I...”

At that point, the cultivator surnamed Feng realized his mind was in disarray and his words were about to betray them, so he hurriedly pulled him back.

The cultivator surnamed Xu came abruptly to his senses. He had nearly blurted out the matter of the divine thunder. Still shaken, he inwardly cursed himself for having no peace of mind despite his cultivation.

Qingyuan said evenly, “It is indeed a spirit-creature, but its breathing and circulation were not discovered by blind instinct, nor did it inherit some crude rite of offering women to the moon. What it learned was a Daoist transmission. The power flowing through it is Daoist true qi...”

Old Guo’s expression changed slightly.

He suddenly remembered the bolt of thunder from before.

That was a Daoist art that only a cultivator of the third heaven, one who had condensed dharma intent, could cast.

This person before him possessed such a skill...

Old Guo’s mind raced, searching desperately for an explanation.

At that moment, the cultivator surnamed Xu suddenly jolted and shouted, “He hasn’t yet condensed dharma intent. He’s still a cultivator of the second heaven!”

As soon as those words were spoken, all three changed color.

“Kill him!”

In less than a heartbeat, all three struck in succession.

They knew this could not be smoothed over. The newcomer’s abilities were profound, and that alone had made them wary. Thus they had lowered themselves, softened their tone, and tried to ease the situation so they might withdraw unharmed.

But now that the well-observed Fellow Daoist Xu had exposed the man’s true level of cultivation, much of that fear vanished.

A second-heaven cultivator... and not even a disciple of the Upright Dao Sect. Even if he were a scion of some great clan like the Sun family, how much could he possibly have?

This mountain sprite merely relied on demon-immortal bloodline.

Could this man before them be some descendant of immortals?

The three unleashed their methods together.

“Good!”

Qingyuan swept his staff sideways, scattering every attack launched from the other two directions.

And the wooden spike hurled by Old Guo was caught directly in his hand.

Qingyuan glanced at it, showing a trace of surprise.

It was made of blackwood, engraved with talismanic markings. It could wound cultivators and suppress the circulation of true qi, even of magical power, and it was especially effective against spirits and demons.

It was said that such wood came from ancient trees that had sunk into the earth for a thousand, even ten thousand years, and was exceedingly rare.

Qingyuan had heard before that in the Southern Liang army, under Chen Zhiyun’s command, there had once been a batch of arrow shafts made from blackwood that could even injure adepts of the middle-heaven level.

But the material was so scarce that even within the White-Clad Army, only a few commanders were entitled to such specially made arrows.

“Truly rare. In terms of value, it falls only a little short of Iron God Gall.”

Qingyuan put it away, swept his gaze across them, and said, “Now it is my turn.”

As the words fell, he stamped down, and the earth cracked apart.

His figure shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow.

At the front was the cultivator surnamed Feng.

Qingyuan brought his staff down.

The cultivator surnamed Feng used a longsword and immediately held it horizontally before him to block the strike.

With a booming crack, Qingyuan’s strength was immense to begin with, and when he threw his full force behind the blow, it seemed like inexhaustible power.

The cultivator surnamed Feng’s sword bent sharply, and both feet sank into the ground.

The staff bent the sword, then struck his head through the blade.

However, after being checked by the sword, the force was no longer enough to smash his skull. It only left him with a splitting pain.

“This...” The cultivator surnamed Feng was shaken, feeling as if he had narrowly escaped death.

At the same time, Old Guo and the cultivator surnamed Xu both moved to assist him.

“Too late...”

Qingyuan sent true qi through his arm and into the iron staff.

Red light flared along the staff’s thunder patterns.

That radiance enveloped the longsword, then enveloped the cultivator surnamed Feng.

A muffled crash... and crimson lightning burst forth!

The thunder rang low and ominous, shaking Old Guo and the cultivator surnamed Xu so violently that they froze on the spot, too frightened to move rashly.

As for the cultivator surnamed Feng, after taking that bolt, he could only barely cling to life by relying on his own cultivation.

Qingyuan lifted a foot and stamped down on his chest.

The cultivator surnamed Feng had only time for a muffled groan before his entire body was sent flying backward. His feet left the earth, and he crashed onto the ground two or three zhang away. He made no further sound, all life extinguished; he had lost his life.

Qingyuan withdrew his gaze and fixed it on the remaining two.

“Both of you...”

Old Guo and the cultivator surnamed Xu exchanged a look, terror flooding their hearts.

One strike had taken a cultivator’s life.

Even if a cultivator of the third heaven had made the move, it would probably not have been much different.

And that thunderbolt from before...

Could he truly be a cultivator of the third heaven?

The cultivator surnamed Xu said in alarm, “Did we misjudge him this time?”

Old Guo was furious in his heart. If not for this Xu fellow’s mistake, what was wrong with swallowing the hatred of a severed arm?

But now that they had already struck, there was no turning back.

“Once the arrow leaves the bow, it never returns; once a matter is done, there is no regret!” Old Guo roared. “Attack together!”

The cultivator surnamed Xu gritted his teeth. “Fine!”

As the words fell, he charged at Qingyuan.

His speed was extremely fast, and in less than half a breath he was already within three zhang of Qingyuan.

Yet it was precisely because he was so fast that, upon drawing near, he suddenly awakened to the truth...

The cultivator surnamed Xu shouted, “Damn you, you old bastard!”

It turned out that the crafty Old Guo had said to attack together, yet immediately retreated and fled toward the far end of the valley. The cultivator surnamed Xu had believed him and rushed toward Qingyuan alone.

One advanced, one retreated.

In merely half a breath, the cultivator surnamed Xu had delivered himself before Qingyuan, with nowhere left to run.

“I’ll grant your wish.”

Qingyuan came to meet him and brought his staff down.

The cultivator surnamed Xu raised his sword to block.

Red light flashed on the iron staff.

The blow landed on the sword.

The cultivator surnamed Xu only felt thunder surge through the blade, and then his entire body went numb, his blood and qi freezing in place. Thanks to his true qi circulating through his body, he narrowly avoided being struck dead by the thunder.

As the true qi began to move and resist the thunder, his blood and qi started to stir again.

But before the circulation of true qi had completed even a single heavenly cycle, while his body was still stiff, Qingyuan’s other hand had already smashed into his chest and abdomen.