A Demon's Path Chapter 40

Ling Xiao showered and got rid of all the ink marks on his body before immaculately dressing himself as he waited for Cheng Qiantai to return.

About an hour later, Cheng Qiantai and Qian Gui finally returned to the Joker Hotel. Judging from the excited expression on Cheng Qiantai's face, it was evident they found something. In contrast, Qian Gui had such a pained expression that his face seemed to be a little contorted.

"This book is called 'Secrets of the 14 Extraordinary Meridians'. Take a look and see whether it's of any use to you. Glorious Star only had this book." Cheng Qiantai retrieved a book from his chain's depository and placed it in front of Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao took the book into his hands as if it was the first bit of food he saw in days and immediately flipped through it without blinking. It seemed as though he was simply flipping through the pages, rather than reading its content. After going back and forth a few times in a hurry, Ling Xiao closed the book.

"Master, can you get a refund?" Ling Xiao handed the book back to Cheng Qiantai.

Qian Gui grudgingly grinned and asked before Cheng Qiantai could say anything, "Why? Is it of no use to you? We spent 100 yellow gems on this book. Do you know how rare books in this field are?!"

Ling Xiao mischievously chuckled. "If you sell this book, you'll get your gems back. It's is useless to me now because I already completely imprinted it in here." He pointed at his head.

"How can this be?" Qian Gui involuntarily cried out, startled. How can this boy have such good memory? He memorised the whole book in under 2 minutes? I-I-Is he still human?

Actually, Ling Xiao had memorised everything the first time he went through the pages of the book, but he flipped it from cover to cover a few more times so as to soften the blow. "I'm done. Sect Master Qian, I'm confident I remember everything. Sell this book back to Glorious Star. Even though you probably won't get a full refund, you should at least get back half of what you spent. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Qian Gui naturally ran like the wind after hearing he could get his money back. He took the book and dashed off in the direction of Glorious Star at breakneck speed, leaving Cheng Qiantai alone with his disciple.

Cheng Qiantai couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself as he looked at Ling Xiao who was all smiles. Other than spending a few gems to buy Ling Xiao a soul chain, he hadn't done much of anything else for his disciple. Ling Xiao simply didn't require his guidance. In fact, it was his disciple's astuteness and hard work that gave him hope of revitalizing the sect. Not to mention the two life threatening events he saved them from. Ling Xiao put full effort into cultivating and was constantly contemplating on how to defeat the next opponent, all because the sect was at risk of being annexed! In comparison, what he did for the sect and its disciples was insignificant. How could he not feel ashamed of himself?

"Are you confident?" Cheng Qiantai asked Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao smiled and nodded. "Master, relax. I can study the entire book in one night and use it tomorrow to deal with those three greenhorns. I'll even have energy left to spare."

Actually, the techniques in 'Secrets of the 14 Extraordinary Meridians' only talked about a few supplementary uses. The techniques in the book Ancestor Qi Mo left him was what Ling Xiao had to master. Naturally, he couldn't let Cheng Qiantai know which book he was studying. In any case, Cheng Qiantai didn't understand the contents of either, so he wouldn't know which techniques Ling Xiao utilized.

The night silently passed. Everyone was fast asleep in preparation for the second day of the team battles.

The trio who appeared before Ling Xiao, Cheng Yu, and Qian Hai the next morning exuded a much more imposing aura than Pockmark's team. The two men were dressed in intricately embroidered clothes. Ling Xiao didn't even have the heart to touch the uniquely delicate material it was made of with his filthy hands. He even wondered whether these two were here to fight or to attend a blind date. On the other hand, the girl was a smooth-skinned beauty who looked like a porcelain doll that could break upon touch.

Thankfully, Ling Xiao compared Lan Xiuhua's beauty with Tang Yingying's and felt no one could match his little demonic beast. He even thought Lan Xiuhua couldn't compare to Cheng Yu. So, Ling Xiao consciously disregarded Lan Xiuhua's beauty and purely regarded her as his opponent.

The preparatory team was also sizing up Ling Xiao's group.

The trio had won their first match ever so effortlessly the day prior. They didn't truly treat Ling Xiao's group as a threat since they were from a small countryside sect. If not for their Elders repeatedly nagging them to be careful about Ling Xiao, they wouldn't even bother sparing them a second glance.

When all the teams entered the field, Shen Mingfang officially announced the start of the second round with a beautiful display of fireworks.

During the preparations for the battle, the trio's Elders had ordered them to surround Ling Xiao and attack him. Now that the match had begun, they moved as instructed to attack Ling Xiao.

However, they never expected Qian Hai to be the first one to rush out from Ling Xiao's end. Qian Hai's steps were lithe as he brandished a pair of snickersnees. He screamed out, "Ling Xiao, protect me!"

Ling Xiao was slightly taken aback by this turn of events, but he immediately understood what was going on. This boy's finally going to show us what he's made of. Qian Hai had finally stopped using his sword. Instead, he opted for a pair of snickersnees, the very same Qian Gui wielded with ease and expertise.

Qian Hai's orange soulforce accompanied his dancing snickersnees as they rapidly whirled around in his hands. His soulforce turned into countless blade shadows as it flew out at the trio. This was the Qian Family's ultimate technique—Dual Blade, Circular Slash!

"Is that all he's got?" sneered one of the opponents.

A guy holding a metal rod in his hands shouted out, "Here I come!"

Ling Xiao squinted at the opponents. From the looks of it, the guy who used a metal rod as his weapon was Luo Feikai. He held his metal rod high and was about to smash it into the ground. At this moment, Ling Xiao dashed forward and with a timely sweep of his broom interrupted him.

Clank! Both of them retreated a few steps back from the impact. The impact from Ling Xiao's broom numbed Luo Feikai's arm. Only then did he slowly start to take Ling Xiao seriously. This boy is rather strong!

With Ling Xiao suddenly blending in, Luo Feikai couldn't block Qian Hai's attack in time. However, he didn't need to worry because Xuan Lian made his move. Xuan Lian punched out with his fists and fierce thunder erupted out. Countless orange lightning-laced fist shadows collided with Qian Hai's blade shadows, after which a loud explosion resounded over the arena. Dazzling orange fireworks lit up the sky.

This was a showdown of ultimate Strength Soul techniques! Dual Sword, Circular Slash versus Heavenly Thunder Strike!

Pfft! Kek!

Both of them violently coughed blood out as their bodies flew backwards. They landed on the ground with a bang and couldn't scramble to get up. It seemed as though this ferocious exchange caused the two to temporarily lose all fighting strength.

The two teams originally thought this would be a drawn out and closely-fought match, but two were unexpectedly out of commission right off the bat!

The two girls weren't idly standing by either. They dashed toward each other. Cheng Yu knew her opponent had an ultimate skill called A Thousand Flying Godly Needles. She had to stick close to her opponent so that she didn't have a chance to unleash them.

On the other hand, Lan Xiuhua didn't seem to have any intention of unleashing her tour-de-force immediately. Just like Cheng Yu, she attacked with her sword.

Both of them were beautiful ladies, but one utilised incomparably ruthless sword techniques whilst the other was outstandingly tyrannical. In the eyes of the spectators, there was a strange kind of beauty in their violent clash.

The scene was abnormally explosive with just a few exchanges. If someone was just a little careless, there was a possibility they would end up dead!

Compared to Lan Xiuhua's battle with Cheng Yu, Ling Xiao and Luo Feikai were sparing none of their strength.

One was holding a metal broom and the other a metal rod. Instead of beating their opponent with powerful techniques, they attacked each other with simple swinging movements. Bang! Clank! Thonk! A regular rhythm of metal colliding with metal rang out, causing sparks to fly out due to the friction.

The duo seemed to be fighting in a relaxed and simple manner, but in reality it caused Luo Feikai unbearable pain. He didn't fight like this because he liked it, but rather because Ling Xiao's every attack forced him to go all out in defending it with his metal rod. As a result, he couldn't use any garish attacks. His arms were already so numb he was quickly losing all feeling to them. But he had to hold on. If he failed to defend himself in a moment of weakness, Ling Xiao would surely strike his head without mercy. Either that or he would have his shoulder smashed to pieces.

Luo Feikai observed Ling Xiao again. Ling Xiao's arms still brandished that strange weapon with their Herculean strength. There wasn't the slightest indication of him tiring out.

How can this guy have such thick and unending strength? It's like he can't use it up at all! No, if we go on fighting like this, he'll definitely drain my strength dry! Luo Feikai remembered the warning from his Elder and secretly regretted not eliminating Ling Xiao with his ultimate skill from the very beginning. He could only fight to win or die a pitiful death with the situation at hand!

Bang! Ling Xiao attacked Luo Feikai once again, pounding his opponent's head straight on. Luo Feikai countered by smashing down with his metal rod. After pushing the broom away, the rod continued down toward the ground.

Dong! A crisp sound rang out and the ground surrounding the both of them rapidly cracked open. A seemingly endless stream of orange soulforce spread out from the end of Luo Feikai's metal rod into the cracks in the ground, forming a net that covered the both of them. The net rapidly moved and caved in on Ling Xiao!

Chapter end