Chapter 161: "This is like letting a tiger return to the mountain!"

Chapter 161: "This is like letting a tiger return to the mountain!"

Chen Qiu's thoughts stirred, and he left the small world, arriving at a desolate wilderness several hundred li away from Su City.

He naturally wouldn't conduct this experiment within the small world.

Back when his combat power wasn't as strong, he often tested new moves inside the small world, but now he decided against it. He was concerned that a single shot might destroy the small world.

Chen Qiu stood in mid-air.

He released his divine sense, scanning the surroundings to ensure no one was around, then took a deep breath and pulled the bowstring to its limit. The arrow, shimmering with thunder and lightning, trembled slightly on the longbow.

Immediately after—

His right hand released the bowstring with a snap.

"Swoosh!"

Accompanied by an ear-piercing sonic boom, the long arrow instantly transformed into a streak of radiant light, hurtling towards the distant ground.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Before the sound could even echo, countless thunder dragons were seen striking the ground in the distance. After a moment, deafening noises followed, and as the dust settled, a giant crater, spanning several li in diameter, appeared on the ground!

The affected area was extremely small.

This was partly because the Xuantian Continent's world was more robust, but the primary reason was that all the damage was concentrated on the arrow, maximizing the explosive power at a single point, transforming it from an area-of-effect attack into a powerful single-target strike.

"Hmm."

Chen Qiu, standing in mid-air, smiled lightly and nodded. Not bad. But just then, another idea suddenly popped into his mind.

[Enchantment Scroll Name]: Ten Thousand Arts Integration.

[Enchantment Scroll Level]: Blue.

[Enchantment Scroll Effect]: You can compress all spells released at the same time into a small ball.

This was one of his blue enchantment scrolls.

The effect was simple, but very useful.

Especially when combined with his spirit qi capacity, far surpassing his peers, it became even more handy.

If the Lightning Summoning Technique could do it, could Skyfall Snow also? His thoughts stirred.

A vast amount of spirit qi surged forth, and the temperature in the entire world suddenly dropped, but not a single snowflake appeared. Then, a white snowball slowly floated in Chen Qiu's palm.

Within the snowball, countless white snowflakes could be vaguely seen.

Merely approaching this white snowball, one could feel an extreme chill.

The effect of the Skyfall Snow spell was an auxiliary spell with a large area of effect, capable of freezing the spirit qi within an enemy's body. However, the freezing process was slow, initially only slowing down the enemy's spirit qi, and after a long time, it could be completely frozen.

Immediately after—

A white snowball was seen transforming into a white arrow, its body floating with cold air and faintly visible snowflakes, creating a stark contrast with the previous blue arrow.

If the blue arrow represented ferocity, then this white arrow symbolized tranquility and seclusion.

Just then!

"Kill my sister, and die!"

In the distance, an extremely terrifying and powerful cultivation rushed towards him, and his divine sense locked onto it, preventing his escape. It was a Nascent Soul Early Stage master, and he didn't recognize this person or whose sister he was referring to.

If he remembered correctly.

He rarely killed women, and from a certain perspective, he was quite a gentleman.

But just as he was lamenting the lack of a suitable target for testing his moves, someone had conveniently shown up, which was quite fortunate.

Without hesitation, he nocked the white snowflake arrow, locked onto his target with his divine sense, pulled the bowstring taut, released it, and in the instant the bowstring snapped, he activated the Golden Light Body Protection Spell and transformed the Heavenly Clue Umbrella into its first form.

The umbrella opened, blocking the two spells unleashed by the Nascent Soul Early Stage master.

"Boom! Boom!"

The spells, infused with the master's vast spirit qi, instantly enveloped Chen Qiu. After a few breaths, the smoke dissipated, and Chen Qiu, standing in mid-air, looked at his body and the intact Golden Light Body Protection Spell, smirking.

Not a single hair was harmed.

Wasn't the Nascent Soul stage supposed to be overwhelmingly superior to the Golden Core stage?

He didn't feel any pressure at all, at least not from the Nascent Soul Early Stage. Initially, when faced with a Nascent Soul attack, he would retreat into the small world to avoid it, but since withstanding the powerful attack from the Yuanzong Sect Elder, he realized that the Nascent Soul Early Stage wasn't that formidable.

Far inferior to the Great Xia's Sword Puppet.

He then looked up at the sky, and the Nascent Soul master who had charged towards him was now a solid block of ice, smashed into the ground. Chen Qiu's divine sense swept over, and he could sense that the person was still alive.

Only the spirit qi, dantian, Nascent Soul, and divine sense were all frozen.

Until the ice melted, he was a solid block of ice.

"Hmm."

After restoring his spirit qi in the air, Chen Qiu landed next to the Nascent Soul master, frozen into a block of ice. He spoke thoughtfully, "This Skyfall Snow seems much stronger now; it can stably control a single person and even control a Nascent Soul First Stage cultivator."

"I wonder how long it can maintain control."

Immediately after.

As Chen Qiu's spirit qi surged, dark clouds gathered, and a typhoon storm roared in.

A purple-blue arrow, shimmering with lightning arcs, slowly floated beside Chen Qiu, and the ice block showed no signs of melting. Chen Qiu decided to restore his spirit qi again and condensed another snow-white arrow, surrounded by floating snowflakes.

He nocked both arrows on the bowstring, aimed at the ice block, and slowly drew the bow.

He waited for the ice block to show signs of melting before sending it on its way!

But after more than eight hundred breaths, the ice block showed no signs of melting at all. The person frozen inside could only move his eyes, staring at Chen Qiu with anger and fear! His consciousness remained intact.

As Chen Qiu waited, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed through his mind, and his expression turned peculiar as he looked at the two arrows on his bowstring. What if he could combine these two arrows into one? Would their power be even greater?

He was a man of action.

Almost as soon as the thought occurred to him, he couldn't wait to give it a try.

With a thought, the two arrows began to slowly melt. At first, they seemed to be merging into one, but just as they were about to fuse successfully, Chen Qiu suddenly felt an extremely violent and uncontrollable surge of spiritual energy erupting from the arrows.

In an instant!

Chen Qiu grabbed the Heavenly Clue Umbrella and retreated into his pocket world, leaving the two arrows outside.

"Boom, boom, boom!!!"

Chen Qiu stood inside his pocket world with a complex expression, gazing at the scene outside where the snowflakes and thunder dragons had simultaneously exploded. It had to be said that his plan was half successful; after the fusion, the power did indeed increase.

But...

It was a bit uncontrollable. There was no way to condense them into arrows and shoot them out again; they exploded just as they were about to solidify.

He could sense that it wasn't a matter of proficiency but an unseen force preventing the two spells from merging, like how oil and water couldn't mix.

As for the Nascent Soul Cultivator frozen in an ice lump outside...

He had already perished on the spot.

However, his corpse was relatively intact, and Chen Qiu discovered an additional effect of condensing the Skyfall Snow into an arrow. Although it would freeze you in an ice lump, this ice lump also provided a decent defensive effect.

From the shattered ice lump, Chen Qiu found the cultivator's abdomen and retrieved a Nascent Soul Pill.

Hmm.

A Second Level Nascent Soul Pill.

Chen Qiu couldn't help but smile. This was the power of fate, and he had only come out to test a move, yet a Second Level Nascent Soul Pill had been delivered to him. His luck was truly remarkable. With this pill, he only needed four more.

Then, he turned around and retreated into his pocket world. In the end, he still didn't test how long an arrow made of Skyfall Snow could freeze a First Level Nascent Soul Cultivator. Before reaching the limit, he accidentally killed the cultivator due to his operational mistake.

He only knew it was definitely more than a hundred breaths.

Soon—

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

During these ten days, Chen Qiu stayed in his pocket world to cultivate and didn't go anywhere. He also took the opportunity to cultivate the Invisibility Spell to the Great Perfection stage. He suddenly realized that his talent for spell cultivation was quite good; even without the Enlightenment Stone, cultivating a spell to the Great Perfection stage wasn't difficult.

Of course, perhaps it was also because the Invisibility Spell was just a Foundation Establishment spell.

During this time,

The Mock Heaven Sect had been digesting the resources bestowed by Heaven. No matter how many resources they had, they needed time to digest them and convert the resources into true strength.

Otherwise, it would all be just an illusion.

With the daily consumption of Golden Core Heavenly Dao Cultivation Pills, the Bookworm had officially entered the third layer of the Golden Core stage. This cultivation progress could be considered swift.

As for Fat Dragon, he was about to reach the peak of Foundation Establishment and would soon form his Golden Core. After breaking through the Golden Core stage, he would have another chance to choose three enchantments.

In these few days,

The First Level Nascent Soul Pills were also completely digested by the Mock Heaven Sect.

At this moment, eight elders with First Level Nascent Soul cultivation stood before Chen Qiu, their expressions filled with barely contained excitement.

These people were all Second Level Nascent Souls, not a single First Level Nascent Soul among them.

More importantly—

These people had been stuck at the peak of Golden Core Perfection for a long time, their lifespans almost exhausted. Unable to advance in cultivation, they could only learn spells and various techniques. As their lifespans gradually diminished, they even dared not use their skills.

But!

Once this group of people broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, the spells and techniques they had learned would become profound foundations.

These eight Nascent Souls with decent foundations became the first batch of outer sect disciples of the Mock Heaven Sect.

Although their foundations couldn't compare to the Heaven's Pride, they were still significantly stronger than ordinary Nascent Soul early-stage cultivators.

"Greetings, Sect Leader!"

"Hmm."

Chen Qiu sat on the grandmaster's chair in the sect leader's hall, looking down at the eight Nascent Souls below, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

Just then—

"Um..."

One of the outer sect disciples who had already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage tentatively spoke in a low voice, "Sect Leader, I heard that the Mock Heaven Sect has a giant spirit-gathering array. Once activated, the spiritual energy within the sect will become extremely rich. Should we give it a try?"

"..."

Chen Qiu, who had just been smiling, suddenly became expressionless and silent.

It was true that the Mock Heaven Sect had a large spirit-gathering array capable of covering the entire sect, including the rear mountain. Once activated, the spiritual energy within the sect would become very dense, and cultivation progress would naturally increase rapidly.

But!

Activating this spirit-gathering array for one day required consuming a whopping 300 medium-grade spirit stones! Perhaps the previous Mock Heaven Sect could afford it, but he certainly couldn't. He had barely managed to save over ten thousand medium-grade spirit stones; did anyone know how difficult it was for him?

However, the disciple's suggestion wasn't entirely unreasonable; activating the spirit-gathering array would indeed speed up cultivation progress.

After a moment, he spoke softly, "Only the eight of you have broken through to the Nascent Soul stage. The others are still stuck at the peak of Golden Core Perfection. It's too wasteful to activate the spirit-gathering array now. Let's wait until most people have broken through to the Nascent Soul stage."

"Alright, it's done. You may disperse."

The outer sect disciples in the hall looked at each other and bowed respectfully, their faces filled with reverence as they replied in a low voice, "Yes."

After they left,

Chen Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly, deep in thought as he fiddled with the bronze mirror in his hand. This was a treasure.

On that day, in the Yuanzong Sect’s treasure vault, a total of three treasures were found.

The first was a heritage item, a spoon.

The second was a Heavenly Illusion Stone.

The third was this bronze mirror.

Its effect was extremely simple: any Heavenly Dao Mystic Realms that appeared within Quzhou would display specific information on this bronze mirror. This allowed him to know if there were any good Heavenly Dao Mystic Realms opening nearby without leaving his residence or interacting with the outside world.

For the past few days, there had been no particularly good Heavenly Dao Mystic Realms, or they were unsuitable for him.

But today, Chen Qiu looked at the name of the realm displayed on the bronze mirror, "Heavenly Transformation Forty-Nine," a realm restricted to those with the Golden Core Peak Great Perfection cultivation. He thoughtfully rubbed the surface of the bronze mirror, perhaps this one was worth a visit.

After a long while.

He raised the bronze mirror in the air, looking at his rather young reflection in it, and couldn’t help but whisper softly.

"Young, it’s really good to be young."

"Don’t worry, my good junior apprentice."

Inside the Mock Heaven Sect, Zhao Buzhu was excitedly hugging Zhao Dezhong’s shoulder, grinning broadly, "From now on, I’ll protect you. I have to thank you for this, for connecting with the Sect Leader when he was still at a humble stage."

"Otherwise, I might not have had the chance to come to the Xuantian Continent with the Sect Leader."

"Most importantly, you didn’t offend the Sect Leader back in the Great Xia Kingdom, or I wouldn’t be where I am today."

"Don’t worry, even though I’m now a Nascent Soul, and you’re still a Golden Core, we’re no longer at the same level, but I’ll still call you my junior apprentice, hahahaha."

"..."

Zhao Dezhong sighed helplessly. He was happy that his uncle had broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, even reaching the Second Rank, under the Sect Leader’s help, but he still felt a bit nostalgic for Zhao Yisheng.

At that time, Chen Qiu had clearly said he didn’t want Foundation Establishment cultivators, so he naturally couldn’t bring Zhao Yisheng openly.

Doing so would easily make Chen Qiu dissatisfied with him.

He had to secretly leave the flying boat in the sect’s storage and only let Zhao Yisheng know where he hid it, hoping that Zhao Yisheng would come on his own. This time, Zhao Yisheng didn’t have a relapse and indeed controlled the flying boat all the way to Feizhou.

But the problem was that Chen Qiu hadn’t accepted him.

There was nothing he could do about that.

Actually, if he were in Chen Qiu’s position, he wouldn’t have accepted him either. Going to the Xuantian Continent was clearly a place where one had to fight for survival. A Foundation Establishment late-stage disciple was a hassle to cultivate, and even if cultivated, wouldn’t form combat power in a short time, especially if they preferred to avoid battles, making them useless.

But he always felt that Zhao Yisheng was different from others.

Forget it.

Zhao Dezhong shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He encouraged himself mentally, determined to quickly advance his cultivation to the Golden Core Peak Great Perfection and then break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

Looking at his uncle, who was still in a state of excitement, pondering how to control his Nascent Soul to go on a spiritual journey, he could only shake his head and sigh again.

His uncle was too unreliable, not serious at all.

It was early morning.

At the foot of the Endless Snow Mountain in Quzhou, Chen Qiu, along with Feilong and a few others, reappeared in "Death's Crossing Town," the place where he had arrived on the Xuantian Continent.

"Hmm."

Standing at the entrance of Death's Crossing Town, Chen Qiu looked down at the map in his hand and then up at the endless snow mountain beside him. This vast mountain range, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, spanned across both Quzhou and Jingzhou, two major territories.

Quzhou was the ninth territory of the Lower Nine Provinces.

Jingzhou was the eighth territory of the Lower Nine Provinces.

The northern part of Quzhou was adjacent to the southern part of the eighth territory.

The first territory of the Lower Nine Provinces was close to Zhongzhou.

The entire map of the Xuantian Continent looked like a flat, multi-layered pancake.

South of Quzhou was the Endless Snow Mountain. In some areas with lower ridges, one could bypass the mountain range and reach the southernmost part of Quzhou. Many hunters sometimes waited until summer, when it was slightly warmer, to go hunting there.

The Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm he was going to, "Heavenly Transformation Forty-Nine," had its entrance at the southwestern edge of Quzhou, almost at the border.

He had to pass through "Death's Crossing Town."

Apart from the Upper Nine Provinces, Lower Nine Provinces, and Zhongzhou, the Xuantian Continent had many scattered landmasses and islands, but these areas were often inhabited by non-human races, such as the Demon Race, Evil Race, Demon Race, and others.

In the Xuantian Continent, the human race was the strongest race.

The place he was going to was near the "Demon Race."

"Hmm."

Chen Qiu pondered, maybe he would encounter some old acquaintances. Back then, the Demon Race had sent many people to invade the Great Xia Kingdom. If he encountered any Demonrace members, he could ask them how they invaded the Great Xia.

Just then—

"Immortal, save me! Immortal, save me!"

A middle-aged man, covered in blood, suddenly ran toward him, his eyes filled with hope, his voice trembling with sobs, "Immortal, please save my wife, children, and the lives of my entire family!"

"Hmm?"

Chen Qiu turned his head to look at the middle-aged man running toward him, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. He remembered this man; he had dug him out of the snow and left fifty low-grade spirit stones as a token of gratitude.

Without much thought, he used his divine sense to encompass the entire Death's Crossing Town. Instantly, he sensed a rather chaotic area. With a wave of his hand, spirit qi enveloped the middle-aged, bearded man, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared in a stone house.

This was the house where he had lain before.

At the moment, a slightly overweight middle-aged woman was almost beaten to death, curled up in a corner, trembling like a leaf. Inside the house, there were also seven or eight young and strong men, all lying in the corner with severe injuries, barely breathing.

"Speak! Where are the rest of your spirit stones?!"

Outside the stone house, stood a dozen fierce, knife-wielding thugs. A bald, muscular man was currently blocking the door, wielding a long knife, and sneered, "I know you still have spirit stones. I only want money, not to take lives."

"Tell me where you got your Spirit Stones, it's a simple matter, isn't it?"

"Anyway, your Changbai Mountain Team is said to be the most formidable hunters in this area, and you won't miss these Spirit Stones. As long as you stay alive, you'll quickly earn them back, right?"

"Your team leader has been beaten half to death and thrown outside the town. With this weather, if you don't go and save him, he won't last half a shichen. Choose between saving your team leader or keeping the Spirit Stones."

Just then—

Chen Qiu didn't bother with idle chit-chat. His aura at the peak of Golden Core Perfection enveloped the area, instantly overwhelming all the burly men outside the stone house who had been menacing a moment ago. They were all pinned to the ground, their eyes filled with fear, unable to move a muscle.

Killing Foundation Establishment Cultivators at the peak of Golden Core was no different than squashing an ant.

"Im-Immortal..."

The bald, burly man, who seemed to be the leader of the group, struggled to lift his head, his eyes filled with fear as he spoke to Chen Qiu, who was approaching him, "You can kill us, but... but we're just ordinary people, and killing us will incur heavenly punishment."

Chen Qiu glanced at the burly man, not bothering to respond. He took out several Healing Pills from his pocket and tossed them into the mouths of the injured people inside the stone house. Then, he turned to the bearded man beside him, the very man who had saved him from the snow mountain, and frowned, "What's going on?"

"I..."

The bearded man's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse, "That day, Immortal, you left me fifty Lower-grade Spirit Stones and left. I took the Spirit Stones and went home. My wife never agreed with me doing good deeds, saying that good deeds don't always bring good rewards."

"But when she saw that I had brought back fifty Spirit Stones, she was excited. She finally approved of me and believed that there was still good in the world."

"We used twenty Spirit Stones as funds to provide free treatment for hunters injured on the snow mountain. This group of men was rescued by us. When they found out we were treating them for free and that we were just ordinary hunters, they assumed we had a large stash of Spirit Stones. No matter how we explained, they wouldn't listen."

". "

Fat Dragon looked speechless at the seven or eight burly men from the Changbai Mountain Team inside the stone house, "You have seven or eight people too, and their injuries aren't fully healed yet. Your cultivation is similar, so it's not like you have no chance against them, right?"

"How did you get beaten like this?"

The bald man shook his head bitterly, "Hunters kill demon beasts, not people. We didn't want to kill them at first. We thought we could reason with them, but... they took advantage of our momentary lapse and attacked us, and we were no match for them."

"Good."

Chen Qiu nodded, turned around, and threw two hundred Spirit Stones at the man. He said softly, "Unless something unexpected happens, I won't pass by Death's Crossing Town again in my lifetime. Don't expect another Immortal to descend from the heavens."

"With these two hundred Spirit Stones, our karmic ties are settled."

"You deal with these people as you see fit."

After saying this, Chen Qiu turned to leave with Fat Dragon and the others. In the Xuantian Continent, one couldn't survive with a soft heart; if they didn't die today, they'd die tomorrow. This was all he could do.

A compassionate heart and thunderous methods are both essential.

Only then can one have the qualifications to do good deeds.

After Chen Qiu and the others left, the burly men, who had been intimidating a moment ago, were now severely injured, pinned to the ground by Chen Qiu's overwhelming might. They cried out in pain, while the Changbai Mountain Team members inside the stone house angrily grabbed their long knives, intending to kill the men outside.

"Stop!"

At this moment, the bearded man spoke up with a complicated expression, "Don't do it. No matter what, no one on our side died. If we kill them, we'll be no different from them, driven by evil thoughts. Let them go."

"Get out of here, and never come back to Death's Crossing Town!"

The Changbai Mountain Team members who were about to take action froze, unable to believe their ears, "Boss, if we let them go, they'll definitely come back after they recover!"

"This is like releasing a tiger back to the mountains!"

"Let them go."

The bearded man shook his head, his eyes showing a hint of struggle, and his voice was hoarse, "Everyone has their difficulties. They're desperate, which is why they came to rob us. They have families too."

"It's not worth killing them."

"Thank you..."

The bald man, who was lying on the ground, struggled to stand up with the help of his subordinate. He looked at the bearded man and said with a trembling voice, "You're a good man. You'll be rewarded. We won't come back."

But deep in his eyes, a flash of resentment passed by.

He didn't believe that the Immortal would always be there to protect him.

The group then staggered out of town.

However—

Just as they hadn't gone far, a mighty surge of Spirit Qi enveloped them, and as the Qi tightened, they all turned into blood mist floating in mid-air.

The perpetrator was, of course, Chen Qiu.

". "

At this moment, Chen Qiu stood on the snow mountain, his face expressionless as he silently gazed in the direction of Death's Crossing Town.

The bearded man had rescued him from the snow mountain and used the Spirit Stones Chen Qiu left to help other injured hunters. Up until now, there hadn't been any issues. In this world, there are good people and bad people.

Some people like to do good deeds.

They enjoy the feeling of helping others, the feeling of making others better because of them; this is normal.

But—

This bearded man, after being beaten, kicked, and insulted by these thugs who almost killed him, still chose to let them go.

This is not normal.

This is not the thinking of a normal person. Even the kindest person wouldn't just let this group go.

It's not something that can be explained by saying they are good people.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end