https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-29-The-Devil-s-Shadow-Divine-Art-Appreciated-by-Jiang-Qiong/12574048/
Chapter 28: The Flying Leaf Slays the Enemy, Such Overbearing Sword Qi
Chapter 28: The Flying Leaf Slays the Enemy, Such Overbearing Sword Qi
Ignoring Li Ya, Chan Hime fixed her gaze on Li Xuanyue. With a bewitching smile, she said, "Li Xuanyue, aren't you the pride of heaven? Why are you in such a sorry state? It seems your brother and sister from the Li family are no match for us."
Xu Ruyue took a step forward, approaching Li Ya.
Li Xuanyue suddenly threw the sword in her hand, and as the blade flew, it suddenly split into four sword shadows, all aiming to kill Xu Ruyue.
Xu Ruyue's reaction was swift. She waved her right hand, and the purple qi in her palm erupted like a raging flame, forcibly blocking Li Xuanyue's sword.
Chan Hime appeared like a ghost behind Li Xuanyue, holding a red fan in her hand. With a forceful swing, a rolling cloud of crimson poison fog surged forth, forcing Li Xuanyue to jump back.
The red poison fog spread quickly through the mountains, and within it, a giant python seemed to slither rapidly. Wherever it passed, the red fog rose, and in a very short time, it surrounded Li Ya and Li Xuanyue.
Li Xuanyue landed next to Li Ya, scanning their surroundings. She could no longer see Chan Hime, and Xu Ruyue hovered in the air above the mountains, looking down at them.
"How dare you have murderous intentions in the land of Tai Xuan Gate?" Li Ya asked in a deep voice.
Xu Ruyue's lips curled up, and he scoffed, "I've long heard that Tai Xuan Gate is vast and expansive. Ever since the current sect master took office, Tai Xuan Gate's control over the fringe areas has been constantly weakening. It seems that the sect master wants the disciples to resolve their conflicts in these border areas. The eight outer gates are like a wall, with the righteous and upright on one side and a lawless, dog-eat-dog world on the other, no different from the demonic path."
"We've been fighting for so long, and still no one has come. It seems that outside the outer gates, Tai Xuan Gate hasn't stationed anyone at all. Today, I'll kill you and then capture your sister. At most, I won't attend the Heavenly Foreign Gate Conference. What do you think?"
"As for the people in the Medicine Valley, kill them too. Since they are protected by Princess Li herself, their relationship with you must be extraordinary."
Xu Ruyue seemed to think of something and licked his lips.
"Help me buy some time," Li Xuanyue said softly, and she sat down with her legs crossed. She quickly performed a spell with her hands, and between her eyebrows, a golden flame appeared, faint and ethereal.
Li Ya's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly squatted down before leaping up. His long sword pointed upward, and his sword qi surged from the ground, piercing through the clouds. The violent aura caused the mountains and forests within a radius of several dozen meters to shake violently, along with the rolling red fog, creating a spectacular scene at dusk.
Xu Ruyue smiled contemptuously and quickly took out a purple flag from his waist pouch. Embroidered on the flag was a hideous evil spirit that seemed ready to burst out of the flag at any moment.
He turned his left palm and struck down, causing his spiritual power to erupt and form a huge palm shadow that pressed down, forcibly suppressing Li Ya's sword qi.
Li Ya frowned. His spiritual power was far inferior to Xu Ruyue's, and he couldn't withstand it at all.
As he watched, Xu Ruyue's purple flag burst forth with purple whirlwinds that made him dizzy.
"Not good!"
Li Ya's face changed drastically as a strong feeling of dizziness washed over him. What frightened him even more was that his body couldn't fall.
"He wants to capture your soul. How daring!"
The voice of the old ancestor sounded in Li Ya's sea of consciousness, full of anger.
Li Ya was even more panicked after hearing this.
"Let me taste the soul of someone with the Tai Cang Emperor's pulse!" Xu Ruyue laughed hideously, his eyes filled with greed.
Swoosh!
A sharp sound of tearing through the air came from afar, causing Li Ya, who was stalemated in midair, to subconsciously glance over. Even Li Xuanyue, who was meditating and practicing, raised her eyes.
A leaf carrying a sharp sword qi cut through the sky, as fast as lightning, heading straight for Xu Ruyue.
Xu Ruyue's gaze shifted involuntarily, but the leaf was too fast, and he didn't have time to react.
Bang!
His head exploded, and the blood mist that filled the air was blown away by a strong wind, revealing the red mist that had shrouded the mountains. Li Ya was flipped and fell to the ground, and Li Xuanyue urged her spiritual power to resist the strong wind, but she still had to get up quickly.
"Xu Lang!"
Chan Hime cried out in the midst of the howling wind. Just as she was about to leap up, another sound of tearing through the air came, and as she turned her head, the terrifying wind pressed the crimson poison fog, sweeping through her body. Her robe was pulled back forcefully, outlining her perfect body curve.
Her pupils reflected a leaf.
Bang!
The leaf pierced her skull, and blood splattered the mountains. The leaf continued its journey, slicing through trees and stirring up clouds of dust before finally embedding itself in the trunk of a large tree.
Plop! Plop!
Xu Ruyue's body fell to the ground, followed by Chan Hime's. Soon, only the sound of the wind remained in the mountains.
Li Ya propped up his body and sat on the ground, his black hair dancing wildly. He was stunned.
Li Xuanyue, not far away, was also shocked by what she saw. She stared at the corpses of Xu Ruyue and Chan Hime, lost in a daze.
"A flying leaf slays the enemy, what overbearing sword qi. This person is at least at the Yuan Ying realm, and his sword cultivation is extremely high!" The voice of the old ancestor sounded in Li Ya's sea of consciousness.
Li Ya woke up with a start and quickly got up, cupped his fists, and shouted, "I don't know which senior helped us?"
Hearing this, Li Xuanyue also got up and looked around.
Unfortunately, no one answered them.
"Kid, go and take a look over there!" The voice of the old ancestor sounded again, urging Li Ya to walk in a certain direction.
Li Ya immediately walked over, trembling. His injuries and the soul-capturing technique made him feel very uncomfortable.
Li Xuanyue, on the other hand, went to examine the bodies of Xu Ruyue and Chan Hime. She even stabbed them a few times with her sword, shredding their hearts with sword qi.
Li Ya walked a full two hundred zhang away and stopped in front of a tree, his eyes falling on the tree trunk, and he couldn't help but be moved.
"How is this possible...?" Li Ya said in a trembling voice, following his gaze to a leaf that was stuck in the tree trunk, surrounded by a faint sword qi. The entire tree trunk had split open, as if it might explode at any moment.
"This person struck from ten li away. I could only capture the direction and not their aura." The old ancestor's voice was full of emotion, and he clicked his tongue in wonder. "It seems that Tai Xuan Gate isn't so bad after all, with a great cultivator keeping watch from the outside."
Li Ya looked at the leaf, trying to calm his emotions.
At this moment, Li Xuanyue walked up behind him. When she saw the leaf, she also froze in surprise.
...
As night fell, a festive atmosphere filled the Xuan Valley. In the valley master's pavilion, Gu An and his disciples sat around a large round table, drinking and chatting happily.
Oikawa and Tang Yu were engaged in a drinking contest, and Oikawa's face was already flushed red. But he refused to admit defeat and continued drinking despite the others' attempts to stop him.
The wine they were drinking was no ordinary liquor; it was a spiritual wine that Gu An had specially purchased from the outer sect. One jar was worth two lower-grade spirit stones, equivalent to two months' salary for the menial disciples.
"Today we encountered two Demon Cultivators. I wonder if there will be more coming?" Su Han suddenly asked, and as soon as he spoke, the cheerful atmosphere at the table turned cold.
The smiles faded from everyone's faces, and they all began to worry.
Gu An reassured them with a smile, "Don't worry. There are outer sect disciples patrolling, and you saw that today. Perhaps after this incident, the patrols will become even more frequent."
He wasn't worried because he was immersed in joy.
By slaying Xu Ruyue and Chan Hime, he had successfully taken 112 years of lifespan for himself.
He was in the process of figuring out the pattern of lifespan absorption. He could only determine that the number of years taken depended on the target's remaining lifespan, somewhere between half and two-tenths, but the exact amount seemed somewhat random, as if it were based on luck.
Although slaying cultivators yielded a higher amount of lifespan, Gu An didn't wish to encounter such situations again.
Killing too many enemies would eventually lead to trouble. It was safer to rely on absorbing lifespan from spirit flowers and medicinal herbs, even if it meant slower progress.
There was always someone stronger, and no matter how quickly Gu An advanced by killing enemies, he would still die if he encountered a far superior foe.
He couldn't be sure how strong the most powerful cultivators in the human realm were.
But he felt that as long as he could live for a thousand or ten thousand years, he would be invincible.
Upon hearing Gu An's words, everyone felt reassured, and the cheerful atmosphere returned.
Gu An didn't dwell on his thoughts for long and began chatting with his junior martial brothers and sisters, asking about their cultivation goals. The atmosphere became more and more lively, and even Gu An started drinking.
The first Spring Festival in Xuan Valley was a success.
It wasn't until late into the night that everyone dispersed.
Gu An made his way to the Eight Scenery Cave Heaven.
Jiang Rong was meditating under the Darkvine tree, her body surrounded by demonic energy, giving off a frightening aura.
Gu An brought food and drinks to her and said, "Master, today is Xuan Valley's Spring Festival. These are dishes prepared by my junior martial sister. Please have a taste, and may your cultivation recover soon."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Rong opened her eyes and asked in confusion, "Spring Festival? What kind of festival is that?"
Gu An gave the prepared answer he had come up with—that he had heard about it from an elderly person.
"Hmm, setting a festival is indeed a good idea to unite everyone's hearts." Jiang Rong nodded in approval and then looked at the basket in Gu An's hand.
Gu An immediately put down the basket and took out the dishes one by one, along with a small jar of wine.
Jiang Rong's eyes lit up at the sight, and she mused, "Since it's a token of your goodwill, I can't refuse."
She picked up a bowl of food and began shoveling it into her mouth, eating greedily.
Gu An quickly poured her a cup of wine and asked curiously, "Master, there's something I've always been unclear about."
"You want to know..." Jiang Rong mumbled with her mouth full, and then she took the wine cup and drank, leaving her lips wet with either oil or wine.
"Why did the Qianqiu Pavilion plant spies outside the outer sect? It doesn't seem like Xuan Valley is able to gather any intelligence." Gu An asked.
Jiang Rong gave him a sidelong glance and said impatiently, "Who told you to gather intelligence? Your job is to stay here and wait patiently. Once the Azure Vine tree fully recovers, this place will become Qianqiu Pavilion's base. There are others responsible for gathering information."
Hearing this, Gu An became even more anxious.
What?
A base?
Gu An frowned and asked, "Does that mean Xuan Valley is the only place that can serve as a base?"
"Of course not," Jiang Rong replied casually. "In addition to Xuan Valley, at least five of the medicine valley masters are spies for Qianqiu Pavilion. However, they don't know each other's identities. A hundred years ago, there were spies from Qianqiu Pavilion who managed to climb to the position of true disciples, and by now, they might have become elders."
Gu An fell silent.
Had the Tai Xuan Gate already been infiltrated so thoroughly?
Jiang Rong put down the now-empty plate and picked up a large chicken leg, smiling as she said, "The taste is not bad. Although I've already closed my qi passage and don't need to eat, it's nice to indulge in earthly delights occasionally. As a reward, I'll teach you a secret technique of Qianqiu Pavilion later."
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
