Chapter 84: Earthfire
Chapter 84: Earthfire
The disciples of the Refiners and the Qian family engaged in a chaotic brawl. In Tongxian City, those at the mid-stage of Qi Refinement, typically with cultivations of around five to six layers, would begin to learn offensive Taoist techniques.
The combat techniques of cultivators were divided into two categories. One was the martial arts of physical cultivators, focusing on tempering the body to conduct spiritual power in close-quarters combat. The other was the spellcasting of essence cultivators, manipulating spiritual power through spiritual sense to cast spells from a distance.
There were also those who practiced both physical and essence cultivation, but such cultivators required two innate advantages. First, they needed exceptional talent, including high-grade spirit roots and outstanding physical conditioning. Second, they had to come from prestigious families with extensive cultivation resources, allowing them to mediate the conflicts between physical and essence cultivation techniques. Ideally, their families would also possess spiritual mines and an abundance of spirit stones...
Most cultivators in the cultivation world had no connection to dual cultivation of body and essence. Some prominent families might not produce a single dual cultivator in several generations, let alone in a remote place like Tongxian City.
Whether they were solitary cultivators or from minor clans, most would choose to focus on one path. They would either emphasize physical cultivation, becoming physical cultivators, or focus on spells, becoming essence cultivators.
During the Qi Refinement stage, physical cultivators had a significant advantage over essence cultivators. Unless one had an exceptionally poor innate constitution—like Mo Hua—most would choose the path of physical cultivation.
Thus, the current battle primarily consisted of physical cultivators exchanging blows.
There were a few essence cultivators among the Qian family disciples, but before they could unleash their spells, they were rushed by their opponents and knocked to the ground with a single punch.
The clash between physical cultivators was a brutal affair, with fists and feet flying. Every punch and kick landed solidly, accompanied by the display of spiritual power of different attributes. The colorful glows that entwined their limbs made the battle appear quite spectacular.
This was Mo Hua's first time witnessing such a large-scale battle between cultivators, and he was stunned. It took him a while to remember that he should probably do something. But what?
Mo Hua pondered his options and concluded that there was only one thing he could do—run!
In a chaotic fight between essence cultivators, the best he could hope for was to escape unscathed. Not burdening everyone else would be his greatest contribution!
As Mo Hua prepared to slip away, he had only taken a few steps when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. He struggled, but instead of breaking free, a pair of cold hands tightened around his neck.
Mo Hua turned his head and saw Qian Xing staring at him coldly.
As if he were the murderer of Qian Xing's father.
"Stop!" Qian Xing shouted in a sinister tone.
The fighting ceased, and the crowd parted, with the injured Qian family disciples standing behind Qian Xing, while Dazhu and his group stood defiantly before him.
Seeing this scene, Mo Hua's heart sank. "It's over," he thought. "The worst-case scenario has happened!"
Originally, Dazhu and his group had the upper hand, but now that he had been captured, everyone was hesitant to act for fear of hurting him. The situation had taken a turn for the worse.
Dazhu glared at Qian Xing, his expression cold. "Let him go, or you'll regret it!"
"Resorting to underhanded tactics because you're losing. Pathetic!"
"If you have the skill, fight us fairly..."
The group of Refiner disciples echoed Dazhu's sentiment angrily.
Qian Xing let out a mocking laugh. "All you know is brute force. No wonder you're destined to be lowly your entire lives. I've already called for help, and soon, the family's guards will be here. None of you will be able to escape."
"What do you want?" Dazhu demanded.
"What do I want?" Qian Xing smiled coldly, tightening his grip on Mo Hua's neck. "Rest assured, I won't kill him here. Killing him would dirty my hands, and while I'm not afraid of the Path Court, it would be a hassle. I'll just take him up the mountain, hang him from a tree, and lure some demonic beasts to eat him bit by bit. Only then will my hatred be satisfied."
"How dare you call me a mongrel? What makes you think you're better than me?" Qian Xing laughed bitterly, "Fine, then. If you kneel before me, slap yourselves, and end your own lives, I won't kill him. How about that? You like to stick your necks out, so I'm giving you this chance."
Holding Mo Hua by the neck, Qian Xing threatened, "Kneel! If you don't kneel, I'll kill him right now!"
Dazhu and the others were at a loss, feeling both angry and humiliated.
A sharp glint flashed in Mo Hua's eyes, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Qian Xing... don't push your luck!"
"Push my luck? I've been giving you face by speaking politely, and now you blame me for pushing my luck after you refused and caused all this chaos?" Qian Xing argued, "It's only reasonable for me to take a few lives to save face after losing face so badly today."
Mo Hua's youthful voice was icy:
"Then you're asking to die!"
Instead of getting angry, Qian Xing laughed. "What can you do, a mere fourth layer of Qi Refinement, knowing neither martial arts nor spells? You say I'm asking to die. Fine, let me see how you plan to make me die..."
Before Qian Xing could finish his sentence, he felt a splash of bright red ink on his face. Caught off guard, he managed to raise his right hand to block, but he couldn't stop it all. The ink seeped into his eyes, causing a burning pain.
It was the fiery spiritual ink used for drawing formations!
Enraged, Qian Xing endured the pain in his right eye and tightened his left hand, intending to strangle Mo Hua. But due to the momentary pain, his left hand had relaxed, and Mo Hua seized the opportunity to break free.
As Qian Xing reached out to grab him again, Mo Hua knew he couldn't escape, so he jumped and kicked Qian Xing's body.
However, his kick had no effect on Qian Xing, who didn't even budge an inch or show any sign of pain. Instead, Mo Hua was knocked backward by the recoil.
Mo Hua took advantage of the momentum to retreat and tumbled on the ground, eventually landing on his hands and knees, covering his head with his hands.
Seeing his pathetic state, Qian Xing couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Now you know who the useless one is, don't you?"
He took a step forward, intending to capture Mo Hua before Dazhu could.
But as he took that step, Qian Xing suddenly felt a scorching sensation on his chest. Looking down, he saw a piece of paper tucked into his robe, with seven formation patterns drawn on it in bright red ink. The red of the ink was almost blinding, glowing with an intense hue.
A formation...? Before Qian Xing could fully process what was happening, a deafening explosion rang out.
The formation erupted in a burst of power.
In front of Qian Xing, a strong surge of spiritual energy erupted without warning, accompanied by a searing heat and a heart-wrenching pain that engulfed him entirely.
His Daoist robe was instantly incinerated, turning to ashes. The spiritual artifact, the Protective Heart Mirror, that he wore on his chest cracked, and the scorching wave washed over his face, disfiguring him. The force of the explosion threw him backward, and he crashed into several stalls before coming to a stop.
The street fell silent.
Several disciples of the Qian family, caught in the blast, lay on the ground, wailing in pain.
Dazhu and the other cultivators stared in shock at Mo Hua, who was crouched on the ground with his head covered, looking disheveled, and at Qian Xing, who was charred beyond recognition on the other side. For a moment, they were at a loss for words.
The sound of the explosion and the surge of spiritual energy also attracted the attention of nearby cultivators, and more and more of them rushed over to see what had happened.
(End of Chapter)
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