Out of courtesy, Xu Ziqing had only made a rough examination earlier before immediately withdrawing. He had seen the general extent of the damage, but Zhuo Hanyan would have to inspect the finer details herself from within.
Zhuo Hanyan immediately circulated her spiritual power and soon identified five acupoints where the meridians were most severely injured: Xinshu, Zhishi, Jianjing, Taiyuan, and Jiuwei.
After she pointed them out, Xu Ziqing sat cross-legged opposite her. Because she was a woman and several of the acupoints were in relatively private locations, he merely held his hand hovering above Xinshu rather than touching her skin.
Xu Ziqing then silently circulated his spiritual power. In an instant, a dense ball of green light gathered in his palm, pure and rich, overflowing with vitality.
The other cultivators were astonished.
They had already known someone with a single spiritual root must be extraordinary, but what they saw now still exceeded their expectations. Inevitably, a trace of envy arose in each heart. Fortunately, they quickly remembered Zhuo Hanyan’s injuries and suppressed the disturbance in their states of mind before it could become an inner demon.
Only Su Xin, who also possessed a single spiritual root, had no such trouble. He merely watched Zhuo Hanyan, then Xu Ziqing, staring anxiously and hoping with all his heart that his senior sister would recover.
Xu Ziqing had no room for those other thoughts. After entering the great world, he intended to join the Wuling Immortal Sect, where his friend Yun Lie’s sect lineage belonged. He probably would not be able to advance and retreat together with the Rogue Cultivator Alliance. Since meeting Su Xin, however, he had indeed benefited from the Alliance’s protection. Why not repay some of that kindness now? Naturally, he would do everything he could.
The cultivators could see that the green-robed youth possessed not only incomparably pure spiritual power but also extraordinarily fine control over it. He moved extremely quickly. The moment green light gathered in his palm, he sent it into one acupoint. His figure then blurred. Though he remained seated cross-legged, he had somehow shifted from directly in front of Zhuo Hanyan to her side, where he sent another cluster of green light into a second acupoint.
In only a short time, Xu Ziqing had circled Zhuo Hanyan several times. The instant she absorbed one cluster of green light, he immediately sent in the next without the slightest stinginess. Eventually, the others could see only his green silhouette flickering around her. The spheres of Yi-Wood spiritual power moved so quickly that they were almost impossible to follow.
After roughly two hours, Xu Ziqing’s movements finally began to slow.
Only then did Su Xin notice that cold sweat was already streaming down his forehead.
“Brother Ziqing, rest for a while,” Su Xin could not help saying, guilt rising in his heart.
Back when they encountered the blood demon, this brother had saved him several times. Later, Su Xin had invited him into the Rogue Cultivator Alliance with motives that had not been entirely pure. Those small favors the Alliance had provided could hardly compare. Now Su Xin genuinely regarded Xu Ziqing as a very good friend and elder brother, yet he had failed to notice Xu Ziqing’s condition in time. He could not help feeling uneasy.
Xu Ziqing drew a deep breath and smiled. “I’ll regulate my breathing for a little while.”
He had consumed a tremendous amount of spiritual power and had less than ten percent remaining. Even if he wanted to send more Yi-Wood power into Zhuo Hanyan, he no longer could. Without saying more, he laid down a restriction, closed his eyes, and entered meditation.
A third-grade spiritual vein truly was extraordinary. After only about an hour, Xu Ziqing’s dantian was full again and his spiritual power had completely recovered.
He opened his eyes and found every cultivator from the Rogue Cultivator Alliance looking at him. He could not help feeling somewhat surprised. Had something happened again while he was meditating?
Zhuo Hanyan’s expression, however, had already relaxed. She said, “Many thanks for your help, Fellow Daoist Xu. The vitality inside my body is now several times stronger than usual. Several critical acupoints have already recovered by more than half, and the other damaged meridians are gradually repairing themselves as well. This is all thanks to you. I expect I’ll be fully recovered by tomorrow. After that, forcing out the true essence Yan Boshang left behind should not be difficult.”
Hearing this, Xu Ziqing was quite pleased. “That’s excellent. My spiritual power has recovered, so I’ll send some more into you. We may as well finish this in one effort and allow Miss Zhuo to recover as soon as possible.”
This was precisely the time to strike while the iron was hot. Since Xu Ziqing offered on his own initiative, naturally none of the others objected. He had now done the Rogue Cultivator Alliance a great favor, and the faint barrier that had existed between him and the six besides Su Xin gradually dissolved.
Seeing this, Su Xin was naturally overjoyed.
Xu Ziqing immediately repeated the same process, sending another round of Yi-Wood spiritual power into Zhuo Hanyan. Again, more than half his spiritual power was consumed, but at last Zhuo Hanyan felt even more confident.
After finishing, Xu Ziqing chatted for a while with the others from the Rogue Cultivator Alliance before returning to his own cave abode. Only after laying a restriction over the entrance did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Exhausted, Xu Ziqing had no desire to meditate. Before forming a primordial spirit, overexerting the mind in this way placed a heavy burden on one’s mental energy. To avoid leaving hidden damage, he simply emptied his mind and fell asleep where he was.
After Xu Ziqing fell asleep, a figure suddenly flickered inside the chamber.
A white-robed man abruptly appeared in the cave and sat upright before the entrance.
Golden light flashed across the restriction. Under the moonlight, it looked especially cold and severe.
Around midnight.
The sky was pitch-black, and everything around was silent.
The steep mountain wall was smooth as a mirror, yet countless cave abodes dotted its surface like innumerable clear-sighted eyes. The many restrictions covering them emitted faint glimmers of light.
Suddenly, a dark shadow slipped from one cave. It used neither magical artifact nor spiritual power, moving only like a gecko as it climbed rapidly upward along the cliff.
Throughout the entire process, there was no sound at all. Even when the shadow passed directly by another cave abode, not a single person was disturbed.
Soon, the shadow reached the highest part of the cliff.
There were only a handful of caves here. Concealing his aura and holding his breath, the shadow raised a hand and pointed at the restriction over one of them. Yet the force of that finger sank away like an ox made of mud entering the sea and vanished without a trace.
The shadow was startled and immediately hid himself.
Nothing reacted within the cave. Relieved, the shadow pointed again, sending out a beam of invisible spiritual light. This beam was far stronger than the previous one and, this time, it truly was not swallowed by the restriction.
The spiritual light pierced the restriction. Suddenly, golden radiance flashed and an extraordinarily fierce stream of sword qi stabbed outward.
“Not good!” the shadow cried softly, sweeping his sleeve to block the golden light.
The sword qi was chillingly sharp. Though it failed to wound him, it pierced a tiny hole through his sleeve. The shadow immediately sensed that something was badly wrong. Abandoning all further calculations, he turned to flee.
But the next instant, icy sword qi struck again, carrying limitless killing intent. Under that vast pressure, the shadow’s soul trembled and he could not resist.
His spirit wavered for only that single instant, and the sword qi pierced straight through his brow and shattered his Purple Palace.
Inside the cave, the white-robed man glanced faintly toward the entrance, withdrew his finger, and closed his eyes without speaking.
The restriction returned to normal. Inside, the green-robed youth lying fully clothed on the floor wore a faint smile. His expression was peaceful, and he slept deeply.
The next day, the sky brightened.
While Xu Ziqing’s consciousness was still hazy, he heard bursts of noisy commotion and immediately sensed something strange.
He had clearly come to a world of cultivation. Nearly everyone around him was devoted to pursuing immortality. Why would there suddenly be such chaotic clamor, like something from the mortal world?
After struggling awake for a moment, he heard someone outside the restriction calling his name. Xu Ziqing startled and immediately sat up.
It was Su Xin calling from outside. But everyone had been somewhat exhausted after Zhuo Hanyan’s matter the night before, so Su Xin should not have come to disturb him. Zhuo Hanyan had not yet recovered either, so Su Xin ought not to have regained any interest in watching the martial contests.
Outside, Su Xin’s expression was extremely anxious and strange. Xu Ziqing’s heart gave a jolt. Without thinking further, he stood and removed the restriction.
He asked, “Brother Su, why are you so alarmed?”
Su Xin drew a breath, but his emotions were still unsettled. “Brother Ziqing, don’t ask yet. Come with me and you’ll understand.”
Xu Ziqing paused, then allowed Su Xin to pull him along and went outside with him.
Only after leaving the cave did Xu Ziqing realize it was not Su Xin alone. Many cultivators had gathered below the cliff, surrounding something he could not yet see.
Sensing the strangeness of the situation, Xu Ziqing immediately summoned a leaf beneath his feet. Together with Su Xin, he flew down and landed among the crowd.
Then Xu Ziqing saw what everyone was surrounding, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
It was a corpse.
The dead man appeared to be an elderly cultivator with white hair and beard. His eyes were wide open, his expression still marked by fear and uncertainty. But that was not what shocked Xu Ziqing. His gaze fell upon the small hole that pierced straight through the old man’s brow.
The hole was perfectly round. Very little blood had flowed from it, and the wound was smooth. It had clearly been pierced by sword qi.
More importantly, the lingering aura around that hole felt overwhelmingly familiar to Xu Ziqing. It was the sword qi of his closest friend, Yun Lie.
Only Yun Lie’s sword qi possessed such exquisite precision. No one else’s, not even Xu Zifeng’s, could be so clean and decisive while carrying such pure, icy, boundless killing intent.
Xu Ziqing did not dare show the slightest abnormality.
The people present were not merely those who had yet to reach Foundation Establishment. Several high-level cultivators had accompanied the disciples selected by spiritual roots, and what worried him most was the Golden Core Perfected One Tang Wenfei.
If Brother Yun’s existence were discovered by them… Xu Ziqing did not want to imagine what might happen.
“I recognize him. He’s an elder of the Boundless Sect!”
“That’s right, that’s right. I vaguely remember his surname was Fang…”
“But wasn’t Elder Fang an Essence Transformation expert? How could he have died so easily?”
“Exactly! There are clearly no signs of a fight here. It must have ended in a single exchange…”
“The person who used that sword qi was terrifyingly powerful. It pierced through his Purple Palace as well. No wonder Elder Fang couldn’t resist!”
“If Elder Fang couldn’t resist, we certainly can’t. If we don’t find this person and ask Senior Tang to take charge, aren’t all our lives at risk?”
“Hah. I’d rather know what Elder Fang was doing outside his cave in the middle of the night instead of cultivating. If he’d stayed where he belonged, could someone have broken into his cave? And even if they had, Elder Fang was an Essence Transformation expert. How could he have died without making any sound at all?”
“You mean Elder Fang came out at night with malicious intentions, and that’s why…”
“Shh! Quiet! The Boundless Sect disciples are still here!”
“Yes, yes. Quiet, quiet…”
The cultivators kept discussing the matter. Several disciples of the Boundless Sect stood beside Elder Fang’s corpse, preventing anyone from moving it or approaching. They glared furiously at the people speculating around them.
Listening to all this noisy conjecture, Xu Ziqing remained deeply puzzled.
Why had Brother Yun killed this person?