Chapter 34 - 65-73

Chapter 65

May 29th, sunny weather.

The temperature...scorching hot!

Qin Ran made preparations and left Yue Lai Inn with Li Shiyin to go to Li Ben Mountain to retrieve a sword.

It was unclear whether it was due to the weather, Xu Zhiye using a volcano to forge swords, or simply psychological issues, but master and disciple felt particularly hot today. Though they both brought smoke-dispelling beads, they still felt as if they were in a sea of flames.

At the foot of Li Ben Mountain, Qin Ran looked up the mountain and saw the clouds above had been roasted red, fiery red, blood-like, condensed in a clump at the peak.

This was not a good omen, like the great misfortune foretold by diviners, and Qin Ran's heart grew heavy as the mountain before him weighed down his heart.

"Check the equipment," he said to his silly female disciple.

Li Shiyin checked her universe pouch and all items were present.

"No issues," she replied.

"Today..." Qin Ran looked at Li Shiyin solemnly and said, "There will be battle, after battle. Are you ready?"

How could Li Shiyin fear battle? Her eyes burned with flaming desire for combat and she exclaimed, "Let them come!"

"Alright..." Qin Ran suddenly laughed and said, "You should say you're always ready."

"Huh?" Li Shiyin was puzzled.

To lighten the mood, Qin Ran shook his head without explaining. "Let's ascend the mountain!" he said.

Li Ben Mountain was an active volcano whose surface was covered in magma rock, completely bare and rocky without anything else. But ever since Xu Zhiye moved here, he had sealed off the crater, turning the entire volcano into his smelting furnace, preventing magma from spewing out again.

Over time, with the rich nutrients in the magma rock, some vegetation had surprisingly grown on Li Ben Mountain. The plants were not lush or tall, but they covered the brownish red magma rock, giving Li Ben Mountain a somewhat verdant appearance.

When master and disciple reached midway up the mountain, Qin Ran suddenly sensed something and gestured for Li Shiyin behind him to stop.

Li Shiyin halted in place as a hot wind blew over, originating from higher ground, sweeping over their faces, scalding hot, blowing past the short bushes at the wayside down the mountain.

Then, the ground started shaking, faintly at first with sand and debris dancing gently, but the tremors rapidly intensified, with loose rocks tumbling down from above. The vibrations grew stronger and stronger until it seemed the entire mountain was bouncing.

Qin Ran grabbed Li Shiyin and encased them in an air bubble, then broke contact with the ground and floated up slowly.

Below, the whole mountain was shaking, accompanied by a loud rumbling noise.

Suspended midair, Qin Ran watched the mountain bushes sway violently as if they were frenzied youths at a dance club.

At one point, the ground could take no more and split open with a crack, then more and more fissures opened up as if on cue, the whole mountain surface shattering like dry clay under immense heat.

Hot air erupted from the gaps and the surface vegetation swiftly withered then turned yellow and brittle...

The rumbling sounds continued, but at one point, they were pierced by the cry of a sword.

Then...a tremendous boom that shook heaven and earth resounded, with shockwaves rippling outward like substantial waves.

Qin Ran peered solemnly in the direction of the loud eruption, which was the mountain peak...

The top of Li Ben Mountain had exploded, spewing smoke and debris, but the situation remained unclear.

"Don't tell me the sword furnace blew up?" Qin Ran worried internally. "The sword forging failed?"

Just as he was thinking this, the wind and clouds underwent drastic change. The red clouds in the sky rapidly converged, seemingly absorbing the billowing smoke from the mountaintop, swiftly turning black, as more clouds gathered to blot out the sun, oppressively darkening the sky, whipped into a frenzy by violent winds...

"Heavenly tribulation?" Qin Ran's heart quivered as an unthinkable guess formed.

Between breaths, daylight turned to midnight, with stars emerging and converging beams of starlight piercing through the darkness, striking the smoke at the peak.

"Rumble..." Electric snakes writhed within the amassed black clouds as peals of thunder rumbled between heaven and earth.

At this time, Xu Zhiye's voice rang out from the mountaintop, "Name?!"

Li Shiyin knew he was asking for the sword's name. She stepped forward, placing her palm on the resilient air bubble membrane and looked back at Qin Ran.

Qin Ran returned her gaze but said nothing. Naturally, only the sword's master could name his or her own lifebound weapon.

Li Shiyin peered at the mountaintop again. She hesitated briefly before calling out loudly, "Mu Ran!"

"Mu Ran?" Xu Zhiye echoed. "Night has fallen, not bad!"

Li Shiyin opened her mouth, wanting to correct him that it wasn't that "mu ran", but ultimately lacked the courage.

Only...listening in, Qin Ran understood her meaning. Complex emotions surged forth, brimming his eyes as he watched the girl's back with an extremely complicated expression.

"Crack boom!"

A bolt of heavenly tribulation lightning split down from the clouds into the volcanic smoke.

The smoke was partially dispersed, vaguely revealing a glowing sword suspended within.

"Crack boom!"

Another lightning bolt struck down, blowing away more smoke. A glittering sword hovered in the darkness.

"Crack boom!"

A final lightning bolt crashed down from the clouds onto the sword, the electricity absorbed by the blade with purple currents continuously flickering along its length.

After the tribulation passed, the clouds gradually thinned, and day returned between breaths, with clearing skies and fading stars. Aside from the sword still swirling with lightning midair and the countless cracks splitting the ground, it was as if everything had reverted to normal.

Qin Ran took a deep breath, trying his best to calm his emotions. He manipulated the air bubble to fly straight from halfway up the mountain to the peak, stopping before Xu Zhiye's residence.

Xu Zhiye was in a separate courtyard, covered in dirt and grime, clearly weary.

He glanced at Qin Ran and said, "Don't do that again..."

Meaning not to directly fly over anymore.

Qin Ran nodded.

Xu Zhiye flung out a hand and the sword darting with electricity was drawn over into his palm. Gripping the blade, he looked at Qin Ran and said, "The quality of this sword has at least reached low-grade spirit weapon level. You know the limits of a Star Luminescence Stone, so the difference in value is what you owe me."

A Star Luminescence Stone could at best reach top-grade magic treasure level, never spirit weapon.

Qin Ran took out a porcelain bottle from his universe pouch and tossed it over. "Inside are nine medicinal pills called Fire-Banishing Pills. One pellet can eliminate all the fire toxicity within you. Nine pellets will last you many years."

Xu Zhiye caught it and cracked open the jade seal to inspect the contents, nodding in satisfaction. He popped one pill into his mouth.

Qin Ran fished out Xu Zhiye's sword-shaped token from his pouch, imprinting it with his spiritual sense before flinging it over as well. "At any time, you can bring this token to request me to concoct pills. As long as it's within my ability, I'll refine whatever you need free of charge."

Not everyone was as unprincipled as himself. Xu Zhiye understood this clearly. He accepted the token and probed the spiritual sense mark left by Qin Ran... Indeed, the fusion of this eccentric's token and Qin Ran's spiritual imprint was one-of-a-kind.

But he replied, "You're only at Foundation Establishment realm right now though."

What useful pills could someone at Foundation Establishment even produce? Was it worth a low-grade spirit weapon?

"I can advance to Core Formation whenever I wish," Qin Ran retorted confidently.

Xu Zhiye's eyes flashed sharply. This arrogant and confident youth! But he wasn't referring to Qin Ran's assurance that he could advance his cultivation realm anytime. Rather, it was his understanding towards cultivation, control over his boundaries, and confidence in his own potential.

Xu Zhiye stared at Qin Ran for a while before laughing loudly and flinging the sword to Li Shiyin. "Alright!"

Li Shiyin caught the blade. The electricity had vanished and what remained was an unearthly gorgeous sword. It appeared to be a frozen slice of the galaxy condensed into sword form, exquisite, dream-like, seemingly a work of art.

This was her sword. Examining the hilt, she saw the name engraved upon it. Mu Ran. Mu Ran Sword. She sighed softly to herself.

"This sword can be considered the representative work of my career..." Xu Zhiye said, "But precisely because of this, refining it will be even more difficult. Little girl, although it was forged for you and is now in your hands, whether or not it can become your personal sword is still uncertain. There is still a long way for you two to go."

Chapter 66

Xu Zhiye had an eccentric personality, while Qin Ran was not good at socializing, so after the handover, the two did not have much to say to each other.

Qin Ran bid farewell to Xu Zhiye soon, without even exchanging pleasantries, and went straight down the mountain with Li Shiyin.

Because of the name of the sword, the atmosphere between master and disciple was a little awkward, especially for Li Shiyin, who was even more unhappy because the sword was named incorrectly. The two did not speak all the way, remaining silent until they walked down the mountain and at the foot of the mountain, they saw Zhang Shan, Wang Wu and their good companions.

There were five of them total, four men and one woman, blocking the road ahead. They called themselves...

The Five Blade Killing Immortals!

There was Zhang Shan with the Golden Curse Sword, Wang Wu the Wild Flame Immortal wielding the Lion Heart Wild Flame Blade, the demon-slaying immortal Liu Er, the Thousand Swords Immortal Ma Ze who used a flying sword, and the Lotus Fairy Wu Qing who cultivated wood attribute techniques.

Qin Ran...did not recognize any of these five people! But he had done his homework these past two days.

Ever since Li Shiyin had let Zhang Shan and Wang Wu get away, Qin Ran had been on alert. He left a mark on Zhang Shan and Wang Wu, and when he encountered them again at the inn, Qin Ran marked them as enemies to be wary of.

It was very obvious now that these five people were here for them...

As for the Five Blade Killing Immortals, it was just a group made up of five scattered immortals...

The world of cultivation was extremely dangerous, so banding together provided warmth and also allowed them to...seize firewood from others. So using the term "gang" to describe them was quite apt.

"All five have come..." Qin Ran said to Li Shiyin, "It seems we have attracted their attention."

Li Shiyin also looked at the other side, focusing on Zhang Shan and Wang Wu, whom she had let go with her own hands. She was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I'm sorry, Master."

If she hadn't let Zhang Shan and Wang Wu go, this would not be happening now.

"After all, they are just five Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. No major impact," said Qin Ran, looking at Li Shiyin. "Consider it a lesson for the future."

At this moment, Wu Qing, the only female member of the Five Blade Killing Immortals, stepped forward with a smile. "Fellow cultivators, we come seeking only fortune, not harming lives."

This was the standard rhetoric of bandits. Li Shiyin and Qin Ran did not speak, only watching her.

"We want that sword..." Wu Qing pointed at the dream-like sword in Li Shiyin's hand and continued, "...as well as cultivation methods related to divine sense."

Divine sense? Only then did Qin Ran realize why Zhang Shan and Wang Wu had been following Li Shiyin and Long Qiqi the other day. He had assumed it was because of Li Shiyin's outstanding appearance.

After Wu Qing spoke, Ma Ze, the leader of the Five Blade Killing Immortals, suddenly pulled her back, hinting there was another demand. Only then did she remember to ask Qin Ran, "Are you an alchemist?"

Qin Ran nodded.

"Then we also want five Breakthrough Pills," said Wu Qing.

Qin Ran bowed politely and asked, "May I ask if there are any other demands?"

Wu Qing looked back at her four companions. Zhang Shan thought for a moment, then raised his hand and said, "More spirit stones would also be good..."

Before he could finish, Ma Ze slapped the back of his head and scolded, "Stupid pig, he's mocking us!"

Zhang Shan rubbed his head that Ma Ze had hit silly, carefully contemplated, then finally understood. He became angry, drew his sword from his back, and cursed, "Dare to mock us?!"

Ma Ze pushed him aside and walked to the front alongside Wu Qing. He said to Qin Ran, "Damn it, we offered you wine first. Since you don't drink, you'll take the punishment wine!"

With that, he held up his middle and index fingers on his right hand, flicked them forward, and the sword on his back flew out to hover in the air, pointing at the master and disciple. He continued, "Now, leave behind the sword and the universe bag. You may leave with your lives."

"When encountering this kind of situation, never be naive," Qin Ran took the chance to teach Li Shiyin. "They will not let us leave alive. In the world of cultivation, the motto is to eliminate the roots to avoid future troubles. Otherwise, how would we take revenge afterwards? How would our sect take revenge? Therefore, in situations like this, putting down your weapon means certain death."

He pointed at Ma Ze's flying sword hovering over his head, "That is the Flying Sword technique, the so-called Flying Sword technique that can take a person's head from thousands of miles away. I had wanted you to learn this originally.

"Now facing the enemy, what we should consider are the weaknesses of the Flying Sword technique. So what are the weaknesses? Close combat ability. Flying Sword cultivators focus on spiritual power cultivation, soul, divine sense, consciousness and mind cultivation, while neglecting fleshly body cultivation. Once they get into close combat, it's the path of death."

Seeing that the master and disciple were ignoring him and chatting away, using his group as teaching material, Ma Ze's expression became extremely ugly. He signaled to his companions, "Just kill them directly! With five of us and two of them, why the hell are we still going through these motions?!"

"I've been saying that all along!" Liu Er tore off his clothes, revealing rock-solid muscles, cursing, "It was you guys who insisted on all this fancy bullshit!"

"This is a body refining cultivator. His close combat ability and defense are very formidable. I don't know what his ranged means are. He will be your nemesis. I'll restrain him later. For now, the killing order is: the fire-attributed Wang Wu (because he restricts my power), the wood-attributed Wu Qing (their support), the flying sword user Ma Ze (afraid of close combat), the sword-wielding Zhang Shan, and finally Liu Er!" Qin Ran spoke rapidly as final instructions to Li Shiyin.

"Got it!" Li Shiyin put the Muran Sword into the Universe Bag and took out the Qingxing Sword. Gripping it tightly as she walked towards Zhang Shan, Wang Wu and Liu Er, the Qingxing Sword left its sheath and starlight sparkled on her body.

Behind her, Qin Ran raised his hand and a bubble shot out, enveloping Liu Er and carrying him into the air.

The bubble was extremely tough. Liu Er punched and kicked, deforming but not bursting it.

With one man isolated before the fight even began, Ma Ze's expression was ugly. Chanting sword incantations, the flying sword above his head shot towards the bubble.

Seeing this, Qin Ran's figure blurred. A watery humanoid leapt out from his body and flew to meet Ma Ze's sword.

The sword stabbed straight in but the watery man did not dodge, letting it pierce his body. Then he reacted swiftly, clenching his hand to trap the flying sword within himself.

Now it was not just one man isolated, but one isolated and one disarmed.

Li Shiyin glanced skyward. Her master had done his part, now it was up to her...

Watching Zhang Shan come at her with his sword and the fiery Wang Wu, the war blood of the Li family boiled within her. Fighting spirit ignited in her eyes!

Chapter 67

Last time I was careless and did not cast any techniques beforehand, resulting in being completely overwhelmed by Li Shiyin's fierce barrage of heavy attacks from the very start without any room to fight back. But it won't happen again this time...

Zhang Shan's sword-wielding hand faintly gleamed like metal. He had already activated some kind of technique, integrating himself with the sword to form a whole entity, allowing him to wield the sword like an arm extension while amplifying his strength, making him stronger than before!

"Die!" He let out a roar as his sword clashed with Li Shiyin's.

However...

Despite having casted a technique and undergoing a tremendous boost in his battle prowess, the outcome was still the same as last time.

An extremely terrifying force was transmitted through his sword. He was unable to resist it as the sword pulled his hand, his hand pulled his body, and his body lost balance...

It was even worse than last time. Last time, he had exchanged dozens of moves with his opponent before being defeated. But this time, he did not even manage to complete a single exchange.

"Why?" He was very puzzled. His techniques, swordsmanship and strength had all improved, so why was it still inferior compared to last time?

He was unaware that in terms of pure physical prowess, rogue cultivators like him would still fall far short of Li Shiyin's Foundation Establishment Stage physique even after cultivating for another hundred years.

It was an issue of resources. They would not have access to as many spiritual medicines to consume, an alchemist specially refining body-enhancing medicinal baths for them, or someone finding top-tier cultivation methods for them. Coupled with inferior talent, they were completely outmatched in all aspects.

Moreover, not only had he utilized a technique during this clash, Li Shiyin had also activated her own technique. And Li Shiyin's Starlight Technique she used was more powerful than his...

So how could he possibly win?

With a sword strike that disrupted Zhang Shan's center of gravity, Li Shiyin remembered her master's teachings to kill Wang Wu first instead of Zhang Shan. She then turned around and delivered a high kick, capitalizing on Zhang Shan's unsteady footing to land a kick squarely on his face that sent him flying out of the battlefield. Her attention shifted forward as she now faced Wang Wu directly.

"Zhang Shan didn't even last a move?" Wang Wu's heart skipped a beat.

But he would not retreat. He quickly stimulated his magic power, igniting flames on his huge blade as he charged at Li Shiyin. The two closed in on each other, but he suddenly opened his mouth wide at Li Shiyin instead.

"Roar!!"

At that instant, his head seemed to transform into a lion's as he let out a lion's roar!

Caught off guard by this sudden lion's roar, Li Shiyin failed to evade it and was instantly dazed by the shockwave.

"Hmph!" Wang Wu let out a cold humph. Gripping his blade with both hands, he pounced forward with his entire body cloaked in flames, making him resemble a flaming lion. This pounce was the lion's ferocious pounce!

"It's over!" He roared.

"No, it's still far from over." Qin Ran sighed inwardly. His divine sense shot out from his body, heavily slamming Wang Wu.

"Ah!"

So somehow, while he was about to hack down on Li Shiyin, Wang Wu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. His pouncing body froze in mid-air, completely losing control before crashing heavily into the ground.

Only then did Li Shiyin come to her senses. She saw Wang Wu collapsed on the ground not far ahead and felt cold sweat trickling within. She turned to check on her master and saw him staring intently into the sky, fully focused on Ma Ze's flying sword and Liu Er as sweat continuously flowed down his cheeks. Perhaps her master was pushed to the limit by trying to help her.

She looked up at the sky again and saw the water-bound sword still trembling violently on the verge of breaking free, while Liu Er thrashed furiously inside the bubble... Her master was already doing his utmost to restrict those two. Yet she still relied on her master for help...

Li Shiyin clenched her teeth as the starlight around her grew brighter. Her sword pierced toward Wang Wu who was lying prone.

Having just regained consciousness in the nick of time, Wang Wu barely dodged the tip of her sword and counterattacked by swinging his blade at Li Shiyin's head. Li Shiyin could only retreat while Wang Wu got back on his feet.

Still enveloped in flames, he saw another sword slash coming from Li Shiyin. Having learned from Zhang Shan's mistake, he did not dare to clash directly and quickly evaded. He was determined to entangle and outmaneuver her instead.

Wang Wu was cunning. He also noticed the circumstances on the battlefield. That man was single-handedly keeping both his boss and body cultivator Liu Er occupied and seemed to be barely hanging on. If he couldn't quickly defeat this girl and Zhang Shan, then... ultimate victory would be theirs instead!

Hence, in the following battle, the heavy and forceful Li Shiyin aggressively pressed on with fierce attacks while Wang Wu nimbly retreated with quick steps. Wang Wu gave ground wherever possible and skillfully deflected or mitigated Li Shiyin's strikes whenever retreat was not an option, never opting for head-on clashes.

As Li Shiyin was still young and inexperienced, she soon fell into his trap and got increasingly frustrated and disarrayed the more they fought. In particular, when she noticed her master's body starting to tremble at one point, a lapse in attention allowed Wang Wu to kick her.

Her offensive momentum began faltering after that as the formerly weaker and slower Wang Wu started seizing the initiative to attack.

The sound of intersecting blades grew louder and more frequent. Li Shiyin's mind was thrown into turmoil.

So when she stepped onto some wild shrubs on the ground, she failed to realize they were unusual.

These shrubs sprang to life swiftly, coiling around to tightly bind the foot that had stepped on them, immobilizing her in place!

"What!" Li Shiyin froze up in frightened surprise. What was happening?

She immediately looked to the enemy and saw Wu Qing standing next to Ma Ze. The woman she had always dismissed as negligible! The supposed feminine accessory!

Wood attribute techniques. She recalled her master's words that this woman possessed a Wood Spirit Root and could control plants...

She further noticed some creeping vines on the ground also beginning to stir as though they were snakes, slithering towards her.

Wang Wu's attacks still maintained relentless pressure...

And the Zhang Shan who was previously blasted away by her had already been treated and fully healed by Wu Qing, now standing by Wu Qing's side.

Li Shiyin felt her heart sink bit by bit.

"It's over..." she thought.

Looking at his silly disciple up ahead, Qin Ran let his trembling act drop and stopped squeezing out sweat forcibly. There seemed to be traces of anxiety in his eyes. Wasn't the pressure he created for his disciple a bit too much for her first venture down the mountain? His body flickered as he was about to summon another water clone to help...

But it was right at this moment!

A loud "swish" rang out.

With all her strength behind it, Li Shiyin forced Wang Wu back with a heavy sword swing. Aiming her glowing sword tip squarely at the stationary Wu Qing from afar...

A beam of starlight fired off at lightning speed before Wang Wu and Zhang Shan could react, hitting Wu Qing right in her chest to puncture a bowl-sized, blood-spurting hole!

"Wu Qing!" Zhang Shan shrieked in alarm as he rushed to support Wu Qing.

As Wu Qing cultivated wood attribute techniques, her vitality was tenacious. Even with a hole punctured through her chest, she was not dead yet. Instead, the blood flow quickly stopped as new flesh sprouted, already working to mend the wound.

"No..." she wheezed out, "...Don't mind me, go help Wang Wu!"

Zhang Shan looked back to see Wang Wu screaming out an "Ah!" as the tip of a sword withdrew from his turned back, leaving a bleeding stab wound.

"Wang Wu is injured?" His heart convulsed in horror. Weren't Wang Wu and that girl still exchanging moves just now with Wang Wu having the upper hand?

In the next moment, chaotic flashes of starlight and a flurry of swords...

"Shua...Shua...Shua..."

Blood sprayed everywhere!

In but an instant, countless additional sword wounds appeared on Wang Wu's body.

"Wang Wu!" His anguished cries rang out as he rushed back desperately.

Chapter 68

At the beginning, Wang Wu knew that his actual combat power was inferior to Li Shiyin's, so he decisively used the tactic of dragging the battle, just entangling Li Shiyin without directly confronting her head-on, like a quagmire, trapping Li Shiyin and buying time while waiting for her to make a mistake.

His strategy worked very well. Seeing that Qin Ran could not hold on any longer, Li Shiyin did become anxious and started to make mistakes...

But he did not take into account that some people collapse under pressure, while others gradually become stronger as the pressure mounts. Brought back from the brink of death, when the pressure reaches a certain level, they have an awakening.

Li Shiyin was this kind of person.

Some people collapse under pressure, their bodies smashed to pieces beyond recovery. Others tear through the pressure, rising up to meet the challenge, breaking out of their cocoon like a butterfly!

Under the tremendous pressure, Li Shiyin instead found a way to break the deadlock. With great courage, she used her own combat power to take out the opponent's support.

One must understand, she was still fighting with Wang Wu. Recklessly shooting out Starlight Beam greatly weakened her own combat power. It was an extremely dangerous maneuver. The slightest mistake would give Wang Wu a chance to seize the opportunity and take her life.

Yet she did it anyway!

And she succeeded!

Then Wu Qing was heavily injured and fell to the ground, fate unknown. Wang Wu lost his cool!

He even took the initiative to attack several times, forgetting that his actual combat power was far from comparable to Li Shiyin's. Even without the boost from Calling Starlight now, he was still no match for her. He forgot about that and attacked on his own initiative.

But what about Li Shiyin?

When she noticed Wang Wu was losing his composure, she actually started pretending to be weak on purpose, continuing to lure Wang Wu to attack.

Wang Wu attacked frantically. The angry roars of the Lionheart Flame Beast, the fiery rage of his great blade slashing out, he forced Li Shiyin back with slash after slash. The more she retreated, the more he advanced, believing he had the advantage and was suppressing Li Shiyin. The more he advanced, the more he felt that victory was imminent...He must avenge Wu Qing; he must distinguish himself!

And so...

He made a fatal mistake. Li Shiyin caught a huge opening and ran him through with her sword!

Then it was a downpour of blades, a wild storm. Seeing Li Shiyin's face like frost, devoid of mercy, he no longer had the strength to lift his blade. Covered in blood, his blade dropped to the ground as he...

Died!

Li Shiyin sent Wang Wu on his way, as her master had instructed!

On the gravel wasteland beneath the volcano, Wang Wu's corpse lay among the hardy weeds, soaked in blood. The fierce winds blew as the blood-soaked Li Shiyin appeared before Zhang Shan.

Zhang Shan looked at the girl in front of him. The scorching winds of Li Ben Mountain made him feel cold. He realized this girl was different than the innocent and easily fooled girl from two days ago.

Gripping his sword, he unconsciously took a step back.

Two days ago, she was a naive and romantic genius from a great sect. Now, she was a berserk reaper emerged from hell itself!

What had happened to her these past two days?

She had forged a sword in that time.

Time passed, the starlight returned, and the blood-soaked Li Shiyin, bathed in starlight, went on the attack against Zhang Shan once more. Zhang Shan had already been scared out of his wits. Unable to withstand two exchanges of blows, he was again bisected by Li Shiyin's sword, bringing her face to face with Wu Qing and Ma Ze.

"Wu Qing uses the wood element..."

She remembered her master's words, took out an Earth Flame Pill from her Universe Bag, stirred her mystic power, and activated the unseal rune. The Earth Flame Pill shot out and exploded between Wu Qing and Ma Ze. In an instant, scorching flames blasted forth, an astonishing fiery storm surged out.

Seeing that his foolish disciple finally used an external object, Qin Ran felt very gratified. Then...

He relaxed his control of the Air Water Man, allowing Ma Ze to retrieve his sword.

In the next moment, the scorched Ma Ze, still aflame, flew out from the fire. Riding his sword, he rose into the air, one foot on the sword, another sword floating above his head. Though burned, the rage still blazed in his eyes, now bloodshot, an extremely terrifying sight.

Seeing Ma Ze like this, Qin Ran nodded to himself, "It seems Wu Qing is already dead."

"I will take you with me!" Ma Ze roared furiously. Grasping his twin swords, he activated the floating sword above his head, "Ten Thousand Swords Spell!"

In a flash, the sword above his head quivered and shook out illusory shadows. Lose focus for a second, and a myriad of swords would hover in the air, some real, some false, some solid, some ephemeral. Dizzying to behold, it was as if ten thousand sword shadows filled the sky.

"Ten Thousand Swords Spell?" Qin Ran thought to himself, "No wonder he is called the Thousand Swords Immortal."

He looked again towards Li Shiyin, wanting to see how this foolish disciple would break this deadlock.

He saw that the Li Shiyin on the ground looked up at the dense expanse of swords in the sky, all pointed towards her, preternaturally sharp, as if they were made of sword energy. She watched them for a few seconds, then the corners of her mouth curled up mockingly.

"Master always said I was a fool, but it looks to me like the one in the sky is the real fool..." she thought. "Clearly only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, yet still trying to pull off ten thousand sword energies. Worried that others don't know his sword energies are fake."

Thinking this, the starlight around her body grew more concentrated. She rotated her sword-wielding wrist, then abruptly turned back, putting her full strength behind throwing her Qingxing Sword directly at Ma Ze's face.

Seeing that the woman on the ground was not only unafraid of his sword formation, but instead threw her own sword to attack him, Ma Ze let out a cold laugh. "Then go to your death!"

He focused all of his swords together and collided with the oncoming Qingxing Sword.

But unfortunately, as Li Shiyin had assessed, he really was a fool. Not only did he fail to fool anyone else, but he had fooled himself.

When you fool enough people, you start to believe your own swords are real sword energies. He forgot that due to his incomplete mastery of sword techniques, the dispersed swords were actually ninety percent illusory swords.

So when the Qingxing Sword collided with the Ten Thousand Swords, it was as if they collided with thin air. Without slowing in the slightest, only at the very end, right as it reached Ma Ze's face, was there a hint of resistance. But how could Ma Ze resist Li Shiyin's monstrous strength?

The Qingxing Sword plunged through Ma Ze's abdomen, leaving only the hilt protruding.

Qin Ran watched as Ma Ze fell from the sky and recalled that night when amidst the wolf pack, Li Shiyin precisely shot the wolf king. So it was no fluke, but another example of his foolish disciple's skill.

His foolish disciple had taken out another one. Qin Ran said nothing, circulating his mystic power to weaken the defensive bubble in the air. Liu Er tore through the bubble and plummeted from midair, landing right in front of Li Shiyin.

"And another one..." Li Shiyin sighed.

One after another, one after another, each one stronger than the last...

Moreover, carefully thinking back, she had always fought them one-on-one.

Li Shiyin was no fool. Staring at the man before her, his expression grieved and enraged as if he would swallow her alive, she finally understood everything was unfolding according to her master's plan.

The entire situation was under her master's control. In fact, her master had at least nine methods to deal with these five people, not even counting the poison arrays beneath Li Ben Mountain that hadn't even been activated yet.

This was her master deliberately controlling things, using these five people as experience treasures for her.

"Is it also part of master's plan that I now have to fight this physique cultivator Liu Er barehanded without my sword?" Li Shiyin had to wonder.

"Furious Immortal Demon Fist!!"

The Liu Er before her roared to the heavens. Jet black skin covered his bulging muscles and protruding veins, filling his whole body with berserk power. His figure flickered as he shot straight at Li Shiyin.

"Starlight..." Li Shiyin softly exhaled, no longer thinking about anything else. The flickering starlight around her body intensified, as if starfire had ignited. Striding to meet Liu Er's fist head-on, her own fist smashed out!

Bang!

Like metal on stone, a muffled thud rang out across the wilderness...

Chapter 69

The battle between people...or rather battles between intelligent creatures, the combat power and apparent strength is just one of the factors that determine victory and defeat. Responding in real-time, environmental factors, wisdom and strategy, these are even more important than pure combat power.

Cultivators are also people, intelligent creatures. Their battles also follow these principles.

It's not that a Foundation Establishment cultivator who encounters a Golden Core cultivator is certainly doomed to die. It's just that the Golden Core cultivator has a greater chance of winning. However, chances going backwards from the result don't mean anything.

Among the Five Blade Killing Immortals, the one with the greatest apparent strength was naturally Ma Ze, otherwise he wouldn't have been the boss. But unfortunately, he flew up into the air as a target and was shot dead by Li Shiyin's flying sword. Next was Wang Wu, but he lost his composure and was actually the first to die. Only then was it Liu Er...

Liu Er practiced Body Cultivation, strengthening his physical body. To put it rudely, he was just a big dumb brute, a living target and punching bag that could only take hits...

No matter how great your skills, you still fear the kitchen knife. No matter how strong your body, you will still eventually be penetrated by sword arts.

Yet among these five people, only Liu Er could fight Li Shiyin head-on, battling for the longest time and most intensely. The two exchanged moves blow for blow, accidentally going on for over a hundred moves.

It wasn't that Liu Er was as strong as Li Shiyin. It was that after Li Shiyin lost her sword, she couldn't break through Liu Er's defense. Her fists and feet all landed solidly on Liu Er, but he just wasn't injured...

Qin Ran watched from the side. Seeing that Li Shiyin always failed to penetrate the defense, he pointed out strategically:

"Shiyin, the amount of harm caused by using a stick, hammer, or spear with the same strength is different. Likewise, ramming with your body, punching with your hand, and focusing all strength into your fist when punching causes different degrees of harm."

Both sides of the battle could hear Qin Ran's words, but Liu Er could only wonder in his head: "What the hell is he talking about?" Whereas Li Shiyin could gain some insight.

"Normally when you use strength, it's in your body, legs, waist, hands. But if you can gather all strength into one point, focus it into your fist, and explode all your power when punching with your fist..." What Qin Ran talked about was modern boxing theory, but he was just parroting others' words. He didn't actually know how. "Punching with your fist always hurts more than slapping with your palm."

Qin Ran knew what it was about, but couldn't do it himself. Liu Er could tell it was important stuff, but didn't understand. Only Li Shiyin understood as she often listened to Qin Ran's lessons. Gaining insight...

She drew back her fist with starlight gathering onto it, her fist glowing like the sun. She punched out, the starlight exploding as it hit Liu Er...

Bang!

Liu Er was blasted flying as blood sprayed wildly. The place where Li Shiyin's fist hit obviously caved in.

He crashed onto the ground, still not understanding what profound truths were in Qin Ran's words.

Li Shiyin chased over and flew up, kicking and breaking his neck.

At this point, apart from Zhang Shan, four of the Five Blade Killing Immortals were dead, all killed by Li Shiyin.

After killing Liu Er, Li Shiyin stood in place as her surging blood gradually calmed and her wildly beating heart slowly settled. Her cruel mind slowly cleared. She looked down at Liu Er, thinking: "I killed another person. I killed four people in one breath."

Qin Ran walked over. Looking at Li Shiyin, he was silent for a while without comforting her. Instead, devoid of emotion, he ordered: "Go take your sword and finish them off, make sure they're really dead."

Li Shiyin looked back at him, her face icy cold, while Qin Ran was impassive.

After a long while, Li Shiyin calmed her emotions. She went to find Ma Ze, drew out her sword, then carried Ma Ze in one hand and the Qingxing Sword in the other towards Qin Ran.

Without speaking, she silently sliced Ma Ze's neck and threw him next to Liu Er. Then she slashed Liu Er's neck with her sword.

"There are still two left," said Qin Ran.

So Li Shiyin retrieved Wu Qing and Wang Wu, giving them each an extra sword strike. Wu Qing had already been burned into charcoal by the Earth Core Flame beyond recognition, but she still brought him before Qin Ran and stabbed him once with her sword.

Seeing Li Shiyin finish, Qin Ran raised his hand again, enveloping the pretending-to-be-dead Zhang Shan in an air bubble and bringing him before Li Shiyin, saying: "Kill him too."

"Ah!" Zhang Shan immediately woke up in fright. He flipped over and kneeled down weeping. "Don't kill me, please spare me!!"

"Master!" Li Shiyin shouted angrily at Qin Ran.

Qin Ran was calmly silent.

At first, Li Shiyin felt Qin Ran was like a nice neighborly big brother, very gentle and considerate. Gradually, she discovered this big brother had a somewhat sinister side, but he was also very knowledgeable, gentle and refined. Later, she found he was very cautious with a deeply hidden terror in his heart, evoking compassion.

Now she felt her Master was terrifying.

Master always said the cultivation world was dangerous, sinister and terrifying, but perhaps what was terrifying wasn't the cultivation world itself, but Master! This mentally twisted to the point of abnormality, pathologically cautious Master!

Her sword thrusted forward, piercing through the air bubble membrane and Zhang Shan's heart. Zhang Shan's weeping pleas instantly stopped.

"You're a devil!" she said.

She withdrew the Qingxing Sword into its sheath and walked away.

"Stop!" Qin Ran shouted from behind.

She stopped in her tracks.

Qin Ran took out corpse-erasing powder from his Universe Bag and held it out to Li Shiyin, saying: "Destroy the corpses, eliminate all traces."

Li Shiyin took a deep breath, gritting her teeth as she looked up to the blood-red clouds in the sky.

She turned back, stepped forward and forcefully snatched the corpse-erasing powder from Qin Ran, scattering it onto the corpses.

She watched as the powder corroded the bodies, as if an invisible monster in space was gnawing away at them. The corpses disappeared bit by bit until only a pile of clothes remained.

"Burn the clothes," said Qin Ran. "Give me your Universe Bag."

So Li Shiyin burned all the clothes, gathering up everything into the Universe Bag and flinging it at Qin Ran.

Qin Ran modified the Universe Bag's space formations, annihilating it with spatial forces.

"This is what must be done after killing. All remnants like the corpses and belongings must be completely destroyed. Don't be greedy for the treasures inside the Universe Bag," lectured Qin Ran. "Don't leave any clues."

Li Shiyin watched the burning clothes without saying a word, an icy expression on her face.

"After battle, a sufficiently safe location must be quickly found to adjust your condition until the next battle that could happen anytime!" Qin Ran continued.

The flames reflecting in Li Shiyin's eyes, she still didn't speak.

Qin Ran pitied and sighed inwardly, but outwardly he summoned a ball of water pouring down on Li Shiyin's head, coldly saying: "At the same time, cleanse yourself of foreign objects like bloodstains, wounds, markings etc."

Li Shiyin was drenched, her smooth long hair plastered wetly to her face and back. She didn't circulate her arts to dry herself either, just standing there silently.

"The cultivation world is like this. Either don't attack, or do things decisively," Qin Ran finally sighed. "You don't want to kill people, but you have to protect yourself well."

At this point, he also fell silent.

Master and disciple, Li Shiyin broodingly watching the fire while Qin Ran silently watched Li Shiyin. Neither spoke, the atmosphere silent yet terrifying.

Until the clothes finished burning and the fire disappeared, Qin Ran sensed something and looked up into the distant sky.

Two black dots appeared in the sky. Someone was flying over.

He hastily took out Great Redemption Pills and Origin Recovery Pills from his Universe Bag, holding them out to Li Shiyin.

Li Shiyin didn't take the pills, also looking over.

Two people flew over there, two women - one girl and one mature woman. The girl was nobly beautiful while the woman was gracefully alluring. Flying slowly from the distant sky, they gradually became clear, like heavenly fairies, charming and graceful.

"Take the pills..." said Qin Ran. "Prepare for the next battle."

"An even more difficult battle!"

Chapter 70

Zhao Yaqing and her daoist protector flew over and stopped in mid-air in front of Qin Ran and Li Shiyin, with no intention of landing on the ground.

"Miss Shiyin..." Zhao Yaqing looked down condescendingly at Li Shiyin from mid-air, carrying some noble temperament. She smiled and her tone was very mild, but because of the relative positions of the two, she could not give people any affinity at all. She said to Li Shiyin,

"Just now I saw an anomaly from afar in this direction, Miss Shiyin's innate sword must have come out of the furnace. To tell you the truth, although I entered the world of cultivating immortals a few years earlier than Miss Shiyin, I have not yet seen an innate sword that needed to cross the celestial tribulation. Could Miss Shiyin lend me the sword to take a look?"

However, Li Shiyin was no fool. She could tell at a glance that although this person was disguised, she had also come to rob the sword. That is to say, when Zhao Yaqing greeted her the other day, it was in preparation to rob the sword today.

She replied coldly, "I won't lend it!"

"Sister Shiyin, we have been good friends for many years. It's just to take a look at the innate sword. Why does sister Shiyin have to be so wary?" Zhao Yaqing said.

"Who is good friends with you?" Li Shiyin sneered. She extremely disliked this kind of hypocritical person with a belly full of evil intentions, just like her master.

She disdainfully said, "Calling so affectionately, in fact you just came to rob the sword, right? If you want to rob it, then come down and fight me for it! If you win, you can take it. Acting so high and mighty and saying so much nonsense!"

Zhao Yaqing did come to rob the sword, and she came at just the right time. She had been watching from afar and hurried over after seeing Wu Li Xian's failure, at just the time when Li Shiyin and her apprentice had finished a battle and did not have time to catch their breath. But she was a noble person with good manners, so how could she keep words like robbery and killing in her mouth all the time?

Even for robbery, some justification had to be found, some elegance maintained, some reasonableness kept.

Hearing Li Shiyin say such words, she immediately looked down on her in her heart and mocked her, as expected of a general's descendant, so vulgar and low.

"Sister Shiyin really, wants to get violent with others again..." She had really forgotten that she was beaten by Li Shiyin three years ago. She laughed and said, "Still as heroic as ever."

"Are you coming down or not?" Li Shiyin said impatiently. "If not, we're leaving."

"Ha ha ha..." Zhao Yaqing laughed elegantly, glanced at her protector on the left, glanced down at Qin Ran below, and maintained her graceful demeanor. She said, "It seems sister Shiyin really wants to discuss and compete in the dao with me. It just so happens that in the past three years I have also been concentrating on cultivating, and learned some exquisite techniques. So let me cross hands with sister Shiyin to exchange pointers."

She took out a magnificently styled sword from her Universe Bag and said to Li Shiyin, "This is a magic weapon grade treasure sword, named..." She seemed to have forgotten, glanced at the hilt of the sword, and continued, "named Snow Pear Flower."

A magic weapon grade treasure sword? Li Shiyin took a close look at the sword, rolled her eyes, a low grade magic weapon is a low grade magic weapon, and she calls it a magic weapon grade treasure sword.

She raised up her Qingxing Sword but did not say anything.

"This move is called Colorful Clouds Chasing the Sun!" Zhao Yaqing seemed to have great martial prowess. She danced a beautiful sword maneuver elegantly in midair, called out the name of the move to warn Li Shiyin, then sent a sword flying over from midair.

Wearing a light blue long skirt, with her sash fluttering, when this sword came, clouds arose and mist came with it, following behind her, making her seem like a heavenly fairy. This sword was also like clouds and fog, unfathomable, making it difficult for people to respond.

Since Zhao Yaqing wanted to come down to engage in frontal combat with Li Shiyin, Qin Ran took out a Thunder Tribulation Pill from his Universe Bag and held it in his hand to be prepared. He looked up at the protector in midair. At this time, the protector had also drawn out his sword and was vigilant towards him. Qin Ran smiled and tossed the Thunder Tribulation Pill at the protector, then retreated some distance to make space for Li Shiyin and Zhao Yaqing.

Qin Ran and the protector's intentions were very clear. Zhao Yaqing and Li Shiyin were juniors, and their contention would stop between them.

And they both had great confidence in their own disciple.

Needless to say, Zhao Yaqing's cultivation was higher than Li Shiyin's, she had mastered more techniques than Li Shiyin, and she had cultivated longer than Li Shiyin. No matter how you looked at it, she could not lose.

While in Qin Ran's eyes, although Zhao Yaqing's cultivation was high and her techniques exquisite, from this move Colorful Clouds Chasing the Sun, it could be seen that her cultivation was actually superficial. And this little girl Li Shiyin's talent for combat was probably something Zhao Yaqing could not catch up to even on horseback.

If it was a competition in poetry or literary grace, he would have to worry for Li Shiyin, but in fighting...

Zhao Yaqing had pulled herself into Li Shiyin's domain to compete with her.

This sword came from the sky, erratic and unpredictable. Li Shiyin could not find the real thing, knowing that she could not take this sword. So she raised her sword, only pretending to meet the move, then flashed her body to dodge when the sword arrived.

"Shhh..."

This sword slashed into the ground. The sound of the sword edge slashing the ground was like the sound of slicing through the air.

Li Shiyin looked back and saw a long gash and a ten-zhang sized dent on the brown magma ground. The gash was cut out by the sword, and the dent was smashed out by the cloud.

Seeing this scene, Li Shiyin looked back at Zhao Yaqing and saw a smug look of satisfaction on Zhao Yaqing's face. She knew Zhao Yaqing was very pleased with the might of this move. Li Shiyin thought disdainfully to herself that the arrogant girl's control of power was so poor that she would punish her to dig a lake for a month.

Zhao Yaqing pursued with her sword, carrying an arrogant smile. This sword could be sensed, and as Li Shiyin turned around to block it, she warded off this sword.

It seemed that kind of erratic moves could not be used casually. Li Shiyin knew the depth of it in her heart, so she attacked with her sword.

The two beautiful girls fought beautifully in long skirts and swords. There were constant pleasant shouts and the crisp sound of clashing treasure swords. It was actually an artistic scene.

In midair, as Zhao Yaqing's protector watched the two women fighting, she gradually frowned. She saw clearly that Zhao Yaqing was at a disadvantage! Zhao Yaqing was superior in cultivation and strength and speed to Li Shiyin, but her combat skills were far too lacking compared to Li Shiyin...

Compared to Li Shiyin, Zhao Yaqing simply did not know how to fight!

As the battle progressed, Li Shiyin also gradually figured out Zhao Yaqing's depth. This young miss is just a young miss, gentle and delicate. Where would she know how to fight? Gradually, she began to take the initiative and control the situation. Her sword moves were aggressive and her offensive was sharp.

It was very strange. Although her own cultivation was higher and her sword techniques more exquisite, Zhao Yaqing found that she was actually at a disadvantage, and was gradually being led by Li Shiyin's rhythm.

This would not do... Zhao Yaqing's eyebrows wrinkled. She displayed her movement techniques, making her form erratic and unpredictable.

"I have cultivated for several more years after all. My metaphysical arts surpass yours!" She laughed and said, "Little sister, how do you like my Wandering Cloud Dance Steps?"

Zhao Yaqing's figure became unpredictable again. Li Shiyin attacked several times but all hit empty air. This gave Li Shiyin the feeling of punching cotton—very uncomfortable.

"Not bad, being able to run is also an advantage," she replied.

Li Shiyin had not learned body movement techniques yet so she could not catch up to Zhao Yaqing and could not hit her. She gradually lost her advantage and fell into a disadvantage.

"Humph!" She told herself to keep calm. Master had said that only by keeping calm can one find the way to break out of a situation.

Since she could not catch up, then don't chase. She soon thought of meeting the ever-changing with the unchanging. No matter how Zhao Yaqing ran, she still had to attack to beat her in the end.

She unfolded her Starlight Guidance Technique and started defending.

Then Zhao Yaqing was able to fully display her movement techniques, unleashing moves as she pleased around Li Shiyin.

But after more than a dozen moves, Zhao Yaqing found the problem—she could attack freely and held the initiative, but it seemed Li Shiyin had activated some technique. Her strength and speed had greatly increased. Every time she attacked, she would be blocked by Li Shiyin, and then their swords clashed...

Zhao Yaqing found her own hand going numb!

"Such brute force from a fool..." She cursed inwardly, but still had to pull away to activate new techniques again.

"Sword Moving Clouds and Rain!" She shouted lightly, dancing her sword. Wind rose, blowing at her sword. The swaying sword gathered clouds. She pointed forward and the wind blew the clouds above Li Shiyin's head, and it started raining...

But it was not rain, but sword after sword!

"Can't win so you cheat?" Li Shiyin scolded. She quickly spurred her magic power to flee, and swung her Qingxing Sword to block away all the swords falling from the clouds.

But the cloud had locked onto her and chased along with her.

"Trying to cheat, are we?" She was furious in her heart, "I can also attack from afar!"

Thinking thus, starlight began to coalesce on her sword...

"Foolish child, are you going to shoot out the starlight so quickly?" Qin Ran frowned.

But he saw Li Shiyin wave her sword and slap it on a drop of rain sword, dispersing that rain sword. It did not completely disperse, instead all flying towards Zhao Yaqing. Every droplet of the dispersing rain sword elongated into a sword.

"It's not the power of stars..." Qin Ran was dumbfounded, murmuring, "It's Sword Qi!"

Chapter 71

"No!" Zhao Yaqing's guardian's mind was greatly shaken as she looked at the droplets flying towards Zhao Yaqing and urgently shouted, "Be careful, that's sword qi!"

"Sword qi?" Upon hearing about sword qi, Zhao Yaqing was stunned for a moment. Two junior cultivators at the foundation building stage fighting, how could something like sword qi appear?!

But when the sword qi approached, its sharpness pressing against her skin, she knew this really was sword qi. She hurriedly used a technique: "Layer Cloud Protects Body!"

Layers of pure white clouds emerged from her body, protecting her.

The water droplets carrying Li Shiyin's initially comprehended sword qi dripped and smashed into the white clouds, punching hole after hole in the cloud layers around Zhao Yaqing. After a few breaths, the cloud layers collapsed and dissipated.

The incoming sword qi had also been exhausted. She had managed to defend against it after all.

Zhao Yaqing couldn't believe it. Breathing heavily, she shouted at Li Shiyin, "Sword qi! How could you possibly have comprehended sword qi?!"

"Sword qi?" Li Shiyin was puzzled. Her master had told her long ago that she would comprehend sword qi. Was this thing that rare?

"You mean this?" she asked. Then she dashed out, once again avoiding the sword rain above her head, and ran towards Zhao Yaqing.

Previously, the two had exchanged moves within two to three meters of each other, but this time, when she was still seven to eight meters away from Zhao Yaqing, she raised the Qingxing Sword and thrusted straight forward...

Purple star power circulated on the Qingxing Sword. As the Qingxing Sword thrusted forward, the purple aura extended beyond the sword tip, seemingly pulling the sword longer, extending seven to eight meters as it stabbed towards Zhao Yaqing.

"It really is sword qi!" Zhao Yaqing confirmed and couldn't help but be shocked. She could only use the Wandering Cloud Dance Steps to dodge.

With a spit and draw of sword qi, after Zhao Yaqing dodged, Li Shiyin swiftly pulled it back, and the Qingxing Sword instantly reverted to its original form.

"You..." Zhao Yaqing steadied herself, still frightened. She asked Li Shiyin, "Sword qi, how could a dummy like you possibly comprehend sword qi?"

Li Shiyin glanced at her disdainfully without answering. She flipped the Qingxing Sword backwards towards the sky, and purple sword qi sprayed out, bisecting the clouds in the sky, dispersing them.

"This definitely isn't sword qi!" Zhao Yaqing said again. She didn't believe it, so she used her movement technique to charge at Li Shiyin as before.

Only now the situation was different from before. With sword qi, Li Shiyin's sword could be long or short, making it unpredictable. Zhao Yaqing was already no match in direct combat. Now it was even more hopeless as she didn't even have the power to fight back.

Unable to endure after a few exchanges, Zhao Yaqing had no choice but to retreat.

However...

She might have retreated, but Li Shiyin had no intention of letting her get away.

On the battlefield, one must use thunderous means to completely eradicate the enemy. This was something Li Shiyin had heard since she was little. This was also why Li Shiyin, although not understanding, still listened to Qin Ran and killed Slaughtering Five Immortals.

She chased after Zhao Yaqing with sword in hand, wanting to kill her.

With the support of sword qi, the length of Li Shiyin's sword was erratic. Zhao Yaqing was already no match, now even less able to adapt. After a few moves she was already injured, her clothes torn.

"If this continues, I may die..." This thought suddenly flashed through Zhao Yaqing's mind. She took out a bead from her Universe Bag, squeezed it hard, shattering it. A layer of white radiance enveloped her, shielding her to withstand Li Shiyin's hits for a few breaths, managing to open up some distance.

"So many treasures!"

Li Shiyin halted, watching Zhao Yaqing retreat several times, pulling apart the distance between them. She raised the Qingxing Sword, aimed at where Zhao Yaqing would retreat to, and shouted loudly, "No amount of treasures will help you!"

Then a fantastical streak of dark purple sword qi arced out...

Zhao Yaqing had already lost the will to fight, only wanting to retreat and widen the distance. She didn't notice Li Shiyin predicted her retreat spot with this strike. As she took another step back...

Suddenly alarm bells rang loudly in her mind. She looked up to see a descending streak of purple sword qi slicing down towards her—right where she was going to end up.

As if she had just crashed into it head first.

"Yaqing!" her guardian cried out, using a movement technique to rush over in their direction.

The purple streak sliced open Zhao Yaqing's protective glow and directly struck her, bisecting Zhao Yaqing with one sword strike.

Her guardian rushed over just in time to catch her.

Zhao Yaqing's clothes were already completely shredded, revealing soft armor inside, also marked with slashes—Li Shiyin's handiwork. The deepest gash ran from her left shoulder to her right chest, penetrating the soft armor a few millimeters deep. The armor was basically ruined.

Even with double layers of protection, Zhao Yaqing was still injured. Lying in her guardian's arms, blood kept gushing from her throat...

The guardian was furious. She glared at Li Shiyin, slapped upwards with one palm. Gusts of wind gathered into an enormous palm imprint that pressed down towards Li Shiyin.

Before the palm imprint even arrived, Li Shiyin was already overwhelmed by the mighty aura of a high level cultivator, frozen stiff and unable to move for a moment. Coming back to her senses with the palm imprint right at her face, a thought flashed through her mind—"I'm done for!"—when a warm hand slid around her waist and pulled her aside.

The gigantic palm imprint barely grazed past their bodies, slamming into the desolate Li Ben Mountain behind them and leaving another huge palm print in the dried up mountainside.

Li Shiyin turned to see it was her master who had saved her.

"Sore loser?" Qin Ran smiled and asked the guardian.

"Vile little creature, how dare injure with intent to kill!" The guardian cursed viciously.

"This battle..." Qin Ran taunted her deliberately, "My disciple Shiyin won!"

"Won?" The guardian let out a cold laugh. "Then let me see who will win in the end!"

She raised her hand again. Instantly, the winds raged furiously as if the end of the world had arrived.

"Impressive!" Qin Ran praised, but he shook his head. "Unfortunately, my disciple and I will not keep you company in this game!"

As he spoke, he hugged Li Shiyin and used the divine walking step to blink backwards several times upslope, vanishing abruptly.

"Hm?" The guardian frowned. "What kind of technique was that?!"

"Since running away, it means their strength isn't up to par..." she thought. Hugging the poisoned Zhao Yaqing, she flew swiftly to where Qin Ran and Li Shiyin had disappeared.

With a flicker, she discovered herself transported to a completely different world.

This world was fantastical and colorful. Flying snakes soared in the sky. Running mushrooms dashed on the ground. In the distance, a toad leaped with all its might, clamping onto a swan's neck as they disappeared far away together.

"What is this place?" The guardian was dumbfounded.

Soon, she noticed something wrong. Her skin felt itchy and her head a little dizzy. Glancing down, she saw pustules sprouting all over her fair skin.

Her state was already like this. Needless to say, Zhao Yaqing, in just a few breaths, had turned deathly pale with putrid pus all over as a nauseating stench started emanating out.

"Poison!!" The guardian was horrified. With a sweep, she cried out, "A poison formation?!"

She hurriedly circulated her magic power and used arts. Abruptly, the winds shifted as a furious gale erupted out from them, lifting up the formation. A clear sky emerged in the next moment as the winds blew away the poison bugs and ingredients used as the foundation, scattering them across the whole sky.

As a Golden Core cultivator, the guardian directly expelled the poison from her body. Looking ahead, she saw the despicable little bastard hugging his disciple, flying away frantically not too far away...

"Hand over the antidote!!" She thundered furiously. Gusts swirled and she vanished from there, instantly reappearing behind the sinister little rascal. She slapped out with her palm, directly striking his back...

Then the sinister fellow transformed into a pool of clean water dropping to the ground. A side glance showed the female disciple had also turned into water.

"Come out!" She quivered with rage, searching all around for any trace of the pair.

Soon, she spotted the master and disciple duo in the distance.

Qin Ran stood outside the perimeter of the lethal formation. He turned back and smiled at the guardian, "Come on, the antidote is right here."

Having said that, he hugged Li Shiyin and slipped back inside the formation.

"You vermins!" The guardian's face contorted in anger, yet she could only bring the heavily poisoned Zhao Yaqing to chase after them inside.

Chapter 72

Qin Ran gave Li Shiyin the Hundred Poisons Pill ahead of time. Actually, only a very small part of the reason was that he was worried about her being poisoned, because in the Cultivation World, there weren't many people who would use poison. More than that, he wanted to ensure that she wouldn't be poisoned when he took her into the poison formation.

How many types of poisons are there?

Classified by poison targets, there is poison targeting the blood, poison targeting the muscles, poison targeting the nerves, and poison targeting the bones. In other words, any physiological structure that a living being has, there is a corresponding poison for it, some of which naturally exist between heaven and earth, while some are... created by humans.

These poisons are originally meant for mortals.

Because cultivators transcend mortals, it's very difficult for them to be poisoned...

However, many low-level cultivators, although they already have super powerful combat ability initially, their bodies are still not very different from mortal bodies in essence, so many extremely toxic poisons targeting mortals also have miraculous effects on low-level cultivators.

When can cultivators completely not be the same concept as mortals?

Golden Core!

It is said that once a Golden Core is swallowed into the stomach, my life is up to me, not up to heaven. The Golden Core path, after the Golden Core Transformation, cultivators have completely become a life form superior to mortals.

Of course, it doesn't mean that high-level cultivators after the Golden Core stage will completely not be poisoned. As there is yin, there must be yang in the mysterious principles between heaven and earth. As there are high-level cultivators, there are also poisons specially targeting high-level cultivators.

For example, poisons targeting spiritual power, aura, divine sense, soul, the Way, and so on.

But in conclusion, whether they are mortals or cultivators, those who use poison are always the minority. Qin Ran, this shameless bastard, has always been an outlier.

Seeing that Protector chasing over, Qin Ran hurriedly took Li Shiyin into the Killing Formation.

The formation was set up by him. He took Li Shiyin along to find their position and came to the exit of the formation to wait, waiting for the Protector to enter the formation, then they would exit the formation.

From the moment he rescued Li Shiyin to urgently escaping and now waiting here, Qin Ran finally had a moment to relax. Although he made a lot of plans, actually implementing them gave a completely different feeling from planning... In the end, he was only suitable for making plans instead of participating in the plans himself...

So Qin Ran found that he was still holding Li Shiyin by the waist. The softness and warmth conveyed by his fingertips caused him to unconsciously swallow.

But he couldn't let go of Li Shiyin either, first because suddenly letting go would be too abrupt and increase the awkwardness; second, he still had to take Li Shiyin to escape...

So he asked, "You aren't poisoned, right?" His voice somewhat hoarse.

"No..." Li Shiyin shook her head.

Li Shiyin's mind was chaotic. She was thinking, but had not yet realized her master was hugging her. She was silent for a while, then suddenly asked Qin Ran, "Master, will Zhao Yaqing and the others kill us?"

"Yes!" There was the smell of blood and sweat and fragrance on Li Shiyin's body. Qin Ran felt somewhat confused smelling it. He looked at the opposite side of the formation and replied, "Snatching someone's Lifebound Sword is already a huge vengeance to begin with. After snatching the sword, killing someone is just a matter of convenience. Lives aren't valuable in the Cultivation World..."

When he said that, the Protector had already taken Zhao Yaqing into the formation. Seeing them, he stopped talking and turned around, taking Li Shiyin out of the formation.

Although Qin Ran was somewhat accomplished with formations, he was still an amateur after all. The formation he set up had many flaws,

Such as the speed of deployment where it could only be set up in advance, such as large formations relying on formation disks, and the foundations being shallow, and so on.

The main reason why the previous Poison Formation could poison the Protector and Zhao Yaqing was because it caught them unprepared. But it was still easily broken through by the Protector, and it was broken through by force. Thus, the current Killing Formation could not trap the Protector for too long.

Not long after Qin Ran escaped, the Protector took Zhao Yaqing out of the formation. She shouted from behind,

"Brat, can you only do these petty tricks?"

Qin Ran's scalp tingled. He panicked a little. This Protector really deserved to be a Golden Core from a major sect. Her strength was much stronger than what he expected.

To add fuel to the fire, suddenly there were loud noises from ahead. Qin Ran hurriedly looked forward and saw a large group of cultivators noisily and chaotically flying over, talking about a treasured sword being forged...

These were also people coming to snatch the sword!

"Stop him, the sword is on him!" Seeing the large group of cultivators, the Protector hurriedly shouted loudly.

"Damn!" Qin Ran swore inwardly and quickly accelerated, rushing into the formation in front.

And this formation...

was the Transforming Formation.

Upon hearing there was a treasured sword on Qin Ran, the group of cultivators were immediately excited and charged into the formation regardless.

The effect of the Transforming Formation was to transform appearances. It wasn't a powerful formation. With so many people charging in, it soon collapsed under the heavy load. The formation exploded, but a group of women and children appeared out of thin air on flat ground...

Everyone had their appearances changed...

Thus, the crowd suddenly exploded.

At a certain moment, a pair of men and women flew out of the crowd, flying far away into the distant sky. Someone shouted loudly, "It's them, the sword is on them!"

The crowd noisily chased after them.

After the crowd left, a youth and an old woman remained behind. That youth breathed a sigh of relief and took the old woman flying in another direction.

These latecomers didn't know of Qin Ran's sinister deceitfulness, but the Protector knew. She kept a thread of caution and didn't rashly chase over either. After the crowd dispersed, leaving behind the youth and old woman, she immediately knew in her heart. She hurriedly chased over.

"Indeed still here!" Qin Ran looked back. The Protector was still chasing behind them.

But the next formation was the Invisibility Formation. Qin Ran and the old woman, Li Shiyin, went inside. After the Protector broke the formation, they completely disappeared without a trace.

The Protector stood on the bare red earth holding Zhao Yaqing in her arms, her face gloomy as she looked around...

Qin Ran and Li Shiyin came to the Teleportation Formation. He looked at Li Shiyin and suddenly asked, "Leave them the antidote?"

Li Shiyin and Qin Ran looked at each other. She hesitated.

"The Protector certainly won't have an issue, but Zhao Yaqing might not necessarily..." Qin Ran said, "After experiencing so much today, do you still want to leave them the antidote?"

Li Shiyin lowered her head, but still said, "I have no enmity or grudge against her. Just leave the antidote!"

At this time, through the relative positions of the previous four formations, the Protector discerned the direction of this last formation and had caught up again. Still far away, she shouted, "Brat, stop right there!"

Qin Ran ignored her. He just looked at Li Shiyin shaking his head and sighed, "Alright."

Then he threw out a porcelain bottle right where they stood.

"Give me your hand..." he said. "Skin contact can prevent us from teleporting to different places."

Li Shiyin gave him her hand.

Qin Ran held Li Shiyin by the waist with one hand and held her hand with the other. He quickly took her into the last formation, the Teleportation Formation.

"Don't go!!"

The Protector sensed spatial turbulence and knew this formation was likely a teleportation formation. She was shocked. Without thinking too much, she raised her palm and stirred up a dragon tornado from flat ground!

Qin Ran took Li Shiyin into the formation and activated it. Their bodies became light and they uncontrollably fell backwards, like stepping full force on a car's gas pedal.

The next moment, the scenery changed and they teleported towards unknown places...

But at this moment, the changing scenery suddenly stopped, forcefully halting them. The duo were squeezed out from the extreme speeds into a sudden stop by space. They fell down from midair.

The extreme velocity to a sudden stop plus spatial compression were too much for Qin Ran and Li Shiyin. Both of them were heavily injured, covered in blood, and crashed to the ground without any strength to move for the time being.

"Did the teleportation fail, Master?" Li Shiyin's hand was still in Qin Ran's palm. Seeing the crimson sky, she asked.

Qin Ran didn't reply. He inspected the surrounding environment. They were still surrounded by the harsh environment with volcanoes nearby, red clouds, dark red earth. There was a volcano behind them and the small town could still be faintly seen ahead... They had just teleported and hadn't even traveled a kilometer of distance.

"It seems to have failed." He replied.

"Will we die, Master?" Li Shiyin arduously turned her head to look at Qin Ran's side profile.

Qin Ran turned his head back. Seeing Li Shiyin's pitiful gaze, his heart ached. He suddenly winked at her and whispered, "No."

"Hm?" Li Shiyin was astonished.

"Still want to run away?" The Protector came close and looked down condescendingly at Qin Ran, saying, "An ant-like character!" She shouted, "Keep running away!"

"Hehe..." Qin Ran forced out a laugh and asked, "How about we call it even?"

"What do you think?" The Daoist protector walked over, stepping on Qin Ran with one foot, and asked, "Where's the antidote?!"

"Hahaha..." Qin Ran suddenly laughed and said, "Do you know? I put the antidote in front of the Teleportation Formation."

"What!!" The Daoist protector was horrified. She squatted down and grabbed Qin Ran's neck with one hand. "Say that again..."

"I said..." Qin Ran was still laughing. "I put the antidote pills in front of the Teleportation Formation, including the detoxification pills for the Yin Evil Poison."

"What?" The Daoist protector felt something was wrong. Where did this Yin Evil Poison come from?

"I said...Yin Evil Poison!" Qin Ran said.

Qin Ran had just finished speaking when the Daoist protector felt her calf go numb. She hurriedly looked down to see a red poisonous snake, the same color as the ground, loosen its bite on her leg and swiftly slither away.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Yin Shadowy snakes!" Qin Ran said. "Born in the land of Yin evil, with neurotoxins and blood clotting toxins in its body...Yin Evil Poison..."

"Do you know Yin Evil Poison?" he continued. "The poison is in one's spirit, will, and consciousness! The cold and evil Qi makes one suffer from frost, drives one crazy, makes one go berserk!"

As Qin Ran spoke, the Daoist protector felt her body grow cold, her consciousness starting to blur, showing signs of losing herself.

"It was you who blew the antidote away yourself, so go find it yourself!" Qin Ran said. "Hurry, the Yin Evil Poison is profound and takes effect very quickly..."

Before he could finish, the Daoist protector released her grip on him and flew away.

"Phew..." Qin Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master..." Li Shiyin asked, "Was that Long Qiqi?"

"Yes!" Qin Ran nodded.

Chapter 73

Time rewound back three days ago. Long Qiqi had just tricked Li Shiyin and was about to escape when she bumped into a man after turning around.

She looked up and was shocked to see that it was Qin Ran. "What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.

Instead of answering, Qin Ran asked back, "Where are you going?"

"I...," Long Qiqi quickly regained her composure. She scratched her head and smiled, "Just taking a look around."

"I'm asking where you were planning to go after escaping from here," Qin Ran didn't want to beat around the bush and asked directly.

"Hmm?" Long Qiqi thought seriously for a while before replying, "The world is so big, I can go anywhere - to experience the human world, find a small sect to learn cultivation, or occupy a mountain top to become a mountain king. Anything is possible."

"Although you've transformed into a human, you're not truly a human after all," Qin Ran shook his head. "The mortal world is dangerous, with immortals and powerful experts in hiding. As a demon, how long do you think you can survive among humans?"

Long Qiqi dismissed his concerns. "The world is vast and boundless. I'll just live as an ordinary person, do honest work, and focus on survival and self-cultivation. Why would I be so unlucky?"

"Live honestly?" Qin Ran laughed. Wasn't the reason they captured Long Qiqi because she was preying on young boys and girls? If Li Shiyin hadn't been there, Qin Ran would have taken action and Long Qiqi would have been long dead without a trace.

He said, "You call eating humans being honest? "

Long Qiqi struggled to explain, "That was when I first took human form after escaping from the Hengduan Mountains. I got too cocky and wasn't being careful enough. I'll pay more attention next time."

"Even if you don't eat humans anymore in the future...," Qin Ran stared at Long Qiqi, "Do you think no one will recognize you?" With the demonic energy you give off, you stand out to cultivators like a firefly in the dark night!"

"I'll conceal my demonic energy very quickly...," Long Qiqi replied.

"Within that time frame, you would have died ten thousand times over," Qin Ran stated.

Long Qiqi was silent for a while before looking up at Qin Ran and asking, "Then what exactly is the implication behind all that you just said?"

"Since you've turned into a human, you'll inevitably have to live among humans. Why not come with us?" Qin Ran suggested.

"Come with you?" Long Qiqi frowned.

"As someone from an orthodox sect, an alchemist of high status and abundant resources, there is no better place for you given your situation," Qin Ran elaborated.

Long Qiqi was very tempted but knowing Qin Ran, she didn't believe an old fox like him would be so kindhearted to make such a losing deal. So she asked again, "Then what's the catch?"

"As you know, I'm an alchemist interested in anything that can be used as ingredient for pills. I'm very intrigued by your viper venom infused with gloomy energy. I'd like to study the fusion," Qin Ran revealed his motive. "It goes well with your original snake venom."

"So you want to lock me up for my venom without all the extra talk?" Long Qiqi still doubted him.

"I'm someone who wishes for peace...," Qin Ran smiled gently. "I don't want any killing or vengeance on Dan Peak. With so few people, I also hope for more liveliness and excitement. Lastly, I'd like to ask for a tiny favor from you..."

Long Qiqi didn't believe for one second that Qin Ran wished for peace. That left only the last reason. She hugged her petite body nervously and exclaimed, "You don't want me to bear your child, do you?!"

"I'm no uncultured brute!" Qin Ran gave her a slap on the head. Where did such a young child learn this stuff from!

"So...," after hearing Long Qiqi's story, Li Shiyin turned to ask Qin Ran who was beside her, "This was also part of your plan?"

After taking some pills to help their injuries, they brought the transformed Long Qiqi with them towards Sword Forging Town.

"Even if we hadn't run into Zhao Yaqing on that day, I would still have made preparations in case we encountered high level cultivators... At least with preparations, we had a chance to escape alive if we did run into trouble. So I made some arrangements accordingly," Qin Ran explained.

"I willfully disrupted the teleportation array. The location we fell to was also pre-planned with Long Qiqi. If anyone tried to destroy the array, that would be one of the contingency plans," Qin Ran elaborated.

"One of the contingency plans?!" Li Shiyin and Long Qiqi exclaimed together.

Qin Ran just smiled mysteriously without another word.

The group of three continued slowly towards Sword Forging Town - old, weak, sick and disabled. Both Qin Ran and Li Shiyin were injured so they were the sick and disabled. Long Qiqi had the form of a young girl but the heart of an old demon so she was the old and weak.

Cultivators flying by frequently could be seen overhead, still searching for the legendary sword. Some even stopped to question the group of three but no one paid them much attention as they were just a harmless band of three rather than a suspicious couple.

"They are all looking for that sword...," Qin Ran sighed. "The phenomena when that sword appeared was clearly visible from this side. Cultivators are still human. The more powerful they become, the more greedy they are. Without proper arrangements, I would have died very quickly."

Li Shiyin looked up at the cultivators flying by as bursts of curses could be heard from above. She remained silent at her master's words. This was the immortal cultivation world after all. Her master was right.

After walking for about two li, the band of old, weak, sick and disabled finally reached Yue Lai Inn after an hour.

Qin Ran's face was ghastly pale. He limped into the inn and weakly told the owner, "We'd like to check out."

Seeing the miserable state of the master and disciple pair, the owner couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"A peerless divine sword just appeared from Li Ben Mountain earlier today after transcending tribulation. It was a once in a lifetime sight. I brought them along to join in the excitement and broaden their horizons. Who knew those sword grabbers were aggressive towards everyone there. We got beaten up for no reason at all," Qin Ran shook his head with lament.

"What a ruthless world... To think that Master Xu's sword forging ended up with him being assaulted instead... *sigh*...," Qin Ran sighed regretfully.

The owner leaned over the counter to take a look at Long Qiqi. He could discern her true identity as a demon but did not care. Taking out the ledger, he mocked, "Watching excitement? Hmpf..."

It was apparent that he saw through them - just some nobodies trying to seize an opportunity, only to fail miserably instead.

Qin Ran pathetically forced out a laugh.

Standing at the side, Li Shiyin secretly rolled her eyes. Her master sure put on quite a show.

After checking out, a spiritual horse was brought over for their ride back up the mountain. Master and disciple quickly packed up what little they had, for appearance's sake more than anything. It was not like they had planned to return given the situation. Then they departed from the inn on the spiritual horse, heading straight north into North Chu instead.

Right outside Sword Forging Town, Qin Ran noticed scouts lurking nearby. The closer they got to the North Chu border, the more scouts there were. By the time they neared the border, a cavalry unit was in hot pursuit behind them.

It was the same Xuanqin cavalry involved in the earlier standoff against Li Shiwen. Even the commanding general remained unchanged.

"Faster!" Qin Ran urged Li Shiyin.

It wasn't that he feared the mortal troops. He just didn't wish to kill so many people.

"Halt!" The trailing cavalry ordered them to stop.

Master and disciple picked up their speed. Soon arrows were shot at their direction.

The spiritual horses were no ordinary breeds. With Qin Ran's polished riding skills, there was no struggle for them to outpace the cavalry. They effortlessly crossed over into North Chu territory.

Only to be greeted by yet another heavily armored cavalry unit from the North Chu side as they looked ahead past the border. It was an impressive scene of deterrence, seemingly waiting for the Xuanqin cavalry.

And leading the unit was none other than Li Shiwen.

Seeing Qin Ran and Li Shiyin cross over, he rode over to Li Shiyin's side. After examining her blood-stained appearance, his face darkened. He threw an icy glare at Qin Ran before positioning himself at the border to face the incoming Xuanqin cavalry alone.

The Xuanqin cavalry ultimately did not dare to trespass. They halted as their general walked out to exchange silent gazes with Li Shiwen, before shouting over at Qin Ran, "The antidote!"