Chapter 18: The Unfettered Overlord of the Cell

“You… you…” Old Ye stared at the monstrous new disciple, swallowing nervously. “The Sect Master said… people should be reasonable…”

Qin Haoxuan smiled. As someone who had studied books from a young age, he understood one thing very well: you reason with reasonable people. Trying to reason with unreasonable people makes you a fool. There was once a great scholar who tried to reason with a bandit, only to have his head lopped off for his troubles.

With people like this, it was best to communicate with fists. It was the fastest way to get the message across. For the sake of a peaceful next seven days, come on! Let’s all have a good talk… with our fists!

Qin Haoxuan grabbed the nearest prisoner, Old Ye, and slammed a heavy punch into his chest. With several cracking sounds, the man, his energy depleted and unable to resist, had several ribs broken. He collapsed to the floor, howling in agony.

Tossing Old Ye aside, he unhesitatingly pounced on another man, swinging his iron fists without a second thought…

A Third-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm disciple, who still had some spiritual energy left, tried to fight back. He gathered his energy and began to form a hand seal, but Qin Haoxuan shot him a fierce glare. Under that gaze, which was far from demonic but carried an immense pressure, the disciple froze. He felt as if his soul had suffered a heavy blow, and his mind went blank. The spiritual technique in his hands fizzled out. Instead, Qin Haoxuan pounced on him, beat him to a pulp, and even gave him a few hard stomps for good measure.

A long time later, when that disciple looked at Qin Haoxuan again, it was with the same terror as seeing a ghost. The memory of that soul-crushing blow would haunt his nightmares for years to come.

What is a thrashing? The men who had been “taken care of” by Qin Haoxuan now understood the meaning of the word with every aching part of their bodies.

The two enforcers peeking through the iron door looked at each other, speechless. They had expected Qin Haoxuan to suffer a heavy loss, but not only was he fine after enjoying the “welcoming party,” he had also single-handedly beaten a group of Second and Third-Leaf Spirit Sprout cultivators until they were crying for their mothers.

After the lesson was over, the group of prisoners didn’t even dare to think of revenge; they didn’t even dare to go near him. It was no joke. He was a monster who couldn’t be hurt. To provoke him again would be asking for death.

With the “welcoming party” concluded, the searing heat in Qin Haoxuan’s body began to rise again. Although the heat of the Lava Cellar could offset some of it, the rest needed to be eliminated through cultivation—or another beating.

Qin Haoxuan circulated the Dao Heart Seed Demon Art. The violent, hot spiritual energy of the Lava Cellar surged into his body. Others would have had to carefully filter out this volatile energy to avoid qi deviation, but Qin Haoxuan didn’t need to. The body of a Body Tempering Cultivator was extremely tough. When this volatile energy entered him, it actually neutralized the violent energy from the lotus within, like a cool hand gently stroking his feverish body.

Some of this energy went to water his Immortal Seed, while the rest seeped into his bone marrow. Although his cultivation speed was not as fast as a Purple Seed’s, it was much faster than it would have been outside.

However, some people were simply unwilling to let Qin Haoxuan have it so easy, even in confinement.

At dusk, in a secluded house in the menial disciples’ residential area of the Spirit Field Valley, Zhang Kuang stood surrounded by a group of fawning disciples.

“You all probably know that my townsman, Qin Haoxuan, and I have some issues. Last year, he even broke a few of my ribs. Now he’s been locked in the Lava Cellar, and I don’t want to give him any chance to recover!” Zhang Kuang’s eyes glinted with killing intent as he scanned the senior disciples. “I’ve already spoken to a disciple from the Discipline Hall. If anyone is willing to deliberately break a rule, he will help get them sent to the Lava Cellar. I want to make sure Qin Haoxuan has nowhere to run!”

He paused, then added, “When I achieve greatness in the future and hold a high position in the Taichu Sect, I will not forget those who helped me today!”

With tens of thousands of disciples in the sect, it was incredibly difficult to stand out and shed the status of a menial disciple. But a promise from a Purple Seed with limitless potential was a massive temptation. It guaranteed not just a bright future, but at the very least, an escape from their low status, allowing them to enjoy the treatment of ordinary disciples.

Immediately, the menial disciples clamored to sign up.

“I’ll go!” A burly man who bore a slight resemblance to Yuan Shanhu stepped forward. He punched a nearby waist-thick tree, and with a loud crack, the tree snapped and crashed to the ground, silencing the others. “I am Yuan Shanhu’s cousin, Yuan Shanxiang! Fifth-Leaf Spirit Sprout Realm! Qin Haoxuan injured my cousin and got him sent to confinement. I will not let him off lightly!”

In the Spirit Sprout Realm, each additional leaf represented a higher level of strength. A Fifth-Leaf was already considered a relatively high cultivation level among the menial disciples. After Yuan Shanxiang volunteered, the others who knew they were weaker fell silent.

Seeing Yuan Shanxiang’s explosive muscles and the strength he had just displayed, Zhang Kuang smiled with satisfaction. Qin Haoxuan, oh Qin Haoxuan, are your bones really harder than that tree?

Qin Haoxuan knew nothing of this, nor did he expect Zhang Kuang’s desire to see him dead to be so urgent. He had been meditating for an unknown amount of time when he heard the clanging of the iron door and the scent of food wafted in. The aroma instantly pulled him from his meditation.

Damn it! What’s going on today? I’ve gone hungry for a whole day before and never felt this ravenous. I’m starving!

It wasn’t just him. The other injured disciples, who had been lying in the corner listlessly, also had their eyes light up at the smell of food.

They were like a pack of starving ghosts.

For ordinary people, eating is a daily necessity.

But for a newcomer in confinement, it was usually just a dream.

Cultivators already had large appetites, and in a place like the Lava Cellar, they needed even more food to replenish their energy. The thought of going a day without eating was unbearable.

“Dinner time, dinner time!”

The disciple delivering the food divided the large pot into 16 portions and gave the newcomer, Qin Haoxuan, a pitying look. It was an unwritten rule of Reflection Peak that newcomers, unless they were incredibly strong or had powerful backing, didn’t get to eat on the first day.

However, to the delivery disciple’s surprise, the old-timers, who usually swarmed the food like hungry wolves before it was even set down, did not move. They only cast fearful glances at Qin Haoxuan.

What’s going on?

The delivery disciple was baffled. Are they afraid of the new guy? Looking closely, he noticed they were all bruised, and the one who was usually the loudest, Old Ye, had a face swollen like a pig’s head. And the new guy was completely unharmed. Could it be that they had been bullied by the newcomer instead?

That makes no sense! This new guy is clearly in the early stages of the Immortal Seed Realm. He hasn’t even properly established his roots, let alone sprouted. Even if he had, he couldn’t possibly be a match for these Spirit Sprout Realm experts, right? These guys are all trouble-makers, that’s why they were sent here. And there are even Third-Leaf experts among them!

As if to confirm his doubts, Qin Haoxuan leisurely stood up, walked to the door, and began to wolf down his portion of food. The old-timers, who were starving, didn’t dare to approach after receiving a single glare from him.

Only after Qin Haoxuan had taken his food and returned to his spot did the bruised old-timers rush forward to get their meals.

Qin Haoxuan finished his food in a few bites. Since he began cultivating, he could eat 20 steamed buns at every meal. Cultivation consumed a great deal of energy, and the food in the Taichu Sect was especially fragrant and contained a special power that replenished it.

He had always thought immortals didn’t eat mortal food, but now it seemed that was all nonsense. “Glutton” was a fitting description for a cultivator.

Even after finishing his large bowl of food, he still felt hungry. He looked over at the old-timers and saw that they still had more than half of their food left. He walked over, stopped them from eating, and, to the delivery disciple’s utter astonishment, devoured all 15 of their meals while they could only watch in silent rage. Even other gluttonous cultivators would have cursed him as a “bottomless pit.”

The delivery disciple felt the world spin. He was used to seeing the strong bully the weak, but this was the first time he had ever seen the weak bully the strong.

Staring at Qin Haoxuan’s ferocious eating, the old-timers huddled together and whispered.

“With our strength, we couldn’t even hurt him. What kind of monster is he?”

“I heard that the strongest Xiantian Martial Artists can defeat a Seventh-Leaf Spirit Sprout cultivator, but they can’t cultivate immortality because the two paths are incompatible. I think he might be one of them.”

“Definitely! Otherwise, how could a mere mortal be a match for us?”

Xiantian Martial Artists were incredibly powerful existences in the mortal world. One could not reach that level without great perseverance and opportunity. The old-timers now looked at Qin Haoxuan with a newfound sense of dread.

After eating his fill, Qin Haoxuan continued to cultivate. To others, the Lava Cellar was a place of suffering, but to him, it was a paradise. He only had seven days and had to make the most of it to completely digest the power of the One-Leaf Golden Lotus. Such an opportunity was too rare to waste.

“Brother Haoxuan, Brother Haoxuan.”

A familiar, gentle voice pulled him from his meditation. He opened his eyes and saw Xu Yu’s face outside the iron door. Her pretty face was flushed a purplish-red from the heat and difficulty breathing. An unspoken gratitude welled up in his heart. He knew how difficult and dangerous the path from the Spirit Field Valley to the Lava Cellar was. Yet, Xu Yu, whose body was not as strong as his, had braved the dangers to come see him.

“Here are the notes from this afternoon’s lecture. And I heard it’s very hot in here, so I brought you some water.” Xu Yu handed him a notebook and a water pouch.

Qin Haoxuan could clearly see the blood on her chapped lips, cracked from the heat. A soft spot in his heart was touched. He handed the water back to her. “You drink it.”

“It’s okay, I’m not thirsty.” Xu Yu looked at the huddled prisoners, then back at him, and sighed in frustration. “I went to see the Sect Master, but he was away on a trip…”