Chapter 114: One Punch After Another

After falling from such a great height, Qin Haoxuan was unconscious for only a few breaths before his mind snapped back to clarity. He wiggled his fingers. Aside from a few broken bones, the churning of blood in his chest that made him want to vomit, and the world spinning around him, he was fine. He wasn’t… going to die.

That was close! A cold sweat broke out on his skin. He had thought victory was certain and had relaxed for just a moment, only for his opponent to pull such a trick. If not for his unnaturally tough body, he really would have been smashed to death.

He pushed himself up with one hand. Amidst a wave of gasps from the crowd, he staggered towards the terrified Yan Dong.

At this point, even sitting up was a struggle for Yan Dong. His face was swollen like a pig’s head, the bones in his left hand were crushed, and he could neither speak nor raise his hands to surrender.

“Senior Brother Yan… my apologies…”

Qin Haoxuan’s voice was filled with the gentle humility of a scholar, yet his actions that followed could only be described as utterly savage.

Once again, Qin Haoxuan slammed Yan Dong back to the ground.

In that moment, Yan Dong was like a helpless maiden in the dead of night, cornered by a powerful and vicious predator. The only difference was that his humiliation was on full display, witnessed by countless eyes.

A punch… a punch… a punch…

Qin Haoxuan’s fists fell with a steady, powerful rhythm. His eyes were as cold and still as a frozen lake in winter, without a single ripple of emotion.

He just kept hitting. Blood splattered onto his face and into his eyes, but still his fists rose and fell, rose and fell, each blow landing with a sickening thud.

The onlookers’ initial shock slowly, gradually, gave way to a deep, chilling fear.

Each of Qin Haoxuan’s punches made Yan Dong’s body twitch violently, but soon, he stopped moving altogether.

Only after glancing down and seeing the signs of life gradually disappearing from Yan Dong did Qin Haoxuan stop. Clad in tattered robes, he stood up. He was covered in blood—whether it was his own or Yan Dong’s, he didn’t know. Bathed in the sunlight, he looked like a god of slaughter as he walked, step by step, off the stage.

Amidst a stunned silence, Qin Haoxuan had won. He had defeated a cultivator at the Twelfth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm with his bare, primitive fists.

No one could believe what they were seeing. Even witnessing it with their own eyes, they couldn’t accept that Qin Haoxuan, who had not even sprouted a leaf, had actually beaten a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator. Furthermore, Yan Dong had launched him high into the air. Given the hardness of the enchanted arena floor, even a man of iron would have been shattered by such a fall. How did a man of flesh and blood like Qin Haoxuan manage it without a scratch?

And why was the Nature Hall backing him so heavily? What was their motive? Was this a message to everyone that the Nature Hall would no longer be bullied?

Li Jing rubbed his eyes in disbelief. This was like watching a five-year-old child utterly defeat a battle-hardened general in a direct confrontation! It was simply inconceivable. He knew he would have to be much more wary of Qin Haoxuan in the future. If a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator was no match for him, what was his true strength? How did he do it? Li Jing, at the Fourth-Leaf himself, knew he would have been unable to defeat Yan Dong.

A savage glint shone in Zhang Yang’s eyes. He looked at Qin Haoxuan with a bloodthirsty excitement. Several times he had thought Qin Haoxuan was surely dead, but he had miraculously turned the tables and created an impossible record of the weak defeating the strong.

Qin Haoxuan walked down from the stage, his steps firm and steady. Xu Yu, breaking into tears of relief, rushed forward and hugged him tightly.

Beside her, Luo Jinhua wore a strange expression. While happy for Xu Yu, she was also worried for Qin Haoxuan. His performance had been too outstanding. To defeat a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator at the Sprouting Stage… the Ancient Cloud Hall would not let this go. As she thought this, her gaze fell on the faces of the spectating Ancient Cloud Hall disciples. Sure enough, their expressions were grim, and they were whispering amongst themselves.

Murong Chao saw Qin Haoxuan walk off the stage almost completely unharmed. He was happy for him, but also more worried than ever. He knew he was no match for a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator. How on earth did Qin Haoxuan do it? At this rate, how could he ever win Junior Sister Xu Yu’s heart?

Zhang Kuang’s face was calm, with the faint hint of a satisfied smile. He walked straight up to Qin Haoxuan and looked at him with admiration. “Very good. Very impressive. I have high hopes for you. Your life is mine. You’d better keep it safe for me until we come out of the Aqueous Manor!”

After Qin Haoxuan left the stage, the disciples of the Ancient Cloud Hall noticed something was wrong. Yan Dong still hadn’t stood up. In fact, he hadn’t moved at all.

Two of Yan Dong’s attendants walked onto the stage. One look at their master and they saw he wasn’t breathing. His heart had stopped. There were no signs of life.

The faces of the two attendants went deathly pale. Our master is dead… If our master is dead, we’ll be expelled from the sect! At this thought, tears streamed down their faces as they cried out, “Senior Brother Zhou! Senior Brother Zhou, our master is dead…!”

The disciple called Zhou Li’s face fell. It was one thing for Yan Dong to lose, but to die? The Ancient Cloud Hall had lost all face this time.

He leaped onto the stage in a few quick steps. Yan Dong’s face was a bloody, pulpy mess, his entire body battered. Remembering Qin Haoxuan’s words and looking at the new disciple who, though clad in rags, had walked off the stage alive, Zhou Li felt a chill in his heart.

“Yan Dong is dead,” Zhou Li announced coldly, and an immediate uproar swept through the crowd.

The Minor Martial Tournament was an event created for disciples to settle grievances. The intention was for duels to allow both parties to vent their frustrations and bury the hatchet. Deaths were extremely rare; after all, they were all fellow disciples! Although killing someone during the tournament was not punishable, it was still a major event.

Onlookers from nearby arenas heard that someone had been killed and quickly swarmed over. When they learned that a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator had been beaten to death by a new disciple who had just sprouted his seed, the looks they gave Qin Haoxuan became even stranger.

Killing… killing a fellow disciple! No matter how you looked at it, this was not a good thing.

Qin Haoxuan completely ignored the astonished stares. The first thing he did after leaving the stage was to go to Pu Hanzhong. Though his senior brother was pale and looked even older, the healing pills and Luo Jinhua’s aid had stabilized his condition. With Qin Haoxuan’s support, he could barely stand. Qin Haoxuan prepared to leave the Grievance Resolution Plain with Xu Yu and the others to get him some rest.

Just then, the disciples of the Ancient Cloud Hall surrounded them. Zhou Li stepped forward and said coldly, “You think you can just walk away after killing someone?”

“In a duel on the arena, life and death are decided by fate and skill. Are you going to issue me another challenge to avenge your man?” Qin Haoxuan glanced at him calmly. “If I remember correctly, issuing new challenges is forbidden during the Minor Martial Tournament, is it not?”

Zhou Li froze. Qin Haoxuan killing Yan Dong had brought great shame upon the Ancient Cloud Hall. The only way to regain face was to defeat him immediately. But the sect had a rule to prevent endless revenge matches: once the tournament began, no new challenges could be issued until the next one in half a year.

At this point, Murong Chao, who had been with Qin Haoxuan’s group, finally stepped in. Although Qin Haoxuan was his rival in love, he had always treated him well. If he didn’t speak up now, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

“What? You lost and you can’t accept it? You want to challenge a new disciple? How laughable! In the Taichu Sect, it’s always the juniors who challenge the seniors. I’ve never heard of a senior with skin so thick he’d challenge a new disciple! But if you insist, we’ll accept!” Murong Chao finished, staring them down fearlessly.

Zhou Li was so choked by Murong Chao’s words that he almost lost control and attacked him. But doing so would be a severe violation of the rules, and Murong Chao was a Gray Seed—not as valued as the three Purple Seeds, but still a treasure in the eyes of the sect elders.

For a moment, the disciples of the Ancient Cloud Hall were trapped, not knowing whether to stay or go.

The news that Qin Haoxuan had killed a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator spread like wildfire. On many other stages, duels that had been raging moments before came to a halt as the combatants turned to watch the commotion.

No matter where you were, a disciple in the Sprouting Stage killing a Twelfth-Leaf cultivator was explosive news.

The gossip spread through the crowd. “A Sprouting Stage disciple killing a Twelfth-Leaf? And a weak seed at that, not one of the special ones! It’s unheard of in the history of the Taichu Sect, maybe even in the entire cultivation world!” others exclaimed. “That’s a gap of twelve minor realms! How is that possible?”

Whispers spread that it was because of the potent Qi-Circulating Powder made by the Purple Seed, Xu Yu. “The whole Nature Hall must be backing him!” another speculated. But even his detractors had to admit, “Even with backing, to have the guts to fight—and win? That’s just incredible.”