Chapter 125: Rivals Are Fated to Meet

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Just as the two were preparing to move forward, Ye Yiming suddenly let out a low gasp. Qin Haoxuan followed his gaze and was instantly stunned as well.

Lying on the ground ahead were two disciples of the Taichu Sect, now reduced to two desiccated corpses, as if their life essence had been drained by some demonic creature.

Although it was not unheard of for Taichu Sect disciples to secretly kill each other over the Spirit Liquid, they all practiced orthodox Daoist arts. They would not use such a vile method of draining a person’s essence, so it could be concluded that this was definitely not the result of infighting.

Ye Yiming immediately grabbed Qin Haoxuan’s hand, pulling him behind him. He circulated his energy, and a spiritual armor materialized over his body. “Be careful,” he said grimly, “there’s definitely a demonic creature nearby…”

His words had not yet faded when Qin Haoxuan, standing behind him, saw a rift tear open in the space less than ten feet away. A strong, netherworldly aura poured out, and a dozen Nether-Souls spilled forth, quickly surrounding them.

Startled, Ye Yiming rapidly condensed spiritual energy in his right hand. Unleashing a Heaven-Cleaving Slash, his arm glowed with a ten-foot-long yellow light. A Nether-Soul shrieked as the light cut into it and dissolved completely into a puff of green smoke.

In about ten breaths, Ye Yiming had dispatched three of the creatures, but with nearly ten more swarming him, he was too busy dodging and attacking to pay any attention to Qin Haoxuan.

Qin Haoxuan knew this was no time to hide his strength. For now, it was only Nether-Souls, but if that spatial rift were to widen, low-level Nether-Creatures, or even powerful ones, could emerge. He had to conserve his and Ye Yiming’s stamina, because neither of them knew what dangers lay ahead.

Qin Haoxuan quickly focused the golden, misty spiritual sense in his mind, condensing it into a series of golden rods. Targeting the Nether-Souls’ consciousness, he slammed the golden rods into them. The moment their consciousness was struck, it shattered, and the creatures vanished into smoke, leaving no trace.

Spiritual sense can completely annihilate them? Surprised, Qin Haoxuan rapidly formed more golden rods in his mind, striking down one Nether-Soul after another. The ferocious creatures, whose claws could tear through stone like tofu, were effortlessly crushed and erased from existence.

Ye Yiming, who was still locked in a bitter struggle with nearly ten of the creatures, was in the middle of a fierce exchange when they suddenly vanished into thin air. He turned his head in astonishment, his gaze finally landing on Qin Haoxuan. What did this junior brother just do?

Qin Haoxuan smiled faintly. “This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s go.”

Ye Yiming nodded, his heart filled with shock. Although he didn’t know what method Qin Haoxuan had used to dispatch more than ten Nether-Souls in the blink of an eye, he could be certain that this junior brother was anything but simple.

However, just like Pu Hanzhong, he did not pry. If Qin Haoxuan did not speak of it, he would not ask. When the time came, he would naturally be told.

Just as they were about to move on in search of their own destiny and the Spirit Liquid, they heard a flurry of panicked footsteps and several alarmed voices. One of them sounded like Chu Xiangzi.

The two exchanged a look and quickly ducked behind a large rock.

“Hah… hah… that monster Zhang Kuang is terrifying! The power of a Purple Seed is truly frightening! No wonder they’re called Unsurpassed; when he fights, he’s nothing like a Tenth-Leaf disciple. It’s more like he’s possessed by a thousand-year-old demon, unbelievably ferocious! We don’t need to run anymore; I doubt he’s still chasing us.” Chu Xiangzi’s voice was still trembling. He leaned against a large tree, panting heavily as he spoke with resentment, “It’s just a shame we had just found the Spirit Liquid when he showed up and got it all for free!”

“I know! We were going to try and take him out, but we never expected him to be so strong. I still get chills thinking about the murderous look in his eyes when he killed them,” one of Chu Xiangzi’s underlings chimed in.

“What a waste of those few drops of Spirit Liquid. If we had collected them, we could have sold them for a handsome price!” His other underling licked his lips in frustration. He couldn’t believe that the new disciple, Zhang Kuang, was so powerful. Chu Xiangzi, a cultivator at the Twentieth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, with the help of five underlings all in the ten-plus-leaf range, had been unable to block Zhang Kuang’s attacks and had been beaten back at every turn.

If Chu Xiangzi hadn’t been so quick on his feet, he likely wouldn’t have escaped Zhang Kuang’s clutches. Originally a group of six, only three remained.

Three of Chu Xiangzi’s five disciples at the tenth-plus-leaf level had met their end at Zhang Kuang’s hands. Taichu had its own rules, but within the Aqueous Manor… many of those rules were temporarily ignored. Chu Xiangzi and the others had even entertained the thought of killing the Purple Seed.

Of course, the sheer brutality of Zhang Kuang’s methods made them suspect he was possessed by a vicious demon, completely disregarding the bonds of a fellow disciple.

As he had fled, Chu Xiangzi had caught a glimpse of the savage look in Zhang Kuang’s eyes as he killed his men, and he was still trembling from the memory.

Chu Xiangzi sighed. “If we had just one more person to help block his path, we could have beaten him and taken the Spirit Liquid! It’s a shame Zhang Yang got separated from us. If he had been here, things might have been different.”

Overhearing their conversation, Qin Haoxuan and Ye Yiming exchanged a look of bewilderment. They hadn’t expected Zhang Kuang to be so ferocious that even Chu Xiangzi, an expert at the Twentieth-Leaf, was no match for him. It sounded like Chu Xiangzi’s side had suffered heavy losses as well; no wonder he had been shouting about wanting to kill people in the Aqueous Manor.

Ye Yiming gestured for Qin Haoxuan to leave. If Zhang Kuang was chasing Chu Xiangzi and found them here, given their history, a fight to the death would be unavoidable.

Fortunately, the garden was full of decorative rocks and trees, providing plenty of cover for them to slip away.

As Qin Haoxuan followed Ye Yiming, his mind wondering why Zhang Kuang had become so ruthless, he failed to notice a small stone under his foot. He kicked it, and it made a soft scraping sound.

The noise startled the already on-edge group. “Who?! Who’s there?! Come out!” they shouted nervously.

After a few shouts, they realized their mistake. If it were Zhang Kuang, would he have needed to hide? And if it wasn’t Zhang Kuang, who else did they have to fear?

A vicious glint appeared in Chu Xiangzi’s eyes. The two people hiding behind that rock had definitely overheard everything. If word got out that six of them had been routed by a single person, their reputation would be ruined. The thought of silencing them for good instantly came to his mind.

The three of them exchanged a look and spread out, blocking Qin Haoxuan and Ye Yiming’s escape from three directions.

“Well, well, rivals are fated to meet. It’s you. What a coincidence,” Chu Xiangzi sneered. He had wanted to kill Qin Haoxuan in the manor anyway; now, his prey had been delivered right to him. It was a case of wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, only to find the target by chance.

Killing intent flared in Chu Xiangzi’s eyes. His grudge with Qin Haoxuan was not shallow. Like Zhang Kuang, he wanted nothing more than to see him dead. Now that he had run into him, he certainly couldn’t let him go easily.

However, Chu Xiangzi quickly remembered his master’s strange, meaningful warning not to kill or cripple Qin Haoxuan. His heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Master has other plans for him?

Remembering the shame he had suffered in the Spirit Field Valley, hatred surged in his eyes. He thought to himself, Let him go? I can’t do it. But if I don’t let him go, what can I do to him? The more he thought, the more frustrated he became, unable to find a solution.

“Senior Brother Chu, have you forgotten about Xu Yu?” one of his underlings whispered, his eyes on Qin Haoxuan as if looking at a pile of Qi-Circulating Powder. “He and Xu Yu are incredibly close. If we capture him, we can blackmail her for her powder. She will definitely comply. With all that powder, your cultivation speed will soar…”

A wicked smile spread across Chu Xiangzi’s face. He clapped the disciple on the shoulder, his mind suddenly clear. “Excellent. Excellent. Binding him alive is far more useful to me than killing him.”

With that, the three of them slowly closed their circle around Qin Haoxuan and Ye Yiming. While Chu Xiangzi was no match for Zhang Kuang, a First-Leaf Qin Haoxuan and a Fifteenth-Leaf Ye Yiming were nothing to him.

The problem now was how to capture Qin Haoxuan and smuggle him out of the Aqueous Manor undetected, so they could use him as a bargaining chip to continuously extort Xu Yu.

As for Ye Yiming, they would just kill him and dump the body. In a place as large as the Aqueous Manor, no one would ever find it.

Chu Xiangzi sneered, his eyes like those of a cat cornering a mouse. “Qin Haoxuan,” he said, “surrender obediently. You can avoid some unnecessary pain that way.”

Ye Yiming pushed Qin Haoxuan behind him and began to form a hand seal, preparing to attack. He whispered, “The manor is not like the sect. No one will know if we die here. I’ll hold them off. You run. Avenge me later.”

Seeing the desperate resolve on Ye Yiming’s face, Qin Haoxuan was reminded of Pu Hanzhong on Hundred Beasts Mountain, holding off Yelu Qi so he could run.

Qin Haoxuan shook his head firmly. Although his cultivation was weak, he couldn’t always let his senior brothers sacrifice themselves. A life bought with their deaths was a life not worth living.

Seeing that he wouldn’t run, Ye Yiming’s face filled with anxiety, but he could only let out a helpless sigh. Chu Xiangzi was at the Twentieth-Leaf, and his two underlings were at the Thirteenth- and Fifteenth-Leaf. There was almost no hope of winning.

Chu Xiangzi sneered and gave a signal. The three of them began to close in. One followed behind him towards Ye Yiming, while the other circled around to approach Qin Haoxuan from the back.

As they drew closer, Qin Haoxuan knew this was a battle for survival. If he couldn’t find a way to win, Ye Yiming would die and he would be captured.

At a moment like this, he could no longer worry about keeping his secrets. His face hardened as he prepared to use the Formless Sword, the same one he had used to kill Yelu Qi.

From his current angle, Chu Xiangzi and the Thirteenth-Leaf disciple were standing in a perfect line. He was certain he could kill them both with a single strike. Before his breakthrough, he could only activate the sword once. Now that he had sprouted a leaf, he was sure he could use it at least one more time, enough to kill the remaining enemy.

With his decision made, he reached into his robes to retrieve the Formless Sword. Chu Xiangzi flinched, thinking he was pulling out a powerful spiritual talisman. But when they saw Qin Haoxuan’s hand emerge empty, they all burst out laughing.