Winning with Wits, Not Strength

A single strike to kill!

Lin Xuan's expression darkened. The ruthlessness of his opponent's attack had exceeded his expectations...

He gritted his teeth. Rather than dodge, he took a step backward.

Whoosh—the Flying Sword missed, striking the mountain wall behind him. Amid booming crashes, countless shards of rock tumbled down. Zhou Yan stared in stunned disbelief. Even in her dreams, she would never have imagined that a rookie at the early Spirit Movement Stage could evade her attack. What was even stranger was that Lin Xuan had not dodged—in the instant the Flying Sword was about to hit him, he had suddenly sunk into the ground. What was going on?

Furious and astonished, Zhou Yan unconsciously stepped forward, wanting to investigate. When she took her third step, snap! As though she had triggered some mechanism, a large net fell from overhead and enveloped her.

The sudden turn of events gave Zhou Yan a fright as well. She hurriedly formed hand seals, trying to break free from the fishing net. But just then, an ice pellet shot out from the spot where Lin Xuan had sunk underground and struck a rope tied to a large tree with perfect accuracy.

The rope snapped. Propelled by the recoil, a bamboo pole as thick as a bowl, sharpened to points at both ends, flew toward Zhou Yan.

"No..."

Zhou Yan's face drained of color. Her vicious voice turned terrified, followed by a scream. Caught beneath the fishing net, she had nowhere to evade. The bamboo pierced through her chest. Until the moment she died, Zhou Yan could not understand how she had ended up dying here for no apparent reason.

With unwillingness in her eyes and the treasure she had seized by murdering her master still clutched tightly in her hand, Zhou Yan's soul returned to the Underworld. Two minutes later, Lin Xuan crawled out of the earthen pit. Looking at Zhou Yan's corpse, he let out a breath. That had been close—danger was just one word away.

Had he not planned so carefully, the one lying on the ground now would have been him.

From the moment he had been discovered, Lin Xuan had been considering how to resolve this crisis. Blindly running away would definitely not work. This valley was several miles from the sect; before he could escape back, Zhou Yan would catch up and kill him. He only knew the Light Body Technique, while she, an expert at the great completion of the Spirit Movement Stage, knew the more advanced Wind Riding Art. Their speeds were simply incomparable.

He could not escape her grasp, and begging for mercy would certainly be useless. His only way out was to fight for his life. Only by killing her could he survive. At first hearing, this seemed like an impossible task. Their cultivation levels were worlds apart; honestly, even a hundred Lin Xuans would not be Zhou Yan's match.

But he had no other choice. Besides, if he could not defeat her with strength, he could still outwit her!

Of course, saying it was easy to outwit an opponent. Had Lin Xuan not been so cool-headed and meticulous, he would have long since been at his wits' end in a situation like this. How could he still have had the presence of mind to devise a plan?

To outwit her, he first had to analyze what circumstances favored him. His cultivation was far inferior to hers; Lin Xuan's sole advantage was his familiarity with the terrain. He had discovered this valley two years ago. Though he could not claim to know every blade of grass and tree, it was indeed much like his own backyard.

And judging from what he had seen earlier, Zhou Yan had clearly landed here by chance. The valley's terrain was unfamiliar to her.

Thus, from the very beginning, Lin Xuan had made use of this. He twisted and turned, refusing to travel in a straight line, doing his utmost to buy more time.

The next crucial second step involved the valley itself. Apart from the occasional rare flowers and strange herbs, it also had plenty of animals, from wild rabbits to bears and tigers. Lin Xuan treated this place as his private territory and would occasionally hunt here for wild game.

For ease of hunting, he had once set several traps throughout the valley. When he had been feeling around on the ground earlier, he had been checking whether the traps had been damaged. This time, luck had been on his side. Neither of the two traps had been touched; both remained intact.

There were two traps in all. One was for Lin Xuan himself to use. It was an ordinary pitfall used to catch relatively small animals. Its surface was covered in wild grass, and stepping on it would allow Lin Xuan to fall straight into the earthen pit.

Lin Xuan had already calculated that, given Zhou Yan's vicious nature, she would surely attack him the instant they met. Her strike would be too fast for him to dodge, but if he stood before the trap, all he needed to do was take one step back to fall into it and avoid the attack.

And in such circumstances, Zhou Yan would definitely be greatly startled and step forward to investigate. At that point, the other trap could come into play. Unlike the pit he had fallen into, this trap was meant to capture large animals, such as lions and tigers. It contained not only a fishing net, but also sharpened bamboo poles...

In other words, this trap was lethal!

As long as he lured Zhou Yan onto it, the trap would activate. If she had been on guard, a trap meant for catching wild beasts naturally could not have dealt with a cultivator. But when it came completely out of the blue, it could achieve a miraculous victory through surprise.

Lin Xuan had calculated every step, one link locking into the next—how he should lure his enemy, what reaction Zhou Yan would have. Though the situation at the time had been perilous beyond measure, Lin Xuan had calmly considered his countermeasures.

In the end, his plan succeeded. He had defeated his opponent not through strength, but through intellect and calmness.

This battle had not consumed much spiritual power, nor had it taken long, yet it had wrung his mind dry and exhausted every ounce of his ingenuity. Lin Xuan felt somewhat tired as well and sat down on the ground to rest.

He cast a cold glance at Zhou Yan's corpse, then walked over and removed a crystalline emerald-green Bracelet from her wrist. This was no ornament, but an item cultivators used to store objects. It contained a separate space. Lin Xuan sent his divine sense inside and took out the items one by one.

Clothes, food, women's cosmetics—Lin Xuan did not even glance at them before tossing them aside.

"Got them." Lin Xuan gave a soft cry, his face brimming with delight. In his hand were two gleaming stones.

Spirit Stones. During his three years in Floating Cloud Valley, Lin Xuan had heard the elders mention them countless times. They were treasures on par with medicinal pills and Dharma Treasures, but this was his first time encountering them at such close range.

So-called Spirit Stones were stones containing abundant spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth. Cultivators could directly absorb that energy from them through cultivation. Based on the amount and purity of the spiritual energy they contained, they were divided into four grades: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and supreme-grade.

Whether for cultivation, artifact forging, or magical combat, Spirit Stones played an irreplaceable role. They were also used by cultivators as currency in trade.