Su Qiuzhen could not help imagining himself becoming a great expert of the Embryonic Breathing Realm, his father passing the entire family estate to him, everyone in Jinmen treating him with utmost respect, and even the foreign potion practitioners of the Seven Gods Church having to bring him gifts before they could open churches and spread their faith.
As he thought about it, his mind suddenly drifted far away. That familiar cool, comfortable sensation—as if all the beauty in the world were within reach—made him snap awake at once.
"My mind is unsettled, and the gods have sensed it. A life-or-death calamity is coming!"
In an instant, Su Qiuzhen felt cold sweat break out across his back.
Within the Ancestral Aperture between his brows, the tiny seated figure of his soul suddenly opened its eyes, and the Twelve Rank White Lotus representing minor attainment in the Spirit Solidification Realm burst apart.
Li Xijun, who had already crept to within a hundred meters behind him, suddenly felt himself being firmly locked onto.
"Stop hiding and die!"
Before Su Qiuzhen could finish his words, filled with relief, hatred, and killing intent,
a crimson flash and a dark blue current flickered through the night at the same instant.
Screech!
The Blood Vein Cord Flying Sword, originally aimed at his brain, was deflected.
It scraped across the Nano Protective Suit on Li Xijun's right arm with a piercing metallic shriek,
then plunged into the stone wall behind him.
Thud!
With more than half his head gone, the hatred had yet to fade from Su Qiuzhen's face as his corpse crashed heavily onto the bluestone pavement, utterly lifeless.
Li Xijun had already strode forward.
As he searched the corpse, he found a piece of silk cloth woven with silver threads.
At the same time, he pulled off the bottle cap and aimed it at the space between the brows of what remained of Su Qiuzhen's half-head.
"I suppose this counts as using his own methods against him."
A moment later
Having completed the whole process of revenge, murder, corpse disposal, and soul collection, Li Xijun followed his usual routine outside, played around with the machine, hid the Mockingbird Drone and Nano Protective Suit, then returned home to the Main World.
Looking at the spoils of war on his bed, Li Xijun could not help sighing.
"Since ancient times, killing and looting have been the best way to get rich overnight!"
The least valuable things to Li Xijun were the four hundred taels of silver taken from Deng Gao and Su Qiuzhen.
To the people of the Da Sheng World, this might have been the most enticing treasure imaginable.
But Li Xijun had no interest in even looking at it a few more times.
He only planned to find a sewer and throw the silver away when he had the chance.
Silver was what he lacked least. There was no need to spend Deng Gao and Su Qiuzhen's money. If it bore any marks, using it would only bring trouble.
Li Xijun also felt that was an extremely unlikely possibility, but since he did not lack silver, why take the risk?
Next came the soul bottle, which could be considered half a Mystic Item.
Generally speaking, the moment a Spirit Solidification Realm cultivator died, their soul would certainly be damaged and retain almost no awareness.
As long as the soul's will was then ground away with the Eternal Life Salvation Mother Vacuum Contemplation,
it would become a relatively pure soul resource. Absorbing it could noticeably strengthen one's soul.
But Li Xijun had no interest in such a thing.
His talent in the path of spirit refinement was even stronger than his martial talent, and he did not lack Spirit Nourishing Incense. He would never absorb or devour someone else's soul.
"Still, I remember that cultivators' souls can be used as nourishment to feed magical treasures."
"I wonder whether Su Qiuzhen's Flying Sword is a Mystic Item or a magical treasure?"
Li Xijun gripped the peachwood sword, which looked no bigger than his palm.
After trying to communicate with it using his soul,
he easily established an initial connection with the Flying Sword.
He then successfully poured into it the soul power he had just cultivated in the Spirit Solidification Realm.
In an instant,
the peachwood sword, which had originally looked like a decorative ornament, revealed the sharp essence of the Blood Vein Cord.
Under Li Xijun's control, it easily extended into a short sword.
"Go!"
With a thought from Li Xijun, the Flying Sword instantly split in two the dumbbell from the corner of the room that he had used for exercise in middle school.
"This speed already far surpasses an Apprentice at blood-and-qi level 9.0. Cutting through steel would be effortless."
"No wonder the books say that a cultivator with minor attainment in the Spirit Solidification Realm can kill a Greater Bone and Tendon Refinement martial artist as easily as slaughtering a chicken."
"Unfortunately, this Flying Sword can only be considered a high-grade Mystic Item. It cannot be called a magical treasure."
Li Xijun was somewhat disappointed, though he had long been mentally prepared.
After all, if this Flying Sword had truly been a magical treasure,
his Nano Protective Suit would probably have been cut apart in a single strike, and his right arm severed on the spot.
Besides, to nourish a treasure like a magical treasure, the little soul power possessed by a Spirit Solidification Realm cultivator would not even be enough to fill a gap between its teeth.
Li Xijun had only tried activating this Mystic Item Flying Sword for a little over ten seconds, yet he already felt as if his soul had been hollowed out.
That was only because his innate spiritual power level was high, and because he had integrated his self from the Da Sheng World, raising the spiritual power level of his Soul Origin to the utmost limit.
An ordinary Spirit-Refining Cultivator who had just broken through to the Spirit Solidification Realm would not even be able to wield a Flying Sword. A casual drain by a Mystic Item would exhaust their soul power and make them faint on the spot.
"Sure enough, only after reaching minor attainment in the Spirit Solidification Realm can a cultivator truly wield a Flying Sword."
"Still, the Mythic Rift and the Blood God Cult incident proved that this world is not safe."
"Even if this Flying Sword can only erupt for a brief moment, it can still serve as a trump card when danger comes."
After giving it some thought, Li Xijun decided to keep the Flying Sword in his schoolbag when traveling to and from school.
If danger really came, enemies in this world probably would not expect a Flying Sword to fly out of a student's schoolbag, would they?
Feeling increasingly delighted, Li Xijun finally turned his attention to the main prize.
He took a deep breath and unfolded the silk cloth woven with silver threads.
Sure enough, it was covered with densely packed scriptures and a contemplation image of twenty-four white lotuses blooming.
When he probed it slightly with his soul power, he felt as though the white lotuses had been branded into his mind, conveying their true meaning:
Emptiness!
Purity!
Extinction!
This stood in an extremely sharp contrast to the Cold Mountain Pine and Cypress Chart that Li Xijun had cultivated before.
It allowed Li Xijun to truly feel the enormous difference between a mid-grade Contemplation Method with special traits and a low-grade Contemplation Method with blank attributes.
Moreover, it contained an accompanying technique for attacking and killing souls through contemplation, but Li Xijun's realm was too low for him to comprehend its mysteries.
Without hesitation, he took out a stick of Spirit Nourishing Incense, lit it, and directly switched to cultivating the Twenty-Four Rank White Lotus Salvation Chart.
The Twenty-Four Rank White Lotus Salvation Chart was indeed far more difficult to cultivate than the Cold Mountain Pine and Cypress Chart.
Even after cultivating until midnight, Li Xijun had only barely visualized nineteen petals of the white lotus.
For someone who had easily visualized the Cold Mountain Pine and Cypress Chart before, this finally stirred up a bit of fighting spirit in him.
"Not bad. Though it's somewhat harder, and I'll probably need a few more hours to complete the visualization, its efficiency truly isn't on the same level. One session equals three or four of the previous method."
As another stick of Spirit Nourishing Incense burned out, Li Xijun saw that it was already too late. Satisfied, he lay back down on the bed and went to sleep.
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