First Kill

A pained "Hngh" escaped Chen Feng's mouth. He had not expected his opponent to dare fight back, and this talisman was clearly top-grade. A strand of lightning as thin as a hair left him dizzy and disoriented.

Wei Yunxi had no intention of giving Chen Feng time to react. Following the principle of striking while he was down and taking his life, she charged forward with her Spirit Sword in hand. Though she had never systematically studied Sword Art, she had recently become highly proficient in the basic moves of chopping, cleaving, thrusting, lifting, and sweeping. Now, she unleashed them all on him at once.

It was rare to have a living person as a target, so naturally she would not let this chance for real combat slip away. Moreover, she was exceptionally strong to begin with. Though her moves were simple, their destructive power was anything but light, leaving Chen Feng struggling to cope.

Wei Yunxi grew more excited as she fought, while Chen Feng became increasingly alarmed. He shouted sharply:

"You concealed your cultivation!"

Wei Yunxi did not stop swinging her sword as she replied:

"If I hadn't, how could I have lured you out?"

In truth, Wei Yunxi had not known that Chen Feng had been secretly watching her. But since he had exposed her concealed cultivation, she simply went along with it. Her aim was to throw his mind into disarray and, incidentally, explain why she had hidden her cultivation.

However, Wei Yunxi knew clearly that Chen Feng had to die. If he returned alive, who knew what he might do afterward.

With that thought, Wei Yunxi put even more strength into her sword strikes, occasionally throwing out two attack talismans to disrupt Chen Feng's rhythm.

Chen Feng formed a hand seal and cast a Defensive Shield, blocking six fireballs. He then threw out a Smoke Talisman, intending to use the opportunity to flee. He knew he would gain no advantage today, so retreating first was the wisest course.

But how could Yunxi let such an opportunity pass? Her divine sense had long since locked onto Chen Feng. The instant he turned to flee, she hurled her Spirit Sword at him, aiming straight for the center of his back.

Judging from the sound of the wind that danger was upon him, Chen Feng immediately rolled across the ground, dodging the Spirit Sword. The sword stabbed viciously into the earth.

Chen Feng did not spare so much as a glance for the Spirit Sword that had missed. Just as he prepared to dive into the hole he had dug, his body suddenly shuddered. He looked down at the icicle piercing through his chest, then went limp and collapsed completely.

Yunxi caught the scent of blood, but she did not approach at once. Instead, she took ten First Grade Fireball Talismans from her Storage Pouch and hurled them all at Chen Feng's fallen body. She was no fool; she would not give him the chance to counterattack.

Her decision proved wise. As the Fireball Techniques merged into a sea of flames, Chen Feng suddenly groaned and crawled twice more toward the hole. Only after the fire spread over his entire body did he finally stop moving.

Suppressing her nausea, Yunxi used the Object Manipulation Technique to pull the Storage Pouch from Chen Feng's waist. She emptied its contents, swept everything into her own space, then tossed the Storage Pouch back into the sea of fire. Only after watching both Chen Feng's corpse and the Storage Pouch turn to ash did she finally vomit.

Having transmigrated from a peaceful era, this was her first time killing someone. The shock was still immense. Earlier, the surge of adrenaline had made her overlook that fear, but now that the enemy had been thoroughly eliminated, a lingering dread rose within her instead.

At the same time, she recognized the cruelty of the Cultivation Realm. They were both Outer Sect disciples. It had only been a minor verbal dispute, and the Wei Family had not used their power to suppress or retaliate against him. Yet he had instead set his sights on the Wei family disciples.

He had even lain low for a year, allowing the earlier incident to fade away before striking when he found her alone.

If she had not concealed her cultivation and had truly only been at the fourth level of Qi Refinement, she would undoubtedly have died tonight. If he had chosen to ambush her in the first half of the night, when she had been drawing talismans and the Spiritual Qi in her Dantian was nearly exhausted, she certainly would have gained no advantage if he caught her off guard.

Fortunately, Chen Feng had only come for her after her Spiritual Qi had recovered, and the smoke he released after realizing he was outmatched had also provided excellent cover for her.

The Spirit Sword she had thrown had been meant to draw his attention. The instant-cast Ice Thorn Technique had been the truly lethal attack. Fortunately, her prediction had been correct. Otherwise, Chen Feng really would have escaped.

Yunxi retched for a long while without bringing anything up. After taking quite some time to recover, she went over and erased every trace Chen Feng had left behind. Especially the hole—she used a spell to seal it completely before returning to the thatched hut.

Yet she had no mind to meditate. She merely sat in the room, staring blankly into space. This was the first time she had directly faced a crisis since coming to the Cultivation Realm. Fortunately, she still had some luck on her side, and had escaped danger without harm. But that did not mean her luck would always be so good.

This incident had sounded an alarm for her. She had to find suitable offensive methods as soon as possible. She could not rely on talismans to win every time; talismans would eventually run out.

Wei Yunxi's thoughts were in complete turmoil, one idea surfacing after another. Only when the sun rose did she finally pull herself together and go check on the seedlings in the spirit fields.

After inspecting both of their spirit fields and pulling out several weeds that were competing with the Spiritual Rice for nutrients, she returned to the thatched hut. She could not let anyone detect the slightest anomaly.

Moreover, she kept her divine sense spread out all day, wanting to know who might be watching her so she could determine whether Chen Feng had accomplices.

Fortunately, no one paid attention to her that day. Still, she did not lower her guard. Every half hour, she swept her surroundings with her divine sense until Zonghao returned.

"Sister Yunxi, nothing unusual happened yesterday, right?"

Wei Zonghao had only asked casually.

Yunxi nodded.

"Your spirit fields are all fine. I pulled out two weeds this morning."

"That's good. I gained quite a lot on this trip back. I bought Spirit Flour Buns from the dining hall, then went to the Market and bought some Pearl Spirit Rice. I also bought some first-tier Spirit Rabbit Meat and an entire Spirit Chicken—enough to last us for a while."

At once, Yunxi smiled, two dimples appearing on her cheeks.

"That's wonderful! Did you get the stove?"

"Of course. I bought a secondhand one for only fifty Spirit Beads. Some senior sisters in the Market were also selling spiritual vegetables they had grown, so I picked up some of those too."

"Not bad, not bad! Oh, right, how are Sister Yunying and the others?"

Wei Yunxi asked casually as well.

"The short-term task they took has already been completed. Yunying, Zong Jin, and Zong Yu have all returned to the Disciple Courtyard on the outer peaks. Only Wei Yunqing did not return. She said the disciples of Alchemy Peak thought highly of her and kept her on to continue sorting spiritual herbs. They even gave her extra spirit stones."

Hearing this, Wei Yunxi paused while selecting the spiritual vegetables, then continued working as she said with a smile:

"That's good too. At least she can stay on Alchemy Peak to cultivate. I heard the Spiritual Qi there is even denser than at the Cultivation Hall."

"She just stepped in dog shit and got lucky."

Wei Zonghao said dismissively.

His aptitude was no worse than Wei Yunqing's now. It was no longer possible for her to overpower the Wei family disciples.

That day, Zonghao and Yunxi ate a fragrant stew of Spirit Chicken. The next day, Yunxi turned the Spirit Chicken soup into chicken noodle soup, and the two of them enjoyed another hearty meal.

The delicious spiritual meal soothed Yunxi's heart well. As far as she was concerned, the matter with Chen Feng was over. She did not mention it to Zonghao either; the fewer people who knew about something like this, the better.

By the second month, the Spiritual Rice had grown to a meter tall and begun filling out its grains. Yunxi and Zonghao became busy, needing to cast the Rainfall Technique twice each day to ensure the rice filled properly.

When the Spiritual Rice entered its third month and reached the ripening stage, Yunxi noticed someone lingering near her and Zonghao's spirit fields.