Chen Yifeng finally couldn't hold back and burst into hearty laughter.
How many years had it been since he last saw such a stupid rookie? Not only was he not begging for mercy, he was even taking the initiative to draw his sword?
His eyes narrowed with laughter, but the corner of his vision suddenly caught a trace of killing intent. A flash of sword light appeared, filling his entire field of view.
The hoarse, grating laughter abruptly stopped.
A blood-soaked head rolled across the withered leaves.
"Shorty Chen?" Zhang Jiaojiao's expression froze. Her longtime friend and bedmate, with whom she had worked for years, had been beheaded with a single sword? Just like that, he was dead!
It had to be an illusion, right?
"Qi Refining Level 3? I'm at Qi Refining Level 8!"
Su Hao held his sword in one hand, standing to the left of the fallen corpse as he sneered at Zhang Jiaojiao.
A few days ago, he had broken through to Qi Refining Level 8 along the way.
When facing cultivators with backgrounds like Huang Shanyu and Liu Mei, acting timid was the wise choice.
He had not even been willing to invite trouble. He only wanted to find somewhere safe to settle down in this treacherous place.
Was even that so difficult?
Two Qi Refining Level 5 cultivators could jump out from the roadside and join forces to kill him! What kind of trash sect was this?
Thump~
When the aura of Qi Refining Level 8 surged forth,
Zhang Jiaojiao knelt on the ground in terror, raising both hands. "S... Senior Brother, spare me! I was forced into this."
It was not that she did not want to flee. She knew all too well that the gap between their realms was enormous, and there was nowhere for her to run!
Begging for mercy might still leave her a thread of hope.
Su Hao gripped his sword. Naturally, he could not leave a survivor.
But just as he was about to swing his sword and kill her,
his sword suddenly stopped, hovering at Zhang Jiaojiao's neck. "You want to live?"
"Of course. As long as you spare me, I'll do anything. I'll be your slave or maid." Zhang Jiaojiao bent even lower, her collar hanging open and revealing the spring beneath.
Su Hao suddenly realized that he knew far too little about the Golden Light Sect.
Even what he had learned by questioning Zhao Bai Jiang was extremely limited.
A vicious criminal like Zhang Jiaojiao, who had clawed her way up from the bottom, surely understood most of the secrets and social intricacies of the outer sect.
"All right. I do happen to be short a maid." The corners of Su Hao's mouth curled up.
Zhang Jiaojiao forced a smile, trying to put on her most seductive expression. "I'll do everything I can to serve you."
"Before that, I'll seal your cultivation. Don't make any movements, or I'll treat it as resistance!"
Su Hao walked toward Zhang Jiaojiao without hurry.
Throughout the process, if Zhang Jiaojiao made even the slightest unusual movement, he would kill her without hesitation.
Zhang Jiaojiao's entire body tensed.
Su Hao's vigorous spiritual power poured into Zhang Jiaojiao's body and wrapped around her Dantian.
This method of sealing cultivation was crude and did not last long. It was more of a warning measure.
With the strength of Qi Refining Level 5, she could also break through this stream of spiritual power.
But the instant she broke through, Su Hao would notice.
"Absorbing Talent Power: Martial Artist (gray), Talent for the Sword Path (white)."
"Consuming Martial Artist ×2. Generating new talent: Martial General (white)."
Martial General (white): Martial Arts entering the Dao, shedding the mortal and transcending the mundane. Possesses a slight talent in body cultivation, increasing bodily potential.
Name: Su Hao Realm: Qi Refining Level 8 Talents: Wood Emperor Physique (orange), Hidden Kill (purple), Apothecary (blue), Fire Elemental Sword Physique (blue), Sword Heart (blue), Initial Yang Qi (white), Golden Spirit Body (white), Water Spirit Body (white), Wood Affinity (white), Talent for the Sword Path (white), Martial General (white)
Su Hao took a deep breath. After the Martial Artist talent upgraded, he faintly sensed imperceptible changes in his flesh and blood, and his control over his body had grown stronger.
"Take his storage pouch and dispose of the corpse." Su Hao opened his eyes and gave the order.
"Yes." Zhang Jiaojiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. So that meant she had escaped disaster for the time being.
As long as the green hills remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.
Back then, she had also suffered something similar. As long as she stayed alive, there would always be a way!
Zhang Jiaojiao carried out the order without hesitation. She found the storage pouch and threw Chen Yifeng's corpse off the cliff.
"Master, this is Chen Yifeng's storage pouch. As far as I know, he also hid some spirit stones in his cave dwelling."
Zhang Jiaojiao respectfully presented the storage pouch.
Su Hao took it, but he was not interested in the so-called spirit stones. If Chen Yifeng had been wealthy, why would he have come out to rob low-level cultivators?
He inspected the storage pouch.
It was pitifully poor, almost on par with Zhao Bai Jiang's.
There were some worthless pills and clothes, along with a dozen or so spirit stones.
Only a Soul Refining Banner stood out.
"Hm, a Soul Refining Banner?" Su Hao's eyes lit up as he took out the most conspicuous magical artifact inside—a Soul Refining Banner wreathed in black mist.
"This was a Soul Refining Banner Chen Yifeng bought three years ago after spending all his savings. It now has thirty Yin Souls. The strongest is the soul of a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator."
Zhang Jiaojiao immediately explained.
A trace of grief flashed through her eyes. It was because she had been too careless and failed to take out the Soul Refining Banner at the first opportunity. Otherwise, she would not have been killed by a single sword.
Su Hao slapped his forehead, looking rather vexed. "Damn it, I forgot to refine that fellow's soul. He was still a Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator."
The corpse had already been thrown to the bottom of the cliff. Unless he went down there to search for it and then extracted the soul from the body through a soul-refining technique,
"He had some talent for the sword, didn't he? Why did he start using a Soul Refining Banner?" Su Hao suddenly realized that there were no swords in this man's storage pouch!
"How did you know...? Uh, he thought practicing the sword was too tiring. A year or two of hard work couldn't compare to ten souls from a Soul Refining Banner. He was once beaten into a panic-stricken retreat by a weaker cultivator, and afterward, he gave up the sword path."
Zhang Jiaojiao did not dare to say too much and honestly explained.
Su Hao had already understood this point long ago. Soul Refining and corpse refinement were the methods most suited to low-level cultivators at the bottom of a sect like this. They could achieve quick results with ease.
That was also why he was interested in the Soul Refining Banner. Of course, he would only use it as an auxiliary method rather than his primary cultivation path.
Just like Chen Yifeng, who had abandoned the sword path—his physical constitution and reaction speed were far too poor.
"You people. If you want to rob and kill, then just rob and kill. Why did you have to dig into every detail, fuss around and make small talk? You wanted to do evil, yet you were afraid of retaliation from the victim's elders?"
Su Hao put away the storage pouch and Soul Refining Banner, unable to resist complaining.
"Alas..." Zhang Jiaojiao seemed to want to speak but stopped. She felt somewhat aggrieved. If they had attacked directly, it would have been a fight to the death with no room to turn things around.
They had seen a Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator daring to walk onto the infamous Tiger Fall Cliff of the outer sect.
Either he really was a newcomer, or he had some reliance of his own. To be safe, asking a few questions first was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it?
Who could have imagined that a Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator would have such a vile sense of humor, disguising himself as a minor cultivator at Level 3?
Heavenly Medicine Mountain cave dwelling.
Zhang Jiaojiao obediently followed him back. Even though she had considered seeking help from other cultivators several times along the way, she ultimately gave up.
She knew the sect's atmosphere all too well.
Most of the kind disciples had already died. Those who remained were usually solitary and ruthless disciples who would never meddle in other people's affairs.
"You really are a disciple of Heavenly Medicine Mountain?" Zhang Jiaojiao stood with her hands folded before Su Hao, her face full of bitterness. "I've never heard of a disciple like you at Lin Zhi Shan. As far as I know, he only has one nominal disciple, Lin Miao, who is a junior of his Lineage."
Su Hao sat in a chair and glanced at her. "It's not your place to ask questions. I'm going to ask you some questions now. Answer them truthfully."
"Yes. I'll tell you everything I know." Zhang Jiaojiao felt vaguely uneasy.
Su Hao asked many questions, including some he had previously asked Zhao Bai Jiang.
He asked about the various peaks of the outer sect and their functions, as well as whether there were any other relatively secret trading places besides the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and Scripture Repository.
"Very good. I'm quite satisfied with your answers. But you should know the main reason I didn't kill you, right? Come here now."
Su Hao casually tugged open his collar, exposing his chest, and spread his legs.
"Yes, this servant knows perfectly well." Zhang Jiaojiao finally relaxed completely and revealed a seductive smile.
Sure enough, all men under Heaven were cut from the same cloth. Qi Refining cultivators were no different; they still had the seven emotions and six desires.
Back then, she had encountered a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator and served him submissively for half a year.
At last, she found an opportunity and, relying on her Qi Refining Level 4 strength, killed the Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator through a sneak attack!
Still, this young man was handsome and powerful. If possible, becoming his bed-warming maid would not be a bad choice.
For now, she needed to do everything in her power to win his favor.
That was very easy for her!
Zhang Jiaojiao had once studied with a senior sister from Joy Peak for some time. The moment she saw Su Hao's posture, she understood, obediently knelt before him, and assumed a seductive, bashful pose that tugged at the heartstrings.
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