Harming Others Only Harms Yourself

Standing at the edge of the frozen white expanse, Luo Hong looked down into the earthen pit. Li Mingjing's body was already mangled beyond recognition, but upon closer sensing, Luo Hong could still detect a trace of his breath.

Just how strong was this old man's will to live? He was already in such a miserable state, yet he still used magic power to desperately protect his heart meridian.

"J-Junior Brother, I beg you, please don't kill me. You can't kill me. H-hand me over to the clan elders for judgment. You're... also a member of the Li Family. You can't kill me."

Clinging to his final breath, Li Mingjing still refused to give up persuading him, his voice as faint as a thread.

In truth, he was not wrong. By all rights, Luo Hong should have stopped after going this far.

Li Mingjing was both his fellow disciple and his family elder. It was indeed against the rules for Luo Hong to decide whether he lived or died.

But ever since entering the Cultivation World, whether cultivating or acting, Luo Hong had never considered following the rules.

Since Li Mingjing had seen the way he fought by throwing talismans around like dirt, Luo Hong had to silence him forever. He silently picked up Li Mingjing's flying sword Magic Artifact.

"Why?! Where exactly did this old man go wrong?! You actually made so many preparations in advance!"

Sensing Luo Hong's iron-cold Killing Intent, Li Mingjing knew he was doomed to die today and roared in a final burst of strength.

Setting aside the huge number of Water Bullet Talismans, Luo Hong's tactics, which seemed to have been drilled hundreds or thousands of times, could not possibly be explained by quick thinking in the heat of battle!

Luo Hong remained silent. With a flick of his wrist, the flying sword Magic Artifact pierced through Li Mingjing's brow and nailed him to the ground.

Only after delivering the finishing blow did Luo Hong slowly give his answer:

"I didn't need to see through you beforehand. I only needed to always think about how to kill you in return."

Although this was the first time he had killed someone to silence them, Luo Hong felt no ripples in his heart. After all, Li Mingjing had harbored malicious intentions toward him first. The principle he believed in was:

If someone tries to kill me, I'll kill without restraint!

If he had to silence unrelated people in the future... Luo Hong frowned slightly.

Hmph. He would deal with the future when it came. Right now, the important thing was handling those three Evil Cultivators.

Yet, to Luo Hong's surprise, before he could make a move, the black qi barrier formed by the three Evil Cultivators underwent a strange change.

The surface of the black qi barrier suddenly churned. Before long, it collapsed, revealing that the three Evil Cultivator brothers hiding inside had already died violently.

After examining their corpses, Luo Hong discovered that all of them had died from their meridians bursting throughout their bodies.

It was Not Difficult to guess that the deaths of these three Evil Cultivators were connected to the dense Earth Fiend Turbid Qi currently present.

The black qi that rose from these Evil Cultivators during battle greatly resembled Earth Fiend Turbid Qi, so the cultivation techniques they practiced were surely related to it.

Evil sect techniques were known for their tremendous power, but also for how easily they caused cultivation deviation. Their deaths could be considered karmic retribution.

With all his enemies dead, Luo Hong began collecting the Loot. Naturally, Li Mingjing's Storage Bag came first.

The combined wealth of those three Evil Cultivators was likely not even one-tenth or one-twentieth of Li Mingjing's.

Low-grade Storage Bags could not be bound to an owner. Luo Hong directly extended his spiritual sense inside and immediately learned what it contained.

Two high-grade Magic Artifacts, more than ten bottles of various Pills, several talismans, over a hundred Spirit Stones, and some miscellaneous items.

Luo Hong could not keep the Magic Artifacts for himself. He would have to return them all to the Li Family after going back, so he stopped paying attention after one glance.

Unexpectedly, about half the Pills were the kind that could aid cultivation. Without hesitation, Luo Hong swept all of them into his own Storage Bag.

As for talismans, Li Mingjing had used every last one of the high-grade ones during the battle.

At that moment, Luo Hong could not help recalling how Li Mingjing had carelessly used mid-grade talismans, only to fail to withstand his low-grade Water Bullet Talismans.

In fact, this was entirely because Li Mingjing understood the effects of Earth Fiend Turbid Qi without understanding the reason behind them.

Perhaps Old Ghost Blood had told Li Mingjing that Earth Fiend Turbid Qi greatly increased the difficulty orthodox Cultivators faced when casting spells, which was why he had prepared so many elementary mid-grade talismans.

But he did not understand the specific principle by which Earth Fiend Turbid Qi weakened orthodox Cultivators. Thus, it never occurred to him that the Spiritual Qi within spells activated by talismans would also be forcibly dispersed by the External Spiritual Pressure.

Moreover, in this phenomenon of Spiritual Qi dissipation, high-level Spells possessed stronger Spiritual Qi than low-level Spells and produced a greater difference in Spiritual Pressure, so they dissipated even more severely. Defensive spells also spread their Spiritual Qi over a far wider area than offensive spells, further intensifying the dissipation.

Therefore, it was not Luo Hong's Water Bullet Talismans that broke Li Mingjing's Golden Light Shield, but the Earth Fiend Turbid Qi that seemed to have done nothing at all!

As for the hundred-odd Spirit Stones, Luo Hong was not particularly interested in them, but he still took half. Otherwise, the thought of suffering a loss even after winning the battle would make him very uncomfortable.

After handling things this way, as long as Luo Hong handed Li Mingjing's Storage Bag over to the clan, and with Liu Jing backing him, those direct descendants of the Li Family would not cause him trouble over killing Li Mingjing.

Next, Luo Hong was far less polite with the three Evil Cultivators. Three Small Fire Pellets turned them into white ash.

After picking up a few presentable belongings, Luo Hong tossed his own Soul Tablet beside the Diamond Bell, then hid in a tree hollow from which he could see the Diamond Bell.

If more Evil Cultivators tracked their way here, Luo Hong would decide based on the situation whether to launch a surprise attack.

"Senior Brother Yu, I'll have to trouble you to serve as bait. You're safe inside the bell anyway."

On Demon Spider Peak, outside the Gathering Sha Formation, Old Ghost Blood, an Evil Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, continuously poured magic power into the Gathering Sha Formation. The surrounding Earth Fiend Turbid Qi formed an enormous vortex and endlessly flooded into the formation.

"Brat from Yellow Maple Valley, once this old man's Sha Devouring Technique is activated, it will not stop until it has refined all your flesh and blood, soul and spirit! Well? How does it feel to wait helplessly for death? Do you understand this old man's pain now?!"

Liu Jing did not want to understand, nor did he need to. At this moment, a black bead floated before his chest. Before any Earth Fiend Turbid Qi could touch Liu Jing's Physical Body, it was absorbed into the bead.

"Good thing I have the Sha Demon Bead bestowed by Master. Otherwise, this really would have been somewhat troublesome."

Li Huayuan had obtained this Sha Demon Bead years ago after killing a level-four Black Fiend Demon Python, equivalent to a Cultivator at Foundation Establishment Late-stage. He had no use for the bead's ability to absorb and devour Sha, so he bestowed it upon his third disciple, Liu Jing, who was always fighting Evil Cultivators.

Liu Jing had never used this bead even once after receiving it. He had not expected that its first use would save his life.

One shichen after another passed. Outside the Gathering Sha Formation, Old Ghost Blood's expression grew increasingly ugly. Sweat covered his brow, his Dantian was empty, and he was already nearing the brink of Oil Exhausted, Lamp Dying. Yet the brat within the Gathering Sha Formation remained as tough as refined gold, showing not the slightest sign of being refined away.

"Could Not Possibly! No orthodox Cultivator can endure Earth Fiend Turbid Qi for this long! This is absolutely impossible!"

No matter how Old Ghost Blood howled, the facts remained facts.

Once the Sha Devouring Technique was activated, one of them had to die. Either Liu Jing would be refined, or Old Ghost Blood would die after his own cultivation technique drained him of everything!

When this year's Earth Fiend eruption on Demon Spider Peak ended, Liu Jing broke through the formation and walked out. After all, he had failed to save those mortals, and this left him deeply displeased.

At his feet, Old Ghost Blood's horrifying corpse had shriveled into a ball. Liu Jing gave a cold Hmph, imitated Luo Hong by Flicking Out a Small Fireball, and efficiently burned the corpse before taking its treasures.

Then, with a sigh, he flew away.

"Harming others only harms yourself!"