Green Deer Mountain

Twilight had just fallen, and the light was already dim.

Chen Xuan moved lightly. Although his feet inevitably crushed dead branches and fallen leaves, he made no great disturbance as he rapidly approached the several people from Green Deer Mountain.

"Graaaah..."

Four sturdy green-skinned elk lowered their heads to drink from the lake. Each carried a person on its back—men in their twenties, with their hair tied in Daoist buns and dressed in green robes.

"Wang Chan's Yellow Millet Dream really can produce good things. Just one casual remark from him led us to find such a wonderful place as Small Stone Lake." A Green Deer Mountain Disciple dismounted from his elk and gazed at the lake with a sigh.

"He got even more good things himself. His Ascension strength has now reached more than five thousand pounds, making him no weaker than any genius of the same age!"

"The gap between people really is as vast as heaven and earth..."

"..."

The few people spoke in low voices, their words filled with envy and even a hint of jealousy.

The leader of the four frowned and reprimanded them. "Our aptitude is lacking, and our Feather Transformation Paths were severed long ago. We can only hope to eat more heavenly treasures and attempt to set foot on the Feather Transformation Path a second time... If Junior Brother Wang Chan had not understood the greater good and generously provided us with information about this opportunity, we would never have had a chance to change our fates in this lifetime!"

The other three immediately changed expressions and hurriedly echoed him.

"Yes, Senior Brother Chu. We will always remember Junior Brother Wang Chan's kindness..."

The path of Qi Refining began with the Ascension Realm.

The vast majority of people could only undergo Feather Transformation once. Only a select few with outstanding innate talent had a chance to break through the limits of their physiques and welcome a Second Ascension!

"Junior Brother Wang Chan has done a great many things recently..."

Chen Xuan had already drawn very close. He stopped and concealed himself nearby. One reason was that he was very interested in this information; another was that he wanted to wait until the sky grew darker before making his move.

He was astonished. Wang Chan's progress in Qi Refining was actually so rapid.

Over the past half month, Chen Xuan had encountered opportunity after opportunity and grown stronger every day in a way visible to the naked eye. Yet he was only a hair ahead of Wang Chan?

Most crucially, Wang Chan was not striving alone. He was leading all his fellow disciples from Green Deer Mountain forward with him.

With an entire lifetime experienced in a dream as its foundation, Yellow Millet Dream was actually this miraculous!

No wonder Green Deer Mountain would rather abandon the new disciples recruited along the way than bring Wang Chan to the Southern Wilderness Mountains ahead of time!

"This Senior Brother Chu is about to undergo his Second Ascension."

Chen Xuan muttered to himself. He sensed an extremely dangerous aura from Senior Brother Chu. His vital energy and blood were in a state of boiling turmoil, as though he had recently consumed a heavenly treasure and was forcibly charging toward some kind of limit.

Senior Brother Chu clasped his hands behind his back, his bearing solemn and imposing. He stared fixedly at the lake as he said:

"When the sky is at its darkest, the mature Over Mountain Treasure Fish will leap out of the water and try to cross the mountain and leap through the Dragon Gate. That is the only chance to catch them."

This was a secret revealed by Wang Chan. The Over Mountain Treasure Fish could only be caught once they reached land. Although they had yet to catch even one, they had chosen the right path. One day, they would succeed!

Some Qi Refiners from Red Crow City had actually gone into the lake in broad daylight to forcefully catch the treasure fish. They were so foolish it was laughable.

You don't even have the courage to spend the night in the deep mountains, yet you come to the Southern Wilderness to seek a future?

The four people from Green Deer Mountain watched the lake with rapt attention, patiently awaiting their opportunity. At that moment, Chen Xuan moved. He emerged from the woods like a nimble leopard and rapidly approached them.

"Who's there!"

Senior Brother Chu was highly vigilant. He instantly turned his head and stared at Chen Xuan emerging from the woods. "It's dark already. Why haven't you left the mountain? What are you doing here?"

"I got lost. When I saw people here, I came over to ask for directions."

Chen Xuan answered with an unchanged expression. His feet never stopped, and he continued approaching the four.

"You're really an idiot. Just keep heading north! Isn't Chu to the north?" One disciple burst into side-splitting laughter when he heard this, finding the lost young man impossibly foolish for not even knowing such basic common sense.

"Oh, that makes sense. You're really good people."

Chen Xuan seemed to understand all at once. His steps quickened, and in the blink of an eye, only a dozen meters remained between them.

He was about to make his move!

"Get rid of him. We appeared here at night, so it wouldn't be wise to let more people know." Cautious Senior Brother Chu suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"Huh?"

Chen Xuan froze in astonishment. His footsteps even paused for an instant.

"That makes sense."

The three disciples exchanged glances. Senior Brother Chu's thinking was indeed thorough. If other Qi Refiners followed their example and all came to catch treasure fish at night, how would they make any progress?

The three drew their blades and swords and took the initiative to close in on Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan was stunned. The style of Green Deer Mountain shocked him once again. With a single sentence, they had decided the life or death of a young man who had merely come to ask for directions. They were truly decisive and ruthless!

Most importantly, did they really think they had acted discreetly?

Who in Small River Village didn't know that Green Deer Mountain appeared here at night?

"You're coming so close to me. What are you trying to do?"

Chen Xuan asked the three with an apparently panicked tone.

He had originally only wanted to capture these people and interrogate them for information. If they were not truly heinous villains, he had not wanted to create more bloodshed. But judging by the situation now... they had already earned their deaths.

"Naturally, we're here to take your life." The three closed in on Chen Xuan, wearing playful yet pitying smiles.

"Swish!"

The next moment, Chen Xuan struck. He held a sharp green jade hairpin between his fingers and swept it through the air in a golden-white afterimage, slicing across the throat of the foremost man.

The four had voluntarily split up to offer themselves to death. Since such an absurd opportunity had appeared, he had no reason not to seize it.

"Pfft!"

The man instinctively touched his neck. Blood spurted out violently!

The other two stood dumbfounded and disbelieving. They had thought the foolish Qi Refiner before them could be handled effortlessly, yet he had suddenly erupted into action, moving far too quickly.

"Villain!"

The two immediately reacted. They raised their blades and swords and hacked down at Chen Xuan, filling the air with the hazy white radiance of Immortal Qi.

"Clang!"

Chen Xuan swept aside the greatsword descending through the air with his hairpin, then raised one foot and kicked the slower-reacting man more than ten meters away.

The man crashed to the ground and vomited blood in great mouthfuls. Chen Xuan's speed was beyond his reach, and his strength far surpassed the man's. He had been defeated in a single move and was utterly outmatched.

Chen Xuan had observed the four from the shadows for a long time and already understood their varying strengths. The moment they exchanged blows, he swept through the battlefield like an autumn wind scattering fallen leaves.

"Boom!"

With his other hand, Chen Xuan raised a fist seal wrapped in golden-white radiance. It was as though he held a miniature sun in his hand, and he struck it toward another man.

The man's pupils contracted. He could no longer dodge and could only hurriedly defend. His chest immediately caved inward beneath the blow, and he was sent flying. Who knew how many bones had broken? It was clear he would not survive.

In the blink of an eye, two were dead and one was gravely wounded.

"He's an expert!" Senior Brother Chu stared with his mouth agape. To defeat three Qi Refiners with such speed was something even he could not do. Damn it, this man came prepared!

Chen Xuan did not pursue the gravely wounded man he had kicked. Instead, he swept toward Senior Brother Chu in the distance like a raging gale.

This man was the strongest and was about to undergo his Second Ascension. He had to be dealt with.

"Buzz!"

Chen Xuan arrived in an instant. He raised one fist high, White Qi coiling around it as it condensed into the illusory image of a white ape's fist the size of a washbasin. It carried an overwhelming pressure.

Little White Ape Trick!

He opened with his strongest killing move. In terms of strength alone, this fist was probably no weaker than ten thousand pounds. Once unleashed, it surged to the heavens with an unstoppable momentum capable of halting ten thousand troops!

"Showing off your axe before Lu Ban, courting death!"

Senior Brother Chu shouted and was completely unafraid. He circulated a trick of Green Deer Mountain, and the illusory image of a green elk's head condensed over both his fists. Its antlers, like emerald coral, immediately thrust forward.

Little Green Deer Trick!

"Boom! Boom!"

In an instant, the two exchanged several blows, locked in an even struggle. The white ape roared, the green deer charged, and golden-white and green Immortal Qi collided repeatedly, spraying dazzling radiance everywhere.

Senior Brother Chu was horrified. He had not gained the slightest advantage. His opponent wielded his trick with such proficiency that it was even stronger than the one he had painstakingly cultivated for years. This opponent must have begun cultivating from childhood and put in tremendous effort!

"Whoosh!"

Chen Xuan was tense. This was his first battle against an expert who had refined twelve mountains-and-seas of Qi. The slightest carelessness would bring eternal ruin. He unleashed Yang Family Fist, Pei Family Fist, Mountain Suppression Fist, and various other martial techniques and killing moves in one flood, coordinating them with White Ape Trick and giving his opponent no chance to catch his breath.

"Bandit! You rely on martial techniques instead of following the proper path of Qi Refining!"

The more Senior Brother Chu fought, the more anxious he became. He was completely suppressed beneath a deluge of fist seals.

Moreover, when weapons felled wood, the incomparably sharp Metal Virtue White Qi was the greatest counter to the enduring Wood Virtue Green Qi. His trick was quickly scattered by his opponent's Little White Ape Trick. Horrified, he turned and fled!

"If it works, it's the proper path!"

Chen Xuan immediately pursued him. The illusory giant fist of the white ape crashed down onto his back. Chen Xuan held nothing back, smashing several fist-sized holes into Senior Brother Chu's body and sending him flying more than ten meters like a kite with its string cut.

"Huh?"

Chen Xuan's gaze sharpened. He saw Senior Brother Chu suddenly spit out a strand of Green Qi carrying the fresh fragrance of grass and trees. It flew like a needle and thread, rapidly stitching his wounds closed. A tremendous life force spread out as flesh and blood surged and grew wildly like tender shoots.

Senior Brother Chu's injuries instantly healed. He scrambled up and charged headlong into the woods.

Wood Virtue Green Qi sought "the burgeoning of all things and the immortal path of the pill cauldron."

Those who cultivated Green Qi possessed vitality so tenacious it was absurd, several times stronger even than that of Qi Refiners of Fire Virtue Red Qi!

"Let's see how many lives you have!"

Chen Xuan tapped the ground with his toes and sent a longsword lying there flying upward. Metal Virtue White Qi spread along its edge. He seized the sword and chased after him.

"Pfft!"

Chen Xuan had already investigated the surrounding terrain. He soon caught up with Senior Brother Chu, who was fleeing in blind panic. A golden-white sword light, curved like a waning moon, swept across. With a crack, Senior Brother Chu's head fell to the ground.

"I'm a Green Deer Mountain Disciple! A disciple of Green Deer Mountain! How dare you kill me?!"

Senior Brother Chu roared. Green Qi erupted from his neck, as though countless root-like hands had grown from it and lifted his head. Like a mouse, he continued fleeing wildly.

He was suffering in silence. Tonight's incident had certainly not been an accident. Some damned, blind disciple of Green Deer Mountain must have provoked such an expert... causing him to suffer this calamity in a daze!

"I'm killing you precisely because you're from Green Deer Mountain."

Chen Xuan snorted coldly and threw the longsword. It streaked across the sky like a shooting star and firmly pinned Senior Brother Chu's head to the ground. White Qi surged as sword light scattered in all directions, instantly tearing apart the Green Qi. Senior Brother Chu's gaze dimmed, his face turned ashen and bloodless, and he died completely.

"To deal with Green Deer Mountain, I cultivated White Qi first!"

Chen Xuan recalled the White Qi, quickly cleaned up the battlefield, and immediately returned to the lakeside. He dragged the Green Deer Mountain Disciple he had kicked—the gravely wounded man who was vomiting blood and had only one breath left—into the shadows.

He began interrogating him for information.

One living captive was enough.