Fierce Battle

"That kid couldn't have gone far. Let's search around for a while. If we can't find him, forget it."

The young man in the golden robe suppressed the anger in his heart. Wonder Ganoderma Hall wielded considerable influence in the county town and had quickly discovered who had taken the Purple Spirit Grass. He was only at the Second Layer of Qi Refining, and the Purple Spirit Grass was equally useful to him.

The reason he had not brought along those twenty first-rate martial artists, and had even abandoned the carriage, was that he feared making too much of a commotion and alerting the other party. Yet after chasing all this way, he had still lost the trail.

This man had struck with such viciousness; clearly, he had come with ill intent as well. On a raised mound in the dense forest, Lu Xiaotian crouched amid the bushes and watched the man in the bamboo hat get frozen into an ice sculpture. His heart was not greatly stirred.

"Brother Situ, there's no need to get angry. If he hasn't gone far, I'm sure we can still catch him." The girl in the red dress stroked a small embroidered pouch at her waist.

A flash of white light passed.

A furry gray rat appeared on the ground.

"A Scent Demon Rat! I never expected you to have a spirit beast like this." The young man in the golden robe immediately said with delight.

"It isn't much help in battle, but it can occasionally be useful, so I raised one. As long as that person is within five li, it can find him." The woman in red gave a coquettish laugh.

The gray rat, slightly larger than an ordinary wildcat, moved with astonishing speed. Squeaking sharply, it charged toward a patch of grass and ran more than ten zhang away in the blink of an eye.

"This fellow certainly has a lot of nerve, hiding nearby and spying on us." Seeing the gray rat's reaction, the woman in red swept her gaze toward the bushes not far away and immediately broke into a smile.

Damn, I've been discovered! Lu Xiaotian was startled. He had not expected the large gray rat's nose to be so keen that it had found him the instant it was released. Had he known, he would have hidden farther away.

"Just when mountains and rivers seemed to leave no road, a village appeared amid dark willows and bright flowers. If you do not wish for me to invite you out, then come out yourself." The young man in the golden robe let out a sigh of relief and shouted. He had just thought things might become troublesome, yet they had been resolved in an instant.

"What do you two want with me?" Lu Xiaotian forced himself to walk out from the bushes. The gray rat did not dare approach him even from dozens of zhang away. It did not seem very strong, which put him somewhat at ease. After all, there were already two opponents. If they had another spirit beast, the situation truly would have been as bad as it could get.

The moment the young man in the golden robe saw how weak Lu Xiaotian's spiritual energy fluctuations were, he completely relaxed. Even the last trace of courtesy vanished as he laughed. "I wondered which rogue cultivator dared roam so freely across Liang Province. Don't you know Liang Province is the territory of our Situ Clan? I'm in a good mood today. Hand over those three stalks of Purple Spirit Grass and get the hell out of Liang Province."

Lu Xiaotian said with an ugly expression, "Ownerless spirit treasures belong to those with fate. If I refuse to hand them over, do you intend to rob me by force?"

"Hehehe." The woman in red seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world and took quite a while to recover.

"Since you refuse to appreciate my kindness, don't blame me for being ruthless." The young man in the golden robe spoke disdainfully. Too lazy to waste any more words on Lu Xiaotian, he immediately began chanting an incantation. Five or six ice spikes appeared in succession.

The woman in red folded her arms before her chest and stepped aside, looking as though she were there to watch a show.

Roar! A deep, powerful sound rang out as a muscular Leopard burst from the forest at lightning speed.

The young man in the golden robe and the woman in red were instantly startled. They had not expected a demon beast to be hiding here—no, it should be a spirit beast. A demon beast would not coincidentally attack the two of them while ignoring the weaker Lu Xiaotian.

The young man in the golden robe hurriedly controlled the ice spikes and shot them toward the Leopard.

Boom! Boom!

The Leopard dodged the ice spikes while running, and several nearby trees were blasted into icy fragments.

As the young man in the golden robe stopped attacking him, Lu Xiaotian relaxed inwardly. The moment those ice spikes had appeared, he had felt closer to death than ever before. Against an ordinary martial artist's attack, he had confidence in dodging, but before those ice spikes, he had felt there was nowhere to evade. Fortunately, he had a spirit beast. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"This beast is fast!" Seeing the Leopard evade the ice spikes one after another, the young man in the golden robe's expression changed. With a flick of his left hand, he slapped out a talisman, which transformed into several small fireballs flying toward the Leopard in a triangular formation.

At the same time, he shouted at the woman in red, "This leopard is quite formidable. Why aren't you helping? I'll hold this beast back. You go kill that kid."

Awoo! The Leopard cried out in pain. It dodged two small fireballs, but the remaining one exploded against it, tearing open its flesh and leaving a large blackened patch in the fur on its back. The young man in the golden robe grinned viciously and took out another talisman. Fortunately, he had brought talismans with him. Otherwise, facing this leopard really would have been dangerous. Casting spells required some preparation time, but talismans could be unleashed with a wave of the hand. Even if they were only elementary spells with limited destructive power, being able to injure the leopard was enough.

"Fine." The woman in red nodded. Just as she was about to cast a spell, she suddenly felt her legs go numb, and the numbness began spreading through her body. Looking down, she saw two green flying ants had somehow crawled onto her legs.

At the same time, more than ten small green ants flew out from the grass and leaves, swarming toward the young man in the golden robe.

"Shadow Ants!" The young man in the golden robe turned deathly pale. Though an individual Shadow Ant did not have much killing power, its paralyzing effect was extremely strong. Even a person at the Qi Refining Middle Stage would suffer obstructed circulation of vital energy after being bitten several times and would no longer be able to cast spells with ease. As for someone at the Qi Refining Late Stage, a dozen or so posed little threat, but against a swarm of more than a hundred Shadow Ants, without powerful means, they could only flee in utter disarray. As for a cultivator like him at the Second Layer of Qi Refining, he could only keep well away from such things and dare not let them touch him.

Yet more than ten small green ants flew in from all directions, leaving him nowhere to dodge. The young man in the golden robe hurriedly unleashed all the Fireball Talismans in his hand. Fireball Talismans were the cheapest and relatively easy to produce. However, he had not carried many of them. The Situ Clan had no talisman masters, and once he left Moonwatch City, every talisman he used meant one less. His father feared he would waste them, so he had only given him a few.

Boom.

The Shadow Ants in the air were blasted to death one after another by the scorching fireballs. Lu Xiaotian's face turned pale. Controlling these Shadow Ants required spiritual sense, and as they were blown apart, his spiritual sense was affected as well. Fortunately, the Leopard possessed high intelligence and only needed orders. Otherwise, he would have exhausted himself to death before the enemy could kill him.

However, a few Fireball Talismans were not enough to kill all the Shadow Ants. The woman in red had carelessly fallen prey to them, while under the dual threat of the Shadow Ants and the Leopard, the young man in the golden robe had no time to cast spells. He drew a green treasure sword and fled in panic, no longer caring whether the woman in red lived or died.

Through his battle with the old man in black robes, Lu Xiaotian had learned one principle: enemies had to be eliminated completely, or endless future trouble would follow. This young man in the golden robe had tried to take his life at every turn and was no good person to begin with. Lu Xiaotian's expression turned cold as he directed the remaining five Shadow Ants to continue harassing him. Meanwhile, the Leopard viciously tangled with him.

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, the young man in the golden robe swung his sword and sent one Shadow Ant flying. The Leopard seized the opening in his defense and bit off the right arm holding his sword.

"Spare... spare my life!" The young man in the golden robe screamed as he collapsed onto the ground and curled backward. Blood dyed the earth bright red.

Roar! The Leopard bit through his throat, and the young man in the golden robe's voice came to an abrupt stop.

Lu Xiaotian roughly searched through the young man in the golden robe's belongings. That green sword looked quite good, much sharper than the short iron sword at his waist. Besides the green sword, there was also a storage pouch.

Opening the pouch, Lu Xiaotian was overjoyed. There was actually a bottle containing five Qi-Gathering Pills inside, as well as a copy of the Elementary Spell Compendium. He flipped through a few pages and found metal, wood, and other Five Elements spells. The old man in black robes had always refused to teach him spells, yet he had unexpectedly obtained them from this young man in the golden robe. With this ancient book, he could study spells by himself in the future. It was truly an unexpected delight; this fierce battle had been worth it.

There was also a bottle of medicine in the storage pouch, though he did not know its purpose. He put everything away and turned his gaze toward the woman in red.

"Don't... don't kill me!" The woman in red had been bitten several times in succession by the small green ants and had not yet recovered from the paralysis. Her body could still move a little, but she had temporarily lost her ability to fight. Her spiritual sense remained clear, however. Seeing the young man in the golden robe dead, she went pale with fright. She had never imagined that this boy, merely at the First Layer of Qi Refining, would possess such a formidable leopard spirit beast and so many Shadow Ants. He had even arranged the Shadow Ants around them in advance, preparing an ambush. With her strength at the Second Layer of Qi Refining, she could only tame that Scent Demon Rat.

He did not know whether the other side had more companions. His spiritual sense was currently damaged, and the Leopard was badly injured as well. If more enemies appeared, their circumstances would likely become extremely dangerous. This was not a place to linger. It would be better to find somewhere safe and recover first. The gray rat from earlier had fled somewhere in terror. This woman could still be of some use. Lu Xiaotian found a green vine and tied up the woman in red, then directed several small green ants to rest on the surface of her body. Only after ensuring he could subdue her at any time did he feel at ease enough to carry her into the mountains. He returned to the concealed cave from before and blocked its entrance with rocks.

Bang! Lu Xiaotian threw the woman in red onto the ground, making her cry out in pain from the fall.

"Can't you be gentler?" the woman in red said pitifully.

"Don't put on an act in front of me, or don't blame me for being rude. What is your name? Who was that young man in the golden robe I killed? How did you find me? And what was that gray rat?"

Lu Xiaotian had no intention of cherishing jade or pitying flowers. Setting aside the fact that the woman dressed frivolously and revealingly, not at all his type, he had suffered far too greatly at the hands of the old man in black robes. How could he still be bewitched by a woman like this?

"My name is Lü Bifeng, and that young man in the golden robe was Situ Jing. He was from the Situ Clan. That gray rat was my spirit beast, the Scent Demon Rat. It has no combat strength, but its sense of smell is extraordinarily sharp. Within a certain range, it can find whoever one wishes to find by scent."

Seeing that Lu Xiaotian was unmoved by her beauty, Lü Bifeng could only answer honestly.

"Scent Demon Rat!" Lu Xiaotian drew in a breath. His knowledge of the cultivation world was practically blank. Had he known such a creature as the Scent Demon Rat existed, he would never have given them this opportunity.

"What is the Situ Clan's situation? How many people do they have?"

"I can tell you everything I know, but after you get the answers you want, you have to spare my life." Lü Bifeng bargained.