Phoenix Feather Gold

The old man and the young girl stared with wide, unblinking eyes, their hearts trembling again and again!

Dead!

The four experts who had chased them until they had no path to the heavens and no door to the earth were just like that—dead!

If so, what did the thirty-some lives of their Cui Family amount to?

Before the two could even recover their senses, Yu Xiu had already taken the wooden box the old man held in his trembling hands.

Opening it, a flash of crimson red appeared before his eyes.

It was a strange metal he had never seen before, entirely scarlet, with natural patterns etched across its surface; upon closer inspection, they resembled the feathers of some unknown bird!

Yu Xiu could not identify the origin of this metal, but he could sense the spiritual energy within it—it was certainly not weak!

"What is this?" Yu Xiu asked.

The old man surnamed Dong snapped out of his daze and hurriedly replied, "Phoenix Feather Gold. It can be forged into a spiritual weapon that lasts for generations; if maintained properly, it will not decay for a thousand years!"

Nearby, the twelve or thirteen-year-old Cui Xian kept her gaze fixed on Yu Xiu, filled with curiosity, envy, and longing!

She, too, wanted to become an invincible swordsman like him!

But within Yan Province, no one's sword, and no sect's sword, could surpass the Qingwei Sword Sect!

I must enter the Qingwei Sword Sect!

I must!

In Cui Xian's young heart, a seed that would be difficult to bury was planted!

"Phoenix Feather Gold." Yu Xiu did not stand on ceremony and tucked it away.

This was the price for the lives of the old man and the young girl; he accepted it without guilt.

In return, he had preserved their two lives.

Likewise, in return, he had claimed the lives of the four Qi Sea Realm cultivators.

Now, the Phoenix Feather Gold was his.

"Wait here." Yu Xiu turned to leave.

Cui Xian kowtowed abruptly: "Young Hero, please stay your step. I wish to join the Qingwei Sword Sect; I beg for your assistance."

Yu Xiu paused: "The Qingwei Sword Sect opens its gates to accept disciples every year. This year, it will be soon."

"If you possess the aptitude, you may go yourself."

He looked at Cui Xian's face; though she was still young, her features were fine—a pair of eyes like autumn water and a delicate, oval face, though currently smudged with dirt.

When she grew older, she would undoubtedly be a stunning beauty.

But that was not the point. The point was that Cui Xian's natural constitution was actually quite good, though he did not know if it was suited for the sword path. The Qingwei Sword Sect had its own standards for accepting disciples, and Yu Xiu did not fully grasp those intricacies.

He thought for a moment, feeling that the Phoenix Feather Gold was quite precious—likely far superior to the Jade Cyan he had obtained from the Demonic Beast he previously slew—so he offered a word of advice: "If one day you enter the Qingwei Sword Sect, remember: the foundation is of the utmost importance."

Once basic sword techniques are mastered to perfection, one can develop a sword sense, allowing one to vaguely perceive whether a sword manual or technique has truly reached completion.

Not long after.

"You are telling me that these four, who aren't even at the late stage of the Qi Circulation Realm, tried to ambush you, a Qi Sea Realm cultivator?" The middle-aged patrol captain of Qingwei City, clad in iron armor, looked at the four men—Xu Fang and his group—who lay on the ground, half-dead, and then looked at the completely unscathed Yu Xiu.

His eyes were filled with disbelief.

The second stage of Rising Dragon is Qi Circulation, and the third stage is the Qi Sea; each stage is a world apart. Even ordinary people knew this gap, and he refused to believe that an outer sect disciple of the Qingwei Sword Sect would be ignorant of it.

For a second-stage cultivator to ambush a third-stage one? That was just begging for death!

As for the men who had been chasing the grandfather and granddaughter, no one cared about them.

In Qingwei City, those who dare to commit murder deserve their fate.

Yu Xiu had his story ready: "Captain Cen, do you still remember Fang Jibai, who tried to break through his realm using evil arts a year ago?"

This iron-clad patrol captain was an old acquaintance of Yu Xiu's, named Cen Kang.

Back when Fang Jibai attempted to break through his realm in Qingwei City using evil arts, besides Yu Xiu, who had been the first to notice, Cen Kang had been the quickest to arrive. Otherwise, given Yu Xiu's strength at the time, he would not have survived ten breaths, even at the moment of Fang Jibai's breakthrough.

Cen Kang realized what he meant and pointed at the unconscious Xu Fang and his three companions: "Are they accomplices of Fang Jibai?"

Yu Xiu corrected him: "They are from the same small circle in the outer sect. I hid my Qi Sea Realm strength when I came out this time, and they were unaware of it beforehand."

Cen Kang understood, and his gaze toward Yu Xiu held a hint of mockery: "You brat, you're quite the schemer yourself."

He had wondered how a second-stage Qi Circulation cultivator would dare to ambush a third-stage Qi Sea cultivator; it turned out Yu Xiu had intentionally baited them, and these four idiots had actually taken the hook, allowing Yu Xiu to find an opening and cripple them on the spot.

But this was not Yu Xiu's fault; if these fools hadn't harbored evil intentions, Yu Xiu could never have baited them.

It could only be said that they deserved it.

Even if the Law Enforcement Hall found out, they would not blame Yu Xiu, especially with the precedent of Fang Jibai's evil breakthrough; if Xu Fang and his lot fell into the hands of the Law Enforcement Hall, their fate would only be far worse.

Do you intend to take revenge on Yu Xiu?

If your strength grows in the future, will you then seek revenge on the Law Enforcement Hall as well?

To dare strike even the Law Enforcement Hall—have you turned against the heavens themselves!

To knowingly break the law is a crime compounded.

Yu Xiu smiled, remaining silent.

"Enough, leave this matter to me. Once they wake, if things are truly as you say, the Law Enforcement Hall will deal with them accordingly." Cen Kang looked toward the old man and the young girl, initially intending to ask more, but deciding that less trouble was better than more, he refrained from further inquiry.

Cen Kang could tell at a glance that the four men Yu Xiu had killed were at the third, or perhaps even fourth, level of the Qi Sea Realm.

Yet, in the hands of Yu Xiu, an outer sect disciple who had only just entered the first level of the Qi Sea Realm, they could not withstand a single sword strike.

What did this signify?

It was not that these four outsiders of the Qi Sea Realm were incompetent, but that Yu Xiu's swordsmanship was exceptionally high—so high that it could ignore a three-level gap in cultivation to slay an enemy.

Such ability was not something just any outer sect disciple at the first level of the Qi Sea Realm possessed!

For a disciple he was already acquainted with, and one who held such immense potential, Cen Kang did not mind doing Yu Xiu a favor.

"Captain Cen, this is Cui Xian. She wishes to apprentice at the Qingwei Sword Sect in a while; I would appreciate it if you could look after her." Yu Xiu looked at the young girl and added this request.

As he spoke, he unobtrusively slipped a banknote into Cen Kang's hand.

The banknote had been scavenged from the bodies of those four men.

Including the silver he had looted from Xu Fang and his three companions, Yu Xiu had obtained over three hundred taels in silver and banknotes.

For the sake of the Phoenix Feather Gold, Yu Xiu did not mind helping out a little more, as it was merely a matter of convenience.

"That is a good thing!" Cen Kang accepted the banknote with practiced ease and grinned. "The two of you are new to Qingwei City and are unaware of many things. To apprentice here, one must submit proof of household registration and details regarding one's family background in advance..."

With the local expert Cen Kang's assurance, Yu Xiu did not linger and returned to the mountain.

The old man and the young girl were not actually grandfather and granddaughter. The young one was named Cui Xian, from the Cui Family of Donghe Prefecture in Yan Province, and the old man was Dong Chi, a veteran of the Cui Family.

Previously, when the Yin Demon that had been hindering someone in the Cui Family from breaking through was slain, it yielded a treasure as fine as Phoenix Feather Gold, but the news could not be kept secret, leading to their entire clan being wiped out.

Fortunately, the Cui Family had anticipated this and scattered their children in all directions; Cui Xian had been brought to Qingwei City by Dong Chi, along with the Phoenix Feather Gold.

With demons appearing frequently across the world, the hearts of men were often more treacherous, but Yu Xiu could not manage the affairs of the world, so he soon returned to the outer sect.

Once Yu Xiu had departed, Patrol Captain Cen Kang looked at the four dead men and smiled knowingly, thinking, This lad Yu Xiu handles things well.

The four loose cultivators of the Qi Sea Realm were dead, yet Yu Xiu had not taken their weapons.

Weapons were far more valuable than the silver on their persons.

Ordinary loose cultivators would often exhaust their entire fortune, or even borrow silver, just to acquire a suitable weapon.

And now, Yu Xiu had left the weapons of all four men to him.

Outer sect, Bamboo Hut.

Four days from now, I shall enter the inner sect. Yu Xiu drew a light breath.