After finishing the sour-and-spicy pounded chicken feet, Shen Leyan bought a few meat buns and a bag of sunflower seeds to snack on if he got bored during their Sword Flight.
The closer they drew to the Southwestern Jungle, the more cultivators they saw carrying all sorts of Magic Artifacts. Groups of just three, like theirs, were rare; most traveled in parties of a dozen or more. Each group eyed the others warily, tension simmering beneath the surface.
Such was the cultivation world... Cultivators and demons were sworn enemies, the major sects had their own grudges, and there were eccentric rogue cultivators besides. Fighting over a natural treasure or a precious cultivation art, killing someone and stealing their belongings—none of it was uncommon. Coming to blows over a single disagreement was practically routine.
"What are you looking at?"
"You! Got a problem with that?!"
"You northern barbarians think you can run wild in the Southwestern Territory?"
"Who are you calling barbarians, you southern savages?!"
"You fucking looking for a fight?"
"Fuck, you think I'm scared of you?!"
Two hulking men drew their blades, and their buddies swarmed in beside them. Multicolored Spiritual Power flew back and forth through the air, making quite a spectacle.
Zheng Ziheng patiently explained their mission to his junior brother in a gentle voice. "This time, we're heading to the center of the Southwestern Jungle. A spiritual herb called jadeblood snakegrass grows there. It takes a hundred years for a single plant to grow, and for..."
He broke off. His junior brother, who had been busily looking this way and that beside him, had disappeared at some point.
Looking farther back, he found that his master had vanished too.
Could they get lost... even walking on the ground?
Zheng Ziheng conjured a Voice Transmission Talisman, a trace of helplessness showing between his brows.
Shen Leyan squeezed into the crowd, watching the two hulking men and their buddies fight for no apparent reason.
Their cultivation wasn't high—the strongest were probably only at the Foundation Establishment stage—but this was his first time seeing so many cultivators fighting with real weapons.
And with the crowd around him shouting "Nice!" every so often, the atmosphere was fantastic.
"How long do you think you could last among them using the Azure Shadow Profound Art?"
"Huh?" Hearing the question, Shen Leyan answered instinctively, "They're fighting. Why would someone at the Qi Refining Stage like me get involved..."
Before he could finish, he felt a hand settle on his shoulder. It was rather cold, and Lu Yuanyi's tone was as casual as if he were discussing what to eat that day.
"There's no harm in trying."
The next instant, his body suddenly rose into the air. By the time he realized what was happening, he was already standing between the two groups of brawling cultivators.
Both groups immediately spotted the uninvited guest and turned to glare at him with hostile eyes.
"What, kid? Trying to break up the fight?"
Shen Leyan: "..."
Lu Yuanyi, you bastard! ヽ('⌒´メ)ノ
Perhaps the hot weather had made the cultivators especially hotheaded. Before he could explain, one of them pointed a blade at him and shouted.
"This brat wants to break up our fight without even knowing his own limits! Boys, beat him up!"
A gleaming steel blade sliced through the air toward him, roaring flames wrapped around it. Clearly, a cultivator with fire-attribute Spiritual Power had thrown it. In the blink of an eye, the crimson flames were less than five inches from his face.
Fuck!
Shen Leyan exhausted every curse he had learned in his life inside his head. As though sensing the danger, his Wind Spiritual Root began churning wildly, sending all the Spiritual Power in his body surging with unprecedented force.
The wind around him seemed to slow all at once.
The formula he had committed to memory naturally drew in and directed the surrounding wind-attribute Spiritual Power. He was like a falcon riding the wind, or perhaps merely a fallen leaf drifting wherever the breeze took it.
To most of the spectators, the young man's figure instantly blurred. His robes fluttered, leaving only a faint azure afterimage.
A strong gust carrying the dampness of rain-washed air swept past. The flames on the steel blade instantly died, and it struck the ground with a clang.
Shen Leyan came to a stop beside the steel blade, his heart pounding like a drum.
After a brief silence, the spectators—who never minded trouble as long as they could watch—cheered repeatedly. Some went so far as to toss a few copper coins his way, practically treating him like a street performer.
The cultivator who had thrown the blade looked a little surprised. "Wouldn't have guessed it, kid. You're only at the Qi Refining Stage, but your movement technique is pretty good."
It was, after all, the Azure Shadow Profound Art, which could rival a sacred-grade cultivation art. Even though he had only just begun learning it, his movements already carried a hint of its profound intricacy.
"Gentlemen, this is a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"
Shen Leyan hastily waved his hands and spoke before the man could attack again. The young man was handsome, with soft features and gentle brows and eyes that held almost no hint of aggression. He hardly looked like a bad kid.
"A misunderstanding, really... I wasn't trying to break up your fight. I was just passing by when some idiot shoved me, and I stumbled in here by accident."
As he spoke, he quietly backed toward the crowd with a beaming smile.
"Don't mind me, gentlemen. Don't mind me. Keep fighting, keep fighting..."
The man who had thrown the blade folded his arms across his chest. "So you're saying you weren't trying to stop the fight?"
"Exactly!"
"You saw two groups fighting and only wanted to watch? Didn't your elders teach you any code of honor? Boys, teach him a lesson on their behalf! Get him!"
Shen Leyan: "..."
◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞
Magic Artifacts of every shape and color, coated in Spiritual Power of various attributes, came at him from all directions.
Some shot straight at the space between his brows, some flew in at an angle toward the side of his neck, and others plunged from above toward the crown of his head. Most outrageous of all, someone who presumably used earth-attribute Spiritual Power sent a blade bursting out of the ground directly beneath his feet!
In an instant, almost every route he could dodge toward was sealed off.
“Wind is everywhere on land. Any Magic Artifact that approaches you will alter the wind’s original course.”
Lu Yuanyi's cool voice sounded unhurriedly in his mind through a voice transmission technique.
"And wind can alter their course as well."
In a flash, Shen Leyan threw his head back, arched his body, and retreated several steps. Two butterfly darts crossed against the skin of his neck as they flew past. He could almost feel their bone-chilling cold.
Before he could catch his breath, the longsword coming at his heart from the left changed direction to follow him. Its blade sliced through the air before him, faint flickers of lightning coating its tip.
Wind—
The young man spun. The sword tip seemed to meet some sudden obstruction and began trembling, veering aside by an almost imperceptible degree. He barely managed to dodge it.
Had a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator been present, they would have seen that, the moment the young man moved, the unruly wind-attribute Spiritual Power around him—which he still struggled to control nimbly—had barely managed to tug the longsword along for an instant, causing its tip to veer aside.
"Nice!!!"
The spectators cheered without restraint.
The cultivators attacking him, however, felt embarrassed that so many of them at the Foundation Establishment stage had failed to knock down one greenhorn at the Qi Refining Stage after all this time. They stopped controlling their Magic Artifacts from a distance.
The earth-attribute Spiritual Power cultivator gave a loud roar. A thick layer of stone armor suddenly appeared over his chest, and he charged at Shen Leyan like a brown bear!
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