Heart-Burning Powder

"Hm?" Bai Tianqi shot up from his chair. He had thought he was already taking Xuanzhenzi seriously enough by having Zhang Ming and Hu Guyi join forces. Yet he had still underestimated him.

"What?" Zhang Ming stumbled back several steps before steadying himself, his face full of astonishment. His cultivation ranked second in the Huaqing Sect; aside from his master, no one surpassed him. Even across Jianghu, few could rival him.

Xuanzhenzi was merely the leader of an obscure, unranked sect. Though his ability to refine certain pills made him somewhat unusual, Zhang Ming had never imagined that his cultivation would actually exceed his own.

"Stand down!" Seeing Zhang Ming about to attack again, Bai Tianqi stopped him with a shout, then laughed. "Good! I never imagined you had hidden yourself so deeply. With your cultivation, I fear no one within a thousand li could match you except me."

"Sect Master Bai, I have no wish to provoke your Huaqing Sect. I can also double the pills I provide from now on. How about we let this matter rest?" Xuanzhenzi said.

"Right now, all I want is the Sixty-Year Pill!" Bai Tianqi said coldly. "Though these many years of secluded cultivation have not brought me a breakthrough, and I remain at second-rate upper grade, these past few years have still improved my cultivation considerably. Let me experience your Green Ox Gate's Everlasting Spring Art."

"Though I have no wish to hurt anyone, you keep pressing me. Naturally, I will not let you butcher me as you please." Xuanzhenzi rose from his chair. "Your Thunderclap Palm stands unrivaled in Wulin, Bai Tianqi. I would like to experience it."

"Hmph. I have no need to use Thunderclap Palm against you. Ordinary martial arts will be more than enough," Bai Tianqi snorted. He had roamed Jianghu unchallenged for decades, eventually founding the Huaqing Sect. Each of those accomplishments filled him with immense pride.

Huang Xiao had remained in the pavilion several dozen zhang from the cottage. Zhang Long was doing his best to entertain them; after all, his father had instructed him to, and he dared not neglect his guests.

Sigh... Seeing Liu Dacheng's expression, especially the intimacy between Hu Qingqing and Zhang Long, Huang Xiao sighed inwardly. It seemed he had been somewhat mistaken. Hu Qingqing and Liu Dacheng had indeed grown up together, but that did not necessarily make them childhood sweethearts. He could not help feeling sorry for Liu Dacheng, who would probably end up heartbroken.

Bang! Suddenly, a tremendous crash came from the distant cottage.

"What happened?" Huang Xiao and the others turned toward the cottage, unsure what had happened.

Before they could react, a figure burst through the cottage door, with three more figures following close behind, accompanied by a shout: "Xuanzhenzi, you won't escape!"

"M-Master!" Huang Xiao saw him clearly. Wasn't that his master? Following behind were Hu Guyi and Zhang Ming, along with an old man he did not recognize, who was probably Bai Tianqi, the master of the Huaqing Sect.

Xuanzhenzi tapped his feet lightly against the ground several times and reached Huang Xiao's side in a few swift movements. Before Huang Xiao could speak, he grabbed him and charged away.

"What happened?" Carried by Xuanzhenzi, Huang Xiao hurtled out of the Huaqing Sect. The sect's disciples and the martial artists who had come to offer birthday congratulations were all bewildered, unable to react at all.

Only when they finally saw Bai Tianqi behind them did they realize that something serious had probably happened.

"Who is that Daoist?"

"Yes, who is he? What swift lightness skill!"

"It looks like he offended the sect master..."

"He's Xuanzhenzi, the leader of the Green Ox Gate? Surely not! His martial arts are that formidable?"

"It's him? Did you get a clear look?"

"Master?" From the shouts of the men behind them, Huang Xiao had understood something of the situation. Clearly, Bai Tianqi wanted to deal with his master, but how had Hu Guyi become mixed up with the Huaqing Sect?

"Don't speak!" Escaping alone would not have been much of a problem, but Xuanzhenzi was carrying Huang Xiao now, which naturally consumed more of his strength.

"Master, you should go on ahead. If you keep carrying me, neither of us will escape." Huang Xiao noticed the three men behind them drawing closer and closer. He knew he was holding Xuanzhenzi back.

Xuanzhenzi ignored Huang Xiao and kept racing forward.

Suddenly, Xuanzhenzi stumbled. Had he not reacted swiftly, he would probably have fallen to the ground.

"Master?" Huang Xiao's expression changed drastically. Xuanzhenzi had stopped, one hand pressed against his chest, and was coughing up several mouthfuls of blood. The blood was ink-black, and Huang Xiao could even faintly smell its foul stench.

"You're hurt?" Huang Xiao had not imagined that his master had been carrying him at a run for so long while injured. His injuries had probably worsened.

"Hahaha!" Accompanied by booming laughter, Bai Tianqi arrived before Xuanzhenzi and Huang Xiao first, followed by Zhang Ming and Hu Guyi.

"Truly admirable, admirable! Had I not anticipated this, you really would have escaped." Seeing Xuanzhenzi's condition, Bai Tianqi looked indescribably smug.

"Uncle-Master Hu, what are you doing?" Though Huang Xiao already understood, he still did not want to believe it. With such a friendship between him and his master, could he really betray him?

"Martial Nephew Qingxiao, if you still acknowledge me as your martial uncle, you should persuade that master of yours to recognize the situation," Hu Guyi said with a hearty laugh.

"Shameless!" Huang Xiao spat, then supported Xuanzhenzi. "Master, are you all right?"

"Qingxiao, this time I have dragged you into trouble." Xuanzhenzi had never expected to be poisoned. Even now, he did not know when he had been poisoned or what poison it was. He could not claim a thorough knowledge of poisons, but his pill refining had at least taught him a fair amount. Ordinary poisons could not poison him at all.

"Master, take a moment to regulate your breathing. I'll handle things here!" Huang Xiao said, placing himself in front of Xuanzhenzi.

"Move aside. How could you possibly be their match? They are all experts who have been famous for years." Xuanzhenzi pushed Huang Xiao aside, then stepped forward and stared at the three men. "What a potent poison!"

"Potent? Would I have exhausted every scheme to obtain it if it weren't? Forcing me to use this poison is an honor for you. To tell you the truth, this poison is called Heart-Burning Powder," Bai Tianqi said.

"Heart-Burning Powder?" Xuanzhenzi froze for a moment, then laughed. "Good! To think it was Heart-Burning Powder from the utterly mysterious Poison God Valley. Dying to Heart-Burning Powder is indeed an honor."

"For the Sixty-Year Pill, for a breakthrough into the first-class realm, using Heart-Burning Powder was worthwhile. Fortunately, I was cautious. I truly never imagined your cultivation would be so high-the first-class realm. Though you should have only just entered it, I really am no match for you. What a pity. Now that you've been poisoned with Heart-Burning Powder, even if I do nothing, I fear you won't live through today," Bai Tianqi said with a great laugh.