With his limited knowledge, there was no point dwelling on this. He might as well see what spoils he could pick up first.
Qi Yan hurried forward to inspect the remains.
This explosion had not been particularly violent, unlike the one at the ancestral graves that had blasted everything to pieces. The man had carried several spirit stones, which were only slightly cracked by the blast, along with a few bottles and jars that had likewise suffered only minor cracks.
The containers even had thoughtful labels identifying their contents as "Qi-Replenishing Powder," "Crane's Crown Red," and various other beneficial or deadly poisonous substances.
None of it was particularly good stuff. It was all basic, and even the spirit stones were low-grade, but to Qi Yan at this moment, it was no different from a tremendous windfall. Robbery really was the fastest way to make money... These few cracked spirit stones alone considerably improved his chances of making it out to sea.
As for "setting up formation nodes to welcome the abyss"... After a little thought, Qi Yan took another wide detour and slipped into the woods.
This time, he followed the route the young man in black had taken into the forest, carefully tracking the trampled vegetation. Sure enough, before long, he spotted unmistakable bloody sputum on the ground. Coughing up a little bloody phlegm while injured was perfectly normal.
Qi Yan carefully collected the bloody phlegm with dead leaves, rapidly searching his mind for suitable incantations. With something like this in hand, Witchcraft offered plenty of tricks to play. Most were simply beyond his current cultivation, so he needed to think it through.
While he was pondering, Luo Chaoge's familiar voice came from the air above. "Found you... Where do you think you can hide?"
Qi Yan jumped. Luo Chaoge could track him down even here?
The next moment, sword light shot like lightning toward the spot where the young man in black was hiding.
Qi Yan: "..."
So she found him. I thought she'd found me...
Hmm, Jiang Jinyue isn't here? Right, they aren't on the same side. Jiang Jinyue wouldn't go so far as to act as Luo Chaoge's hired muscle. This young man from the Extreme Dao Sect is already injured. Luo Chaoge should be able to capture him with ease, so there's no need for me to meddle?
Just as he thought this, a streak of black light suddenly rose at the horizon and hurtled toward the battle in the forest, arriving in an instant.
Luo Chaoge's sword light erupted. She slashed diagonally upward, cleaving the black light apart.
The black light dispersed into smoke. Wherever it passed, trees withered, clearing a bare stretch of ground in the blink of an eye. Even Qi Yan could see the situation now.
The two people who had stayed beside the young man in black to protect him had already been insta-killed by Luo Chaoge's previous strike. From the looks of it, she had been about to finish the young man off with another strike when the black light interfered, forcing her to change direction.
The young man in black seized the opportunity to retreat. An old man abruptly appeared in the middle, sizing up Luo Chaoge with a cold sneer. "Lü Xiang, you're getting worse with age. A little girl like this injured you so badly?"
The young man in black, Lü Xiang, was somewhat astonished. He had indeed requested reinforcements when he was injured, but that had been because of the terrifying girl who had caught his sword between two fingers. He had assessed her as being at the Nascent Soul level and requested support from a protector or higher. Experts at that level were far away and probably would not arrive this soon.
He had no idea how this Early Golden Core martial uncle had popped up. There was a Nascent Soul cultivator on the other side. What was an Early Golden Core cultivator doing here, showing off?
The old man said coldly, "Someone just killed my disciple... Could it have been this girl?"
Qi Yan froze. So he was the one who had drawn the man here... These assorted strange methods really were impossible to guard against.
This was bad. Luo Chaoge had not broken through to Golden Core. Could she defeat this old man?
Yet Luo Chaoge showed no fear. She pointed her longsword at him from afar. "Anyone has the right to slay villains of the demonic path. So what if I killed him?"
The old man was so furious that he laughed. "Good, good, good... You've got guts!"
As he laughed, his hand abruptly turned pitch-black as ink, and he threw a punch at Luo Chaoge from afar.
Boom! Wild winds howled, sending sand and stones flying. The already bare trees nearby were utterly shattered and obliterated this time, reduced to dust.
Qi Yan retreated several more yards. He could no longer make out what was happening amid the dust.
A sword rang out like a dragon's cry. A streak of sword light shone within the dust, like lightning splitting the night sky.
Qi Yan saw her face illuminated by the sword light, and those resolute, piercing eyes, carrying an edge of unmatched killing intent.
Qi Yan suddenly found her beautiful.
Earlier, Jiang Jinyue and the Extreme Dao Sect members had all called Luo Chaoge pretty, but he had felt little about it. After all, he had been under tremendous pressure during their earlier encounters. How could he have had the leisure to think about such things? Besides, Luo Chaoge had seemed straightforward and easygoing before, as though she truly regarded him as an ordinary neighbor. That bearing and heroic grace unique to sword cultivators had never had a chance to show.
But watching from the sidelines now, he could only regret not bringing a camera along when he transmigrated, so he could record this beautiful sight.
A swordswoman truly was at her most beautiful when she drew her sword and struck.
Clang! With an explosive clash of metal, Luo Chaoge flipped backward and landed gracefully on the ground.
The old man also staggered back several feet, his ink-black hand trembling. "How is that possible..."
Luo Chaoge had not broken through to Golden Core, while he was a genuine Golden Core cultivator. There was an entire major realm between them! Yet after a single exchange, he was the one at a disadvantage!
Some geniuses were born to shatter ordinary people's understanding of cultivation ranks.
"A Golden Core from the Extreme Dao Sect amounts to no more than this." Battle intent blazed in Luo Chaoge's eyes. "Try another strike!"
Sword light rose again.
The old man opposite her looked utterly grave. At last, he took out a magical treasure shaped like a bone.
A Golden Core fighting a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet he was the first to resort to a magical treasure. The bone treasure spun, and suddenly white bones piled like mountains came pouring toward her.
Luo Chaoge showed no fear. Forming a sword seal, she split the sword radiance in her hand into ten thousand, vast as a curtain of rain.
Qi Yan was watching, dazzled and enthralled, when he suddenly spotted Lü Xiang quietly moving, trying to take a wide detour behind Luo Chaoge.
"This is bad." Qi Yan inwardly cried out in alarm.
Even if Luo Chaoge has all the bearing of a protagonist and can fight monsters above her level, there's still someone else here! Lü Xiang should have been at the same cultivation level as Luo Chaoge before. Injured though he is now, he must still have a few tricks. Wouldn't any sneak attack become the final straw that breaks the camel's back?
In theory, Luo Chaoge should have accounted for this variable and prepared a countermeasure... But am I just going to watch? What if she can't handle it? Not to mention, I'm the one who drew this old man here!
Seeing that Lü Xiang had already circled far around behind Luo Chaoge, Qi Yan made an immediate decision. He suddenly took out the Crane's Crown Red he had just acquired and poured it down his throat.
Then, targeting the bloody phlegm he had collected from Lü Xiang, he frantically activated the Tribulation-Transferring Incantation.
The little crybaby had said that, with the other person's hair or nails as a medium, casting the Tribulation-Transferring Incantation from a distance was very likely to succeed. Blood would naturally work even better. But the target could not be more than a major realm above him... Lü Xiang was injured now. How did that count?
Hiss... My stomach hurts...
The ten-second incantation passed in a flash. Lü Xiang had already seized an opening in Luo Chaoge's fierce battle with the old man and viciously thrust both palms toward her back.
His palms had barely shot out when his abdomen suddenly cramped in agony. The hands he had thrust forward went as soft as cotton.
The Tribulation-Transferring Incantation transferred the Crane's Crown Red.
A wisp of sword qi rose from somewhere and pierced diagonally clean through him.
Lü Xiang: "..."
Qi Yan: "..."
My efforts were misplaced. Luo Chaoge really was prepared. I swallowed that Crane's Crown Red for nothing.
Luo Chaoge's beautiful eyes flicked toward Qi Yan, her expression somewhat strange, but she said nothing. The next moment, ten thousand swords merged into one, and an enormous blade of sword radiance cleaved straight down at the old man.
The old man pulled away and flew backward. Another sudden change occurred.
The white clouds overhead all turned dark, as though thunder was gathering within them.
Luo Chaoge withdrew her sword and retreated slightly. "Nascent Soul. You're the one I've been waiting for."
A streak of sword light came from the east. Though it clearly originated somewhere extremely distant, time and space seemed to lose their effect. With a single flash, it split heaven and earth.
The thunder vanished and the dark clouds dispersed. An old man in white robes appeared on the battlefield, holding a severed head.
The Nascent Soul protector who had come all this way to reinforce Lü Xiang had not even shown his face before Qin Poxu, the Resounding Sword Sect's sect master who had long been waiting, insta-killed him with a single strike.
The Golden Core old man gaped, dumbstruck.
Luo Chaoge said, "What are you so surprised about? Lü Xiang failed to assassinate me and fled. Knowing there was a Nascent Soul cultivator at my side, he was bound to request a protector's support. How could I possibly enter the tiger's den alone without preparations?"
The old man nearly spat blood. "What Nascent Soul? I didn't know anything about that! I didn't even come here for him!"
At last, Luo Chaoge failed to maintain her composure and looked astonished. Even Qin Poxu's expression turned somewhat odd. Then everyone's gaze landed on Qi Yan.
Qi Yan awkwardly took a small step back.
Qin Poxu touched a finger to the old man. "Your master will take this man back for questioning. As for that wicked practitioner of Witchcraft over there, deal with him yourself."
With that, he picked up the old man, turned, and walked away.
Luo Chaoge did not move. "He used Witchcraft to help me, even going so far as to poison himself."
Qin Poxu's steps briefly faltered. "You two have a history?"
"Yes." Luo Chaoge's expression was calm. "We're childhood sweethearts."
Qi Yan: "..."
A trace of a smile appeared on Qin Poxu's face. "You're even feeding your master the public story you used when taking over the Qi Clan?"
Luo Chaoge was briefly dumbfounded. So you knew?
Qin Poxu shook his head slightly. "Your heart is too soft. That does your sword path no favors. Take my instruction to settle your worldly ties. You actually chose to make the Luo Household more prosperous, thinking that would free you of worries and let you put it all behind you. But deep down, you know that means nothing... There is always a mountain beyond the mountain. Where does prosperity end? You remain entangled, sinking ever deeper. That is why you have been so unhappy lately."
Luo Chaoge wilted a little and said quietly, "I feel... this whole notion of settling worldly ties is strange in itself. Must a swordsman really do that? Or is it necessary for the immortal path?"
Qin Poxu said evenly, "It isn't necessary. Our sect doesn't even preach that nonsense about severing emotions, much less ties to one's family."
"Then why did you, Master..."
"You and this... childhood sweetheart of yours were originally negotiating a mutually beneficial partnership that could have left everyone happy. Who went behind your back to kill him, making you break your word and damage your own sword heart?"
Luo Chaoge could not help asking, "Master... you knew everything?"
"In cultivation today, people fight for power and profit over a few resources, scrabbling like flies and dogs, betraying trust and honor. That intolerable worldliness is the true enemy of the sword path. Though those people bear the surname Luo, they have already become your enemies. That is why those ties must be settled. Why instead help them prosper and foster their greed?" Qin Poxu paused, then suddenly chuckled. "You aren't even as clear-sighted as this childhood sweetheart of yours at the Second Layer of Qi Refining. When there are ties to break free of, he breaks free decisively."
Luo Chaoge stood in a daze, thinking for a while, then clasped her sword and bowed. "I understand."
Qi Yan watched as sword intent wreathed Luo Chaoge and soared straight into the clouds.
He was witnessing a sword cultivator's path to Golden Core. For someone at Qi Refining, the impact truly defied words.
Qin Poxu glanced at Qi Yan again. "You have saved Chaoge twice in succession. Though she never needed your rescue either time... the favor must still be acknowledged. As for your wicked Witchcraft, we will see how you conduct yourself. If you use it for evil, there will be no mercy."
With that, his sword light headed east and vanished in an instant.