Chapter 18: Golden Core Battles Golden Core

Xu Yang and Ling Qingshu had only walked about five or six miles when Xu Yang stopped. He looked into the night; the surroundings were silent and completely dark.

Ling Qingshu also stopped. She, too, sensed something was wrong; it was too quiet.

“Who’s there? Come out!”

As she spoke, Ling Qingshu drew her sword and looked in a certain direction within the darkness.

“Little girl,” a voice said, “if you’re smart, hand over all your magic treasures, elixirs, and everything you bought at the auction house. Then I might let you live another day.”

A black-robed old man emerged from the darkness. No sooner had he finished speaking than he charged forward.

Ever since sensing something amiss, Ling Qingshu had been on guard. As the black-robed old man rushed closer, Ling Qingshu raised her long sword to guard her chest. Once the old man was close, Ling Qingshu thrust her sword straight at his throat.

Naturally, the black-robed old man wouldn’t let Ling Qingshu succeed. He formed a hand seal, and a golden shield made of spiritual energy appeared in front of him. The golden shield shattered upon impact with Ling Qingshu’s sword, but by then, the black-robed old man was already in front of Ling Qingshu.

He formed another hand seal, and a massive python suddenly appeared behind him. It opened its ferocious maw and lunged at Ling Qingshu.

Whether intentionally or not, the black-robed old man completely ignored Xu Yang, who was merely observing from the side with a cultivation aura only at the Qi Condensation stage. In his eyes, Xu Yang, being only at the Qi Condensation stage, posed no threat.

Xu Yang, for his part, simply stood there quietly, showing no intention of intervening in their fight.

Xu Yang had discovered the black-robed old man’s presence much earlier. Initially, at the Spiritual Treasure Auction House, the unidentified person who had competed with Ling Qingshu for the Divine Cloud Beast Egg was this very black-robed old man. After the auction concluded, he had been tailing Xu Yang and Ling Qingshu.

The saying “murder and arson lead to wealth” was a principle universally applicable even in the cultivation world. Fearing poverty, one often sought ill-gotten gains to fill their pockets. Not to mention, Xu Yang and Ling Qingshu had acquired a divine egg at the Spiritual Treasure Auction House.

Regarding the divine egg, the black-robed old man had once read fragmented descriptions of it in his sect’s ancient texts. He was deeply intrigued by its mystical properties. Furthermore, among his sect’s secret techniques, there was a method to absorb the essence of a divine egg for one’s own cultivation.

Under these circumstances, the black-robed old man chose to tail the two of them, waiting for an opportunity to ambush and kill them.

As for Xu Yang, he was completely unconcerned by the pursuit of a Golden Core cultivator. If the man were to make any moves that displeased him, he could simply eliminate him with a wave of his hand.

“Little girl,” the old man sneered, “you’ve only just broken through to the Golden Core stage, yet you can withstand my attacks for so long. Your sect’s heritage must be extraordinary. If you hand over your cultivation techniques and spells to me, I’ll spare that pretty boy behind you.”

Fighting Ling Qingshu, the black-robed old man found himself unable to defeat her immediately. He even sensed a slight possibility of being counter-killed by her at any moment. Though the possibility was slim, the black-robed old man remained wary, and he began to covet the cultivation technique Ling Qingshu practiced.

“You want my cultivation technique? See if you’re capable enough to take it.”

Ling Qingshu traced her two fingers along her long sword, and a sharp, formidable aura erupted from her body. When she swung her sword again, each strike unleashed streams of sword qi.

The black-robed old man conjured a small seal, which grew to the size of a bushel in mid-air. After blocking Ling Qingshu’s sword qi, it crashed down towards her. As Ling Qingshu’s attacks grew more ferocious, the black-robed old man no longer entertained thoughts of seizing her cultivation technique. Now, all he wanted was to finish off Ling Qingshu, then slaughter the young man observing from the side, and complete his robbery and murder.

Although Ling Qingshu’s response to the black-robed old man’s offensive was somewhat lacking, as their continuous exchange of blows progressed, she became increasingly adept at wielding the Golden Core spiritual energy within her. The giant python circled around Ling Qingshu, snapping at her intermittently. The black-robed old man held the small seal in his hand, waiting for an opportunity. He planned a fatal strike the moment Ling Qingshu showed an opening.

Xu Yang watched their fight from the side. Though their combat seemed crude to him, he was quite satisfied with Ling Qingshu’s performance. Her ability to continuously rectify her shortcomings during continuous combat indicated a talent that would have been considered upper-middle tier in the former Heavenly Cloud Sect.

“Little girl, die!”

Constant defense eventually leads to an opening. The black-robed old man finally found an opening in Ling Qingshu’s defense, and he unleashed the small seal in his hand. Ling Qingshu hastily raised her sword to block, but she was forced backward. The black-robed old man intended to press his advantage, and he unleashed the small seal again, sending it crashing towards Ling Qingshu.

Ling Qingshu was sent flying backward. She wanted to raise her sword again to block the incoming seal, but there was simply no time. At this moment, a sinister grin spread across the black-robed old man’s face. In his eyes, Ling Qingshu would be pulverized into a bloody mess by his magic treasure in the next instant.

“Little girl, die!”

The very next second, the black-robed old man froze. A person had appeared in front of Ling Qingshu. It was the Qi Condensation cultivator he had consistently ignored, who had now suddenly appeared before Ling Qingshu. In the hands of that pretty boy from the Qi Condensation stage, was something he held firmly—it was precisely his magic treasure, the small seal.

The black-robed old man’s eyes widened, staring at Xu Yang with an expression of utter disbelief.

“Your performance was decent,” Xu Yang said to Ling Qingshu. “To achieve this much against a late-stage Golden Core cultivator is already quite good.”

Xu Yang casually tossed the captured magic treasure, the small seal, and it vanished from its spot instantly. When he reappeared, Xu Yang was already beside the black-robed old man. The giant python detected Xu Yang’s presence, opened its bloody maw, and lunged at him.

Xu Yang paid little mind to the python’s attack. He merely raised his hand slightly. The black python was already caught in Xu Yang’s grip. This was a divine ability extremely famous in the Heavenly Cloud Sect tens of thousands of years ago. A Heavenly Cloud Sect cultivator who had ascended to a higher realm once used this perfected divine ability to pluck stars, seize the moon, control phoenixes, and capture dragons. While Xu Yang’s current use of this divine ability couldn’t reach such terrifying heights, it was still effortless for him to seize ordinary magic treasures and manipulate spells.

With a casual squeeze, the black python in Xu Yang’s hand dissipated into a wisp of black smoke, vanishing into nothingness.

“You want to kill and rob, yet you don’t even consider your own capabilities.”

Xu Yang struck again. The black-robed old man felt his Golden Core within his body become uncontrollable, with an urge to burst out of him.

“How is this possible?!”

The black-robed old man was greatly alarmed. Xu Yang’s divine ability could actually affect his Golden Core! He had never heard of such a thing before.

“I grant you death by Golden Core expulsion.”

Xu Yang formed his five fingers into a claw. The black-robed old man could no longer suppress the Golden Core within him; his Golden Core directly burst out of his body and landed in Xu Yang’s hand. With his Golden Core forcibly taken by Xu Yang, the black-robed old man instantly lost all signs of life.

The cloud beast perched on Xu Yang’s shoulder swallowed the Golden Core Xu Yang offered it in one gulp, and then exhaled a puff of cloud-like mist, as if letting out a satisfied burp.