“Third elder, correct.” In the wooden hut a day later, Xu Fu looked at the recipe for the elixir and nodded to Tuo Ku who was standing by his side.
With that, Zhou Donghuang stood up and walked straight out without so much as a glance behind. Tuo Ku, the third elder of Divine Light sect and late Primal-Core-stage adept, had no intention of stopping Zhou Donghuang and so allowed him to leave.
But once Zhou Donghuang had left, Tuo Ku turned to Xu Fu and asked, “Alchemist Xu, what you said just now; is it true?” Tuo Ku had heard Xu Fu say that the recipe for the Qi-gathering elixir that the man in black had produced, which could heighten the sense by twenty times, could not be found even in planets with Divine Transformation adepts. Divine Transformation was a level that transcended the Primordial Soul stage, was two levels above the Dharma Laws stage, and three full levels above the Primal Core stage!
Because of what Xu Fu had said, Tuo Ku felt even more fearful of the man in black. That he was able to produce this elixir recipe meant that he must have received a huge treasure. He had either gotten it from someone from another planet, or his master had left him to practice on Ziyun planet for some reason. Within the endless universe, there was no shortage of such examples.
If he had gotten it from someone on another planet, he could easily kill the man and take back what he had taken from the Divine Light sect. However, if his master had left him to practice, once the matter had been found out by the man’s master, then their sect would be ruined! After all, the man selling Qi-gathering elixir in the black market was not a secret. His master could easily link his death to the Divine Light sect. Tuo Ku did not want to take the risk, and the Divine Light sect would not take such a risk for a thousand spirit stones and those materials.
“Third elder, are you doubting my words?” Xu Fu’s expression turned dark.
“Alchemist Xu, please do not misunderstand, I just wanted to further confirm,” apologized Tuo Ku with an awkward smile.
Xu Fu was not as powerful as he was, but his alchemy skills were unparalleled on the whole planet and he was the highest-ranking ally of the sect. Xu Fu’s position in the Divine Light sect was even higher than his own.
…
After leaving the black market, Zhou Donghuang returned to the Yuntai inn. Just as he had come, he did not fly through the skies but walked slowly in the big streets and small alleys of the Shenguang empire capital, enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city. After shutting himself away for half a year, he was not repulsed by the noise; it was a familiar and welcoming sound for him.
However, as he walked into a small alley with just a few stalls and about ten passers-by, he sensed something that made him stop in his tracks. In that instant that he turned around.
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
With the piercing sound, all the people in the small alley dropped dead as flashes of white light passed through them. These people, who were just passers-by or stall owners, had no time to react at all. As they collapsed to the ground their expressions did not change. Those who had been looking around still had faces filled with curiosity. Those who had been bargaining with the stall owners still had their furrowed brows. And two children who were not even ten years old still had innocent smiles plastered on their faces. All of this happened within an instant.
Ho!
Just as Zhou Donghuang frowned and looked up toward the source of the white flashes, a figure landed out of nowhere.
“This is Liu Xuanyu?” The man in front of him was not unfamiliar to Zhou Donghuang, as he was the man who had demanded a hundred spirit stones just the day before. He had not known the man’s identity, just that he held high status in the black market.
Now, seeing him appear, he could easily guess his identity: the seventeenth elder of Divine Light sect, Liu Xuanyu. The previous day, Su Mo had killed a man who had been following them, sent by this Liu Xuanyu. It was then that he knew that he was being watched by Liu Xuanyu.
“Lad, did you not think that I could find you?” After landing, Liu Xuanyu smiled coldly at Zhou Donghuang.
“So what if you found me?” replied Zhou Donghuang calmly.
“It is indeed you!” Hearing Zhou Donghuang’s voice, Liu Xuanyu was sure that the man who had cheated him out of a hundred spirit stones was none other than the young man in white in front of him. He had not believed that the man was a Primal Core adept, but now he had to believe it.
“Lad, I don’t care if you received a treasure or have the backing of a powerful master. Today, you are not getting out alive!” Liu Xuanyu looked at Zhou Donghuang with a murderous glint in his eyes, the greed unmistakable. A thousand spirit stones, and precious metals that were worth at least two thousand spirit stones.
If he killed this man, he would own everything that the man had gotten in the black market. Furthermore, he could take back the hundred spirit stones that he had given to him!
“You killed them just to shut their mouths so that nobody will find out that you are trying to attack me?” Zhou Donghuang glanced at the ten corpses in the small alley, his tone stone-cold.
“Indeed! As long as nobody witnesses my killing you, even if you have the backing of someone powerful, the blame cannot land on me!” As he spoke, his inner Yuan seemed to surround his body, lifting him straight towards Zhou Donghuang.
“Lad, if anything, just blame the fact that you have something valuable, but are too weak to protect it!” He had already come next to Zhou Donghuang, and with that, he lifted his palm and struck out with it.
Weng!!
The piercing sound of a knife slicing through the air could be heard as a flash of white light sliced through the air towards Zhou Donghuang.
“Nobody will know it was me who killed you, though I am not worried about that at all,” Zhou Donghuang said calmly as his right sleeve trembled and produced a fan that appeared in his hands. “I do not have to use this to kill you, but I just forged it last night and have not used it yet. Yours shall be its first blood!”
As he spoke, the fan in Zhou Donghuang’s hands opened, its frame shimmering with a cold energy. Immediately, a faint white glow appeared above it.
Woosh!
With a swift motion, Zhou Donghuang opened the fan. He seemed to turn into a ghoul as he prepared to face the sword of light from Liu Xuanyu.
The fan flew out of his hands towards the flash of light, slicing through it like it was cutting through bean curd.
“Spirit weapon?!” When he had heard Zhou Donghuang’s words, Liu Xuanyu had suspected that the fan in his hands was a spirit weapon. Now, seeing him use it to easily block his attack, his suspicion was confirmed. “Indeed, it is a spirit weapon!!”
At that moment, the greed in Liu Xuanyu’s eyes seemed to turn even more intense. A spirit weapon! Even their sect had only one of those. Although Zhou Donghuang had easily blocked his attack, Liu Xuanyu thought of nothing but the spirit weapon. He had thought that Zhou Donghuang had used all his inner Yuan to destroy the attack. But his attack was a knife of inner Yuan from his body and did not require any additional input of energy. Such an attack could be taken down by an early Primal Core adept with the help of an inferior Primal Core spirit weapon using his full power.
“Before you die, let me thank you for gifting me this weapon!” Liu Xuanyu’s greed flashed in his eyes. With a tremor of the white glow surrounding his body, he seemed to turn into a cannonball as he flew towards Zhou Donghuang at tremendous speed. His hands moved rapidly as they produced two sharp knives of inner Yuan. He planned to use all his might to murder the young man.
“Fool!” Though faced with the onslaught of Liu Xuanyu, Zhou Donghuang was aware of his intentions. He smirked as he spun the fan in his hands, its sharp white glow shining brightly.
Weng! Weng! Weng!
…
The fan spun in his hands like a fan blade that had left its machine, flying straight towards Liu Xuanyu while emitting a piercing sound.
“Spirit weapon!!” Seeing the fan spin towards him, Liu Xuanyu’s eyes widened. The white glow transformed into two massive white hands that grabbed at the fan. Clearly, Liu Xuanyu was thinking of simply grabbing the fan. But in the next instant, as the fan drew closer, he sensed that the fan contained a massive and solid inner Yuan. His expression changed drastically.
“Impossible!!” In that instant, the energy that was radiating from the fan coming toward him was even more than his own inner Yuan.
It was not that the quality of the Yuan energy on the fan was more than his, but it was stacked together, as if it were the fusion of many early Primal Core adepts, exhibiting enough strength to destroy the energy released from his own inner Yuan.
Strength in numbers.
“No!!” With a worried cry, Liu Xuanyu tried his best to ward off the flying fan using his inner Yuan in his two hands. The spirit weapon was no longer a precious treasure but the scepter of death. The greed in his eyes was gone, replaced with fear.
Ching!!
A soft sound reverberated around the alley. Liu Xuanyu’s guttural cry stopped. The fan spun like a machine and easily sliced through the inner Yuan at Liu Xuanyu’s hands, killing him instantly!