Chapter 172 - Tuo Ku's Hypothesis

Wham!

The spinning fan returned to Zhou Donghuang’s outstretched hand, trailing fresh blood. It folded itself after it had finished its mission. The young man dressed in white looked exactly like an impeccably-featured student holding a fan.

From the time that Liu Xuanyu had materialized to his being killed by Zhou Donghuang was only a period of around ten breaths. In that time, no one had entered the alley.

Only after Zhou Donghuang had removed the space ring from Liu Xuanyu’s finger and departed did anyone enter the alley to discover the corpses lying within.

The death of Liu Xuanyu, a middle Primal-Core-stage adept and the seventeenth elder of the Divine Light sect, naturally caused a huge ruckus. “Why would Seventeenth Elder die in this small alley?”

In the black market, Tuo Ku, the third elder of Divine Light sect, was furious. Just that morning, he had helped the Divine Light sect buy the formula for a Qi-gathering elixir that could heighten the senses twenty times. It had been a cause for celebration; he did not expect by the time Alchemist Xu had brought the formula back, their seventeenth elder Liu Xuanyu would have died in this way.

“Search! Thoroughly!” As the third elder of the Divine Light sect and the manager of the black market, Tuo Ku’s order easily elicited the information he needed: some disciples of the black market informed him that Liu Xuanyu’s trusty aide had already begun investigating the appearance of new faces in the black market.

“What’s wrong?” Tuo Ku stared furiously at the old man who stood bowed in front of him with his head down and his body quivering. Tuo Ku’s voice was unbelievably serious. “Don’t tell me you don’t know!”

“Third Elder …” answered the old man. Now that Liu Xuanyu had died, and being pressured by the third elder of the Divine Light sect, the old man did not dare hide, and hurriedly told Tuo Ku the full story of what had happened.

“Half a year ago, there was a middle-aged man who sold us the Qi-gathering elixir formula at the price of a thousand spirit stones. With the middle-aged man was a young man who the Yang family claims is an early Primal-Core-stage adept.”

Hearing this, Tuo Ku easily linked that young man to the man in black who had just sold them another type of Qi-gathering elixir formula that very morning. That man in black had a very light voice and was also an early Primal-Core-stage adept.

“Go to the Yang family and call the old chief, Yang Qi, here.”

Soon the old Yang chief, Yang Qi, was brought by the old man to the black market to meet Tuo Ku. “Yang Qi of the Yang family greets Third Elder!” Yang Qi greeted him respectfully with a bow.

“He should have told you about what happened. The young man who went to your family with a middle-aged man: are you sure he is an early Primal Core adept?” Tuo Ku asked directly as he glared at Yang Qi.

“Yes,” nodded Yang Qi hurriedly. “He used his inner Yuan to float a piece of paper over to me. The inner Yuan that surrounded the piece of paper was as faint as fog and must have been that of an early Primal Core adept.”

“You should know the consequences of lying to me.” Tuo Ku’s voice turned stone cold.

With a loud sound, Yang Qi dropped to his knees in fright. He said nervously, “Third Elder, why would I dare to lie to you? I swear to God that if I lie to you, I will die a terrible death!”

“One last chance,” said Tuo Ku flatly. “If you dare to lie to me, from today on throughout the Shenguang empire and even the entire Ziyun planet, a Yang family will no longer exist!”

“Third Elder, I am really not lying to you.” Hearing Tuo Ku threaten his family, Yang Qi could do nothing but smile bitterly, both speechless and indignant.

Seeing this, Tuo Ku then believed his words. “That middle-aged man was also an early Primal Core adept?”

“Yes,” nodded Yang Qi. “When they came to our Yang family, the middle-aged man first killed my son. Who knows who shared the false story that the man was just a late Connate-stage adept, the news that caused me to lose my son and harm my family!” As he spoke, Yang Qi’s voice was filled with hatred. Of course, he did not hate the Primal Core adept who had killed his son, because he knew that was useless. He hated the person who had spread the false information.

“What else was special about the two of them? For example, did they say where they were from?” Tuo Ku could not help but feel that someone who could produce those two Qi-gathering elixir formulas must have an impressive background or have been fortunate enough to have received this treasure.

Yang Qi paused to think before replying, “They did not have any special history. but the middle-aged man addressed the young man as ‘Master’ even though they were both of the early Primal Core stage. Also, when he addressed the young man, he did it extremely naturally, as if he genuinely respected him and took him as his master.” Yang Qi shared all that he knew.

“The middle-aged man addressed the young man as ‘Master’?” Tuo Ku’s eyes narrowed. If that was the case, there was a higher likelihood that the young man had an impressive background. After all, without it, how would he make a man of equal skill willingly take him as his master? Surely, the young man had some strong power or a strong backing that was threatening the middle-aged man!

“You may take your leave.”

After Yang Qi had left, Tuo Ku’s eyes flashed with wisdom. “The man in black who sold us the Qi-gathering elixir formula this morning was definitely that same young man. Liu Xuanyu must have discovered this. So, after the young man left the black market, Liu Xuanyu tried to assassinate him to take what the young man had, including the hundred spirit stones that he had extorted from him previously. Although Liu Xuanyu was a middle Primal-Core-stage adept, the young man or the middle-aged servant, who are just in the early stage, could not have defeated him, even working together. This leaves just one possibility: there must be another Primal Core adept protecting the young man. When Liu Xuanyu attacked him, he killed Liu Xuanyu.”

He continued, “Liu Xuanyu’s body showed no sign of a struggle, so he must have died with a single blow. That means the murderer must be a late Primal-Core-stage adept just like me!”

Tuo Ku breathed in deeply as fear appeared in his eyes. “I cannot solve this matter myself. I shall pass the news to the sect and see what the Lord wishes to do.”

…

Zhou Donghuang was not a late Primal-Core-stage adept. But he had killed Liu Xuanyu with a single blow. In fact, he had not employed any techniques nor used any of his past fighting experience, only his pure strength and the help of the spirit weapon to kill him!

The inner Yuan of a middle Primal-Core-stage adept was about twice as powerful as that of an early-stage adept. Although Zhou Donghuang was just in the early Primal Core stage, he had two Primal Cores inside his body, and because both were his, the inner Yuan within each could be perfectly fused to attack together. In such circumstances, his inner Yuan was twice as powerful as any ordinary early Primal Core adept.

Furthermore, he had just produced the superior Primal Core spirit weapon that allowed him to increase his power by sixty percent. With just the explosiveness of his inner Yuan, he could have easily destroyed the middle Primal-Core-stage adept, Liu Xuanyu.

Liu Xuanyu had been too arrogant and did not know how powerful his opponent could be, with the help of the superior spirit weapon, so he was killed with just one blow. If he had been more careful, perhaps he would have lasted longer. His incredible carelessness had caused him to be killed in an instant.

“With my wealth of fighting experience from my past life and employing the techniques to use inner Yuan, even without the spirit weapon, I would be able to easily kill Liu Xuanyu! The middle Primal Core adepts of Ziyun planet can only be considered rookies and cannot be compared to those of the star clans and supreme sects in the rest of the universe.”

In the courtyard of Yuntai inn, Zhou Donghuang sat in front of a stone table as he opened the fan. He looked as if he was admiring the dense pattern on its surface, but he was thinking of something else.

Supreme sects and star clans were the most powerful forces in the universe. They produced lead disciples with a particular technique that not only increased their level of skill but also aided them in increasing their fighting experience and technique.

These lead disciples could easily kill a late Primal Core adept of Ziyun planet, even if they were just in the middle Primal Core stage. Even though the inner Yuan of the late Primal Core adept would be more than twice as powerful as that of the middle, the adept had to be able to fully utilize it.

This afternoon, the inner Yuan released by Liu Xuanyu had seemed solid but was filled with weakness. If Zhou Donghuang had wished to, he could have easily killed him even without the spirit weapon.

“If I had been able to produce the ultimate spirit weapon, with my current skill level I could defeat anyone in this Ziyun planet! But plans must give way to reality. Without the materials, I could only produce something like this,” sighed Zhou Donghuang.

“The most important thing now is to produce the third Primal Core. Then, even with just a superior spirit weapon, I will be able to defeat anyone on Ziyun planet beneath Golden Core! As for now, when faced with Silver Core adepts like the manager of the black market, Tuo Ku, I may be able to hold them off for a while, but then my inner Yuan will no longer be able to compete.”

Thinking of this, Zhou Donghuang stood up and returned to his room and began to practice again.

At the same time, the news of the death of Liu Xuanyu, the seventeenth elder of Divine Light sect, had already reached the Divine Light sect and caused a huge commotion.