This is a concealed weapon infused with the innate qi of a Xiantian cultivator—an utterly terrifying hidden weapon. Even a boulder half a man’s height would be pierced as effortlessly as tofu. Even Wang Bo, a fellow Xiantian cultivator, was startled by this sudden, unannounced, and utterly dishonorable assault. His face turned even paler when he noticed Li Tan standing motionless, seemingly oblivious to the incoming strike.
However, that fiercely rushing hidden weapon was effortlessly caught between Li Tan’s two fingers, as if it were nothing. There was no blood splattering, no loud metallic collision. The barren peach orchard remained eerily quiet. Cheng Xuan stood there, dazed, not even realizing that she had just narrowly escaped death.
Li Tan’s eyes grew even colder. His dispute with Xu Jie had been limited to words, and even if it escalated to physical conflict, Xu Jie would have been the one to act unreasonably first. Yet that subordinate, an innate realm guard, had directly attempted to kill him. Although he was also an innate realm cultivator, as a mere servant, he would never dare to make such a reckless decision on his own. The true mastermind behind it was none other than Xu Jie, who was still standing there with a smug laugh.
Whoosh! Without a sound, a sharp plum blossom dart flew in from another direction. It too carried a faint trace of innate true energy. However, its trajectory had slightly changed. Though only by a small margin, this shift made it perfectly aligned to graze past Li Tan’s shoulder and pierce straight into Cheng Xuan’s chest! But again, it failed to achieve its goal. Just like its predecessor, it was firmly clamped between two fingers as solid as refined iron, rendered powerless just an inch away from Cheng Xian’s heart.
Li Tan’s anger intensified, his eyes grew even colder, and a faint killing intent began to spread quietly.
Cheng Xuan was still dazed. Wang Bo had just closed his mouth, which had fallen open in shock. All that extreme danger had occurred in just a single breath. Battles between cultivators did not resemble the drawn-out magical duels described in novels, with skies darkened and sun and moon obscured. Quite the opposite—they were extremely swift. Even if dazzling displays of power occurred, they vanished in an instant.
“He… he wants to kill us!” Terrified, Cheng Xuan looked down at the weapon Li Tan had caught, instinctively stepping back once, twice, and shouting, “Someone, someone help!”
But the only response she received was Xu Jie’s mocking voice: “Scream all you want, no one will come. Do you still think you’re the esteemed daughter of the Cheng family?”
Cheng Xuan’s small frame trembled. Filled with shame and self-reproach, she lowered her head.
Ding-dang! Li Tan released his grip, letting the two hidden weapons fall to the ground. Immediately, Wang Bo’s furious voice rang out: “Xu Jie! You actually dared to kill a weak girl who can’t even lift a chicken! It’s unforgivable! I won’t let you off today!”
Xu Jie snorted, tilting his head up and looking down his nose: “You just recently broke through to the Xiantian realm, didn’t you?”
“So what if I did?”
“My two guards are both at the mid-stage of Xiantian realm. What can you possibly do about it?”
“You! Despicable!”
“Hmph, only the victor is worthy of speaking to me like that. Attack them!”
At Xu Jie’s command, he shouted, “Brother Li, today let us fight side by side!”
Wang Bo’s scholarly spirit was fully ignited, his fighting spirit high. But Li Tan didn’t move at all, showing no enthusiasm, even appearing somewhat lazy: “No need.”
Wang Bo originally thought Li Tan meant he didn’t need help, and felt somewhat angry, blaming Li Tan for being arrogant. But soon, he realized that was not the case.
A solitary withered leaf—brittle, crumbling at the slightest touch—streaked across the narrow mountain trail like an arrow loosed by the empire’s most formidable archer. Just as the two fierce-looking Xiantian guards had half-unsheathed their sabers, the leaf pierced straight into Xu Jie’s right chest, pinning him to the grassy earth before disintegrating into countless fragments. A faint tang of blood drifted away, borne on the autumn breeze.
“Eh…” Xu Jie’s eyes widened, disbelief plastered across his face. The delayed, excruciating pain nearly caused him to collapse. But he paid no attention to his bleeding wound. Instead, he stared fixedly at a certain spot above him, his voice filled with intense unwillingness as he forced out a few words: “The Academy actually intervened…” With a thud, he collapsed before finishing his sentence, unconscious.
Seeing their master severely injured, the two guards instantly lost their composure. Filled with fear, they glanced toward a certain spot—the direction of a broom-wielding gatekeeper—before hastily supporting Xu Jie and fleeing in panic.
Wang Bo regained his senses and quickly turned around, bowing respectfully: “Thank you, Senior, for coming to our aid!”
The old man sweeping the ground didn’t acknowledge him, but Wang Bo wasn’t upset. On the contrary, he felt great joy. The Academy had always been impartial, encouraging student rivalries while rarely intervening unless lives were at stake. It was even less likely to interfere with conflicts involving non-students. Yet today, a senior had come to their rescue. Wang Bo concluded that Xu Jie’s actions had been too outrageously heinous.
After bowing, Wang Bo noticed that no one else remained. Puzzled, he turned around and saw that Li Tan had already taken Cheng Xuan’s hand and walked quite a distance away. He felt somewhat angry that Li Tan hadn’t even thanked the elder who had saved them. He quickly chased after them, trying to persuade Li Tan, but Li Tan showed no sign of listening. It was Cheng Xuan, still dazed, who finally understood the situation and forcibly pulled Li Tan into bowing toward the broom-wielding man.
The three boarded a carriage, and their figures soon vanished into the distant hills, rolling and covered in grasslands.
An elderly man with partially white hair and beard stepped out from the gate, stroking his beard, slightly surprised and puzzled: “Lin Yuan, why did you choose to help that boy named Li Tan?”
He asked why he did it, not why he would do it. It seemed he was already accustomed to the coldness of the broom-wielding man.
“Because someone was about to die. Blood on the Academy’s doorstep is hard to clean.”
After a long silence, the broom-wielding man gave his answer.
The old man became even more puzzled: “That boy is no ordinary one; he wouldn’t have died in the hands of someone like that.”
For the first time, a rare flicker of emotion crossed the broom-wielding man’s face: “You misunderstood. I didn’t save Li Tan—I saved Xu Jie.”
“What do you mean?”
The old man was confused, but soon grasped the other’s meaning, his eyes filled with shock.
The broom-wielding man remained silent for a while before murmuring: “Li Tan… when did he become such a genius? Why have I never heard of him before?”
Leaving the wide plains behind and returning to the bustling city of Luo Shui, Li Tan bid farewell to Wang Bo and looked around anxiously, furrowing his brows.
He had searched the Academy thoroughly and wandered outside it for quite some time, but had still failed to find Zhang Cong’s whereabouts. Why had this boy, so eager for cultivation, failed to show up without a word?
Zhang Cong would never simply abandon him like that. Therefore, something must have happened, preventing him from coming.
Li Tan wanted to visit his home but didn’t know the address, so he had no choice but to return to Tian Ce Inn. Halfway there, an autumn rain began to fall without warning.
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