“Heh, brother, you need not worry. In a month’s time, I shall make all those who look down on me shut their mouths. As for that Blood Skull, he will surely die. That is the price for seeking to kill me and harm my friends!”
Ling Xiao said with a light laugh. When he spoke these words, it was as if he discussed something as mundane as a meal. There was not the slightest trace of tension or pressure.
Staring at Ling Xiao for a good while, Ji Ning gave a wry smile: “Like, truly too like. This temperament is as if carved from the same mould. Very well, since it is so, I shall heed you. I return to Northern Desert City. I await your good tidings!”
“That is the right way to think, brother.”
Ling Xiao did not know whom Ji Ning meant he resembled. Nor did he ask. What the other wished to say, he would say in time. What he did not wish to say, asking would be futile.
“Right then, you return and cultivate well. Your brother takes his leave first.”
Ji Ning wasted no words further. Once decided, he acted at once.
“Oh, right. That Fiery Blaze Heavenly Venerable is your foe, is he not? He dared tail me just now. I knocked him senseless. Shall I kill him?”
Just as he prepared to depart, Ji Ning turned back suddenly to add this.
“His life is mine. I shall take it myself.”
Ling Xiao smiled.
From Heavenly Dragon Continent to Divine Phoenix Continent, Ling Xiao had not forgotten how the Fiery Blaze Heavenly Venerable had sought his life time and again. Nor had he forgotten his promise to Master Bai Yun to reclaim the Wisdom Bone for him.
These matters, only he could handle personally.
For others to aid would rob them of meaning.
“Very well, then your brother goes.”
Ji Ning soared into the air and departed.
Watching his receding figure, Ling Xiao drew a deep breath. In a low voice, he said: “General, though I know not why you treat me so, I too sense your good intentions. Rest assured. In a month’s time, I shall make that Blood Skull pay the price! I shall live to learn my origins!”
On his way back to his dwelling, Ling Xiao glanced in a certain direction. He smiled faintly but said nothing. He quickened his pace and left.
“This lad, his soul force so keen? He sensed me?”
Hidden in the shadows was none other than Feng Qingyan.
He had been the first to detect someone intrude into the Clear Void Academy. Thus he had followed all the way.
Sadly, he had still not glimpsed clearly the one who met Ling Xiao.
The other seemed to employ a special concealment technique. It masked both sound and image. One who could wield such a technique was at least Yin-Yang Realm in cultivation.
Who could it be?
Feng Qingyan rubbed his temples. After a long while, he smiled faintly and murmured to himself: “Why must one probe so deeply? This Ling Xiao joining the Clear Void Academy is a blessing for it. I need only watch quietly.”
…
“Shadow Spike!”
In a dense wood of the Clear Void Academy, a fierce shout rang out.
Yet the voice sounded, but the person did not appear.
If an outsider were present, they might truly think they had seen a ghost.
At one moment, a great tree that three men could scarce embrace was struck by something unseen. It burst open with a large hole.
Still no sight of the person, but cracks like a spider’s web spread ceaselessly across the tree. In the centre, that round cavity formed a layer of frost.
Crack!
A moment later, the tree could no longer bear its massive frame. It toppled to the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust.
Only then did a figure emerge nearby.
Clad in black, with long hair. It was the same as ever, only his frame had grown taller and more sturdy.
Looking at the effect wrought by the Shadow Spike, a smile of excitement appeared on Ling Xiao’s face.
In merely three days since returning from the auction house, he had used the Heavenly Spirit Divine Pills to raise his cultivation to the late One Line Heaven Realm.
This was no great feat. More vital was that he had comprehended the second step of the Rationale of Shadow and gained this signature secret technique, “Shadow Spike”.
The Shadow Spike resembled the Crimson Sun Spike greatly.
Its power was a touch lesser, but when unleashed, it left the foe utterly unable to detect it.
If paired with the concealment of the Shadow Armour, should Ling Xiao choose to play the assassin, many martial artists in this world would come to grief.
Whether Crimson Sun Spike or Shadow Spike, the terrifying power they unleashed seemed to surpass even the strikes of a peak Three Talents Heaven martial artist.
What if Ling Xiao’s cultivation rose to Two Instruments Heaven Realm? How would matters stand then?
He truly looked forward to it.
…
When he returned to the Clear Void Academy, Ji Ming Kong and the others had already gone to the Heavenly Origin Treasure Pagoda to cultivate.
Ling Xiao too meant to rest a while before heading there.
This time he had come out precisely because he had comprehended the Shadow Spike and wished to test it in practice.
If he meant to enter seclusion next, it would last until a month hence.
Yet just as he prepared to leave, Feng Yanran found him with a mysterious air.
“Ling Xiao, there is a matter I wonder if I ought to tell you.”
She seemed hesitant. Perhaps this affair was no good thing for Ling Xiao.
“If there is something, say it.”
Ling Xiao smiled.
Feng Yanran bit her lip: “Very well, I tell you. In this imperial city, besides the Heavenly Dragon Auction House that deals mainly in pills and weapons, there is another, the Divine Phoenix Auction House, that trades in slaves and rare birds and beasts. This auction house belongs to the Divine Phoenix Academy.”
“Mm, go on.”
Ling Xiao knew Feng Yanran’s words were far from done.
“I have just received word that the True Demon Empire has sent a batch of slave martial artists here. These are former soldiers of the Holy Dynasty. After the Holy Dynasty’s fall, they persisted in fighting the True Demon Empire. Yet in the end, outnumbered, they were captured.”
Feng Yanran continued: “This group numbered over a thousand at first. Hundreds died in battle. On the journey here, many more succumbed to illness. Now only about one hundred remain, I reckon. I wonder what you think?”
“I am human, of the Holy Dynasty too. They are patriots who guarded the borders, who cast away their heads and spilled hot blood for the common folk. What do you think I shall do upon hearing this?”
Ling Xiao asked in turn.
“I knew you would meddle in this. That is why I hesitated to tell you. I warn you, that auction house belongs to the Divine Phoenix Academy. You have offended its people many times already. Be careful.”
Feng Yanran gave a wry smile.
Ling Xiao shook his head: “Though I am but a humble martial artist, in daily life I hold in highest regard these soldiers who cast away their heads and spill hot blood on the battlefield. Even after the Holy Dynasty’s royal house was all but extinguished, they fought on and refused surrender. For that spirit alone, it merits my rescue.
Of course, rest easy. I mean to buy with money, not rob them.”
“Have you money left?”
Feng Yanran asked.
Indeed, that was a problem.
Ling Xiao had gained twenty million lower-grade spirit stones before. After buying the Golden Crow Sword and medicinal ingredients, his funds grew tight once more.
At this thought, he looked to Feng Yanran and asked: “When I cultivated just now in the woods outside the Clear Void Academy, a blind beast blundered into my path. I captured it. I meant to train it as a mount. Could I take it to the auction house?”
