Lin Xiao did not answer Tantai Wenjun. Instead he turned to the Tantai genius woman and asked coldly, “You dared to question me?”
“I…”
The woman’s body shook violently. For a moment she could not speak.
“I do not accept apologies after the fact.”
With those words Lin Xiao struck. A fist beam shot out and slammed toward her.
Despair filled her eyes; terror overwhelmed her. She had no will left to resist. In the end she died beneath the beam.
In the instant of death she regretted that single sentence more than anything.
She had possessed a brilliant future. Because of one remark, she fell here.
“Run!”
Tantai Wenjun and Tantai Qiuping shouted at once, fleeing in opposite directions.
The youth had begun killing; he would never spare them now.
They could not win. Their only choice was to flee, even if escape was hopeless.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two stone-pillar beams shot out in succession.
One instantly killed Tantai Qiuping.
The other Lin Xiao deliberately limited to grievous injury only. When Tantai Wenjun desperately tried to block with spiritual power, the beam shattered into overwhelming force that knocked him unconscious.
He did not finish the man in one blow.
Lin Xiao had other plans for Tantai Wenjun.
He let the body fall toward the ground, then turned his gaze to Wang Qi and the three surviving Wang clansmen.
All four felt their hearts tremble.
Two great clans had been almost completely wiped out. Lin Xiao’s ruthlessness far exceeded their expectations.
A lone rogue cultivator… this decisive in slaughter?
Yet once the killing had started, it was indeed safer to silence everyone.
“Brother Lin…” Wang Qi began.
“Relax. I will not raise a hand against you,” Lin Xiao said calmly.
The four instantly relaxed.
“However, I do ask that you keep today’s events absolutely secret,” Lin Xiao continued.
“In truth our lives were saved by Brother Lin,” Wang Qi replied firmly. “And you trust us this much. We would never repay kindness with betrayal. These three are all from my direct lineage. I stake my name: not one word about you will ever leave their lips.”
Lin Xiao nodded. “I am not an ingrate either. You escorted me safely; naturally I will not touch you. I trust Brother Wang’s word.”
As he spoke, his spiritual sense swept into the storage ring of the black-clothed beast expert. Finding three spirit lotus roots inside, he immediately took one out. While flying forward he tossed it to Wang Qi.
“Three roots in total. I take two.”
The Wang group stared in astonishment. At this point, simply sparing their lives was already extraordinary mercy. He was actually giving them one of the priceless Zitan Spirit Lotus roots?
Wang Qi caught it without hesitation. “Then we will not stand on ceremony. Brother Lin, consider Wang Qi your friend for life. If you ever need anything, just say the word.”
“I intend to participate in the Continental Spirit Controller Grand Competition. In that case, I will trouble Brother Wang to give me a ride,” Lin Xiao said directly.
He had seen Wang Qi’s character clearly enough; the man had been genuinely warm toward him earlier. There was no need for roundabout words.
And with Wang family members escorting him, reaching Spirit Pool Island would be faster and smoother; he would not risk missing the deadline.
“Leave it to me,” Wang Qi said with a firm nod.
“First let us clean up the spoils.”
Lin Xiao swept through the storage rings of the Tantai and Jiang members, as well as every intact beast spirit nucleus, collecting everything.
The four Wang members helped without prompting.
“Our Wang family does not lack spirit nuclei or wealth. Apart from our own people’s rings, everything here belongs to Brother Lin,” Wang Qi said, collecting the nuclei and rings, handed them all over.
Lin Xiao accepted without ceremony. After examining the seventh-grade spirit controllers’ rings, he took out four high-grade healing pills and gave one to each of them.
“Let us change locations and recover first.”
The four accepted the pills. Together with Lin Xiao they left the battlefield and stopped at a hidden spot ten thousand li away to begin healing.
While they recovered, Lin Xiao sorted the storage rings, transferring everything into fresh rings until they were stuffed full.
What excited him most were naturally the rings of the Tantai spirit controllers.
Their wealth was staggering.
Meanwhile, the gravely wounded and unconscious Tantai Wenjun had been dragged along.
Originally Lin Xiao had worried how to control a seventh-grade advanced spirit controller.
He was only late sixth-grade himself; enslavement was impossible, and mind control would not last long.
Even using the Heaven-Devouring Spirit Emperor’s secret method, control would be limited.
When he had once mind-controlled the stronger Mei Tianmo, the effect had lasted only fifteen minutes before she regained awareness.
Even now that his spiritual power had grown, he could not keep Tantai Wenjun under control long enough to be useful.
After all, Tantai Wenjun was a living person, not a special like a purple-corpse puppet.
His goal was to make Tantai Wenjun work for him during the Continental Spirit Controller Grand Competition.
Given the man’s age and cultivation, he would definitely participate.
What gave Lin Xiao confidence were two types of pills he had found in Tantai Wenjun’s and the woman’s rings: Bewilderment Pills and Spirit Explosion Pills, both high seventh-grade.
High seventh-grade Bewilderment Pills could plunge a person into a dazed, half-conscious state, weakening their spiritual sense and making enslavement or mind control far easier.
Such pills were normally used against peers.
For example, if Tantai Wenjun wanted to enslave another seventh-grade advanced spirit controller whose spiritual sense was equal or stronger, he would fail even if he gravely wounded them.
But if the target swallowed a Bewilderment Pill first, their spiritual sense would weaken, giving him the opening to enslave them.
Once enslaved, even after recovery they would remain his puppet.
With this pill, Lin Xiao could bypass Tantai Wenjun’s formidable spiritual sense.
As for the high seventh-grade Spirit Explosion Pills, they were useless for Tantai Wenjun himself; they could not push seventh-grade advanced spiritual power to eighth-grade.
But for Lin Xiao they were perfect.
Swallowing one had a high chance of instantly catapulting him to early seventh-grade spiritual power.
Once he reached early seventh-grade, he could perform true enslavement.
Controlling Tantai Wenjun would no longer be a problem.
While Wang Qi and the others healed with full focus, Lin Xiao sat beside the unconscious Tantai Wenjun.
Soon Tantai Wenjun stirred and opened his eyes.
Seeing the situation, even he was startled. The youth… had not killed him?
“What… what do you want?” Tantai Wenjun asked warily.
He did not believe the youth had spared him out of kindness.
“Swallow this.”
Lin Xiao produced the Bewilderment Pill.
“Bewilderment Pill?” Tantai Wenjun’s heart jolted. “You want to enslave me? Your spiritual power is only late sixth-grade. Even if I take it, you cannot possibly enslave me!”
Lin Xiao had no interest in explaining.
One hand clamped around Tantai Wenjun’s throat, the other forced the pill straight into his mouth.
