Chapter 104: Breaking the Oath to Transmit the Dao

Ding Huan knew something was wrong the moment Qi Qi Xinyue reached for the sack—he instantly slashed out a dozen wind blades and lunged at Zuo Shanwei.

Zuo Shanwei saw the large net engulf Qi Qi Xinyue and felt no surprise.

If Qi Qi Xinyue could still evade this time, he would leave without hesitation.

If she evaded this time, it meant her first evasion wasn't luck—it meant she had gained the power to rival him.

But just as he was about to pull the net closed, a deep unease gripped him.

Zuo Shanwei didn't even consider—he retreated furiously, refusing to face even a hint of threat.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Dozens of blade flashes he hadn't seen sliced into the exact spot where he'd stood, carving deep grooves into the concrete beneath him.

Zuo Shanwei broke into a cold sweat—if he hadn't retreated, he'd now be cut into countless pieces.

With Zuo Shanwei's caution and prudence, he instantly realized Qi Qi Xinyue had been pretending—someone powerful lurked behind her, luring him out.

At this moment, Zuo Shanwei had no intention of fighting Ding Huan; for all his caution, even if he wasn't afraid of Ding Huan, he still didn't want to fight.

Those invisible, colorless blade flashes had terrified him.

The instant Ding Huan unleashed the blade flashes, he lunged at Zuo Shanwei—but though he clearly saw Zuo Shanwei, the moment he reached to grab him, Zuo Shanwei vanished.

Earth Submersion?

Or some other escape method?

But Ding Huan wasn't surprised—this guy had vanished right under Zhong Chi and many other strong cultivators' noses; it'd be strange if he were simple.

He didn't even bother searching for Zuo Shanwei—he knew such a man, once gone, would leave no trace worth hunting.

Better to collect the spoils first.

At this moment, Ding Huan unleashed wind blade techniques wildly—within three breaths, he slashed out at least hundreds of wind blades.

His wind blades nearly blanketed the entire space around Qi Qi Xinyue, and simultaneously, he slammed down a dozen punches.

These dozen punches struck the ground just outside Qi Qi Xinyue's perimeter, forming nearly a perfect circle.

It wasn't that Ding Huan sensed anything—he simply believed that a man like Shit Beetle would never flee after abandoning a sack of Zhan Shen Crystals and that large net.

Even if he fled, he'd take the net and the sack of Zhan Shen Crystals he'd tossed to Qi Qi Xinyue.

Because that's exactly how he himself had operated—back when he was on Chang Yi Continent, he'd done the same.

So even though his divine sense detected nothing, even though he perceived nothing, he struck first.

After all, even if he missed, he'd only expend some true qi.

"Crack—crack…" Sounds of tearing ripped through the air, as if invisible things had been cleaved apart by Ding Huan's blades.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ding Huan's consecutive dozen punches had smashed the ground around Qi Qi Xinyue into a series of deep craters.

The next instant, a gray shadow vanished like lightning at the edge of Ding Huan's divine sense.

Impressive, Ding Huan thought, watching the gray shadow disappear—he was deeply shaken. This guy had concealed himself somehow, even evading his divine sense at first glance.

At this moment, Ding Huan felt a chill of relief—he was glad he remembered this guy's nature: cautious and treacherous.

He'd struck out before his divine sense had even caught the opponent.

Just remember: caution never leads to error.

Otherwise, with this guy's methods, before fleeing he'd not only take the net and the sack—but also kill Qi Qi Xinyue.

He didn't believe Shit Beetle would spare Qi Qi Xinyue's life.

With Shit Beetle's strength, a single flick of a fine thread before leaving would be enough to kill Qi Qi Xinyue.

Thinking of that thread, Ding Huan carefully scanned his surroundings with his divine sense.

He'd severed dozens of them with wind blades, but hadn't seen what they truly were—they'd evaded even his divine sense.

"Did Shit Beetle escape?" Qi Qi Xinyue said, still trembling.

"Gone. That guy's terrifying," Ding Huan said, gathering the net.

The net had been spread wide, yet when rolled up and held in his hand, it showed nothing—no one knew what material it was made of.

Knowing he couldn't catch the guy, Ding Huan didn't bother chasing. In truth, even if he caught him, with Shit Beetle's skills, he doubted he could kill him.

With a flick of his divine sense, the sack also landed in Ding Huan's hand.

To Ding Huan's surprise, the sack truly contained Zhan Shen Crystals—his divine sense swept through it and found exactly twenty-one Zhan Shen Crystals.

"He must have obtained the Divine Concealment Technique. Only those with divine blood can learn divine arts—the Divine Concealment Technique requires divine art power to activate," Qi Qi Xinyue said.

"Divine Concealment Technique?" Ding Huan repeated, thinking: This thing's terrifying—it evades even my divine sense?

His own cultivation techniques included a concealment art, a minor spell—but that minor spell was utterly worthless.

Not to mention anything else—in front of even a Postnatal or Earth-grade cultivator, that concealment art wouldn't hide a thing.

Seeing Ding Huan frown as he pondered the Divine Concealment Technique, Qi Qi Xinyue gritted her teeth and said, "Big Brother, I'll teach you the Divine Concealment Technique."

Before she cultivated divine art power, she'd sworn never to pass divine art power to outsiders—or she'd be hunted down by the Divine Clan.

She'd once believed she'd never teach divine art power to anyone outside—but Ding Huan wasn't an outsider to her.

He'd saved her life and taught her the Luo Shi Jing. In Qi Qi Xinyue's heart, the Luo Shi Jing was no less valuable than divine art power.

Ding Huan didn't mind—he'd already passed his own cultivation method to Qi Qi Xinyue. If he learned the Divine Concealment Technique, fine; if not, no loss.

Otherwise, next time Shit Beetle used the Divine Concealment Technique to ambush him, he'd be defenseless.

This technique seemed to evade even divine sense—it had real merit.

"When I trained the Divine Concealment Technique, my master told me: power and intent are fundamentally connected. Only crude cultivators believe power comes first and everything else is secondary…"

As Qi Qi Xinyue began teaching Ding Huan the Divine Concealment Technique, Ding Huan felt another great door swing open before him.

He'd always believed his own cultivation was the true Daoist path, vastly superior to ordinary gene cultivators.

Now he understood: his understanding of the Dao was merely the hundred-step laughing at the fifty-step.

No, it should be fifty-one steps laughing at fifty steps.

He had cultivated spiritual sense, and as his cultivation advanced, his spiritual sense grew stronger, naturally leading him to believe his cultivated abilities were extraordinary.

Moreover, because he had cultivated spiritual sense, he could now combine it with true qi to cast Wind Blade Technique, greatly enhancing its power.

From Qi Qi Xinyue, Ding Huan finally understood that spiritual sense and true qi could be fully fused together.

Those who cultivate Divine Art Force do not have the concept of spiritual sense, but they do have the concept of mental force; the stronger the mental force, the stronger the Divine Art Force cultivator.

Divine Concealment Technique fuses mental force and Divine Art Force together, then, through the casting of specific divine incantations, achieves complete unity with the surroundings.

This shares similarities with his own concealment technique, which also requires a spell to activate, making it a type of magical art.

His spiritual sense was still in its early stage, which was why he had failed to detect the dung beetle's Divine Concealment Technique in haste.

But if he fully fused his spiritual sense with true qi, he could effortlessly sense the dung beetle's presence—even detect the aura of its attack.

Thinking of this, Ding Huan suddenly thought of another question.

While fusing spiritual sense with true qi was beneficial, it lost the very essence of spiritual sense.

True spiritual sense is formless; if his spiritual sense already possessed the ability to deliver true qi attacks, why fuse it with true qi at all?

In that case, he could not only easily detect the dung beetle's hiding spot but also use spiritual sense to launch attacks.

Just like earlier, on the plane, he had thought: if only he could cast Wind Blade Technique through the plane's hull.

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed—he wanted to use spiritual sense to continuously form attacking blade edges.

But he had never succeeded once.

Qi Qi Xinyue did not know Ding Huan had already begun attempting spiritual sense attacks; she was still explaining techniques and methods of Divine Concealment Technique, even breaking down the activation incantation word by word.

Moreover, she even began explaining instantaneous movement techniques using Divine Art Force.

It took two full hours before Qi Qi Xinyue had finished explaining the basics of her cultivation to Ding Huan.

Although Ding Huan still could not produce a Wind Blade Technique using spiritual sense alone, he could now perceive everything around him by fusing spiritual sense with true qi.

This method held little real value for Ding Huan, because without true qi, he could still sense everything around him.

The only useful aspect was that, with true qi fused, he could detect those hidden by Divine Art Force.

Ding Huan suspected the dung beetle would not give up so easily—if the bastard hid nearby and launched another ambush, he'd be in serious trouble.

That silent, five-colored thread was even more terrifying than his Wind Blade Technique.

Before he developed independent spiritual sense attacks, he fused true qi with spiritual sense to scan his surroundings.

"Let's go, we'll return to the hotel first," Ding Huan signaled for Qi Qi Xinyue to walk ahead.

Ding Huan walked behind Qi Qi Xinyue, his spiritual sense covering a five-hundred-meter radius around them.

Now that he was a Level Seven Gene Cultivator, his pure spiritual sense could cover over a thousand meters.

He limited the range to five hundred meters because he had attached true qi to his spiritual sense, primarily fearing the dung beetle's sneak attack.

Qi Qi Xinyue walked quickly; within just one hour, they were nearing the hotel.

At the edge of Ding Huan's spiritual sense, a shadow appeared—he clearly saw the dung beetle waiting about four hundred meters away.

The bastard had concealed himself inside a tree trunk, his entire body seeming to merge with the tree; had Ding Huan not scanned with spiritual sense, he never would have guessed someone was inside.

Ding Huan withdrew his true qi and sensed with spiritual sense alone—and still saw the dung beetle.

But Ding Huan knew this was only because he already knew the opponent was inside the tree; otherwise, his spiritual sense would easily have overlooked it.

Ding Huan acted as if nothing were amiss, walking while chatting casually with Qi Qi Xinyue.

When the two reached within five meters of the tree, Ding Huan suddenly lunged forward, simultaneously drawing Star Blade and slashing with Dahan Yi Dao.

(That's all for today's update, friends, good night!)