Chapter 294: On Why Crawfish Kicking the Door Can Speedrun

Feng Xue is a man who follows rules—if there really were any unwritten rules, you could stop me and speak harshly, that'd be fine, but if you just attack outright, then everyone here will lie down!

With this simple mindset, Feng Xue's body erupted in bright blue arcs of electricity; the approaching wraiths had no chance to scream before they vaporized, while he himself burst forth from the swordlight, his right hand clenched in empty grasp—the brilliant blue instantly twisted into murky black, and by now, on the subject of thunder arts alone, he could adjust his qi ratio at will.

Lightning flowed, condensing into a sword of murky black in his hand; after being transformed from the sword-controlling skill tree of a cultivator class in the game world into a spell, its core appeal was its coolness, followed by its "qi embodiment" technique.

"Baka!"

A regionally distinctive curse rang out, but Feng Xue had no intention of wasting words; as a seasoned Jo fan, he knew well that threats should be delivered after the fighting was done.

The dark, heavy yin thunder coalesced into a long sword; each swing sent ripples spreading, and the complex barrier was cleaved open in a single stroke—Feng Xue tapped the ground beneath his foot and shot forward like lightning.

Duang!

A heavy muffled boom exploded suddenly—a towering monster wielding an eight-faceted iron club blocked Feng Xue's path; he felt his wrist jolt with sharp pain, but at least he wasn't truly injured.

"Oga (Nihon ghost)? This is truly a classic setup."

Feng Xue smirked, and his sword immediately left his hand, transforming into a crescent slash aimed at the giant ghost's head; "unconsciously," Feng Xue had already been surrounded by a circle of Bai Yi cultivators—the tiger-like evil spirit, freed from restraint, erupted instantly in attack, and the first target, naturally, was Feng Xue, the closest.

Feng Xue remained unmoved; his original goal had been to steal the monster's kill—the flying sword hurtling toward the giant ghost exploded into a shower of mud-like specks, while the Lei Guang on Feng Xue's body shifted into gold and red.

The Five Elements rotated, and Seeing Mo Ying cursed as he was flung away, clutching the Lei Guang.

"Boom!"

Though deliberately weakened, the Five Elements Thunder's destructive power remained terrifying—a mushroom cloud slowly rose, and the tiger-shaped evil spirit had no chance to cry out before it was vaporized by the gold-and-red lightning.

The residual shockwave of the exploded Five Elements Thunder continued to spread, radiating a numbing force that scattered the group of Bai Yi cultivators—whether they were Yin-Yang masters or Nihon Daoist Priests—into disarray.

Feng Xue, prepared in advance, spun his body with the shockwave, and the next instant, the giant ghost, its head riddled with corrosion from the yin thunder, lost its head entirely.

"That was satisfying!"

As Feng Xue looked at the fallen Nihon cultivators and prepared to leave, his brow suddenly lifted—he had just noticed that the ritual pattern here seemed… abnormal?

A regular cultivator seeing an unfamiliar ritual might merely find it curious, and even after some analysis, would likely assume it was a binding or suppression array against evil spirits.

But Feng Xue was no ordinary cultivator—he had once nurtured a "demon god" with murky vows, and he saw the flaw in this ritual at a glance.

"Damn, they're trying to shove the evil spirits straight back into the earth veins!"

Sure, evil spirits are formed from earth-sha turbid vows and theoretically expelled from the earth veins—but it's like a thesis defense: even if it comes out of your body, would you willingly have it shoved back in, no matter where? Most people wouldn't be happy about it, right?

Humans feel that way, and so do earth veins—evil spirits are expelled precisely to relieve pressure on the veins and prevent the emergence of extreme aberrations.

Now you're forcing them back in—so next year, are you going to accumulate an even bigger one?

Realizing this, Feng Xue knew he'd stumbled onto something serious; he immediately abandoned chasing evil spirits and instead guarded the ritual, occasionally delivering a baby-like sleep to any little ghost trying to rise, while letting Xiao Lingdang make fine adjustments to the ritual.

Once the entire structure was complete, he raised one finger toward the sky—flashing thunder danced at his fingertip, forming a glowing orb that shot upward.

The thunder-art凝聚 orb exploded, transforming into a series of swirling, calligraphic characters that wrote across the sky as a canvas—a message visible only to cultivators:

"Anomaly here. Come quickly!"

Six words alone might be ignored, but if those words were written with thunder art and remained visible for dozens of breaths, that was downright absurd.

At that moment, cultivators throughout the city—even those merely eager to witness a peer who could wield thunder art with such mastery—began moving toward the marked location; soon, the Yangrenjie Nihon district was packed with a dense crowd of cultivators.

Seeing the fallen Nihon cultivators motionless on the ground, everyone's first thought was that some super evil spirit had wiped them all out—but then they watched the man who called them personally knock unconscious another Nihon cultivator just as he was waking up, and suddenly, this situation felt far from simple.

"Cultivators with expertise in earth veins, feng shui, or arrays, please examine this ritual closely—the rest, I'm sure, needs no further explanation." Feng Xue had no intention of lecturing; after all, he was a stranger here, and if he explained too much, they'd suspect how he knew so much—better to let them deduce it themselves, so complications wouldn't follow.

Though the ritual was beautifully disguised on the surface, it was like a delivery box labeled "computer parts"—if you've already opened the box, no amount of surface camouflage matters.

The cultivators of Gangdu were clearly no fools; they quickly unraveled the ritual's mechanism, and immediately erupted in outrage.

But when they turned to find Feng Xue again, they realized he had vanished without a trace.

"Does anyone recognize that previous cultivator?"

One older-looking cultivator, having bound the Nihon cultivators hand and foot, asked; everyone shook their heads, though a younger one spoke up:

"I saw him at the Merit Pool—he was asking how to take on missions. He must be new to Gangdu."

"We only noticed the anomaly after careful analysis, and combined with that exquisite thunder art—this cultivator must come from an illustrious sect. His conduct suggests he's a current worldly wanderer of some great school."

"We can discuss that later—right now, let's figure out how to resolve this. This array wasn't built overnight; the Nihon probably haven't done this for the first time—other cities may have similar setups…"

"First, inform the mayor—see if we can use long-distance telephones to alert other coastal cities, so other cultivators can check too. As for the rest, deal with the evil spirits first."

…

The local cultivators began pooling their efforts, but Feng Xue returned to hunting evil spirits; with many cultivators drawn away by his signal, he no longer had to fight over kills—he slaughtered his way until dawn, and as the New Year's bell tolled, a surge of vow-power settled upon him.

"So this is… the power of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new?"

(End of Chapter)