Chapter 102: 102. Refusal (Requesting Monthly Votes)

102. Chapter 102: Refusal (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Qinglin Marketplace.

It was deep night.

A forty-meter-long, second-rank Ink Jade Snake had replaced the former Golden Feather Vulture, coiled atop the spiritual vein, its thick head raised as it spat violet-black fangs toward the bright moon.

Sssss!

Amid the terrifying hiss, threads of lunar essence descended, continuously refining its body and bloodline, propelling it toward a higher level.

Simultaneously, a layer of pitch-black venomous mist spread outward from the beast, enveloping the surrounding marketplace.

This was second-rank lethal poison—capable of corroding spiritual veins and even altering the environment!

If this Ink Jade Snake remained entrenched here for decades or centuries, the land might transform into a deadly toxic wasteland.

Outside the marketplace, atop the branch of an ancient cypress tree, a lifeless yellow bird tilted its head, watching the scene.

Suddenly!

A hand appeared out of thin air, grasping the bird: “Hmm? This thing shows considerable ingenuity…”

The hand was withered and bony, yet like an iron clamp, leaving the bird utterly immobilized.

Boom!

The bird suddenly exploded into flames—the pre-set self-destruct mechanism activated.

“Hmm?”

The hand bore no trace of injury, not even a scorch mark.

The hand’s owner was a black-robed old Daoist, his eyes sharp, his frame short and emaciated, his features distinct, with a goatee, clad in a black Daoist robe, a simple black wood hairpin holding his hair.

“No spiritual energy fluctuation at all—old man overlooked it entirely. How intriguing!”

The shriveled, frail old Daoist nodded, collected the ashes left by the bird’s explosion, and shot upward like a streak of light, vanishing into the heavens in an instant!

High above, the Gangfeng howled fiercely.

Yet not a single fold of his robe stirred.

The old Daoist waited a moment, and two more streaks of light arrived to join him.

One had a peach-blossom complexion and silver-white hair—Nie Feifeng, the Supreme Elder of Qingxuan Sect!

The other was a burly man clad in animal hides, his body covered in tattooed beasts, radiating a terrifying aura.

“Wu Daoist, why so slow? Has something changed in the marketplace?”

Nie Feifeng immediately asked upon seeing the black-robed old Daoist.

“No change—just encountered a fascinating puppet, delayed me a bit… This puppet emitted zero spiritual energy. Had I not previously scanned the entire marketplace with my spiritual sense, I might have missed it entirely… It even had a self-destruct mechanism, which I failed to detect…”

Wu the Old Daoist stroked his goatee, slightly surprised: “It seems Nie Daoist has planted a phoenix tree and drawn phoenixes to nest… There’s even a puppet master lurking here.”

“Wu Daoist flatters me. At this moment, few wandering cultivators remain in the marketplace.”

Nie Feifeng’s expression was calm: “I’m more interested in that second-rank superior Ink Jade Snake… It inhales lunar essence, refining its demonic aura—it must have already formed a demonic core. This snake’s horns are sharp, perhaps even carrying a trace of dragon blood. If its core is swallowed by Lian Daoist’s spiritual pet, it could elevate it by a small tier.”

Before she finished speaking, the burly man in animal hides stirred, touching the spiritual beast pouch at his waist.

He was the Supreme Elder of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, skilled in raising all kinds of spiritual pets.

Among them was a “Jiao Mang Snake” with dragon bloodline, of relatively high bloodline quality, currently only second-rank inferior.

If it obtained this same-species core, it might indeed ascend one minor tier.

Yet his face remained expressionless: “Our primary mission remains the Ten Thousand Methods Secret Realm… My pet is a minor matter.”

“Lian Daoist is too modest—we all know each other’s strengths… If your ‘Jiao Mang Snake’ advances to second-rank middle, wouldn’t it be sufficient to assist in activating that secret technique?”

Wu the Old Daoist chuckled: “The Ten Thousand Beasts Sect’s techniques are famed far and wide—especially that ‘Spirit-Attaching Art.’ The stronger the dragon bloodline, the more astonishing its power… Combined with your cultivation, it might even threaten mid- to late-stage Golden Core cultivators.”

“Nonsense… Wu the Old Ghost, why aren’t you guarding your ‘Black Heaven Temple’? Why do you keep prying into my sect’s secret techniques?”

The Lian cultivator’s face remained calm, but his tattoos seemed to come alive, faint roars of ten thousand beasts echoing within them.

Wu the Old Daoist quickly waved his hands: “Lian Brother, don’t unleash your power—this old man’s bones can’t withstand your techniques… I merely worry: if we rashly kill this second-rank superior beast, will it trigger another incident like last time—drawing third-rank beasts, or even a beast tide? That would be counterproductive… After all, the three of us are alone here, in grave danger…”

“Hmph, if Nie Daoist had informed us of this place’s secrets sooner, we could have dispatched our armies early to clear the land, instead of being caught off guard…”

The Lian cultivator was also dissatisfied with Nie Feifeng.

According to local cultivator customs for developing secret realms, they always first sent large armies to clear the area, preventing others from sneaking in to snatch the spoils, then summoned array masters to study weaknesses, sacrificed lives to break the seals, and finally extracted every last benefit—leaving nothing behind.

Yet now, even the Qinglin Marketplace was gone.

Low-rank cultivators’ movement speed couldn’t compare to their Golden Core elder status, let alone the dangers along the way.

Reclaiming this place would take years—impossible in the short term.

“Cultivator gatherings also attract beast disasters…”

Nie Feifeng shook her head: “I’ve already learned the general layout of the secret realm through prior reconnaissance. This time, I brought several third-rank ‘Break-Seal Talismans’ from our sect’s treasured stock. Wu the Old Ghost, you should have a ‘Break-Vein Pearl’—together, we can create a momentary flaw in the realm’s array, enough for us to retrieve the treasures…”

Break-Seal Talismans were special talismans capable of disrupting array operations.

Generally, a first-rank Break-Seal Talisman could disrupt a first-rank array for a few seconds, or carve a temporary escape route.

Of course, results varied if an array master was present, or if the user was skilled in arrays.

But even the best outcome only paused a same-rank array briefly or weakened its power by several tenths.

The Break-Vein Pearl severed the connection between spiritual veins and arrays—a powerful array-breaking tool.

Third-rank Break-Seal Talismans and Break-Vein Pearls were strategic assets in well-explored lands, extremely rare even at grand auctions.

“Nie the Old Ghost, you know my belongings rather well…”

Wu the Old Daoist’s expression changed.

“Why else would I seek you two instead of others?” Nie Feifeng said indifferently: “Lian Daoist should still have a ‘Treasure-Seeking Rat’ spiritual pet—useful in the secret realm… Otherwise, why wouldn’t I just go to Tianjian Sect?”

At the mention of Tianjian Sect, both Lian and Wu fell silent.

“Then let’s move quickly—we head to the Ten Thousand Methods Secret Realm immediately.”

The Lian cultivator took a deep breath: “I’ve long coveted the hidden treasures left by the ancient Ten Thousand Methods Master…”

“Heh, this man rose from a lowly spiritual root to Foundation Establishment, then Golden Core—even gained a chance at Nascent Soul formation. He must have carried many treasures… I’m not greedy—I only want heavenly treasures in the realm that can enhance the quality of my True Core.”

Wu the Old Daoist chuckled.

“True Core, no regrets… Wu the Old Daoist, you dare to dream big,” Nie Feifeng laughed: “I seek a Golden Core spiritual item—don’t compete for it…”

“Hmph, all of you lack ambition.”

The Lian cultivator laughed heartily: “Then it’s settled—I only seek opportunities to increase my cultivation and break through. Beyond that, if there’s a chance at Nascent Soul formation, we each rely on our own abilities. As for the Ten Thousand Methods’ secrets—if we find techniques or scriptures, we each copy a copy; if it’s anything else, we each take what we can!”

“Agreed!”

Three Golden Core cultivators became streaks of colored light, heading toward Five Scorpion Valley…

…

Xingfu Jiayuan Community.

In the training room.

Fang Xing sweated profusely, his skin slowly emitting a faint golden glow, phantom patterns forming on his flesh. ‘If anyone saw this climax of the Dragon-Elephant Art, they’d raise my evaluation again… But this is perfect as it is.’

He was content with his current life—Lan Fei was an excellent personal secretary, and knew better than to pry into others’ privacy.

With a representative of Ju Shen Group here, no other factions dared approach him.

As for the admissions teachers?

Fang Xing had met only one teacher from Wuyue University, enough to confirm his intent.

If he failed to enter a top-tier university, he’d enroll at Wuyue University.

With a safety net secured, he could focus entirely on martial training—he’d even applied for a leave of absence, publicly claiming he was fully preparing for the college entrance exam.

Yucai High School now offered him no real help.

Only Principal Lu Guangming, a martial Golden Core, was too busy to tutor him daily.

Yet whenever possible, Fang Xing still visited school—just to receive private lessons from this martial Golden Core teacher.

Bang! Bang!

During this martial training, Fang Xing suddenly felt a flash of insight.

Bow stance cannon punch, half-step crashing punch, battle-axe kick…

All military fist techniques flowed from him effortlessly, as if every part of his body had become a killing machine.

As he delivered his final punch, his martial will abruptly shifted—suddenly, a killing aura surged from him!

A killing aura as if a million soldiers sought to exterminate all enemies!

“The realm of the Military Killing Fist…”

Fang Xing murmured, glancing at his attribute panel—sure enough, the Twelve Military Fist Forms had broken through:

【Twelve Military Fist Forms: 1/400 (Master）】

…

“Heaven rewards diligence—effort brings returns. The ancients didn’t lie!”

His face lit up as he checked his realm:

【Fourth Realm: Courage (90/200)】

“The realm of the Military Killing Fist has purified my Courage Realm, triggering a leap…”

“Now the progress is nearly half-complete… Meaning I’ve covered nearly half of my Courage Realm cultivation.”

Fang Xing knew this progress was abnormal.

Ordinary Courage Realm martial artists either fought to the death on battlefields, honing their martial will, or secluded themselves, consuming precious spirit-nourishing pills to advance rapidly.

They never deliberately trained other martial arts to accumulate different martial realms.

After all, not everyone could grasp martial realms as easily as Fang Xing did—as naturally as eating and drinking.

Due to his attribute panel, as soon as he breaks through to the “Master” level, he will inevitably grasp a trace of realm power.

But for other martial artists, there’s no such luck.

Precisely because of this, Fang Xing had tried stacking realm powers repeatedly—and now it was clear this greatly aided his Courage Realm cultivation.

“Still, learning other martial arts is troublesome… With my current foundation and depth in mastering four realm powers, even if I just sit idle every day, my spiritual force in the Baiyuan Palace will surge rapidly…”

He grabbed a towel, wiped the sweat from his body, stepped into the bathroom, shut the door, and stuck a “Protective Household Talisman” on it.

A flash of silver light, and Fang Xing appeared at the underground camp.

“Hm?”

Before the screen, Fang Xing, who was routinely checking surveillance, froze in shock.

“Someone else… a powerful cultivator has come? Only someone with Nascent Soul-level spiritual sense could detect my drone…”

“A normal Foundation Establishment cultivator would be insane to venture deep into the Wildlands to die—unless… they’re a Golden Core cultivator?”

“If they’ve come here, their only target must be the Five Scorpion Valley’s Ten Thousand Methods Realm?”

…

Fang Xing startled violently and immediately checked the surveillance feed from Five Scorpion Valley—only to find most had self-destructed as programmed.

Only a few cameras several li away had barely captured three beams of light descending into the gorge, followed by a deafening roar—presumably the valley’s lone unicorn lion beast was already dead.

“A Golden Core cultivator’s spiritual sense likely spans several li… They didn’t pass through my side—luckily for me… or maybe they passed through but ignored it, sensing no life signs?”

He pondered for a moment, then reluctantly shook his head.

Regardless, Fang Xing had to admit: right now, he could only threaten Foundation Establishment cultivators by getting close—and as for Golden Core cultivators, forget it…

Even laser guns probably couldn’t threaten them…

The best course of action was naturally to avoid their Fengmang !

He immediately acted, splitting up the original underground camp… destroying most modern equipment, burying laser guns and other items in separate locations.

Fortunately, these items had no spiritual energy fluctuations and weren’t conspicuous.

The warehouse, however, could be left behind.

Local cultivators all have mole-like habits; having a few cellars and storage depots outside isn’t unusual.

In fact, most of today’s hidden realms and cave ruins in the cultivation world are just upgraded luxury versions of ancient storage depots, still drawing endless cultivators to explore them.

“Let’s go… This place is dangerous. I’ll probably have to wait until winter break to return.”

Even though Golden Core cultivators might explore a hidden realm in just a few days, Fang Xing decided to lie low on Chick Hawk Star for a while.

…

Just as Fang Xing departed…

Ten Thousand Methods Realm.

Amidst swirling immortal qi, jade palaces and pavilions shimmered with breathtaking beauty, countless pavilions, terraces, and towers flickering in and out of view.

Aromatic herbs filled the air; several spirit herb gardens glowed with five-colored radiance. Through the thick barriers, one could see spirit fruits, immortal mushrooms, and rare ginseng—everything imaginable.

BOOM!

Before one of the palaces, Nie Feifeng and the other two were wielding their artifacts, relentlessly striking a five-colored barrier on the palace gate.

The three artifacts emitted radiant light, their spiritual energy fluctuations making even Foundation Establishment cultivators tremble with fear.

Every ripple from a shattered barrier here could reduce them to unrecognizable pulp.

Yet amid this violent shaking, in some unknown space beneath the earth, a brass oil lamp suddenly flickered, emitting a faint glow.

With that faint light, one could see the space was small; beneath the brass lamp stood a newly made spirit-wood table.

The lamp’s glow flickered repeatedly, as if struggling to ignite its wick.

But the largest object in the space wasn’t the table—it was the coffin beside it.

The coffin was entirely crafted from white jade, radiating a chilling coldness, its lid missing, revealing a thick layer of dark ice within.

And within that ice, as if frozen in slumber, lay a still figure…