Chapter 75: Nascent Soul Escapes

In Jiang Guanyun's view, for a Nascent Soul realm expert to kill a Golden Core realm cultivator should be an effortless task.

Even if that wild girl possessed a trump card capable of summoning Zhu Que, as long as he fought quickly and killed with a single strike, she would have no chance to unleash even her most heaven-defying abilities.

Therefore, the moment Jiang Guanyun caught up to Hua Changxi, he immediately unleashed a fierce sword strike with full force, giving her no opportunity to counterattack.

However, events still unfolded beyond his expectations.

That wild girl had actually learned a Buddhist divine ability, effortlessly blocking his full-power strike with a divine palm.

What surprised him even more was that in just over two months, the girl's cultivation had advanced so rapidly; judging by the spiritual energy fluctuations she emitted, she was nearly matching him.

Is this the advantage of native cultivators?

Protected by the Heavenly Dao and favored by fortune.

His hundreds of years of cultivation and accumulation as an outsider could not compare to a few years of development for a native cultivator.

Truly unbearable!

Sensing the spiritual energy fluctuations behind him drawing closer, Jiang Guanyun accelerated once again; consuming spiritual energy too rapidly, he could no longer suppress his internal injuries, and blood immediately overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

Jiang Guanyun raised his hand to wipe the blood from his lips, his expression turning terrifyingly gloomy.

How ridiculous that a Nascent Soul realm cultivator like himself was being hunted down by a wild girl at the Golden Core realm.

For that stinking girl to want to kill him was sheer delusion.

Gazing at the deep mountains ahead, killing intent boiled in Jiang Guanyun's eyes; being pursued like this prevented him from employing many of his techniques, so he had to enter the mountains, where he would find a way to deal with that wild girl.

Hua Changxi kept close behind the old Daoist, suppressing her killing intent and refraining from attacking randomly; only after the old Daoist flew into the deep mountains, ensuring the battle would not endanger outsiders, did she gather spiritual energy into her right hand and strike out fiercely with a palm.

A sharp wave of qi surged from behind, its terrifying force making Jiang Guanyun's flight unsteady.

Seeing the giant hand approaching from behind, blotting out the sun and seeming ready to suppress everything, Jiang Guanyun's heart skipped a beat.

At this moment, he no longer harbored any disdain for Hua Changxi.

As the giant hand covered the area, even though Jiang Guanyun increased his speed to the limit, it could not match the speed of the hand's expansion and overturning.

"Bang~"

Jiang Guanyun did not escape the coverage of the giant hand but reached its edge; struck only by a finger, he spat blood and plummeted to the ground.

Fortunately, he was hit only by a finger; although Jiang Guanyun suffered severe injuries, his life was not in danger. Seeing the giant hand attack again, he immediately crushed an invisibility talisman, vanishing from Hua Changxi's sight in the blink of an eye.

Seeing the person disappear, Hua Changxi's expression changed.

She was unwilling to simply let the old Daoist escape like this.

This old Daoist had waited so long in Qingzhou just to kill her; if she did not eliminate him, he would surely bring her countless troubles afterward.

Riding a cloud, Hua Changxi shot 'whoosh' into the high sky; a fire lotus appeared in her palm, and taking the location where the old Daoist vanished as the center, she flung out several fire lotuses in succession, quickly forming an encirclement.

The old Daoist was severely injured and could not run fast.

Invisibility was not disappearance; the old Daoist was definitely hiding somewhere nearby.

Hua Changxi threw out the fire lotuses with the determination to kill the old Daoist; to ensure he could not cross the fire lotuses, she condensed the power of each lotus to its maximum.

Once the fire lotuses appeared, the entire mountain peak became scorching hot.

The next moment, Hua Changxi was shocked.

She had not expected the fire lotuses she unleashed now to be so powerful; with just a few lotuses, it seemed as though they intended to burn down the entire mountain peak.

The massive fire caused birds and beasts in the mountain to panic and flee in all directions.

Hua Changxi was surprised; previously, her fire lotuses possessed strong burning capabilities, but their range of effect was limited, affecting only people.

Yet now, the fire lotuses could actually burn mountains!

Hearing the sounds of birds and beasts scattering, Hua Changxi came to her senses; gazing at the mountain peak rapidly being swallowed by flames, a desire for destruction surged within her heart once again.

Burn, burn; once the flames swallow the mountain peak, the old Daoist will surely die without a doubt!

Hearing this voice from deep within her heart, Hua Changxi was startled; to kill the old Daoist, she had actually considered letting the entire mountain peak burn.

Without hesitation, she quickly waved her hand to recall the fire lotuses.

As the fire lotuses receded, spiritual light flickered within the mountain; seeing this, Hua Changxi immediately flew over.

By the time she arrived, she saw only a streak of spiritual light crossing the sky, quickly vanishing from sight.

"What was that?"

Hua Changxi frowned, looking around, and discovered a charred corpse behind a huge rock.

"Is this the old Daoist?"

"Was he killed by me so easily?"

Hua Changxi found it hard to believe; although the corpse's original features were unrecognizable, its figure indeed resembled the old Daoist.

"Is it really him?"

Hua Changxi still could not believe the old Daoist had died so easily; thinking of the streak of spiritual light that had slipped away just now, which had appeared right here, could it be related to the old Daoist?

Nowadays, regarding matters of cultivators, she dared no longer be careless.

Who knew if the old Daoist possessed some life-saving technique, or perhaps knew some spells entirely unknown to her.

In any case, Hua Changxi did not believe the old Daoist was dead; looking at the corpse, she felt somewhat uncomfortable. Previously, those she killed were directly swallowed and vanished by the fire lotuses without a direct confrontation, so there was no impact.

Suppressing her discomfort, Hua Changxi conjured a fire lotus, preparing to burn the corpse, but her sharp eyes spotted a ring on the corpse's hand.

Hua Changxi picked up a wooden stick, pried the ring off, and then sent the fire lotus forward, instantly engulfing the corpse.

In the end, only a patch of ash remained on the ground.

Meanwhile, dozens of miles away, Jiang Guanyun, whose Nascent Soul had barely escaped, felt that his physical body was gone.

"Stinking girl, I will definitely kill you!"

Yet, recalling the torment of being burned by the fire lotus just now, a trace of fear arose in Jiang Guanyun's heart: "How did the power of that fire lotus become so great?"

At Mount Wuzhi, he had experienced the wild girl's fire lotus; back then, although the fire lotus could cause him some harm, it absolutely had not been like this, capable of burning away the physical body of a Nascent Soul cultivator like himself.

Damn girl, she must have obtained an extraordinary opportunity at Mount Wuzhi.

These opportunities should have been his.

No matter how unwilling Jiang Guanyun was, with only a Nascent Soul cultivation, he dared not seek out Hua Changxi; instead, he had to hurry back to the Jiang family in Jizhou and lie low for a while.

Time—especially at the dawn of the spiritual energy revival—is the most precious resource.

Now, all because of that damned girl, everything had been ruined for him.

She truly deserved to die!

Hua Changxi did not linger long in the mountains; holding the cleaned ring, she rode the clouds away, heading not directly to Jingcheng but to Daicheng.

Her battle with the old Daoist priest had not lasted long; only half an hour had passed since she previously traversed this area.

The city was still in chaos; walking the streets, one could clearly sense the people's fear and anxiety.

It was understandable: happily purchasing New Year goods, only to suddenly see two fighters appearing overhead, nearly endangering their lives; if she were an ordinary person, she would be afraid too.

Hua Changxi found an inn closest to the city gate to stay; after entering her room, she gave extra silver and asked the attendant to bring her a mirror.

No one knew she had left Mount Wuzhi except the Mountain Spirit and Xiao Song. Moreover, her decision to return to the capital today had been made on the spur of the moment.

The old Daoist priest blocking her path could not possibly guard outside Mount Wuzhi every day; for him to follow her the moment she exited the mountains was far too coincidental.

Recalling what the Mountain Spirit had told her earlier—that regardless of where he ran, the old Daoist priest could find him, though the Spirit did not know what method the priest had used.

Hua Changxi suspected the old Daoist priest had employed on her the same technique he had used against the Mountain Spirit.

She and the old Daoist priest had only one prior encounter: when she burst out of the monkey cave, he had struck her with a palm.

Therefore, the priest's method must have been implanted at that time.

Hua Changxi removed her clothes and used the mirror to examine her back, but she found nothing there.

After a moment of contemplation, Hua Changxi circulated her spiritual energy, covering her back; instantly, the character 'Jiang' materialized on her skin.

Seeing that the old Daoist priest had indeed left a mark on her, murderous intent surged within Hua Changxi's heart once more.

"How do I remove this character?"

Hua Changxi thought for a moment, recalling the power of the Fire Lotus; she condensed a Fire Lotus and used it directly to burn the character 'Jiang'.

Though she did not fear fire, being burned by the Fire Lotus still caused her to feel the pain of scorching.

Seeing the character 'Jiang' gradually fade under the Fire Lotus's flames, Hua Changxi gritted her teeth and endured.

Finally, the character 'Jiang' was burned away; although no scars remained on her back, the pain had drenched her in cold sweat.

"The power of the Fire Lotus has truly increased."

Was it because the Buddha Hand had become fuel for the Fire Lotus?

Xiao Song was correct in saying the Buddha Hand was a top-grade heavenly treasure; after melting and being absorbed by the Fire Lotus, its power seemed to have increased by an entire level.

After erasing the traces left by the old Daoist priest, Hua Changxi rested for a while before leaving the inn.

The bustle on the streets had not yet returned to normal, and there were now many patrolling soldiers.

Following the crowd's discussions, Hua Changxi walked toward the area most severely affected by the battle.

Many houses had collapsed, and several people were injured; government officials had already arrived and were organizing personnel to treat and arrange care for the wounded.

Hua Changxi examined the injured; seeing that most suffered only external wounds and none were life-threatening, she felt slightly relieved.

Ultimately, these people had been implicated because of her.

Hua Changxi felt somewhat guilty and intended to compensate them for medical expenses, but she did not have much silver; just then, she noticed a group of black-robed guards wearing masks.

Some of these black-robed guards were also injured; Hua Changxi sensed spiritual energy emanating from them.

These guards were cultivators!

"Who are those people? Why are they wearing masks?"

Hua Changxi asked casually, pretending to be unintentional, to a bystander watching the scene.

"I don't know; they came from Jingcheng. I think they're called something like the Demon-Suppressing Army."

The Demon-Suppressing Army!

Hua Changxi had not expected these black-robed guards to be the legendary Demon-Suppressing Army; she couldn't help but examine them closely, especially the injured ones.

After watching for a while, she spotted a scholar setting up a stall at the entrance of a nearby alley; Hua Changxi hurried over, gave him a piece of silver, and borrowed his paper and brush.

In front of a collapsed house, Chu Junyi was urging physicians to treat the wounded guards.

"External wounds are easy to handle, but internal injuries..."

"When the giant sword struck, although the giant hand blocked it in time, Xu Meng and the others still had their spiritual meridians damaged by the powerful spiritual force; ordinary physicians cannot treat this."

"The strength of those two was too great; their cultivation realms must be above Golden Core, otherwise, it would be impossible for even the slightest backlash to severely injure Qi Refining cultivators."

"We must return to the capital immediately and seek physicians from the Medical Bureau to diagnose and treat them; otherwise, I fear their conditions will worsen."

Lieutenant General Meng Ziyu carefully detailed the condition of the wounded guards.

Upon hearing this, Chu Junyi's brows knitted together; damaged spiritual meridians might not even be treatable by the Medical Bureau's physicians. "I will report this to the Minister as soon as possible; ultimately, we will likely have to seek help from the Jiang family in Jizhou again."

Meng Ziyu remarked, "The Jiang family... they probably have no mood to deal with external affairs at this time."

More than two months ago, during the conflict at Mount Wuzhi, the Jiang family lost three cultivators, one of whom was their current family head.

The Jiang family's mysterious ancestor was also injured; lately, internal strife within the family had been fierce, and he had not appeared to stop it. No one knew if the rumors of his severe injury were true.

Chu Junyi rubbed his temples. "If the physicians of the Medical Bureau were more capable, we wouldn't have to beg the Jiang family every single time."

Meng Ziyu spoke a fair truth: "Matters of cultivation require inheritance; relying solely on blind groping is far too difficult."

Chu Junyi agreed with this statement; however, since the Demon-Suppressing Army always charged at the forefront, suffering casualties in every engagement, and the Medical Bureau had yet to make breakthroughs in medical arts or pill refining, most elixirs needed by the army still depended on the Jiang family.

Just as Meng Ziyu was about to speak further, his expression suddenly changed; he stepped aside and blocked in front of Chu Junyi, grabbing a bundle with his right hand.

Chu Junyi instantly leaped onto a nearby rooftop, eyes fixed tightly on the pedestrians below, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

"Commander, come look quickly."

Hearing Meng Ziyu's call, Chu Junyi abandoned his search for the suspect and jumped down from the roof.

"Commander, look at this."

Mencius handed the note from the bundle to Chu Junyi.

Chu Junyi opened it and found only two sentences written inside.

"Passing through this place, I did not wish to cause trouble; my apologies."

"Inside the bundle are some healing pills as a small token of regret; I entrust you, fellow Daoist, to properly arrange care for the injured commoners."

Mencius then handed over the pills from the bundle: "There are Hemostatic Pills, Blood-Replenishing Pills, Spring-Return Pills, Restoration Pills, Meridian-Stabilizing Pills, Detoxification Pills, Clarity-Spirit Pills, and Flow-Spirit Pills, three bottles of each."

Chu Junyi looked at these pills, his expression one of surprise.

Mencius, however, looked delighted: "These healing pills are even more varied than those provided by the Jiang family. Is this Meridian-Stabilizing Pill meant for repairing spiritual meridians?"

Seeing Chu Junyi remain silent, Mencius asked, "Commander, are you wondering who the person was that threw us this bundle?"

Chu Junyi nodded; the two cultivators who had fought in the sky above Daicheng earlier had fled too quickly for them to catch a clear glimpse of their figures.

Mencius thought for a moment and said, "In my opinion, the person who gave us this bundle must have obtained a pill-refining inheritance; otherwise, it would be impossible to produce so many pills at once."

"Being able to refine so many pills indicates they lack no resources; they are very likely a scion of some great clan."

Chu Junyi looked at him: "You and I both know the prominent clans openly recognized in Great Jin; we can estimate their capabilities. Which family do you think could cultivate a cultivator of such high cultivation?"

Mencius fell silent for a moment: "Do you mean this person comes from one of those hidden ancient families?"

Chu Junyi shook his head: "I cannot say for certain; the terrain in many places is changing, and even ordinary people might encounter ruins and obtain the inheritances within."

Mencius said, "Regardless, although that person triggered the conflict, they also stopped the perpetrator in time and have now offered gifts of apology; I think this person is not bad."

Chu Junyi neither agreed nor disagreed.

Seeing him remain silent, Mencius asked, "Then shall I take these pills for Xu Meng and the others to consume?"

Chu Junyi inspected each type of pill before finally nodding.

After Mencius left, Chu Junyi continued to watch the pedestrians on the street with a grave expression; what background did those two truly have, and why was their cultivation so high?