Chapter 142 - 141: Spirit Weapon Qiushui, No Books’ Desire to Survive

Two sword lights rose in the distance, immediately drawing the attention of four monsters and one man in the narrow alley.

The one who was to meet with the four Rat Demons was indeed Wushu, without a doubt.

Among the four monsters and one man present, his reaction was the quickest.

At this moment, his "professionalism" as an Darknet courier was genuinely demonstrated.

Upon witnessing the distant sword light, Wushu immediately employed a special escape method, instantly disappearing from the spot by turning into a bubble shadow.

The speed at which he bolted, left one speechless.

No sooner had Li Jing and Chen Yuran controlled the sword light and were just about to refract it over there, when in less than a breath, Wushu vanished without a trace.

Not to mention Chen Yuran, even Li Jing, who clearly knew Wushu’s origin, was taken aback.

True professionals, they really are different.

The efficiency of slipping away like this would ordinarily mean that there was virtually no chance of catching him.

However, it is good that he ran away, saving him from standing there not being able to control the range isolated by the boundary stone, and also preventing him from being isolated in the subspace.

The next instant, Li Jing and Chen Yuran descended into the narrow alley, with one leading and the other following.

Only at this time did the four Rat Demons manage to react.

"An inspector!?"

The Rat Demon in the lead changed color and, without any hesitation, erupted into a sky-reaching demonic qi.

At this very instant, Li Jing took out the Boundary Stone, and instilled spiritual power into it.

The spatial boundaries spread out instantly, isolating the entire front and back of the narrow alley.

As they entered the subspace, the remaining three Rat Demons also erupted into demonic qi.

At the same time, Chen Yuran uttered a single word.

"Qiushui!"

"I’m here."

The soft voice of a woman responded. An illusive image of a woman, half a head taller than Chen Yuran and bearing a seven-point resemblance in appearance to her, appeared behind her. She then transformed into a water-blue long sword.

"A spirit weapon!?"

The four Rat Demons who just erupted into qi, their facial expressions changed dramatically.

Li Jing was also taken aback.

Although he had never seen Chen Yuran take out a spirit weapon, he was not surprised that she owned one.

If Chen Jing could get him a tenth-grade treasure that is just a bit short of nurturing it into a spirit weapon, how could his own flesh and blood daughter, Chen Yuran, not have one?

What Li Jing didn’t expect was that the quality of Chen Yuran’s spirit weapon was so high!

The spirit having a humanoid form, that is the symbol of a spirit weapon above level five.

That’s a bit outrageous...

Mere moments ago, Chen Yuran was still in the late stages of the Three Realm.

She has a spirit weapon that is, at the very least, a Level Five!

This spirit weapon, undoubtedly was not nurtured by her.

Even for someone like Li Jing, who cheats with an automatic nurturing tool, with his current nurturing efficiency, nurturing Linglong’s Tower to Level Five would conservatively take several or even tens of years.

For any ordinary person, it would be impossible to nurture one without spending decades.

Chen Yuran is only barely twenty-four years old this year, even if she was given a tenth-grade treasure and began nurturing it from her mother’s womb, it’s doubtful she could nurture it to a Level Five spirit weapon.

That is to say...

The spirit weapon in her hand was a high-quality one from the start, that had been forcibly subdued.

How difficult it is to subdue a spirit weapon by force?

The higher the quality of the spirit weapon, the stronger the spirit weapon, leading to a linear increase in the difficulty of conquering it.

The rebellion of a Level One spirit weapon can easily cost a Four Realms cultivator their life.

Chen Yuran...

How did she manage to do it?

As Li Jing was secretly astounded, Chen Yuran moved swiftly without any hesitation.

She raised her hand to catch the flying sword Qiushui, and sprung into action with her sword, managing to slash the late stage Four Realm Rat Demon and make it retreat. Without even glancing at the remaining three Rat Demons, she transformed into a streak of light and pursued.

The spot was only left with a puddle of blood.

When the remaining three Rat Demons saw the blood, they were frozen at the spot, their arms and legs cold.

A single sword strike had injured their big brother, who was in the late stage of the Four Realm.

If they had taken that strike themselves, they would probably already be severed from head to shoulder...

Both are in the late stage, but the difference between the Three Realm and the Four Realm is immense.

Not to mention a Level 5 spirit weapon, not even a Level 1 could easily be withstood by them.

At the moment when they were frightened, another light reprimand rang out.

"Linglong! Zhenshi!"

The Linglong tower shimmering with splendid golden light transformed into a tower thousands of feet high, appearing high in the sky.

The three rat demons looked up blankly.

A spirit weapon?

Another goddamn spirit weapon?

"Boom!"

The Linglong tower suppressed downwards, causing the entire subspace to tremble.

"Experience +4428."

"Level up, 27. Spiritual Power Intensity +54, Skill Points +2."

"Experience +4385."

"Experience +4372."

Four prompt sounds consecutively rang out. The three rat demons were killed by the Linglong Tower without even having the chance to whimper, as they bled from all seven orifices.

Li Jing leveled up on the spot, his gaze directed towards the distance.

Far away.

Swords shone brightly, and demonic qi roamed freely.

Chen Yuran was locked in combat with a rat demon of the Four Realm, the fight was incredibly intense.

The late stage of the Four Realm is still the late stage of the Four Realm after all. Despite being injured by a sword strike beforehand, upon encountering Chen Yuran, who was equipped with a Level 5 spirit weapon, they could still fight back and forth, even showing signs of suppressing the latter.

However, Li Jing was not worried about Chen Yuran.

Chen Yuran had just stepped into the Four Realm a moment ago, her aura was still unstable.

She was just temporarily unable to adapt to the surge in power after advancing realms. Once she adapts a little, having a Level 5 spirit weapon by her side, the Four Realm rat demon is destined to meet only one end - death.

From Li Jing’s perspective, the health bar above the rat demon’s head was steadily declining during the fight.

After a while, Li Jing lost interest in watching the fight.

He had brought out the Linglong Tower to slay the three rat demons without a word, in case Chen Yuran needed support at any time.

Now it seemed, she didn’t need his assistance at all.

Watching the two brawl, he frankly found it uninteresting.

Chen Yuran chose to engage in close combat, giving up her other methods.

The two were just fighting back and forth, one sword at a time, one punch at a time. There was nothing interesting to see.

Watching that one human and one demon exchange blows, Li Jing had to endure not going over to steal the kill.

The three late-stage Three Realm rat demons allowed him to level up, and he was only a few hundred experience points away from the next level.

If he could "finish off" the Four Realm rat demon, he could level up again.

However, going over to finish it off was clearly not an option.

Not to mention, Chen Yuran was enthusiastically "playing". She had chosen close combat and abandoned her other methods. This was clearly in order to better adapt to the surge in power that came with advancing realms through close combat.

Adapting to changes in power while fighting for one’s life is an excellent method.

If Li Jing goes over to help, it’s no different than messing up Chen Yuran’s cultivation.

An opponent in the Four Realm, is not so easy to find.

An opponent that is a monster, is even harder to find.

There is a big difference between a human cultivator and a monster.

Human cultivators mainly increase their cultivation level by refining Qi.

Monsters cultivate not just by refining Qi, but also by refining their bodies.

The emphasis on Body Refining is even greater than Qi Refining.

The slow progress of monsters’ cultivation is largely due to this.

As a result, their physical bodies are often much stronger than human cultivators, earning them the "reputation" of being treasure-filled.

Under the infusion of demonic Qi, monsters with sufficiently high levels can even use their bodies as weapons. They can crush spells and even clash with spirit weapons, barehanded.

For instance, the Four Realm Rat Demon before them could go toe-to-toe with Chen Yuran with its bare hands.

If a Four Realm human cultivator were to fight Chen Yuran, who wields a fifth-level Spirit Weapon, it would most likely be a one-sided bullying.

Such opponents are difficult to find.

Returning to the matter at hand.

If Li Jing were to intervene, he might even end up causing more harm than good.

Right now, the Rat Demon was only stuck in close combat due to Chen Yuran’s relentless pressure. If he were to interfere, it could easily backfire and hinder Chen Yuran, allowing the Rat Demon to seize an opportunity to employ other tactics.

In that case, Chen Yuran, who had already reached the Four Realm in cultivation, would probably be fine, yet Li Jing himself might end up being severely beaten up.

Packing up the dead bodies of the three Rat Demons, Li Jing recalled the Linglong Tower and took out the Yin Qi crystal that he had obtained from Xu Jiayi the previous night to feed it.

The Linglong Tower’s five elements have been completely purified by now.

However, it has yet to digest the food it was given earlier.

Initially, Li Jing had no plans to feed it hastily, but since he had taken the Linglong Tower out, he might as well feed it.

From last night to this night, the budding, self-aware Linglong Spirit Weapon has been constantly protesting to him.

Food is not being given!

Is it being saved for the Flying Sword Blue Edge?!

Sending out feelings similar to a jealous wife worried about losing favor, it was as pitiful as can be.

Satisfying the Linglong Tower by feeding it, Li Jing retracted it and stood, waiting.

Afar on the battlefield, Chen Yuran gradually started getting the upper hand.

Every sword stroke left a wound on the Four Realm Rat Demon, causing a varying decrease in its health bar overhead.

As the health bar continued to decrease, the Rat Demon became even more despondent.

In just about three to five minutes, the Rat Demon was covered in wounds, and its beastly characteristics started to reveal increasingly.

Seeing the Rat Demon’s weakening state, Chen Yuran didn’t draw out the fight. Finding an opening, she flung her sword, decapitating it.

The Rat Demon’s death ensued, quickly revealing its beastly body.

Picking up the Rat Demon’s body, she looked over and nodded from afar.

Seeing this, Li Jing, acknowledging her cue, dissipated the energy accumulation of the Boundary Stone.

With the space boundaries removed, the two returned to the narrow alleyway.

Returning to reality, Li Jing looked at the Flying Sword Qiushui still held in Chen Yuran’s hand.

"Yuran, your Spirit Weapon Flying Sword..."

"It was a birthday gift from my dad when I turned twelve," Chen Yuran casually replied, smiling.

"Qiushui was born a fifth-level Spirit Weapon. It used to fight continuously with my dad because their elements clashed, and always ended up losing. Thus, it was pretty easy for me to tame it. After throwing in two pieces of top-grade Xuan Yin Water Jade, it started following me obediently."

"..."

Li Jing.

Can a Spirit Weapon be tamed by offering it Spirit Weapon materials?

Li Jing doesn’t think it’s that simple.

Behind this, there must be many untold stories.

Looking strangely at the Flying Sword Qiushui, which was glowing with a chilling aura, Li Jing took out his weapon.

"I’ll go contact Wushu."

Before he finished speaking, a silhouette quietly appeared next to him.

"Mr. Li, I’m already here. No need for you to go through the trouble."

?

Li Jing slowly typed a question mark.

Turning his head, the person who mysteriously appeared beside him was none other than Wushu, wearing a duckbill cap that obscured his face.

When Chen Yuran saw Wushu suddenly appear, she was startled and then her eyes sparkled.

"What’s your cultivation level?"

Upon hearing this, Wushu quickly glanced at the Flying Sword Qiushui in her hand and silently stepped back towards Li Jing.

"Well, I can’t fight. Plus... I don’t want to cause trouble."

While speaking, he drew a cloth bag.

"The goods and elixirs that the Rat Demons just handed over are in here. Please keep them safe."

Seeing that Wushu voluntarily came forward and handed over the ill-gotten Dan medicine of the Rat Demon, Li Jing looked at him with befuddlement.

This guy’s will to survive was truly unusually strong.

He had run away, yet he had taken the initiative to reveal himself without being contacted.

He took the cloth bag, peeked inside, and Li Jing nodded.

"You can go now."

"Thank you both for your mercy."

Wushu bowed in a relatively classical manner, then vanished like a wisp of smoke.

Chen Yuran, seeing Wushu disappear, sheathed her Flying Sword Qiushui with a somewhat waned interest and said indifferently.

"This Darknet courier you know is quite interesting. I’ve met people from the Darknet before, but they didn’t have such tact."

"You’ve had conflicts with people from the Darknet?"

Li Jing looked up.

"I’ve encountered them while dealing with similar cases in the past."

Chen Yuran nodded, replying.

"Darknet people are hard to catch, and the forces behind the entire Darknet are complex. Unless necessary, the Patrol Bureau usually does not have a head-on confrontation with them."

"The Darknet Black Market is inevitably an unsavory part of life which can’t be eliminated casually. Moreover, the whole Darknet is international, its influences are spread across every corner of the world. To completely deal with them, every nation in the world would likely need to unite."

After repeating herself twice, she added.

"Don’t get too deep into the Darknet stuff. While these people aren’t particularly harmful - at most conducting some unsightly transactions - getting involved deeply won’t bring you any benefits."

"Hmm, I know that."

Li Jing replied, not asking more about it, passing over the cloth bag in his hand.

"The medicine has been recovered, should we report it to the superiors?"

"I’ll handle this matter on my own."

Chen Yuran said this as she took the cloth bag.

"I’ll give you the reward money once it’s been approved."

At these words, Li Jing’s eyebrows slightly wrinkled.

With Chen Yuran saying that, it was clear she was once again considering the troubles that might be brought about due to his connection with Chen Jing.

Originally, Li Jing didn’t pay much mind to it.

But after some time, he had to admit that he was getting somewhat annoyed.

He was not annoyed at Chen Yuran’s actions, but rather at the people involved behind the scenes.

Due to these people, his personal development had, invisibly, faced significant restrictions.

Silently sighing, Li Jing nodded.

"Then I’ll go first, I’ll leave the rest to you."

"Hmm, I’ll take the elixir to the bureau. Remember to prepare an extra lunch for tomorrow."

Chen Yuran replied, rising in the air on her sword.

Li Jing stood in place, watching her sword light recede in the distance, lost in thought.

Knowing one’s hardships is similar to knowing how warm or cold the water one drinks is, he knew Chen Yuran was doing her best to keep him from being involved in certain matters.

But he didn’t like always yielding and retreating.

Moreover, whatever should come, will come sooner or later, he wouldn’t be able to hide from it.

Not wanting to be continuously passive, he needed to find an opportunity to quickly advance to the Four Realm.

In this world, at the end of the day, might is right.

Only when he becomes truly powerful can he deter those who may obstruct him.

Schemes and tricks are all fleeting.

Glancing at the panel displaying his remaining 4 skill points and noticing he was only a few hundred experience points away from reaching level 27, Li Jing took to the sky.

He intended to save his remaining skill points for when he reached Four Realm.

Now, he could say with confidence that he was unmatched in the Three Realm.

Once he reached Four Realm, learning Four Realm Magic Skills would be more suitable.

If his previous speculation was correct, reaching level 30 would allow him to step into the Four Realm.

...