Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Assassination

Seven more Cultivators from the Huang Family arrived and escorted these Independent Cultivators back to the Huang Family estate.

“Brother Li, Brother Li, say something! We’d rather be sent to the Law Enforcement Team’s Black Death Prison than go to the Huang Family!”

The Zhang Brothers, now in shackles that sealed their Magical Power, cried out to Li Yuanqing in despair. The other Independent Cultivators still had a chance to live after being stripped of their wealth, but for the two brothers, being taken to the Huang Family was a death sentence.

Li Yuanqing awkwardly turned his head, refusing to look at the two brothers. Yang Jing, for his part, wore a frightened expression, looking utterly bewildered.

Only after the Huang Family Cultivators were far away did Li Yuanqing let out a deep sigh:

“The Zhang Brothers brought this upon themselves; they can’t blame anyone else. These are troubled times. Everyone needs to be more vigilant.”

The other Independent Cultivators felt a shared sense of sorrow and lingering fear. Compared to ordinary Independent Cultivators, they were considered figures of some note, but against a Cultivation Clan, they were completely powerless.

Most Cultivation Clans in the Chen Kingdom were founded by Inner Sect Disciples of the Six Great Sects who had given up on reaching the Core Formation Realm. They would leave their Sects to establish these clans, acting as regional stewards for the Six Great Sects. With their well-established lineages, the combat prowess of their Cultivators was on a completely different level from that of ordinary Independent Cultivators.

That night, Qiu Feihua sat cross-legged on a Meditation Cushion, his Flying Sword laid across his lap. His Magical Power had hit a plateau, so he was currently refining his Flying Sword with it, hoping to comprehend the realm of Refining Sword into Gang.

This was his daily routine, a task he dared not neglect in the slightest, all for the sake of becoming a true Sword Cultivator.

Having finished his cultivation for the day, Qiu Feihua let out a long sigh. ’I wonder when I’ll ever break through this bottleneck,’ he worried.

The next moment, a mountain-like suppressive force bore down on him, crushing Qiu Feihua to the ground.

This sudden turn of events struck him with heart-stopping terror.

Before Qiu Feihua could even try to channel his Magical Power to resist the suppressive force, an incredibly sharp Sword Light flashed through the air, cleanly slicing off half his head.

Yang Jing revealed himself. He shook the blood from his Demon-slaying Sword, stripped the Vestment Robe and Storage Bag from Qiu Feihua’s body, then activated a Red Fire Talisman to incinerate the corpse. He even held the Demon-slaying Sword in the flames to burn away any traces of his Magical Power before calmly and efficiently beginning to loot the Cave Mansion.

In his past life, when he was a player, he had grown accustomed to such tasks and had accumulated a wealth of experience. The locust-like player Tribulation Cultivators had thrown several Foundation Establishment Clans into a state of perpetual chaos.

Perhaps it was out of overconfidence, but Qiu Feihua hadn’t bothered to hide his Spirit Stones very well. Yang Jing easily found three Storage Bags in a hidden compartment under the bed. He also found over a dozen Jade Scrolls right on the bookshelf.

After having Iron Head check to make sure there were no tracking marks on any of the valuables, he had it restore the Restriction of the Small Earth Array. Only then did Yang Jing relax and use Cloud Escape to fly away.

Because he had acted so cleanly, the servant women in the Cave Mansion were still fast asleep, completely unaware that Qiu Feihua had been assassinated.

Back in his own Cave Mansion, Yang Jing first gave the Jade Scrolls he had brought back a quick look. Most of them contained Qiu Feihua’s insights on cultivation and sword practice and were of little value. There was only a copy of the *Red Training Sword Mantra* and the *Red Fire Qi Scripture*.

The *Red Fire Qi Scripture* was one of the Huang Family’s legacy techniques. The Magical Power it cultivated was as scorching as fire, its might was boundless, and the cultivation speed was not slow in the least. The Jade Water Skill couldn’t compare to it at all.

However, Yang Jing had no intention of practicing this Cultivation Technique. For one, the Five Talisman Scripture was superior and offered a path to the fundamental technique of the Five Elements True Spirit Sect—a much brighter future. For another, if he practiced the Red Fire Qi Scripture while remaining in the Chen Kingdom, he would be a dead man the moment he was recognized. The Huang Family’s pursuit would be relentless, ending only in his death.

The same was true for the *Red Training Sword Mantra*, but that didn’t stop Yang Jing from flipping through it in his spare time to broaden his horizons.

Some of the tips in the *Red Fire Qi Scripture*—on Qi Collection, breaking bottlenecks, and taboos during Qi Cultivation—were universal. And unlike the *Twenty-Four Solar Terms Swordsmanship*, which Li Jixun had modified beyond recognition, the *Red Training Sword Mantra* was a proper Sword Cultivator’s Flying Sword technique, allowing one to remotely control a Flying Sword and kill from three hundred paces.

After putting the Jade Scrolls away, Yang Jing used his Divine Sense to break the Restriction on the Storage Bags. When he saw what was inside, even with his experience, his heart skipped a beat.

Neatly stacked inside the Storage Bags were Spirit Stones of various colors, more than seven thousand of them. There were also several types of rare ores used for refining Flying Swords, as well as a single Jade Bottle.

He inspected the Jade Bottle and found it contained a strand of Red Fire Gang Sha. Like Profound Water Gang Sha, it was one of the most common types of Gang Sha. This must have been Qiu Feihua’s backup plan: if he failed to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, he would attempt to reach Foundation Establishment using the Gang Sha.

Moreover, using a Foundation Establishment Pill together with Gang Sha made passing the Magical Power Barrier—one of the Foundation Establishment Three Gates—almost a certainty. It could also enhance one’s Magical Power after successfully reaching Foundation Establishment.

Yang Jing hadn’t expected to obtain two Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects while only in the Early Stage of Qi Cultivation. Preying on cultivators preparing for Foundation Establishment was truly a profitable business for a Tribulation Cultivator. However, if you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned. Only players, who could resurrect after death, could truly master the art of being a Tribulation Cultivator.

Qiu Feihua’s death was only discovered ten days later. The servant women in his Cave Mansion had assumed he was merely in seclusion and only realized something was wrong when Cultivators from the Huang Family came to his door. Though his body had been incinerated, the traces left by the Red Fire Talisman immediately made the Huang Family Cultivators suspect foul play.

The Law Enforcement Team’s Void Mirror found no useful clues.

A cultivator at Qi Cultivation Perfection had died silently in his own Cave Mansion. It was a chilling event, suggesting that a Foundation Establishment Stage Tribulation Cultivator was active in the Huangyuan Marketplace area.

The guardian cultivator of Huangyuan Marketplace unleashed his Magical Power, dispatching his Spiritual Artifact to patrol the area and intimidate the perpetrator. All the Foundation Establishment Clans sent men to support the Law Enforcement Team in hunting down Tribulation Cultivators within the marketplace’s jurisdiction. They tortured their captives harshly, hoping to unearth clues about the Foundation Establishment Tribulation Cultivator.

The fate of the Independent Cultivators captured by the Huang Family was even more tragic. The Law Enforcement Team suspected that one of the Foundation Establishment Tribulation Cultivator’s accomplices was among them and interrogated them harshly.

It was Li Yuanqing who went to collect the Zhang Brothers’ bodies. According to him, they were no longer recognizable as human.

Amidst the atmosphere of fear and paranoia, both Independent Cultivators and clan cultivators began to keep a low profile. This was especially true for those at Qi Cultivation Perfection, who lived in constant fear, as if walking on thin ice, terrified of being targeted by the Foundation Establishment Tribulation Cultivator.

Yang Jing sat cross-legged atop a massive boulder and consumed a Bone Marrow Transformation Pill. Feeling the qi and blood within him swell to their limits, he once again circulated his Celestial True Yang to break open his Acupoints.

Because of his profound foundation, the Acupoint Breaking that others found incredibly difficult was effortless for Yang Jing. He succeeded in the space of a few breaths.

After calming his surging qi and blood and refining it all into Celestial True Yang, Yang Jing leaped down from the boulder. The Dragon Blood Carp simmering in the large pot was ready, its fragrant aroma wafting through the air.

He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth, savoring the delicious flavor of the fish. Yang Jing let out a breath. For a single Dragon Blood Carp, Huangyuan Marketplace had been plunged into a bloodbath.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep