Chapter Ninety: A Shamelessly Simple Matter

“Congratulations on stepping into the Spirit Manifestation realm!”

Shen Qingyun smiled at Feng Chuxun as he spoke, the joy in his voice wholly sincere.

“Congratulations, Senior Brother Feng, on attaining Spirit Manifestation!”

Ling Xiao and the others crowded forward as well, saluting him one after another.

“I...”

Even now, Feng Chuxun was still somewhat dazed. He only remembered chasing that fugitive and then fighting him. Because his injuries had not yet healed and his strength had been impaired, the man had found an opening to exploit.

Yet what remained most vivid in his memory was still the moment a sword pierced straight through his chest.

Almost instinctively, Feng Chuxun raised a hand to touch his chest. Nothing. There was not even a wound. Only his tattered Daoist robe proved that everything had truly happened.

At that moment, Su Ye came up with a grin and said to Feng Chuxun, “Senior Brother Feng, this time it was Senior Brother Shen who saved you.”

Feng Chuxun turned to look at him. “He saved me?”

“Mm-hmm!”

Su Ye nodded vigorously, then launched into a lively account of the wretched state Feng Chuxun had been in when he was brought back, and how Shen Qingyun, enraged, had killed for his sake. He gestured wildly as he spoke, full of excitement.

When Feng Chuxun finished listening, he looked at Shen Qingyun with a trace of complexity in his eyes. This favor was too great.

At the same time, he was full of doubt. He knew his own injuries better than anyone. They had been grievous beyond measure, and yet now he was completely healed. More than that, he had even stepped into the Spirit Manifestation realm. How could he not care about that?

As for this, Shen Qingyun seemed to have no intention of explaining. He only said, “All right. Dawn is almost here. Get ready. We’ll continue exploring the next region.”

After saying that, Shen Qingyun turned to Feng Chuxun again. “Things are different now from before. At the moment, you’re the only main force in the team.”

The moment Shen Qingyun said that, Ling Xiao and the two sisters all looked at him in confusion. Different now? How exactly different?

As if he had seen through their puzzlement, Shen Qingyun explained, “Our team now consists only of the six people you see here. Among us, Junior Brother Feng is the strongest. If he isn’t the main force, then who is?”

“What?”

The two sisters rushed up and stared directly at Shen Qingyun. “Senior Brother Shen, why are there only six of us? Weren’t there eighteen? Where are the other twelve?”

Ling Xiao looked at him as well, silent. He too could not understand why, though he had already guessed the reason those twelve were gone.

But in Ghost Valley, what they needed most now was fighting strength. And yet Shen Qingyun had sent people away at the very moment strength was needed most. Ling Xiao could not make sense of it.

While Shen Qingyun was explaining, Feng Chuxun seemed hardly able to hear a word of it.

“That’s right, and Crimson Snow.”

A jolt went through him. Crimson Snow had made him suffer terribly. In battle, extreme cold and extreme heat had invaded his skin at the same time, and without spiritual power to shield him, the sensation struck straight at the soul. It could be said that half his defeat had been because of Crimson Snow.

Taking Crimson Snow out once more, Feng Chuxun held it in his hand, only for his expression to freeze slightly.

The sword was still the same sword. But unlike before, the intense cold and blazing heat attached to Crimson Snow now seemed to have vanished without a trace.

Holding the blade, Feng Chuxun felt nothing but comfort in his grip. More than that, there was even a faint sense of blood-linked intimacy...

Seeing Crimson Snow, Shen Qingyun said to Feng Chuxun, “This sword belongs to you now.”

“What?”

Feng Chuxun could scarcely believe it. Such a precious spirit weapon—and it was being given away just like that?

“No need to be surprised. I gave each of them a spirit weapon too,” Shen Qingyun added.

That statement shocked them all into staring at him. Five people, and each had received one. Did he think spirit weapons were cabbages?

...

The six of them pressed steadily deeper into Ghost Valley. With twelve people gone, the group felt noticeably quieter all at once. But after learning the reason, not one of them made any comment. True, Shen Qingyun had his calculations in all this, but it had also been their own choice. No one else could be blamed, and no one else could be resented.

On the contrary, with twelve fewer people, their journey through Ghost Valley became smoother instead. Even when they encountered monsters along the way, Feng Chuxun would sense them first and dispose of them.

Now that Feng Chuxun had stepped into the Spirit Manifestation realm, his strength had risen dramatically. At least so far, they had not met a single monster capable of forcing him to go all out.

As the group walked on at a pace almost leisurely, like people taking an idle stroll, there lay ahead of them an utterly unremarkable hill. On its slope were countless bulges.

At first glance, it did not seem like anything particularly strange. But both Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun, walking in front, halted at the same time, their expressions turning slightly grave.

“Prepare for battle.”

Letting out a slow breath, Shen Qingyun spoke softly.

Hearing his words, Ling Xiao, Wu Xi’er, and Su Ye all stiffened and took out their spirit weapons. They took up positions behind and to either side of the two sisters, as planned before their departure: protect the weaker ones first.

And among them, the only weaker ones were the two sisters.

So naturally, they were the first to be protected.

Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun exchanged a glance and nodded to each other. Gripping Crimson Snow, Feng Chuxun swung his sword and slashed out a ray of sword light.

The blade-light shimmered with a faint glow, and the ripples it released seemed to disturb space itself, making it appear distorted. Suddenly, the single ray split into three, its speed surging as it shot violently toward three different directions.

Chi, chi, chi...

All three streaks struck their targets. The raised mounds on the hillside exploded in response.

At the same time, a sudden change occurred. The surrounding mounds began to squirm one after another after those three burst apart. The soil on their surfaces turned to slurry and dripped down onto the ground.

And at the very spots where the three mounds had been destroyed, three new mounds swelled up again.

The mounds split open, and from within crawled spider-like monsters, each with a pair of scythe-shaped forelimbs bent in front of its legs.

More scalp-numbing still, every time a mound burst open, new ones would grow from the ground.

“Looks like we hit the monsters’ ovary,” Shen Qingyun said with an easy smile.

Seeing that he was still in the mood to joke at a time like this, Ling Xiao and the others gave him several enormous eye-rolls without the least restraint.

Joking was one thing. The monsters still had to be dealt with.

Shen Qingyun’s expression changed as soon as he finished speaking, and he said seriously, “You three, watch the surroundings. Do it the way we agreed.”

Then he turned to Feng Chuxun. “Together?”

Feng Chuxun stared ahead and nodded. “All right.”

The moment he spoke, he was already charging forward with Crimson Snow in hand.

Seeing how eager Feng Chuxun was, Shen Qingyun paused for a beat, then shook his head with a helpless smile. Spiritual power surged, and on either side of him appeared a phantom formed of spiritual force. As the apparitions solidified, they became two square-bladed halberds.

Shen Qingyun reached out, seized the halberd on the right, and shot forward at explosive speed. At the same time, the halberd on the left wheeled around, its tip pointing straight ahead as it flew like a bolt.

Hearing the sound of something slicing through the air behind him, Feng Chuxun could not help glancing back. Yet before he had fully turned his head, a blur too fast to make out flashed past his eyes.

Boom!

An explosion rang out. Among the monsters closing in on Feng Chuxun, a semicircular gap had been blasted open before them. Severed legs and limbs were scattered everywhere...

Shen Qingyun caught up and looked at Feng Chuxun with a faint smile. “Looks like I’ll have to be faster.”

Feng Chuxun ignored him and slashed out another ray of sword light, sword intent coiling around it. As it flew, it continuously split apart, quickly dividing into strands as fine as ox hair.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

These threads of sword light descended from the sky like rain, stabbing into the monsters’ bodies. Before a single shriek could be uttered, they were already dead beyond all hope of life.

The rain of swords fell, instantly clearing out another large swath of spider-like creatures.

Only then did Feng Chuxun look at Shen Qingyun, arch a brow at him, and let out a light snort.

Shen Qingyun stared for a moment, slightly speechless. Was Feng Chuxun actually competing with him now?

The real pitiable ones were those monsters. Before they had even taken the initiative to attack, these two had already wiped out more than half of them.

From the rear, Ling Xiao and the others watched Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun strike as if trying to outdo one another. The monsters fell beneath their hands one after another like frail straw dummies. All of them were left rather speechless. Around those two, there was not the slightest trace of the tense atmosphere one would expect from a trial.

Yes, yes, everyone knew they were strong—but did they have to batter the feelings of the weaker ones like this?

The monsters seemed enraged by their assault. Without making any sound at all, they all turned in unison and rushed down the slope toward Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun.

Long legs had their advantages. Many legs had their advantages too. And the advantage shared by both was speed.

Before long, the monsters had come racing down the hillside and charged toward them. Yet the way they moved seemed somewhat stiff, as though they could barely keep their footing...

Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun stepped forward at the same instant. Their bodies lifted from the ground, transforming into streaks of spiritual light as they plunged into the swarm.

Once among the monsters, Feng Chuxun did not even draw his sword. The sword intent circling his body alone was enough to slaughter them with ease.

Compared with Feng Chuxun, Shen Qingyun’s efficiency was no slower. Every sweep of his halberd carved out a fan-shaped area before him, and every monster within that area was cut down on the spot.

“Is it that Senior Brother Shen and Senior Brother Feng are too strong,” Su Ye said from the rear, mouth hanging slightly open, “or that these monsters are too weak?”

“I feel like these monsters are weak to an absurd degree,” Ling Xiao said as he watched the two of them kill monsters as easily as butchering chickens and dogs.

In truth, even slaughtering chickens and dogs was not this easy. At least chickens and dogs would resist. But these monsters looked like newborn infants, capable only of rushing forward to be killed.

It was outrageously simple.

Very soon, the two of them had finished them all.

Then came another series of cracking sounds. Shen Qingyun and Feng Chuxun both looked up, only to see that the little mounds on the hillside had split open again, and from them emerged monsters exactly like the previous ones. Now that they were closer, the two could see that the creatures were still smeared all over with mud.

So that was it. Their eyes had been plastered with muck, which was why they had not rushed forward at once.

Watching this scene, a certain conjecture rose in Shen Qingyun’s mind. He turned to Feng Chuxun, only to find that Feng Chuxun was looking back at him at that very moment.

Seeing the gleam in Feng Chuxun’s eyes, Shen Qingyun could not help smiling faintly.

It seemed they had thought of the same thing.