In the Xiao clan residence…

Xiao Tie was in the middle of cultivation. These past weeks, he had been undergoing a strict training regime designed by his master from the Demon Flame Sect. Huan Tao had been deeply impressed by the innate talent that Xiao Tie had, and now began to wonder just exactly how and why this young seedling had gone so far as to agree to join the Demon Flame Sect without any argument. Even more surprising was that Xiao Tie seemed to already have an impression of the sect, and even behaved in accordance to its teachings. Huan Tao had some knowledge of the Xiao clan as the matter of Xiao Tie was already in his mind since the day the young boy had been beaten up by Su Qingcheng prior to the White Spirit Competition.

This was due to the fact he had a connection with one of Xiao Tie’s confidantes from Fang Li’s tower, none other than Madame Lu. Huan Tao himself coincidentally happened to be part of the audience that watched the fight, and an impression of Xiao Tie had already been etched into his mind as a potential seedling for the Demon Flame Sect, so he had asked Madame Lu for his background. This instilled the old sly fox with more confidence, and had managed to appear before him to look like his savior. Only after teaching him now did Huan Tao realize he had severely underestimated this fellow’s propensity to be a vile snake.

It was as if he wasn’t actually a child of this clan.

Huan Tao was beginning to grow rather suspicious of Xiao Tie’s actual background, but he didn’t concern himself with those matters because after all, he was rearing Xiao Tie to be a powerful asset of the Demon Flame Sect. His enmity with Su Qingcheng would end up being a big motivator. Huan Tao himself had just gotten news that Su Qingcheng was being carried off by a bigshot of the Imperial Family to the Tianzhan Mountain from his moles inside Fang Li’s tower, being an elder of the powerful underground Demon Flame Sect.

“Is there a way for us to intercept Su Qingcheng at Tianzhan Mountain?” Xiao Tie asked emotionlessly. He had been cultivating in Demon Flame Sect’s Demonic Blood Boiling Method in conjunction with a heretical earth divination method which had actually been formulated as a direct response to Su Ran’s eradication of their sect on the surface. It was merely titled, Shura Tianqi. Making use of this earth divination method had given Xiao Tie a huge burst of power and violent potential, but it had also wiped away the volatile aspect of his inner hatred and enmity. It led Xiao Tie to become abnormally calm in the face of his violent emotions. It was as if he had become a young shura himself.

“I’ll work out something,” Huan Tao smiled evilly. “You just need to worry about cultivating. Once you break through to the Tianqi Prince stratum, you should experience huge increases in power and your foundation. Just leave the rest to me.”

“Thank you, Master.” Xiao Tie nodded and smiled.

That moment…

“We are here.” The voice of Qin Fa rang out in Su Qingcheng, who opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep in Qin Fa’s arms when the former had flown her to Tianzhan Mountain. It was said in legends that Tianzhan Mountain was originally a very massive singular peak, but in a clash between two legendary peak Tianqi Fiends from tens of thousands of years ago, the mountain had been cleaved into a mountain range. As a result, it got the name of Tianzhan Mountain, which is to say it had been chopped by the very will of the Heavens. Su Qingcheng rubbed her eyes and stared at the massive mountain range before them as Qin Fa laughed and gestured for Su Qingcheng to follow her. “Oy, if you don’t catch up, I’ll leave you behind, and you’d be done for all on your lonesome!” she bellowed out boisterously as she began to walk up ahead on the mountain trail.

Clearly, this place was not visited very often as the mountainous terrain was not very easy to navigate. Often, the path would seemingly undulate, being wide at parts and then being treacherously narrow at others. Walking along the Tianzhan Mountain paths was incredibly dangerous. While Qin Fa didn’t seem very bothered by it, also implying that she had been here before, Su Qingcheng was incomparably nervous. She didn’t have the ability to fly, and she could only rely on her abnormal physical body to save her in case she got into an accident. While Qin Fa could clearly save her, it was clear that the Void King had essentially dumped Su Qingcheng into the deep end to temper her mental state.

Occasionally, there would be fierce magical beasts of the first level flying about and harassing the pair. Qin Fa didn’t bother with them, forcing Su Qingcheng to smash them to smithereens with her Nightflower Tianqi powered punches. Inwardly, Su Qingcheng realized that she still had a lot to learn in this world. Eventually, she would have to leave the Bailing Empire if she wanted to pursue the zenith of the martial Way. She wanted to succeed where her mother had failed, she had been inspired by the carefree demeanor of Qin Fa, who Su Qingcheng by now had easily recognized as the Void King which Su Ran had once lost to in a fierce battle. Though she was grateful towards Qin Fa for so readily helping her go find a Fruit of Desire, Su Qingcheng couldn’t help but wonder if she had an ulterior motive. It certainly couldn’t have been so simple as to help a friend in need.

While Su Qingcheng’s mother had always spoken well of Qin Fa whenever she mentioned the Void King, the kid never learned anything about Qin Fa’s actual identity beyond that she was a member of the imperial court. Nor did Su Qingcheng feel it was appropriate for a fifteen year old junior like her to ask. Eventually the skies started to darken as the sun started to set. The mountainous mist began to settle in, causing Qin Fa’s brows to furrow.

“Kid, let’s find a place to rest.” She said plainly.

Su Qingcheng stood still and let her instincts guide her sight. It wasn’t long before she eyed a cavern which was conspicuously located near a large portion of mountain trail. Qin Fa quickly traced Su Qingcheng’s gaze and nodded in approval.

“Good. Let’s stay there. If there’s anyone or anything inside, we kill it.”

“Even if it’s a person?” Su Qingcheng was reluctant about this.

“Showing mercy sometimes will be more detrimental to you. You should know this, right?” Qin Fa sounded very suspicious when she explained herself. Su Qingcheng suddenly felt a chill on her back as she recalled how she escaped from Heaven Thunder Prison only because her mother bailed her out. She also recalled something about Fan Yu that seemed very suspicious, but because she didn’t hear anything about a wandering lightning person, she had forgotten about it over time.

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“But wouldn’t we just be treated as bandits?” Su Qingcheng frowned as the both of them stepped into the cave that she had found.

“Humm… I guess you’re still very young, so you do have some ideals to you. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you know your limits.”

Su Qingcheng ruminated over these words but before she could really digest them properly the both of them heard a slow, but loud thundering roar. Su Qingcheng saw a pair of yellow eyes glowing inside the cave. Qin Fa licked her lips and cracked her knuckles. Seemingly as if out of magic, she literally pulled a jian out of her palm. Su Qingcheng stared at Qin Fa’s palm but did not see any blood spurt out when the Void King drew her jian.

“Today’s your lucky day, kid. Not only did we find a place to stay, you can nourish your lightning nascent soul further if you absorb the core of this Electric Scale Dragon.” Qin Fa explained. “Unlike the Lightning Wyvern Prince, a magic beast of the third level, this Electric Scale Dragon is a fifth level magic beast. Using this core won’t be too intensive on your body and it will further increase your tolerance to lightning.”

Su Qingcheng nodded. As she was about to charge forward, Qin Fa stopped her.

“Fifth level magic beast is too tough for you to fight alone. Follow my lead. I’ll distract it. Use your fleshly power to beat it down. Aiyo, if you were a Terraformer, this would be easy as pie, but… Eh, count it as training! Let’s go!” Qin Fa leapt forward with her jian at a ferocious speed. Su Qingcheng didn’t dare to get left behind as both of them charged forward to engage the Electric Scale Dragon, which roared and let out bolts of electricity. It illuminated the interior of the cave as Qin Fa seemingly managed to blink in and out of existence, effortlessly dodging the electric bolts. In comparison, Su Qingcheng looked much clumsier as she let some of the bolts strike her body. Fortunately, she was abnormally tolerant to thunder, so she wouldn’t really get hurt that badly. Qin Fa, on the other hand, had a normal constitution so it was imperative for her to evade.

Void King’s special technique had been demonstrated clearly in front of Su Qingcheng, who was amazed as she stumbled over, almost losing her concentration. Qin Fa was able to directly act against the fabric of space, warping through the primordial void in order to emulate the effect of teleportation. She could not teleport like you saw in the fantasy stories and sci-fi stories that someone like Su Qingcheng would be known for writing, but she could confound her enemies by blinking between two points, giving enemies the illusion that she was teleporting between them. The Electric Scale Dragon roared in frustration, noticing that the two intruders into its den were abnormal – one could shrug off its lightning bolts like it was just water while the other one could literally “teleport” away from its thunder strikes.

Roaring in fury, the dragon began to breathe some numbing yellow gas. Qin Fa hurriedly retreated away from its range, but looked at Su Qingcheng in a worried manner, noticing she hadn’t bothered to move. Her expression became bitter when she realized that Su Qingcheng didn’t seem to get affected by it at all. Not even that, Qin Fa noticed that Su Qingcheng was using the Star Vortex Fist to absorb the essences from the dragon’s lightning breath. Inwardly, she was incredibly shocked. This was the very same technique Su Ran used against her before to invalidate her blinking technique, by using the suction from the Star Vortex Fist to cut off the tianqi that allowed her to rip through the fabric of space. Shuddering, Qin Fa realized that this kid was actually a fifteen year old monster in human form. “This brat… She really might be better than Su Ran!” Qin Fa muttered under her breath. Eventually, Su Qingcheng had absorbed enough dragon breath that she was able to launch a counter attack. She immediately launched a ferocious punch at the dragon’s nose, while Qin Fa herself blinked from her position right to the top of the Electric Scale Dragon, driving her jian into its back, causing the beast to roar in excruciating pain.

Su Qingcheng saw Qin Fa suddenly stab the dragon’s back. With her abnormal strength, Su Qingcheng leapt forward and reached out for one of the dragon’s eyes, grabbing at it and attempting to pull it out with all her strength. It was connected to it with thick nerves and such, so the poor dragon at this point was actually suffering immensely. Qin Fa immediately stopped what she was doing when she felt the dragon trembling a lot, and her eyes widened into saucers as she saw Su Qingcheng violently attempt to yank one of its eyes out.

In her mind, Su Qingcheng was very upset. “Master, why do we need one of these eyes?”

Ask questions later.

Su Qingcheng didn’t bother with Yao Meiyue anymore as she focused on yanking out the eyeball of the Electric Scale Dragon. Qin Fa didn’t bother watching her anymore either as she focused on using her jian to slice ferociously into the dragon as if carving it up while still alive.

After a few moments, Su Qingcheng finally tore it out, causing the dragon to roar miserably. At this point, it was in a very weak state and the blood spurted out of its hollow eye socket. Su Qingcheng now couldn’t help but feel a sense of remorse. Qin Fa meanwhile had managed to meticulously slice at seemingly random points on the dragon’s body, but it was only after Su Qingcheng realized that the dragon had become so weak all of a sudden that she figured out Qin Fa had been slicing at various vital lifelines of the dragon.

Eventually, the Electric Scale Dragon died its last breaths. Su Qingcheng hurriedly kept the eyeball in her Dragon Hoard Ring as Qin Fa looked at the girl quizzically.

“Girl, why’d you get the eyeball out like that so violently?”

“I want to collect dragon eyes.”

“That’s quite random.”

“Euh, it’s an abnormal hobby, yeah, but dragon corpses should have many surprising treasures, right?” Su Qingcheng spouted some bullshit, but every time she tried to probe Yao Meiyue about it, she would keep mum, and this forced Su Qingcheng to be resourceful and make up a lie. Qin Fa smiled without saying anything. She easily bit the bait as she passed the jian to Su Qingcheng.

“You go carve it up. I’ll set up camp here.” Qin Fa smiled.

Holding the jian blankly, Su Qingcheng nodded as she started to carve up the dragon. At first, it was incredibly difficult for her to slice through the corpse’s skin, but after Qin Fa yelled out some pointers to her, Su Qingcheng’s speed noticeably improved. After some time, she saw the Electric Scale Dragon’s core, which she would absorb right away. However, right next to the dragon’s core was a strange green stone which was radiating a faint light. The green stone looked as if it was radioactive. Qin Fa was too busy with setting up the fire and the stuff that she didn’t notice that Su Qingcheng had found something inside the dragon’s core.

Ghost Emerald…! Yao Meiyue cried out in surprise as Su Qingcheng stared at it. She quietly pocketed the strange green stone in her ring before holding the Electric Scale Dragon’s core in her hands.

“You found something good, didn’t you?” Qin Fa smiled without turning to face Su Qingcheng as the latter blushed.

Knowing that if she were to hide anything, Qin Fa could easily explode her into a blood mist, Su Qingcheng had been intimidated into revealing what she found. “I found a Ghost Emerald.”

“It’s really your good fortune. That Electric Scale Dragon must have been nearing its natural lifespan then. Dragons will form Ghost jewels near the time of their natural death by old age. Such Ghost jewels, when refined, will benefit the owner by a huge amount. For someone like me, it’s useless, but in your hands, you’ll gain a lot of extra power. For the meantime, go ahead and absorb that core. I’ll be on a lookout.” Qin Fa smiled.

Su Qingcheng sat cross-legged and began to absorb the essence of the Electric Scale Dragon’s core once she placed it on her hands. She could feel the lightning nascent soul in her dantian region get increasingly agitated. Her body soon began to emit electric sparks, causing Qin Fa to be amazed.

“This brat… I really need to put her on the right path!”