Chapter 142: Robbers
Qin Xuan summoned his flying sword, jumped onto it first, then extended his right hand. "Come up."
"Where are we going?" Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes blinked slightly, her lips curled into a faint smile, and her pristine, crystal-clear skin shimmered.
This time, she didn't hesitate. She naturally took Qin Xuan's hand and stepped onto the flying sword. Then, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, as if wanting to melt her body into his, unwilling to let go for even a moment.
As the flying sword slowly ascended, Qin Xuan felt the softness behind him and said, "Let's go back to the Elder Hall first. Tomorrow morning, I'll accompany you to the Supreme Pontiff Palace."
"Aren't you planning to train in the City of Slaughter? You should at least say hello to my 'good elder brother'. But don't worry, with me here, he won't dare to do anything to you again. You can speak freely."
As he said this, Qin Xuan clearly felt Bibi Dong's delicate body stiffen abruptly, only to relax a moment later.
"Mm." Bibi Dong softly acknowledged, slowly nodding. Qin Xuan vaguely felt that she seemed to be holding him even tighter.
The cliff was not far from the Elder Hall; they arrived within dozens of breaths.
Qin Xuan didn't rush to land with her. Instead, he released Bibi Dong, turned to face her, and said seriously, "There's one more thing I need to remind you."
"Tell me," Bibi Dong said, looking at Qin Xuan's handsome face with very gentle eyes.
"I know you're eager to become strong quickly right now. I've experienced that feeling myself. But if you encounter a Divinity who calls herself the Rakshasa God in the City of Slaughter and she approaches you, absolutely do not agree."
[Inorin's Note: The Rakshasa God is one of the main gods in the Douluo Dalu pantheon, representing evil, slaughter, and ugliness. It is the antagonistic counterpart to the Asura God and the Angel God.]
Bibi Dong was startled. A Divinity? Was it a being like the Angel God?
She quickly reacted and asked, somewhat surprised, "Why?"
"Because she makes people ugly," Qin Xuan gave a reason that was true in Spirit but not in literal detail. "I don't want to see you end up as an ugly monster."
After leaving Spirit City, Yu Xiaogang, fearing Qin Xuan would go back on his word, didn't dare to stop for a moment. He didn't just walk; he ran, scrambling down the road, his breath hitching in paranoia.
He didn't even have time to catch his breath before he sped off in a direction away from Spirit City.
He must be lying. He's trying to trick me. He'll send someone to kill me and take the herb back!
He darted off the main road, crashing through the underbrush, his plain clothes tearing. He ran for hours, his heart hammering in his chest, checking over his shoulder every few minutes, expecting to see Jingni's cold eyes or Qin Xuan's mocking smile.
But no one came.
He was already somewhat impatient to refine the Immortal Herb. It had been nearly 20 years.
Since his Spirit awakened, he had gone from being a prodigy of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan to a waste reviled by everyone, the first person ever to be expelled from the Clan.
He desperately wanted to prove himself; for this, he had even given up his beloved, Bibi Dong.
But all of this was worth it. With this Immortal Herb, he, Yu Xiaogang, would one day return as a king.
After a night of continuous, paranoid travel, Yu Xiaogang felt no fatigue whatsoever. On the contrary, his entire being was incredibly spirited, his adrenaline surging.
I'm a genius! My theories were correct! he thought, his mind racing. The herb will fix my Spirit, I'll break through the bottleneck, and I'll become a Titled Douluo!
I'll return to the Sect, and Father will have to beg me to come back. I'll go back to Spirit Hall, and Bibi Dong will see the hero I've become!
The next day, at the first hint of dawn, Yu Xiaogang arrived at a suburban area far from Spirit City.
Looking at the lush, verdant, vast forest before him, Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but feel his mood brighten. Breathing in the fresh, damp air, his heart had already flown to the Immortal Herb in his robe.
"It seems that scoundrel Qin Xuan didn't follow," Yu Xiaogang muttered, looking back one last time. He saw nothing but the empty road.
He spent another ten minutes meticulously setting up a few crude "traps"—bent branches and small stones—to alert him if anyone followed. Satisfied with his "caution," he prepared to enter the forest to find a sufficiently safe and secluded place to consume the herb.
Just then, high in the canopy, two figures watched him.
"This is the target?" Mo Ya whispered, his voice laced with boredom. "He's pathetic. He looks like a starved dog, and he just set a trap that a three-year-old could spot."
"Hush," Bai Feng replied, his white robes blending with the morning mist. "He's the one. Lord Qin Xuan's orders were specific. 'Use the act. Humiliate him. Then take the box.'"
"It's a waste of time," Mo Ya sighed. "Why the theatrics? We could have taken it in the city."
"It's not about the herb; it's about the lesson," Bai Feng said, his eyes sharp. "Now. He's stopping."
Two tall figures, one black and one white, leaped out of the forest, landing with silent grace directly in Yu Xiaogang's path.
One of them wore a black tight-fitting long robe, with a fluffy black feather cape that highlighted his elegant and aloof qualities.
The other wore white clothes, a blue scarf, and had white feathers and two flowing ribbons adorning his right shoulder. His hair was blue-purple. He was as clear and clean as the sky, as if untouched by any pollution.
"Stop!"
"This mountain is mine!"
"This tree is mine!"
"If you want to pass!"
"Leave your toll!"
"If you so much as utter half a word!"
"Grandpa will kill you and won't bury you."
They held gleaming steel broadswords, masked, speaking one after another, brandishing their weapons with astonishing skill.
They were none other than Mo Ya and Bai Feng, who had been ordered by Qin Xuan to rob Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang, who had just been in a state of high paranoia, froze. But as he looked at them, his fear quickly faded.
They're holding... broadswords? Not Spirits?
He scanned them. There were no Spirit Rings. There was no Spirit Power fluctuation he could detect. They're mortals!
His terror instantly vanished, replaced by his "Grandmaster" arrogance.
Yu Xiaogang had never seen such a display, but upon seeing that the two used broadswords and not Spirits, he grew bold again and said coldly, "How dare you rob me? Do you know who I am?"
"Who cares who you are? This grandpa only cares about highway robbery; I don't ask about anything else. If you know what's good for you, hand over everything valuable you have," Mo Ya crossed his arms, his broadsword resting on his shoulder, swaying. Under the dazzling sunlight, it reflected a brilliant white glare.
"Presumptuous!" Yu Xiaogang roared. He felt insulted. Mere bandits dared to stop him?
He brought his hands together in front of his chest, then quickly separated them downwards. "Come out, Luo San Pao!"
With a 'poof,' accompanied by a sound like flatulence...
A yellowish-brown Spirit Power separated from Yu Xiaogang's palms. Two yellow light rings rose from his feet, circling his body.
Seconds later, a fat creature, neither truly pig nor dog, appeared before Yu Xiaogang, looking utterly comical. It oinked, sniffed the ground, and then barked weakly.
[Inorin's Note: Luo San Pao, or "Three Pao," is Yu Xiaogang's mutated Spirit. It is a dog-like creature with pig-like features, and its attacks are infamously related to farting.]
At this moment, Yu Xiaogang had already considered them ordinary bandits, not Spirit Masters.
As for himself, although his Spirit was not great, he was at least a Level 29 Spirit Grandmaster, and not something two mere bandits could deal with.
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's Spirit, Mo Ya let out a snort.
Then he bent over, clutching his stomach, laughing heartily. Tears almost streamed down his face. He was an elite assassin from a world of cultivation, and he had never, in his entire life, seen anything so absurd.
"Hahaha! Bai Feng... did you see that? What is that? A pig? Did he... did he fart it into existence?!"
"Who knows? I think it looks more like a dog," Bai Feng's mouth twitched violently. Even he, who rarely smiled, was almost unable to maintain his composure, struggling to hold back his laughter. What the hell kind of 'Spirit' was this? A farm animal?
"Bastards..." Yu Xiaogang roared in anger, his face purple with humiliation. "Farting like thunder, tearing the heavens and earth, Luo San—"
Mo Ya and Bai Feng exchanged glances. Now.
Before Yu Xiaogang could shout out the word 'Pao,' both of them vanished from their original positions simultaneously.
It was not a run. It was a blur.
Yu Xiaogang's clothes and hair moved without wind. He felt a chill at his neck. His incantation stopped, his mouth frozen open.
By the time he reacted, two gleaming broadswords were already pressed against his throat.
Drip—
Blood dripped. Yu Xiaogang merely trembled, and the blade's edge cut through the skin of his neck, making him dare not move again. Luo San Pao whimpered and froze in terror.
"What did you just say?" Mo Ya held his broadsword, his thin lips slightly parted, his lazy, amused tone from before now gone, replaced by a chilling flatness that sent shivers down Yu Xiaogang's spine.
Bai Feng impatiently said from the side, "Why are you still being polite with him, Mo Ya? Just kill him with one strike and take all his valuables. This kid is also a Spirit Master; he might even have a Spirit Tool on him."
Hearing that they intended to kill him, Yu Xiaogang immediately became anxious, his "Grandmaster" persona shattering into pure terror.
"You can't kill me! I am a disciple of the Upper Three Sects! If you kill me, my Sect will not let you go!"
He couldn't die yet. He had finally obtained the Immortal Herb with great difficulty. He hadn't yet resolved his Spirit mutation. He hadn't broken through the Level 30 bottleneck.
He hadn't yet managed to trample those who had once looked down on him underfoot.
He couldn't just die like this for no reason.
[Inorin Note:
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