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Cries of pain and war echoed simultaneously, creating a cacophony that seemed to fuel people's bloodlust, paving the way for rivers of blood to form.
Qing Xuanling watched as the entire auction devolved into a bloodbath, with everyone killing each other. She didn't miss watching the auctioneer get killed in a single blow. It was so pitiful she almost laughed.
The scene, though bloody, didn't stir waves in Qing Xuanling's heart.
Though she might have initially felt a bit bad about causing such a slaughter, all compassion within her extinguished when she saw that half of the auctioned items came from the sacrifice of countless people.
She took one last look at the scene, making sure to imprint on her retina just how low humans could fall, and stepped back. Her battle wasn't here.
She turned around and climbed a staircase leading to the upper floors. What she was looking for had to be on the fifth floor.
She didn't encounter any enemies as she ascended. Everyone on the upper floors still remained somewhat rational, as they hadn't inhaled the mental stimulant Qing Xuanling created for a long time.
Though that didn't mean they weren't participating in the riot; on the contrary, they were the ones most eager to reap the benefits. They stayed in their rooms, waiting for those below to kill each other, hoping for the chance to defeat the survivors of the massacre below when they were at their weakest.
So Qing Xuanling didn't face much resistance as she climbed to the fifth floor.
Her steps made not a sound as she reached the fifth floor. The fifth floor, as she expected, looked quite different from the rest. Luminous crystals illuminated the hallway ahead, exquisitely decorated with various ornaments made from demonic and spiritual beast remains.
At the end of the hallway stood a dark wooden double door with a carving of a moon high in the sky.
Of course, that was the second thing to catch Qing Xuanling's attention. The first was the six guards standing in front of the door.
"Haha, as expected, security in this place is still quite tight~"
She chuckled slightly. She had imagined it would be this way from the start. Though she'd harbored a naive hope that security would have slackened, she wasn't foolish enough to truly believe it.
That was precisely why she convinced the others to let her handle this task, perhaps the most dangerous of all. Because, perhaps, only she had a chance of pulling it off.
It wasn't that she looked down on her companions; on the contrary, several of them were stronger than her. But even so, she considered herself more suited for it.
Because she knew how to kill. She was a sword cultivator.
'After all, sword cultivators aren't considered living weapons for nothing.'
Qing Xuanling had only realized this recently. Why sword cultivators were so revered by everyone.
She took a deep breath and smiled at the guards before her.
"Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to come and attack?" She mocked as she formed several hand seals. "I was going to give you the advantage of the first move, but since you don't want it, I'll make it!"
A mist suddenly erupted from Qing Xuanling's hands, quickly enveloping both her and the guards. Though the hallway was quite long and wide, it was still an enclosed space after all.
The tense guards finally steeled themselves at the sight of the mist and lunged forward to attack. Three charged immediately. One of the three stepped forward, wielding a sword shrouded in purple Qi that sent shivers down the spine just looking at it.
He tried to strike Qing Xuanling before the mist hindered his vision, slashing toward her neck. But unfortunately for him, she was faster.
Qing Xuanling's figure vanished as she concealed herself within the mist, as if she had dissipated into thin air. The guard clicked his tongue at the sight and, for the first time, shouted:
"Four, disperse the mist with a spell—gurgh!"
A sword, gleaming with five colors, suddenly appeared and pierced his neck before he could finish!
"One, what happened to you?! Answer!" Another guard, presumably Four, shouted in panic before a strong wind dispersed the mist Qing Xuanling had created.
But what the remaining guards saw was not pleasant.
Qing Xuanling smiled as she pulled her sword from One's neck, his eyes still glassy and his mouth moving as if he still had something to say.
"Damn bitch!"
Four roared in fury as he launched several wind blades at Qing Xuanling. The others didn't stay idle either, launching various attacks at her using different methods. One even drew a bow.
But Qing Xuanling looked at the attacks with disdain. Though dangerous, they would be useless if they couldn't touch her.
Qing Xuanling's figure literally vanished like a phantom before suddenly appearing right in front of Four!
The poor man didn't even realize what happened before Memory severed his head from his body!
Qing Xuanling's attack didn't end there.
She grabbed Four's body with her free hand and used it as a shield, protecting herself from the incoming attacks as she moved forward. The other guards shouted in indignation, but above all, fear. Entering the attack range of a sword cultivator was courting death!
Especially since they had nowhere to flee! They had the room they needed to protect behind them and the hallway walls on their sides!
It was face Qing Xuanling or die!
One steeled his courage and attacked using a whip wreathed in ice, which let out a piercing sound as it advanced toward Qing Xuanling. But she didn't flinch at all and wrapped Memory in sword Qi as she slashed toward the whip.
The whip was cleanly severed.
Along with the arms of whoever wielded it.
"Aaaargh!"
The cultivator's eyes filled with tears, and he tried to turn and flee, but pink fire suddenly erupted behind him, instantly engulfing his body! His body was carbonized in seconds!
Not even a minute had passed, and two of the six guards were already down, to their dismay. Fear sprang from the hearts of those still alive as they looked at Qing Xuanling, as if she were the incarnation of death.
Qing Xuanling's smile widened at the fear in their eyes. She threw Uno's corpse away with a satisfied look.
"Hehe, how amusing. I bet you've seen the look they have on the faces of the victims of the dozens of atrocities they've surely committed. I wonder how it feels now that you're the ones with eyes full of fear~"
The guards clenched their teeth, humiliated, but didn't dare to retort Qing Xuanling's words. With no other options, they fully unleashed their auras as late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators and played their trump cards.
One formed hand seals, creating a bloody mist that manifested a grotesque phantom behind him. Another stabbed his own stomach and pulled out one of his kidneys before crushing it. A hound was created from the kidney's remains.
The other two glanced at each other for a moment before joining their hands, merging their Qi as they formed an arrow of fire and blood.
The three attacks flew simultaneously toward Qing Xuanling. Even she couldn't help but grow serious in the face of the final attacks from three late-stage cultivators. But she didn't retreat. Instead, she tightened her grip on Memory and charged forward!
A sword cultivator never retreated! If faced with a great obstacle, the decision was simple.
Cut through it!
Qing Xuanling's figure became elusive before she appeared in front of the grotesque phantom and sliced it in half. But the phantom didn't dissipate from that alone. Instead, one of the two severed halves attacked Qing Xuanling with its ghostly claw!
Qing Xuanling's eyes shone with concentration, and her body suddenly twisted as she spun. She used the momentum of her spin to slash the phantom again, this time using the first move of the Wandering Sword:
Nine changes!
Qing Xuanling's sword flashed three times as the phantom was cut into three pieces, finally dissipating!
But the attack wasn't over!
The blood hound suddenly appeared at Qing Xuanling's side, opening its massive jaws, ready to devour her leg.
But she didn't flinch at all and instead, smiled.
Qing Xuanling's leg was suddenly wreathed in pink fire, and she kicked the blood hound hard, destroying it on the spot!
Qing Xuanling was also a body cultivator!
As for the last attack, that was the simplest to handle.
Qing Xuanling simply dodged it and appeared in front of the two guards who had conjured the fire-and-blood arrow, beheading them on the spot.
The other two met similar fates.
"Hah..." Qing Xuanling breathed heavily. Though the fight was short, it was intense. She had expended a large portion of her Qi. "My low cultivation is still my greatest weakness."
The Wandering Sword Art, the Purple Phantom movements, the pink fire of the Heavenly Flower, and even sword Qi were all methods that consumed considerable Qi. Her reserves at this moment were abnormally low, less than thirty percent.
Of course, it wasn't an unnecessary or wasteful expenditure.
On the contrary, it was a calculated expenditure that allowed her to kill six cultivators with much higher cultivations in less than five minutes. It was precisely for that reason she had decided to come retrieve the reports Su Meiren wanted instead of her other companions who were stronger than her.
None of them had the capacity to kill so many people with such cultivation in so little time.
Qing Xuanling took a minute to recover, then quickly headed toward the double door carved with a moon. She went straight into the room after taking a breath.
A sudden light filled the room, pressing Qing Xuanling's body down!
Her expression didn't change, and instead, she pulled an item from her storage bag. A colorless crystalline sphere.
The sphere shone brightly, clashing with the light pressing on Qing Xuanling's body. The sphere's light took no more than half a minute to overpower the light emanating from the room. Qing Xuanling sighed in relief.
"Just as Senior Sister Su said. These guys are quite cautious." Qing Xuanling clicked her tongue. "Though this thing is quite useful. It suppressed the formation of the room in an instant..."
In the six days before the underground auction, Su Meiren had informed Qing Xuanling's team about various dangers they might encounter while searching for the reports she wanted, among them the possibility of facing powerful formations.
In anticipation of that situation, Su Meiren had given the group a rare but powerful treasure. A Formation-Breaking Crystal, a heaven-and-earth treasure with the natural ability to interfere with a formation's internal circuits.
Such a treasure was, naturally, extremely rare and costly. Qing Xuanling had only heard of such things in a few books within the clan. She never expected to encounter one in her life.
'It's a good thing Senior Sister Su's resources run deep, otherwise, I'd be in real danger this time.'
She shook her head and looked at the room now that she had time. The room was, to her surprise, quite simple. It looked like an ordinary office. It had its desks, bookshelves, and furniture, giving it a homely feel.
She had initially imagined she'd see some decor like a bone chair or something, but apparently, that was just her head imagining wild things. She scoured the room, searching for anything suspicious.
What she was looking for could be anywhere. She first searched the desk, but as expected, found nothing useful. There were only reports on the auction's expected profits and expenses.
No one would keep secret reports in such an obvious place.
She sighed briefly. "I didn't want to resort to this, but I guess I'll have to use my wits to find the hiding spot... Sigh, who am I kidding, I don't have the patience for that."
Qing Xuanling shook her head as she unsheathed Memory. Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she began to wreck everything in the room.
Since she couldn't find what she was looking for, she would simply destroy everything! She trusted that something important enough for Su Meiren to go through so much trouble to find wouldn't be destroyed so easily!
Qing Xuanling's sword showed no mercy, destroying desks, bookshelves, and even the walls and floor weren't spared. The destruction went on for several minutes until suddenly, Memory struck something hard.
Qing Xuanling's eyes lit up when she felt her arm pushed back.
She looked down at the wooden plank she had cut in half. To her surprise, there was a small compartment where a steel box was stored.
A smile lit up Qing Xuanling's face as she grabbed the steel box. She tried to open it, but her face filled with bewilderment when she attempted to do so.
She couldn't open the box no matter how hard she tried!
One had to remember that Qing Xuanling was a body cultivator, a much stronger one than usual! One could imagine how tough that box was just thinking about it!
"Well... Senior Sister Su said something like this might happen, so I guess this is what we were looking for." She shrugged and set the matter aside for the moment.
It was Su Meiren who wanted the box's contents, so she was the one who had to figure out how to open it. But right now, Qing Xuanling only had to think about how she and the others would get out of this.
She took out a Qi recovery pill from her storage bag and swallowed it as she approached the only window in the completely wrecked office.
The chaos of the riot caused by her and the others was still in full swing. Rather, it was even worse. Fights over treasures had spread outside the auction, reaching the street stalls of the Immortal Market.
Rogue cultivators were fighting as far as the eye could see, killing each other even over a single spirit stone. She shook her head in resignation.
That was the only drawback to her plan. The retreat after causing so much chaos would undoubtedly be several times more complicated than usual.
BOOM!
An explosion caught Qing Xuanling's attention, especially because the golden flame that caused it was familiar to her.
She looked down and watched as nine people wearing bamboo hats that concealed their faces emerged from the destroyed wall, surrounding a group of thirty thin, dirty-looking children.
Qing Xuanling sighed wearily.
"Looks like I can't rest for even a second!"
Qing Xuanling's face looked tired as she leapt through the window, landing directly on top of a rogue cultivator who was trying to attack one of the children. Memory pierced the man's heart.
"Hey, it looks like they need a little support around here~"