Chapter 277 - 274: Uprooting the Weeds
Shen Changchuan had no intention of wasting his breath on the man.
Delays breed trouble.
What if he gave the man time to rest and recover, only for him to feign death and launch a desperate counterattack?
Shen Changchuan didn’t want to create unnecessary trouble for himself.
Striking while his enemy was vulnerable was the only proper course of action.
And so,
the man in black died.
With a sudden, killing blow from Shen Changchuan, the man’s head was separated from his body by a flash of sword light before he could even resist.
The strike was so powerful it even carved a fissure into the ground.
Fresh blood stained a wide patch of soil crimson.
Only then,
did Shen Changchuan finally allow himself to relax.
"It’s finally over!"
He let out a long sigh of relief.
To be honest,
this battle had been one of the most dangerous he had ever fought.
It might have looked like an easy victory,
as if he had escaped unscathed, aside from his depleted Magical Power.
But in reality,
during the fight, the slightest misstep could have meant instant, regretful death.
This victory had been anything but easy.
’In the end, he was only victorious because his opponent was careless.’
’He correctly identified my weakness, but he completely misjudged my capabilities, allowing me to turn the tables on him... Otherwise, in a head-on fight, even with my Divine Techniques, I doubt I could have successfully killed him...’
As he replayed the battle in his mind, his Heart Spirit finally relaxing a bit, Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but reflect.
Now,
Shen Changchuan had a much clearer assessment of his own strength.
Based on his current state, dealing with a Cultivator at the First Layer of the Soul Emergence Realm shouldn’t be a problem.
But the Second Layer...
...that was a different story.
Even though both the First and Second Layers were part of the Soul Emergence Early Stage,
a Cultivator at the latter stage held a distinct advantage in Magical Power, Divine Sense, and even reaction speed.
It was an advantage,
that Shen Changchuan, having already reached the limits of the Qi Introduction Realm, couldn’t overcome.
’A Soul Emergence Realm Cultivator at the First Layer... that’s my limit.’
’Ultimately, it all comes down to my Cultivation Realm.’
’As long as my Cultivation Realm doesn’t advance, no matter how Heaven-defying my techniques are, I’ll always be crippled by a lack of Magical Power!’
Shen Changchuan sighed internally.
Even so,
though he was keenly aware of his shortcomings,
Shen Changchuan didn’t let it derail his plans. He felt no desperate urge to rush a breakthrough into the Soul Emergence Realm just to fix this weakness.
Because Shen Changchuan, now knowing the secrets of Divine Techniques and Spirit Bodies, understood perfectly:
if he didn’t build a solid foundation now,
then in the future,
he might have to put in a hundred, even a thousand times the effort to make up for it!
Otherwise,
among the billions of beings in the Southern Thirty-Six Domains, the Yuqing Immortal Sect wouldn’t be the only power with a True Cultivator at the Profound Pill Realm!
Anyone with the slightest ambition for their future had to solidify their foundation.
Besides,
his own Cultivation speed was already ridiculously fast.
In less than three years,
he had gone from the Peak of the Qi Introduction Third Layer to the Peak of the Ninth Layer, and now possessed the power to fight, and even kill, a True Cultivator at the First Layer of the Soul Emergence Realm.
He had reached heights that many Cultivators in the Qi Introduction Realm could only dream of achieving in a lifetime.
There was no need to rush.
Right now,
he was only sixteen or seventeen.
As long as he broke through to the Soul Emergence Realm before turning twenty, his future would still be limitless.
’As for the dangers of the outside world... the possibility of another ambush from some unknown Soul Emergence Elder from the Shen Clan, of encountering an enemy he couldn’t defeat and finding himself in mortal danger...’
’Worst case, I’ll just hide in the Sect and cultivate in seclusion until I break through to the Soul Emergence Realm!’
’Fine. The plan is to return to the Sect, enter seclusion, and focus on my breakthrough.’
’After all, with the heads of these Demon Beasts, the huge sum of Sect Contribution Points I’ll receive will be more than enough to cover my expenses for the next two or three years.’
’Until I reach the Soul Emergence Realm, the outside world is just too dangerous.’
In the span of a few breaths,
a hundred thoughts raced through Shen Changchuan’s mind.
He quickly decided on his next course of action.
Snapping back to the present,
Shen Changchuan’s gaze fell upon the corpse.
In fact, when his Divine Power Technique had struck the man, the mask covering his face had been torn to shreds.
His face had been revealed.
But Shen Changchuan didn’t recognize him.
This wasn’t surprising.
Back in the Shen Family Mansion in Tian Nan City, he had been a peripheral figure. To avoid trouble, he had become a recluse and rarely went out.
The Tian Nan Shen Clan had dozens of Soul Emergence Realm Cultivators,
so it was impossible for him to recognize all of them.
He didn’t dwell on it.
Shen Changchuan first searched the man’s body, taking the Storage Bag from his waist.
After confirming there was no other loot,
he looked at the headless corpse before him.
He thought for a moment.
Then, he stored it in the same Storage Bag that held the various Demon Beast corpses.
’The body is physical evidence. I can’t let this matter go...’
His thoughts turned to the "Great Madam" behind this plot,
and a dark look flashed in his eyes.
’This,’
’I will definitely be writing to the Old Ancestor to demand an explanation.’
Of course,
that could wait.
After quickly cleaning up the battlefield,
even scavenging the Array Bases from the nearby Array,
Shen Changchuan mounted Xiaofeng and departed swiftly.
However,
Shen Changchuan didn’t head straight back to the Sect.
Instead, he had Xiaofeng follow the trail of Shen Shiyin and the others.
Not long after the battle began, Shen Shiyin and his men had already retreated several miles away.
When they realized things had gone wrong,
they fled in a panic.
But,
they were only Cultivators at the fifth or Sixth Layer of the Qi Introduction Realm. How fast could they possibly run?
Especially when running on the ground was far slower than flying through the air.
So, it didn’t take long,
for Shen Changchuan to find the panicked group’s trail.
Unsurprisingly,
their resistance was pathetically weak against him.
With just the slightest effort,
he had them all on the ground, completely unable to fight back.
Facing Shen Changchuan, Shen Shiyin didn’t dare put on a brave front. The whole story came spilling out of him.
It was true: the "Great Madam" had orchestrated their entire operation.
But his rank was too low;
he knew nothing of any secret deals between Shen Zhengming and the Great Madam.
He was just a small fry who had been coerced into joining the ambush.
He had only participated because Shen Zhengming had forced him. Shen Zhengming had sought him out because they had a past connection, and because Shen Shiyin had a Communication Talisman for Shen Changchuan, making him the perfect bait for the ambush.
Shen Zhengming.
That was the name of the man in black.
A Soul Emergence Elder from the Shen Clan.
Apparently,
after Shen Shiyin had lost his position as the Dawan Village Garrison Envoy, he had pulled some strings to work under a Transportation Envoy. His job was to help manage the collection of tributes from the Shen Family’s various subordinate Spirit Fields.
And the Transportation Envoy Shen Shiyin had worked for was none other than Shen Zhengming.
In other words,
Shen Zhengming was his former superior.
Facing Shen Changchuan,
Shen Shiyin was a weeping, blubbering mess.
He sobbed that he had been completely coerced by Shen Zhengming, that he’d had no choice. He begged Shen Changchuan to spare his worthless life for the sake of any past goodwill between them.
Shen Changchuan nodded slightly.
And then,
with a blank expression, Shen Changchuan cut them all down.