Chapter 99: Rise of a Legend (Part 1)
Additional chapter for the magic castle.
9/10
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The manifestation of Xie Qing’s talents made many disciples swallow their pride. They decided to focus on learning alchemy techniques first.
“I’ve finished studying. Is there anything else I need to do?” Xie Qing asked, propping up his chin with his hand and resting his elbow on his thigh. He sat in a lotus position and looked bored. “Nurse Lu?”
Lu Yin came to her senses after she caught Xie Qing’s carefree gaze and thought for a moment before snapping her fingers.
“I’ve sent you the recipes that will be studied today. Work on studying them for now,” she said and turned to the other disciples, narrowing her eyes. “And you, instead of eavesdropping, should hurry up and study. I don’t want to waste my time on games, got it?”
“Y-yes, ma’am!”
The disciples who were sneakily eavesdropping a moment ago quickly returned to their tasks and began studying the technique. But many of them still couldn’t calm down, as they had just caught a hint that this young man had indeed learned it on the first try!
This was nonsense! The speed of learning techniques was also determined by talent, so this could only mean one thing… he was a freaking genius!
“And I looked down on him?” thought one of the disciples who had been intimidated by Xie Qing’s strength at first. His face turned red with shame.
Fortunately for him, Xie Qing paid no attention to him and considered such actions to be simple mischief.
“Let’s see what’s in here,” the young man thought, retrieving his token and directing his Qi towards it. Soon, he discovered new material containing ten recipes.
As he began studying, Xie Qing was amazed to find that these pills were twice as complex, and preparing them was no easy task. If it weren’t for his powerful cultivation technique and the fact that he was a cultivator at the Soul Nascent stage, his Qi might not have been enough!
Each pill took anywhere from one to five hours to prepare! This was a short amount of time for advanced alchemists, but impressive enough for a beginner.
There were ten pills in total, with names such as:
Silver Lizard Pill – a pill that could strengthen Qi absorption during meditation by 0.2 times.
Spring Flower Pill – a pill created by Liu Yang herself. This was a weak version that could heal superficial wounds.
Shining Eagle Pill – a pill that could enhance vision for twenty seconds. Weak version.
Blood…
Light…
The pills were diverse and belonged to one level above novice, and could already be sold on the market for 5 to 15 spiritual stones.
Not bad, but for Xie Qing, such an amount was not worth mentioning. Therefore, he planned to give them to Lu Yin, as it would help establish good relations between them.
He then began to arrange the herbs for the first pill, but Lu Yin’s voice sounded in his mind.
“Wait, Xie Qing,” she said, making the young man look up and meet her gaze.
“What?” he asked, raising his eyebrow in silence.
He looked at the beautiful girl who stood straight and smiled her usual gentle smile. She resembled a spring flower, like a distant and unattainable first love.
Seeing his puzzled expression, Lu Yin softly giggled, and it looked very cute. She looked at him with tears in the corners of her eyes.
“Don’t rush, please. These pills must be prepared strictly according to my instructions, or there may be an explosion. All the components of the pills are explosive,” she said, politely instructing him.
“Oh, right…”
Xie Qing nodded and set aside the herbs, enveloping them with Qi to prevent any reaction. Lu Yin nodded and began to observe the other disciples.
Half an hour. That’s how long it took these kids to learn the alchemy technique. They looked tired, clearly unhappy with their results.
Compared to cultivation techniques of Daoism, Buddhism, and the like, alchemy techniques were much easier to learn.
Therefore, half an hour was a good time, but Xie Qing had set the bar so high that no one was satisfied with themselves.
“Sigh! We’re far from being a genius!” the disciples thought, admiring Xie Qing’s talent.
Although some envied him maliciously, one couldn’t help but acknowledge that it was the geniuses who should lead the world, not the other way around. So, no matter how many were unhappy, there would always be just as many who were satisfied.
***
In the pitch-black darkness, hidden from view, a whisper could be heard. There, in a small inn, sat five people.
They wore no cloaks, had the usual appearance of cultivators, and possessed a maximum cultivation level of Qi Condensation.
But there was one problem. They laughed like crazed psychopaths, their eyes sunken, darkened, and filled with an ominous redness.
Their backs were hunched forward, as if another sharp bone was growing from their shoulder blades, lifting their clothing upwards, creating a spear-like shape.
A dark and ominous aura emanated from them, as if they were not humans, but ordinary magical beasts.
Their laughter echoed throughout the inn. Passersby gave them strange looks as if they were looking at madmen.
The inn was a district of entertainment. Bars, brothels, casinos, and the like, a place that never sleeps.
This place was located in a remote city on the Western Continent, with a population of a hundred thousand people, which was considered very small, almost nothing compared to other cities in the Dynasty.
And these five were not the only ones with such strange bodies. There were similar cases with the same physique.
A squeak… a rat-like squeak sounded in the dark alley in the slum area.
“Haa… haaa… ugh… haaa!”
Footsteps could be heard – someone was desperately running away. The person’s breathing was heavy, interrupted by coughing.
“Hr-r-r…”
A strange creaking sound was heard… as if a door was creaking. However, it came from a human-like shadow.
Suddenly, the person running stopped – there was a wall in front of them.
“Oh no!”
The bright moonlight illuminated the face of the person running. It was a mortal woman without a drop of Qi in her body. Her eyes widened, looking at the approaching demonic figure.
“Hehehe…”
“N-no…”
“Hahahaha…”
“N-noooo!”
Blood spattered, and soon the screams were drowned out by the monster’s mad laughter.
***
DING!
A loud, annoying sound rang out as Xie Qing peacefully slept on his bed.
His eyes opened slightly, and he saw that the token of the Sect of Heavenly Sword was floating in the air, glowing with a red light. Immediately, the young man woke up from his drowsiness and took the token in his hand, channeling his Qi into it.
Then, the voice of the sect master sounded in his head.
[All disciples of the inner and main courts who have received this notification, head to Beizi City on the southern part of the Western Continent immediately!].
“It seems that things are very bad!” Xie Qing thought and jumped up from his spot.
He easily changed into his white hanfu with impressive protection and then found his mother.
“Mom, I have to go on a sect mission. Let Lu Yin know that I won’t be attending her classes for some time,” the young man shouted, and then opened the window and jumped out of the room.
“Eh?!”
Poor Xie Meiling, who had been awakened by his shout, heard the young man’s words but didn’t even have time to react before he disappeared into the sunset.
“It seems that something serious has happened…” Xie Meiling thought, and in the next second, her token rang. It was Xu Mei.
“Xie Meiling, stay in the Sect of Nine Pills and help them if necessary,” Xu Mei’s grim voice sounded as if she had returned to her younger years – just as cold and fearless. “Devilish cultivators… have infected more than a million mortals. And the number is increasing every second!”
***
A disgrace to the cultivation world. That’s what this incident would be called in the future.
The devilish cultivators, as it turned out, were not fooling around but plotting. Xie Qing arrived at the city in an hour and already saw that it was destroyed, and terrifying creatures that resembled humans were flying in the sky.
“Damn it!” Xie Qing cursed and gritted his teeth, looking at the monsters in the sky. “These are freaking Jiangshi, and they’ve even mutated and grown wings!”
The situation was dire. There were over a hundred thousand Jiangshi in the sky, each with the strength of a peak Qi Condensation cultivator, which was enough for a world disaster.
So, without paying attention to the newly arrived cultivators, Xie Qing took a stance and quickly drew his sword.
“Will of the Empress of Swords – Heavenly Punishment!”
Clang!
A loud metallic sound rang out, and a bright golden light in the shape of a crescent moon headed toward the creatures flying in the sky.
“Kiiii!”
The Jiangshi let out disgusting screams, but they were unable to resist Xie Qing’s attack and were soon cut in half, their bodies torn apart by Qi Aura.
A total of ten thousand died, but Xie Qing’s face was dark. He turned to the crowd and released his Qi.
“C-cultivator at the Soul Nascent stage!” the crowd gasped.
Looking at how Xie Qing raised his sword to the sky, they held their breath. In the next second, the sky darkened.
“Kii?!”
The confused Jiangshi came to their senses at the sight of the clouds and began to panic. Their minds were limited, but they could understand that these clouds did not bode well.
But it was too late to escape. The clouds covered the entire city and dozens of miles beyond the city walls.
“You have nowhere to run! Will of the Empress of Swords – Sword Deity’s Punishment!”
Boom!
A piercing thunderous sound rang out in the clouds, and lightning in the form of sharp golden swords began to descend from the heavens.
There were over a million swords, and although they struck the city chaotically, they managed to kill an impressive number of Jiangshi.
“Kiiii!”
The heavens were filled with the cries of the disgusting monsters, and the crowd of cultivators standing behind Xie Qing watched the scene with their mouths open in the shape of an “O.”
In their eyes, the lone figure of the young man holding an ordinary-looking sword was like a scene from legend.
Turning to the crowd, Xie Qing narrowed his eyes and stamped his foot on the ground, summoning a stone wall that protected him from the surviving Jiangshi’s attack.
Surveying the crowd, Xie Qing shouted, “I am Xie Qing! Using the authority of a disciple of the Sect of Heavenly Sword, I ask all my fellow Daoists to participate in the battle against evil!”
His voice was commanding, his gaze filled with coldness, and his posture straight. As an immortal descended from the heavens, he looked down at the crowd of unskilled young people who had lost the power of speech. His beautiful black hair fluttered in the wind, and his deep black eyes shone brightly.
“Charge!” came one voice.
“Let’s kill the beasts!” came a second voice.
“For the glory of righteous cultivators!” came a third voice.
Fourth…
Fifth…
Sixth…
A crowd of a hundred cultivators flew over the high wall and then began the battle against the Jiangshi. Blood filled the sky.
The massacre had begun!
