Chapter 69: Kill with a borrowed knife
Xie Qing and Lian Xin lay on the bed, with Xie Qing still embracing Lian Xin’s waist and holding her close. She, in turn, snuggled up to his chest, feeling a sense of safety and comfort. It got to the point where Lian Xin accidentally fell asleep. Xie Qing, who witnessed this, couldn’t help but lose his words.
“Sigh… and how am I supposed to proceed with building our relationship now?” the young man thought, then shook his head, “Alright, I won’t rush it. One way or another, I’ve already confirmed that she’s ready, and that’s enough for me today.”
Looking at the mature woman’s peaceful sleeping face, a gentle smile appeared on his face, and he held back from kissing her, not wanting to wake her up. Carefully placing her on the bed and covering her with a blanket, Xie Qing admired her face for a bit longer, then jumped out the window.
A light night breeze blew against his face, sweeping the bangs off his forehead and pushing them back. His beautiful, long hair freely flowed in the air, and his stunning, crystal-clear eyes reflected the night sky. His white clothes fluttered in the wind, with the long sleeves acting like wings, helping Xie Qing land skillfully on the ground without any issues. Turning his gaze towards the moon, he smiled and cracked his neck.
“Ah, what a pleasant evening.”
Raising his hand, the young man caught a sword falling from the heavens, its blade reflecting the star-filled sky above. This was his “Nameless Sword”! After Xie Qing grew stronger, it too evolved.
Its status read:
[Nameless Sword] | [Rank: Unique (Evolving)] | [Description: An extremely sturdy sword. Can return to its owner by consuming Qi.]
Xie Qing was satisfied with this sword, and it had become his favorite weapon. On this blade was a hundred liters of blood, and its bright, sharp edge could even cut through a boulder. And with its ability to return, it was like a lightning god from German-Scandinavian mythology.
Shuu!
“Oops!”
Xie Qing leaped to the side, dodging an attack filled with killing intent and Sword Aura. He landed on top of a streetlamp, crouching and looking at his enemy with a smirk. His eyes gleamed with mischief as he saw his opponent, his hair fluttering in the wind with the moon behind him.
“Elder Brother Bai, what are you doing?” Xie Qing asked with a gentle, friendly smile as if greeting a friend.
“Hmpf!”
In front of him was his old, kind-hearted acquaintance, Bai Bai. Hearing Xie Qing’s words, he didn’t even bother reacting and merely prepared for his next attack.
“How rude,” Xie Qing muttered, shaking his head and jumping to dodge the crescent-shaped attack aimed at him. Landing on the ground and spinning around, he evaded several of Bai Bai’s strikes, looking as if he were dancing.
“Damn it!” Bai Bai gritted his teeth and began attacking even more fiercely.
However, Xie Qing possessed a strange agility and evaded all the blows, balancing on one foot and making circular movements, countering with kicks that either landed on Bai Bai’s back or his groin area.
“Ugh!”
These kicks didn’t cause Bai Bai much pain, but rather filled him with shame! He couldn’t believe an inner court disciple was playing with him like this! However, no matter how hard he tried, Xie Qing didn’t show him enough respect and merely dodged, only occasionally landing a counterattack! This greatly irritated him.
“Trying to distract me and exhaust me while your accomplice kills me? Ha, dream on!” thought Xie Qing, feeling a piercing gaze on him.
Murder. That’s all these two had in mind. The Bai family was too troublesome and inconvenient as an enemy, so Xie Qing could only sigh, not wanting to act too carelessly. At the very least, he needed to eliminate any witnesses. And at best, try to kill Bai Bai without anyone noticing.
“Each heir has a special mark on them, placed at birth. If you kill them, the mark records the killer’s Qi and sends it to the family head, and then the hunt for you begins, as they already have all your information,” Xie Qing thought, rolling his eyes, “How inconvenient…”
He too had a similar mark, but instead of sending information about his death to Xie Hai, it went to Xie Meiling. She simply didn’t trust her former husband in this matter. Dodging attacks and avoiding using too much Qi, Xie Qing was doing quite well at provoking his opponents. So, they had to change their plan and try to attack him without any “gentleness.”
“Die!” A loud shout came from somewhere behind him, and a serious strike hit Xie Qing in the back.
“Why are you shouting?” Xie Qing thought, but his face was serious.
They had attacked him not with a cultivator’s technique, but with an artifact. He felt the breath of death behind him, meaning this attack could kill him! So, he analyzed the battlefield and, realizing there was no chance to dodge, the young man decided to use his one-time-use artifact.
However, Xie Qing didn’t do this right away.
“Hahaha! This is your end, bastard! I’ve let you off the hook for too long, it’s time to die!” Bai Bai shouted angrily and maniacally laughed, stepping back.
But did he ask Xie Qing’s permission before leaving?
“Elder Brother Bai is so noble. You’ve been very helpful to me lately, you know? This younger brother is touched,” Xie Qing’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Eh?!”
Bai Bai froze – not because of Xie Qing’s words, but because of a technique that plunged everything around him into darkness, filling his heart with fear. He looked into those terrifying amber eyes and trembled before the higher being.
On the other hand, Bai Ju was shocked, realizing that his attack was heading straight for Bai Bai! While his opponent was frozen, Xie Qing, not wasting any time, moved Bai Bai closer to him and then stood behind him.
“S-stop… damn it, damn it, damn it!”
Bai Ju desperately cried out, trying to stop the attack, but his attempts to order the artifact to stop only resulted in him tearing out the remaining clumps of his hair.
And so…
BOOM!
The entire sect trembled. Cultivators and elders immersed in cultivation almost spat out blood when they were so rudely interrupted. Even Xu Mei, who had fallen asleep after drinking, was surprised and woke up, sensing a strange surge of energy and earth-shaking.
She narrowed her blue eyes, which now held a hint of anger, and disappeared from her spot. The next second, Xu Mei appeared in the air, and with a snap of her fingers, she blew away the dust that had risen after the impact.
“This… ”
Xu Mei clicked her tongue in annoyance and looked at the situation. The pieces of flesh that were once Bai Bai were scattered all around, and Bai Ju knelt on the ground with a pale, shocked face.
Somewhere in the distance, about five hundred meters away, stood Xie Qing, eating chips and watching the surrounding situation.
“Damn, that felt good! But… ” his eyes gleamed with mischief as he turned his gaze to Bai Ju, on whom a mark had appeared, the “Mark of Vengeance.” “How will you deal with this problem? And the real answer will be even worse than saying you killed Bai Bai…”
Xie Qing cheerfully laughed, and his chest began to shake, but after a few seconds, he started coughing because a popcorn kernel had gotten stuck in his throat.
“Khe-khe…”
However, fortunately, someone soon patted him on the back, helping him regain his composure. Turning around, he saw his Master, whose usual smile had vanished. She looked at him coldly and with annoyance.
Forcing a smile, Xie Qing averted his gaze. However, Xu Mei’s cold gaze didn’t waver, and in the end, he had to sigh.
“I’m sorry, Master. I shouldn’t have used the situation on the battlefield so poorly. Next time, I’ll feed him his own attack,” Xie Qing said shamefully.
“Enough joking around,” Xu Mei coldly replied, and seeing that Xie Qing was awkwardly smiling, she couldn’t help but let out a tired sigh, “Oh, foolish disciple, can’t you go just one day without causing trouble?”
“I can, but they can’t. I ask that you punish them for attempting to murder your disciple, Master,” Xie Qing shamelessly said, placing a hand on his chest and feigning pain.
“You… ha-ha…” Xu Mei couldn’t help but laugh. Her laughter was elegant and beautiful.
“…” Xie Qing merely smiled and glanced at Bai Ju, who looked as if he’d lost his soul.
He didn’t need to worry about him – the Bai family would deal with this themselves. No matter how much Bai Ju tried to shift the blame onto Xie Qing and even if he managed to turn the Bai family against him, in the end, he would only face suffering. The punishment for killing a member of the Bai family was worse than death. So, Xie Qing could only smile and not finish off the already dead horse.
As expected, the noise was too loud. Considering it was near the Elders’ Pavilion, more than a hundred elders soon rushed over. Seeing the large crater and the torn-apart corpse of a disciple, as well as the helpless Elder Bai Ju, they were greatly puzzled. Some of them even trembled in disbelief – mostly elders associated with the Bai family.
The elders’ gaze immediately shifted to the other two people present. Many recognized them as Elder Xu and her disciple, Xie Qing, who was sitting on the ground with his chest exposed, revealing a deep wound that almost reached his bones.
“Xie Qing!”
A loud female cry came from the side, and a beautiful elder rushed over – Lian Xin. Her face paled, and her hands shook as she saw the young man’s condition. Chaotically pulling out bottles of pills from her pockets, some even fell to the ground but didn’t break, thanks to their sturdiness.
“T-this is the Soul Revival Pill, it will help you heal your wounds,” Lian Xin said with a trembling voice, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
“…”
Xie Qing, observing this, couldn’t help but feel guilty. He leaned forward and pretended to take the pills from the elder’s hands, hiding his view as he whispered, “I’m fine. This is just for show. I’ll explain later.”
“Eh?”
Letting out a surprised sound, Lian Xin looked at Xie Qing’s face and saw that he was confidently smiling. She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Picking up the bottles from the ground, she furrowed her brow and looked at Elder Bai Ju.
“Elder Bai, what’s the meaning of this? What happened?” Lian Xin asked in a voice that could freeze water.
“Indeed… I was a bit stunned and didn’t have time to ask. Bai Ju, what happened?”
“What’s going on here?!”
Lian Xin’s voice was like a bucket of cold water poured on the stunned elders. They all looked at Bai Ju, and he, feeling the pressure of their gazes, clenched his teeth and looked at the young man with hatred.
“It’s all his fault! The bastard who killed Young Master Bai! He’s to blame for everything!” Bai Ju shouted, his voice full of hatred. Even the saliva flying out of the old man’s mouth revealed his anger.
“What? Have you gone mad? How could an inner court disciple kill Bai Bai?” one elder responded, and the others also expressed this doubt.
“Pfft! Don’t look down on this bastard, he’s a Core Formation cultivator! He’s the one who lured Young Master Bai into a trap and then cruelly killed him!” Bai Ju clenched his teeth and shouted, tears streaming down his face, not bothering to wipe them away.
All the elders fell silent and examined Xie Qing, but they could only see a Qi Condensation cultivator at the fifth stage. After examining the accused disciple’s cultivation level, they looked displeased at Bai Ju.
“Have you completely lost your shame, Bai Ju?! How can you lie to our faces, accusing an innocent, wounded disciple? He’s just a Qi Condensation cultivator!” Lian Xin cried out in response, perfectly playing along with the act.
“W-what?”
Bai Ju didn’t believe their words and examined Xie Qing himself, but no matter how hard he tried, the young man’s previous aura had disappeared, replaced by a Qi Condensation cultivator at the fifth stage! His face paled, and he looked at Xie Qing in horror.
“Y-you…”
Around him, everything darkened, and the elders began to be shrouded in darkness, with only their eyes remaining in this darkness. They looked at Bai Ju with their amber eyes, instilling fear in his mind.
“N-no! I-I’m not guilty…” he mumbled, then switched to shouting, “I-it’s him! It’s all because of him!”
However, even after his words, nothing changed. On the contrary, a huge amber eye with a serpentine pupil appeared, coldly staring at him. Under the influence of this aura that instilled fear, Bai Ju’s eyes filled with tears, and snot flowed from his nose – it looked disgusting.
“I-I… n-not guilty… I…”
But the more he denied it, the more the darkness grew. In the end, the darkness swallowed him, and Bai Ju’s mind began to sink into despair. He maniacally laughed and covered his face with his hands.
“Hahahaha!”
