Book 1, Chapter 33 - Soul Summon Bell

Whoosh!

When the mighty Li Fire surrounded the rotten corpses, they were burnt to nothing but ashes; even the surrounding grey smoke was purified. The heat from the Li Fire flew onto Zhao Jiuge’s face, igniting the passion in his heart.

Earlier, he was still feeling angry about the broken, blue longsword, but now that he had seen the power of the Li Fire, he felt his blood boil. It was as if the door to immortality was opened to him and he could already see his glorious self in the future. He would be able to call the wind, summon the rain, and pierce the mountains and the rivers with his sword. At the same time, he fantasized about the mysterious and powerful magic treasures he would have in the future.

After succeeding in one move, Zhao Jiuge felt confident and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. His eyes were now filled with battle intent. The skinny man was stunned—he didn’t think the dozen rotting corpses he had summoned using the Soul Summon Bell would be burnt to dust by Zhao Jiuge so easily.

It wasn’t until now that the skinny man stopped being so careful and cursed in his heart.

He was originally using these unmarked graves and preying on the nearby village to cultivate the Corpse Gather Chant. He would absorb the corpse aura here and absorb the blood essence of the villagers to increase his cultivation level.

Unfortunately, he had encountered this disaster known as Zhao Jiuge and the unfearing troublemaker Su Su. They also just happened to have the Li Fire Flag, which completely countered him.

Zhao Jiuge didn’t give the skinny man a chance to ring the bell—he directed the Li Fire toward the skinny man. The ferocious Li Fire swept toward the skinny man’s face. The light from the fire made his pale face even more creepy and strange.

Dark green spirit light quickly surrounded him and formed a transparent light shield around him. The ferocious Li Fire collided with the strange, green light. Every time the Li Fire passed by, the green light shield would become a bit more dim.

However, the skinny man still had a lot of spirit force, so he could replenish the green light shield, and it shined brightly again as it resisted the Life Fire. The skinny man knew that if he let the fire touch him, his fate would be no better than those corpses.

Zhao Jiuge’s spirit force was already gone, so as he used the Li Fire to attack the skinny man, his face was almost as pale as the face of the skinny man. The Li Fire seemed to have become enraged by the green light shield and surged even more violently. It turned into a large fire snake and ruthlessly smashed down on the light shield.

Bang!

A loud sound echoed across the night sky. Cracks appeared on the light screen and spread out across the entire shield. At this moment, the Li Fire was like the king of hell coming toward the skinny man, and he felt like he should retreat.

This was because his cultivation level was not high enough. If it was a powerful cultivator who was using this Li Fire Flag, it would have burned him into nothing on the first attack. Thinking about this, he no longer cared—he injected his spirit force into the broken light shield like he was throwing money away. He no longer had any reservations, as he feared the fire burning his body.

Spells and magic treasures were only external help, the most useful thing was one’s cultivation method. The cultivation method allowed one to gather and store spirit force, while spells and magic treasures would amplify that. If one lacked spirit force, then no matter how powerful the spell or magic treasure was, one wouldn't have the power to use them.

When one encountered a spell or magical treasure that was suitable for their cultivation method, then their power would increase manyfold. This was why people at the early stage of a cultivation realm could beat someone at the late stage of the same cultivation realm. However, if the gap was a whole realm, then this would not be possible because the difference in spirit force between realms was too great.

Looking at the skinny man, who was in a sorry state, Zhao Jiuge let out a laugh. This laugh was comfortable and happy as it was the first time he had felt the joy of strength. There was a hint of madness in his eyes and he was going to overdraft the spirit force inside his dantian to keep using the Li Fire Flag.

Su Su’s delicate face looked at Zhao Jiuge’s face, confused. During the month she had followed Zhao Jiuge in Dong Yang City, she had learned a lot about Zhao Jiuge’s character, and today she had witnessed his carefulness and confidence. At this moment, she saw his powerful, manly side, and her heart was touched. It was as if a seed that was buried deep in her heart had taken root—it was an unspeakable feeling.

The skinny man had a terrifying face as he continued to resist. Zhao Jiuge’s spirit force stopped for a moment, causing the Li Fire to stop for a moment as well. Taking advantage of this, the skinny man waved his hand and his spirit force formed a giant, green palm in the air. The palm smashed down toward the Li Fire. Even the surrounding space began to distort and fragment.

The palm smashed the Li Fire on the ground, and regardless of the result, the skinny man turned to run. Zhao Jiuge let out a cold snort when he saw the skinny man run, and a longsword made of golden light appeared in Zhao Jiuge’s right hand.

Spirit Sword, Oblique Finger.

A golden sword flew through the night sky like a rainbow and split the air, creating a sharp hiss as it flew. The skinny man didn’t need to look back. He felt pain, like there were needles poking him. He didn’t dare to be careless, he released his own spirit force to resist.

Bang!

The two spirit forces collided and a violent spirit force shockwave spread out. Even the lids on the coffin were flipped open by this. The coffins that had been there for a long time all shattered and the surrounding branches and grass shook violently.

After regaining his senses, Zhao Jiuge overdrafted his spirit force to activate the Li Fire inside the Li Fire Flag to follow the golden sword. The skinny man had just neutralized the golden sword when he saw the terrifying scene of the Li Fire rushing toward him. He had just dealt with one problem when another one arose.

The skinny man felt like his heart was almost at his throat and was about to use the bell to surround his body to resist the Li Fire again. However, this time, the Li Fire didn’t give him the chance. The milky-white and orange fire surrounded him.

“Ah… Ah… Ahahaha…”

The miserable cry broke the peaceful night and made the atmosphere gloomy. This caused Su Su and Zhao Jiuge to be covered in goosebumps.

The fire continued to burn the skinny man, revealing only his gloomy face and his limbs flailing in pain. It was as if he was wearing orange clothes that covered his whole body.

Zhao Jiuge was filled with shock. He had thought that cultivators were different from ordinary people. The Li Fire had instantly turned those corpses into ashes, leaving nothing behind, but the skinny man was still burning due to his body. He had not lost his vitality yet.

He powerlessly let out a breath and his tightened heart finally relaxed. Shortly after, the skinny man lost all signs of life and fell to the ground with only the sound of his bones burning remaining. He had completely disappeared from this world.

The Li Fire burned until not even scraps remained.

A few dozen kilometers away, in another mass of unmarked graves, there was an old man shrouded in darkness who looked similar to the skinny man. When he opened his grey eyes, there was no trace of any emotion.

However, at this moment, powerful fluctuations appeared and was filled with disbelief. “Who killed my son!? How is it possible that there is someone strong enough to kill Heng Er before he could crush the jade tube!?”

His voice was hoarse, but it could not hide his anger. Then he began to think about who in Dong Yang City could kill his son so easily. Not even the Xiao or Mo families would have the strength, not to mention Heng Er had been staying within the unmarked graves without going out.

“Hmph, no matter who it is that killed Heng Er, this old man will throw away his life to find you.” After that, the skinny, old man stood up and, with one stomp to the ground, disappeared.

Unmarked graves.

Seeing the completely dead skinny man, Zhao Jiuge looked at the red-painted coffins scattered across the battlefield. There was no sense of joy from the victory, but a complicated feeling. The smart Su Su didn’t make a sound and only silently observed Zhao Jiuge’s every move.

After seeing the scattered coffins and the rotting corpses, Zhao Jiuge let out a gentle sigh. He remembered the old man he had buried back in the mountains. Regardless of how taxed his body was, he used spirit force to make the Li Fire burn the surrounding coffins so these corpses wouldn’t be exposed in the wilderness.

As Zhao Jiuge watched all these people that were turned to dust by the Li Fire, he felt all sorts of emotions. He lamented about how fragile ordinary people were, how short their lives were. He didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse for him to walk on the path of cultivation, but since he had stepped on it, there was no return. Since he was now walking down this path, he should strive to go as far as he could and become the strongest existence instead of being like these people who died after 100 years and were buried in the wilderness.

He had just finished a high-intensity battle and there were new wounds on top of his old wounds. As he was thinking about such heavy matters, he suddenly felt like his head was being split in half.

Zhao Jiuge coughed out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. Su Su’s usually smiling face was now filled with worry as she shouted, “Jiuge, what’s wrong?” She rushed next to Zhao Jiuge and held him in her arms.

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