Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Advancing to Spirit Pupil

TAP, TAP, TAP... After Xue Qinghe was sent flying, the sound of footsteps echoed from within the dust cloud. A moment later, Shen Haoran walked out.

By now, Shen Haoran’s robes were in tatters. His face was deathly pale, and a trickle of blood hung at the corner of his mouth. Seeing this, Ji Lingxuan hurried forward to support him.

"How are you? Are you alright?" Ji Lingxuan asked with concern.

"I’m fine, just a little exhausted," Shen Haoran said with a light cough. He then took out a Spirit Revitalizing Pill and popped it into his mouth to recover his depleted Spiritual Power. After the pill entered his body, a warm sensation spread from within—a sign that his Spiritual Power was regenerating.

Feeling the Spiritual Power gradually returning to his body, Shen Haoran let out a long breath and slowly walked over to Xue Qinghe.

Xue Qinghe’s condition was now utterly wretched. His arms were completely twisted, and the bones of his right arm had burst through the flesh. He continuously spat out bloody foam, his breaths shallow and infrequent. He was clearly on the verge of death.

Shen Haoran stood before him, looking down at Xue Qinghe, and stated indifferently, "You lost."

"COUGH, COUGH... You little bastard, I still underestimated you!" Xue Qinghe coughed heavily and said weakly. Though his voice was faint, the venom in it hadn’t lessened in the slightest.

In response, Shen Haoran just looked at Xue Qinghe dispassionately, as if gazing upon a dead man.

"Any last words?" Shen Haoran asked coolly.

"I regret it. I regret not killing you outright back then! If I get the chance, I’ll make you wish you were dead!" Hearing not a shred of pity in Shen Haoran’s voice, Xue Qinghe didn’t beg for mercy. Instead, his tone filled with murderous intent.

"Unfortunately, you won’t get that chance." With that, Shen Haoran raised his right foot, ready to stomp down hard.

"No... you can’t kill me! I’m the grandson of the Blood Evil Sect’s Grand Elder! You can’t kill me!" When truly faced with death, Xue Qinghe lost his nerve and hurriedly begged for his life.

"The Blood Evil Sect?" Hearing the name, Shen Haoran paused.

"That’s right! If you kill me, my grandfather will mobilize the entire sect to find you and throw you into the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons to suffer every torment imaginable!" Seeing Shen Haoran pause, Xue Qinghe thought he was scared and snarled, his face twisting into a savage expression.

"Sorry, the Blood Evil Sect? Never heard of them. Are they famous?" Shen Haoran looked down at Xue Qinghe with a mocking expression. Then, his aura shifted, and he said in a heavy voice, "However, I hate being threatened more than anything. So, you can just die!" With that, Shen Haoran stomped down hard on Xue Qinghe’s chest. The Spiritual Power gathered in his foot detonated inside the man’s body.

SPURT! Blood mixed with fragments of internal organs erupted from Xue Qinghe’s mouth. He stared at Shen Haoran in utter disbelief as his consciousness faded. Even at the moment of his death, he never imagined Shen Haoran would actually dare to kill him.

Watching the life drain from Xue Qinghe, whose eyes remained open in death, Shen Haoran closed his own eyes and slowly exhaled. Then he turned and walked back to Ji Lingxuan’s side.

"Let’s go. Xue Qinghe is dead, which means the Blood Skull Mercenary Corps is finished," Shen Haoran said, a hint of exhaustion in his voice.

"What about them...?" Ji Lingxuan asked, gesturing toward the stunned crowd.

At her words, Shen Haoran turned his gaze toward the Martial Artists in the courtyard.

Feeling Shen Haoran’s icy gaze, the Martial Artists who had come to congratulate Xue Qinghe tensed up instantly. Although the young man before them was only a Tier Eight Spirit User and was now an arrow at the end of its flight after his battle with Xue Qinghe, none of them dared to make a rash move.

"Let’s go. I have no quarrel with them; there’s no need to kill them." Shen Haoran shook his head, ignored the Martial Artists, and turned to leave the courtyard. Ji Lingxuan quickly followed.

Seeing Shen Haoran leave, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Only then did they realize their clothes were soaked with cold sweat.

The crowd looked at each other, a sense of shame rising in their hearts. So many Martial Artists, yet they had been so terrified by a Tier Eight Spirit User with depleted Spiritual Power that they hadn’t even dared to breathe too loudly.

But when they saw Xue Qinghe’s body, now growing cold on the ground, they felt much better. After all, if even a Tier Five Spirit Pupil had been killed by Shen Haoran, what chance would they have had?

After casting one last fearful glance at Xue Qinghe’s corpse, the crowd dispersed. They had originally come to curry favor with Xue Qinghe, hoping to cooperate with the Blood Skull Mercenary Corps. But now that he was dead and the great tree had fallen, the monkeys had scattered. The Blood Skull Mercenary Corps was finished, so there was no reason for them to waste any more time here.

After the crowd left, news of Xue Qinghe’s death quickly spread throughout Yunluo Town. When people learned that the one who killed him was the very same young man who had been chased deep into the Profound Spirit Mountain Range, their faces were filled with shock. Xue Qinghe had been the number one expert in Yunluo Town, lording over everyone with his Tier Five Spirit Pupil strength. To think he would be killed by a Tier Eight Spirit User—truly, the world was unpredictable!

And so, this incident quickly became the most talked-about topic in Yunluo Town. In their minds, Shen Haoran was practically deified.

However, the instigator of this event, Shen Haoran, was already far from Yunluo Town, traveling through the Profound Spirit Mountain Range on his way to Celestial Martial City.

Now that the grudges in Yunluo Town were settled, he had to hurry to Celestial Martial City. In just over two months, the Nine Nether Qi in Ji Lingxuan’s body would break its Seal and erupt again. Before that happened, he had to obtain the Fire Element’s Primordial Spirit.

Following Elder Yan’s guidance, Shen Haoran and Ji Lingxuan traveled through the Profound Spirit Mountain Range. Soon, more than a month had passed.

One day, after killing a Tier Three Spirit Beast that was blocking their path, Shen Haoran immediately sat down cross-legged on the spot and instantly entered a state of Cultivation.

’Hm? Is he about to break through?’ Elder Yan murmured.

A few days after the great battle with Xue Qinghe, Shen Haoran had already broken through to become a Tier Nine Spirit User. If he broke through again now, he would advance to the rank of Spirit Pupil!

The thought of Shen Haoran’s terrifying Cultivation speed made Elder Yan break out in a cold sweat. ’We’re both inheritors of the Chaos Divine Body, so why is the gap between us so huge!’ In truth, it wasn’t that Elder Yan was too weak, but that Shen Haoran was simply too heaven-defying.

He had awakened the true Chaos Divine Body, obtained the heaven-defying Chaos Heaven-Dominating Technique, and had the Ancient Divine Relics in his body acting as a Spirit Pill! Furthermore, after fusing with the Soul-devouring Sword, he also possessed the Taotie’s devouring Talent. That’s why Shen Haoran was in a state of Cultivation almost every moment of the day, allowing him to progress so quickly.

After entering his state of Cultivation, Shen Haoran quickly formed a massive Spiritual Power Vortex around himself. Advancing to a Spirit Pupil was vastly different from advancing through the Spiritualist ranks. Advancing through the Spiritualist ranks only required condensing a Spirit Pill, but advancing to a Spirit Pupil required one to form a Spirit Sea within their Dantian.

Relying on his Devouring Power, immense Spiritual Power surged into Shen Haoran’s body. After passing through the golden Spirit Pill in his Dantian, it was condensed into a single drop of pure Spiritual Liquid, which then dripped down into the Dantian itself.

DRIP, DRIP... The Spiritual Liquid condensed rapidly, and in a short while, half of his Dantian was filled. But this was still far from enough to form a Spirit Sea!

But just then, trouble arrived. Due to Shen Haoran’s domineering devouring, the surrounding Spiritual Power was quickly depleted, creating a vacuum in the area. He was still a long way from breaking through, and the distant Spiritual Power was like faraway water that couldn’t quench a nearby thirst. If this continued, his advancement would be interrupted.

’It’s a good thing I was prepared,’ Elder Yan sighed to himself. ’Otherwise, if his advancement were interrupted, Shen the kid wouldn’t even have a place to cry. After all, an opportunity like this is hard to come by. If he gives up now, who knows when the next chance to break through will be!’

With this in mind, Elder Yan took a Spirit Medicine from his Storage Ring and grumbled with some regret, "Shen the kid, these are all priceless Spirit Medicines! You have to succeed in your breakthrough this time, or this will be a huge waste!" With that, a black flame flared up, quickly refining the Spirit Medicine and sending a surge of pure Energy into Shen Haoran’s body.

The sudden influx of Energy made Shen Haoran feel a wave of comfort. The Chaos Heaven-Dominating Technique immediately began to circulate, and this surge of Energy was quickly converted into Spiritual Liquid and dripped into his Dantian.

’He still needs more!’ Seeing Shen Haoran still greedily drawing in power, Elder Yan could only wince as he took out another Spirit Medicine and refined it.

In the end, Shen Haoran didn’t stop until he had consumed more than a dozen Spirit Medicines. Elder Yan was so pained by the loss it felt like his heart was bleeding. All those Spirit Medicines had been collected along the way thanks to Changmao. Used for Alchemy, they could have produced priceless Elixirs! But now, Shen Haoran had just wasted more than a dozen of them.

Fortunately, however, the Spirit Sea within Shen Haoran’s body finally finished forming! The aura of a Spirit Pupil began to slowly coalesce within him.