In his hand, he also held a fully charged talisman treasure and ready to strike.

This talisman treasure had been specially purchased for this trip.

It seemed he would have to use it today.

At that moment, a golden sword energy carrying scorching heat slashed from behind the puppet.

In an instant, the puppet was split in two and burned to ashes.

At the same time, the Golden Core cultivator’s arrogant voice rang out.

"Damn it. I was just going out to indulge in my little hobby, and I ran into a wealthy little Qi Refining brat like you. But do not get too proud. With your strength, you still need another hundred years if you want to kill me. I do not care who you are or what backing you have. You dared to injure me like this, so you are dead... haha... oh, you are already dead. Cough... cough... under my golden flame sword energy, not even ashes remain."

While leaning against a rock and covered in wounds, his face mottled and crumbling as if a mask were breaking apart to reveal his true appearance, the Golden Core cultivator looked miserable.

Xiao Shou’s hand holding the talisman treasure trembled slightly.

For a moment, he hesitated.

But when he thought of the puppet that had just been reduced to ashes by that sword energy, his expression hardened again.

Since you have never shown mercy, why should I hesitate?

In many stories, countless protagonists had suffered because of misplaced kindness and mercy.

He was not a protagonist, nor a supporting character.

He was just someone who could not afford to be dragged into disaster.

With that thought, he aimed the talisman treasure at the cultivator and activated it instantly.

A phantom of a mountain of blades shot out from the talisman treasure and crashed down toward the Golden Core cultivator.

The Golden Core cultivator looked at the massive mountain of blades, then at Xiao Shou who held the talisman treasure and stared at him with a cold expressionless face.

Despair flashed through his eyes.

In that instant, resentment surged within him.

Just moments ago, in order to break the storm of wind, fire, and lightning, he had already used the jade token that sealed a strike from his master.

Now, he had nothing left for defense or attack.

And for some unknown reason, his spiritual energy had become sluggish and his body become unresponsive.

If only he had known this day would come, he would not have given away the jade token his master had bestowed upon him, the one that could block a Deity Transformation cultivator’s strike, to Junior Sister Xiao.

At that moment, a memory flashed through his mind.

He recalled accompanying that junior sister to test mortal children for spiritual roots, the moment she had been poisoned and left powerless, the scene of her helplessness and the blood of her first time...

"Boom!"

With a deafening explosion, the talisman treasure turned to ashes and disappeared. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The mountain of blades vanished as well.

Where the Golden Core cultivator had stood, there was now only a storage belt and a gruesome mass of blood and flesh.

The sight made Xiao Shou cover his mouth as he retched uncontrollably.

"Ugh... ugh..."

At the same time, in the Life Tablet Hall of the Heavenly Void Sect, a life tablet suddenly shattered.

The disciple on duty showed no surprise.

With a calm expression, he walked over, picked up the broken tablet, and glanced at the name and its color.

His expression did not change.

As he carried the tablet out, he muttered, "A late Golden Core single spiritual root cultivator just fell like that. What a pity."

At the summit of Starfall Peak within the Heavenly Void Sect, Fan Xiaodong, the senior disciple in charge, was guiding Yu Lin in cultivation when he suddenly frowned.

He reached into his storage belt and summoned a glass lamp.

The flame within the lamp instantly went out.

Yu Lin was startled.

Her face showed grief as she asked, "Senior Brother, whose soul lamp is that? How could it suddenly be extinguished?"

Yet inwardly, she felt a surge of delight.

She knew that whenever Xia Qingsheng accepted a disciple, he would take a drop of their blood essence to create a soul lamp.

The flame of the lamp corresponded to the disciple’s condition.

If the flame weakened, it meant injury.

If it went out, it meant death.

This allowed them to monitor disciples and provide aid in times of crisis.

All peak masters followed this practice.

Now that Xia Qingsheng was in seclusion, he had entrusted all the soul lamps of the peak to Fan Xiaodong.

Fan Xiaodong was also someone who admired Xiao Ran, but due to Xia Qingsheng’s ambiguous attitude toward her, he had never dared to act.

At present, the only disciples under their master who were outside the sect were Xiao Ran and her devoted follower Xiang Yu.

Xiao Ran had gone out to cultivate on her own.

Most likely, she had gone to seek the favor of Venerable Jian Li.

Tch, what a shameless woman.

How could someone like her be the protagonist?

Yu Lin cursed inwardly, then thought of Xiang Yu.

He had been sent out of the sect on a mission by Fan Xiaodong who disliked how clingy he was with Xiao Ran.

Still, with Xiao Ran’s luck, she would not die so easily.

The one who likely died was that cunning Xiang Yu.

In the original story, Xiang Yu was Xiao Ran’s strategist.

He had always been devoted to her.

After the great calamity of the Demon Abyss race, it was he who advised and plotted, helping Chi Jia ascend to the position of sect master.

After he ascended to the spirit realm, Xiao Ran’s bottom line and morals were shattered by powerful figures from both demonic factions.

Chi Jia who is in order to win over those powerhouses, even said that whatever Xiao Ran liked, he would like as well.

Because of that, after Xiang Yu ascended to the spirit realm, he quickly regained Xiao Ran’s favor.