Chapter 79: Chapter 77: 5 Men Attempt to Capture Su Qing

After roasting and eating nearly half the ox, Su Qing hurried on his way.

Time passed, and Su Qing traveled for ten days.

The farther he got from the Thousand Marrow Mountain Range,

the more the Spiritual Qi seemed to recover.

It was similar to the concentration of Spiritual Qi back in the Great Yu Dynasty.

And the farther north he went, the denser the Spiritual Qi seemed to become.

At the same time, some Cultivators began to appear here.

Since it was all open, flat highland terrain,

Su Qing would only exchange a distant glance with them before they would both tacitly go their separate ways, not disturbing one another.

’There are actually Cultivators appearing.’

’Could it be that this mountain range has some unique resources?’

If that were the case, Su Qing felt he had missed out big time by just running through.

He hadn’t collected anything along the way.

Because he hadn’t been looking carefully,

Su Qing hadn’t paid any attention to the weeds at all.

He felt like he’d lost a fortune.

Su Qing felt a bit sick about it, but he still continued north.

And as he reached the northern parts, Su Qing could feel the Spiritual Qi growing even denser.

...

...

"There’s a Cultivator."

"Did you confirm if he has a Spirit Root?"

a burly, bearded man with deep-set eyes shouted.

He had the highest Cultivation here.

Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation.

He had four accomplices.

Two of them were currently tying up a Cultivator.

Of the other two, one was wiping his saber, and the other was chewing on something.

The two tying up the man were only at the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

As for the other two, the one with the saber was at the Seventh-Layer Qi Cultivation, and the one chewing was at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer.

"How could we tell if he has a Spirit Root just by looking? We’ll know once we grab him and test him."

"Say, Old Qin, is the Zhengxuan Sect really in that much of a hurry for people?"

The Cultivator who was chewing raised an eyebrow at the bearded man.

The burly man sneered. "Heh, Old Bai, you don’t know. Those guys from the Zhengxuan Sect are terrifying."

"Always researching this and that."

"A bunch of lunatics. If it wasn’t one thousand Spirit Stones per Cultivator, I wouldn’t have brought you all in on this business."

The men tying up the captive were stunned to hear this.

This was the first time the two of them had done a job like this.

"Good thing we’re Demon Cultivators."

"Otherwise, those guys wouldn’t have hired us for this kind of work. They’d probably tie us up on sight."

"..."

The Cultivator who was lovingly polishing his long saber said coldly, "We need to catch more. We’ve only caught five so far. How is that enough?"

"Right, right! With the Magical Artifact the Zhengxuan Sect gave us, we should be able to fit at least a dozen Cultivators with Spirit Roots, right?"

"Hahaha!"

The bearded man roared with laughter. Seeing the Spirit Root Tester in the bound Cultivator’s hand light up, he couldn’t help but spit on the ground in secret.

"To hell with Immortal Cultivation."

"What’s so great about having a Spirit Root?"

...

’Hiss... so this place really is under the jurisdiction of a Demonic Sect.’

From within a dense thicket, Su Qing watched the five men in front of him gang up on a single Cultivator.

The key was, they even used things like Sedatives.

Then Su Qing saw the five of them carry the Cultivator into a large, cart-like Flying Magical Artifact.

’Aren’t these types of Flying Magical Artifacts not for public sale?’

’Could it be that the Zhengxuan Sect sold it themselves?’

’Makes sense. With Spirit Stones, it’s a profit no matter who buys it, right?’

Su Qing watched the crime scene, then saw them pilot the Flying Magical Artifact away.

’That Cultivator with the long saber has a very strong Saber Technique.’

Su Qing considered it. ’To kill him, I would have to at least draw my Demon Sword and use the Geng Metal Demonic Sword Intent.’

’I really need to be more careful in Demon Dao territory.’

Su Qing silently used Earth Escape to get away.

With his Divine Concealment Technique, Su Qing didn’t believe they could possibly discover him.

They were all in the Qi Cultivation stage. How could they possibly find him?

After using Earth Escape to leave, Su Qing continued to travel north underground.

He then returned to the surface.

However, just as he emerged from the ground,

Su Qing sensed a large net descending from the sky.

"WTF!"

Su Qing used Earth Escape and burrowed into the ground again.

’What the hell just happened?’

"Old Qin, how did another Cultivator just pop up?"

"Earth Escape?"

"That guy has a Spirit Root. Earth Escape is usually cultivated by those with Spirit Roots."

"Hiss... I can’t do anything about Earth Escape. He’s already gone." Old Qin stroked his beard, then turned to the captured Cultivator and gave him a few kicks and punches before knocking him out with a Sedative.

"Forget him. He got away anyway."

"True."

...

’Damn it, weren’t they flying south? How did they end up here?’

Su Qing thought about it carefully and realized there was only one possibility.

They were specifically capturing Cultivators.

But Su Qing didn’t understand why they were doing it.

And they weren’t killing them, just capturing them. It was very strange.

Could it be that these Demon Cultivators were also pulling the same stunts as the Zhengxuan Sect?

’Researching Cultivators?’

Su Qing felt that something was very wrong with this Immortal Cultivation Realm.

’This is basically human experimentation.’

...

’If it weren’t for Earth Escape, I would’ve been captured just now.’

’Was that net a Magical Artifact?’

Su Qing’s mind was filled with questions.

But Su Qing didn’t want to fight, even though they had just attacked him.

He couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.

After watching the Flying Artifact fly away,

Su Qing slowly started walking in a different direction.

’This should be fine, right? I can’t believe I’d run into this again.’

Su Qing knew he wasn’t far from the Ten Thousand Tribulations Sect.

Not long after Su Qing had started walking,

a round disc suddenly fell from the sky.

Su Qing was startled and looked up to see the Flying Artifact in the sky again.

Immediately after,

the ground began to tremble slightly.

’What’s this?’

Furious, Su Qing glared at the Flying Artifact in the sky.

’It seems they’ve made me their target.’

As he tried to use the Earth Escape Technique, Su Qing could feel the ley lines of the earth were in a state of chaos.

’It must be related to that disc.’

Su Qing drew his Demon Sword with one hand.

The moment the Demon Sword appeared, the five men were stunned.

They hadn’t expected him to be a Demon Cultivator.

"A Demon Cultivator?" Old Qin was puzzled. How could a Demon Cultivator use the Earth Escape Technique?

"He has a Spirit Root. It has to be the Earth Escape Technique."

"Get him!"

Old Qin shouted.

Su Qing’s sharp eyes immediately spotted four runes flying toward him.

"Geng Metal Demonic Sword Intent!"

Without hesitation, Su Qing used it against the nearest Cultivator, adding the Extreme Shadow Three Swords on top of it.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Three sword strikes killed a Cultivator at the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer.

The Sword Intent tore his frail body to shreds.

"The kid has Sword Intent! This is bad!"

the saber user shouted, wanting to get on the Flying Artifact.

"What’s there to panic about? The Talismans have already trapped—" Before Old Qin could finish, Su Qing cleaved through one of the runes of the yet-to-be-formed encirclement with a single sword strike.

Hearing their conversation, Su Qing knew that this Old Qin was their leader.

Su Qing unleashed his full physical strength and Magical Power. With a push of his toes, he shot toward Old Qin to cut him down.

"You want to kill me?"

"Blood Demon Unleashed."

The power of a Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation erupted with even greater force, intending to clash with Su Qing.

At the same time, a Flying Needle shot towards the space between Su Qing’s eyebrows.

"Old Qin, you ignorant fool."

"Ah, forget it."

"Mad Demon Saber Technique." The saber-wielder’s eyes turned sharp. His slashes seemed to carry a certain rhythm of deadly assault, as if born from the brink of death. He was on the verge of comprehending Saber Intent.

Meanwhile, another man beside them wielded a Magical Artifact resembling a Blood Drop, aiming to hook Su Qing.

"Shit!"

Su Qing rolled, dodging the Flying Needle and the Blood Drop.

But his back was slashed five times in an instant, leaving several small cuts on his skin.

Feeling the pain, Su Qing was getting angry.

He saw the round disc on the ground.

He threw the Demon Sword in his hand.

CRACK! The disc was destroyed.

"This is bad."

The four men’s hearts skipped a beat, and they all looked towards the Flying Magical Artifact.

At the same time, Su Qing instantly escaped into the ground.

After retrieving his Demon Sword, he charged towards Old Qin.

"Behind..."

Although Old Qin was desperately rushing towards the Flying Artifact,

in the next moment, a sharp Sword Intent and the gleam of a sword made his neck feel cold. Then, the world spun endlessly as he fell to the ground.

’Is that... my body?’

...