Chapter 137: Chapter 131: Xiao Chan: Was I Too Heavy-Handed?

"Xiao Chan, you’ve been watching for a while... Isn’t it time you came out?"

"Alchemist Chen, you’ve hidden your strength well. I misjudged you."

Knowing he was exposed, Xiao Chan revealed himself on the spot and removed his mask. "Thirteen disciples from the Primordial Sect... you killed them just like that. Aren’t you afraid of the Primordial Sect’s retaliation, Alchemist Chen?"

"So?"

Chen Che’s eyes narrowed as he looked up.

"Are you planning to hold this secret over my head for a lifetime?"

Hearing this, Xiao Chan’s eyelid twitched.

In that instant, he felt his entire body get locked in place by a powerful Qi Mechanism. It was a sensation akin to being targeted by the gaze of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. He knew that if he said a single wrong word, he would suffer a thunderous blow.

’He’s clearly only at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer. Why is he giving me this feeling?’

Xiao Chan wondered.

But with a backhanded grip, he grabbed the object on his back wrapped in black cloth and golden thread. With a wave of his hand, the Soul-Calling Banner unfurled.

And then he saw.

The corpses on the ground instantly trembled as a torrent of blood energy surged from them.

Even from the rain-soaked ground, an endless tide of blood energy emerged. It billowed up and down with the Soul-Calling Banner, forming a long, blood-red dragon that circled once in mid-air before diving directly into the banner. In the blink of an eye, the blood energy vanished, and the corpses turned into desiccated husks.

The scene was identical to what had happened in the ruined temple. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Let’s just say I was the one who killed them..."

Xiao Chan planted the Soul-Calling Banner into the ground and, without hesitation, bowed deeply.

"Alchemist Chen, you are a righteous man. Though I may be an Evil Cultivator, I am not an ungrateful one. If you are worried I will speak of this, I am willing to cast a Silence Technique on myself."

Chen Che didn’t answer. His gaze never left Xiao Chan—or more accurately, the Soul-Calling Banner in front of him.

’Is it Tier Two?’

’Or Tier Three?’

When he was killing Ye Zhihan, he had already sensed Xiao Chan’s approach, but he had reached the point of no return. Strictly speaking, there was no animosity between them. One could even say that the enemy of his enemy was his friend.

However...

’For a secret like this to be known by an Evil Cultivator...’

At this thought, Chen Che flicked a finger.

"This is a Forgetfulness Pill. After taking it, you’ll forget everything that happened in the last hour... Once you’ve taken it, we can pretend we never met tonight."

’A pill like this exists?’

Xiao Chan held the pill, scraped off a bit of powder to taste, then after a moment’s thought, swallowed it whole.

"Mm."

Seeing him swallow the pill, Chen Che summoned his Little Chick and rode away on the wind.

It was a Tier Two Middle-grade Elixir.

It would even work on a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

...

...

"So cautious..."

Xiao Chan frowned slightly.

He could understand why he did it. After all, the stakes were incredibly high; one wrong step could lead to utter annihilation. In that moment, he had even been prepared for Chen Che to turn on him.

Of course.

If Chen Che had truly turned on him, he wouldn’t have fought back. He would have considered it repaying the favor.

As he thought of this,

Xiao Chan’s vision suddenly went black. His mind reeled, but just as quickly, it returned to normal, as if he had forgotten something.

"Did I just... suffer a spiritual attack?"

Looking again at the carnage in the small courtyard, his expression was one of bewilderment. "When did I kill these people?"

"Right, they should still have plenty of things on them. I owe Alchemist Chen a favor. The loot from these bodies could be used to repay a part of it..."

Coming back to his senses, Xiao Chan quickly walked over to the disciples and began to search the bodies. The first he checked was empty, and so was the second. His confusion deepened. "Did I strike too hard? Did the Soul-Calling Banner drain the Spiritual Qi from all their belongings?"