Chapter 53: Facing Two Enemies, The Might of Swordsmanship

Zhao Chun drew the Crimson Edge Dagger and faced the cultivator wielding a long saber in the left position head-on. A one-on-two fight was ultimately disadvantageous to her; she had to end it quickly and resolve one of them.

The saber-wielding cultivator had not expected Zhao Chun to react so swiftly. Within a single breath, she had closed the distance. He scrambled to dodge, but he was too slow; the Crimson Edge Dagger pierced through his shoulder, sending blood flying!

"How did I run into a sword cultivator!" he cursed inwardly, retreating rapidly.

Sword cultivators were outliers among cultivators, specializing in the path of slaughter. In terms of killing prowess, they were unrivaled among those of the same rank! While the difference might not be significant during the Qi Refinement stage, once one reached Foundation Establishment, a sword cultivator who had condensed sword qi could easily take on ten opponents alone!

Though the saber-wielder was constantly retreating, the malice in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. He thought to himself: *If you were truly a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator, I would fear you. But we are both at the Qi Refinement stage; what confidence do you have to face two opponents?*

Seeing him retreat, Zhao Chun did not relent, swinging her sword to strike at him once more!

The other Qi Refinement sixth-layer cultivator was a dharma cultivator. She was not an acquaintance of the saber-wielder, but she understood in her heart that if she allowed this female cultivator to take one of them first, she would become like fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of others.

She immediately formed hand seals, green light flowing as she condensed a long vine to coil toward Zhao Chun!

However, Zhao Chun merely cast a sidelong glance at the vine. With a reverse strike, the sword light fell, and the long vine was instantly severed into two sections!

Where the sword struck, the area was charred black!

The vine-controlling dharma cultivator's expression shifted several times. Not only did fire suppress wood, but when she wielded her sword, the blade shimmered with brilliance, looking as if she had truly inherited some essence of the Way of the Sword!

In the moment she was stunned, Zhao Chun attacked the saber-wielder. A tragic wail rang out; the man's shoulder and arm were severed from his neck by Zhao Chun's strike!

The blow had originally been aimed at his head, and he had managed to shift his body to dodge it, but the heavy injury caused him to fall wretchedly to the ground, unable to rise again.

The other Qi Refinement cultivators had long since moved aside, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire. The vine-controlling dharma cultivator was also pale with shock; she had not expected this young girl to be so ruthless. The saber-wielder's strength was comparable to hers, yet he had been defeated in just a few breaths.

To incapacitate a peer in two moves—an ordinary sixth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator was not this terrifying!

Lying in a pool of blood, the saber-wielder watched Zhao Chun approach with her sword. Panic seized him, and he cried out, "It was me... it was my greed! That is why I attacked a fellow Daoist. I know my mistake now. I am willing to hand over everything I obtained from the ruins to you. Please, spare my life! Spare my life!"

His face was filled with sorrowful pleas, but his eyes held no fear; instead, they were full of jealousy and hatred. Zhao Chun looked at him coldly. Did he take her for a naive child? If she truly softened her heart and let him go, he might find an opening to strike, and she might end up losing her life.

Seeing that Zhao Chun did not move, he felt a secret joy, thinking his pleas were working. He sneered at the female cultivator, thinking she was a disciple from some unknown sect who, being new to the outside world, suffered from the flaw of being soft-hearted. Once she stepped forward to take the items, he would take the opportunity to finish her off!

Zhao Chun took a half-step forward and lunged at him. Before he could crush the talisman in his hand, she struck down his head. The sword passed without a trace, leaving only a pillar of blood, yet the Crimson Edge Dagger remained unstained by a single drop of red.

She turned to look back at the vine-controlling dharma cultivator, who retreated several steps in terror. With eyes full of deep wariness, she said tremulously, "I have offended you today. Please take these as an apology. I shall take my leave!"

She took the cloth bag from her waist, placed it on the ground, and turned to flee, abandoning all grace as she ran into the distance.

With Zhao Chun's speed, catching her would be easy, but she was not a person of bloodthirsty nature. The dharma cultivator's eyes were filled with terror, and she likely would not strike again. Furthermore, this trip was intended for the Wood-Nourishing Fruit; it would be unwise to lose sight of the objective and invite unnecessary trouble.

Observing this battle, the other cultivators present began to flee rapidly, fearing that if she became bloodthirsty, she would not spare them either. Those who stayed for the Wood-Nourishing Fruit stood trembling in place, muttering, "Senior, we..."

Zhao Chun searched the saber-wielder's bag and saw an unused fireball talisman in his fist. Her gaze sharpened; she wondered how many cultivators he had successfully robbed.

She then picked up the bag left by the dharma cultivator. Weighing it, she felt satisfied. Hearing the question, she replied indifferently, "Pick them up yourselves."

Items under fifty years of age were of little use to her, so there was no need to contend with these cultivators.

She leaped swiftly upward to continue searching for the Wood-Nourishing Fruit. Seeing that her words did not seem false, the others did not dare to step forward easily. It was only after Zhao Chun had picked everything she could and departed that they came out with shaking legs to scavenge the remaining spirit fruits.

"Who was that? To fight two at once and take a life! Does she have great cultivation?" The rogue cultivator speaking was only at the third layer of Qi Refinement. He had seen the two attack Zhao Chun and thought she would flee in panic, but instead, she had drawn her sword to fight, killed one, and forced the other to flee.

His responder was a fifth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator. Judging by his attire, he was likely a sect disciple. Possessing some experience, he replied, "The aura of those three had not reached the late stage; they should all be at the sixth layer of Qi Refinement."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked. Someone gasped, "To be at the sixth layer at such a young age!"

The sect disciple sneered and raised an eyebrow at him. Feeling a sense of being the center of attention as the crowd gathered, he spoke: "In the great sects, those aged twelve or thirteen reaching the late stage of Qi Refinement are everywhere. There are even those who reach Foundation Establishment at fifteen. The most famous are Song Yikun, the personal disciple of the Sect Leader of the top sect in the Southern Region, Zhiyue Sect, and the genius disciple of Qingshan, Xue Jun. Both possess Heaven-grade spiritual roots and reached Foundation Establishment at ten. Now, at seventeen or eighteen, they are about to seek the Condensation Realm!"

The rest were left in awe. Hearing of such geniuses, they suddenly felt a sense of inadequacy; even the image of Zhao Chun killing her peer with such ease faded somewhat.

One fellow sect disciple looked at the man with a sense of pride and felt a slight disdain, thinking to himself: *What does the prestige of geniuses have to do with you? You are merely using their names to bolster your own status here.*

However, his mind was clearer than the others. He knew that geniuses like Song Yikun and Xue Jun were once in a century. Even if one did not count Zhao Chun as a top-tier genius, someone who could fight two peers and maintain the upper hand was far superior to her peers.

Zhao Chun, of course, knew none of this. After gathering the Wood-Nourishing Fruits, she found a secluded spot to count them. Combined with the two cultivators, there were over eight hundred. The vine-controlling cultivator had appeared low-profile, but her bag actually contained three century-old, emerald-green spirit fruits.

With this, Zhao Chun had nine century-old Wood-Nourishing Fruits and eight hundred and thirty fruits over fifty years old, which should be enough for a long time.

The saber-wielder's belongings were now in her hands. She could only conclude that rogue cultivators were truly poor; she had obtained only about a hundred spirit stones, two or three bottles of medicinal pills, and two fireball talismans, which could be considered a decent harvest. Zhao Chun put them all away, sighing that even a mosquito is still meat.

The spirit herb garden in the outer layer had little of use to her; she would have to enter the inner layer to search. With this thought, she put the spirit fruits into her storage bag and turned toward the exit of the garden.

She would first regroup with Meng Han before proceeding further in.

Unexpectedly, upon reaching the water-collecting spirit fields, she ran into acquaintances.

The leading youth had a handsome face and a posture as straight as a pine tree. Who else could it be but Fan Shuping of the Fenyu Sect?

However, while there had been seven or eight people on the boat, only three remained now. Aside from the willful junior sister Zhao Zhanqian, there was only one round-faced disciple following behind.

The three seemed to have had another dispute with others, but this time, the opposition was not like Fang Xunzuo, who only engaged in verbal arguments. Instead, with darkened faces, they wielded their spiritual tools and attacked the weakest, the round-faced disciple, directly!

Fan Shuping waved his sleeve to block the attack and formed hand seals to counterattack.

Being at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, it was relatively easy for him to block these third and fourth-layer cultivators, but the opposition was numerous—there were ten of them in total—making it quite strenuous for him.

Zhao Chun watched coldly, having no desire to intervene. She continued walking forward, hearing continuous explosions behind her. She glanced back to see that Zhao Zhanqian was throwing a flurry of talismans, blasting the opposition into continuous retreat.

*Truly, winning through wealth...*

As she mused, she reached the stone gate. Meng Han was sitting quietly on the ground. Seeing her leap out, he opened his eyes and smiled, "Did you have a bountiful harvest?"

Zhao Chun nodded. Once Meng Han stood up, she followed him into the inner layer.