Chapter 22: Swallowing the Spirit of the Yin Demon

Defiant Martial God

Qin Yu was somewhat apprehensive. In order to stop these terracotta soldiers, they needed to be completely blown apart, otherwise, they would never die. However, there were thousands of them here and with his current strength, going against so many would only be a road to ruin. He wasn’t even able to run away because the cave’s entrance had been blocked by the stone gate.

Right now, he was still too weak and barely had any methods for attacking. Apart from the first form of Rushing Thunder Palm, he didn’t have any other attacking skills. Plus, the Bone Corroding Evil Winds Palm skill that he recently learned didn’t have much of an effect on these terracotta soldiers. Fortunately, he still had the body movement skill, Cloudtrack Phantom, so he could easily dodge.

He couldn’t continue like this, or else the only road left for him would be death. Qin Yu’s mind whirled, his gaze like electricity as he stared at Wang Murong who was standing at the front, serenely watching him fight. He opened his mouth and shouted, “Miss Murong, save me!”

Wang Murong heard Qin Yu’s cry for help and her lips curved into a strange smile as she moved. At first, it seemed as if she was going to continue watching, but when she heard Qin Yu’s shout, she flew over to him.

A *bang* echoed. Qin Yu had just fallen at Wang Murong’s feet, blood spilling from his mouth. He looked miserable.

“Qin Xiong, nothing’s wrong right?” Wang Murong wore a faint smile as she bowed her head to ask. Unexpectedly, there wasn’t the slightest trace of concern on her face.

“Nothing’s wrong with me, but something will with you.” Qin Yu raised his head, a sharp light flashing through his eyes. Only the afterimage of his hand waving could be seen as he swiftly and accurately sealed Wang Murong’s acupuncture points.

“What are you doing?” Wang Murong paled, crying out as she tried to move back. However, a large hand had already firmly grabbed her white and delicate neck.

“Qin Xiong, wh—what’s the meaning of this?!” Wang Murong was alarmed. She couldn’t understand what was going on.

“Stop with the nonsense and make them stop!” Qin Yu shouted angrily as he looked at the soldiers approaching for an attack.

“Qin Xiong, how could I possibly make them stop?” Wang Murong said with misery.

“It seems like you won’t regret anything until you see your coffin!” Qin Yu’s body was enveloped by an icy killing intent as his right hand suddenly grabbed the top of Wang Murong’s head.

“Don’t! Fine, I’ll make them stop!” Wang Murong yielded and shouted at the approaching terracotta soldiers, “Return!”

The terracotta soldiers weren’t actual people, rather, they were puppets so they immediately retreated without any hesitation.

“Now, re—release me!” Wang Murong squeezed out the words with difficulty. It was getting harder to breathe.

Qin Yu sneered. “Release you? A trifling spirit of the Yin Demon’s qi dares to plot against this young master, steal the body of this young master’s friend, as well as swallow my spirit pearl? Do you still think that I would let you go?!”

“H—how could you tell?” Wang Murong’s face turned ashen with fear.

“If I couldn’t even figure this out, then this young master would be ashamed to have formerly been Xie Di! Now get out!” Qin Yu shouted loudly. He put force into his hand as his internal energy surged into Wang Murong’s head.

“No…! Ah…!!!” Wang Murong released a mournful, blood-curdling screech as black light suddenly shone from her head. A shadow flew out from Wang Murong’s forehead. It wanted to escape but a black pearl also flew out from Wang Murong’s forehead and directly chased after it.

“Roar!”

A pearl released a fierce tiger-like roar as the image of a giant tiger’s head formed in the air. Its jaws opened as it fiercely charged at the fleeing black shadow, aiming to swallow it in one mouthful.

“No—!”

The scream tore through the air as the black shadow was swallowed up. The image of the fierce tiger swiftly shrunk before finally fading into the bead.

The pearl that appeared just now was precisely Qin Yu’s spirit pearl. The Earth Spirit Pearl had just devoured the spirit of the Yin Demon’s qi and for a moment, released a black burst of energy and light. The burst of energy and light was so strong that even Qin Yu couldn’t help but shut his eyes.

The Earth Spirit Pearl was about to upgrade!

Sure enough, after the intense light dissipated, the Earth Spirit Pearl that flew into the air was more lustrous and dazzling than before. Two green veined patterns could faintly be seen on the pearl’s shiny, black body.

It directly crossed over from grade 0 to grade 2. No wonder it heedlessly rushed in here so desperately. The spirit manifestation of the Yin Demon’s qi was the best of the best and would provide rapid growth for the pearl. However, it was also very lucky. If Qin Yu hadn’t promptly discovered Wang Murong’s abnormalities that time and his sneak attack hadn’t succeeded, the Earth Spirit Pearl would’ve probably been refined by that spirit.

The Earth Spirit Pearl flew back after upgrading. It stopped in front of Qin Yu.

Qin Yu stared at it and scolded, “Zhu’er, [1. In Chinese, “Zhu” translated to “Pearl.” The addition of the *‘er* is a suffix used to indicate affection or endearment.] don’t be so mischievous again in the future! You must tell me in advance! Just look at how dangerous it was this time!”

The Earth Spirit Pearl understood, seeming to nod in midair.

Qin Yu relaxed his tone and instructed, “Alright, come back then.”

The Earth Spirit Pearl released a cry as it instantly disappeared into Qin Yu’s forehead, entering his sea of consciousness.

After the Earth Spirit Pearl entered his sea of consciousness, it immediately discharged all of the spiritual essences that it couldn’t digest, sending it back to Qin Yu.

Qin Yu hastily sat down and entered a meditative state, circulating his qi with rapt attention. He tried to absorb the spiritual essence with all his strength. His aura grew bit by bit.

*Boom*

Inside his body, his internal strength jerked around madly in his veins, breaking through the barrier. Originally, he was already at the apex of Origin Realm. Now that he got such pure energy, his breakthrough was inevitable. But Qin Yu suppressed his breakthrough. The cultivation method this body was using before was too rudimentary and he still hadn’t completely reformed everything. Plus, he had previously cultivated to his current state with the cultivation manual, so his body’s foundation wasn’t stable enough. If the foundation wasn’t strong, then his development might encounter some hidden dangers and limit his future.

As someone who was previously Xie Di, Qin Yu naturally wanted to thoroughly eliminate these hidden dangers, so he decided to temporarily not break through.

While the Earth Spirit Pearl sent him the spiritual essence, it also gave back a pleasant surprise. He had just received the memories of the spirit it had swallowed and understood more of what had happened.

His eyes widened as he accepted its secrets and slowly stood up, his gaze sharp as he looked at a nearby soldier. He had a thought as he opened his mouth to say, “Come forward!”

A thud sounded as a terracotta soldier strode forward, creating a series of thuds.

“Halt.” The soldier stopped, its face indifferent as it stared ahead.

“Withdraw.” The soldier turned around, it marched with heavy footsteps, creating another series of thuds walking back to its original position. It stood there, its posture tall and upright.

“So that’s how it is.” Qin Yu finally understood. Just now, it had been the spirit ordering these soldiers to attack.

*Cough* *Cough*

At this moment, faint coughs sounded behind him. Qin Yu hastily turned around. On the ground, the real Wang Murong had finally awoken.

“Miss Murong, are you alright?” Qin Yu crouched down and asked with concern.

Wang Murong opened her eyes and immediately saw Qin Yu and she was shocked. “Qin Xiong, why are you here?”

Qin Yu laughed. “You don’t want to see me?”

“Ah, of course I do! But how are you here? Wait, where is this place?” Wang Murong raised her head with astonishment and looked around. At that moment, her entire body became petrified as she sat there stiffly, her small mouth gaping open. Her beautiful face was filled with overwhelming shock, excitement, emotion, and more, which formed a very complicated expression.

“I found it... I’ve finally found it!” Wang Murong talked to herself, tears of excitement flowing from her eyes.

“Miss Murong, what did you find?” Qin Yu asked curiously.

Wang Murong was still filled with excitement and didn’t seem to hear Qin Yu as she stood up, directly ignoring him.

“The godly soldiers...my ancestor’s godly soldiers...I’ve finally found them!” Wang Murong continued to talk to herself emotionally as she stepped in front of a soldier, reaching out with her fair hand to stroke its icy face. Tears started to fall again. “I’ve finally found you all.”

Qin Yu stood behind her and watched Wang Murong calmly, no longer asking anymore.

After a few more minutes, Wang Murong’s initial excitement finally seemed to have calmed down slightly and she remembered Qin Yu who was watching her from behind.

She softly wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to face him, an apologetic smile on her face. “Qin Xiong, I’m sorry. I’ve made a fool of myself.”

“Haha, it’s nothing.” Qin Yu smiled slightly and asked without thinking, “Miss Murong, are these terracotta soldiers created by your ancestor?”

Wang Murong nodded softly. “These aren’t just terracotta soldiers. They were real people in the past who followed my family’s ancestor into bloody battles as his men.”

“What?!” Qin Yu was startled. Even though he had once been Xie Di and was very experienced and knowledgeable, he had never heard of real people becoming terracotta soldiers buried underground.

The world was vast and filled with extraordinary things. So what if one were a Martial Emperor? Even if one was a Martial God, it would still be impossible for them to know all of the world’s secrets and skills.

“When these soldiers were alive, they were all veterans of a hundred battles. They were elites amongst elite troops. Here, altogether there are a hundred thousand of them.” Wang Murong continued to talk.

“A hundred thousand?!” Qin Yu’s heart secretly rejoiced. Luckily, he had subdued that spirit, otherwise, under the attack of a hundred thousand, even if they just stood there without resisting his attacks, he would still tire to death.

“Your family’s ancestor must’ve been a powerful and extremely talented person.” Qin Yu wasn’t exaggerating at all this time, he truly admired Wang Murong’s ancestor.

“Of course.” When they mentioned her ancestor, Wang Murong’s face revealed a tsundere expression [2. TL Note: Yep XD I’m not joking! The raws actually used “傲娇,” which is a loanword from the Japanese word, “Tsundere”. For those who don’t know what that means, “it’s a Japanese term for a character development process that describes a person who is initially cold (and sometimes even hostile) before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time.” Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsundere]. However, her face quickly turned gloomy as she sighed sadly. “It’s a pity though, our family’s later generations only seem to be degrading with each passing generation. Our ancestor’s glory has long been squandered by the incompetence of the later generations.”

Qin Yu looked at the girl before him. She was only a teenager but the perception she showed just now was even more mature than that of an adult’s. Who exactly was she and who was her ancestor?

“Eh? What happened here?” Wang Murong had just discovered something strange behind her and she was astonished. On the marble floor were two of the soldiers’ “corpses” reduced to rubble except for an intact head. However, it had also been split into two halves. It was the one Qin Yu had hacked into two pieces with the stone sword.

“I destroyed them,” Qin Yu answered. “They tried to attack me earlier so I destroyed two of them.”

“What?! How could they have tried to attack you?” Wang Murong’s charming face was filled with shock and disbelief.

It was impossible for these soldiers to take the initiative to attack unless…