Martial Cultivator

Chen Chao sat in place, watching that girl jog to catch up with her senior brothers and sisters, only to receive a scolding.

Chen Chao had actually heard clearly what they had said about sect ruins. They regarded him as merely a martial artist with no special abilities, so they did not use any secret art to conceal their conversation or speak telepathically. However, due to the white mist within him, Chen Chao had heard their conversation clearly. It was only now that he started to grasp the situation. The Northern Frontier was a showdown involving the three parties: the demon race, the Great Liang, and the foreign lands. Each had their own interests. Although the Infatuation Daoist Temple was a leading force among the daoist sects and had significant influence in the foreign lands, it was not easy to get these young qi refiners to engage with the demon race in the Northern Frontier. Chen Chao had been wondering why, and now he understood that the desolate northern plains must hold something of interest to these foreign sects, which was why they were willing to take the risk and participate.

This thing must be what they called sect ruins.

The thirty thousand miles of the desolate north might conceal some secrets, and foreign lands had known this for a long time. However, the Great Liang Dynasty's Northern Frontier Great Wall had blocked their way before, making it hard for them to enter. This time, with the opportunity presenting itself, it was a perfect match.

Chen Chao sighed, “In the end, no one will put in effort without benefits."

As for those few qi refiners earlier, Chen Chao did not have any good feelings toward them, but it was not to the extent that he wanted to kill them on the spot. It was just that if his identity were to be exposed and if they happened to have a high cultivation level, it was likely that there would be a life-and-death battle. However, that was all in the past. Tonight's encounter, what ultimately made Chen Chao forget about it was after the Liang surname girl's final apology.

Most foreign cultivators were like the others, but if it were said that only the Liang surname girl was different, that would not be very logical. After all, besides the Liang surname girl, Chen Chao had met Zhu Xia early on. Thinking of Zhu Xia, Chen Chao rubbed his head, as it had been some time since he had seen that young girl. He wondered if she would appear in the desolate northern plains this time.

After thinking for a moment, he felt that wandering aimlessly was not a solution. While the group of qi refiners had not gone far, Chen Chao extinguished the fire and carefully spread out his senses, then quickly followed after them.

Qi refiners had many methods, especially those that borrowed the power of heaven and earth. Although the cultivation realms of those few were not very high, Chen Chao did not dare to get too close. If he were discovered later and they decided to make a move, what would he do?

So along the way, Chen Chao just followed from a distance, always staying more than a thousand feet away, merely hoping that his eyesight could catch a faint light in the distance.

The visibility was decent in the middle of the night, but once dawn arrived, Chen Chao had to risk moving forward a bit. The wind and snow were so heavy that they obscured his view, but fortunately, Chen Chao was dressed in white, making it difficult to spot him as well.

After walking and stopping for several days, Chen Chao calculated the days and realized that he had only covered a few hundred miles.

Moreover, this group of qi refiners did not always head north. During this period, they went around in circles, turning east and west, which made it hard for Chen Chao to grasp the situation. However, his confusion was quickly resolved. The reason was that once, when he fell behind the group, he lost track of them. Just as he was feeling a bit dejected, he saw several figures appear not far away.

With demonic qi overflowing from them, it was clear that they were young geniuses from the demon race.

Only then, did Chen Chao realize that this group of qi refiners had special methods to avoid the demon race's tracking, while he, who was following from a distance, was out of luck.

However, after glancing at those demon cultivators, Chen Chao did not hesitate. Grasping the hilt of his saber, he immediately engaged in a fierce battle.

An hour later, Chen Chao sheathed his saber, and the hilt turned from white to black.

Following his usual routine, Chen Chao skillfully extracted the demon beads from the demon cultivators, cleaned them, and stored them in his bosom. Although he was a bit rusty with this old profession, after doing it once, the feel naturally came back.

However, after killing these demon cultivators, Chen Chao could not help but sigh. At this point, he still could not find any trace of the qi refiners. Chen Chao thought for a moment and finally decided to leave it to fate, continuing to walk straight ahead.

But whether it was good luck or some divine intervention, a few days later, Chen Chao saw the group of qi refiners from a distance again.

However, this time, the qi refiners seemed to be in a difficult situation. They had just fought with several young demon cultivators that they failed to avoid. After finally slaying the enemies and preparing to collect the demon beads and usable items from the demon cultivators, a few people came walking towards them. Seeing the demon cultivators' corpses on the ground, they immediately said, "You guys may go now."

Faced with such an obvious robbery, Xu Ru's expression became ugly. Frowning, he said, “Which immortal mountain do Fellow Daoists come from? Such unreasonable behavior is rather excessive, don't you think?”

The leader was a tall young man. Hearing this, he merely said with a sneer, “Fellow Daoist, your skills are lacking, so are you trying to bring out your background?" "Know that this is the desolate northern plains. No matter what renowned sect you come from, even if you are the biological son of the Temple Master, if we kill you, no one will say a word. We're all relying on our own abilities, what's the point of saying all those pointless things?"

The man spoke rudely. Before Xu Ru could respond, the Liang surname woman said with some anger, “You all are clearly the ones being unreasonable. We won't leave. If you have the capability, just kill us!”

It was still fine when she did not speak, but the moment she spoke, it drew everyone's attention. A young man with a scrawny, monkey-like appearance in the crowd said mockingly, “Since when does a qi refiner below the Bitter Sea Realm have such a tone?!"

"If you really want to fight with us, let's not do it here. I think we should go and find somewhere secluded and have a fight? As luck would have it, I happened to know a little about dual cultivation techniques, wouldn't everyone get to rejoice?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd burst into laughter.

The Liang surname woman was deeply insulted and was about to take action, but Xu Ru quickly said in a deep voice, “Liang Jinjin!”

Liang Jinjin was taken aback and said aggrievedly, “Senior Brother!”

Xu Ru ignored her and instead cupped his hands towards the group, saying, “You may take the remains of these demons, Fellow Daoists”

After saying this, he said sternly, “Don't cause problems. Have you forgotten the instructions given before we set out? Let's go!" "Go."

Liang Jinjin was reluctant, but remembering their Master's instructions before leaving, she could only snort coldly and turn to leave. However, the skinny, monkey-like young man pressed on, “Don't rush off. I'm sure Fellow Daoists have found quite a few good things along the way. How about taking it out?" "If you really can't bear to part with them, just leave this Fellow Daoist Liang here. The rest of you can go wherever you like.”

Originally hoping to settle the matter peacefully, Xu Ru was taken aback by the other party's increasing arrogance. He said coldly, “Are you really not going to give Pinecreek Mountain any face?” “Pinecreek Mountain? Which sect is that? Why have we never heard of it?”

The skinny monkey grinned, “Don't be reluctant to part with those external possessions. After all, it's not easy to be able to leave with your lives.”

Liang Jinjin said furiously, “Senior Brother, they're too much. Let's fight it out with them!”

Xu Ru shook his head, suppressing his anger, and said quietly, “We haven't encountered any demons on our journey, so we don't have any treasures.”

The skinny monkey laughed loudly, “Do you believe that?”

The people around him laughed uproariously.

The other qi refiners remained silent, but their expressions were all grim.

Feeling helpless, Xu Ru could only softly reveal their secret, “As qi refiners, we have means to avoid danger and seek safety. I believe you are aware of this. We're just out here to broaden our horizons, so we avoid demons whenever possible. We only attacked this group because we really couldn't avoid them. This is no falsehood, we have no other treasures on us. There's no need for you to keep pushing us.”

At this point, Xu Ru had nearly lowered his pride to its lowest. He did not want to clash with these people and delay the important matter.

But ultimately, it was because they did not have the assurance of victory over this group of people, especially with a sword cultivator among them who had remained silent the entire time. Though this person had not spoken, their sword qi occasionally leaked out, probing them.

Qi refiners had many techniques and generally would not fear other cultivators, but they were most afraid of sword cultivators. The killing power of a sword cultivator was tremendous, and often they relied on brute force, breaking through with a single strike.

The skinny monkey did not say anything more, he just looked at Xu Ru coldly.

Instead, the leader slowly smiled and said, “Avoiding danger and seeking good fortune, and using the luck of heaven and earth for oneself, are all techniques that qi refiners excel at. Since you have avoided demons along the way, it seems you have other plans. The thirty thousand miles of desolate north have several sects destroyed by the previous dynasty. Which one are you aiming for?" "Since we've met, traveling together would offer mutual support, wouldn't it be better?”

At this point, their intentions were finally revealed. They had learned about these things before leaving their sect, but since there were no qi refiners in their sect, only vague descriptions from the elders, they had been searching like headless flies without results. Now, encountering a group of qi refiners, it was like a meat pie had fallen onto their laps. How could they possibly let them go?

Their previous words had merely been a probe.

They never intended to let the qi refiners go from the beginning.

Xu Ru remained silent and quietly communicated with his junior brothers and sisters telepathically, “Protect Junior Sister Liang. If there's a chance, withdraw immediately...”

Before the words had even left his mouth, a flying sword had already cut through the wind and snow, shooting out from the crowd.

The skinny monkey laughed coldly, his entire body surging with qi as he attacked fiercely. The people next to him also acted immediately. Since they had decided to capture these qi refiners to lead the way, no one intended to kill them. But with their numbers and their previous advantage of waiting in ambush, they were naturally in the superior position.

Xu Ru also did not hesitate. The wind and snow gathered behind him, and a massive snowman appeared in the space between heaven and earth.

Such methods were quite common for qi refiners.