Chapter 13: What to do if fellow disciples are killing each other?

If Lin Xi were the only one saying this, Yue Chuyin would have known something was off without even thinking about it.

But Xu Ke had been with him for so long, and he was an honest man. He probably wouldn’t make things up the way Lin Xi did, right?

Besides, Lady Xuan Hou really was injured and unconscious right now. And given the strength of Lin Xi and Xu Ke, they truly couldn’t have hurt her.

So… was it really these demonic beasts?

Looking at the group of beasts—most at peak or late stage Golden Core—killing intent clearly rose in Yue Chuyin’s eyes.

He acted the moment he decided to and attacked the beasts directly.

Sure enough, although both he and Lady Xuan Hou were at early-stage Nascent Soul on the surface, they were completely different. Suppressed by a gu for so long, his true cultivation had already reached mid-stage Nascent Soul; he just couldn’t use that portion of spiritual energy, which made him appear to still be early-stage Nascent Soul.

As a result, these demonic beasts posed little threat to him at all.

In an instant, he slaughtered a large number of them.

Before running off, Lin Xi took the opportunity to quickly scoop up a batch of demon cores. After putting some distance between himself and the battlefield, he removed the Sleeping Talisman, though it would still take a while before she woke up.

That idiot Senior Brother Yue would probably figure out the truth very soon.

Lin Xi felt that this time, Senior Brother Yue really wouldn’t let him off.

So of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, running was the best plan.

He originally wanted to set Xu Ke down and let him fly on his sword by himself, but Lin Xi vanished in a flash, and Xu Ke couldn’t catch up no matter how hard he tried.

With no other choice, Lin Xi had to carry him along.

Sigh.

If only he could run into his good neighbor Xue Mufeng right now.

An ice spiritual-root sword cultivator was damn good at fighting!

As Lin Xi was thinking this, his footing suddenly wobbled. It was actually Xu Ke who hadn’t stood steady and almost fell off.

Lin Xi was baffled: I’m not even making you fly the sword, so how are you still falling?

He grabbed Xu Ke in one motion and simply carried him while flying on his sword.

As they flew, he asked casually, “If I throw you down here, would Yue Chuyin kill you?”

Xu Ke: “…”

That’s very hard to say.

Lin Xi shook his head helplessly. Just then, a small rocky hill appeared ahead. With sharp eyes and quick hands, he manually wrenched the sword hilt straight, skimming past the edge of the rocks.

The sword wobbled several times, and both of them nearly fell off.

The moment Lin Xi cleared the obstacle, he suddenly accelerated. The sword hummed loudly under his control, and Xu Ke was already being jolted so badly he felt completely disoriented.

They flew for quite a while before Lin Xi finally stopped because he’d run out of spiritual energy.

Xu Ke looked utterly done with life, foam almost coming out of his mouth.

In his life, he had seen Sect Master Yue fly on a sword, seen Lan Xing do it, seen Lady Xuan Hou do it…

But he had never seen anyone turn sword flight into something this unhinged.

Lin Xi was one of a kind.

Overall, this speed and reaction ability could be credited to the “training” of his previous life—dodging chalk and rags and fighting over food—and also to Gui Ying’s “friendly” teaching methods.

Lin Xi leaned against a tree trunk, absorbing the dense spiritual energy around him. The tree quietly shifted, extended a branch, and slowly replenished the spiritual energy in his body.

The moment Lin Xi realized this, he jumped up.

Holy crap, did the tree gain sentience?!

Immediately after, he noticed it wasn’t the tree at all, but a black-clad man with a gentle smile controlling things from behind.

Lin Xi expressionlessly walked around the tree and looked at his sect leader senior brother.

Then he put on the Bi’An Sect–style friendly smile, “Sect Leader Shixiong.”

Nice, nice, nice. Looks like you’ve really figured out how to abuse a wood spiritual root, huh.

Gui Ying smiled warmly, “I didn’t expect little junior brother to find a demon core of a Nascent Soul–stage beast.”

Lin Xi froze. Only then did he remember that Xu Ke’s demon core was still with him. He hadn’t returned it yet.

He told the truth: “Actually, it’s his.”

As he spoke, he looked at Xu Ke and stuffed the demon core back into his hand.

Xu Ke was panicking so badly he didn’t even know where to put his hands. In a daze, he accepted it, shoved it into his storage pouch, and looked over in this direction with a very strange expression.

Lin Xi was speechless for a moment, then patted him on the shoulder, “It’s fine. Sect Leader Shixiong is a really good person.”

Yeah, right.

Only then did Xu Ke calm down, “Xu Ke of the Silver Moon Sect greets Sect Leader.”

To be honest, he had rarely seen Gui Ying before, and even when he had, it was never his place to speak.

Gui Ying nodded, but his gaze fell on the hand Lin Xi had resting on Xu Ke’s shoulder. His smile faltered for a split second, “You two are quite close?”

Lin Xi replied, “Temporary partners. Not enemies. It’s fine.”

Gui Ying’s expression flattened for a single second before that mask-like smile returned.

“So, why were you running in such a hurry just now?”

Well…

Nothing much, just collected a pile of demon cores and thoroughly offended Yue Chuyin and Lady Xuan Hou in the process.

After Lin Xi recounted the entire sequence of events, Gui Ying almost lost control of his expression and burst out laughing.

He knew very well what Yue Chuyin’s objective this time had been: snatch some demon cores, make some money, and at least avoid bankrupting the Silver Moon Sect.

But once Lady Xuan Hou was injured, Yue Chuyin went completely berserk, slaughtering wildly. At that point, even demon cores couldn’t catch his attention anymore.

When he was younger, Yue Chuyin had been a steel-reinforced straight man. Clueless about everything, especially romance, but he wasn’t lacking in intelligence. That much was obvious from the Heavenly Dust-Returning Sword Technique.

But after Lady Xuan Hou appeared, he had visibly grown stupider by the day, and his cultivation had stopped progressing as well.

Tsk.

This senior brother really was more trouble than he was worth.

Gui Ying silently rubbed the large handful of talismans hidden inside his sleeve.

Lin Xi looked at his senior brother’s face and felt it growing increasingly sinister.

On the other hand, Yue Chuyin was a very efficient man. Lady Xuan Hou woke up quickly as well. Before long, Lin Xi saw a figure slice through the sky and land perfectly in front of them. Very flashy, very showy.

Lin Xi looked up at the sky and quietly pressed Xu Ke, who was about to stand up, back down.

“Senior Brother Yue, we meet again.”

Yue Chuyin’s face looked as awful as if he’d eaten shit. He held out his hand.

“Hand over the demon cores from the Golden Core–stage beasts.”

“What demon cores? Don’t know. Don’t have any.” Lin Xi smiled brilliantly, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask the two of them.”

Only then did he stop pressing Xu Ke down.

Xu Ke immediately stood up from the bushes. Gui Ying also emerged smiling from the shadows of the trees not far away.

F*ck, why is he here too?!!

Yue Chuyin felt like committing seppuku on the spot.

Seeing his adorable junior sect brother approach with a smile, Gui Ying said gently, “Yue Chuyin, what can’t be talked about properly? It’s not good for fellow disciples to harm each other, is it?”

Oh, right, right, right. So you know that harming fellow disciples is bad?!

Then why don’t I see you shoving Lin Xi into a wall?!!

Yue Chuyin forcibly maintained his expression, “Lady Xuan Hou was severely injured. He was the mastermind.”

The “he” referred to Lin Xi.

“Is that so?” Gui Ying smiled faintly, “But this lord heard that she was the one who forcibly seized demon cores first, mocked others with her words afterward, and relied on her status to bully people. In that case, what’s so strange about her getting injured?”

Yue Chuyin still retorted, “The Demonic Beast Forest has always operated on the principle that the strong rule.”

The curve of Gui Ying’s lips disappeared. His black eyes were utterly calm.

“If the strong rule, then my junior brother merely applied a little strategy, killing three birds with one stone. What’s wrong with that? Lady Xuan Hou was injured because of her greed; you were deceived because you were foolish. There is no injustice in this.

“So accept your loss.”

Yue Chuyin lowered his head in silence for a moment, his expression extremely twisted, a trace of coldness seeping out.

When he raised his head again, the artifact Nether Sea Lamp suddenly appeared in his hand.

A blinding glow flashed.

Not far away, Lin Xi’s pupils shrank sharply. He fell backward, as if his soul had been ripped out in that instant.

“Gui Ying, since you also agree that the strong rule, then if I kill him here, what would you say to that?”

Yue Chuyin called him by name and actually attacked Lin Xi!

The disciples of Shu Ling were indeed “harmonious”—fights happened often—but they all adhered to one principle: no killing moves.

No matter how badly Gui Ying had beaten Yue Chuyin back then, even when the two of them had fought in their youth, neither had ever suffered internal injuries, let alone bled much.

But that strike just now had been launched with Nether Sea Lamp: a Nascent Soul–level attack. Combined with this half-artifact, half-ferocious weapon, how could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator possibly block it?

Gui Ying’s gaze remained fixed on Yue Chuyin. Whether it was an illusion or not, Yue Chuyin saw a sudden flash of cold light in the other’s eyes.

No longer a gentle, refined gentleman—but a cold, ruthless criminal.

A streak of white-gold spiritual energy flashed. The once-indestructible Nether Sea Lamp Lamp shattered like a paper lantern, falling to the ground and rolling away.

Lin Xi finally opened his eyes, regaining consciousness.

That sensation of his soul being torn away had left him in almost unbearable agony.

Even if Yue Chuyin was an idiot, one had to admit it. The Nether Sea Lamp was terrifying beyond words.

A trace of golden light flashed through Gui Ying’s eyes. At some unknown moment, he had already appeared behind Yue Chuyin.

“Yue Chuyin, the reason this lord didn’t touch you before was because you and I belong to the same sect. But as things stand now, killing you here seems perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it?”

Every hair on Yue Chuyin’s body stood on end. All this time, Gui Ying had been a smiling, friendly, gentle-looking liar.

But now, that disguise had been stripped away.

That cold indifference in his eyes was something Yue Chuyin had never seen before.

Yue Chuyin stomped hard, soaring straight up, then fled madly toward the distance. Gui Ying watched coldly as his senior brother escaped in disgrace.

The farther he ran, the better. It was more spectacular to look at that way.

In the next instant, talismans filled the air. Gui Ying had actually thrown a whole stack of them skyward with his bare hands, tightly encircling Yue Chuyin.

Close behind came a sword. Pitch-black from tip to hilt, except for its handle, which shone with dazzling golden light.

A mass of explosive talismans bloomed in the air like celebratory fireworks, along with Yue Chuyin himself.

The Qiongyao Sword slashed wildly in all directions, while the explosive talismans detonated together, bursting into beautiful sprays of spiritual light.

Interwoven with golden sword light, it was unexpectedly gorgeous like a fireworks display.

Gui Ying turned his head. The coldness in his eyes had eased slightly now, and the corners of his lips lifted, “Are the fireworks pretty?”

Xu Ke was hiding in a small clump of trees far away, not daring to make a sound.

In the end, he mustered his courage and asked, “Sect Leader… will Sect Master Yue… die?”

Seeing that it was Xu Ke who spoke, Gui Ying’s brows lowered slightly, “No.”

After that, he said nothing more.

Having just come to his senses, Lin Xi more or less understood what had happened.

What the hell? That fireworks display was Yue Chuyin?

So… does this count as fellow disciples killing each other?

Looking again at Gui Ying’s unhinged demeanor, Lin Xi nodded silently. Yup, this was exactly the aura of a final boss.

He had no idea what Yue Chuyin would end up like.

Honestly, it was kind of pitiful.

But since Gui Ying said he wouldn’t die, then he definitely wouldn’t die.

Lin Xi silently mourned Yue Chuyin for three seconds.