Chapter 23

In the blink of an eye, Pei Ling pounced forward. The Life-Extinguishing Blade drew a bright red arc in the air as it slashed viciously at Miao Cheng’an’s head!

Miao Cheng’an panicked. He only needed a little more time to activate the talisman in his hand, but he immediately dodged to the side.

However, he had already infused all his spiritual power into the talisman at the moment. His body was heavy and far beyond his usual self. He could not react at all.

Although he did his best and barely avoided the fatal blow, his shoulder still got struck by the blade!

Amidst his shrill cry, an arm left his body. At the same time, the talisman in his hand had finally completed the final activation, and it lit up with a wisp of dark light that swiftly transformed into a longsword that emanated ghastly sword qi, shooting out explosively!

The longsword rushed toward the wall beside him with unstoppable momentum.

With the breaking sound, a bowl-sized hole appeared in the initially intact wall. The sword whistled away, disappearing into the night without a trace.

When Miao Cheng’an witnessed this, his face turned white instantly. He felt as if he had fallen into an icehouse!

It was the sword talisman his brother had given him as his life-saving trump card.

However, he had lost his arm. Under the intense pain, he could not control it. Not only did he not hit Pei Ling, but he had also already used up all of his spiritual powers!

This talisman is powerful!

Pei Ling looked at the hole in the wall, and his pupils constricted. If this talisman had hit him, he would either be dead or crippled.

Fortunately, his saber was a step faster!

He did not know if Miao Cheng’an had any more similar talismans. He had to finish him as soon as possible! With that thought, Pei Ling did not hesitate to swing his saber at his opponent’s neck!

Right at this moment, a figure suddenly jumped up from behind him. Zhou Yi’s hair was disheveled while he had a resentful expression. A short dagger had appeared in his hand at some point. Its edge was glowing in a jade green color. Obviously, it was poisonous. Zhou Yi leaped up high and stabbed fiercely toward Pei Ling’s back.

Pei Ling immediately sensed Zhou Yi’s movements and did not think twice before slashing his saber with his backhand. Wherever the blade passed, blood flowed from Zhou Yi’s waist and abdomen as he got sent flying!

With a bang, Zhou Yi smashed through a few tables and chairs, but his momentum continued. He finally hit the wall and slowly slid to the ground while dragging an extremely thick bloody mark. He became motionless, and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive.

There was only one left!

Pei Ling raised the Life-Extinguishing Blade again and slashed at Miao Cheng’an.

Despair and unwillingness flashed through Miao Cheng’an’s eyes as he shouted, “My brother is an inner sect…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the Life-Extinguishing Blade had already cut across his throat. A tinge of red splattered as Miao Cheng’an’s eyes widened in shock. He then slowly fell to the ground.

Upon the sight of it, Pei Ling’s tension finally eased.

He let out a heavy breath and gave the system a standard one-star rating. After catching his breath for a moment, his stamina mostly recovered. He immediately stood up and searched for the belongings of the three of them.

After all, excluding the compensation for the furnishings in the room, just the killing of three outer sect disciples meant a fine of 30,000 to 90,000 low-grade spirit stones!

If he could not pay the fine in three months, he would go from an outer sect disciple to a cultivation material split between the various peaks of the Holy Sect.

These three all came from wealthy backgrounds. Their net worth must be considerable.

With this thought in mind, Pei Ling searched the entire room as fast as he could. However, other than the few bottles and jars on the table, the most valuable items were only three differently shaped storage bags.

The problem was that even if the three of them died, their storage bags still had restrictions. Pei Ling tried various methods but was unable to open them.

As for those bottles and jars, they were likely used for medicinal purposes. However, other than the Qi and Blood Pills that the system “gifted” him, Pei Ling did not recognize any others.

“This is a little troublesome…” Pei Ling gathered up everything else other than the medicine and storage bags. No matter how he looked at it, they were never worth much. This pile of trash might not even be worth five spirit stones.

After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to cultivate the Blood Malevolence Saber Art to complete the ten-day limit set by Fairy Li. “System! I want to cultivate the [Blood Malevolence Saber Art]. Select [Temporary Cultivation—Smart Duration], and [One-Click Management].”

The system came online merrily. “Ding Dong! The Smart Cultivation System is at your service…”

Soon, a series of notifications began to flood the screen. “Ding Dong! Depleted spiritual power detected. The system will give you five Essence Enhancing Pills for free…”

“Ding-dong! Host injured. The system will give you three Return of Spring Pills for free…”

“Ding-dong! Host…”

Moments later, the system controlled Pei Ling’s body to pour out the last medicinal pill and consume it. His body turned around to look down at Miao Cheng’an and Zhou Yi lying in a pool of blood on the ground. It reached out and grabbed the Life-Extinguishing Blade. “Ding dong! The host lacks the blood essence of a Qi Refinement Stage cultivator. The system will give you two Qi Refinement Stage cultivators for free.”

Instantly, a bloody mist that was almost non-existent flew out and split into two in midair, pouncing on Miao Cheng’an and Zhou Yi, respectively!

“Ah!!!” Zhou Yi let out a heart-wrenching cry, which surprised Pei Ling.

So this guy isn’t dead yet. He was pretending to be dead!

It is too despicable!

However, the blood mist that pounced on him was filled with greed. It did not retreat just because he was alive. Instead, it plundered his blood essence more forcefully.

Zhou Yi’s expression twisted as if he had received the most extreme form of torture.

He was already heavily injured and on the verge of death, holding onto the hope that he could muddle through. Otherwise, when Pei Ling was resting just now, he would not have stayed quiet and passed the opportunity for a sneak attack. At this moment, he did not last for long as his cries rapidly fell silent. Soon, his entire body was like Li Siguang from before, drying up with all of his blood, Qi, and spirit sucked out. They wrapped around his soul and returned to the Life-Extinguishing Blade.

Like what happened to Li Siguang a moment ago, the blood mist tore his soul into pieces without any pity! At the same time, Miao Cheng’an finally died. The blood mist that rushed into his body quickly turned into a streak of blood light, returning to the Life-Extinguishing Blade. The saber returned to its gorgeous red appearance.

After Miao Cheng’an’s soul also became torn to pieces, the system finally gave a notification. “Ding Dong! The gifting of a Qi Refinement Stage cultivator is complete! The system will continue to cultivate for you…”

As his body moved, he casually stepped over the corpses of Miao Cheng’an and Zhou Yi. The bodies that had their blood essence and soul sucked dry by the Blood Malevolence Saber Art ended up like Li Siguang’s body. In a short moment, they turned into ashes. Then, along with the strong wind that stirred up when the Life-Extinguishing Blade swung, it scattered in all directions, leaving nothing behind.

Pei Ling did not feel much emotion. No matter what this retarded system did, he would not be surprised.

The system continued practicing the Blood Malevolence Saber Art over and over again. As the sun was beginning to rise in the east and Pei Ling was feeling anxious, he suddenly felt his body lighten.

It was as if he had broken free from a narrow box.. The weight of the Life-Extinguishing Blade instantly became as light as a feather, as if it did not exist!