What a fine sword.

The formation was profoundly mysterious, its routes changing from moment to moment. Only a scant few among the Jade Mat people truly grasped its essence; perhaps even Tang Xinling, Jiang Qiang, Xun Ye, and Gu Yun knew only fragments of it.

There had been similar cases before. Those whose minds were tainted by sinister things would often feel weak and drained for several days afterward, but so long as they did not encounter a mountain goblin, there was no great danger.

Without the shelter of Pear-Moon Wood, Qin Chuan’s ability to remain untouched through an entire night in the fog was astonishing.

Liu Fengshan laid out every piece of information that could be spoken of openly. As for the matters he found inconvenient to mention, he merely gave Qin Chuan a look, telling him to ponder them carefully for himself.

“Then may I ask what the price of Pear-Moon Wood is?”

Qin Chuan’s thoughts were in a muddle. What he had seen last night was certainly not as simple as being tainted by some evil presence. Thinking of it now, his cheeks burned, and when he looked at Tang Xinling, his expression grew rather strange.

Still, he had also gained a blessing from misfortune and cut off one corpse from his lower dantian—the one called “Linger.” He understood perfectly well that he had intruded halfway through, and the piece of locust wood he had been given yesterday was already more than considerate.

“You want Pear-Moon Wood, junior brother?”

“It is not for sale. If you truly need it, you can inquire about the price in Jade Mat City. If I were to hand this piece over to you, I would have no good fruit to eat when I got back.”

Liu Fengshan laughed and declined in a tactful manner.

“Still, I should remind you, junior brother: Pear-Moon Wood is far from cheap. If forged into a magical instrument, it becomes even more extraordinary. The silver-white sword you use is already quite decent, in my view.”

Qin Chuan shook his head with a wry smile and did not tell him the full story.

As for spirit stones, he could refine pills, or perhaps...

He did not know whether it would be enough. Even Liu Fengshan had said the wood was expensive; the market must be something to imagine.

He had quietly promised Pear Moon that he would return a hairpin. Though the little girl likely no longer remembered, so long as he remembered, he would see it done.

At the thought of Pear Moon receiving a pear-wood hairpin once more, he could not help but curve his lips.

The group hurried toward Jade Mat City.

Tang Xinling heard Qin Chuan’s laugh and looked at him with surprise, not understanding why he had suddenly laughed. She muttered softly that he was a strange one.

Those words happened to drift into Qin Chuan’s ears. He had not minded at first, but then he thought of the owner of that voice, and the scene from yesterday rose before him again. His face immediately reddened, and he turned his head away, dropping to the rear of the party.

This drew glances from everyone, and even Liu Fengshan’s heart stirred, thinking Qin Chuan might have taken some interest.

Then he suddenly remembered that Xinling had already come of age and was in the season of bloom; as her elder by relation, he really ought to keep an eye out for her.

Naturally, Qin Chuan came to mind.

Similar in age, quick-witted too.

Remembering yesterday’s three dazzling sword strikes, he gave a slight nod. The sword intent had been weighty and fierce, and the execution decisive beyond measure; clearly this was not someone who had simply drilled himself into skill by brute force. Though his cultivation had not yet reached the acquired realm, the foundation of an inner disciple of Azure Mountain Sect was never poor.

With some pills and spirit stones in the future, raising his cultivation would not be difficult.

And then there was...

Thinking of how Qin Chuan’s face had reddened each time he saw Tang Xinling, Liu Fengshan understood.

This youth did not let sinister things taint his mind, which meant his will was firm. There was no fear that he would betray Xinling in the future.

The more he thought, the more pleased he became, and even his steps grew lighter.

Before long, their pace had unconsciously quickened.

Jiang Qiang had the lowest cultivation. Even traveling was somewhat difficult for him, and when he neared his limit, he could not help but cry out, “Boss Liu, go a little slower. I’m about to fall behind!”

Liu Fengshan chuckled. “Sorry about that. Take this as compensation.”

He took out something and stuffed it into Jiang Qiang’s arms.

His hand moved so quickly that it was only a blur. Jiang Qiang did not catch what it was, and inwardly he grumbled that Boss Liu was always stingy, so it must be some broken thing that could hardly be used.

But when he looked down and saw what was in his hands, his eyes suddenly lit up. His expression went from shock to wild joy.

Yet as if he had thought of something, his face turned pale all at once, like a startled rabbit.

“Boss Liu couldn’t have found out I stole Master’s wine and is planning to make things hard for me, giving me this as a final gift...”

The spirit-dampening talisman in his hands suddenly felt heavy, and he could not tell whether the weight was in the talisman or in his own heart.

By day, when they returned, the mountain goblin attacks were far fewer than at night, only two or three in all.

Qin Chuan had not wanted to stand out too much, but Liu Fengshan seemed intent on testing him. His force was soft and yielding, and from time to time the aftershock would instead surge toward Qin Chuan.

Though he did not know why, Qin Chuan was not a fool. Once could be coincidence, twice could be chance, but five or six times meant trouble.

“The rest of you fall back.”

He gave a low shout. It was not that he feared injuring them, but that he feared Liu Fengshan might injure him.

“These three, Qin Chuan has them all!”

As he spoke, sword light had already flashed out. With a sharp hiss, it split into three points, lightly kissing the brows of the three mountain goblins.

The creatures were hideously ugly.

On either side of the nose jutted two ghastly white bone spurs, while the tip of the nose bore a single red spot. Two deep mustard-yellow tusks were a full inch long, and the entire face looked like a vividly painted demon mask.

They roared, sensing a severe threat, but they were nowhere near as nimble as a human and had no idea how to evade. Under the urging of demon power, the bone spurs at their noses suddenly lengthened.

Crack!

The pale bone spurs, gleaming with a cold ghostly light, shattered all at once. The three mountain goblins cried out together in shrill misery. Their originally ferocious eyes became suddenly dull, as though unable to understand how hunter and prey had changed so quickly.

Qin Chuan’s expression remained calm. His right hand rose again, and as he stepped forward seemingly at random, he actually walked right up to the goblins’ faces.

The fiend roared and, having just tried to flee, abruptly stopped. It lunged at him with a scream.

“No matter how vicious a beast may be, it is still only a beast. Give it a little lure and it can no longer endure.”

With that thought, he did not hesitate. The sword he had raised suddenly came down!

Pffft.

Pffft.

The two in the center and on the right were opened from throat to groin at once, while the mountain goblin on the far left, to everyone’s surprise, had actually awakened some faint intelligence. It merely feigned an attack, and just as the sword light neared, it slipped behind its companion.

Thus it escaped death.

It shrieked once, flicked its tail, and bolted into the fog.

Just as Liu Fengshan thought it would get away, Qin Chuan gave a cold smile.

He did not form a hand seal. His right hand suddenly rose, and he grasped at the fleeing goblin from afar!

At once, five lines of fire coiled out. In a single instant they merged into a serpent-dragon that wrapped the goblin so tightly there was no gap at all.

Then came a piercing scream, but only for a moment; soon even that ceased to be heard.

Huff.

Qin Chuan let out a slow breath.

Unconsciously, he had already reached this level.

The subtle control of spiritual energy had given him advantages in endurance, explosive force, and precision; now that he had cut off his first corpse—Linger—it was like adding wings to a tiger.

Even an ordinary Fire-Departure Art had been brought by him to such perfection that it seemed to possess true marrow and essence.

Even Tang Xinling’s color subtly changed, a trace of something strange appearing in her eyes as she lingered over the casual, effortless gesture of his grasping hand.

Jiang Qiang was still young, with down still at the corners of his mouth. At this moment he was staring unblinkingly at the long sword in Qin Chuan’s hand.

He thought to himself that he would learn the sword someday too!

No, no—spells seemed pretty good as well!

The other two were more or less astonished. They were all at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, their strength built up by pills, with no shortage of techniques or spells, yet their eyes still shook at what they saw.

Silently, they wondered how many moves they could withstand if they faced Qin Chuan alone.

They exchanged a glance, and understanding seemed to dawn between them, as though saying: so this is how spells and sword arts are used.

Liu Fengshan habitually narrowed his eyes, tasting the scene carefully.

The sword work was unremarkable, the spellwork unremarkable as well, but something was not quite right...

His gaze swept over the expressions of the other four, and he was suddenly startled.

That was it—Qin Chuan’s every move lacked any excess flourish. One could even say it was foundational, no more.

Yet there was not the slightest drag in his actions, and his grasp of the battle was remarkably apt.

From the very start of the fight, the reactions of those three mountain goblins—save for the final strange one—all had fallen within his calculations!

A bizarre thought could not help but arise: had this man been fighting since the moment he was born?

And then there was that final Fire-Departure Art. Truly wild and unrestrained.

Ordinary spells required hand seals, but Fire-Departure Art, which was usually used for alchemy, did not.

Yet what degree of minute control over spiritual energy would it take to unleash five lines at once, then fuse them into a serpent-dragon? Recalling that final scene, with scales so lifelike on the serpent-dragon and eyes so clear it seemed almost alive, he felt it was nothing short of inconceivable.

How could he know that Qin Chuan simply lacked a spell he had truly mastered?

Counting from the day he had genuinely begun cultivating, it had only been a little over two months.

He had no inheritance, no spirit stones, no magical treasures or spells. Everything had started with alchemy, and to have come this far was already the result of hardship upon hardship.

At the dueling platform on Mount Linpu, the thunder pressure had been delivered with the notorious Viper and Vole Sword.

In the Sounding Wind Domain, one wrong step meant pulverization.

During the Hundred Peaks Pill Debate, he had not wanted to lose a single thing and had nearly paid a painful price.

Tricked into fighting the monkey-faced brothers, he had traded wounds for wounds and carved out a path of survival.

At the Butcher’s Stockade on Pagoda Mountain, during the Blood Pill affair, he had read the situation, plotted step by step, and left Yu Ce with no room to maneuver before finally escaping with his life.

Even yesterday had been perilous beyond measure. Amid the tangled illusions and the countless demonic sounds, if not for his steadfast will and the aid of the Profound Breath Dust Formula, he would have had no chance of survival.

“Brother Xian, may I ask who your master is? Uh...”

Liu Fengshan asked without thinking, but immediately felt it was too presumptuous. In the end, he merely sighed and stared straight at Qin Chuan.

“Under the Pure Maiden of the Palace of Supporting the Phoenix.”

“Hm? Isn’t that a line known for alchemy?”

“You can refine pills too?”

At this, he could not help blurting the words out.

It was only a small episode, but afterward Qin Chuan felt the atmosphere along the road had become somewhat odd.

Tang Xinling seemed to glance his way now and then, her gaze faintly resembling the “Tang Xinling” from within the illusion...

Jiang Qiang looked at him with a hint of envy and even asked what sort of sword would suit him—soft sword, long sword, or short sword?

Qin Chuan answered him very responsibly: you are still a little undersized, and your body has not fully grown yet. In short, you’re too short; wait a few years before thinking about it.

Liu Fengshan seemed even more enthusiastic, though perhaps a bit too much so, at least in Qin Chuan’s view.

From the customs and layout of the Jade Mat lands, to the scenery of mountains and fields, and then to the daily trivialities of family life, he spoke on and on, as though he had truly taken Qin Chuan as one of his own, leaving Qin Chuan somewhat unprepared.

Along the way they talked about everything under heaven, and one who did not know better might have mistaken them for old friends confiding heart-to-heart.