"Zhao Heihu did not believe that Xu Chen's spiritual power was more abundant than his. After all, his cultivation was at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation Realm, just a step away from breaking through to the True Qi Realm. Thinking it over, he could only come up with one explanation: Xu Chen must have taken some pill to replenish his spiritual power during their fight."
Xu Chen smiled without a word.
The next moment, he channeled his spiritual power, and surging energy poured into the Qingchi Sword, emitting an astonishing aura.
Seeing this, Zhao Heihu's expression changed drastically. He finally realized that Xu Chen's spiritual power was still completely undiminished, which meant his calculations had come to nothing. If the battle continued, he would eventually be exhausted to death.
"Swish!"
A thick bolt of sword qi shattered layers of turbulent air and slashed straight toward him. He unleashed the Mountain-Splitting Palm with all his might, but due to his insufficient spiritual power, the power of the palm technique was no longer at its peak. With a crisp sound, the giant spiritual handprint lasted only a fraction of a second under the cutting edge of the sword qi before it was blasted apart.
"Puff!"
Opening his mouth, Zhao Heihu spewed a large mouthful of blood. A deep, bone-deep sword scar appeared on his chest, and rampaging sword qi ravaged his body, inflicting even more severe damage.
***
### Chapter 34: The Curtain Falls
"Hiss..."
"This, how is this possible?"
"Zhao Heihu actually lost!"
"Zhao Heihu is one of the three great masters of the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation Realm in Liuguang City! To think he would lose to a mere youth."
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it, even if I died."
"The Zhao family has truly provoked someone they should never have crossed."
In the distance, the onlookers were left dumbfounded upon seeing Zhao Heihu defeated by Xu Chen. Then, a sky-shattering uproar erupted among them. They vented the shock in their hearts with loud shouts.
The expressions of the Zhao family martial artists turned ashen. Their bodies trembled like chaff in the wind. If the family head died, who could possibly be a match for this fiend?
Some of the shrewder Zhao family martial artists saw that the situation was turning south and began to slip away. They did not want to die. They had no intention of staying behind to be buried along with the Zhao family.
"Look quickly, what has Zhao Heihu taken out?"
"What is he trying to do?"
Someone in the crowd cried out in alarm.
They saw Zhao Heihu take out a jade bottle. Lying inside the bottle was a dark red pill.
"Brat, you forced me to do this!"
Zhao Heihu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, cast a venomous glare at Xu Chen, and then pulled out the cork, directly tossing the dark-red pill into his mouth.
As the pill entered his stomach, the previously weak Zhao Heihu seemed to have received a shot of adrenaline. His face flushed a deep crimson, and his aura began to climb rapidly.
"What is going on?"
"Why is Zhao Heihu's aura suddenly skyrocketing?"
"Could it be related to the pill he just took?"
"His face is flushed, his aura is soaring, and his expression looks agonizing—could he be taking the Blood-Burning Pill?"
"What is the Blood-Burning Pill?"
"The Blood-Burning Pill is a potent, fierce medicinal pill. Once consumed, the user's blood boils as if it were on fire. It allows a martial artist to suppress any injuries in a short period, causing their aura to surge and their combat power to skyrocket!"
"Such a powerful pill must have massive side effects, right?"
"Indeed. The Blood-Burning Pill is a life-saving pill. Those who obtain it will not rashly take it unless driven to desperation, because once it is used, it means they are at death's door. Many people have turned the tables in certain death traps using this. However, once the medicinal effect wears off, the user pays a heavy price. The lucky ones drop in cultivation and are bedridden for months; the unlucky ones drop dead on the spot."
The crowd whispered among themselves, discussing it animatedly.
Xu Chen was fully focused on the battle and naturally had no time to listen to the discussions of the onlookers. However, he could tell that Zhao Heihu had taken a pill designed to stimulate his potential and drastically boost his combat power in a short time.
Right now, Zhao Heihu's strength had soared to the point where ordinary practitioners at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation Realm would be no match for him. A wise person would choose to temporarily avoid the sharp edge of his power, bide their time, and then kill him once the medicinal effect wore off.
However, Xu Chen had no such intention. He planned to use Zhao Heihu to test his sword. The previous person he tested his sword on had ended up in pieces, making it impossible for him to accurately gauge the true power of that sword strike.
As it happened, Zhao Heihu, with his skyrocketing strength, made for an excellent target to test his sword on.
Xu Chen gripped his sword in one hand. Spiritual power surged within his body, endlessly pouring into the Qingchi Sword.
Zhao Heihu, whose aura had climbed to its peak, had a completely flushed face and a continuous, inexhaustible reservoir of power within him. He felt as though his current self could blast his former self to pieces with a single punch.
This feeling was simply intoxicating.
With a ferocious expression, he sneered, "Brat, you didn't even run away. That certainly exceeds my expectations. Haha!"
If Xu Chen had chosen to flee the moment he took the pill, he might have been helpless to catch him. But now, with his strength soaring, killing his opponent would be as easy as slaughtering a dog.
He was brimming with absolute confidence because he was simply too powerful now. For a moment, he even believed that he could put up a fight against a True Qi Realm martial artist.
Abruptly, Zhao Heihu's expression shifted.
In his field of vision, Xu Chen's expression remained calm as he held the sword in one hand. Facing this overwhelming pressure, not only did he not retreat, but he actually took a step forward, sword intent radiating from his entire body.
"Clang—"
The Qingchi Sword trembled slightly, and sword qi erupted.
The next moment, he raised his longsword high. A restrained, oppressive, and terrifyingly fierce aura gathered at the tip of the blade.
"He's not running, and instead raising his high sword into a striking stance—what is he trying to do? Does he not know that my strength has skyrocketed? Or does he still have a trump card he hasn't used yet? Impossible! The Sixth Layer of Qi Condensation forced me into a desperate corner; he can't possibly have any more trump cards left. If he does, what kind of monstrous freak is he?"
Seeing Xu Chen's abnormal actions, a sense of unease suddenly welled up inside him. Zhao Heihu circulated his power to the maximum, forming hand seals with both hands. With a low hum, a giant handprint of primordial energy condensed into form.
The spiritual handprint emitted an astonishing aura, far stronger than before.
"First Form of the Taichu Sword Technique: Mountain-Moving!"
Holding the Qingchi Sword, Xu Chen delivered a downward slash in an extremely simple and direct manner.
With a single sweep of the sword, a thick stream of sword qi soared into the sky.
The sword qi was dazzlingly brilliant, and the phantom of a majestic mountain loomed faintly within it. Dragging a trail of white flames behind it, the sword qi moved at an astonishing speed, instantly crashing onto the giant spiritual handprint.
"Crack!"
The giant spiritual handprint did not even hold for a fraction of a second before it was shattered into pieces.
The momentum of the sword qi remained undiminished as it continued its downward slash.
"No!"
Zhao Heihu's pupils contracted as he screamed in terror.
"Boom!"
The sword qi cleaved downward. The massive explosion drowned out Zhao Heihu's terrified shrieks. His entire body was engulfed and swallowed by the sword qi, then torn to shreds by its might.
"Rumble!"
Under the horrified gaze of countless onlookers, a ferocious, dozens-of-meters-long fissure split open across the ground. The sprawling Zhao family estate shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck. Houses located closer to the battlefield collapsed one after another...
"This, this, this..."
"This is simply too terrifying."
"The power of a single sword strike is terrifying to this degree!"
"This kid defies the heavens to such an extent."
The onlookers backed away one after another, their faces filled with shock.
"Zhao Heihu... is he dead?" someone suddenly asked.
One gaze after another turned toward the now devastated battlefield.
A breeze swept past. The dust and smoke gradually dispersed.
In the middle of the battlefield, aside from the youthful swordsman standing proudly with his sword in hand, not a single other figure remained.
Everyone's eyes scanned the battlefield inch by inch.
Nothing.
Zhao Heihu seemed to have vanished completely from the face of the earth.
"Where is he?"
"Did he escape?"
"No, I clearly saw him struck dead-on by the sword qi."
"Reduced to ashes without a whole corpse?"
After searching for a while, the crowd exchanged bewildered glances.
"Hah..."
Xu Chen let out a long breath of foul air. Looking at the battlefield reduced to ruins, he was quite satisfied with the power of his previous sword strike.
"Clang—"
He sheathed his sword.
Zhao Heihu was dead, and the remaining martial artists of the Zhao family had all fled in different directions. The Liuguang City Zhao family no longer existed.
It was time to return to the sect.
However, before heading back, he needed to thoroughly plunder the Zhao family's resources.
Martial arts manuals, spirit stones, medicinal herbs, pills, weapons... He looted every last thing.
"He's gone."
Watching the back of Xu Chen as he left Liuguang City, those who had been secretly monitoring him all breathed a sigh of relief.
With Xu Chen single-handedly wiping out the Zhao family, in their eyes, this youthishly excessive swordsman was like a ticking time bomb. As long as he remained, all factions in the city would spend every day sitting on pins and needles.
Following Xu Chen's departure, the various forces of Liuguang City began a feast of carving up the Zhao family's territory and resources. To a certain extent, they even had to thank Xu Chen; without him, they would never have been able to divide up the spoils of the Zhao family so easily.
***
### Chapter 35: Treasure Pavilion
A hundred miles southeast of the Qingling Sect lay a city with a population of over three million, known as Changfeng City.
Inside the city stood the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, which specialized in medicinal herbs, pills, weapons, and martial arts manuals—everything a martial artist could possibly need, all readily available.
The shop was located in the golden district at the center of Changfeng City, covering an area of several thousand square meters with luxurious and extravagant decorations.
Xu Chen paused outside the Spirit Treasure Pavilion for a moment, figuring that this establishment possessed enough spirit stones to purchase the various materials he carried. From the Shui Mansion to the Tianyuan Mountains and the Zhao family, the resources he had accumulated along his journey had reached an astonishing scale. He intended to sell the resources he had no use for in exchange for spirit stones to fund his cultivation.
Stepping into the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, he saw that the lavishly decorated interior was divided into multiple zones: the Spirit Pill Zone, the Martial Arts Zone, the Weaponry Zone...
Every zone held anywhere from a dozen to several dozen display racks. Placed upon these racks were various spiritual pills, medicinal herbs, monster beast materials, rare ores, weapons, and martial arts manuals. The sheer variety was dizzying.
Scanning the interior once, Xu Chen nodded in satisfaction. The Spirit Treasure Pavilion was wealthy and influential; it certainly had the capital to buy his surplus resources.
There were simply too many customers inside the pavilion.
*Wealth should never be flaunted.* He carried quite a few valuable materials, and selling them all at once would undoubtedly amount to a considerable fortune. There was no guarantee that someone might see his wealth and harbor evil intentions against him.
It wasn't that he feared danger, but he simply preferred not to invite unnecessary trouble. *Better to avoid extra trouble than to court it.*
He walked toward the counter.
Behind the counter stood a shop assistant in his early twenties, who cast a critical look at Xu Chen before withdrawing his gaze with a look of undisguised contempt.
Xu Chen said, "Assistant, I'd like to see your manager."
The shop assistant glanced sideways at Xu Chen and said nothing, too lazy to bother with him.
Xu Chen frowned. He looked down at his own appearance, then suddenly understood. Ever since entering the Tianyuan Mountains, he had either been fleeing for his life or engaged in bloody combat; he hadn't bothered to tidy himself up for over half a month. His whole person looked rather disheveled.
Even so, that was no reason for the assistant to ignore him. He tapped on the counter, raised his voice slightly, and said, "I wish to see your manager. Please be so kind as to inform him."
Seeing that his silent dismissal hadn't made the sloppy youth back down, but instead caused him to raise his tone, the assistant felt instantly displeased. With a lukewarm attitude, he said, "Esteemed customer, did you make an appointment with the manager beforehand?"
"No," Xu Chen frowned and replied.
With a cold face, the shop assistant brushed him off dismissively, "The manager is busy and has no time."
With that, he stopped looking at Xu Chen and instead turned to welcome other customers with a beaming smile.
After sending off that customer and seeing that Xu Chen was still standing stubbornly at the counter without leaving, the assistant walked over and impatiently waved his hand to chase him away. "Customer, if you aren't buying anything, please leave and stop disturbing me from serving other guests."
Xu Chen's gaze turned slightly cold.
Feeling the chill in Xu Chen's eyes, the assistant shuddered, taking a fearful step back. But once he regained his senses, he felt both ashamed and annoyed by his own momentary cowardice. He raised his voice and shouted loudly, "What? Are you looking to make trouble?"
His loud voice immediately drew the attention of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion's guards.
"What is going on here?" A guard walked over. Though his words asked for the reason, his unfriendly gaze was already fixed on Xu Chen.
Pointing at Xu Chen, the assistant accused, "This person came here to cause trouble. Guard Liu, teach him a lesson and let him know that the Spirit Treasure Pavilion isn't some lowlife street trash can mess with!"
"So it's just some trash looking for trouble!" Guard Liu smiled malevolently.
With that, he reached out a large hand and grabbed straight for Xu Chen's right shoulder.
Xu Chen frowned, but he did not dodge, allowing the man to grab his shoulder.
Guard Liu, having caught Xu Chen's shoulder, clearly had no intention of letting him off lightly. With a savage grin, he exerted sudden force with his five fingers, attempting to crush Xu Chen's shoulder blade.
Sensing the man's malicious intent, a cold glint flashed in the depths of Xu Chen's eyes. His repeated forbearance hadn't earned him goodwill; instead, it had only made the other party push their luck.
With a slight shrug of his shoulder, Guard Liu felt his entire right arm instantly go completely numb.
The next moment, Xu Chen stepped forward and slammed his shoulder into Guard Liu's chest. With a loud *bang*, the nearly two-hundred-jin body flew backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily to the ground amidst a chorus of gasps, knocking over several racks laden with pills. As the racks toppled, bottles and jars rolled everywhere.
Faced with this sudden turn of events, the customers in the shop froze for a moment before hastily retreating, fearing they might be dragged into the disaster.
As they backed away, they also looked toward the troublemaker. To their astonishment, the culprit turned out to be nothing more than a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth.
*Audacious to the extreme.*
*Or perhaps, a newborn calf unafraid of tigers.*
To dare cause trouble right here in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion—they had to admit, this youth was reckless indeed.
The Spirit Treasure Pavilion itself was not an overwhelmingly powerful force, but standing behind it was the Chen family, one of the eight great families of the Taishang Country!
"Who dares to cause trouble in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion?!"
The pavilion guards rushed over in a swarm. Hands resting on the hilts of their swords and sabers, they surrounded Xu Chen with unfriendly expressions.
The shop assistant had already retreated behind the guards. Seeing Xu Chen surrounded with no way out, he finally relaxed his tension and began loudly fanning the flames. "This fellow came with ill intent! Not only did he injure Guard Liu, but he also smashed the shop's goods. If we don't kill him, what will stop others from copying him tomorrow? How will the Spirit Treasure Pavilion do business in the future?!"
The guards felt the assistant made sense. The murderous intent in their eyes grew heavier as they looked at Xu Chen. They slowly drew their weapons, preparing to execute the person before them as a warning to others.
"What's all this shouting about?"
An impatient voice suddenly drifted down from the second floor.
The next instant, a chubby middle-aged man walked down with a face full of displeasure.
Upon seeing the collapsed shelves on the first floor, the chubby middle-aged man frowned deeply. "What is the meaning of this?"
The shop assistant was the first to speak, splashing dirty water on Xu Chen. "Manager Chen, it's this youth who came into the shop and started trouble."
Manager Chen looked at Xu Chen and demanded, "Young man, how has the Spirit Treasure Pavilion ever offended you?"
Seeing that the manager had finally emerged, Xu Chen cupped his fists toward him and said, "I am Xu Chen. I did not come to cause trouble. My purpose in coming here today is to conduct a major business transaction with the Spirit Treasure Pavilion..."
Following that, Xu Chen recounted the whole sequence of events, making it clear that he was not in the wrong.
The expression on Manager Chen's face softened slightly, though his tone remained rigid. "Little brother, you sure speak with a big mouth. You should know that a transaction worth a mere eighty or hundred spirit stones is a complete waste of my time. The shop assistant refusing your request to see me was entirely reasonable."
Xu Chen said slowly, "Then what if it's a transaction worth one hundred thousand spirit stones?"
"What did you say?" Manager Chen thought his ears were playing tricks on him.
"I said, I came here today to discuss a transaction of one hundred thousand spirit stones with the Spirit Treasure Pavilion. But now it seems the Spirit Treasure Pavilion doesn't seem to welcome me. Since that's the case, I won't disturb you any longer. Farewell!"
Xu Chen cupped his fists toward Manager Chen and turned to leave.
"Hold on!" Manager Chen immediately called out to stop him.
Xu Chen assumed Manager Chen had regretted his words and called him back to discuss the one hundred thousand spirit stone deal in detail.
To his surprise, the man wore a cold sneer as he said, "A transaction of one hundred thousand spirit stones is simply too big; my Spirit Treasure Pavilion is too small a temple and can't swallow it. You are welcome to take your business elsewhere. But before you leave, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
"What kind of explanation do you want?" Xu Chen's face remained expressionless.
Manager Chen turned to the shop assistant and ordered, "Assistant, go and see what the damaged goods in the shop are worth."
"Understood." The assistant acknowledged the order, walked over to the toppled cabinets, inspected them, and gave a summary. "Reporting to the manager, the conservative estimate of the shop's losses is around three hundred spirit stones."
Xu Chen's brow furrowed. He was being shaken down.
In the end, unwilling to invite further trouble, he took three hundred spirit stones out of his Storage Ring, tossed them onto the ground, and walked away without looking back.
After stepping out of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, Xu Chen walked straight into a shop directly across the street named the Treasure Pavilion.
In terms of scale and interior decoration, the Treasure Pavilion could not compare to the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, but it was still one of the top three trading houses in Changfeng City.
Seeing Xu Chen walk out of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion and head straight across to the Treasure Pavilion, Manager Chen didn't think much of it. He gave a few instructions and turned back upstairs to the second floor.
At the same time—
"Esteemed customer, are you looking to purchase pills or martial arts manuals?"
The moment Xu Chen entered the Treasure Pavilion, a shop assistant greeted him with a beaming smile. His attitude was respectful and humble, without a trace of arrogance in his tone.
Cutting straight to the point, Xu Chen requested to see the manager. "I want to buy and sell some items, but the quantity is too large. I need your manager to discuss it personally."
Hearing this, the assistant hesitated for a moment, but rather than refusing outright, he smiled and replied, "Customer, please wait a moment. I will go and inform the manager."
Xu Chen didn't have to wait long in the same spot before the assistant returned, followed closely by a white-haired elder.
The elder walked with steady strides and wore a benevolent expression. Upon seeing Xu Chen, he smiled and said, "Little friend, please come upstairs."
Xu Chen was quite satisfied with the elder's attitude toward customers. Following the elder up to the second floor, he asked with a smile, "Manager, aren't you worried that I'm just a youth wasting your time?"
"Guests are guests," the elder replied. "Besides, I observe that your Qi is restrained, a sharp edge is hidden behind your brows, your vitality and spirit are full, and your expression is calm. You don't look like someone who would deliberately toy with an old man."
The two of them walked one after the other into a spacious private room of nearly a hundred square meters on the second floor.
"My surname is Wu. Little friend can call me Manager Wu, or address this old man as Old Wu." Manager Wu introduced himself first, then asked, "May I ask your esteemed surname?"
"My surname is Xu, and my given name is Chen."
"So it's little friend Xu Chen. I wonder what you wish to sell?" Manager Wu asked with an expectant look.
***
### Chapter 36: Manager Wu's Inveiglement
Xu Chen looked around the space of the private room, deciding it was large enough, before casually giving a wave of his hand.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Piles upon piles of monster beast materials materialized out of thin air, stacking up like a small mountain.
In an instant, a thick smell of blood and demonic aura permeated the private room.
Seeing this, Manager Wu was struck dumb, unable to recover his senses for a long time.
*This...*
There were simply too many monster beast materials! Furthermore, looking at the relatively fresh blood and lingering demonic aura on the materials, Manager Wu was deeply alarmed.
How could he fail to understand? These monster beast materials had all been harvested very recently.
With such a massive quantity of monster beast materials, how many monster beasts must have been slaughtered?
He was both shocked and overjoyed.
"Little friend, are all these monster beast materials meant to be sold to my Treasure Pavilion?" Manager Wu swallowed hard and asked uncertainly.
"Of course," Xu Chen nodded, then urged him, "Old Wu, don't just stand there. Hurry up and tally them, and give me a price."
Manager Wu was ecstatic.
This was a massive business deal! By completing this transaction, he wouldn't merely meet this year's quota; he would exceed it by a wide margin.
However...
He looked at the mountain of monster beast materials and his brows furrowed slightly. There were simply too many monster beast materials; he couldn't possibly count and assess them all by himself.
A sweet trouble.
He told Xu Chen to wait a moment, then stepped out of the private room, headed downstairs, and whispered a few instructions to the shop assistant.
Hearing this, the shop assistant was overjoyed. That youth had actually turned out to be a major client! And the youth was someone he had received himself; once the transaction was completed, he would definitely receive a commission.