Chapter 63

Chapter 63: A Humanoid Ferocious Beast

Xu Hao had been in a foul mood for days.

He was Enlightenment ninth level too, yet from the start he’d been forced to bow to Jia Lan. Now that Jia Lan had truly stepped into Enlightenment great perfection, Xu Hao was being ordered around like a servant—sent out to hunt Spirit Beasts like some low-ranked lackey.

He drove his spear through the neck of a Third Rank Spirit Beast, an Azure Spirit Deer. His eyes turned vicious as he poured qi into the shaft, shaking the struggling body until it burst into bloody pulp.

“Big Brother still can’t let it go, huh.” Liu Bo, an Enlightenment seventh-level cultivator, watched the rain of flesh with the bored air of someone used to it. “What’s the fun in taking it out on beasts? Careful you destroy the Spirit Core too.”

He found a green Spirit Core in the blood mist, plucked it out, and handed it to Xu Hao with a grin. “I heard the Lin Zhao Jia Lan and Ji Xiao have been looking for showed up.”

Xu Hao snorted. “Doesn’t know her place. She even wants to form an alliance with other trash to resist us.”

Liu Bo’s grin widened, yellow teeth flashing under the sunlight. “Big Brother, this is our chance. If you capture Lin Zhao before Jia Lan does, your reputation in the team…”

Xu Hao’s gaze shifted. Some of the gloom eased. He patted Liu Bo’s shoulder. “You have a point.”

Liu Bo’s grin stretched until his eyes nearly vanished. He rubbed his hands together. “And when you catch that little slut, Big Brother… can you let me have a turn? I heard the Wang Shu Immortal Maiden is prettier than her portrait on Heavenlink Mirror!”

Li Jiang, an Enlightenment eighth-level cultivator, frowned. He didn’t like Liu Bo’s tone, and he liked Xu Hao’s habits even less. Still, they were in the same team. He measured his words. “As the number of people shrinks, the academy teachers might start watching closely. Lin Zhao isn’t like the Foundation Establishment great perfection women you dragged into arrays before. Lin Zhao is already an official disciple. I heard the South Sea doesn’t care about deaths among non-admitted disciples, but for official disciples, they’ll definitely ask questions.”

“So what?” Xu Hao waved him off, unconcerned. “My aunt is a concubine of a Buddhist Sect elder. And Lin Zhao already offended the Ten Thousand Swords Sect and the Yao Chi Sacred Land. If that’s not enough, there’s still the Ji Family, the Zhao Family, and the Sacred Light Empire backing us.” His eyes gleamed with ugly confidence. “Even if we play her to death, we’ll find a way out.”

Li Jiang’s jaw tightened. He wanted to argue, but his younger brother, Li Hai—another Enlightenment seventh-level cultivator—pressed a hand to his shoulder and shook his head.

In the three Newcomer Kings’ team, Xu Hao’s status was second only to those three. He acted like a tyrant, and everyone knew what he did to women—quietly, behind arrays, under threats and bribes.

No one dared post it on Heavenlink Mirror.

A big reason only a third of the newcomers had joined their faction was fear of people like Xu Hao—and the now-dead Chen Weiwei.

Xu Hao was about to say more when his ear twitched. From the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of azure light.

“Watch out!”

The warning came too late.

Sword light pierced through Liu Bo’s shoulder. He screamed, shoved a Returning Spirit Pill into his mouth, and tried to circulate qi—

Only for the wound to worsen. Blood surged harder the moment his qi moved.

Pain drained him white. He clamped a hand over the injury, breathing ragged, terrified to circulate again.

Xu Hao summoned his long spear and stared coldly toward the trees. “This is Zhao Ji Xing and Jia Lan’s team carrying out a mission. What does your excellency mean by this?”

“Heh.” A clear maiden’s voice sounded behind him, close enough to make his skin crawl. “Do Jia Lan’s dogs only know how to bark that one line?”

Xu Hao spun around.

In that instant, everyone beside him below Enlightenment seventh level collapsed to the ground as if their bones had turned to mud, completely losing the ability to fight.

“You used poison?” Xu Hao demanded, face dark.

“Just a little sleeping powder,” Lin Zhao said lightly.

It wasn’t a pill. She had mixed it herself with spirit herbs and Granny’s prescription—her first rough step into pill refining.

The effect was only average. Infused with her spiritual power, it could numb cultivators below Enlightenment seventh level for an hour.

Xu Hao didn’t believe her. He didn’t have time to check.

He flicked his gaze toward the Li brothers, a silent command, and then snarled, “Then how do you explain his arm?”

Lin Zhao smiled and turned her eyes toward Liu Bo. Her gaze curved, almost gentle.

“Explode.”

Liu Bo’s scream tore through the forest.

A Living Beings Qi blast ignited inside his arm, detonating inch by inch. Flesh burst open in an instant. Blood sprayed everywhere.

Xu Hao’s face turned black as a pot’s bottom.

Lin Zhao nodded in satisfaction.

After days of bitter training, she had fused Explosive Fist’s layered force into her sword qi to create this method. It was flashy and obvious—if the opponent blocked the sword light, the trick failed.

But for ambushes?

It was perfect.

“So the famous Wang Shu Immortal Maiden is just a sneaky rat!” Xu Hao roared, swinging his spear straight for Lin Zhao’s face.

Lin Zhao sighed, almost amused by the insult. The Heavenly Phoenix Bone Sword swept out in a flat slash.

Spear and sword clashed, sparks and qi bursting.

Then Lin Zhao’s refined voice cut cleanly through the violence.

“Wang Shu Immortal Maiden? I’ll be your grandmother!”

The Bone Sword kicked back into her palm. Xu Hao’s spear drove through the clash and shot toward her like a viper.

In the first exchange, it looked like Xu Hao had the advantage.

Seeing it, he sneered. “Kneel now and serve me and my brothers properly, and I can still—”

Lin Zhao raised her soft, slender hand and caught the spear tip.

Barehanded.

A strike that even the Bone Sword—already a Mid Grade Spirit Artifact—couldn’t fully withstand.

Xu Hao sucked in a sharp breath. “How is that possible…”

How could an Enlightenment mid-stage body be this freakishly strong?

She was a humanoid ferocious beast.

“This spear is going back to you,” Lin Zhao said.

She pinched the spear tip. Azure flames coiled around her fingers, pale blue fire wrapping the shaft. Then her wrist twisted.

The spear flipped—its point snapping toward Xu Hao.

And Lin Zhao drove it forward in a ruthless thrust.