Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Xu Hao’s Death

Xu Hao clutched his chest, staring at the ruined earth in horror. His handsome face twisted ugly. “Lin Zhao…”

Phoenix Wings folded back as Lin Zhao prepared to land—then she froze.

Xu Hao had turned and grabbed one of the fallen cultivators. He drove a fist straight through the man’s heart.

Then he started muttering spells.

Lin Zhao didn’t know what he was doing, but she knew one thing: interrupting him was never wrong.

Sword qi slashed out.

Xu Hao glanced up and barked, “Li Jiang! Li Hai! Hold her!”

The Li brothers didn’t know what Xu Hao was doing either. They only knew their captain’s eyes had gone bloodshot with desperation. Gritting their teeth, they stepped in front of him, dread rising as Lin Zhao’s azure pressure pressed down.

Lin Zhao didn’t hesitate. She formed seals and raised an array.

The Hong Hu sword array triggered instantly.

Thousands of sword shadows swept forward.

The Li brothers exchanged a look and activated their strongest skills at the same time.

Li Jiang thrust both palms out. A massive palm seal formed and slammed forward.

Li Hai stepped in, his body swelling, skin turning crimson. He threw his head back with a roar and charged into the sword shadows.

Ground Pinning Seal.

Flame Demon Body.

Lin Zhao’s fingers flicked through seals, tightening the Hong Hu sword array around them. Their seals struck and their bodies collided—but they were trapped inside.

As the brothers struggled against the array, Lin Zhao’s gaze flicked past them.

Xu Hao had already killed every fallen cultivator on his own side.

Blood soaked his hands. His breathing was ragged. He walked step by step toward Liu Bo, who was still rolling weakly on the ground, half-burned, half-bleeding.

Seeing Xu Hao approach, Liu Bo’s eyes widened in terror. He scrambled backward on his butt, sobbing. “Big Brother! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

Xu Hao sighed like a man making peace with necessity. “Liu Bo, you won’t blame me, right?” His voice was almost gentle. “I’ll send Lin Zhao down to keep you company in a moment.”

He closed his fingers around Liu Bo’s throat.

Phoenix Wings snapped. Lin Zhao arrived—

Too late.

Liu Bo lay there as a dried corpse, lifeless.

After draining every companion dry, Xu Hao’s body swelled to more than twice its size. His eyes turned red-black, whites vanishing.

His aura transformed.

Spiritual power thickened until it felt almost tangible, coiling around him with every breath and step.

Enlightenment great perfection.

He had forcibly raised his cultivation by drinking others’ blood.

“Lin Zhao,” Xu Hao said, savoring the strength, “I prepared this for competing for the Newcomer King seat. Dying under it means you won’t lose unfairly.”

Lin Zhao put away the Bone Sword. Her gaze was disgusted. “That’s demonic path technique.”

For an immortal cultivator to use demonic techniques was to become half a demonic cultivator. The Righteous Path would never allow it.

“So what?” Xu Hao’s grin split wide. “It’s just a skill. The strong eat the weak! Instead of letting them fall into your hands and be eliminated by you, it’s better they contribute to me!”

Golden light flared again at Lin Zhao’s brow.

Now that they were close, Xu Hao saw it clearly.

A Demon Slaying Dharma Seal—etched in Sanskrit.

His grin faltered. “What?!”

He didn’t have time to think.

Lin Zhao was already in front of him, faintly glowing gold. She slammed a fist into his face.

Indestructible Golden Body, First Layer: Greedless Aspect.

No desire. No want. Restraining Evil Wraiths—body able to withstand terrifying force.

Xu Hao tried to draw on qi to counterattack, but under the seal’s golden light, even the blood-tainted power he had stolen struggled to move. His qi turned sluggish, impure, unwilling.

“Maybe all you people remember is that outsiders call me the Wang Shu Immortal Maiden,” Lin Zhao said, voice cold as she pressed a hand to his shoulder. “Then let your grandmother help you remember my other name.”

She lifted Xu Hao with one hand, wings spreading, and shot high into the sky.

Then she released him.

Explosive Fist smashed down.

The layered force locked his body, disrupting Sword Flight. Lin Zhao closed in, punching him again and again in midair.

Her fists looked small, delicate.

Every blow snapped bone and tore flesh from an Enlightenment body.

When Xu Hao finally crashed into the ground, mangled and bloody, he remembered—clear as fear—another name whispered among low-ranked Demon Clan with trembling voices.

Jade-Faced Rakshasa.

Wherever she went, no demon survived.

If Xu Hao hadn’t used demonic techniques, Lin Zhao might have left him a shred of dignity.

But the moment he stepped onto that path, Lin Zhao had made her intent plain.

She would beat him into ruin.

As Xu Hao lay like a dead dog, the Obscuring Array Lin Zhao had set up around them shattered.

A young woman stepped into the clearing. Her face was as cold as frost, eyes taking in the dried corpses scattered across the ground—and Xu Hao, half-dead in Lin Zhao’s grip.

Her brows knitted hard.

“You,” she said, voice sharp. “Explain what happened here.”

A South Sea teacher.

Perfect timing.

Lin Zhao understood the implication immediately. The South Sea wasn’t a gentle place. Otherwise it wouldn’t allow newcomers to die in piles. And that suited her just fine.

The growth she wanted would never be satisfied by an ivory-tower campus life.

Still—this year had escalated. In past years, most deaths were among those who weren’t official disciples yet, people gambling their lives for admission. The South Sea didn’t care whether non-admitted disciples lived or died.

But here, several official disciples had died.

Lin Zhao looked at Xu Hao’s eyes, flickering with desperate hope at the teacher’s arrival.

She smiled.

Then she threw one last punch.

Xu Hao’s head exploded.

“Die, scum.”

The teacher’s eyes widened. “How dare you! How can you commit murder among fellow disciples? Why did you do this?”

The scolding was real—but the question was a blade, meant to force Lin Zhao to speak. To justify. To make the truth clear for the eyes in the shadows.

Lin Zhao wiped blood from her hand. “He drained them.”

The teacher’s expression froze. “Demonic technique?”

“Yes.”

Lin Zhao flicked her fingers. The Hong Hu sword array dissolved, releasing the Li brothers.

“You can ask them.”

Li Jiang and Li Hai stared at the ground full of dried corpses, then at Xu Hao’s shattered remains. Bitter recognition twisted their faces. They exchanged a look and nodded.

“It’s exactly what Lin Zhao said,” Li Jiang said hoarsely. “Xu Hao couldn’t beat her. He drained the blood of the companions who couldn’t fight back.”

Lin Zhao’s words alone could be dismissed.

The Li brothers’ testimony could not.

The teacher’s frown deepened. “That beast deserved to die.”

The brothers flinched as if they might speak, but the teacher cut them off. “You can’t fight anymore. I rule you eliminated here. Hand over your jade tokens.”

They didn’t dare refuse.

With one array, Lin Zhao had trapped them like fish in a net. How could they fight?

After taking the jade tokens, Lin Zhao calculated her points, then took Xu Hao’s Point Jade Token. She gathered the jade tokens from the dried corpses too—but she didn’t touch a single other piece of loot.

When she finished, she said calmly, “Collect your people’s bodies.” Her gaze was sharp as a knife. “Tell Jia Lan: Xu Hao’s defeat is the second gift I’m sending him.”

After Lin Zhao left, Li Jiang stared at the corpses and closed his eyes. “Is this team worth staying in?”

Lin Zhao could have killed them. She hadn’t.

Their own captain had slaughtered them first.

Li Hai clenched his fist. “Forget that for now. We’ll collect the bodies. At least once we’re out, we can bury them properly.”