Chapter 49

Chapter 49: First Kill

A muffled groan spilled from Chen Feng’s mouth. He had not expected her to fight back, and this talisman was clearly high-grade. A thin thread of lightning was enough to make him dizzy and dazed.

Wei Yun Xi would not give Chen Feng time to recover. Following the rule of striking while he was down, she charged forward with her spirit sword. She had not learned swordsmanship in any formal way, but she had been practicing the basic moves lately – slashing, chopping, stabbing, thrusting, lifting, and sweeping. Now she poured all of it onto him at once.

It was rare to have a living person as a target. She obviously could not waste this chance for real combat practice. On top of that, she was strong to begin with. Even though her moves were simple, the damage was not light, and for a moment Chen Feng found it hard to defend.

Wei Yun Xi grew more and more excited, while Chen Feng grew more and more alarmed. He shouted harshly, “You hid your cultivation!”

Wei Yun Xi did not slow down as she answered, “If I didn’t, how could I lure you out?”

In truth, Wei Yun Xi had not known Chen Feng would secretly target her. But since he had exposed the fact that she was hiding her cultivation, she went along with it. Her goal was to disrupt his focus, and it also indirectly explained why she had hidden her cultivation in the first place.

But Wei Yun Xi knew one thing clearly – Chen Feng had to die. If he got away and returned, who knew what he would do next.

With that thought, Wei Yun Xi put even more force into her swings. From time to time, she also threw out a couple of attack talismans to mess up Chen Feng’s rhythm.

Chen Feng formed a hand seal and cast a defensive shield that blocked six fireballs. Then he threw out a Smoke Talisman, preparing to take the chance to escape. He was sure he would not gain anything today, so he decided leaving was the best option.

But how could Yun Xi let him go? Her spiritual sense had already locked onto Chen Feng. The moment he turned to flee, she threw her spirit sword, aiming straight for his back.

By judging from the wind’s sound, Chen Feng sensed danger. He immediately rolled on the ground and avoided the spirit sword. The sword slammed into the earth.

Chen Feng did not even spare the fallen spirit sword a glance. He was about to drill into the tunnel he had dug when his body suddenly jerked. He lowered his head and looked at the ice spike that had pierced through his chest. His body went limp, and he collapsed completely.

Yun Xi smelled blood, but she did not approach right away. Instead, she took ten first-rank Fireball Talismans from her storage pouch and threw them all onto the fallen Chen Feng. She was not stupid. She would not give him any chance to counterattack.

Her decision proved wise. As the fireballs joined into a sheet of flame, Chen Feng suddenly let out a muffled grunt and crawled two more steps toward the tunnel. Only after the flames spread over his entire body did he finally stop moving.

Yun Xi fought down her nausea. She used the Object Control Technique to pull the storage pouch from Chen Feng’s waist. She dumped everything inside, swept it all into her space, then tossed the storage pouch back into the flames. When she saw both Chen Feng’s body and the storage pouch burn into ash, she finally threw up.

Having come from a peaceful era, this was the first time she had killed someone. The shock hit hard. Just now, with adrenaline surging, she had ignored the fear. Now that the enemy had been completely eliminated, she felt a delayed wave of terror.

At the same time, she recognized how cruel the Cultivation World was. The two of them were both in the Outer Sect. It had only been a couple of verbal clashes. The Wei Family had never used power to suppress him or take revenge, yet he still held a grudge against the Wei Family disciples.

He had even spent a full year lying low, waiting for the previous incident to fade, and then attacked when he found her alone.

If she had not hidden her cultivation and truly only had Qi Refining fourth level, she would definitely have died tonight. If he had chosen to ambush her in the first half of the night, when she was drawing talismans and her dantian was nearly empty, she would not have gained any advantage at all.

Thankfully, Chen Feng only came over after her spiritual energy recovered. And the smoke he released after realizing he was outmatched had also provided her with cover.

The spirit sword she threw was meant to draw his attention. The instant Ice Spike Technique was the real killing blow. Fortunately, her prediction had been correct. Otherwise, Chen Feng really would have escaped.

Yun Xi retched for a long time but did not bring anything up. Only after a long while did she finally steady herself and walk over. She erased every trace Chen Feng had left behind, especially the tunnel. She used a spell to completely seal it shut, and only then did she return to the thatched hut.

But now she had no mood to meditate. She only sat there in a daze. This was the first time she had faced danger head-on since transmigrating into the Cultivation World. She had survived with a narrow escape, but that did not mean her luck would always be this good.

This incident also rang an alarm bell for her. She had to find suitable attack methods as soon as possible. She could not rely on talismans every time, because talismans could run out.

Wei Yun Xi’s mind was a mess. One thought after another appeared, until the sun rose. Only then did she force herself to pull it together and go check the growth of the seedlings in the spirit fields.

After inspecting both her own and Zong Hao’s spirit fields and pulling out a few weeds that stole nutrients from the spirit rice, she returned to the thatched hut. She could not let anyone see even the slightest sign that something had happened.

All day, she kept her spiritual sense extended. She wanted to see who might be watching her, so she could judge whether Chen Feng had accomplices.

Fortunately, no one paid attention to her throughout the day. Still, she did not relax. Every half hour, she swept her surroundings again, and she kept doing that until Zong Hao returned.

“Sister Yun Xi, nothing unusual yesterday, right?” Wei Zong Hao asked casually.

Yun Xi nodded. “Your spirit field was fine too. I pulled two weeds this morning.”

“That’s good. I gained a lot on this trip. I bought spirit-flour buns at the dining hall, then went to the market and bought some Pearl spirit rice. I also bought some first-rank spirit rabbit meat and a whole spirit chicken. It’ll last us for a while.”

Hearing that, Yun Xi immediately smiled, her dimples showing. “That’s great. Did you get the stove?”

“Of course. I bought a secondhand one. It only cost fifty spirit beads. There were also senior sisters at the market selling the spirit vegetables they grew themselves, so I bought some too.”

“Not bad, not bad! Oh right – how are Sister Yun Ying and the others?”

Wei Yun Xi asked casually as well.

“They already finished their short-term missions. Yun Ying, Zong Jin, and Zong Yu all went back to the Outer Peak disciple courtyard. Only Wei Yun Qing didn’t go back. She said the disciples at Pill Peak really appreciate her and kept her there to continue sorting spiritual herbs. They even gave her extra spirit stones.”

When she heard that, Wei Yun Xi paused with the hand that was picking out spirit vegetables, then continued working. She smiled and said, “That’s pretty good too. At least she can stay at Pill Peak to cultivate. I heard the spiritual energy there is even thicker than at the Cultivation Hall.”

“It’s just her dumb luck,” Wei Zong Hao said carelessly.

Now his aptitude was no worse than Wei Yun Qing’s. It was impossible for her to press down on the Wei Family disciples again.

That day, Wei Zong Hao and Yun Xi ate a fragrant stew of spirit chicken. The next day, Yun Xi turned the spirit chicken broth into chicken soup noodles, and the two of them enjoyed another satisfying meal.

The delicious spirit meal soothed Yun Xi’s heart. Chen Feng’s matter was considered over. She also did not mention it to Zong Hao – the fewer people who knew, the better.

In the second month, the spirit rice grew to one meter tall and began filling its grain. She and Zong Hao got busy. Every day, they had to cast the Rainfall Technique twice to ensure the grain filled smoothly.

When the spirit rice entered the third month’s maturity stage, Yun Xi noticed someone wandering around near her and Zong Hao’s spirit fields.