Chapter 043

Chapter 43: Excellence Is the Original Sin

Li Wan Zhi had only just broken through to the Golden Core Realm. He had not learned many spells yet. Yan Ju had been responsible, though. Back when Li Wan Zhi was at the Foundation Establishment Stage, Yan Ju gave him three manuals to choose from: the Azure Cloud Sword Arts, the Wild Blade Sword Arts, and a basic attack spell for cultivators.

Li Wan Zhi picked the Azure Cloud Sword Arts and the spell, but he had been lazy. He never studied either one to the end, always thinking it was fine.

Now that he was fighting, he finally saw his weakness.

He was too weak.

But it was too late to regret. [If I can get back alive, I’ll study like my life depends on it!]

At least he had not slacked on everything. Yan Ju had forced the Swiftwind Art into his head for a full year. His escape speed was excellent. He managed to kite five people through the forest and even led them away.

Only now it wasn’t working.

A dense rain of blood arrows cut off his path ahead. If he kept running forward, he would only die. He had to stop.

Facing the five people closing in, Li Wan Zhi gave a sheepish grin and said, “Big brothers, is it still not too late if I admit I was wrong?”

“Go die!”

The lead cultivator chopped down with his blade. Saber qi exploded with the power of a Golden Core Stage expert, fierce and violent. Li Wan Zhi raised both arms and blocked with a bang. Only then did the crowd notice the “shield” on his forearms.

Cold sweat ran down Li Wan Zhi’s back: “Good thing I learned this move.”

Spirit Shield. Best for blocking hits.

But the force was too strong. He was knocked back several steps, and the knife-wielders behind closed in. Li Wan Zhi dove, planted his arms, rolled hard out of the encirclement, then clutched his head and screamed at the top of his lungs: “Senior Sister, save me!”

Watching from hiding, Fang He An grew anxious and yelled, “Earth Escape Art, you idiot!”

Li Wan Zhi jolted: “Right, Earth Escape Art!”

Uh oh. What was the incantation for the Earth Escape Art?

At death’s door, he finally remembered. His body turned into a streak of spiritual light and shot into the ground.

At the same time, Fang He An formed a seal. A gust swept the forest, pushing the drifting poison fog across the ground toward the five Blood Rainbow Pavilion disciples. But a stronger gust rolled in from the other side and blew the poison back toward Fang He An.

Fang He An was fine. The just-emerged Li Wan Zhi, however, took a full breath: “I was about to suffocate.”

A heartbeat later, he felt he might rather have suffocated. Countless blisters bubbled on his skin, and a purple-black tint spread fast. He reached out in despair and said, “I… I’m going to die.”

Fang He An slid on his knees, rushed over, and shoved something into Li Wan Zhi’s mouth: “Swallow!”

The antidote slid down his throat just in time, saving his life. But Li Wan Zhi still could not move. Fang He An could only hoist him and take off at a dead run.

The five pursuers closed in again, but a few cries rang out behind them almost at once.

“It’s Poison Ants!”

“That pretty boy who ran is a poison master!”

Fang He An sprinted for his life and still found breath to curse: “Your grandmaster is the poison master. I am an apothecary alchemist!”

He was the personal disciple who carried on his master’s excellent craft as an apothecary alchemist. Even though his master always told him not to claim the connection in public, a man should not betray his calling, and a job should not be denied.

Jounced on Fang He An’s back, Li Wan Zhi felt bile rising. The numbness in his limbs was fading, but his discomfort grew worse: “Senior brother, I think I see mushrooms flying.”

Fang He An’s head throbbed. This brat had managed to inhale the strongest Indigo Toxin. Without the antidote, he would have dropped on the spot, but the aftereffects were nasty.

“Hold on. I’ll clear out the rest of the poison soon,” said Fang He An.

“Ah, a mushroom is flying into my mouth, senior brother. I’m going to bite it,” Li Wan Zhi babbled.

Hearing that, Fang He An sensed trouble. He turned and threw up a hand, catching two Plum Flower Spikes. A third one was between Li Wan Zhi’s teeth.

Fang He An: “…”

Li Wan Zhi spat it out: “Too old. I can’t chew it.”

Fang He An did not even have time to check if the spikes were poisoned. That moment of delay let two enemies catch up. One circled behind and chopped at Li Wan Zhi. Li Wan Zhi, still out of it, felt no danger at all.

Seeing this, Fang He An stepped in and used his own body to block the strike. That step left his right side wide open with no defense. One hit would seriously injure him, not to mention the pincer attack coming from both sides.

Just then, Golden Core pressure surged over Fang He An’s body and formed a seal. It became golden light and forced back both attacks. It was only a retreat of a dozen steps, but the Blood Rainbow Pavilion disciples’ faces changed.

“Late Golden Core!”

So young?

Fang He An was only in his early twenties, and the Li Wan Zhi he carried looked eighteen or nineteen, yet both were already in the Golden Core Realm. Fang He An was even Late Golden Core.

In the cultivation world, breaking through to the Golden Core by fifty means you have potential. By forty, you are above average. Before thirty, you are a one-in-ten-thousand genius. The Supreme Sect’s Junior Sister Ye broke through the Golden Core Stage at sixteen, which was almost unheard of. How do people tell ages? Simple. After breaking through the Golden Core Stage, a cultivator can live five hundred years, and their face can be fixed at that time. That means your appearance locks to the age you reached at your breakthrough. You can change it with a Rejuvenation Pill, but those are precious. Few are willing to spend that kind of money.

Seeing how young Fang He An looked, they had assumed he was at most late Foundation Establishment. Now they realized he and Li Wan Zhi were anything but simple.

By contrast, the pursuers were all in their thirties. Sourness and jealousy filled their hearts. How could these two have such strong talent?

“All the more reason not to let them go.”

They were too excellent, so they had to be removed.

Blood Rainbow Pavilion had only three still standing; two had collapsed from poison behind. The third came up with a bow on his back, eyes cold with killing intent. He nocked an arrow.

Fang He An edged backward. Blood dripped from his hidden arm, but he could not hide it. Everyone here was a Golden Core Stage cultivator. Blood on the grass did not escape their eyes.

The three sneered as a blood arrow formed.

Fang He An turned and ran.

“Bind,” someone said.

A restraint dropped onto Fang He An, slowing him down. If he threw Li Wan Zhi aside, he could still burst the restraint and escape.

He did not.

“How touching, such deep brotherly love,” a Blood Rainbow Pavilion disciple mocked. “Kill him, Xue Yin.”

The blood arrow hissed through the air. Fang He An still did not let go of Li Wan Zhi. The arrow slammed into his defense and punched through, but it did not pierce his chest. A Spirit Talisman on him ignited on its own, turning into a guarding Spirit Guard pattern that shielded them both.

Fang He An froze.

So did the three opponents.

Sensing something wrong, they barked, “All together!”

Before the words finished, two sword lights streaked in, one from high above and one from the front. One carried the aura of the Greatforce Sword. The other was the Heart Questioning Sword. Both blades fell before Fang He An, blocking two vicious saber strikes, and two graceful figures appeared at the same time.