In Qing Gui’s imagination, the clash between him and Wen Xiangjie should have ended with his broadsword directly severing Wen Xiangjie’s right hand.
After all, he was a Demon Infant Stage Cultivator with stable cultivation, while Wen Xiangjie was an Early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator with an unstable foundation.
But when Wen Xiangjie’s longsword easily penetrated his blade aura and entered his abdomen, Qing Gui realized he was incredibly mistaken.
The reason for his misjudgment was that Wen Xiangjie’s cultivation was actually at the Later stage of the Nascent Soul Realm!
She was a whole minor realm higher than him!
“Pfft—!”
Qing Gui spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Wen Xiangjie withdrew her longsword, executed an elegant spin, and slightly distanced herself from Qing Gui.
“If you’re going to fight, why are you so ill-mannered? Spitting blood on your opponent? Good thing I dodged quickly,” Wen Xiangjie said to Qing Gui with a look of disdain.
“You, you… you actually broke through to the Later stage of the Nascent Soul Realm?” Qing Gui’s eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.
This was impossible!
It was already highly illogical for Wen Xiangjie to use a secret method to forcibly break through from the Early Stage of the Golden Core Realm to the Early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. How could she, after breaking through to the Early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, continue to break through two minor realms and reach the Later stage of the Nascent Soul Realm!
She was even a minor realm higher than him!
This shattered Qing Gui’s Dao Heart even more than seeing Wen Xiangjie easily pass her Nascent Soul Tribulation with a pile of treasures.
Having so many treasures to help with the tribulation only meant Wen Xiangjie had good luck, knew how to be reborn, and was born into a great Immortal Cultivation Family like the Wen Family, starting thousands of steps ahead of others from birth.
But breaking through directly from the Early Stage of the Golden Core Realm to the Later stage of the Nascent Soul Realm—Qing Gui absolutely could not accept this!
This did not conform to the logic of Immortal Cultivation! It did not conform to the laws of the Heavenly Dao!
What made Qing Gui even more distraught was that, because his combat experience was rich enough, he could sense during his fight with Wen Xiangjie that Wen Xiangjie was currently in excellent condition and her realm was extremely stable!
Why! Why!
Had his arduous cultivation for hundreds of years been inferior to someone else’s sudden breakthrough and enlightenment in a single day?
The person in front of him was even only 15 years old!
Then what did his years of bloody battles and his diligent pursuit of cultivation resources amount to?
“You’ve got some brute strength,” Wen Xiangjie said, giving Qing Gui a thumbs-up in praise.
Upon receiving Wen Xiangjie’s praise, Qing Gui felt an even greater blockage in his chest, a breath caught between going up and down, choking him until he spat out another mouthful of fresh blood.
“I refuse to accept this, I refuse to accept this!” Qing Gui shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
His face was too ferocious, his wide-open mouth full of blood, making him truly an eyesore.
“Brother, if you’re bad at fighting, practice more.”
Wen Xiangjie raised her Sword of Annihilation again, its blade erupting with dazzling purple-white lightning.
She unhesitatingly plunged the Sword of Annihilation into Qing Gui’s body, precisely piercing his Dantian, and violent lightning power surged madly into Qing Gui’s body along the blade!
“Nine Heavens Thunder Radiance, Qian Yuan Pivot, shatter your deluded body—Thunder Strike!”
“Boom—!”
Qing Gui’s body stiffened abruptly, then began to crumble inch by inch, every fissure shimmering with purple-white lightning.
The next second, Qing Gui’s body exploded like it was filled with dynamite!
Amidst the flying flesh and blood, a purple Demon Infant fled in panic.
However, he had barely fled a few steps before he was caught by the pursuing lightning and twisted into fine dust.
After a shrill scream, Qing Gui was completely annihilated!
Wen Xiangjie flicked her wrist, executing a neat sword flourish to retrieve the Sword of Annihilation back into her storage ring.
She bent down and picked up the storage belt on the ground that originally belonged to Qing Gui.
After Qing Gui’s death, the divine sense belonging to him on the storage belt automatically dissipated, making the storage belt ownerless. Naturally, Wen Xiangjie’s divine sense could freely explore it.
As a Nascent Soul Stage powerhouse, Qing Gui was quite wealthy.
Although Wen Xiangjie couldn’t use most of the items inside, selling them could still net her a small profit.
Just by killing Qing Gui and acquiring his storage belt as spoils of war, this trip’s harvest was considerable.
No wonder there was a common saying sarcastically stating that murder and arson lead to wealth.
Moreover, there were some unexpected gains in Qing Gui’s storage belt.
Looking at the storage bag with the character “Lin” printed on it, Wen Xiangjie chuckled lightly and put the storage bag back into Qing Gui’s storage belt.
After dealing with Qing Gui, Wen Xiangjie continued to sweep the spiritual herbs in this medicinal garden with the Elf Queen.
This medicinal garden was truly vast. By the time Wen Xiangjie had finished collecting all the spiritual herbs in it, three days had already passed within the secret realm.
After finishing with the spiritual herbs, Wen Xiangjie was about to leave when a clear, resonant phoenix cry suddenly came from the southwest direction.
She turned her head and saw that in a certain spot in the sky to the southwest, golden-red flames had condensed into a phantom image of a phoenix.
It was practically screaming, “There’s a fortuitous encounter here, come quickly!” to everyone.
Wen Xiangjie took the Elf Queen and flew towards the southwest on her sword.
Along the way, Wen Xiangjie saw a large number of Cultivators, just like her, rushing towards the southwest.
The Cultivators watched each other warily, but no one was foolish enough to attack at that moment.
Flying on their swords to below the phoenix phantom, a gigantic scroll appeared before everyone.
The scroll was woven from solidified light dust and flowing mist, its edges blurred as if it could merge into the surrounding air at any moment, and it emitted a soft, ancient glow overall.
The scroll depicted phoenixes with wings poised to fly, and as everyone arrived, the phoenixes in the scroll actually turned their heads and swept their gazes over the crowd with arrogant eyes.
Both Cultivators and demons couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.
“The phoenixes in this scroll are so lifelike! Could it be that the Phoenix Clan has not perished, and these phoenixes in the scroll are the remaining souls of the Phoenix Clan?”
“I feel like this phoenix is staring at me; this is definitely not an ordinary scroll!”
“Nonsense, does your ordinary scroll look like this? You’re just saying useless things!”
“Can you feel the pressure emanating from this scroll? I feel like I can’t breathe a little!”
“This scroll must be related to the treasures left behind by the Phoenix Clan!”
An impatient demonic cultivator couldn’t help but step forward and touch the scroll with his hand.
However, the next second, the golden-red flames entwined on the scroll quickly spread from the demonic cultivator’s finger, engulfing his entire body.
Accompanied by the demonic cultivator’s shrill screams, in just three seconds, a Demon Infant Stage demonic cultivator was burned to ashes, and even his Demon Infant did not survive.
Upon seeing this, everyone gasped, and for a moment, no one dared to step forward and touch the scroll again.
After an unknown period, the phoenixes on the scroll solidified much more, and from afar, it no longer looked like a scroll but rather like real phoenixes standing there.
The phoenix in the center of the scroll, wearing a golden crown, suddenly took a few steps closer to the crowd and let out a clear phoenix cry.
The phoenix cry entered everyone’s ears and was automatically translated into their familiar language.
“Those with pure hearts and affinity with my Phoenix Clan may enter.”
