Plundering the Heavens - Chapter 354

No matter how infamous Fang Xing was as the little demon, all the cultivators subconsciously placed him lower than the Huangfu clan’s young master. The little demon was the little demon, after all, a lone wolf without any background or clan to fall back on; even if people like this had some ability, they were usually nothing more than a night-blooming cactus flower that would have a short moment of fame only to be completely forgotten afterwards.

Not having a sect or clan was the same thing as not having any trump cards, and in fact the reason Fang Xing had even this amount of fame was because his guts were excessive enough to cover the heavens and have him dare to challenge the Huangfu clan directly within the Mysterious Domain. Although he’d plundered the Sword Mound and killed four of the Eight Bewitched Followers, most people had determined it was done through cheap tricks and tactics, and although everyone admired his cleverness when he fled after saying he was going to challenge the Huangfu clan’s young master, there had been no shortage of disdain alongside it.

When the Huangfu clan placed bounties to capture and kill Fang Xing afterwards, the people felt the little demon was a foolish and reckless person who didn’t understand limitations. Although he’d temporarily gained an advantage, he’d still brought a great deal of trouble to himself in the process. Not only was his life in ruins and it was inevitable he’d be unable to escape his own death eventually, he’d also brought about the punishment of his teacher in the Qing-Yun Sect—a loss without gain.

When news of the little demon killing his own teacher with a single arrow spread a few days later, the cultivators were indeed shocked at how vicious the little demon was, but the fear they’d felt towards him lessened as well. In their eyes, this little demon had simply been pushed to the edge of madness by the Huangfu clan, and although it revealed a bone-chilling viciousness, it exposed his helplessness as well. If Fang Xing had truly had the battle prowess, why would he need to kill his teacher? Wouldn’t it have been much easier to save him directly? By now, Fang Xing had become something like a cruel joke within Jambu’s cultivation realm. A strong, courageous, and viciously decisive little demon, yet—in front of a great power like the Huangfu clan—he was still like a helpless character from a tragic play.

The cultivators all felt a sense of helplessness towards the strength of the Huangfu clan, and the extraordinary power the Huangfu clan’s young master—who managed to get into the depths of the Mysterious Domain and attain a rank within the Big Dipper rankings—had pushed the clan’s name to its highest point. The clan had quietly lived within the Blackwater Lakeside without showing themselves ever since the Battle of Beast Exhausting three thousand years ago, but now their name had easily reached its peak and overlooked all of Jambu. The possibility of them ruling over Jambu had already began to materialize—their glory was so bright no one even dared to look at it directly.

And yet, at a time like this, that little demon who’d been deemed some kind of cruel joke showed up again and—using such a shameless method as assassination—managed to kill the young master under everyone’s watchful eyes!

Assassination was an incredibly rare sight in the realm of cultivation. The reason assassination would be used in the ordinary realm was because power and strength were in fact separate; those who had great power did not necessarily have great strength for combat, and so people would use combat strength to overpower someone who had great power but happened to be weaker. It was nothing short of relying on brute force—the fury of a coarse and unrefined man.

Within the realm of cultivation, however, strength itself was power, and so those who happened to have great power also had great strength. Assassination was rare because if a person’s strength was greater, they could simply use their greater influence to deal with their opponent, whereas if someone’s strength was lower, trying to confront them via combat to assassinate them was even more of a joke.

Assassinations had been all but unseen within the realm of cultivation for thousands of years, and most cultivators were prepared for duels and spell attacks, not close-ranged assassination attempts. After being brought up in a bandit nest, however, Fang Xing had brought the characteristics of the ordinary realm with him to the cultivation realm, and alongside his excessive boldness and viciousness, he’d actually managed to succeed.

The entire balance shifted within the blink of an eye. The extremely talented young master of the Huangfu clan had been in the public eye for less than a month, only for his head to be chopped off at his most glorious moment, and the Huangfu clan that had been so prestigious was turned into a laughingstock.

All the cultivators were shocked, and in their curiosity they gave chase to see precisely what was happening. They could already imagine that the murder of the Huangfu clan’s young master would assuredly become the biggest news for the next three hundred years. This little demon was indeed a little demon !

The cultivators gradually grew in number, filling up all the space on the ground below and the sky above the Qingqiu Tombs. People were everywhere, with some excited to witness history in the making while others were worried about the terrifying consequences that would come afterwards. Their moods were different, yet their thoughts were the same.

……

The Eight Bewitched Followers also arrived before long, and although they originally wanted to rush inside as well, they didn’t dare to be too hasty when they noticed the abnormality of the fog surrounding the Qingqiu Tomb. Instead, they all anxiously waited outside with murderous looks, each of them wishing they could pull the little demon out and tear off his flesh piece by piece, chew him up, and then swallow him completely so not even a scrap was left behind.

“Nine Golden Cores went inside to catch that brat. What is taking so long?”

The cultivators did not dare to enter the fog, but they couldn’t help but feel some doubt after seeing no one come out even after a long time had passed.

“Maybe the brat placed some kind of trap inside?”

“The difference in battle prowess is obvious; let alone nine Golden Cores, even just one of them would be enough to slap that little demon dead. Even if there was a trap, how could that be anything to the Golden Cores? Unless his trap included a Budding Soul Stage!”

Everyone shook their heads with a wry smile when they heard this; if the brat was able to invite a Budding Soul Stage cultivator over, it wouldn’t have been possible for him to be pushed into such a desperate situation in the first place, nor would he have had to take such great risks to kill the Huangfu clan’s young master—Budding Soul Stage cultivators were great umbrellas of protection, after all. Still, there were people who analyzed everything carefully and said, “This place does seem like the location of an ancient site, and that fog doesn’t seem simple either. Perhaps it’s the ruins of an ancient beast tribe, and some of the dangerous features within were used by the little brat to trap the Golden Cores inside?”

This was actually not far from the truth, but the cultivators continued to discuss it and decided it wasn’t very likely. “The remaining ruins of the beast tribes were cleaned up three thousand years ago. The land was scoured down to the last inch, so how could there be any sites remaining powerful enough to trap Golden Cores? Besides, even if it was strong enough to be able to do such a thing, that doesn’t necessarily mean the brat has enough ability to turn it into a trap for him to use!”

Even after such thoughts and lengthy discussion, there didn’t seem to be a concrete answer and all they could do was patiently wait.

—

Elsewhere, with Fang Xing and the golden crow working together to calculate the formation while the crow sped on, they managed to quickly fly their way through an alternate path and into the main entrance of the stone cave. Although this stone dungeon had many complicated twists and turns and they spent a great deal of time flying around in circles, it turned out there was only one path to the exit—they still had to leave through the main path. When Fang Xing finally saw a distant light coming in from the exit, he felt a sense of relief.

Truthfully speaking, neither he nor the golden crow had been particularly confident when he came up with his plan. The two of them had understood the dangers of this cave very well, and although their battle prowess had greatly increased between then and now, they still only believed they had a thirty percent chance of safely entering and exiting the cave without being caught by the Yin Ghost Thralls. A burning fire had been lit within Fang Xing’s heart, however, so he’d decided to bet on such a gamble.

Fang Xing had discussed this with the golden crow as well and focused on two main properties of the Yin Ghost Thralls. First, since they were materialized by spells and were a non-spiritual being, they followed their instincts and were attracted towards people with more Qi inside their bodies—those with higher cultivation levels. Second, the Yin Ghost Thralls were add-ons for the large formation, similar in effect to guards. Through past experience, it was known that they would awaken when the formation was activated, meaning they were connected to the giant formation and the less Fang Xing and the golden crow triggered the formation, the less attention they would receive. Due to these properties, the Golden Cores trying to break through the formation had become a great beacon for the Yin Ghost Thralls; it could even be that if they weren’t here, Fang Xing and the golden crow wouldn’t have been able to escape so easily.

Fang Xing was filled with joy when the chance to escape came into sight and it looked as though the plan to get rid of the Huangfu clan’s Golden Cores before fleeing would work. Nervous and excited, he hurried the golden crow to leave the stone cave, and the golden crow of course didn’t need any more encouragement—he cherished his own life even more than Fang Xing did his own. The golden crow let out a loud cry and dashed towards the cave entrance, with both of their excitement hitting its peak.

“Hahahahaha….”

“Guahahahaha….”

One boy, one bird, both dashed out of the cave and couldn’t help but to laugh. This time wasn’t as exhausting as the last, and whereas they’d fallen downwards after dashing out in the past, this time they flew right up into the air through the layers of thick fog. When they saw the blue sky, their pounding hearts finally settled and they let out laughter filled with pride and relief.

It was at this time that the boy and bird noticed just how many cultivators were surrounding the place. The pair’s faces were filled with shock; the closest group of cultivators weren’t even ten feet away, so close that even their eyelashes could be clearly seen.

Fang Xing hadn’t prepared for this at all and was completely caught off guard. “Sh*t, what’s with all these people?”

The cultivators in the area—regardless of whether they were in the air or on the ground—were also similarly shocked to see Fang Xing and the golden crow dash out. They had expected something like the Huangfu clan’s Golden Cores dragging Fang Xing outside, yet not only had none of the Golden Cores come out, Fang Xing and the golden crow had snuck out with such victorious smiles and laughter!

A thought appeared in everyone’s mind and they felt a slight sense of terror.‘Could something have happened to the Huangfu clan’s Golden Cores?’ If the little demon truly had some method to kill all nine Golden Cores of the Huangfu clan, then his abilities truly were boundless….