Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Illusory Form Great Method
"Shi Xiaole, did you kill all those people?"
Wu Xiaoxian couldn’t help but ask.
Shi Xiaole hesitated for a moment, thinking there was no need to hide, so he nodded.
The father and daughter of the Wu family were stunned.
It took a while for Wu Xiaoxian to react. She picked up a piece of fabric, took the Mist Flower, hence avoiding touching it directly, so her mind wouldn’t be affected.
"Father, with the Mist Flower and Jiehuan Grass, along with other medicinal herbs, your coughing blood symptom will surely be cured, and your martial power will recover."
Having obtained the Mist Flower, Wu Xiaoxian’s face lit up with excitement, and her cheeks turned bright red.
Wu Taishan also took a long breath, seemingly having waited for this day for a long time. He looked at Shi Xiaole steadily and said tremulously, "Xiaole, I really don’t know how to thank you."
At first, Wu Taishan merely saw him as a young man with some talent and vigorous spirit. If anything was unique, he seemed more mature than others of his age.
But now, no matter how he looked, Wu Taishan felt Shi Xiaole had an extraordinary charm, like a magnet, the closer you get, the more you are attracted to him.
To avoid being discovered by others and causing unnecessary trouble, at Shi Xiaole’s suggestion, the three of them quickly left the scene and disappeared into the woods.
The next day, daybreak.
Shi Xiaole proposed to take his leave.
Wu Taishan opened his mouth, seeming to say something, but in the end, he only said, "Take care."
...
About a quarter of an hour later, Shi Xiaole suddenly stopped because someone was chasing him from behind. Looking back, it was Wu Xiaoxian again in her silk attire.
"Miss Wu, is there anything you need?"
Shi Xiaole asked with a smile.
"This is for you."
Wu Xiaoxian walked up and handed over a somewhat old booklet, on which was written ’Illusory Form Great Method’.
"Illusory Form Great Method?"
"Yes, this is the Stone Touching Skill passed down through generations of my Wu family."
Shi Xiaole shook his head, "I’m afraid you misunderstood. I helped you not for your gratitude or to gain something."
Wu Xiaoxian said, "I understand, and so does my father. And the one who misunderstood is you! Because we’re not giving you the Illusory Form Great Method, we’re just temporarily entrusting it to you. As you know, if my father’s martial power doesn’t return, it would be troublesome if someone steals it."
Shi Xiaole stood there, his expression unpredictable.
Wu Taishan had said earlier that the ancestors of the Wu family had made rules not to teach the Illusory Form Great Method to anyone outside the Wu family. Now doing this way, clearly intends to facilitate him.
I’m just leaving the Stone Touching Skill with you to look after. If you peek, I can’t help it.
"Why are you so hesitant? Can’t you help with this little thing?"
Wu Xiaoxian huffed and directly stuffed the Illusory Form Great Method into Shi Xiaole’s sleeve. The touch of her tender palm against his skin made a blush rise on her face as she turned and ran into the forest.
"Thank you."
Clutching the book of the Illusory Form Great Method, Shi Xiaole sighed softly.
"Thank you."
Returning to the top of a hill, Wu Xiaoxian quietly watched as the figure in green dwindled away, a faint look of longing appearing on her face.
After leaving Wanlin Mountain, Shi Xiaole found his horse had disappeared. With a wry smile, he had to return temporarily to Wanlin City and buy another horse.
Luckily, he was well-off. Not to mention the pocket money from his aunt, just the two hundred thousand taels silver he earned from escorting Miss Zhang, was enough for him to splurge.
"Hahaha, what they say is true, iron shoes worn out in fruitless searching, and effort pays off in the end, boy, I finally found you."
At the city gate, Shi Xiaole was suddenly blocked by a group of people. The man speaking was none other than ’Langyue Sword’ Lin Langyue.
Behind Lin Langyue, there was a group of people. Among them, one man stood closer than the others, his eyes sparkling and giving off a chilling aura.
After suffering a loss at the hands of Shi Xiaole, Lin Langyue had immediately rushed back home and called for a group of experts, but to no avail. Unsatisfied, he searched the entire city, nearly turning Wanlin City upside down.
Originally Lin Langyue had given up hope, thinking that Shi Xiaole had escaped. He hadn’t expected heaven’s mercy and still found him.
See how he dies this time!
"Boy, it seems your luck is not very good."
Lin Langyue revealed a cruel smile.
Since childhood, anyone who fell into his hands ended up at least losing a layer of skin. As for Shi Xiaole, losing a layer of skin was too cheap for him, at least he had to be flayed and deboned.
"Let us go, and we can avoid any issues."
Sitting high on the horse, Shi Xiaole’s left hand held the reins, and his right hand held the Qingfeng Sword.
"Avoid issues? As a self-proclaimed righteous person, how could I coexist peacefully with a devil path thief? Lin Yuan, hurry up and catch this thief. I will torture him severely."
Lin Langyue considered himself a person of the Righteous Path and, of course, couldn’t persecute others out of jealousy and personal grudges. So he labeled Shi Xiaole as a devil path offender. Given he had the final say in Wanlin City, no one would question it.
"Yes, Young Master."
Lin Yuan was the man with the chilling eyes. Hearing Lin Langyue’s words, he immediately rushed towards Shi Xiaole on horseback, slashing down with his sword in mid-air.
Lin Langyue smiled leisurely.
Lin Yuan possessed the cultivation level of Qi Absorption, making him one of the few powerhouses in Lin Family. He ranked in the top ten within the martial world of Wanlin City. Dealing with Shi Xiaole, to him, was a piece of cake.
When the frenzied blade was approaching, Shi Xiaole, instead of retreating, spurred his horse forward. When both sides were just about a yard apart, he abruptly unsheathed his sword.
A streak of green radiance piercing through the air landed in Lin Yuan’s vision, appearing as though it was far in the distance, not reaching a level of threat to him.
"Is that all you’ve got?"
Before Lin Yuan could finish his sentence, suddenly the hair stood on the back of his neck as the green-edged sword, which was far in the distance a moment ago, had suddenly pierced into his chest.
Swish.
Thrusting the sword and pulling it out all happened within a blink of an eye. Lin Yuan fell from his horse and collapsed onto the ground, his fate unknown.
Even though Lin Yuan had the same Qi Absorption cultivation level, he had been living comfortably in the Lin Family for years, his spiritual will was a notch worse than the swordsman. Hence, he didn’t have time to detect the Chaotic Intent Realm and fell under Shi Xiaole’s sword before he knew it.
From the moment Shi Xiaole drew his sword to when Lin Yuan fell, everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time the Lin family reacted, Shi Xiaole had already charged forward with an indifferent expression.
"It’s bad, retreat quickly!"
Lin Langyue yelled in shock, immediately reining the horse to run away.
But would Shi Xiaole give him the chance? A sword swiftly waved, with a swishing sound, amid the splash of fresh blood and the scream of a Lin family powerhouse, Lin Langyue also fell to the ground.
The next moment, Shi Xiaole, on horseback, had already left the city gate, galloping away.
"Young Master..."
The powerhouses of the Lin family were at their wit’s end, nervously huddling around Lin Langyue.
"I...I hate this."
Lin Langyue wasn’t dead, but his right arm was severed at the elbow, making him almost crippled. This was more brutal than killing him.
The powerhouses of the Lin family sighed in relief, but their hearts were immediately raised again, not knowing what kind of expression their lord would have upon finding out about the young master’s condition.
No one could have expected that everything that happened here fell into the eyes of two pairs of eyes in a wine shop not far away.
"This man is quite ruthless, killing and crippling people without a word."
The owners of the two pairs of eyes were two beautiful women who looked like stunning flowers. The younger and aloof girl in red on the left said.
"He clearly acted in self-defense."
The woman in yellow on the right, who was older and had softer features, laughed.
"Senior sister, why bother to speak for him? From last night to now, he’s killed nearly ten people. With such a heavy intent to kill, he doesn’t deserve to be a righteous path. I can’t tolerate having any entanglement with such a person."
"But that was set up ten years ago..."
"Senior Sister, back then my parents only agreed because they were grateful for his family’s saving them. If worse comes to worse I can save him in return someday, and then we can call it even."
The girl in red reacted quite intensely.
A few months ago, she accidentally overheard her parents’ conversation and learned that she had a fiance agreed upon verbally since she was a child. The Xu Family’s lord was waiting for both of them to grow older, and then would announce this news to have their marriage settled.
This was a big deal.
The red-clothed girl, after much investigation and indirect questioning from her mother, finally learned the identity of her ’fiancé’. That’s why she had traveled far to the Cloud Triangle.
...
Shi Xiaole didn’t know what had happened in the wine shop, and even if he did, he would just dismiss it with a laugh.
He never cared about whether his path was righteous or evil, he just walked his own trail. As for others’ opinions, whatever.
Lin Langyue wanted to harm him; all he did was cripple one of his arms, which was already quite a lenient response from him. Of course, if Lin Langyue or the Lin family still wasn’t appreciative of this, Shi Xiaole wouldn’t be polite anymore.
The journey back to Mountain Luyan from Wanlin City took a few days. During these few days, any time Shi Xiaole had a moment free, he would immediately look through the Illusory Form Great Method.
For him at this stage, nothing was more important than restoring his cognitive qi.
Late at night, near the bonfire.
Shi Xiaole closed the Illusory Form Great Method, feeling both disappointed and excited.
His disappointment came from the fact that the Illusory Form Great Method was not complete; it simply turned out to be a fragment of another Stone Touching Skill.
His excitement came from the fact that even if it was a fragment, the Illusory Form Great Method still received a system rating of second-rate inferior level, a whole level higher than the Perception Tactics.
The Stone Touching Skills that could really increase cognitive qi, thus replenishing and improving cognition- all these were second-rate level. Rumors suggested that the first-rate Stone Touching Skills could temper a person’s cognitive qi to be tougher than iron.
Upon confirming that the Illusory Form Great Method could indeed replenish the lost cognitive qi, even to the point of enhancing and improving cognition, Shi Xiaole was in high spirits and cultivated even more vigorously.
