Chapter 156: Recruiting a Disciple on the Spot
Chapter 156: Recruiting a Disciple on the Spot
When the monk saw the small sword, he was stunned at first, and then immediately grabbed the edge of the low table with both hands, trying to overturn it.
But when the table moved slightly, his hands stopped and he just stared at the flying sword in Li Wuxiang's hand.
Li Wuxiang also stared at him. After two breaths, the monk slowly withdrew his hand.
But the two casual cultivators nearby misunderstood and took this opportunity to shout, "What are you afraid of with the Immortal Master here? Take this guy down!"
Before he finished speaking, the two men had already drawn their swords and rushed over. However, as soon as their bodies crossed in front of Li Wuxiang, they immediately softened in mid-air and fell to the ground with two thuds.
The remaining cultivators all had expressions of surprise and doubt on their faces. Some held down the hilts of their swords, while others put their hands into their arms, looking at Li Wuxiang and then at the cultivator behind the table.
Li Wuxiang asked the sword to slowly spin on his fingertips and walked to the low table: "These people are ignorant, you should not be so ignorant. Immortal Master, what should I call you?"
The monk's face had turned pale, but he still sat down at the table: "A monk from the Five Mountains True Form Sect, He Qingmiao."
"Okay, He Qingmiao, do you plan to ask them to help you take me down together, or do you want them to just stand there and save me some trouble?"
The courtyard was dimly lit, with only the oil lamp as the light. He Qingmiao used the light to look at the small sword on Li Wuxiang's fingertips again and again, but still couldn't see it clearly. His throat moved and he said in a hoarse voice: "Don't... move, stand still. This is... this is..."
He took a deep breath, his voice trembling: "Golden Core... Swordsman."
He slowly stood up and stared at the flying sword again. Finally, he saw it more clearly - a small sword was hanging on Li Wuxiang's fingertips.
Before leaving the parish, he listened carefully to what the teachers said about swordsmen - swordsmen who had built their foundation mostly used swords and knives, and only used flying swords as hidden weapons. Swordsmen who had reached the level of Qi Refining could use flying swords as they wished, but they also infused their essence into the sword line, making it more like an extremely flexible and indestructible rope dart.
Only when the Dan is formed, there is no need to pull the sword line, but Dan power is poured into the sword line, and the flying sword is launched naturally without any hindrance. However, at this stage, the sword line is still needed to pour Dan power into the sword.
At this moment, when this small sword slowly turned at Li Wuxiang's fingertips... he felt that he couldn't see it! He couldn't see the sword line around his fingers or palms!
The rumor popped into his head, and He Qingmiao felt a chill run down his spine.
"You... said that you killed the Sword Sect leader..."
There were some heavy breathing sounds behind Li Wuxiang, as if someone was preparing to attack. But after hearing what He Qingmiao said, all the sounds stopped.
"Oh, is that the rumor?"
As Li Wuxiang spoke, he walked to He Qingmiao. He Qingmiao stumbled and quickly moved aside, but his eyes did not leave the small sword on his fingertips: "You... are not a golden elixir! You are a Yuanying! No wonder you can..."
"Oh, do you think so?" Li Wuxiang sat down behind the table and pressed his hand in front of him. The flying sword immediately circled around him and instantly sank into his forehead.
He Qingmiao collapsed to the ground.
This Li Wuxiang is really a Nascent Soul! He has reached the point where the flying sword turns into a rainbow and enters his body!
He stared at Li Wuxiang, and Li Wuxiang smiled at him: "Why, does my face look good?"
He Qingmiao panted twice and shook his head: "No... I... I am... seeing the Yuanying Sword Immortal with my own eyes for the first time in my life."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the wandering cultivators in the courtyard knelt down with a plop, not daring to breathe. But there was only one person - the one who had first told the joke about the swordsman. His legs were shaking like sieves, and he seemed to be unable to kneel down. The next moment, he suddenly screamed from his throat and jumped to run to the door.
But a flash of sword appeared on Li Wuxiang's forehead, and the man immediately fell on the door panel and slowly slid to the ground.
"He Qingmiao, tell these people what is required of Yuanying Sword Immortal."
He Qingmiao seemed to have come back to his senses at this time, but also seemed to be completely confused. He was stunned for a while before he said in a daze: "Nascent Soul Sword Immortal... The Yin Spirit is traveling, and the sword follows the spirit. It is the Hundred Miles Sword Immortal... within a hundred miles... within..."
"It's good that you know. Even if you escape from this door and this village, you can't leave." Li Wuxiang took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Now I ask you questions and you answer them. Don't say any nonsense."
"How many of you are back this time?"
He Qingmiao stared at him blankly, as if thinking about something, but he still said: "Senior, I... I am just a Qi Refiner, but I have only refined Qi into a spirit. I was in Dan City before, and I really don’t know much... We have six people from Dan City... If other cities are like us, our Zhenxing Sect... There are nearly a thousand Qi Refiners. Senior, if you are asking about the Spirit Refiners... I heard that there are more than 40 people from the main temple and the branch temples, and I am still weak... I really don’t know with my cultivation level..."
"Besides the True Form Sect, are there people from the other five sects coming as well?"
"Yes, but I really don't know anything else..."
Li Wuxiang nodded: "There is one like you in every nearby village and town. How far are they laid?"
"Within a thousand miles... The True Form Sect is closer. The ones coming now are all disciples of the True Form Sect. In the future, there will be people from the other five sects coming, so it will be more than a thousand miles away."
"What happened in You Jiuyuan three days ago?"
"Well... I just heard..."
"You speak!"
"Yes..." He Qingmiao said as he moved his feet so that he was no longer slumped but sitting on his knees. "I heard that... after finding out where You Jiuyuan was, some of the Huanxu masters went to Lingshan first, hoping to enter You Jiuyuan from Lingshan... some of them went in, but seemed to have retreated, and it seemed that three Huanxu masters were killed--"
"What about the Sword Sect?"
"I haven't heard of that..."
Li Wuxiang breathed a sigh of relief. The Huanxu of the Six Sects of Xuan Sect is the Yuanying cultivation of the Sword Sect. So before, a group of Huanxu invaded Youjiuyuan from Lingshan, but they didn't get the upper hand because of Cui Daocheng and Mei Qiulu. Maybe Youjiuyuan came to the present world just to get rid of the siege of those Huanxu cultivators.
The news from the Sword Sect was that he had killed Jiang Jie. He smiled in his heart, not knowing what it felt like for a moment... It was a good move, probably Cui Daocheng's idea. "You just said that some swordsmen were dispersed?"
"Yes, after You Jiuyuan came to the mortal world, he happened to land near Tianxin Sect... I heard that someone from the sect was in Tianxin Sect, so I immediately reported the news back. We are the first group to come. Some soul refiners and several returning masters had a fight there before, but your people have left the mountain. I heard that most of them have left the mountain, and only a few have scattered."
When He Qingmiao said these words, his tone was smoother and his expression was not so scared. "Oh, and I heard that some of those scattered swordsmen also went to Tianxin Sect. Anyway, it was in that direction. I don't know if they will really go. This was told to me by my fellow disciples in Santai Town yesterday - Santai Town is more than a hundred miles away from here."
"You said your people were in Tianxin Sect before?" Li Wuxiang frowned and thought for a while, "Are you trying to persuade them to surrender?"
"Yes."
Li Wuxiang was silent for a moment. The thirty-six sects have always been fence-sitters, and this is still the opinion of the swordsmen. Now that the world knows that the leader of the Sword Sect has been killed, and the six Xuan Sects have come out together to encircle and suppress it, they will definitely not think that the Sword Sect still has a chance of winning.
The swordsman is a good person, but he is not a fool. Should those who are defeated go towards the Tianxin Sect?
He looked at He Qingmiao: "There are more than a hundred people in the Sword Sect. You should have recognized them one by one before you came here, right? Didn't your companions in Santai Town tell you who those people who went in the direction of Tianxin Sect were?"
"I..." He Qingmiao frowned and thought for a while, "They used flying talismans to transmit sound, so I could only hear it vaguely, it's really not clear."
"Okay." Li Wuxiang looked at the dishes on the table, "Then there is one more thing. For example, if I kill you now, will your fellow disciples know about this?"
He Qingmiao straightened his body slightly: "Yes! Senior, each of us has a spell on our body. Once our physical body dies, our companions around us will know. So we are guarding here... On the one hand, it is to cut off the swordsman's supply, and on the other hand, it is also a warning from the physical body."
Seeing Li Wuxiang's eyes flash, he quickly said: "Senior, you are a Nascent Soul, so it is not difficult for me, a mere Qi Refiner, to be annihilated physically and spiritually, but it will definitely take some effort. Senior, I... I have an unreasonable request!"
This man is now much calmer and more composed than he was a while ago, and the expression on his face can even be described as resolute.
Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "Oh? Let me hear what you say?"
He Qingmiao fell to the ground at once: "Senior, if you want, please accept me!"
Li Wuxiang was stunned, and the wandering cultivators in the courtyard who were kneeling obediently were also stunned. They couldn't help but look up at He Qingmiao.
"It is rumored that you were in the Coffin City to achieve Dan! But now that I have seen you in person, I know that you were actually in the Infant stage at that time! No wonder there was thunder!" He Qingmiao lay prostrate on the ground, saying anxiously, "I am not stupid, I know that there are only two outcomes for me tonight! One is that you want to avenge your fellow disciples, and I will be killed by you here! The other is that the rumors are true, and you really left the sect for some reason... But with your cultivation level, as long as you don't show up in public, you can live a free and easy life in this world!"
"I heard that you have reached this level not long after practicing. Senior, you must have some magical skills. What you said just now is right. This is my destiny! A Qi-refining disciple like me was sent to a place like this by the True Form Sect. I am just a meat bait... Either way, I will die. Only here can I survive! Master... No, Grandmaster, please accept my disciple's greetings!"
After He Qingmiao said this, he put his hands on the ground in front of his chest, without raising his head, he kowtowed nine times in silence, and then knelt down on the ground without getting up.
After hearing what He Qingmiao said, the swordsmen in the courtyard finally understood what "character" and "aptitude" meant. They immediately became enlightened and began to kowtow one after another, making the courtyard rumble.
Li Wuxiang laughed twice, looked at He Qingmiao, then looked at the casual cultivators in the yard, tapped lightly on the table with his fingers, and remained silent.
After a while, he picked up the chopsticks that He Qingmiao had placed on the table and slowly ate the dishes.
After leaving these people alone for about a quarter of an hour, he put down his chopsticks and said to the casual cultivators in the yard, "All of you should stand up. He Qingmiao kowtowed because he had things to do and was enduring humiliation. Why are you following him and kowtow? Are you going to learn from him by holding a pile of dirt under your chest?"
As soon as he finished speaking, He Qingmiao suddenly straightened his upper body from the ground - three handfuls of yellow earth had gathered under his chest, the same as what Xu Daosheng had created at the gate of Ranshan Mountain that day!
However, He Qingmiao did not stick incense into the three handfuls of yellow earth. He first pulled hard on his hand and inserted three fingers. He moved his mouth violently a few times, and the chewed tongue and blood spurted out.
At this time, his upper body was soaked in blood, but his movements were amazingly fast. Before the blood fell on the loess, the tablet slipped out of his sleeve. However, this tablet was not used like Xu Daosheng did at the beginning, but he stabbed it into his head!
He immediately rolled his eyes and leaned back. However, just before he was about to touch the ground, he suddenly bounced up again.
This time he didn't use his knees to exert force, but it was as if his body was straightened by an invisible force in the void, and he stood upright on the ground.
The hu board stuck in his forehead now emitted a dazzling green light, as if it had become a tall crown, and at this moment, the three handfuls of yellow soil on the ground were also soaked in blood, emitting clear and red light. The light reflected each other, and it made He Qingmiao's body seem to be full of clear air and blood!
Li Wuxiang just sat at the table and looked at him. When he stood up and opened his eyes again, he smiled coldly: "I don't understand the mysterious ways of your True Form Sect, but I think I have seen this scene in Coffin Mountain--"
He pointed at He Qingmiao's head and said, "Lord Taishan of Dongyue, wearing the crown of the Seven Cangbi... you have invited the gods, right? But Wu Meng was not as evil as you that day. He Qingmiao, I remember you worshipped me as your ancestor just now. Why, are you trying to deceive your master and destroy your ancestors now?"
He Qingmiao raised his hands high and pressed them down. The ground in the courtyard immediately sank an inch deeper, and dust burst out. "Li Wuxiang! My cultivation is not as good as yours, and I have never thought of catching you! But you are already a stray dog of the Sword Sect. As long as I can hurt you today, my fellow disciples elsewhere can hurt you again. Thousands of disciples of the Xuan Sect, let's see how long you can hold on! I will sacrifice my blood to the Five Mountains True Form Emperor, and I will go to the Wonderful Realm today!"
“You!” He Qingmiao turned and shouted at the wandering cultivators in the courtyard. The blood that flowed out of his body was emitting an increasingly dense divine light. Even his voice was no longer human. It seemed as if it was shouted from all directions in the courtyard by many things that were not from this world. “You will die if you wait here! Fight him!”
The wandering cultivators in the yard were confused and uncertain. They looked at Li Wuxiang, then at He Qingmiao, and felt that the clear light around him seemed to gradually gather into a misty green cloud in the night. Within the cloud, He Qingmiao's appearance had become blurred and it was impossible to tell whether he was a human figure covered in blood or a heavenly soldier with flickering light and shadow!
First, a casual cultivator stood up eagerly on the ground, and then -
The sword flashed!
The sword light instantly took away all the light around He Qingmiao. His body straightened up and he fell straight to the ground with a bang.
"You think too highly of yourself. I have killed two of these creatures you invited on the Coffin Mountain." Li Wuxiang stood up from the low table and looked at the wandering cultivators in the yard - some were still kneeling on the ground, while others were halfway up. At this moment, they were all stunned, as if they were frozen in place.
The next moment, before the casual cultivators opened their mouths to beg for mercy, Li Wuxiang stretched out a finger and let the flying sword hang on it: "He Qingmiao is right. You people have also gone through untold hardships to touch the threshold of cultivation. It is not easy to get here today. I once met a casual cultivator like you who helped me, so I brought him into the Sword Sect."
The people in the yard let out a collective exhalation sound, half-raised themselves and put their knees back on the ground, but when they were about to open their mouths, Li Wuxiang spoke again.
"But from what you just said to He Qingmiao, it doesn't seem like you don't know what's going on here. So I was thinking, if I let you go today, will you say tomorrow that the swordsman was stupid enough to let us go?"
Li Wuxiang kicked over the low table in front of him, and the sword light flashed at his fingertips, and then came back - a moment later, the wandering cultivators suddenly burst into wails and fell to the ground, with blood flowing on their faces, and only a pair of bloody holes left in their eyes!
"Get out, tell the casual cultivators who are still nearby that anyone who dares to help the evildoers and leak the whereabouts of the swordsman to the Six Sects of Mysterious Sect will die no matter where he goes! My name is Li Wuxiang, go and ask the Six Sects of Mysterious Sect who I am - whether I am cruel enough, ruthless enough, and brave enough!"
Ten or so breaths later, all the wandering cultivators in the courtyard stumbled out. There were still many houses in the village with lights on, but the sounds heard here before, now all the lights are off, and there is silence, as if the village has become empty.
Li Wuxiang left Taiyi Temple, but did not go too far from Fuxing Village - he went to the mountain range behind the village, chose a cliff, climbed up and found a cypress growing on the cliff, and then wrapped himself around the cypress. From a distance, the yellow-brown cloth blended into the tree trunk, and there was almost no clue.
In the past one or two months, he had been on a killing spree - Xu Daosheng, Wu Meng, and a dozen Qi-refining cultivators in the coffin city. But among these people, he felt that He Qingmiao was the most terrifying, even scarier than Wu Meng.
This is not about his ability, but his determination. He Qingmiao is the first Xuanjiao monk he has met who is willing to face death with equanimity.
From this perspective, at least the Five Mountains True Form Sect sent all the elites to encircle the Sword Sect this time, and I'm afraid that Mei Zhangjian and the others will have a very hard time. Li Wuxiang didn't know if he was still a serious swordsman, but for Jiang Jie, Mei Qiulu, Zeng Jianqiu, and Li Ke, he had to do something within his ability before going to the Tianxin Sect to do his own business.
(End of this chapter)