"What? How can that happen?" The cultivator who had activated the bronze cauldron was red in the face. However, he felt as if he had hit an iron wall and could not move an inch.
Jiang Ming raised his hand, and the bronze cauldron flew back faster than ever, directly hitting the chest of the man who activated it. With a bang, the cauldron hit the man, and his body exploded.
The mountain forest shook, and spiritual light exploded. The battle became several times more intense in an instant. Jiang Ming was like a rampaging beast. He killed everyone in his path.
The last man was completely scared out of his wits. He turned around and wanted to run. However, Jiang Ming threw a long mace that he had just picked up at him. It made a shrill whistling sound as it broke through the air. The man was killed in an instant.
He Xiaowan's mouth was slightly agape. She did not understand why this handsome young man had suddenly gone berserk. Wasn't he quite calm just now?
In the blink of an eye, Luo Yanyue was the only one left in the Divine Eye Sect. She was covered in injuries. Even if Jiang Ming was distracted, the Scarlet Separation Sword kept flying at her.
Luo Yanyue panicked when she saw that everyone else had died. A determined look flashed in her eyes. A withered aura suddenly burst out of her body, and her skin lost its luster. In an instant, she turned into an old tree bark, and her soft face became old and crusty.
"This aura..." Jiang Ming raised his eyebrows. When he was on Xiaoqian Mountain, he had felt a faint trace of decay from Luo Yanyue's body, which was exactly the same as the aura that she was exuding now.
"It seems that this is her life-saving technique!" Sensing the sudden surge of spiritual energy in Luo Yanyue's body, Jiang Ming understood.
The next moment, Luo Yanyue blocked the Scarlet Separation Sword with a purple longsword. Then, her speed increased dramatically, and she fled for her life.
The withered aura she exuded was even stronger. However, her speed was shockingly high, almost exceeding the limits of the Qi Refinement Realm.
"Ha! So, it's an escape technique?"
Jiang Ming's eyes suddenly lit up. However, he did not panic at all. Her escape technique was not bad. However, she had used it too late.
No matter how fast she ran, could she be faster than a flying sword?
He completely refined the last trace of the mystic fire under his spiritual core and poured his spiritual power into the Scarlet Separation Sword. It burst out with a brilliant light.
After a loud noise, the Scarlet Separation Sword cut into a mountaintop, bringing up a cloud of dust.
Jiang Ming followed closely and found a figure in the smoke and dust. The figure was firmly nailed into a deep pit by the Scarlet Separation sword. All the bones in her body were broken, and blood was everywhere.
"The Divine Eye Sect won't let you off." Luo Yanyue's face had aged terribly. She looked like an old woman on the verge of death. She stared at Jiang Ming with hatred.
Jiang Ming sighed. "You tried to rob and kill me. I fought back just to protect myself. I didn't expect the Divine Eye Sect to be so ruthless. I only killed a few of you, yet you want to hunt me down. You're completely devoid of conscience and morality! If that's the case, I'll definitely pay a visit personally when I cross the Golden Core Realm one day and end this grudge once and for all."
Luo Yanyue was panting heavily, as if she wanted to say something.
Jiang Ming's eyes were calm. He pulled out the Scarlet Separation Sword from the woman's chest, and then directly slit her neck.
"Don't be upset. No matter what, in the future, it'll be a grudge between me and the Divine Eye Sect. The grudge between you and me has been buried. I won't be mad at you anymore. So, don't take it to heart."
Seeing that Luo Yanyue was about to die and was still struggling to speak, Jiang Ming quickly comforted her.
After two more strikes, Luo Yanyue finally stopped moving.
Jiang Ming then took off her storage ring with ease and put it in his pocket.
He burned the corpse to avoid future trouble.
* * *
He Xiaowan looked at Jiang Ming who had returned and cupped her hands in gratitude. "Thank you for saving me, fellow cultivator. May I know your name? Which sect do you come from?"
Jiang Ming subconsciously wanted to make up a name. However, he realized he needed a new identity soon.
He smiled and said casually, "My name is Yan Chixia, I'm just an individual cultivator."
"An individual cultivator?"
He Xiaowan's eyes were filled with shock. How could there be an individual cultivator who was this strong?
"Fellow cultivator, if you join the Cloud Dream Sect, you will have a bright future," He Xiaowan said sincerely.
Jiang Ming shook his head and said seriously, "I'm used to being an individual cultivator. It suits my lifestyle better. Serving justice and punishing evil is the life of immortal cultivation I yearn for!"
At first, Jiang Ming wanted to use Zhang Shan's name. However, after thinking that what he did today was a good thing, he decided to create a new identity to gain popularity.
"From now on, Yan Chixia is the new hero," Jiang Ming muttered internally.
He Xiaowan's expression was a little strange. She wanted to say, "Didn't you want to turn around and run away at the beginning? How are you chivalrous?"
However, he had saved her. Thus, naturally, she could not say these words.
"Fellow cultivator, are you going to the Black Rock Ruins in advance?" The two of them chatted for a while.
Although it was still a few years away from the opening of the Black Rock Ruins, there were many people who wanted to find a loophole in the restrictions in the past few years.
Jiang Ming nodded. There was nothing to hide. So many people were going there anyway? What was the point of hiding?
He Xiaowan smiled. "I have some information about the Black Rock Ruins. It was collected by the Cloud Dream Sect over the years. I'll give it to you as a way of repaying you for saving my life."
Jiang Ming's eyes lit up. The information collected by the Cloud Dream Sect, one of the six blessed lands, would naturally be much better than the information collected by the individual cultivators on Xiaoqian Mountain.
Soon, He Xiaowan handed him a storage ring. Jiang Ming looked inside and saw a few Jade Slips, a small mountain of spirit stones, and a golden jade token with the Cloud Dream Sect's crest engraved on it.
"I have no other way to repay you for saving my life. Fellow cultivator, if you need anything in the future, you can find any Cloud Dream Sect disciple and show them the jade token. They will be able to find me!" He Xiaowan explained.
Jiang Ming smiled and nodded. However, he suddenly thought of an old friend in the Cloud Dream Sect. He wondered if he would be joining the expedition to the Black Rock Ruins.
However, Jiang Ming did not ask much. After a while, the two said goodbye to each other, and he watched He Xiaowan fly away. Jiang Ming then quickly scoured the battlefield and packed up the scattered magical tools, storage rings, and so on.
The Divine Eye Sect's disciples were quite rich. This might be the biggest harvest he had since he entered the world of immortal cultivation.
After a while, the Spirit Sword Shuttle flew up again and flew into the distance.
"Looks like I'll have to add another name to my little notebook!" Jiang Ming thought.
* * *
More than ten days later, Jiang Ming was already thousands of miles away from Xiaoqian Mountain.
In the early morning, the mist was thick. Jiang Ming looked at a small city in front of him and squinted.
'I'm probably less than a thousand miles away from the Black Rock Ruins. Let's settle down here first."
The spiritual energy in the vicinity was thin, and there would probably not be any immortal cultivators in this small city. It would be a good place for him to cultivate for a few years and sort out the new items and the information he had obtained.
Passing through the gate, Jiang Ming slowly walked into the city. Some vendors had already set up breakfast stalls. It was smaller than Great Cloud City.
As far as he could see, almost all of the people here were mortals. Jiang Ming did not even see a single immortal cultivator. However, this was exactly what he wanted.
"After all, I'm a good person who doesn't like trouble," Jiang Ming muttered to himself. He randomly found a breakfast stall, ordered the local specialties, and began to eat.
"What?" He was eating with gusto when he suddenly raised his head and looked ahead.
He saw a team of more than ten people walking through the street, all carrying wild boars and other prey. They were all burly and brimming with blood Qi.
"They're all martial artists?"
Jiang Ming suddenly felt a little happy. In this world of immortal cultivation, he had occasionally met a few martial artists. However, they were all individual cultivators who only practiced martial arts casually. He had never seen a large number of martial artists like this before.
This unremarkable town was a little surprising.
