Your Mind Is Your Strongest Weapon
The cultivators could not sleep that night, while the common folk only got in a cat nap. Xiaoshuai and Qing Fan were the only ones sound asleep together.
When the sun bloomed on the horizon, Lie Shang stated, “We need to leave now.”
Mu Yu nudged Xiaoshuai awake.
“We have to go now?” asked Xiaoshuai, rubbing his eyes.
Xiaoshuai waking up woke Qing Fan up. “You have to leave?”
“Yeah, I have to go avenge all of you. Be a good boy, okay? Once you’re older, I’ll let you join me on my quest to fight the elemental demons,” Xiaoshuai responded.
“Didn’t you promise last night that you’d teach me to train me into a powerful immortal master?”
“Did I say that?” Xiaoshuai scratched his head, unable to recall another fib he told.
“You’re not keeping your word. Heroes must keep their word,” cried Qing Fan, refusing to release his hold on Xiaoshuai’s hand.
Mu Yu stroked Qing Fan’s head. “Qing Fan, you have what it takes to become a cultivator. We can’t bring you with us because we are going on a dangerous quest. Stay with you parents. I’ll come train you when I have the chance.”
“We’ve lost our homes, though. Bother Damao said the city is destroyed,” sulked Qing Fan.
Mu Yu realised his folly for forgetting to factor that in. Luckily, the man adorned in blue offered, “You can train under me, kid.”
“Thank you.” Mu bobbed his head in gratitude.
“It is my pleasure. The courage he displayed yesterday puts us to shame. As long as he is cultivated well, he will achieve great things in life.”
“Might I be able to ask for your name?”
The Body Severing Realm cultivator answered, “I apologise for not introducing myself early. I am Tan Qingquan, a freestyle cultivator.”
Mu Yu passed Tan Qingquan whatever spirit stone jade pieces he had left and then addressed the quivering commoners. “Could you help them settle down in some city? You can decide how many spirit stones to provide them with. The rest can be an investment in Qing Fan; he’s worthy of it.”
“This is a lot. Are you going to trust me so easily?”
“You took a stand yesterday if nothing else.”
“Understood.”
Tan Qingquan and Mu Yu harboured a mutual respect for each other through their short, yet meaningful, exchange.
“You need to focus on training now that you have a shifu, okay? Once you’re ready, I’ll pick you up to join me,” promised Xiaoshuai.
“It’s a promise!”
“… Qing Fan, always remember: if you want to kill the devil, do not let yourself become one.”
“I will follow your example.”
“Don’t copy me. Learn from your shifu because I…” Mu Yu inwardly finished, I am a devil.
Mu Yu levitated the caskets behind him as he departed with Lie Shang. Xiaoshuai brightly bid Qing Fan farewell and followed after.
“Mister, why didn’t he finish his sentence?” Qing Fan questioned.
Tan Qingqing flashed blue quicker than the eye could follow as he watched Mu Yu leave. “Everyone has their secrets. We don’t need to pry if they don’t want to share it. From now on, you call me ‘Shifu’.”
“Okay, Mister. So, he is stronger between you two?”
“Shifu.”
“Mr. Shifu, who is stronger between you two?”
“Regardless of strength, one must conquer their mind for the mind is the strongest weapon.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You will.”
“Why didn’t you fight the elemental demons yesterday, Mr. Shifu?”
“Without the ‘Mr.’ part.”
“Why didn’t you fight the elemental demons yesterday, Shifu?”
“Because the enemies yesterday were not elemental demons but devils.”
“Is there a difference.”
“You’ll find out.”
“What’s your best skill?”
“I wield lightning.”
“Can lightning be used to defeat elemental demons.”
“It can.”
“I’m going to master it, then!”
***
Unsurprisingly, the demise of Eastern Desert City caused uproar for Body Synthesis Realm elders of the eight great sects guarded it, yet none made it out alive. It, therefore, implied that forces even stronger than the group at Eastern Desert City would be necessary to tackle the threat. In addition, paranoia began to seize a number of cultivators. The attack did not achieve its intended goal, but the elemental demons successfully instilled fear.
“Why isn’t there any soul energy when over a hundred thousand people died? There’s nothing but ruins, smoke and the rancid smell of blood. Are the three priests also able to now absorb soul energy?” grouched Jin Xiyun, a woman donning black from head to toe. She kicked aside a boulder, revealing the lower body of an earth demon and crouched down. “Not even the elemental demons released soul energy.”
The man wearing the same hood and robe as the maiden inspected the soot and rocks. He went to a boulder over a hundred metres tall – now sitting where Mystic Beast Store was – and commented, “There’s something odd about this. When the other three cities fell, the soul energy remained. Let’s split up and examine this city for clues.”
“Who could’ve done all this without leaving an ounce of soul energy behind?” Jin Yuxin rendezvoused at the decrepit city door an hour later and blasted away the dust to pick up the damaged swords using her white energy. “Gu Chaoyu, look.”
“It’s the tip of the sword of Sword Shadow Dust Gale’s statue.”
“Bloodlust energy broke it.”
“This power doesn’t belong to the three priests.”
“From this, we can infer that it wasn’t the priests who tore the city asunder but someone inside who destroyed the statue to trigger the destruction.”
“Mm… Let’s check for survivors.”
Jin Yuxin discharged soul energy from her body, morphing it into white gas throughout the city. “No survivors. There’s no way of confirming if this is all of the population due to the number of people coming and going, either. I don’t know anyone from this city.”
Gu Chaoyu flew up to the top of the city doors to peer toward the horizon. “Cultivators from other cities are coming.”
“Understood.”
Jin Yuxin reduced the sword tip to dust and flitted away with Gu Chaoyu as white streaks.
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