Chapter 27: Cultivation Is Truly Easy

Gu Changqing moved swiftly through the jungle. Having undergone a complete transformation, returning now, he felt this world in a way utterly different from before. It was vivid—alive! Every chirp of insects in the darkness, every sway of grass and tree, filled him with a vitality that far surpassed anything he’d previously known.

Most crucial of all was the spiritual energy thick in the air, so much denser than in the other world. Southern Chu had spiritual energy too, but it was thin and scarce, barely worth mentioning. Here, the concentration was dozens of times greater. For any cultivator, this world was a paradise for cultivation—a bounty of resources for progress. Even for Gu Changqing, this advantage was undeniable. The abundance of spiritual energy bred many masters, but food was also plentiful, making it easier to sate hunger. Of course, the dangers were correspondingly greater.

In less than an hour, Gu Changqing reached the main road from before and continued on, letting fate decide his direction. After traveling the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, he heard the rapid pounding of hooves from afar and caught sight of sparks in the darkness. Gu Changqing slipped into the trees by the roadside.

As the torches approached, he saw six riders, all disciples of the Yu family. From between Gu Changqing’s fingers, a blood-red serpent slithered forth, splitting into several thin threads that wound around his hand, writhing as if alive. Suddenly, the threads shot toward the riders. It was deep night; the blood threads were so fine they made no sound, almost impossible to detect. Only the strongest among them, the most alert, sensed something amiss and shouted, “Beware, hidden weapons!”

In an instant, he drew his saber and slashed before him. Yet the blood thread seemed to come alive, darting to his face and burrowing into his nostril before he could react. Terror seized his heart, and he summoned all his blood energy to try to kill the worm that had entered his nose. At first, he felt the invader shatter and was briefly relieved—but almost immediately, he knew something was wrong. He felt something burrow into his veins, pain flaring through his body. With his blood surging, the agony spread rapidly, and he toppled from his horse.

The others fared even worse, offering no resistance as the blood threads invaded their bodies through ears, nose, and mouth. Each fell from their horse, writhing and screaming in pain.

Only then did Gu Changqing emerge from the darkness, walking unhurriedly toward them.

“Who are you?” The leader clutched his chest, eyes fixed on Gu Changqing. As he tried to speak, blood gushed from his mouth.

“Who’s willing to answer my questions?” Gu Changqing asked with a smile. “I’ll give you three counts to decide!”

“What do you want to know? Get this thing out of me!” another disciple screamed in terror, feeling everything inside him dissolving as blood poured from his mouth and nose.

“It seems someone has made a choice,” Gu Changqing said, beckoning with his hand. A blood thread flew from the man’s mouth and coiled around Gu Changqing’s fingers.

“What is that thing?” the disciple gasped, staring in horror at the red thread.

“I’m the one asking questions,” Gu Changqing replied calmly, watching as the remaining men turned to puddles of blood, leaving only white bones behind. The blood pooled, shrank, then split into several blood threads that returned to Gu Changqing’s palm, thicker than before. Wisps of blood energy flowed into his body, transforming into spiritual energy.

“This feels rather good,” Gu Changqing murmured, eyes narrowing in satisfaction. The combined blood energy of these five was just shy of the amount he’d absorbed from that awakened cultivator who could turn into a mass of flesh. Yet each man’s blood energy was at least thirty or forty times that of an ordinary person, and the strongest was a hundredfold. These were just ordinary disciples of the Yu family—who knew how many more there were? How many would it take to reach the second stage of Qi Refinement? Perhaps a hundred or two would suffice.

Cultivation truly seemed effortless!

The last remaining Yu family disciple, seeing his companions reduced to blood, was overcome by terror. “Please… spare me. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, just let me live.”

“That depends on whether your answers satisfy me. What were you doing here?”

“We’re searching for someone…”

Gu Changqing’s smile deepened. Through a series of questions, the disciple, desperate to survive, revealed everything he knew. It had been more than ten days since the second son of the Yu family was killed. Though their disciples still searched the area, their numbers had dwindled to half; after so long with no results, they assumed the culprit had fled. The Yu family had spread their forces thin, searching and making inquiries in all directions.

They were looking for two people: one, the demonic cultivator who killed their second son; the other, a young man skilled in strange hidden weapons who had slain over a dozen Yu disciples.

The road ahead led to two counties—Fu and Pingyao. Gu Changqing was headed toward Pingyao, while the Yu family’s third elder, who was leading the search, was stationed in Fu County.

“Elder? What level of power?” Gu Changqing inquired.

“People say the third elder… is at the sixth stage of Qi Refinement…” the disciple stammered, blood streaming from his mouth and nose, fear mounting in his eyes. He could feel his strength draining away.

“Tsk, not long for this world, it seems. Do you know a woman named You?”

But the disciple could not answer. Gu Changqing pitied his condition.

A shame—he’d wanted to ask more.

“Forget it. I have a soft heart—can’t bear to see you like this,” Gu Changqing sighed. In a flash, the blood thread pierced the disciple’s body, dissolving him into a pool of blood and leaving only bones behind.

With a gesture, Gu Changqing recalled the blood thread to his hand. Seven faces appeared on its surface, struggling to break free, bulging outward, yet tightly bound. As he absorbed the blood thread, wailing seemed to echo in his ears, but he suppressed it with a thought.

He glanced toward Fu County, considered briefly, then continued on to Pingyao. After all, a cultivator at the sixth stage of Qi Refinement might have some useful artifacts. And Yu family disciples were present in both places.

After traveling another half hour, Gu Changqing encountered another group of Yu disciples. Using the same method as before—hiding by the roadside and unleashing his blood threads—he felled all four riders. After questioning one, he dispatched the rest, then dealt with the survivor as well.

Soon after, he heard whistles from behind. Turning, he saw a golden thread soar into the sky and explode, lighting up a corner of the heavens. The character for “Yu” appeared in the air—a signal, no doubt, that his earlier actions had been discovered.

“How arrogant! Anyone who didn’t know better might think the Yu family ruled everything,” Gu Changqing sneered. He tossed the bones aside, shooed the horses away, and continued toward Pingyao.

After a while, the sound of a large group of horses reached his ears—at least several dozen, by the sound of it. Gu Changqing melted into the shadows and watched as sixty or seventy riders thundered past him, vanishing down the road. His eyes flickered with interest, but he waited until they were gone before proceeding toward Pingyao.

After all, if they failed to find anyone, they would surely return. And in a bustling county like Pingyao, with a population of a hundred thousand, he doubted the Yu family would dare to massacre the entire town. This world, after all, was ruled by imperial power, as he had just learned; this was the Southern Province, with forty-seven counties. The nation was called Daye, and it boasted thirty-six provinces in all.