13 Chapter no.14 Peak Spirit Realm Expert

[ POV Change ]

I, Xi Meng, have always served under the boss of the outer sect, Lin Lingtian. I wouldn't have it any other way. Boss Lin, was always such a strange guy. He would often question the importance of talent in the eyes of the higher-ups, and wonder why cultivators should be limited by the circumstances of their birth.

"Xi, why does talent matter so much in the eyes of the higher-ups? Aren't we cultivators, shouldn't we be fighting against the circumstances we are born with?" Lin Lingtian would ask.

"Yes, Boss, I agree," Xi Meng would respond as he handed Lin Lingtian his bottle of water while gazing upon a few well-known young masters of the outer sect of the Heavenly Sacred Border who had challenged and had lost badly to Lin Lingtian. Many thought that Lin Lingtian was just some powerful individual, but he quickly showed everyone in the sect that his intelligence was just as strong as his strength as he ranked the highest in the alchemical exam.

Maybe it was his upbringing as the illegitimate son of an elder or maybe it was something else that drove Lin Lingtian to seek perfection. The boss was always too hard to let on. Too hard to ever let on why he gathered the weak under his command as he battled against the strong and the elite, but we all knew the real deal when we saw it. Lin Lingtian wasn't like the others who were born with talent, he made himself talented. Since the boss was always no. 1, we tried to be no.1.

( ~ Clang ~ )

"What .... ?" Xi Meng exclaimed as the moonlight showed a red-dyed ground filled with the corpses of the members of his gang while Lin Lingtian looked at him with an indifferent look.

"Boss, what is this ?!" Xi Meng showed as tears flowed down his eyes as he crashed knee-first into the ground. He looked at everyone's corpses in disbelief. "I didn't know people were ... so weak." Lin Lingtian's words caused chills down Xi Meng's spine as he exclaimed in disbelief," Weak ?"

"Boss, You are kidding, right? This is a joke, right? All of you are pulling a prank on me, right." Xi Meng hysterically asked before his heart stopped as he saw the corpse of his sister with tears in her eyes. "Boss!" Xi Meng shouted as Lin Lingtian smiled and said," Your sister had quite a tasty body, she looked like she had fun."

Lin Lingtian's words caused Xi Meng to gulp as he saw bruises on his sister's face but what broke the camel's back for Xi Meng was the claw marks on the ground behind her as if his sister had tried to escape. "You Bastard !" Xi Meng shouted as he lunged at Lin Lingtian who just smiled before he disappeared from the edge.

Xi Meng felt cold in his chest as he looked down only to find a hole in his chest.

( ~ Lub ~ )

( ~ Dub ~ )

Hearing the sounds of a heartbeat, Xi Meng turned to find Lin Lingtian standing there, holding his still-beating heart in his hand. "Give it back," Xi Meng exclaimed as he dropped to the ground, feeling the weight of his impending death. But Lin Lingtian simply placed the heart back into Xi Meng's hand before walking away disappearing into the night, leaving Xi Meng to die alone among the corpses of his comrades.

Just before he died, Xi Meng had only one thought: You never had a smile when you were with us, did you? He had always known that Lin Lingtian was different, but he never could have imagined the depths of his boss's depravity. He had been blinded by his loyalty and admiration for Lin Lingtian, and now it had cost him everything. As he took his last breath, Xi Meng couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal and regret for not seeing the truth sooner.

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The Northern side of the island was covered in dense forest, with tall trees reaching towards the sky, and a thick layer of leaves covering the forest floor. The air was damp and musty, filled with the scent of rotting vegetation and the occasional flash of a small animal darting through the underbrush.

Zhongli stood amidst the forest, his eyes closed as he focused on the sensation of the five elixir pools within his abdomen. The Five Elixir Realm was the foundation of cultivation, and it was only by awakening the five pools corresponding to the elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water that one could truly call themselves a cultivator.

For most, the process of awakening the five elixir pools and forming the pathways throughout the body took years, if not decades. But Zhongli had cheated. The Beast Blood Martial Art he had learned allowed him to extract the essence of spiritual Qi from the blood he absorbed, allowing him to breakthrough into the Five Elixir Realm overnight.

As he stood there, Zhongli couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at the power coursing through his body. He had reached the peak of the Spirit Root Realm, and he knew he could break through to the Affinity Realm if he wanted to. But for some reason, he felt that there was something more to the Spirit Root Realm, something that he could continue to refine.

Suddenly, his attention was drawn to a rustling in the bushes nearby. He tensed, ready for any potential danger as he prepared to defend himself. But to his surprise, a small cat rushed out of the bushes towards him. As the cat came within a few feet of him, Zhongli instinctively threw a stone covered in spiritual Qi at it. The cat immediately jumped as the spiritual Qi twisted around it, revealing it to be a giant man with a cleaver in hand.

The giant swung the cleaver at Zhongli, who responded with a palm strike. The giant's cleaver broke on impact with Zhongli's palm, covered in a layer of spiritual Qi. "Fuck, a peak Spirit Root expert," the giant muttered through gritted teeth as he turned to run. Zhongli quickly followed, his eyes locked on the giant's back.

The giant jumped into a green meadow, but before he could even land, Zhongli had caught up to him. With a swift strike, Zhongli's previously broken cleaver tore through the giant's neck, decapitating him on the spot. The headless corpse slammed into the meadow, blood pouring out of the severed neck. Zhongli crouched down beside the corpse, sensing that the giant had been a grade 1 Spirit Root Realm cultivator.

Just as he was about to stand back up, Zhongli heard a voice behind him. "Oi!" he turned to see a man with slick blonde hair and an arrogant expression on his face, a saber pointed at Zhongli's neck, covered in a blazing aura. "Kowtow to your grandfather, your trash," the blonde sneered, his aura revealing as

Zhongli gritted his teeth as he touched the giant's corpse while stating," Grandfather, I can't kowtow if I don't look in your direction. Can I ?"