Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294

by Flying Alone 孤单地飞

But he was no longer able to continue the battle. His right hand dropped to his side, and the saber almost slipped from his fingers.

  “Boss, this brat can actually form Saber Qi, we definitely can’t let him live!” One of the enemies immediately shouted.

  The boss of these four people was a large man with deep brows who had two missing fingers on his left hand. He nodded and said, “This brat will become a big trouble for us in future. Just kill him then. We’ll just have less money to extort.”

  “Hehe, just add a little bit more extortion money for the other four cash cows. It should be enough to cover for this guy’s share.”

  “Maybe his corpse would be worth a few coins.”

  The four of them talked amongst themselves. Although they had initially been shocked by the flash of Saber Qi Li Hao had revealed, they very quickly regained their composure. After all, in this battle, they possessed an absolute advantage in terms of power.

  “Flee, I’ll cover your retreat, guys!” Li Hao said deeply, using all his strength to raise the saber he was still holding, his gaze determined.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk… the power of love is truly great,” Ling Han clicked his tongue in praise. From their previous encounter, he could already tell that Li Hao liked Zhu Xue Yi. The reason he had been able to form a flash of Saber Qi just now… it likely was because he was worried that the object of his feelings would be hurt and suffer, leading to an extreme emotional upheaval.

  Of course, extreme emotional upheavals were not a requirement for forming “Qi”. However, under such conditions, humans are often able to fully realize their potential, thus some who had enough talent would be able to form “Qi”.

  “Now, can you make your move?” Liu Yu Tong rolled her eyes at him again. She kept feeling that this guy’s actions were always much too mature, not a bit like those of a typical sixteen-year-old.

  Ling Han gave a long whistle, and leaped out.

  “Ling Han!” When Liu Dong and his group saw him, their expressions were first of joy, yet quickly followed by disappointment. It was because, during their past encounter, Ling Han had only been in the seventh layer of Body Refining Tier. From then until now, only two months had passed–how could it be possible that Ling Han had broken through to Element Gathering Tier within a brief two months’ period?

  If that was so, then even if he was now in the ninth layer of Body Refining Tier, he would still be unable to battle with a martial artist in the first layer of Element Gathering Tier on even terms. This was the ironclad rule of martial arts.

  They looked around once again, hoping to discover another’s figure–Liu Yu Tong was an elite martial artist in the ninth layer of Element Gathering Tier. If she was here, then they’d all be saved.

  “Ai!” Ling Han gave a deliberate sigh, and said, “The looks on your faces now make me very sad!”

  “Brat, who do you think you are?” The enemies’ boss that had missing fingers shouted at Ling Han. His gaze was wavering as he did not know Ling Han’s prowess, but judging from the fact that Ling Han only seemed to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, there was no way that he would be too powerful, right?

  “I’m Ling Han, son of the Ling Clan’s Clan Head from Gray Cloud Town,” Ling Han introduced himself.

  “Boss, we’ve got another cash cow here!” One of the lackeys said.

  The boss with missing fingers laughed wickedly. In his opinion, Ling Han had to be one of those spoiled young masters who had an exaggerated idea of their own abilities and no idea of the perils of the real world! Thinking in this manner, he naturally would not take Ling Han seriously, and said, “You brat are really quite nice to especially deliver money to us, why don’t you quickly come here and surrender obediently?”

  “Hahahaha!” His group of four laughed raucously.

  Ling Han was all smiles, and said, “I don’t think the four of you are nice at all, why don’t you obediently extend your necks and I’ll gift each one of you with a slash?”

  “What a self-important brat, the kind of person I hate the most is this type of spoiled young master!” One of the lackeys pounced at Ling Han while brandishing a large cleaver in a slash aimed at Ling Han’s head.

  “Old Four, don’t be too merciless, that’s a cash cow there!” The boss with missing fingers reminded.

  “Hehe, I’m just going to cut off this brat’s arms,” Old Four said, and when the large cleaver lowered, the blade came down at a slight angle and, indeed, it was aiming at Ling Han’s arm.

  Ling Han drew his sword. “Xiu,” the sword flashed, and the cleaver flew high up into the air while that man called Old Four was also forced to fly backwards due to the shockwave from Ling Han’s parry. But he had just flown back some distance when his head separated from his neck, and a gushing stream of hot blood sprayed out.

  “What!”

  Seeing this, the other three bandits were dumbstruck. Liu Dong and his group were also shocked numb.

  Was this really Ling Han?

  Two months ago, this guy was just in the seventh layer of Body Refining Tier, yet now? That Old Four had to be at least in the second layer, or even third, of Element Gathering Tier and his individual strength could overwhelm them easily. Yet he was killed in one strike by Ling Han… what kind of disparity was that?

  Since Ling Han had drawn his sword, there was no way he would be merciful. His figure moved sharply and charged towards the boss with missing fingers and his two other fellows.

  “Old Four must have been too careless!”

  “That’s right, he’s just a little brat, how strong could he be!”

  “Let’s kill him to avenge Old Four!”

  The three of them pounced while brandishing their respective weapons, and as their blades waved about wildly, they created a big commotion.

  Unfortunately, in front of Ling Han, they were all much too weak.

  Out of the group of three, aside from their boss with missing fingers who was in the third layer of Element Gathering Tier, the other two were both in the second layer. In front of Ling Han whose prowess was comparable to that of a martial artist in the fifth layer of Element Gathering Tier, what could they do? This was the constraint of a difference in stages. Any martial artist would know very well how big the gulf between the power of one stage and the next one was. [1]

  Ling Han didn’t even have to use Sword Qi; he did not need to use Shocking Electricity Sword Arts either. Taking all opportunities provided by the gaps in their defenses, “shua shua shua,” he instantly killed them–one bandit with each strike. The boss with missing fingers didn’t even get a chance to beg for mercy before the whole group was completely obliterated by Ling Han.

  Liu Dong and his group felt like they were dreaming.

  They exhausted all means available and only managed to survive for over half a day against the boss with missing fingers and his lackeys–and that was mostly due to the fact that they had wanted to capture Liu Dong and his group alive for extortion! But what did Ling Han do? He killed them, one enemy with one strike, as if it was a piece of cake.

  In the past, there indeed had already been a gap between their battle prowess, but how could it have become so colossal?

  “Ling Han, no, Big Brother Ling, thank you!”

  “It’s really thanks to you, otherwise, we would have been in deep trouble!”

  They were stunned for a moment before hurriedly gathering around Ling Han to thank him.

  Ling Han smiled and exchanged pleasantries with them. Liu Yu Tong also came out from behind the bushes, and the atmosphere quickly became lively.

  “Why are you guys here?” Ling Han asked. This Seven Wind Mountains was extremely dangerous. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was Earth Dragon Grass and a Red Scaled Dragon Snake here, he wouldn’t even consider coming to this place. After all, who could guarantee that the demonic beasts in Spiritual Ocean Tier wouldn’t suddenly feel like taking a walk around the territories of weak demonic beasts?

  “The Da Yuan Tourna
ment is going to begin very soon and so we wanted to do as much as we could to increase our individual abilities. We came here to see if we might be lucky enough to pick some spiritual medicine growing all over the place here,” Chen Peng Ju said.

  Ling Han could not hold back a loud laugh and said, “Are you guys perhaps thinking that just because you discovered a plant of Green Spiritual Fruits back at Balance Mountain, the heavens are looking favorably on you and you’d also be able to get a large haul here?”

  Liu Dong and his group looked embarrassed. Zhu Xue Yi pouted, and said, “Don’t remind us. We are really very unlucky this time. Not only did we not find any spiritual medicine, we had even accidentally fallen into a cave that had heavy Yin Qi; there were bones, human and animal alike, littered all over the place.”

  Ling Han started. It couldn’t be that these five guys had coincidentally fallen into the cave the Red Scaled Dragon Snake inhabited, right?

  If that was true, then their luck was indeed extraordinarily good!

  Chapter 48

  Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu

  “Where is that cave?” Ling Han asked.

  “Wait, you want to go to that demonic place?!” Liu Dong immediately shouted.

  Ling Han smiled softly and said, “Aren’t you guys here to search for a fateful encounter? There could be one at that place. Oh, that’s right, you guys probably didn’t venture too deeply into that cave, right?”

  “Of course not. There were bones all over the place. It looked like a mass grave. Once we saw it, we fled,” as a girl, Zhu Xue Yi naturally need not fear that saying such words would make Ling Han laugh at them.

  “You guys are really fortunate,” Ling Han nodded. Had these guys been even slightly more curious and ventured deeper into the cave to see what kind of creature had devoured these people and animals, they would’ve very likely never come out.

  “Is there really a great opportunity there?” Cheng Peng Ju asked a bit expectantly. Currently, only he and Zhou Chang had not yet broken through to Element Gathering Tier.

  “Possibly,” Ling Han nodded. That cave could be the lair of the Red Scaled Dragon Snake, or possibly some other kind of savage demonic beast. As he had not yet seen it with his own eyes, it was difficult to make an accurate guess.

  When he saw the eagerness displayed on the faces of the five of them, he said, “However, great opportunities usually go hand in hand with great danger. You guys need to think it over carefully.”

  The four of them exchanged looks and, after a while, they finally said, “We’ll at least take you to that cave for now.”

  The group set off on their path, and Ling Han said to Li Hao, “Congratulations, now that you’ve formed Saber Qi, you can be considered to have finally stepped onto the first step of the path of a saber wielder.”

  Saber Qi!

  When Ling Han said this, Liu Dong and the others were reminded that Li Hao’s last attack had actually managed to form a flash of Saber Qi. Liu Dong, Chen Peng Ju and Zhou Chang were uncontrollably envious, while Zhu Xue Yi’s face was filled with joy.

  Li Hao laughed in a simple manner. Before he had even begun his path of cultivation, he had already been practicing saber skills. He had immersed himself in the path of the saber for thirteen years, and his deepest desire was to be able to form Saber Qi. Unfortunately, he had never managed to do so.

  He had never thought that this would have been a blessing in disguise, allowing him to form Saber Qi in such dangerous circumstances. From now onwards, his path of martial arts would definitely be bright beyond imagination!

  It could even be said that even if he went to Hu Yang Academy and showed off his Saber Qi there, he’d definitely be gladly welcomed as a disciple.

  “Big Brother Ling, let’s have a spar!” Li Hao could not help feeling his fighting spirit rise, “However, you’re not allowed to use your full abilities. Otherwise, your power would be much too strong.”

  Ling Han neither agreed nor rejected. He simply drew his sword and gave it a light wave.

  “Shua,” two flashes of Sword Qi appeared in a dance.

  Li Hao instantly opened his mouth in a daze. After a while, he finally shook his head and said, “I’ll never compare myself with a freak like you again!”

  “That’s right, this guy is a true freak!”

  “To compare yourself with him is practically looking for trouble!”

  Liu Dong and the other three said respectively, all of them completely convinced by Ling Han’s absolute prowess.

  Yet Ling Han was not so easily satisfied. Sword Qi was only the first step on the path of the sword; there was still Sword Ray and Sword Heart after that! In his last life, out of the seven ultimate warriors of Heaven Tier, one of them had been the most esteemed existence of sword arts. He began practicing with the sword at seven years old, forming Sword Qi at ten, forming Sword Heart when he was seventeen, and finally forming Sword Heart at the age of thirty-three. He was truly a grandmaster of sword arts.

  His first life was done and over with. He had placed all his attention on the path of alchemy, and became an Alchemy Emperor, someone who had never appeared in the books of history and likely never would again. He was a competitive man. Since he had already decided to concentrate on the path of martial arts in this life, then he wanted to also become a true emperor of martial arts.

  Da Yuan City was too small, and Rain Country itself was also too small, thus even those who had only managed to form Sword or Saber Qi would be praised as exceptional geniuses.

  They were not too far away from that cave. Thus, after half an hour, they arrived at the face of a cliff, which was covered with damp moss. Because the cliff was facing away from light, they appeared to look dark-green in color.

  “It’s there!” Zhu Xue Yi said, pointing at one corner of the cliff.

  Ling Han glanced over and saw that there was a very inconspicuous cave entrance there. If Zhu Xue Yi had not deliberately pointed it out to him, he would have definitely missed it.

  “You guys wait here, I’ll go take a look.” He took a great leap and entered into the cave.

  The environment here was extremely damp, and the ground slippery. If he wasn’t careful, he might slip and slide all the way to the bottom of the cave. He cautiously advanced, observing his surroundings carefully and paying attention to any traces or clues.

  Soon he arrived at the bottom of the cave and discovered a gigantic cavern. There were bones everywhere, and just as Zhu Xue Yi had described, they were bones of both humans and demonic beasts. They were giving out a rotting stench.

  If anyone else had seen such a scene, he’d probably turn right around and flee back to wherever he came from.

  Ling Han searched carefully and soon, among the pile of bones, discovered a crimson scale.

  “It’s indeed the Red Scaled Dragon Snake!” He could finally confirm it. He began searching again and eventually discovered a passage at one of the corners of the cavern. The passage’s ceiling was only as tall as a normal man’s height and it was also only wide enough to permit one person to enter at a time. A more powerful rotting stench was continuously wafting from within it.

  “That big guy should be sleeping inside,” Ling Han took a look at the scale in his hand; judging from its size, it definitely came from a mature Red Scaled Dragon Snake. He bent it, but the scale did not split in half.

  “Indeed, Red Scaled Dragon Snake has a thread of dragon blood in their line. That’s why their scales would be so tough. Otherwise, demonic beasts in Element Gathering Tier definitely could not possess such a powerful defense.”

  He retreated out of the cave, brought Liu Dong and the others to a place farther away and said, “That cave is the lair of the Red Scaled Dragon Snake.”

  “Red Scaled Dragon Snake!” Liu Dong and his group were shocked. The Red Scaled Dragon Snake was a demonic beast in the ninth layer of Element Gathering Tier. Furthermore, it was much stronger than any ordinary demonic beast in the ninth layer of Elemen
t Gathering Tier. It definitely deserved the name of the Beast King amongst demonic beasts of Element Gathering Tier.

  “The inner core of the Dragon Snake can be used to concoct Transcending Origin Pill–one pill will allow the user to increase his own cultivation level by one layer. However, it is only effective for martial artists whose cultivation levels is below the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier,” Ling Han revealed the benefits first, then he said, “How about it, do you guys still want to continue?”

  Liu Dong and his group all looked hesitant. On one hand, they all craved for greater power, but on the other hand, the Red Scaled Dragon Snake was not an easy opponent. If they weren’t careful, they not only wouldn’t be able to obtain the beast’s inner core, but also become the prey of the great snake, and their bones would join the ever increasing pile in the cave.

  Ling Han only looked at them with a soft smile. In truth, since he dared to venture here, then of course he was certain of his ability to handle the Red Scaled Dragon Snake. This was his test for the five of them.