Chapter 24: Beast Ruins, Spirit Beast Rampage

  In the arena, Lu Qing's hand-held Heart Refining Sword emitted a strong purple light that collided with the blue waves.

  Recite

  A surge of purple and blue energy suddenly dispersed in all directions, at this moment, the level of each person's cultivation was revealed.

  Those with high cultivation only lightly waved their hands, and the incoming air waves were dispelled. Those with lower cultivation hastily retreated two steps to avoid the air waves. As for Xuan Qing and Yi Ruoyu, they stood there motionless, and when the air waves reached them, they automatically dissipated into nothingness. Only their clothes seemed to be gently blown by a soft breeze.

  Two swords intersected, and Lu Qing felt a cold breath flowing along the Lian Xin sword towards his arm. Ming Xue'er was also uncomfortable. The Xu Ri Heart Sutra that Lu Qing practiced originally inherited the true fire of the morning sun, and the sword contained pure yang energy, which happened to be in opposition to her. At this time, the blue jade sword also transmitted a hot and continuous aura.

  Almost at the same time, both of them stepped back simultaneously, and in the end, it was still Ming Xue's sword that had a higher level. Even if Lu Qing had an epiphany on the spot and managed to make his move seem effortless, he still retreated half a step too many.

  The two sheathed their swords and stood up, but Ming Xue'er hummed softly and turned her head away, clearly not very satisfied with the outcome.

  "Hehe, Xiaoxue has lost, hasn't she?" Xuanqing said with a smile. "You'll have to work harder next time, no more slacking off."

  Ming Xue was sulking at this time, her slender jade hands constantly stirring the hem of her clothes, and the ruddy corners of her mouth were raised, but she didn't respond.

  Helplessly shaking his head, Xuan Qing gave the order and soon the outer door disciples brought in fresh fruit, brewed several pots of clear tea and served them. Everyone took their seats as host and guest, but due to Lu Qing's performance just now, many people secretly left a seat next to him with a smile on their faces.

  Without any expression, Lu Qing mocked himself silently and continued walking to that last seat, then remained silent.

  A group of people chatted happily, with Xu Qing and Yi Ruoyu taking the lead. The two men's extraordinary conversation and broad knowledge made everyone admire them in their hearts. Moreover, many people couldn't help but look at Yi Ruoyu's beautiful face with affection. Meanwhile, Ming Xue'er had regained her previous liveliness, grabbing an apple from the table and biting into it fiercely. Her eyes sparkled as she glanced towards Lu Qing's direction from time to time, causing Lu Qing's heart to tremble inexplicably.

  After talking for a long time, the crowd dispersed one after another. Yi Ruoyu politely declined Xuan Qing's invitation to stay and took Su Yun and Ming Xue'er back to Piaomiao Peak.

  Treading on the bluestone pavement of the Chongyang Palace, Lu Qing's thoughts were calm and peaceful. As he walked, he felt a refreshing breeze from the divine court, and he knew that he had successfully entered the first part of the Lianhun Jue: Yanghun. After entering the Yanghun realm, as long as Lu Qing activated the Lianhun Jue, everything within a ten-zhang radius was clearly visible, even with his eyes closed. Every blade of grass and every tree was distinct, as if they had taken on a richer color, full of life and vitality.

  As he walked, when passing by the Cangshu Pavilion, Lu Qing's heart suddenly moved, and he stepped inside. The two middle-aged outer sect disciples guarding the door subconsciously sensed a slight movement of Lu Qing's Soul Refining Technique, and an invisible wave swept out from his spiritual sea, clearly sensing the sharp sword intent within the two men's bodies, which was at the Sword Realm level, but their exact heavenly rank could not be determined.

  For a moment, he was taken aback, but in front of others, Lu Qing quickly calmed himself down, showed his ID card and walked in under the respectful and admiring gaze of the two.

  The library is divided into three floors. The first floor contains miscellaneous records, mainland events, biographies of characters and so on. The second floor collects swordsmanship and sword yuan gong. The third floor is the ancient book. Except for the first floor, outer door disciples need to go through the guardian's permission to enter the second floor or above, while inner sect disciples only need to ask for consent on the third floor, which is the difference in identity.

  Lu Qing did not go upstairs, but directly entered a room on the first floor. Inside, there were no inner sect disciples, only about twenty outer sect disciples. It was clear that these people were somewhat surprised by Lu Qing's arrival. In their eyes, inner sect disciples coming to the library almost always went straight to the second floor. After all, cultivation was most important to them, and spending time on idle chatter on the first floor was clearly unwise. Except for these outer sect disciples without a future, it was rare to see an inner sect disciple appear on the first floor throughout the year.

  Under the gaze of many disciples, Lu Qing stepped onto the square black brick path. The path was lined with ancient pear wood bookshelves, emitting a fragrance of moth-repellent herbs. As he walked, his eyes scanned the shelves, and from time to time, outer sect disciples standing by would step aside to let him pass.

  Unconsciously, he had turned several corners and arrived at the innermost part of the first floor on the left side of a spacious area. There was no one here. He looked at the bookshelf with three clearly written words: "Ling Shou Zhi Yi". Lu Qing couldn't help but brighten up in front of him.

  After scanning nearly two hundred books on the upper and lower six shelves, Lu Qing pulled out a book called "Zi Xia Ling Shou Pu". Possibly due to its age, the pages had turned slightly yellow, and the paper was somewhat brittle. After carefully flipping through it for half an hour, Lu Qing's eyes suddenly lit up as he found this passage on the last few pages:

  Beast Ruins, north of Qingyu Sect's Qingyuan City, south of Zixia Sect's Luori City, covering an area of over 50 miles, with many rare and exotic spiritual beasts, rumored to have fourth-grade Thunder Pythons appearing.

  Lei Mang, a fourth-order spiritual beast and a branch of the Lei Jiao bloodline. A mature individual can grow up to 20 zhang in length and 1 zhang in diameter. Its head has a half-zhang long lightning horn, its body is covered with purple scale armor that is densely packed with lightning, making it difficult for ordinary divine swords to harm it. It can attack by spitting out purple lightning from its mouth, and its lightning horn can condense into a powerful lightning blast that can shatter anything. Its strength is comparable to an ordinary early-stage Sword King realm sword master, and it has a certain chance of advancing to the next stage.

  Originally, he had a certain impression in his mind, but when he saw these words, Lu Qing was still shocked by the powerful strength of this Thunder Python. According to the records of the Zixia Spirit Beast Spectrum, ordinary fourth-stage adult spirit beasts can be compared to the strongest sword masters at the peak, and the more powerful ones can face two or three at the same time. However, this Thunder Python, with its fourth-stage abilities, is actually comparable to a Sword King who has just entered the small heavenly realm of swordsmanship.

  Is this the power of the Lei Jiao bloodline? Lu Qing couldn't help but think, then what kind of powerful strength does the authentic tenth-tier spirit beast Lei Jiao have, is it really as strong as Jian Zu's ability to turn the world upside down?

  Shaking his head to interrupt his own thoughts, Lu Qing bitterly smiled. These weren't things he should be worrying about now; with his current strength, facing any of them would mean certain annihilation.

  After satisfying his curiosity, Lu Qing returned to the Purple Bamboo Institute. Now, only he was left in the institute, although it was quiet, but sometimes it was also a bit lonely.

  Three days later, Xuán Qīng handed over some affairs to the guardian who stayed behind and then went down the mountain alone. Although many people were puzzled, no one dared to say anything more.

  Two days later, Lu Qing sat alone by the Moonlight Pool, with a faint purple glow flickering over his body from time to time. His face, which had become slightly thinner since he came to the mountain, looked more resolute and stern, with a subtle layer of purple mist hovering above it, giving off a warm but thick aura that seemed to emanate from nowhere.

  The Lian Xin sword was inserted upright on one side, with a few crystal clear water droplets adorning it, shining brightly in the sunlight, clearly indicating that Lu Qing had just finished practicing his sword. It was already noon, and the warm sunshine was comforting, but Lu Qing sat cross-legged there, still feeling somewhat restless. The surrounding area had started to have a gentle breeze at some point, swirling up the dry leaves on the ground, with an increasingly growing trend. At this time, Lu Qing's Shen Hai's Lian Hun Jue was also operating simultaneously, with a range of about ten feet in all directions under his control.

  Roar!

  A giant white tiger, over ten feet long, emerged from the stone path on one side, its fur wet and matted. On its pure white waist and abdomen, three wounds, each a foot long, were bleeding profusely, with crimson flesh exposed inside. It was clear that they had been torn open by some sharp claws. The originally sharp yellow horns on its head had been broken off halfway, revealing a circle of blood vessels in the center, from which a steady stream of blood flowed out. The entire tiger's head seemed to have just been fished out of a pool of blood.

  Fist-sized brown tiger eyes were filled with bloodshot and fear, the bloody basin-like mouth gasped constantly. At this time, seeing Lu Qing sitting on the ground, he was obviously frightened, his whole body hair standing up. When he saw that it was just a small creature, he seemed to be enraged and roared towards Lu Qing.

  As soon as he opened his eyes, Jiao Hu felt a piercing gleam flash through the eyes of that thin creature, and his beast heart suddenly felt a chill. His body slightly shifted to the side, ready to pass by Lu Qing's side.

  Sigh———

  He let out a cold laugh, and Lu Qing instantly struck out with his sword. The Heart-Refining Sword stuck to his right arm and swept back in the opposite direction, its energy filling the air in an instant. A purple light flashed, and a whirring sound echoed through the air.

  With a loud "ka", the sword slashed horizontally at the tiger's chin, and that piece of flesh sank in instantly. The larynx was crushed by the fierce force of the Lianxin Sword, and not even a scream could be let out. This injured tiger suddenly fell silent, with only its two big eyes bulging out, filled with a deep despair.

  This horned tiger is just an ordinary beast, at most it can only be considered one of the more vicious ones. Let alone being injured, it's not even a match for Lu Qing, who is about to build his foundation as a sword servant. Even a newly born sword yuanqi sword servant could handle it with care.

  But Lu Qing didn't care about these things. He looked up and saw that the sun had been gradually covered by a layer of dark clouds, making the air feel somewhat oppressive.

  Chirp——chirp——

  Flocks of long-billed pigeons, disturbed by something, took off from the distant woods, their greyish-brown feathers filling a patch of sky.

  With a sudden movement in his heart, Lu Qing quickly traversed the stone path he had taken to get there. As he went further out, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble slightly, and from afar came intense wailing and howling sounds. The voices were high-pitched and panicked, but Lu Qing felt an unstoppable surge of powerful auras emanating from these sounds.

  Could it be a spiritual beast? Lu Qing thought to himself. (Ten Steps has risen to the new person rankings, urgently seeking recommendation votes and collections, hoping everyone will generously assist, letting Ten Steps truly take ten steps to kill one person, leaving no trail for a thousand miles, killing all the way to the top ten!)