“But…” the other person beside him chimed in uneasily, “we snatched this opportunity from other sects, and even… caused people to get injured.”
"Are you afraid?" Xu Jingwen's tone was extremely contemptuous. "How can you blame us? Since you dared to step into this secret realm for training, you should have been prepared to die here."
"The path of cultivation is a dog-eat-dog world. They are not strong enough and cannot protect their own opportunities, so how can they blame us?"
The people beside him fell silent.
They couldn't agree on anything, yet they were all forced to obey Xu Jingwen because of his family background.
It's really frustrating.
Xu Jingwen wasn't unaware of the insincerity of the people behind him, but he didn't care. As long as they didn't oppose him on the surface, it didn't matter what they said to him in private.
The so-called principle is to judge actions, not intentions.
Xu Jingwen's background was not much different from Li Jinchu's; both were young masters from families of cultivators. However, the difference was that he was the second son in his family.
He has an older brother who is good at business, but he has no talent for business and can only work hard on the path of cultivating immortality.
Heaven favored him, granting him the talent of a single spiritual root. But just when he finally managed to enter the top sect, Xiaoling Sect, through his own efforts and the help of his family, and successfully distinguished himself, Li Jinchu suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
As the eldest grandson of the Li family, and with exceptional talent in cultivation, he easily rendered everything he had worked so hard to achieve worthless.
The two are now fiercely competing for the sole position of chief disciple.
Thinking of this, Xu Jingwen felt his teeth itching. This Li Jinchu could have easily secured the position of head of the Li family after returning home, but he insisted on coming to Xiaoling Sect to wade into this mess.
If he hadn't come to snatch it, Xu Jingwen would have had no rivals in the Xiaoling Sect, whether in terms of cultivation talent or family background.
He's someone who has everything under his control, so why is he never satisfied?
They continued forward and quickly arrived at the small stone house, which, although its shape was rather random, was made of very sturdy material.
Then, without bias, he came face to face with the guy who came out carrying the Qilin egg.
"Fellow Daoist, don't be in such a hurry to leave." Xu Jingwen stretched out his hand and blocked the man's way.
The latter carried a small bundle and wrapped himself again in the black linen cloth that seemed to have the effect of protecting against lightning. He looked like a hunched old man.
He didn't speak, but looked at Xu Jingwen standing in front of him through the gap in the fabric.
“It’s fate that we met, so I won’t make things difficult for you.” Xu Jingwen raised an eyebrow, took out a Qiankun bag and shook it. “I’ll give you two choices. First, leave the egg in your hand, and this bag of spirit stones is yours.”
He untied the knot, revealing a treasure trove of gleaming spirit stones inside.
"Secondly, a few of us will beat you half to death and snatch the egg from your hand."
Seeing that they were clearly coming with hostility, the man subconsciously took half a step back.
It was obvious that they didn't want to hand over the items, but they felt that they were outnumbered and probably had no chance of resisting.
The hand hidden under the black linen twitched slightly. Xu Jingwen noticed his little movement and smiled indifferently.
"Trying to contact your fellow disciples?" he asked. "Don't dream about it. Guess how we knew there was an Arcane Kirin's lair here?"
The man's movements clearly paused.
"What did you do to them?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Xu Jingwen clicked his tongue. "Why are you talking like that? We're not demonic cultivators; we won't just attack our fellow righteous cultivators."
The man in black robes didn't believe him at all.
"You're right not to believe it," the junior disciple following behind Xu Jingwen muttered to himself.
Xu Jingwen did not intentionally harm those people; righteous cultivators emphasize the importance of the Dao.
But when the mother beast of the Arcane Qilin went berserk, she betrayed it without hesitation. The promise of fighting side by side turned into each fleeing for their own lives when disaster struck.
"Looks like you're not going to cooperate." Xu Jingwen suddenly drew his sword from his waist, and clear fire elemental energy surged on the blade, his aura menacing.
His junior disciple also suppressed his inner grumbling, sighed inwardly, and also assumed an attack stance.
All crows are black, and there are no hypocrites among them.
It's just a matter of who can pretend the best. If you can keep pretending until the very end, then the fake becomes real.
A battle was about to break out. The black-robed man from an unknown minor sect was quite strong, but he couldn't withstand the sheer number of his opponents, who also possessed a multitude of magical artifacts.
After several attempts to defend himself, he was outmatched, and the black linen cloth he was wearing was torn in several places.
However, Xu Jingwen and his companions did not fare well against him for a while, and each of them suffered some kind of injury.
His expression was rather unpleasant.
No wonder his companions left him behind to act alone; it turns out he has both metal and water spiritual roots that are perfectly suited to the lightning element, making him thrive in this lightning zone.
Even though their cultivation levels weren't that different, he was still able to hold his own against several of them without being easily defeated.
We need to find a way to lure him out of the minefield.
A flash of lightning suddenly lit up the sky.
Xu Jingwen was lost in thought when he was suddenly startled. When he came to his senses, he heard his companion beside him suddenly draw his sword at him in utter astonishment, pointing it at the clothes on his shoulder.
"Senior brother! Tear your clothes off!"
Xu Jingwen felt a slight chill on his left shoulder and subconsciously looked down. He saw a ray of spiritual light flowing on his robe, and half of the array had already been carved.
He was terrified. He immediately turned his sword and swiftly cut off the piece of clothing from the shoulder, then flicked his wrist and sent the person flying.
The lightning arrived late, instantly shattering the cloth imbued with powerful defensive runes into dust.
"Who are you!" he shouted, questioning those around him. "Hidden and secretive, only good for sneak attacks?"
"To fight so vilely for an opportunity, fellow cultivator, how is your behavior any different from that of a demonic cultivator?"
Amidst the pattering rain, a voice descended from the sky.
The young man, stepping on a deep blue sword blade, sliced through the sky obscured by dark clouds and landed lightly before everyone's eyes.
"Jimo Fan?"
Startled, Xu Jingwen immediately called out the other person's name. After looking him over, he asked, "What are you doing here?"
With his divine sense spread out, Xu Jingwen could only detect one person hiding not far away. However, since Fang Xuan did not show himself, he naturally assumed that he was a fellow member of the Yun Cang Sword Sect, just like Ji Mo Fan.
"It doesn't matter." Xu Jingwen wasn't too bothered by why Ji Mofan, as the chief disciple, had left the sect and appeared alone. He waved his hand.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of our Xiaoling Sect."
"What if I insist on interfering?" Ji Mofan lightly touched the ground with his toes in the puddle, holding the Embracing Snow Sword in his hand, and then gracefully twirling it.
"And not only will I manage you, I'll also steal your opportunities."
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