Chapter 154: Old Grudges

The mountain spirit roared in anger and disregarded everything, retracting its fists and legs back into its body. It actually transformed into a giant ball in an instant!

Although the lightning spear pierced the body of the mountain spirit, it failed to penetrate through. The lightning spear dissipated directly, leaving a terrifying wound on the body of the mountain spirit. However, it failed to completely stop the mountain spirit. It already rolled towards the distance at a high speed, attempting to break through the encirclement of the cultivators and go all the way down the mountain.

The ancient deity had great power, but its movements were extremely sluggish, making it impossible to catch up.

Song Changxi furrowed his brows slightly, waved his sleeve, and the lightning spear in the hand of the ancient deity was thrown out to block the path of the mountain spirit, rather than to inflict further damage.

Song Changxi took out a talisman and held it between his fingers. Then, his entire person flew toward the mountain spirit, leaving behind a dazzling radiance.

The cultivators present, especially the female cultivators, were immediately captivated by this scene.

Song Changxi's demeanor was truly extraordinary, far from what ordinary cultivators could compare to.

In reality, even if the most outstanding few young cultivators of the current generation were taken into account, no one could compare to Song Changxi in terms of bearing alone.

In an instant, Song Changxi had already arrived behind the mountain spirit. He tossed the talisman in his hand, which shattered in an instant, scattering into heaven and earth and quickly disappearing.

However, shortly after, the radiance between heaven and earth circulated, and countless specks of light converged around the mountain spirit. Crystalline flying swords formed one by one and solidified.

"It's a sword talisman!"

Cultivators quickly recognized the origin of these flying swords.

They knew that it was a sword talisman.

Although cultivators of each school naturally felt that their respective daoist techniques were orthodox and the most remarkable, when compared to sword cultivators, the majority of them had the common consensus that sword cultivators possessed unrivaled killing power among all schools of cultivators. Hence, the major sects devoted great efforts to nurture sword cultivators. As for those who failed to become sword cultivators, there were also other secret arts similar to sword cultivation techniques.

Previously, He Yi's Dao Sword, and now Song Changxi's sword talisman, it essentially had the same meaning.

After countless flying swords condensed, Song Changxi subtly manipulated them with his thoughts, and the flying swords swooped down, landing on the body of the mountain spirit.

The sharp sword qi was enough to slice open a wound.

The mountain spirit immediately let out a painfully agonizing cry. It should have been heavily injured by the flying swords.

Seeing that it slowed down, Song Changxi floated over. With a wave of his hand, a miniature lightning pool immediately appeared in his palm, and he casually threw it out. In an instant, the mountain spirit was trapped within it.

Hovering above the lightning pool, Song Changxi cast a lightning spell once again. Countless thunderbolts arrived with a howl, landing again and again, striking the body of the mountain spirit!

The mountain spirit howled in pain, its massive body knocking around within the lightning pool. However, even though it could shake the lightning pool until it wobbled, it could not break free!

Song Changxi stood calmly on top of the lightning pool.

Cultivators hurried over. Seeing this scene, they stopped one after another, refraining from taking action.

At this moment, the discerning individuals could see that Song Changxi was about to slay this mountain spirit. If they were to take action now, they would likely earn themselves a bad reputation.

Taking action was one thing, but whether they could ultimately snatch the kill in the end was another.

Song Changxi stood above the lightning pool like an immortal, his daoist robe fluttering, exuding an ethereal demeanor.

Ye Qing hurriedly arrived at the scene and could not conceal the admiration in his eyes when he saw this daoist genius.

As time passed, the mountain spirit within the lightning pool gradually became still, its vitality fading and its life force dissipating.

Song Changxi lowered his head, leaped down from the thunder pool, beckoned with his hand to retrieve the miniature lightning pool into his palm, and waved his hand to fuse it into his body.

The cultivators looked at the mountain spirit which was like a small mountain in silence. No one spoke or made a move. At this point, everyone understood that they could only watch as Song Changxi killed the mountain spirit. If they were to take action, they would face the condemnation of others.

Song Changxi slowly walked toward the mountain spirit.

Soon, he approached the mountain spirit.

In that instant, the mountain spirit which had already closed its eyes suddenly opened them, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes. It suddenly swung a fist, catching Song Changxi off-guard. He had never expected that the mountain spirit still possessed the strength to fight.

He grew up in a major sect, guided by renowned masters and provided with the best resources. He only needed to cultivate. His talent and comprehension ability was pretty good, so he quickly achieved such accomplishments. He even made it onto the Latent Dragon List. However, he had never truly experienced such fierce combat before. At this moment, facing it for the first time, he naturally lost his composure. Fortunately, the mountain spirit was already an arrow at the end of its flight and lacked any strength. The power of its punch only sent Song Changxi flying, but it was difficult to inflict serious injuries.

However, the mountain spirit's goal was not this. After sending Song Changxi flying, it rolled forward once again and instantly disappeared from everyone's sight.

Song Changxi realized what had happened, his expression turning rather ugly. Letting the mountain spirit escape was not a big deal, but the problem was that he had let it escape in front of so many people.

"Senior Song, we should quickly pursue. It definitely can't run far!" Ye Qing quickly reacted and suggested.

As she spoke, many other cultivators echoed in agreement too. Previously, when Song Changxi had restrained the mountain spirit, they could not say anything. But now that the mountain spirit had escaped once again, they all had an opportunity. In fact, if they did not feel obligated, they would not even want to inform Song Changxi and would have long already left.

Song Changxi nodded and said, "Let's go together, everyone."

He merely smiled faintly, brushing off what had happened earlier.

Everyone nodded and quickly moved forward. Some of them were impatient, rushing to the front in no time, swiftly traversing through the mountain.

At this moment, people seemed to have forgotten why they had come here tonight, as well as who had lured this mountain spirit over.

There was only one thought in their minds at this moment: to find this mountain spirit and kill it with their own hands.

Song Changxi was not in a hurry. He walked at the rear of the crowd, calm and composed.

Ye Qing soon arrived by his side and called out softly, "Senior Brother Song."

West Mountain Temple was a lineage of daoism too, she could naturally call Song Changxi senior brother.

Song Changxi turned his head and glanced at Ye Qing, smiling as he asked, "Junior Sister, how are your injuries? Are they severe?"

Ye Qing shook her head, "My senior brothers protected me, so I didn't sustain any injuries. But my senior brothers have exited."

Song Changxi glanced at Ye Qing and said with a faint smile, "Right now, West Mountain Temple can only depend on you alone, Junior Sister."

Although the ranking this time only tabulated individual results, in reality, the various major sects would also tally the results of their disciples privately to compare with other sects.

Now that West Mountain Temple only had Ye Qing alone left, their result this time would obviously be much poorer.

Song Changxi said, "If Junior Sister doesn't have any other matters, you can come with me. I believe you'll still gain something when the time comes."

Although he did not explicitly say it, but the meaning was clear, and Ye Qing naturally understood as well.

Ye Qing shook her head and replied, "Senior Brother has fallen behind now as well. If the top position is truly taken by that martial artist, it wouldn't be good. Having me by Senior Brother's side would only be a burden."

She saw things clearly.

They all, these cultivators, naturally had ways of learning about the situation outside. After all, they were not Chen Chao.

Song Changxi smiled and said, "When we encounter that martial artist again, we can simply defeat him. It actually won't be too troublesome."

Ye Qing said, "Senior Brother, with your profound cultivation, you'll certainly have the means to deal with him."

Song Changxi nodded and said, "That martial artist took advantage of the fact that the theme of this martial exam is killing the demons. I presume that the Great Liang Dynasty probably received the intel in advance. Otherwise, how could they have placed a chess piece here?"

Ye Qing nodded her head without saying much.

Suddenly, Song Changxi smiled and said, "Junior Sister, if you have the time in the future, you can come and visit the mountain."

Upon hearing these words, Ye Qing could not conceal the joy in her eyes. But just as she was about to speak, a commotion broke out in the distance.

Song Changxi raised his head and looked over, furrowing his brows slightly.

......

......

Not far away, the mountain-sized body of the mountain spirit lay on the ground. It had long already suffered a violent death.

Blood flowed from its throat, staining a large area of the land red.

Song Changxi arrived at the scene. Glancing at the wound, he furrowed his brows. The wound had two parts: the first one sliced through the throat, killing the mountain spirit, while the second one tore through the body, presumably to seize the demon bead.

For a demon like a mountain spirit, its demon bead was likely quite valuable.

The two wounds were very neatly cut by a sharp weapon.

This kind of wound greatly resembled a sword cultivator's technique, but Song Changxi did not feel sword qi.

There was not even a trace of residual sword qi.

He squatted down and carefully sized up this mountain spirit.

Someone suddenly said, "Could it be that martial artist?"

As soon as he spoke, someone quickly followed up, "Yes, that martial artist used a saber!"

Indeed, a saber and a sword were both the same. As long as they were sharp enough, they could naturally create such injuries.

"Moreover, it was he who lured the mountain spirit here tonight. Many people saw it earlier!"

Someone spoke up, their voice carrying a hint of coldness.

Ye Qing nodded and confirmed, "I saw him previously. It was him."

"This person is too shameless. He led the mountain spirit here, then hid in the dark, watching us weaken the mountain spirit, and only came out to take advantage at the end!"

"This person is cunning and very scheming. No wonder he was able to kill Fellow Daoist Guo and the others before and still escape unscathed!"

"Oh no, if he kills the mountain spirit, he will likely become the champion!"

Hearing these words, the people realized that Chen Chao had been in the lead for a long time. He killed too many demons. With the additional kill of the mountain spirit, he had probably locked in the first place.

Furthermore, it was obvious that he would not leave things like this.

After he left here, he would continue to kill demons. Given his current speed and proficiency in this matter, it would not be long before he truly became the champion.

This was a terrifying prospect.

No one could have anticipated this.

Song Changxi's face turned extremely grim.

His previous calm demeanor vanished completely at this moment.

......

......

The young people by the lake were also very quiet at this moment.

Just as the cultivators in the microcosm had thought, behind Chen Chao's name, there was indeed an additional large bloodstain. The blood mark was that of the mountain spirit.

That mountain spirit was really killed by him.

"How shameless..."

A cultivator lamented here, their expression turning somewhat ugly.

Although they could not know the details inside, some information was transmitted out, and they had a general understanding of what happened.

"It seems like he really is going to become the champion."

A cultivator was very dissatisfied, "How can such a martial artist become the champion?!"

He Yi stood by the lake and was very silent when he heard these voices. Ever since he lost to Chen Chao at the imperial banquet, he had been in a state of mental confusion. His luck was not great in this martial exam either; he encountered a demon he could not defeat and was eliminated early. Now, he had already been by the lake for several days.

In the beginning, he did not have any thoughts about it. But as time passed and Chen Chao remained at the top of the rankings, he started feeling anxious too.

Previously, at the imperial banquet, Chen Chao had openly stated that he was going to make them all lose face.

At the time, He Yi did not believe it because he thought that to smack the foreign cultivators' faces, one had to become the champion of the martial exam.

But who could have imagined that today, Chen Chao, who was not highly regarded, had become the most likely existence for the top spot. Furthermore, the way he was achieving it was not by scrapping through, but using a method no one had expected.

He was wreaking havoc in the martial exam.

If Chen Chao became the champion this time, people would definitely remember him.

Naturally, they would also remember how embarrassing it was for the foreign cultivators.

As He Yi thought about this, his complexion turned somewhat pale.

He could not quite accept such a situation.

But there were also influential figures on the pavilion who could not accept it either.

They stood there, observing the scenes reflected in the Heavenly Light Mirror.

They had also witnessed how Chen Chao had killed the mountain spirit earlier.

They had an idea of what the current situation looked like as well.

Wei Xu stood not far away. He just silently looked at the lake without looking at the Heavenly Light Mirror.

At this moment, the prominent figures were unable to utter a word, just remaining silent.

They all knew that the only way to prevent Chen Chao from becoming the champion now was to find him and eliminate him.

They could not let him continue killing.

The influential figures exchanged glances and nodded to each other.

No one spoke, but a shared understanding had already been reached.

......

......

Chen Chao took advantage of the cover of night and quickly left the mountain, journeying until he reached a lakeside.

This place was already extremely far from the mountain, but Chen Chao was clear that it would not be long before his trail was discovered by others.

However, he had no choice but to stop and catch his breath at this moment.

Because he was injured.

Although the mountain spirit was an arrow at the end of its flight, it still possessed the power of the Bitter Sea Realm in the end. Chen Chao was pressed for time, so he chose the most reckless approach and killed the mountain spirit in a very short time.

But he paid a great price for it.

His entire back was struck by the mountain spirit's punch, and now it was covered in blood.

Chen Chao took a deep breath, and removed the black shirt soaked in blood, revealing his heavily scarred upper body.

He quickly took out some medicine powder and sprinkled it on his back.

The bleeding soon stopped and the wound already began scabbing, but it would take some more time for it to fully heal.

He spat out a turbid breath.

At that moment, a figure appeared in the distance.

It was a woman.

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes, recognizing that person with one glance.

Jiang Shuchan