Chapter 301: The Silent Killer

Song Qingyuan was in the later stages of the aurous core stage, and with it he overwhelmed Dao Yuting, who was only in the ending stages of the foundation establishment stage. One could say that Dao Yuting was helpless in retaliating against his onslaught.

Dao Yuting could possibly beat cultivators who had just entered the aurous core stage but she could not do anything against cultivators in the final periods of the aurous core stage. Furthermore, Song Qingyuan was not your average advanced aurous core stage cultivator. He was from Heaven Lake Sect, and aurous core stage cultivators from a sect as reputable as the aforementioned could even take on nascent soul stage grandmasters.

Song Qingyuan did not even have to cast spells - he was already suffocating Dao Yuting by enveloping her with his mana.

The young girl's face turned pale initially and gradually changed to a shade of green as she felt her body turn terribly cold.

In the subsequent moments, her face began to flush in a highly unnatural way and she felt as if she was submerged in a deadly pool of lava within a volcano.

Lin Feng was yet to show up but the Hidden Dragon Teapot was already in play and a stream of his consciousness was also paying attention. He frowned slightly as he witnessed the scene as he would never allow such things to happen at the Celestial Sect of Wonders.

"Eh, I didn't' notice this before, but I wonder if there's something special about Dao Yuting's physique?" Lin Feng suddenly thought of something. "The True Yang hidden within the Original Yin is much stronger than normal girls."

"Under such circumstances, when she advances to the intermediate aurous core stage after forming the golden elixir, she might be in danger as she goes through the Tribulations of the Yin Fire, as the fire in her heart may be too strong. She's at much more risk than normal female cultivators."

Lin Feng continued to ponder. "However, her Yin and Yang is of an extremely rare kind. Even though it's not a complete integration of the two, it is optimal to train in the mantra of the Heaven Lake Sect. She is a rare talent in that respect. No wonder she can master the 冰华焚炎之术 and the Song of the Volcano when she is only in the beginner foundation establishment stage."

"She must have a talent for learning and is naturally prodigious but surely her physique is also a great help."

On the other side, Song Qingyuan could sense the presence of Mu Jihai and he could even sense a little bit of Xiao Budian's position. Even so, he was unfettered and continued to dish out the relentless pressure upon Dao Yuting with a cheeky smile on his face.

His mana was interchanging between intense heat and extreme cold, and Dao Yuting was suffering in the middle of both.

"Do you understand why I'm punishing you?" Song Qingyuan's voice was still gentle, as if he was only having a little chat with Dao Yuting. "Firstly, it's because you lost a practice battle against someone else."

"It's okay if you lost the battle. However, you should never, ever lose to disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders," Song Qingyuan still wore an amiable smile on his face. "You should also know that the relationship between our Master and the Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders isn't good. As disciples, we should be fighting for the glory of our sect and our master."

"It's okay to lose to anybody but disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Northern Tribes. It's even worse still that you lost the bet for our master. Even though a single stalk of Geocentric Fire Lotus or a Nine-Circled Ice Orchid isn't much to the Heaven Lake Sect, master was humiliated because of you. Don't you think you deserve to be punished?"

Song Qingyuan's voice was gentle like the spring breeze. It seemed as if he was just having a light-hearted chat with Dao Yuting.

However, the person he was talking to had her lips tightly closed together and her expression was changing wildly - she was in so much pain that she could not say anything at all.

Song Qingyuan seemed unaware of what was happening. He smiled like he always did and said, "Besides the reason I just gave, there is another reason why you should be punished."

He looked at Dao Yuting and laughed lightly before he continued. "After the competition, the way you looked at Wang Lin was extremely inappropriate."

Even though Song Qingyuan's expression remained unchanged and even his eyes looked like they were smiling, the pressure he unleashed on Dao Yuting suddenly increased tenfold, nearly crushing her underneath.

Despite this, Dao Yuting raised her head with immense effort and stared at Song Qingyuan in the eye. Even though her eyes still betrayed a measure of fear, there was a spark of rebelliousness and defiance.

"I know, I know. As your senior I understand your opinions." Song Qingyuan laughed as he nodded. "I know there's nothing going on between you and him. The bulk of your emotions were leaning towards curiosity and denial of the result of the battle. I understand all that."

He turned and stared Dao Yuting in the eye. "But the problem is, you have never had so much emotions when you faced down other opponents. You were utterly indifferent."

"No matter the reason and no matter how you actually think, in your eyes he's very different from everyone else. You can't dispute my statement, can you?"

Song Qingyuan sauntered beside Dao Yuting and placed his mouth beside the white-clothed girl's ear. The scene was much alike a couple having a moment of intimacy. Song Qingyuan whispered into her ear, "But you seemed to forget that I've said this before - you are prohibited to display too much emotion towards other people. It's even best that you avoid anger and hate as well."

"Hatred, wrath, curiosity, denial and unwillingness to accept the result... All these will cause you to remember that person. But I've said before, between you and other men the only person you have to remember is me."

"When you first entered the sect, I already knew and made up my mind. You will eventually be my partner," Song Qingyuan smiled again and said, "And only my partner. You are talented and you have superior physical qualities, with a greater True Yang factor than most other females."

"Your physique is very close to a Yin and Yang equilibrium, but not quite a complete balance. Therefore, when you go through the tribulations of the Yin fire during your ascension to the aurous core stage, you will suffer greatly."

Song Qingyuan took a step back and looked at Dao Yuting's eyes while he chuckled. "However, I am your complete opposite. My True Yin is strongest within my Original Yang, and we complement each other perfectly to achieve the perfect balance between Yin and Yang. Our Yin and Yang balance will be much more perfect than the average partnership between a male and a female."

"Therefore, since you entered the sect, our master immediately arranged our marriage. I have been, and still am, waiting for you to advance to the aurous core stage. With your prodigal talent and mastery, that day will definitely be soon. I can't wait!"

Song Qingyuan heaved a heavy sigh. Lin Feng and Xiao Budian, who were in the shadows, noticed Mu Jihai at the side, who was also hiding in the shadows. His face was originally expressionless, but a hint of hostility flashed across his face.

This murderous hostility was not towards Song Qingyuan, however. It was towards Dao Yuting!

Lin Feng suddenly realized what was going on. "Song Qingyuan and Dao Yuting were opposites physically. Dao Yuting had a superior True Yang factor, while he had a True Yin in excess. However, if they integrated together it will still not be a perfect equilibrium between Yin and Yang.

The physique of both individuals were optimal for training in the mantras of the Heaven Lake Sect, namely the Dark Polar Blaze Mantra, and their progress would be off the charts. However, there was a hidden danger.

Dao Yuting's bottleneck when she proceeded to the intermediate foundation establishment stage from the beginner stage, the tribulations of Yin Fire were much more dangerous than most people.

As for Song Qingyuan, his bottleneck was at the thunder tribulations to form the nascent soul, in other words it was during his ascension to the nascent soul stage from the aurous core stage.

When cultivators form the nascent soul, huge pools of mana had to be cumulated, an aurous core of exemplar quality was required as well as a strong resilience and unwavering mental strength. Besides that, a few strokes of luck were required.

If Song Qingyuan could not achieve a balance between Yin and Yang, he would have trouble with his mental capabilities during the experience of the thunder tribulations. It was also highly likely that he would display problems with the cumulation of mana, may also betray a shaky foundation as well as a loss of control between Yin and Yang.

In other times, that was nothing much, but during the experience of the thunder tribulations, a single deviation from the prerequisites may lead to death or other serious consequences - perhaps a lightning strike, turning him into hot ash.

Song Qingyuan, as an aurous core stage cultivator, was an example to everybody else. He stood at the pinnacle of the aurous core stage, and with the abilities that he had displayed he could already break the bottleneck and advance to the nascent soul stage.

Yet, it was because of the aforementioned dangers that he had to remain in the aurous core stage. And Dao Yuting was the most appropriate and effective remedy to his problem.

"No wonder Song Qingyuan was treating Dao Yuting like his own property." Lin Feng shook his head. "Mu Jihai's murderous intentions can be easily understood now. Except this person is a little bit brainless."

Even if you killed Dao Yuting, there was still a possibility that Song Qingyuan could advance to the nascent soul stage without her. If you murdered or injured such a talented disciple with great potential - possibly greater than even you - you would definitely not be able to walk away from it.

Lin Feng had absolute confidence that Song Qingyuan was deliberately baiting Mu Jihai to make a move. After all, Mu Jihai was also a renowned disciple of the Heaven Lake Sect. If he did not do anything severely wrong, Song Qingyuan would also have to pay a high price if he murdered the former.

Therefore, Song Qingyuanwas deliberately giving him a chance to make a grave mistake.

Of course, Dao Yuting could not suffer any kind of accident or injury, and Song Qingyuan was confident of that.

However, he could not bait out Mu Jihai's move but Lin Feng baited out the move from the green-cloaked nascent soul stage cultivator.

A wave of green mist suddenly appeared beneath Xiao Budian's feet and seemed to envelope his entire body.

Once this happened, Song Qingyuan, Mu Jihai and Dao Yuting were taken aback. The thick green mist in front of them blurred their vision of their surroundings and they immediately realized that a nascent soul stage grandmaster was making a move against someone else.

Xiao Budian frowned slightly and let loose a low growl as he prepared to charge out of the layer of green mist. The only problem was that once he made a few steps outwards there was still a thick layer of green mist in front of him.

He extended his consciousness deep within the green mist but found nothing.

Xiao Budian worked the Green Bronze Crucible of Emptiness and wanted to use it to break open the layer of green mist but quickly realized that the meandering green mist seemed to blur the boundaries of space.

Xiao Budian was stuck within the green mist and seemed to feel that his body had been transported to an independent world and he was removed from the Greater World. Even the Green Bronze Crucible of Emptiness could not break open the void for him to escape.

The layer of green mist displayed no signs of aggression and did not seem to threaten Xiao Budian in any way. The only problem was that he was trapped inside with no means of escape.

A nascent soul stage grandmaster made the move but did not unleash an attacking move. His whole concentration was focused on trapping Xiao Budian.

Xiao Budian began to worry. He knew that the other party's intentions for trapping him here was definitely not for a good little chat about the ambitions of life.

Indeed, a voice rang out from within the green mist. "A person that should have been dead a few years ago... You should return to where you should have been. Do not remain in the land of the living and affect living beings."

The sound seemed to originate from all around Xiao Budian. Subsequently, four streaks of powerful mana barreled towards Xiao Budian with intense speed and aggression.

"The person who's alive should be the only one going to hell. Don't jump to conclusions." Xiao Budian was completely unafraid as he engaged into battle against four adversaries.