Chapter 112, Struck by Lightning and Brutal Death

Translator: Raznick

 

Zhou Chun left Li’s Pharmacy and strolled around the market, finding nothing worth acquiring before heading toward the outside.

 

He left the market without returning to his clan’s Nine Peaks, instead heading northwest.

 

During his previous confrontation with the Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator Shen Han at Green Mist Pond, he had used two of his Hard Gold Sword Energy. Now, his clan had no stock to replenish it.

 

Zhou Chun had to return to the Hidden Gold Mountains to collect metal Qi from the abandoned gold mine.

 

With his current cultivation strength, the bandits in the Red Rock Mountains were no longer worth his consideration.

 

Upon leaving the market, he activated Soaring Art and plunged into the mountains.

 

He didn’t use the Iridiscent Ruler because the artifact was too conspicuous, and he feared attracting the attention of passing Foundation Establishment cultivators.

 

After all, some Foundation Establishment cultivators were once bandits themselves.

 

However, Zhou Chun hadn’t gone far when he sensed that someone was tracking him, yet releasing Divine Sense revealed nothing.

 

This made him somewhat regret not bringing his scout eagle this time.

 

But he quickly dismissed this regret, a cold smile curving his lips.

 

Regardless of whether someone was truly tracking him, the tracker would most likely not be a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

 

If that were the case, with his current skill, he wouldn’t necessarily be afraid even if three or five people came.

 

Therefore, he quickly disregarded these thoughts, treating everything as if nothing had happened, and continued to move swiftly through the forest.

 

After traveling approximately ten miles from the market, a whooshing sound echoed from behind him.

 

Upon hearing this sound, his mind tightened, and he immediately leaped onto a nearby large tree, looking back.

 

He saw that about three hundred meters away behind him, a masked man was flying toward him, riding a flying sword.

 

Then, his gaze shifted to the forest below the masked man, and he saw that there was indeed a flash of light, and people were using Soaring Art to hurry over.

 

He was certain that the visitors were enemies.

 

Zhou Chun quickly leaped off the tree branch and proactively cast an art to protect himself.

 

When he had activated it, the masked man who had arrived riding the sword was already above him.

 

Zhou Chun loudly asked, “You have been following me since I left the market. Why do you insist on hiding your features? Could it be that I know you?”

 

However, in response to his question, the man did not respond at all.

 

He simply descended slowly, eventually landing on a tree branch dozens of three hundred meters away from him.

 

Then, his eyes stared intently at him, and he reached out to pat his waist, pulling out two artifacts—one for offense and one for defense—from his storage bag.

 

From the looks of it, the opponent clearly intended to stall, waiting for his companions to arrive before taking action.

 

Zhou Chun observed this, his thoughts racing, and he no longer elaborated, simply waiting patiently with his companion.

 

He wished to see what sort of people were following him.

 

He had been very well-behaved these past few years; even if he occasionally offended someone, he had already turned that person into a corpse.

 

In this situation, he was also very curious about the identities of those with hostile intent who were tracking him.

 

After waiting quietly for a while, Zhou Chun moved his Divine Sense and discovered the two people following on the ground.

 

Those two were a man and a woman; the man was also wearing a mask, but the woman’s face was bare, revealing a middle-aged beauty who still possessed a certain allure.

 

It was her!

 

Upon seeing the face of the middle-aged woman, Zhou Chun instantly recognized her as the woman among the man and woman he had seen outside Li’s Pharmacy previously.

 

Therefore, when he looked at the masked man on the tree, he knew that the other was the Twelfth Layer of Qi Refining Stage man who had been with the woman then.

 

This made him feel somewhat amused.

 

He couldn’t help but give a cold laugh. “You are quite interesting, having met me face-to-face outside Li’s Pharmacy before, yet now you choose to conceal yourselves.”

 

As the words fell, the man on the treetop turned red with anger and immediately raised a hand to remove the cloth from their face, revealing an ordinary middle-aged man’s face.

 

At the same time, the middle-aged beauty who was racing toward them spoke loudly, “Husband, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and kill that bastard!”

 

Hearing this, the man on the treetop finally spoke.

 

“Boy, you’re here to meet your doom!”

 

He let out a low grunt, and the short black halberd in his hand flew from his grasp, hurtling toward Zhou Chun.

 

At the same time, he pinched his fingers, completing a Firebird Art of an average first-grader in just two breaths, and flung it at Zhou Chun.

 

But his opponent was Zhou Chun, a ruthless individual who had once fought an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, trading wounds.

 

Zhou Chun spun Shooting Moon Edge in his hand, and the artifact clashed with the black halberd in midair.

 

Then, without so much as a glance at the firebird hurtling towards him, he reached out and slapped the two spirit beast pouches at his waist, releasing the Rock Turtle and Silver Thunder Python.

 

Previously, he had been hesitant to release them, fearing that they would frighten away the enemy.

 

Now that the enemy had arrived, there was nothing to be worried about, so he released them directly from their pouches.

 

Boom!

 

The firebird that came hurtling toward Zhou Chun exploded into a ball of searing fire, enveloping him.

 

However, Zhou Chun quickly emerged, surrounded by a layer of pale yellow light, unharmed.

 

The man in the treetop, however, was stunned by the release of Zhou Chun’s two spirit pets.

 

“Two superior first-grade demon beasts!”

 

He looked at the Rock Turtle and Silver Thunder Python with an ashen face and then abruptly turned to look at his Dao companion, who had arrived at the battlefield, suspecting that she had deliberately wanted to harm him.

 

But upon seeing the astonishment on his Dao companion’s face, he couldn’t help but wonder.

 

Did she not know?

 

As he entertained these thoughts, the Rock Turtle and Silver Thunder Python were already participating in the battle under Zhou Chun’s command.

 

The Silver Thunder Python opened its mouth and unleashed a silver-white lightning orb that slammed toward the man in the treetop.

 

Meanwhile, the Rock Turtle slapped the ground with its foot, and a flash of earthy-yellow spiritual light suddenly erupted from under the swiftly approaching female cultivator, instantly forming a luminous cage that trapped her within.

 

At this moment, the other masked man who had accompanied the female cultivator realized something was amiss and fled.

 

As he ran, a silver-white flash of lightning descended from the sky and struck the protective shield he had raised, shattering it instantly and leaving him completely numb.

 

Immediately afterward, sharp stone spikes burst from the ground and pierced him through and through, chilling him to the bone.

 

A cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining perished without a chance to retaliate, felled by a combined attack from the Rock Turtle and Silver Thunder Python!

 

Turning his gaze to the man in the treetop, he saw that the Silver Thunder Python’s Thunder Storm had left him numb, and his form had fallen to the ground along with the shattered tree trunk.

 

Then, as he rose to his feet, he discovered that the silver-white circular wheel colliding with his black short halberd in the sky had suddenly split in two, and a crescent blade slashed toward him.

 

By the time he raised a dark blue iron shield artifact to block the crescent blade, the Silver Thunder Python had already eliminated one enemy and once again spewed a silver-white serpent-shaped forked lightning toward him.

 

Under the onslaught of this lightning bolt, his superior first-grade defensive mystical art, Wood Spirit Shield, finally buckled and shattered.

 

This was enough to crush the man’s courage, causing him to panic and hurriedly exclaim, “Wait! Let me explain!”

 

However, Zhou Chun had no intention of listening.

 

The situation just now was enough for Zhou Chun to judge that the beautiful middle-aged woman was the mastermind behind today’s pursuit and attempted assassination.

 

So the man held no value for him as a prisoner.

 

He hadn’t forgotten about the matter of the other ignoring his questioning earlier.

 

He had Whitey keep attacking, not allowing his opponent a moment to breathe.

 

With the occasional support of a couple of mystical arts from his Rock Turtle, the man quickly collapsed, his face filled with frustration and despair, under a Thunder Storm from Whitey.

 

Only then did Zhou Chun turn his gaze toward the beautiful middle-aged woman who had all along been restricted by the Rock Turtle’s Gravity and Earth Prison, making it difficult for her to move.

 

She too was staring at him with a face full of resentment.

 

“It seems you have a grudge against me. But I can’t imagine what I could have done to offend you!”

 

Zhou Chun looked at the woman with furrowed brows, racking his mind but remembering no instance of having wronged her.

 

He always had a good memory, and if he had truly wronged such a beautiful woman, he would have known.

 

However, after hearing his words, tears instantly streamed down her cheeks, marring her face.

 

Then, with a face full of grief and anger, she shouted at Zhou Chun: “You killed my husband, and you say you don’t know what you did? How ridiculous, how ridiculous, hahaha…”

 

Toward the end, she involuntarily let out a mad laugh that was truly beyond comprehension.

 

The laugh was filled with resentment and helplessness and was quite desolate.

 

She hated it!

 

She hated herself for being powerless, ultimately unable to avenge her deceased husband!

 

She loathed the fact that her enemy had even forgotten who she was.

 

Her sudden outburst completely bewildered him.

 

He instinctively cursed, “You’ve gone mad!

 

“You’re the ones who were after my life. I only killed your husband in defense.

 

“The truth is plain, yet I’m the one at fault?”

 

Having lived in this world for so many years, Zhou Chun had never encountered a woman so unreasonable.

 

Could women in this world disregard facts?

 

In response to Zhou Chun’s reprimand, the beautiful woman gave a sorrowful smile. “Nine years ago, within the Red Rock Mountains, have you forgotten the man you killed back then?

 

“Even if you’ve forgotten that incident, surely you haven’t forgotten how you obtained the Cicada Forest Blending Breath?”

 

Hm?

 

Upon hearing her words, Zhou Chun’s eyes narrowed.

 

He suddenly seemed to recall something, looking at her with astonishment. “So it was you; you’re that female bandit cultivator who escaped back then!”

 

Saying this, Zhou Chun examined the beautiful woman’s face, discovering that despite her aged appearance, traces of the delicate female cultivator from that time remained.

 

The two had only a fleeting connection, and he had never given much thought to the one who had escaped.

 

It wasn’t until she reminded him that he remembered having such an enemy.

 

Everything made sense now.

 

He finally understood why the beautiful woman would bring people to track and assassinate him.

 

Immediately, he looked at the beautiful woman with a complex expression and said, “I never expected to find a woman so devoted in the bandit cultivation world!”

 

He was truly surprised.

 

Rogue cultivators were generally self-serving and uncaring, and bandits often fought among themselves due to unequal distribution of profits.

 

All that aside, the fact that the beautiful woman, who had already found a new love, would still risk her own life to avenge her deceased husband was enough to warrant the title of devoted.

 

However, when faced with Zhou Chun’s sentimental words, the beautiful woman did not believe him.

 

She directly glared and spat, “Hmph, if I die, it’s my own business. Save your pity!”

 

“Pity? You are mistaken. I may have a kind heart, but I won’t pity a bandit who has tried to harm me twice!”

 

Zhou Chun looked at the beautiful woman with a sneer and shook his head repeatedly. “If I were to pity someone, I would pity your newly found husband. Judging by his appearance, he probably has no idea that you still harbor feelings for your former husband, and he is unaware that you manipulated and deceived him into coming to attack me to avenge your former husband.”

 

[What a poor guy.]

 

Zhou Chun inwardly mourned for the man who was now a corpse.

 

After hearing his words, the beautiful woman’s face turned pale, the words hitting home.

 

Zhou Chun felt a surge of disgust for the beautiful woman and immediately said coldly, “Well, since everything is clear, I’ll send you on your way. Remember to find someone to stay with for good next time, and don’t hurt any other innocent people.”

 

As the words fell, he didn’t give the beautiful woman a chance to reply and ordered Whitey to strike her with a bolt of lightning, killing her instantly.

 

Such a woman deserves to be struck by lightning!

 

After killing everyone, Zhou Chun promptly gathered the items from their bodies and then set three corpses ablaze.

 

Next, he secured the two spirit pets and swiftly departed the scene.