Cultivation is Just That Scientific

“Junior Sister Zheng, there’s a situation!” That evening, just as Zheng Shimei was preparing to cultivate, she received a message from Senior Brother Zhao. She quickly opened the door and stepped outside.

At this moment, the protective formation outside had already been retracted by Senior Brother Zhao. Without hesitation, he activated several talismans on himself and rushed off in a certain direction.

Zheng Shimei hesitated for a moment, not yet putting away her belongings. However, she reminded herself that this was the government office, one of the safest places in the secular world.

Moreover, since Senior Brother Zhao had already taken the lead, she also applied several talismans to herself before chasing after him.

The Great Xia (大夏) was within their sect’s influence, and the sect had long issued strict orders forbidding foreign cultivators from entering the secular world. Cultivators had their own world.

The secular world was the foundation of the sect; without ordinary people, how could the sect continue to exist?

When a cultivator from outside the sect appeared within their sphere of influence, disciples of the sect were required to intervene. Most importantly, eliminating such cultivators could not only lead to acquiring their leftover items but also earn rewards from the sect.

Ge Tianqing (戈天庆) was a loose cultivator, passing through Great Xia.

Passing through a secular place protected by a sect was a very ordinary matter.

As long as he didn’t reveal his cultivation abilities, there would be no trouble.

The place he was heading to, if he avoided the Great Xia territory and the secular areas protected by the sect, would require several times the distance.

So he chose the shorter route. As night began to fall, he saw Nanling City, and decided to enter and restock on food.

It was said that cultivators could live without consuming mundane food, but that had nothing to do with Qi Refining Stage cultivators, who still needed food to replenish their energy, just like ordinary people.

Ge Tianqing wasn’t a disciple of a sect, so he didn’t have access to precious spiritual food.

It was a bit late by the time he arrived, and the city gates of Nanling had already closed.

He chose to climb over the city wall. When performing his lightness technique, he didn’t try to conceal it, assuming there were no cultivators in Nanling City.

What he didn’t know was that, in order to investigate cultivators, Senior Brother Zhao had activated the formation’s function to sense fluctuations in spiritual qi.

As soon as Ge Tianqing used his lightness technique, the formation detected it.

Walking down the street, he was thinking of finding an inn to stay in when he suddenly stopped, staring in a certain direction.

Senior Brother Zhao and Zheng Shimei were moving quickly, nearing the range in which they could sense each other.

“Junior Sister, be careful. It’s a Qi Refining Stage cultivator in the later stage!” Senior Brother Zhao’s face slightly changed, and he transmitted his voice to Zheng Shimei.

By now, he was certain that Ge Tianqing was the cultivator they were looking for—the one who had caused the explosion in the backyard of the government office. His cultivation level matched, and he was discovered at this time.

In a place like Nanling Prefecture, where cultivators rarely appeared for decades, how could this be a coincidence?

Hearing that it was a cultivator in the later stage of Qi Refining, Zheng Shimei tapped her storage pouch, and a small shield appeared in her hand, which she held in front of her.

Senior Brother Zhao wasn’t slow either. He held a middle-grade longsword in his hand, while a turtle-shell-like shield surrounded him.

Ge Tianqing was about to speak when he saw the two cultivators take out their spiritual tools. There was no time for him to say anything.

He quickly stepped back, and a black iron hammer appeared in his hand.

Seeing the iron hammer, Senior Brother Zhao relaxed a little.

“He’s a loose cultivator, preparing to fight for his life!” he transmitted to Zheng Shimei.

The reason he judged Ge Tianqing to be a loose cultivator was due to his poverty.

When faced with a fight against cultivators, Ge Tianqing had only produced a low-grade iron hammer as his spiritual tool.

While the low-grade iron hammer might not be weak in terms of power, it revealed a lot about the background of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator who would use such a tool.

Senior Brother Zhao had great confidence that he could easily eliminate Ge Tianqing. Before setting off, he and Zheng Shimei had already applied several talismans to themselves, whereas Ge Tianqing had no talismans glowing on him.

The gap between sect cultivators and loose cultivators was enormous, which is why cultivators strove to join a sect. Only when they couldn’t enter a sect would they reluctantly become loose cultivators.

The battle broke out right on the street, which was not the type of battle one would expect in Nanling City. It started off extremely fierce.

Senior Brother Zhao’s middle-grade longsword flew out and slashed toward Ge Tianqing.

Though Ge Tianqing’s equipment wasn’t as good as Senior Brother Zhao’s, he had extensive battle experience as a loose cultivator. His low-grade iron hammer collided with the middle-grade longsword.

When the low-grade iron hammer and the middle-grade longsword clashed, a shockwave of spiritual qi spread out in all directions.

The terrifying shockwave shattered the stone slabs of the street, sending flying debris that hit the doors and windows of nearby buildings.

First, there was a loud sound, followed by the sound of countless doors and windows breaking, then the startled cries of people inside the buildings.

None of the three cultivators—Ge Tianqing, Senior Brother Zhao, or Zheng Shimei—paid any attention to the damage caused by the battle.

Zheng Shimei also attacked. She sent out a low-grade hairpin spiritual tool. Although its power wasn’t great, it was extremely concealed.

After Ge Tianqing blocked Senior Brother Zhao’s attack, the low-grade hairpin shot toward his shoulder from the side.

Zheng Shimei’s low-grade hairpin spiritual tool was activated when she held an elementary attack talisman. Ge Tianqing had only noticed the talisman and didn’t expect such a sneaky attack.

By the time the low-grade hairpin reached Ge Tianqing’s shoulder, he sensed it and quickly ducked, but it still left a wound on his shoulder.

Blood flowed from the wound, carrying with it Zheng Shimei’s spiritual qi.

Although Ge Tianqing was much stronger in cultivation, dispelling the spiritual qi in the wound wasn’t difficult for him. The problem was that during the battle, removing the spiritual qi would distract him, affecting his focus.

“You’re dead!” Ge Tianqing twisted his face and shouted.

Caught off guard by two sect disciples attacking him, and with them going for the kill from the very beginning, how could he not be furious?

The ruthlessness typical of loose cultivators was fully revealed when his life was threatened. Loose cultivators were not without their opportunities.

He knew that if he didn’t resist with all his might, he might die here today.

He swiped his hand over his storage pouch, and a stack of elementary talismans appeared in his hand. Without hesitation, he threw all of them at Senior Brother Zhao.

Flames, ice, wind blades, and various attacks formed from spiritual qi surged toward Senior Brother Zhao. Senior Brother Zhao quickly took out a middle-grade defensive talisman and activated it.

Worried that the middle-grade defensive talisman wouldn’t hold, he retreated, withdrawing his middle-grade longsword and infusing more spiritual qi into the middle-grade turtle-shell shield beside him.

Coming from a sect, Senior Brother Zhao was like gold, while Ge Tianqing was like rubble. He couldn’t afford to risk fighting to the death with him.

As he retreated, however, he exposed Zheng Shimei to Ge Tianqing.