I Cheated While Cultivating

Boom!

As the deafening roar thundered, the qi of the five viscera and five elements converged in Zhou Heng’s palm, turning into golden thunder light that was dazzling and intertwined with both Yin and Yang!

“Ah! Wuuu ah ah!!”

The eerie tree-person, as if sensing the power of the Five Thunder Righteous Method, saw the expressions on its thousands of faces become even more distorted, with the bizarre child fruit growing on its branches all starting to cry loudly.

The entire trunk and all the branches began to shake violently, with the tree roots underneath undulating like the legs of animals, moving rapidly.

It actually wanted to escape!

Yet those fifty paper figures still relentlessly carried out their attack, ceaselessly striking the twisted faces and the bizarre crying child fruits.

This sound was far more piercing than before.

Xu Kong and Li Qingyao not far away turned deathly pale, their heads spinning and blood pouring from their mouths because of the sound.

Both were terrified beyond measure.

“What a powerful spiritual attack, what, what kind of monster is this?” Xu Kong asked with disbelief and utmost shock.

“This monster’s strength is probably far beyond the peak of the Seventh Rank,” Li Qingyao was also extremely shocked, then she looked towards Zhou Heng, only to see the youth cloaked in golden thunder light, like a Thunder God descending to earth.

“What a formidable presence, but I wonder which sect’s disciple he is, such a powerful thunder technique, could it be from the Shenxiao Sect? No, this doesn’t seem like martial arts, could it be… Taoist formulas?” Li Qingyao thought with even greater surprise.

In this era, Taoist formulas were extremely rare, with few inheritances within the Martial Dao Sects.

If there were any Taoist formulas, they were usually of very high rank and even incomplete. Not to mention warriors of the Lower Third Rank, even the influential figures of the Middle Third Rank found it difficult to learn.

Yet now, she was seeing a Seventh Rank Warrior using Taoist formulas!

Boom!

The golden thunder suddenly exploded, and Zhou Heng’s palm faced upwards, as if responding to the will of heaven, and the thunderclaps were like the wrath of the heavens, with the lightning serving as a divine punishment descending from above.

It struck like a golden sword penetrating the heavens and earth, coming down with devastating force and striking the escaping evil tree-person without deviation.

Crack!

With a loud noise, the tree-person towering over ten meters was split in two by the golden light of the Five Thunder Righteous Method.

The cut ends were charred, smoking plumes of smoke, with the fire of thunder burning.

Yet the tree-person did not die.

The split “trunk” kept trembling, its branches convulsing wildly.

The remaining distorted faces, less than three hundred, gritted their teeth, while the child fruits stared fixedly at Zhou Heng, filled with hatred.

Suddenly, all these faces and fruits opened their mouths and roared in unison.

“Ah! Why, why, why must you kill me?

“I just want to survive, I want to live! Why do you want to kill me, what have I done wrong?!

“I don’t want this either!!

“Master… Master…”

It actually spoke!

Xu Kong and Li Qingyao were dumbfounded, their faces a picture of disbelief.

Even Zhou Heng couldn’t help but pause.

He had originally thought this mix of evil creature and ghost had already lost its sanity, but now it seemed that was not the case.

There must still be some sanity remaining.

But it was very chaotic.

Closer to insanity?

A madman?

But this creature really could take a hit, having survived a strike from the Five Thunder Righteous Method.

This was a Sect Fifth Rank level of Thunder Method, designed specifically to vanquish evil creatures.

Even though Zhou Heng was only at Seventh Rank, the power he could exert was less than one ten-thousandth.

However, he still had the basic attribute bonuses of +2 annihilating evil and +3 special attack against spirit beings.

Normally, any ordinary peak Seventh Rank evil creature or ghost struck by this kind of attack.

Would be turned to ash on the spot, no longer existing.

This demonstrates the evil tree-person’s life force must be terribly formidable, and its own level might already be close to the Secret Six Rank.

To Zhou Heng, it felt somewhat like Ma Quan’s half-crippled Secret Six Rank.

However, despite the shock and suspicion in his heart,

Zhou Heng’s movements were neither slow nor hesitant, even in the face of the eerie tree spirit’s roar.

Buzz!

The Purple Thunder Sword was unsheathed, stirring up a fierce wind.

With the sword in hand, Zhou Heng advanced as his Inner Qi began to circulate. Densely packed bolts of electricity intertwined along the blade. He approached the tree spirit, which had been split in two, and brought his sword down upon it!

Winter Thunderbolt!

In an instant, thunder roared as a world of purple lightning descended from the heavens, engulfing the entire evil tree spirit.

Boom!

The extraordinarily yang nature of the saber’s edge, together with the rolling purple thunder, also drew upon the residual power of the earlier Five Thunder Righteous Method, immediately causing golden lightning and crimson flames to burst forth.

In the blink of an eye, the two halves of the evil tree spirit’s “trunk” were reduced to charred remains, the twisted faces and sinister child-like fruits turned directly into ash, leaving behind pits of varying sizes where they once stood.

“You cannot live, for your existence means the death of many!”

Zhou Heng said mildly, before slashing down again with a Heaven-Spinning Thunder Turn, reducing the remaining “trunk” to ash.

Ensuring its complete dispersal.

“Congratulations! You have slain an evenly matched enemy, the ‘Thousand-Faced Evil Infant Yin Ghost Tree’, Fortune Bag [Silver] +1.”

The reward notification sounded.

But Zhou Heng felt little joy in his heart; instead, he was filled with many questions.

Was this hybrid of evil tree and ghostly creature considered an evil spirit or a ghost? How had it come into being, naturally or by man’s doing?

And how had it appeared here?

Why, having been on the outskirts of Sanhe County town for so long, had it not gone into the town to kill people, but only wept and howled in the forests outside the town? Why was that?

And what was the tree spirit talking about in the end?

Lord Teacher, World Honored One, Lord of Corpses… or perhaps something else?

With these thoughts in mind, Zhou Heng turned to look at Li Qingyao, who was still sitting on the ground. Known as the ‘White Dragon Lady of Tianshan’ from the Jade Pool Sect, she was one of the few “immortal maidens” widely sought after in the martial artists’ community.

She was the first to do battle with the Thousand-Faced Evil Infant Yin Ghost Tree, might she know something?

Thus, Zhou Heng walked over to her.

“Miss Li, do you know the origins of that evil tree spirit, and why it appeared here?” Zhou Heng inquired, helping her to her feet.

“Hey, Brother Zhou, we came together, are you not going to help me up?” Xu Kong shouted from the side, now that the crisis was over, he had returned to his relaxed state.

“I’ve already questioned you on what you know.” Zhou Heng gave him a glance before looking back at Li Qingyao.

“…” Xu Kong suddenly fell silent upon hearing this, then muttered under his breath, “All you old hands of Jianghu, none of you are good people!”

“Thank you… young master, might you be the Evil-Banishing Zhou Heng?” Li Qingyao asked.

“Indeed, I am Zhou Heng, but there’s no need to mention the Evil-Banishing Blade,” Zhou Heng replied reluctantly, asking again, “Regarding that evil tree spirit, how much does Miss Li know?”

“Not much,” Li Qingyao said, shaking her head slightly, “I was just passing by on my travels when I heard that there was a monster causing trouble, so I came to have a look. I never expected to encounter such a formidable creature.

“Moreover, I must thank Young Master Zhou, or else I fear I would have been doomed this time. Well, although I don’t know much about the tree spirit, when I first fought it, I noticed something…”

At this point, she paused, seemingly hesitant to continue.

“What is it?” Zhou Heng furrowed his brows and with a smile, asked, “Could Brother Xu please leave us for a moment?”

“Hey! Are you not afraid of offending me by doing this?!” Xu Kong feigned anger, saying, “Fine, I’m leaving!”

As he said this, he turned to leave.

“Next time, I’ll treat you to a drink, the wine from You Ziheng of Mount Zixia,” Zhou Heng said with a smile to appease him.

“Alright! Seeing as you’re my lifesaver, I won’t hold it against you,” Xu Kong’s steps lightened immediately, but after just a few paces, he turned back abruptly and ran up to Zhou Heng with delight, “The wine from Senior You Ziheng, his wine, are you serious?!”

The wine from You Ziheng was renowned among the disciples of the Great Sects and noble houses as a particularly fine liquor that was hard to come by.

“You Ziheng is my senior disciple; it’s not difficult to get some wine,” Zhou Heng said with a smile.

“I almost forgot you are the sixth-generation legitimate disciple of the Pure Yang Palace. Oh no, shouldn’t I also address you as Senior Uncle?” Xu Kong’s expression suddenly fell, and he backed away hurriedly, turning to flee while waving his hands, “I’ll remember this, the wine from Senior You!”

In no time at all, the drunken wretch had disappeared.

Only Zhou Heng and Li Qingyao were left, in a silent emptiness.

“Miss Li can speak now,” Zhou Heng said.

“Actually, I’m not very sure myself, as it might be shocking, but you’re just listening, so don’t delve into it too deeply,” Li Qingyao took a deep breath and said in a serious tone:

“When I first battled the tree spirit, it used its branches like swords and attacked me with proper techniques, all taught methods. And the techniques it used, I have seen them before.

“They are from the ‘Qing Emperor Palace’ of the Ten Major Sects of the righteous Da Qi paths, the Petal Plucking Invisible Sword and Forest Felling Horizon-Splitting Saber Technique, both of which are excellent Seventh Rank martial arts known only to Inner Sect disciples.”