Chapter Seventeen: A Simple Quarrel Half a Year Ago

  After a sigh, Wang Guang got up and went to the old Taoist under the big tree to listen to the scriptures. In the following ten or more days, he came here every day to listen to the scriptures, discuss with some familiar fellow students, explore the classics, or go down the mountain to buy some purple energy to purify his own magical powers, and occasionally hear some secrets about this Qi-practicing world from others.

  These leisurely days passed quickly, and Tian Wang Guang had just transported his magical powers, only to feel a tremble in his heart, and after calculating with his fingers, it was the day when the Wanling fruit ripened.

  "Boundless Heaven Venerable! This time, I'll see who dares to extort the Ten Thousand Spirit Fruits from me!" After tidying up his Hundred Treasures Pouch, he arranged the dozens of Dark Thunderbolts he had purchased from other senior brothers in a convenient position, changed into a new Daoist robe, and then swung his iron chain, sending the Hundred Mile Flowing Light flying towards that patch of land.

  All the way, there were no incidents, only a large number of outer sect cultivators flying past the gathering point of that bowl-shaped demon beast, and even if they met, it was just a nod, with no words. Some familiar cultivators traveled in groups, marching all the way, and would not pay attention to scattered cultivators like Wang Guang.

  "Boundless Heaven Venerate! So many people." When Wang Guang arrived at this basin, he didn't float in the sky, but instead found a huge rock to sit on and waited silently. Looking around, the number of Qi cultivators gathered in this basin was more than last time, with nearly tens of thousands of people. The sky was filled with colorful lights everywhere, and some hot-tempered Qi cultivators even started killing each other for positions. A group of ignorant onlookers cheered loudly.

  The basin fissure opened again, but this time Wang Guang did not see the carriage and Huoyun that had left a deep impression on him. The gathered cultivators also had no organization, nor was there a powerful figure to forcibly divide the area.

  "A good opportunity, I hope this time can seize more fruits." Wang Guang thought to himself as he squatted on the stone.

  Now he must have the Wanling fruit, and since he cultivated the Melting Golden Claw to the fourth level, he has become even more concerned about this spiritual fruit.

  He originally came from his self-cultivation to the fourth layer, wanting to upgrade another layer, and needed more magical powers. These magical powers would take him decades to polish and transport at his current speed. For this reason, he had no choice but to think of these Wanling fruits.

  "Boundless Heaven Lord!" Just as Wang Guang was pondering, the Wàn Líng Guǒ that had drilled out of the crack bloomed and bore fruit. The fruit transformed into red light and flew in all directions. For a time, no one fought or watched the fight anymore. Everyone went crazy grabbing for those Wàn Líng Guǒ.

  Some people snatched the fruit and stuffed it directly into their mouths, while others stored it away. Wang Guang used all his strength to continuously spray out magical powers to roll up those fruits. If he encountered someone secretly attacking him, with a flick of his hands, his golden hand grasped and broke off the opponent's flying sword treasure, although it was unavoidable to suffer some shock, but because it reduced the time to dodge, it indirectly increased the efficiency of snatching.

  The fierce battle ended quickly, and after collecting dozens of fruits, Wang Guang hurriedly retracted the Treasure Light and flew towards another gathering point of demon beasts as low as possible. Along the way, there were also lower-level cultivators who targeted him, but they were deterred by his Golden Claw divine ability and the Dark Thunder escape technique he had purchased earlier.

  Hei Xiong Valley is located in a treacherous location thousands of miles away from Qing Feng Mountain, where the valley is surrounded not only by steep mountains but also by a poisonous barrier that encloses the entire valley. Fortunately, a great divine being set up an array, which opened a rift in the tens of meters thick poisonous barrier, allowing people to enter and exit the valley. Otherwise, this excellent gathering place for demonic beasts would not have many Qi-refining practitioners coming in.

  In the valley, there is only one kind of monster, the Black Bear Demon. This demon's strength is relatively very strong, not only is its skin thick and tough, but it also has infinite power. Some low-quality magic treasures and flying swords that cut on their bodies will be instantly blocked by their soft and dense fur.

  It can be said that most of the Qi-refining cultivators who come here to hunt and kill demonic beasts are those who have entered the sect for seven or eight years, possess low-grade treasure flying swords, or master special Daoist techniques and treasures.

  Wang Guang, who had snatched some elixir from the basin, was now hiding in this valley. However, he didn't go hunting for monsters, but instead was engaged in a fierce battle with someone, his face twisted in a ferocious expression.

  "Boundless Heaven Venerable! Bald donkey, you're really a lingering evil spirit. How come wherever I go, you always find me? Last time you snatched my demon beast, how dare you come again to snatch it this time?" King Guang's two hands shone with golden light as he wielded a thick and heavy chain, his pair of three-foot-long golden palms spinning above him, either transforming into fists to smash towards the monk opposite him or turning into claws/palms to resist the monk's thrown demon-subduing staff.

  For a moment, the two of them were surrounded by a flashing golden light, and the sound of clanging metal was incessant. A black bear nearby crouched down and crept forward, trying to sneak up on them, but at the same time it was smashed into a pulp by a giant golden hand and several demon-subduing clubs.

  "Maitreya Buddha, you are not taking away the monster that is not yours, but I saw you slaughtering small animals and couldn't bear to see your sins deepen. So I'll take their place for you. If there's punishment, let me bear it alone!" The great monk waved his demon-subduing staff with a compassionate face.

  "I don't need you to take my place, the evil I've done is for me to bear myself." Wang Guang roared with a ferocious face. A pair of golden palms flew up and down, attacking even faster by three to five parts.

  The two fought for about half an hour, and then the big monk suddenly threw out seven or eight demon-subduing cudgels and wildly smashed them at Wang Guang. When Wang Guang was desperately defending against the demon-subduing cudgels with all his might, the big monk grabbed a handful of elixir and swallowed it in one gulp.

  "Stop it, stop it! Let's take a break first and wait for me to recover my spiritual power before we continue fighting." The big monk shouted while waving his hands.

  "Bald donkey, you think it's easy to say fight or not fight? You want to fight, just fight; if not, then don't!" Wang Guang sneered and opened his mouth to mock, but he also took the opportunity to withdraw his divine ability. Although this divine ability consumed very little of his magical power when used, it couldn't withstand prolonged use. Moreover, his magical power wasn't that abundant to begin with, so after more than half an hour of intense fighting, he had already exhausted most of his magical power.

  "Haha! Let's not beat around the bush, I've also been through bloody struggles in my past. I think you're like me, we've both been through similar experiences. At this stage, if I were to escape, you wouldn't be able to catch up. If you were to escape, I wouldn't be able to catch up either. Since we're evenly matched and neither of us can kill the other, why don't we call a truce? You become Dan Shi, and I'll become She Li later. When the time comes for us to fight again, if one of us dies, so be it. It'll also save us a lot of trouble. What do you think?" The big monk stretched out his hand and beckoned, recalling seven or eight demon-subduing cudgels.

  "Good! So be it." King Guang didn't swallow the elixir to recover his magic, but instead let out a cold snort and killed a black bear that had just been attracted by the commotion with one swipe of his hand. He then sat cross-legged on a massive boulder, coldly sizing up the fat-headed, big-eared monk with a ferocious expression.

  The first time he saw the big monk, he knew that the big monk had entered the bloody abyss when he was wandering in Jianghu, otherwise there would not be such a strong and oppressive bloody aura on his body.

  "It seems you're doing well, but I'm even more unfortunate. I just joined a sect and before I could enjoy a few days of happiness, the sect was destroyed, so I had to wander around everywhere." The big monk saw Wang Guang sit down, he also didn't want to stand, turned around and jumped onto a huge rock opposite Wang Guang, sat cross-legged and started muttering to himself in a low voice.

  "What a bad omen." Wang Guang spat out a mouthful of saliva, he didn't bother to care whether the other person was telling the truth or not. After absorbing a hint of purple energy to purify his magical powers, he planned to upgrade his spiritual level by transporting the accumulated spiritual energy in his meridians.

  "Let's not fight, you and I are both here to hone our skills. Why don't we work together instead? You take care of the front, and I'll take care of the back." The fat-headed monk somehow managed to produce a string of Buddhist beads from who-knows-where and began to chant some scriptures in a pretentious manner, then started gesturing with his hands.

  "It's not necessary, I want to fight that black bear demon and I will, you just don't come this way. If you do, I'd rather not fight the beast, but I'll take care of you first." Wang Guang jumped down from the boulder, swung his sleeve and sent the dust flying towards the gathering black bears in the distance.

  The big monk was stunned for a moment, then pinched his Buddhist beads and took out a tank to start reciting the Buddha's scriptures.

  One by one, golden words flew out of his mouth and landed on the black bear demon. The black bear demon, which had been shrouded in a murderous aura, gradually calmed down after being enveloped by the words. After a while, these black bear demons surprisingly knelt down on the ground, asking the great monk to take them in.

  The great monk saw many black bear demons gathered in front of the Buddhist gate, and he was overjoyed. He inserted several demon-subduing pestles around himself, jumped up and down a few times, and those few black bear demons turned into a golden light that drilled into the cauldron.

  Wang Guang saw that although he felt surprised, he didn't take it too seriously. After all, this Qi-practicing world had been evolving on its own for millions of years, and during that time, countless geniuses with extraordinary talents must have created many strange and mysterious techniques. This method of subduing the demon beast was nothing out of the ordinary. What surprised him was that the monk could subdue the demon beast so easily even before his Sheli was complete.

  After that, Wang Guang's life suddenly became regular. Every thirty days, he would go to the pot of land to grab some Wàn Líng Guǒ (Universal Spirit Fruits). Although the harvest was not always the same, it was enough for him at this time.

  After seizing the Wanling fruit, he would come to Hei Xiong Yao's place to fight with the demon beast and hone his combat skills. Then he would go to the inner gate to transport his spiritual power, absorb the essence of the sun and moon, listen to the scriptures and discuss the Tao, in order to break through the third layer of the law as soon as possible, so that he could fly freely in the sky with his own spiritual power. It was also for the sake of cultivating Taoist skills and increasing his own attack power.

  The big monk would occasionally go out after gathering some black bear demons, but every time he came back, Wang Guang could sense a strong smell of fresh blood on him. It was clear that the big monk had gone out to hunt and rob practitioners. However, Wang Guang didn't bother to care whether the practitioners being hunted were from his own sect or not. Gradually, the two became familiar with each other.

  More than half a year had passed, and on this day, Wang Guang, after snatching some Wanling fruits, did not go to the mountain valley to play with the black bear, but instead drove the Bao Guang back to the inner mountain.