The Daoist Seal

Miasma swirled about the Valley of the Dark River like rolling smoke. Everything within view was blurry, and trying to peer through it with powerful spiritual awareness was futile.

Many cultivators from various sects were now gathered at the outskirts of the valley. Jiang Xiaofan stood off one end. He was fine, but the guy next to him left him speechless. There was only one thing on Qin Luo"s mind, and that was to gawk at the nearby female cultivators. Qin Luo"s eyeb.a.l.l.s bulged so much that, if possible, they would"ve flown out of his sockets.

Jiang Xiaofan smoothly slid to the side. Can he be any more obvious? I don"t know him!

"Brother, do you see that beauty over there? What do you think?"

Qin Luo extended his arm and hooked it around Jiang Xiaofan"s shoulder.

The f.u.c.k?! d.a.m.n you! Jiang Xiaofan immediately wanted to kick Qin Luo to death. Peep to your heart"s content but don"t drag me into it! Even if you must drag me into it, can you try to keep your voice low?! If anyone hears us, he or she will think that we"re accomplices!

As expected, Jiang Xiaofan"s intuition was accurate as usual. Right after Qin Luo had spoken, the girls next to them furiously glared at them as if they wanted to rip them to shreds.

"Ladies, I don"t know this guy one bit."

Jiang Xiaofan felt the need to draw a fine line in his relationship with Qin Luo.

One of the girls abruptly grew more incensed and chastised him, "How shameless! If you peeped, then you peeped. Don"t deny it! Look at the guy next to you! He did it too, but at least he"s bowing his head in shame and repenting his sinful action! You are revolting!"

What the h.e.l.l is this?! Jiang Xiaofan nearly jumped at her. How can I be so unlucky? If I really did peep at you, then you can say whatever you want to me. Look at Bingxin! Yes, I admitted to looking at her. Therefore, she bullied me, and I allowed her to bully me. Despite the main reason for allowing her to bully me being that I was unable to beat her, I nevertheless took it like a man!

Regardless, the key here is that I didn"t even look at you! Jiang Xiaofan boiled with rage, but he instead turned his head, angrily snorted, and gave Qin Luo a good old kick this time I can"t believe that this guy is faking it by crouching on the ground with his head hung low and counting ants!

 "The miasma is dispersing!"

A voice suddenly rang out, and subsequently, all the cultivators went into a frenzy.

Jiang Xiaofan glanced ahead. Sure enough, the miasma lingering outside of the valley gradually faded away and appeared to converge somewhere deep inside the valley. The view of the surrounding scene slowly came into focus, and the outline of the terrain was now visible.

The valley was a relatively wide piece of land. In the middle was a dense area filled with rocks and horizontally-grown trees. He had caught a glimpse of these trees before, but now that the miasma had dispersed, these ancient trees appeared even more distinctive. They were different than the spiritual trees from the Emperor"s Heaven Sect because they were oddly shaped and exuded a chilling aura.

"Yo sleazebag! Time to go!"

Jiang Xiaofan kicked him one more time. Unbelievable! He"s still faking it!

Qin Luo stood up, and the two followed the large crowd into the valley. Because there were numerous cultivators from various sects across Ziwei, they naturally could not all band together. Therefore, groups of two people or more, with some even walking alone, entered the valley from different directions.

Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo chose a remote path and carefully trod forward. At this time though, an irritated voice echoed from behind.

"Hey, you two! Leave this place at once!"

A few people with cultivations above the Realm of Dust and ages twenty-three to twenty-four years old walked over to them.

Jiang Xiaofan glanced back, pouted, and continued walking.

Upon seeing Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo ignoring them, their expressions turned sullen. One of them raised a hand and released a brilliantly glowing sword qi which landed in front of the two and created a deep crack in the ground.

"I said stop! Did you not hear me?!"

A man walked forth and coldly stared at Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo.

Beside him were four other males who dressed rather elegantly and looked at them with stony faces.

In the center was a somewhat alluring, young female who was about twenty and donned a light-green dress. She lightly knitted her brows and eyed Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo with disgust.

Jiang Xiaofan paused, turned around, and asked, "You guys are looking for trouble, right?

The group of six were taken aback. The man in the front glanced back at the woman, noticed her look of impatience, and then faced Jiang Xiaofan again. "We have already decided to walk this path! You must choose another one!"

His tone was frosty and condescending as if he viewed Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo as mere nothing but empty s.p.a.ce.

Jiang Xiaofan narrowed his eyes, c.o.c.ked his head to look at Qin Luo, and asked, "What do you think?"

Without any courtesy, Qin Luo replied, "You just want to beat them up!"

Instantly, Jiang Xiaofan was tongue-tied. After a short recovery, he continued, "I do have that idea in mind, but you really shouldn"t say it out loud, okay? At least give the other party some face. They have more people than we do!"

Qin Luo kept silent. This guy is so unbelievably shameless!

The other party"s faces darkened even further. How could these two have the temerity to mock us like this?! The men were people who wouldn"t even dare to retort whenever the female cultivator chided them, yet he just had just insulted all of them.

Jiang Xiaofan immediately knew what they were thinking and consequently, wanted to reward each one of them a punch to the face. Screw you! That"s not a retort at all! That"s called respect! I"m respecting that lady over there, alright?! Respect is a virtue!

"Hurry up and make them leave!" The female grew more impatient.

This female appeared to be the leader of the group. After hearing her speak, the four other men walked over to Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo with icy looks on their faces. One of them drew a longsword and warned, "I think that it is better for you two to leave here at once. Otherwise, this area may be stained with blood!"

"Our time is precious. Don"t force us to move you ourselves!" Another one threatened.

Their mannerisms were indifferent and unrelenting. They peered down at Jiang Xiaofan and Qin Luo from high above as if they were G.o.ds and that everything was in their control.

This time, Qin Luo glanced at Jiang Xiaofan and queried, "They"re seriously asking for trouble. What should we do?"

Jiang Xiaofan"s direct response was, "Beat them up!"

His att.i.tude was very dull and could even be described as belittling. The other party"s expressions became glacial. The one with the longsword stormed over and unhesitatingly hacked his weapon at them. There was dim, divine light blanketing it.

The two made no movements until the longsword neared them. Jiang Xiaofan extended his two fingers and, with lightning speed, caught the blade between them. With a slight twist, a loud *kchak* was heard. He then casually threw the broken blade back to his opponent.

*Hah*

As the blade flew in the air, it nicked the young man"s cheek and left a thin, dripping trail of blood.

"Brother Jiang, not bad!" Qin Luo praised him.

The expression of the one who had attacked Jiang Xiaofan grew morose. He wiped the blood from his cheek and threw the broken longsword on the ground. Powerful qi began to emanate from him. The atmosphere suddenly became tenser.

The qi from his fist was fearsome as if it carried the heat of the blazing sun, and the surrounding temperature rose drastically. It was more like some sort of spirit channeling. There was faint, divine light radiating from within him, and it generated cracking sounds like a lightning strike.

"Fist of the Red Sun!" One of the men coolly remarked, "Xia Yuan, is there a need to use that against him? It"s such a waste!"

"He deserves to die!"

Right after he had spoken, the young man punched at Jiang Xiaofan.

Jiang Xiaofan naturally sensed just how terrible the force of this punch was; however, he wasn"t worried. Ever since his Diamond Sutra had been upgraded, his body strength had reached its maximum. Because he could now physically counter the attacks of a Phantom Saint cultivator, Jiang Xiaofan calmly raised his right hand.

*Ka*

Jiang Xiaofan"s punch met Xia Yuan"s punch. The emittance of glaring light eclipsed both of their fists. n.o.body could see through it.

"Honestly, it"s such a waste to use this technique against a Realm of Dust cultivator!"

"Indeed!"

The opposing party"s members flatly commented.

In the next moment when all the light had scattered, they were stupefied by what had just happened. Xia Yuan crouched on the ground in agony with a pale complexion. His entire arm was deformed, and the bones were completely shattered.

Jiang Xiaofan shook his head, strode forward, raised his leg, and kicked Xia Yuan back to the other side.

"A Realm of Dust cultivator blocked the Fist of the Red Sun?!"

"How?!"

They were so stunned by this sudden turn of events that they didn"t even pick up the fallen comrade who lay at their feet.

Another person, the oldest among them, walked forward. He icily stared at Jiang Xiaofan and said, "You indeed have some skills, but this is my last warning. Leave now, or this place will really be stained with blood."

No longer able to tolerate him, the green-robed girl waved her hand in exasperation and demanded, "Xia Chen, just do it already. I don"t want to see these unsightly people anymore!"

"Yes, Miss."

Xia Chen nodded and disappeared with a flash. His right hand slapped down at Jiang Xiaofan.

He was very fast and strong. This was Jiang Xiaofan"s first thought.

*Swoosh*

Although his opponent had quick speed, Jiang Xiaofan wasn"t slow either. With his right leg forward, he instantly vanished from the other party"s sight and appeared several meters outside of their attack range.

Jiang Xiaofan"s instinct told him that he could not go head-to-head with that man. He was frighteningly powerful!

"You!"

Caught off guard, the man named Xia Chen revealed an astonished expression. He had never thought that Jiang Xiaofan would be able to avoid his palm strike.

The people behind Xia Chen were equally shocked, including that green-robed girl. Xia Chen was the strongest of them all. Among the younger generations of Ziwei, he would definitely be at the forefront of the rankings. However, a Realm of Dust cultivator had been able to dodge his strike. This was quite incredible.

Qin Luo pointed to Xia Chen and responded, "Give this guy to me. The rest is yours!"

Feeling helpless, Jiang Xiaofan replied, "Wow, you are bad at math. You handle one while I handle five?"

"Then, how about we switch? You take care of him, and I beat up the rest?"

"Uh, actually, those five don"t seem that bad. Brother, you have always been the leader so let"s go with your decision!"

Jiang Xiaofan spoke with conviction, but he inwardly cursed at Xia Chen. That man was very strong. From what he could perceive, Xia Chen"s cultivation was definitely at Phantom Saint. Jiang Xiaofan just didn"t want to battle someone at that realm.

Editor: Vis