Chapter 44 Surrounded?

Over a thousand points was a considerable sum, even in the eyes of the core disciples at the Innate Realm. Ouyang Changfeng’s challenge had two stages: to make it onto the Points Leaderboard within a month and to break into the top fifty within three months. This meant that just earning a little over a thousand points wasn’t enough—he had to keep accumulating points and prepare to charge into the top fifty.

Moreover, points could be exchanged for elixirs, spirit artifacts, and even supreme techniques—no one would ever think they had too many.

“Well, let’s find the Black Dragon Stele first. As for the Water Spirit Mussel and the White Octopus, I’ll think of a way to deal with them later.” Guided by his little assistant, Qingxi swam toward a nearby section of the river.

Within the cracks of a massive boulder, he glimpsed the broken Black Dragon Stele, faintly glowing with starlight. However, after activating his scanning function, Qingxi discovered a two-meter-long Electric Black Eel lurking within the crevice.

This fish was of the mid-tier human grade, capable of releasing lightning at extremely high voltage—enough to knock even a twenty-stage Qi Refining cultivator unconscious on the spot. Anyone weaker would likely perish instantly.

But Qingxi was nothing if not cautious. Normally, no one would suspect such a dangerous beast would be hiding in the cracks; their attention would be focused elsewhere. With his system’s scanning function, Qingxi spotted the danger ahead of time, shifting from prey to predator.

A faint smile played on his lips as he feigned ignorance, swimming to a spot ten meters from the crevice—a perfect position. If he closed another five meters, he’d be within the Electric Black Eel’s attack range.

Suddenly, Qingxi channeled his energy into his superior-grade spirit sword, unleashing a blade of sword energy as thin as a cicada’s wing. The river water parted along its path with a thunderous roar. Unstoppable, the sword energy shot straight into the crevice. The Electric Black Eel sensed danger and twisted its slippery body to dodge, only to slam headfirst into an even slicker invisible barrier, its face showing almost human confusion.

At that instant, the razor-sharp sword energy swept through, slicing the Electric Black Eel cleanly in half.

Qingxi then deployed his Spirit Thread Array, wrapping several threads around both the Black Dragon Stele and the eel, hauling them out of the crevice.

“Fortune favors the prepared,” he murmured.

He stowed the stele in his system’s storage, then examined the fallen Electric Black Eel. Outwardly, it resembled an ordinary eel, but its body was far tougher—no regular blade could pierce its hide.

More importantly, from within the eel’s body, Qingxi dug out a thumb-sized, semi-transparent bead flickering with arcs of blue lightning.

[Name: Thunder Pearl]
[Note: Originates from a mid-tier human grade Electric Black Eel; contains the power of lightning transformation. Upon absorption, the host will gain the power of thunder.]

Qingxi’s eyes shone. “The power of thunder—what a treasure! Begin absorption immediately.”

Threads of light emanated from his palm, entering the Thunder Pearl and converting its core thunder essence into streaks of blue electricity, which then fused into Qingxi’s body.

The process was slow, so as he absorbed the power, Qingxi swam toward other parts of the river.

Suddenly, a hunting swordfish spotted him and lunged in for the kill. As the swordfish charged, the river was torn apart by the bone sword atop its head, emitting a relentless shrill.

But this swordfish was only a lower-tier human grade. With a single swing of his spirit sword, Qingxi split it in two, skillfully cut off its bone sword, absorbed its vital energy, and collected elemental essences.

Feeling his body grow stronger, Qingxi mused, “Indeed, patience is key. I’ll focus on hunting lower- and mid-tier human-grade beasts, building myself up before I suppress the White Octopus with sheer strength. That will be ideal.”

Like a fisherman, he continued hunting solitary river beasts underwater.

In just half a day, fifteen swordfish, three mid-tier man-eating fish kings, and two mid-tier Electric Black Eels fell into his “net.”

The materials from these beasts were worth at least two hundred points—bringing his total to a thousand, just shy of the Points Leaderboard.

Additionally, by absorbing the beasts’ surging vital energies, his body was now much tougher; even a regular knife couldn’t cut his skin.

His strength had increased to thirteen hundred jin, surpassing most late-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

More importantly, the total number of Five Element Essences stored in his system’s space had reached three thousand strands—averaging six hundred per element.

He was now close to the five thousand strands needed for his spiritual root to advance.

But just as he was happily roaming the river, using himself as bait to lure and hunt mid- and lower-tier water beasts, he suddenly noticed an enormous net of spirit threads, a hundred meters wide, descending rapidly from the surface and sealing off the entire area.

“A fishing boat?”

The thought flashed through Qingxi’s mind as he quickly swam to escape the net.

But then, four or five figures dove into the water, pulling the net tight. In moments, the net completely enclosed the area.

Countless fish hurled themselves at the spirit thread net, but none could escape—not even a few mid-tier swordfish.

“What a clever fishing method!”

Qingxi, trapped within the net, paid no mind to his predicament, regarding the massive spirit thread net with admiration.

With his current cultivation, he could have deployed such a net himself, but it would have consumed an immense amount of energy—not worth the cost.

The figures pulling the net soon spotted Qingxi standing in the water and froze in surprise.

Why was there a person in their catch? Could it be… a mermaid?

But when they saw it was a young man, disappointment was obvious.

“Who are you?” One young man in a blue robe, practicing the Water Movement Technique, pointed at Qingxi. Suddenly, he noticed Qingxi’s red-tinted superior spirit sword and exclaimed, “Are you a disciple of the Crimson Flame Sect?”

Qingxi didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he scanned the group, discovering all of them were at the twenty-fifth stage of Qi Refining—disciples of the Blissful Sect.

“Blissful Sect is also a one-star power, with a sect leader at least at the Spirit Steel Realm—possibly even the Origin Steel Realm, higher than Spirit Steel. They’re allies of the Crimson Flame Sect and on tense terms with the Lingyuan Sect…” Qingxi thought, quickly weighing his options.

Then, inspiration struck. He smiled and replied, “Indeed, I am Li Ba, a disciple of the Crimson Flame Sect. Li Xingyao is my kinsman.”

At the mention of Li Xingyao, these Blissful Sect disciples exchanged glances.

They had all heard of the renowned inner disciple of the Crimson Flame Sect, and knew Li Xingyao had a younger brother named Li Xingchen.

But they had never heard of a “Li Ba.”

Still, seeing the superior-grade spirit sword in Qingxi’s hand, they believed him halfway.

The leader spoke, “So it’s Brother Li Ba. We are here fishing with some elders. Please exit the spirit thread net for now—we need to haul in the catch.”

“No problem,” Qingxi replied, swimming to the edge of the net. With the help of a Blissful Sect disciple, he slipped through an opening.

He then watched as the disciples shot three crimson beams into the water, causing the net to contract instantly, trapping the fish and hauling them to the surface.