Chapter 15

Chapter 15

By the time Jiang Lin arrived with Bai Zhizhi, the commotion near the creek was considerable—spiritual power fluctuations and the air was thick with Adept auras, clearly a fight had broken out.

Jiang Lin frowned slightly. He had asked Xiao Yu to rush over hoping to avoid a conflict, yet here they were, already brawling.

Bai Zhizhi, who had been playing games, heard the commotion and grew curious about the skirmish. Seeing that Jiang Lin could only run and not fly, he said, “I’ll go check it out first.”

With that, he pocketed his phone and zipped off into the air, disappearing in an instant.

Jiang Lin hurriedly called after him, “Don’t start anything!”

Only the rustling of the treetops answered him, and he had no idea if the little fox had heard him.

Bai Zhizhi was merely curious and had no intention of stirring up trouble. The conflicts among humans were none of his concern—watching the spectacle was enough.

He flew to the very top of a tree, where he had a clear view of the creek. To his surprise, there was a Xian Fish here, much smaller than the one at Fulu Residence—less than two meters long. But the fish at Fulu Residence had been fattened on meat, while this one had been nurtured by spiritual energy. Its cultivation was far superior to the one at Fulu Residence.

It was Hull’s people who first spotted the Xian Fish. When they saw this red monster fish, they struck without a second thought to capture it. They had seen the monster fish from Fulu Residence on trending posts—huge beyond belief, requiring trucks to haul away. This one was much smaller, so they underestimated its danger.

The moment they attacked, the Xian Fish whipped its tail and slapped them hard with its tail.

A cultivated fish with natural brute strength—that tail strike sent an unprepared Adept flying, crashing straight into a tree and snapping it clean in half before he landed on the ground, unconscious, with no one knowing if he was alive or dead.

The others charged in immediately, initially intending to capture it alive. A fish clearly infused with spiritual energy was far more valuable alive than dead.

But soon they abandoned that plan. Both sides were scrambling for it, and the Xian Fish attacked everyone who invaded its territory indiscriminately.

Beasts were naturally stronger than humans; at the same cultivation level, a demonic beast could completely dominate a human.

This Xian Fish in the creek was only at the third or fourth layer of Qi Refining, but in a real fight, it could hold its own against a human at the Foundation Establishment stage.

When Bai Zhizhi flew up to watch from the tree, the Xian Fish was coiling its slender body around a blond, blue-eyed human, dragging him into the water.

The man couldn’t hold his breath—he gasped and swallowed water as he struggled, and though the creek wasn’t deep—only about chest-high—being coiled by the fish, he couldn’t get up.

Hull, who had been fighting the fish, gathered lightning energy and struck the water, trying to electrocute the Xian Fish.

Bai Zhizhi had learned about Adepts from Lin Xiaoyang. They were people sensitive to the five elemental forces, each focusing their cultivation on the element they were most attuned to. Hull, for instance, was a variant—a Lightning element Adept.

Unfortunately, his lightning was too weak. The Xian Fish, already cultivated, had scales that provided formidable protection. The lightning hitting it was no more than a tickle.

Amid the chaos, the human coiled by the fish grew weaker. Whether he had hit a rock in the creek or was being crushed by the fish’s grip, blood began to bubble from his mouth, quickly diluted in the water until it disappeared.

But the blood in the water only enraged the Xian Fish further. Its slender, snake-like body tightened around the man, and its massive tail swept around, shattering the hard rocks in the creek into dust.

The human cultivators were apparently trying to save him—some distracted the fish from the front, while others attacked its tail to create an opening for Hull’s people.

Clearly, it was futile. Once the Xian Fish coiled around someone, it would not let go until the person died. Those distracting it at the front were also violently knocked back.

Bai Zhizhi noticed two people sent flying by a burst of spiritual energy. He shook his head—attacking without knowing the fish’s weakness was reckless; they were lucky to be alive.

When he looked again, he recognized one of the two knocked back—Yue Zhihuan’s older brother, who had helped him clear a game level the night before.

So Bai Zhizhi reached out and intercepted Yue Yanting midair. The other person had no one to catch him and crashed straight into a tree, grimacing in pain and unable to get up for a long time.

Yue Yanting suddenly felt a restraint around his waist. After a dizzying spin, he found himself hanging in midair by a white ribbon, the other end held by the little fox sitting on a branch.

Bai Zhizhi gave the ribbon a gentle flick, releasing Yue Yanting’s waist. Caught off guard, Yue Yanting landed on the ground with a thud—but it wasn’t high, so it didn’t hurt much.

Xiao Yu, directing the fight, followed the retreating ribbon upward and noticed someone sitting in the tree.

The figure was perched casually on a branch, light as if weightless, framed by lush greenery that made him look ethereal and otherworldly, too beautiful to be real.

Before Xiao Yu could speak, Yue Yanting, getting up from the ground, called out, “Zhizhi, what are you doing up there? Where’s Brother Jiang?”

Bai Zhizhi pointed in another direction. “He’s making his way over from that side.”

Poor humans can’t fly, so they have to hoof it over.

Xiao Yu looked at Yue Yanting. “Who is he?”

Yue Yanting said, “He just joined the courtyard. He’s with Brother Jiang now.”

He didn’t let on that Zhizhi was a Fox Demon—it was better not to reveal that identity casually. If someone with bad intentions found out, it would only bring trouble.

A thunderous crash drew their attention away from Bai Zhizhi. They turned to see that the Adept coiled by the Xian Fish had been thrown off with such force that he snapped two or three trees before crashing to the ground in a twisted heap. They didn’t need to check—they knew the man was already dead.

Having lost one man and another gravely injured, with no one sure if he was alive or dead, Hull was livid. Abandoning any thought of capturing the fish alive, he unleashed a full-powered lethal strike.

Several loud bangs startled the birds in the forest. Bai Zhizhi curiously looked down to see what was making the noise.

Hull was holding something, firing several shots at the Xian Fish thrashing in the creek.

Though the Xian Fish’s scales were tough, its cultivation was still low. It could resist some spiritual attacks, but physical damage of this kind was beyond its defenses.

Soon, the creek ran red. Wounded, the Xian Fish went into a frenzy, leaping out of the water and screeching.

Everyone’s head rang with a buzzing sound, as if struck by a heavy blow—dizzy and disoriented.

At that moment, several talismans scattered down. Before they could hit the ground, they were drawn by spiritual energy to form a large array.

Light flowed, runes appeared, and the Xian Fish trapped in the array struggled wildly.

Jiang Lin planted his foot hard, leaping onto the fish’s back. A sword flashed in his hand as he stabbed down, pinning the fish’s tail to the ground.

With its tail pinned, the Xian Fish lost mobility, writhing in pain. It twisted around, opening its mouth to reveal sharp fangs, and lunged at Jiang Lin.

Xiao Yu immediately called out, “Xu Mo!”

Xu Mo, already prepared, signaled his team to spread a net.

This was no ordinary net—it was woven from special materials and inscribed with formations.

Bai Zhizhi, still perched in the tree, felt a force that suppressed demonic beasts radiating from the net they were stretching open. The Xian Fish, unable to withstand the array’s suppression, quickly ran out of strength and slumped onto the bank.

Once they injected enough anesthetic into the Xian Fish, making sure it could cause no more trouble, Jiang Lin sheathed his sword.

Hull hurried to check on his men. The one coiled by the fish was dead; the other, hit so hard his waist was twisted at a grotesque angle, was still breathing, but his injuries were so severe that survival seemed unlikely.

He had brought five people, and now he had lost two—a devastating loss.

Xiao Yu said, “Rescue is on its way. Use whatever healing medicine you’ve got on him; maybe you can still save him.”

Hull’s expression turned cold. He glanced at the man barely clinging to life, raised his hand and struck him down with lightning, putting him out of his misery.

Everyone there was stunned. The guy wasn’t even dead yet! Adepts had stronger bodies than ordinary people, and cultivators used spiritual medicine; even with a thread of life left, he could have been saved. But Hull didn’t even try—he just killed him on the spot. That was savage.

Hull withdrew his hand and said coldly, “No point wasting spiritual medicine on trash.”

An old guy still at the basic level of his abilities—if he dies, he dies.

Up in the tree, Bai Zhizhi covered his mouth, his eyes widening in shock. Humans are truly ruthless—they'd kill even their own without a second thought.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of something pink and shiny in the stream. Bai Zhizhi swooped down from the tree, skimmed over the stream, scooped up a palm-sized stone, then lightly tapped his toe on the water and floated over to Jiang Lin.

He happily raised the stone to show him. "Jiang Lin, I found it! Pay up!"

No one else understood what he meant, but Jiang Lin understood. He looked at the stone in his hand—to be honest, he couldn't see anything special about it, nor did he sense any unusual fluctuations of spiritual power. But with foreign ability users around, it wasn't a good time to talk about it openly.

Jiang Lin was about to respond and tell him to put the stone away for later, when Bai Zhizhi smacked the stone with his palm. With a burst of spiritual power, the stone's outer shell shattered into pieces, revealing a chunk of pink crystal inside.

As the pink crystal emerged, a surge of rich spiritual energy exploded outward.

The expressions of everyone present shifted.

Bai Zhizhi tossed aside the useless stone fragments, held up a misty Water Spirit Crystal laced with spiritual energy, and offered it to Jiang Lin. "Here you go! That's good for cash!"