Spirit Cultivation

While Wuying and Xiao Wen were speeding towards another bandit group that they discovered, Xuefeng was also busy with his part of the plan. He didn't want to leave Yiren and others alone in case someone attacked them, so he stayed behind while creating a clone which he could use to hunt instead.

Yiren was happy that she could protect him and he was also satisfied because he could fight his share of battles this way. They knew the bandits' plans so their main goal was to kill as many as they could, lowering their numbers in the process. They only had the three of them who could actively fight, thus it would be troublesome if suddenly hundreds of bandits attacked them all together.

This was the second group Xuefeng found and the more he fought, the more accustomed he became with manoeuvring the clone's body. Having about twenty percent of each Qi injected into the clone's body, it could do everything that his main body could.

The moment Xuefeng finished with one bandit group, another one came and their leader quickly crushed his signal crystal to inform the other nearby groups to come with backup as well, before crying out to his subordinates, "He is the one killing our brothers! Get him! He is only one Spirit Lord, just like me and we have ten of us. Stay brave and let's attack together!"

Xuefeng happened to be too slow in killing the first group, which resulted in the distress signal being sent, but he didn't complain about it. This way he wouldn't have to go and search for them as they would all come to him instead.

'Heh, let's test my skills then. I don't need a sword for them.' Xuefeng snickered in his mind, seeing ten bandits rushing towards him with different Spirit Artefacts in their hands, swords, axes and one even had a two-handed sword equipped firmly in his hands.

They were just asking to be demolished as they attacked him altogether from different directions. If they chose to tire him from the distance they would at least have a little bit of chance of winning, but not with this primitive method.

As expected of a group leader, he was the first one to attack, holding a flashy longsword which radiated with blue light. Seeing Xuefeng not even moving, he grinned while gathering the momentum to finish off Xuefeng with one strike. Those type of cultivators were only cultivating with Spirit Qi so Xuefeng didn't expect them to know the properties of various elements.

With four bandits attacking him from the front with the rest preparing to strike from other sides, Xuefeng decided to finish the leader first, crushing their morale before finishing the others afterwards. They didn't know that from the moment he faced them, Xuefeng began releasing his Earth Qi into the ground, without being stingy about it as he emptied his whole Dantain from it.

When the bandits finally crossed the line of where his Qi reached which was about five meters from his position, Xuefeng smiled and began manipulating the ground. They all ran towards him without expecting there would be anything hidden underground which would seal their doom once stepped upon.

"Die," Xuefeng muttered coldly and closed his fist. At that particular instant, the earth moved underneath bandits' feet and the legs that touched the ground while running were swiftly wrapped around with mud, immobilizing them on the spot. Because of their momentum, it would be strange if they didn't fall to the ground when one of their legs stayed behind.

"Aaa!" What was more horrifying was the sharp earth spike that suddenly emerged on their way and they could only scream as their bodies headed straight towards it. Most of them couldn't dodge the spikes and their chests quickly became impaled with it while their souls began leaving their bodies.

Only the leader was able to regain his footing as he supported himself with the sword to cancel the momentum. The spike was almost ten centimetres away from him but he managed to defend against the surprise attack, actually becoming somewhat proud with himself.

The rest of his group were all dead on the ground with holes in their chests, but he managed to survive. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay happy for long as another spike was coming his way and he had to dodge once again.

This time he was already prepared and slashed at the incoming spike before it could reach him and then started getting rid of the mud that was holding his foot in place. Seeing no other attacks approaching him, the bandit leader looked at Xuefeng and saw him calmly smile towards him.

"Heh, mere spikes can't kill me. You will have to try harder to kill me." The bandit said with a short laugh as he aimed with his sword towards Xuefeng, but just as he was about to activate his special skill, Xuefeng asked calmly, "Can you fly?"

"What?" The bandit got quite confused for a second, thinking why would Xuefeng try to talk to him during their fight, but then realised what Xuefeng meant as he glanced at the ground.

Rumble

The ground around him started to shake at that moment and before he could react, he lost his footing as the ground beneath him disappeared. He tried to thrust his sword into the wall to keep himself from falling and he successfully stopped mid-air about one meter from the surface, but then the walls closed once again, slamming the earth against him, which silenced him forever.

"Uff, my Earth Qi was just enough to execute this. It was much harder than I thought, but I guess as long as I focus enough, there is not much difference in this body." Xuefeng commented as he felt that he didn't have any more Qi to control.

Throwing small fireballs at the bandit's bodies Xuefeng started preparing for the next wave of bandits to come which he already sensed with his Spirit Awareness. He realised that fighting with the use of Elemental Qi was much more fun than just killing his enemies with the sword.

Xuefeng could use it in so many different ways that he would never get bored with it. What's more, he was using his clone, which was totally risk-free so he didn't have to worry about experimenting in the process.

"Why did they stop?" Just as Xuefeng decided on which element should he fight with now, he noticed that the next bandit group stopped running towards him. When he scanned the situation with his Spirit Awareness he realised it was blocked by something else and instantly realised what was happening, shaking his head with a smile.

Making sure the bodies were burned properly, he extinguished the flames and ran towards the scene. They could leave them for Spirit Beasts which roamed during the night to eat them but there was still a lot of time before sunset so they couldn't take this much of a risk.

As he reached the Bandit group he only managed to get in time to join the last battles. Xiao Wen and Wuying already killed two-thirds of the squad in such little time, with their bodies being cut into pieces. Wuying's Blood Qi began controlling the crimson liquid flowing out of the dead bandits, and sharp threads flew all around the battlefield, causing the bandit's cries to intensify with each second.

Xiao Wen, on the other hand, wasn't bothered by Wuying's attacks and covered herself in a golden shield, which blocked all of the threads from damaging her. Using this method she danced in the battlefield and began to kill steal from Wuying, giving the last blow to many of them.

When there was only one bandit left, who somehow survived under the barrage of attacks Wuying called out to Xiao Wen, stopping her from killing him, "Hey! Now it's you who is cheating! They were already dead, so the points go to me! You only last hit their corpses."

Xiao Wen shook her head with a smile, arguing back, "Nah ah, they were clearly still alive to me. I caught up to you fair and square. Now it is a draw and only this one guy is felt. How are we going to end it?"

"How about we let him run away and then the first one who catches him wins?" Wuying proposed after thinking for a moment.

"Alright." Xiao Wen nodded and planned to explain it to the bandit when suddenly a lightning strike came flying from the side, heading straight towards the bandit in question. He had barely any methods to defend against it and even if he did, his shaking body caused by looking at the two butchers in front of him, made him unable to move.

Bang.

The bandit's head exploded without surprises as the thunderbolt passed through it like a knife through butter, which caused Wuying and Xiao Wen to pout. They knew Xuefeng was approaching, but they didn't know he would ruin their game just when they were about to end it.

Xuefeng rolled his eyes at them and scolded, "Stop arguing and follow me. I think the Bandit Leader already knows about us. Let's prepare for the second phase of my plan."

"Yes…" Hearing his scolding, they both accepted that the bet was over and listened to him.