Volcanic Age

Zhuge Shengji hid as soon as he heard that Evil Valley was attacking. Zhou Xuchuan thought that he hid out of fear but he was wrong. It was the opposite, and he had completely misunderstood.

Forget hiding, Zhuge Shengji had gathered arrows and bamboo in the Weng'An branch and created a hidden weapon.

"A-a hidden weapon?" Mo Yuanjia panicked.

The Tang Clan?

This hidden weapon was something they had never seen or heard of before. Only the Tang Clan would use something like this among the Orthodox Faction.

"Haha, success! I did it!" Zhuge Shengji rejoiced, jumping around.

"Well done, Zhuge Shengji!" Zhou Xuchuan intentionally called out Zhuge Shengji's name loudly so that everyone could hear.

"The Zhuge Family?" Mo Yuanjia questioned, puzzled. "Wait, why the heck would the Zhuge Family use hidden weapons?"

Apart from the Tang Clan, the cultivators of the Orthodox Faction usually considered using hidden weapons to be dishonorable. They rarely used them, and even if they did train in the art, their affiliated organizations forbid their use.

This was the first time he had attracted so much attention. With so much attention on him, he suddenly felt afraid. He broke into a sweat, his mind going blank.

"Wh-what are you looking at?! I know! I know I'm useless!" His self-doubt resurfaced.

Zhuge Shengji hugged the bamboo crossbow and started sobbing. This was too much for a ten-year-old. Having not properly cultivated, he couldn't bear the fierce glares from the Evil Valley cultivators.

"The Zhuge Family using hidden weapons? That's so underhanded! Have you no shame?!" Mo Yuanjia exclaimed, his eyes red with anger.

"Huh, geez."

The Second-Class cultivator from the Weng'An branch looked at Mo Yuanjia incredulously. The Third-Class cultivators had similar reactions.

Who was calling who underhanded? The Evil Valley were those who didn't care about reputation for the sake of victory, weren't they?

However, Mo Yuanjia did not care about the stares and pointed fingers at Zhuge Shengji, "Don't fight like that over there! Come down and fight fair and square!"

That thing is dangerous.

Mo Yuanjia was wary of the bamboo crossbow. While the arrows weren't life-threatening, they were definitely bothersome. He couldn't afford to mind those arrows. If he did, he might be killed by the strangely strong kid, Zhou Xuchuan.

Those of the Orthodox Faction take their own lives if others point out that they're underhanded. There's no way he won't fall for this. Mo Yuanjia was reassured.

"You're talking about fairness when you're using your large numbers to attack the weak? Where's your conscience?" Zhou Xuchuan stepped forward, chuckling, implying that his plan wouldn't work.

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"Shengji, now I'm certain. You're no doubt a genius. So treat me as your big brother. Let's work together."

"You're spouting nonsense again!" Zhuge Shengji freaked out.

"Attack!" Mo Yuanjia's loud voice rang out.

A Third-Class cultivator lunged at Zhou Xuchuan. Although he looked confident, his movements were sluggish in Zhou Xuchuan's eyes.

"Die!" shouted the Third-Class cultivator before slashing diagonally. Zhou Xuchuan sidestepped to dodge it.

Plum Brilliance Sword Technique!

Zhou Xuchuan's sword became blurry. It didn't disappear entirely, but it was too fast for a person to see.

"Whoa!" The Third-Class cultivator tried following it with his eyes, but it was too late. Along with a searing pain, blood spurted from his chest.

"Y-you brat!"

This time, two people came at him, one from each side. Zhou Xuchuan adjusted his grip on his sword and smiled in satisfaction.

I did train in it regularly, but I was worried that I might not be able to use it in practice. I'm glad that's not the case.

He succeeded in executing both the Fourteen Forms and the Brilliance Sword Technique without much problems. Zhou Xuchuan held the sword diagonally in defense and executed the Five Ways Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

The Five Ways Plum Blossom Sword Technique as its name implied, contained the mysteries of the Five Ways. It was a cyclic martial art that smoothly interchanged between offense and defense, a sword art that allowed for a smooth transition to attack after blocking.

With a sharp rush of wind, a sword approached him from the left. Zhou Xuchuan lightly deflected that attack.

"Uck!" The Third-Class cultivator fell to the right, unable to stop his momentum. This made the Third-Class cultivator attacking from the right panic.

"One."

He swung his sword horizontally. The blade cleanly sliced the head off the Third-Class cultivator on the right.

"Two."

He spun his wrist to grip the sword in a reverse grip. Then, he stabbed the falling Third-Class cultivator in the back.

Along with a short groan from the man's mouth, he could feel the life of the cultivator slip away in his hands.

"H-hieek!" The cultivators from the Evil Valley flinched backward. Their once excited expressions were now replaced with fear.

Zhou Xuchuan seized the opportunity, he rushed forward and ran amok.

"Argh!"

"Ugh!"

A sword containing a hint of the Plum Blossom danced in the air. It was not a soft and elegant dance, but an angry and ferocious one. Sometimes, it looked like the flap of a butterfly, but it soon turned into a fierce storm that threatened the lives of the Evil Valley cultivators.

Heads were severed from bodies, and holes were poked in chests, spurting blood everywhere.

Is this really his first time out in the world?

The Second-Class cultivator from the Weng'An branch was amazed by Zhou Xuchuan's might. He was in total disbelief.

The cultivation arts of the Orthodox Sect refined and reforged the mind and the body. This lessened the shock of one's first kill.

However, even if that were the case, the shock was still there. Usually, a cultivator killing someone else for the first time would hesitate for a brief moment, even if they didn't fall into a cultivation deviation due to a Heart Demon.

Even then, this was about cultivators who were past the age of twenty. From what he knew, Zhou Xuchuan was only twelve. Seeing a twelve-year-old boy not hesitate at all in battle gave him a sense of disparity.

"Come!" Zhou Xuchuan shouted while scattering the blood from his sword. "I am Zhou Xuchuan of the Mount Hua sect!"

Goosebumps prickled his skin; he was exhilarated. He had never said something like this so boldly in his previous life. He was always within a group of people and followed whenever someone else shouted such words.

However, now, it was the opposite. Behind his back were cultivators following him. It didn't matter that they were only Third-Class cultivators. They believed in him and were looking at his back. He would never be able to forget this moment for the rest of his life.

"Gooooooo!"

"Follow young hero Zhou!"

The cultivators from the Martial Alliance erupted in cheers. It was completely different from how they were acting a while ago. Although they were less than half the number of their enemies, they had a young expert with them. They believed in that.

Even if a sword were to strike the chest of a comrade cultivator, they stood firm, striking back without fear.

"You don't need to push yourselves. Just do what I told you before!" Zhou Xucuan directed the cultivators of the Martial Alliance.

Before the Evil Valley cultivators smashed down the door, Zhou Xuchuan told them to parry most of the attacks and induce them to come to Zhou Xuchuan's position. At first, they were skeptical, but now they were listening to his words.

The Martial Alliance cultivators focused on defense, and pushed the enemies to Zhou Xuchuan's side. Zhou Xuchuan quickly attacked any enemy when they were within his attack range.

"Aaargh!"

The nearly thirty men that came in at the beginning were considerably reduced. The Evil Valley cultivators waiting outside came in as well, and another thirty people died. The hundred cultivators from the Evil Valley were reduced by half.

The doorway was cluttered with corpses, leaving no room to set foot. The cultivators from the Evil Valley had a hard time fighting because they were only Third-Class cultivators and were hindered by the corpses. Zhou Xuchuan moved freely, attacking wherever he went.

"Take this!"

Adding to their frustrations was Zhuge Shengji, who was attacking from behind. Although there weren't that many bamboo crossbows because he had made them hastily, he attacked whenever the Evil Valley cultivators were about to break through the formation of the Martial Alliance, hindering their advance. Whenever that happened, Zhou Xuchuan noticed it immediately and swiftly took the lives of the attackers.

Although the intensity of the battle was considerably lower compared to what was happening in Kai'An, this was okay in its own right.

The number of people that could enter through the door was limited, allowing them to effectively take the lives of their enemies thanks to their sturdy defense formation.

"D-dammit!"

As the situation deteriorated, Mo Yuanjia's eyes darted, looking for an opportunity to escape. If he were to flee, he would have to suffer the consequences, but it didn't look like there was a hope of a breakthrough here either.

The other people from the Evil Valley were thinking the same thing. Even they, who were blinded by the seduction of the gold coin at first, eventually succumbed to fear and tried to step back helplessly.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Mo Yuanjia's confused voice echoed on the battlefield.

"And what the heck are you doing?!" Zhou Xuchuan walked straight toward Mo Yuanjia. Despite not looking like he was going to attack, everyone flinched back.

"He's bluffing! It must be a bluff! He must be exhausted from fighting for so long," Mo Yuanjia muttered, trying to convince himself. There was desperation in his voice.

"Yes, that would be the case normally." Zhou Xuchuan nodded in agreement. "But not me. Sorry to disappoint you, but my alias is All Bite No Bark."

Zhou Xuchuan smiled brightly, his face devoid of even a drop of sweat. That smile looked like that of the devil to Mo Yuanjia.

"S-stop! Don't come any closer!" he shouted in fear. His voice affected the other cultivators from the Evil Valley.

Nearly fifty cultivators had died in Zhou Xuchuan's hands in a short span of time, which struck them with fear. When Mo Yuanjia, their strongest man and their commander, looked afraid, everyone lost the will to fight.

"R-run!"

"Aaagh!"

When one person fled, it spread like an infection to those around him. Everyone ran away in fear.

"Dammit!" Mo Yuanjia eventually gave up as well. He had no way of handling a group of panicked subordinates. He, too, pushed aside the Evil Valley cultivators and tried to flee.

"Everyone get out! I'm going back first!" Mo Yuanjia's voice rang out.

"No, you're not going back."

Zhou Xuchuan whisked through space with astonishing speed, seemingly unaffected by the corpses littering the ground. Closing the distance between himself and Mo Yuanjia, he intercepted him before he could take more than a few steps.

"My lord, great hero! I'm truly sorry! I have failed to recognize you!"

Mo Yuanjia let out a voice of defeat as soon as Zhou Xuchuan caught up. Forget resisting, he threw his sword on the ground.

I'm not sure what happened, but this kid is a freak that I can't defeat. I must survive even if it means begging him.

He had completely lost his will to fight after seeing Zhou Xuchuan fight. Victory was out of reach. When he came to that conclusion, he immediately took action. Mo Yuanjia put away his pride and groveled in order to survive.

"We'll only know about the circumstances in detail with you around, so I'll have you stay behind."

"I don't know much, great hero. It'll be much better if you just let me go. Someone like me isn't—"

"Really? Then I guess I'll have you dead."

"I'll tell you everything! I'm your follower from now on!"