Chapter 16: The Art of Killing

Near the Great Pit, more and more Mountain Burrowing Rats emerged. All 100,000 of them in the entire valley had been drawn there by the scent.
Squeak, squeak.
The entire valley was filled with the angry cries of the Mountain Burrowing Rats. Their 100,000 gleaming fangs created a pool of light in the valley.
Although furious, the Mountain Burrowing Rats couldn’t attack Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui as a group. Due to the existence of the Great Pit, they could only reach the three of them via the Five-Claw Bridge. The half-circular arch, one meter high, forced the wildly screaming rats to cross the bridge one by one.
Wu Yuan stood on the left side of the bridge, while Qing Wu Gui stood on the right.
“Whoa, this is amazing! I’ve already killed a thousand Mountain Burrowing Rats!” Wu Yuan excitedly waved his divine weapon, the Glowing Seal, striking down a rat after another as he shouted in excitement.
The agile bodies of the Mountain Burrowing Rats had no advantage on the bridge and could only try to bite Wu Yuan. Once they succeeded, they would inject Earth Energy into their fangs, ensuring they could kill Wu Yuan with a single bite.
However, the 600,000 Gold Energy entities within Wu Yuan gave him an endless supply of power. The Glowing Seal moved at a phantom-like speed, ensuring that each rat was struck and fell into the Great Pit.
Qing Wu Gui remained calm. His divine weapon, the Golden Patterned Sword, performed a single motion under his control—slicing!
As the sword swung, a golden sword of light appeared, striking the approaching Mountain Burrowing Rats. The hardest part of these rats’ bodies was their fangs; their other parts couldn’t withstand the golden sword of light formed from Gold Energy.
With each strike, a rat died and fell into the pit beneath the bridge.
After killing a thousand Mountain Burrowing Rats, Qing Wu Gui’s sword technique changed again. Driven by his Gold Energy core, the Golden Patterned Sword emitted two golden swords of light at once, also slashing at the incoming rats.
Naturally, those rats had no chance to block the two swords and died even faster.

Qu Yi noticed the change in Qing Wu Gui’s aura and realized he was using those Mountain-Burrowing Rats to cultivate his own killing art. He was now deliberately making attempts; although he hadn’t grasped it yet, he at least had a direction, and he would eventually understand the way of killing. Seeing that the two could easily handle the Mountain-Burrowing Rats, Qu Yi lost interest in watching their performance and lay down on the bridge deck. A day passed. By Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui’s hands, 20,000 Mountain-Burrowing Rats had already died, and their divine energies were nearly exhausted. Meanwhile, the remaining 80,000 Mountain-Burrowing Rats showed no sign of retreating. The aura emitted by the Human-Faced Beast-Heart Stone had become even stronger, giving those rats an extreme sense of comfort. They certainly wouldn’t leave so easily—they must seize that Human-Faced Beast-Heart Stone. “Wu Yuan, Qing Wu, you’ve used up all your divine energies, right? It doesn’t matter. Use the divine crystals we obtained in this Beast Mountain Range as you wish,” Qu Yi said with a smile as he sat up, realizing the two brothers were on the verge of exhausting their energies. “Ugh, Qu Yi, hurry up and give us the divine crystals!” Wu Yuan exclaimed anxiously as he waved his Glowing Seal. “Bring them here,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly, his golden-patterned sword already attempting to unleash three golden light swords. Over the past decade or so, Qu Yi, Wu Yuan, and Qing Wu Gui had found Divine Crystal Trees and obtained a total of 10,000 divine crystals from them. Qu Yi estimated that one divine crystal could only allow Wu Yuan or Qing Wu Gui to launch two attacks each, enough to kill two Mountain-Burrowing Rats. Thus, 10,000 divine crystals would only suffice to kill 20,000 Mountain-Burrowing Rats, while there were still 80,000 of them left. It was truly endless. “You each get 5,000. After using them up, I’ll use the Star Luo Ding to help you maintain your divine energies,” Qu Yi said with a helpless smile. Immediately, he divided the 10,000 divine crystals equally between Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui. The two caught the crystals and placed them beside them, using their left hands to absorb them while continuing to wield their divine weapons with fierce strength against the approaching Mountain-Burrowing Rats, mercilessly slaughtering them. Seeing this, Qu Yi estimated that it would take Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui half a day to absorb all the divine crystals, so he couldn’t keep watching any longer.

“Five yuan, no mercy—I’ll help ease your burden a bit.” Qu Yi laughed heartily before suddenly leaping off the Five-Claw Bridge and arriving at the edge of the Great Pit. Upon landing, the divine weapon Rui Si Mu in Qu Yi’s hands immediately sent out a thousand strands of green silk, which pierced into the bodies of a hundred Mountain-Drilling Rats, splitting their bodies into dozens of pieces. Qu Yi’s sudden appearance drew the attention of countless Mountain-Drilling Rats, and his presence on land only further fueled their anger. Squeak, squeak. Those over eighty thousand Mountain-Drilling Rats now all wanted to rush at Qu Yi. “Come on, let’s have a proper fight!” Qu Yi shouted joyfully, standing on the body of a dead Mountain-Drilling Rat. Under his control, Rui Si Mu kept shooting out those razor-sharp green strands, each one capable of splitting a Mountain-Drilling Rat’s body upon contact. Qu Yi was like a tiger descending from the mountains, unstoppable in his fury. As he rushed forward, hundreds of Mountain-Drilling Rats in front of him were already torn apart by those strands, rendering them useless. With a million Wood Spirit Entities within him, Qu Yi’s divine energy seemed inexhaustible, allowing Rui Si Mu to function effortlessly. With this vast supply of divine energy, he only needed to wave it, and the green strands would fly out, hitting any Mountain-Drilling Rat in their path. “I’m really too violent.” In one breath, Qu Yi ran a mile, slaying ten thousand Mountain-Drilling Rats, scaring even those fierce and mindless beasts. A trail of bloodied corpses lay behind him, surrounded by angry Mountain-Drilling Rats who glared at Qu Yi with hatred, but none dared attack him. His remark about being too violent even made them retreat, completely failing to live up to the name of fierce beasts. Fierce beasts should be wild and unrestrained—there should be no hesitation or hesitation. Yet these Mountain-Drilling Rats showed no sense of being such beasts at all. Seeing that they didn’t dare attack him, Qu Yi felt no pity. If they wouldn’t attack him, then he would attack them. “I’m coming!” Qu Yi roared again. Immediately, he charged toward the area where the Mountain-Drilling Rats were thickest, wielding Rui Si Mu. Green strands rained down like rain, each one deadly.

In their panic, the Mountain-Dwelling Rats had no place to flee; one after another, they were struck by Qing Si’s attacks, their bodies torn apart and bleeding profusely as they died in utter despair. On the Five-Claw Bridge, Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui wore expressions of frustration. Qu Yi had drawn all the Mountain-Dwelling Rats’ attention, yet none of them dared cross the bridge to attack him, leaving Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui extremely helpless. The two had been building up their strength to the peak of the Divine Being stage, eager to show off their prowess, only for Qu Yi to steal the show from them. “Ugh, Qu Yi, you’ve killed enough already. Come back quickly,” Wu Yuan called out anxiously from the bridge, idly playing with his Glowing Seal. “Qu Yi, you can’t keep all the glory for yourself,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly, though also anxious. Hearing their brothers’ cries, Qu Yi realized he had gone too far. After killing another ten thousand Mountain-Dwelling Rats, he flew to the bridge and sat down laughing. “Alright, you two take care of the remaining sixty thousand,” Qu Yi said cheerfully. But Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui weren’t happy, as they saw that the rats were only gathered around the large pit, none of them daring to approach the bridge—meaning they could no longer kill them. The Mountain-Dwelling Rats were too scared of Qu Yi after what he had done, and they didn’t dare cross the bridge anymore. However, due to the soothing aura emitted by the Human-Faced Beast-Heart Stone, they couldn’t bear to leave either, so they all sat around the pit on the ground. “Sigh, there’s no other choice. Quickly refine those five thousand Divine Crystals and charge into the rat herd,” Qu Yi said with a wry smile at the situation. Hearing this, Wu Yuan and Qing Wu Gui’s eyes lit up as they immediately absorbed all the Divine Crystals around them. Then, Wu Yuan rushed in from the left while Qing Wu Gui came in from the right, diving into the crowd of Mountain-Dwelling Rats. “Ugh, brace for my bombardment!” Wu Yuan shouted as he arrived, unleashing his Glowing Seal, which had expanded to hundreds of meters in size, and slammed it down onto the ground. On the bridge, Wu Yuan had been afraid of cracking it, so he hadn’t fully utilized the seal’s power. Now on the ground, he used it without restraint. With that single strike, hundreds of Mountain-Dwelling Rats were killed instantly.

Qing Wugui didn’t attack casually like Wu Yuan; he continued with his own method of cultivation. At this moment, the Golden Pattern Sword was activated once again, emitting four golden light swords rapidly each time. Each light sword could instantly kill a Mountain Burrowing Rat. Although Qing Wugui was slow in killing them, he was deeply immersed in the essence of this attack, constantly searching for a cultivation path suited to himself. He now had a vague idea of the path of slaughter but couldn’t grasp it clearly, so he kept fighting, hoping to gain some insight through this frenzied killing and thus find the true path of slaughter. Seeing that Qu Yi wasn’t coming and only Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui were there, the Mountain Burrowing Rats lost their fear and immediately charged at them angrily, screeching. With those screeches, they approached Wu Yuan and Qing Wugui, but they couldn’t get close enough to bite, and one after another, they fell. Wu Yuan thoroughly enjoyed this slaughter, repeatedly using the Glorious Light Seal in a mechanical manner, showing no signs of boredom and maintaining intense enthusiasm as he attacked the Mountain Burrowing Rats. With each strike of the Glorious Light Seal, hundreds of Mountain Burrowing Rat corpses appeared, and by now, Wu Yuan had killed tens of thousands of them. Qing Wugui’s Golden Pattern Sword now emitted five golden light swords each time, but the number of Mountain Burrowing Rats he killed was far less than Wu Yuan’s—only about two thousand. “Ugh, Wu Yuan, you’re so heartless! I’ve already killed ten thousand Mountain Burrowing Rats…” Wu Yuan wanted to show off. But just then, Qing Wugui suddenly shouted, interrupting him. “I know it now.” After unleashing five light swords, Qing Wugui exclaimed excitedly, then glanced at Wu Yuan and Qu Yi on the bridge with gleaming eyes. “I think I’ve found the method to cultivate the path of slaughter,” Qing Wugui added immediately. After saying that, he abandoned the Mountain Burrowing Rats and flew back to the Five-Claw Bridge, sitting down next to Qu Yi. Qu Yi was puzzled. If Qing Wugui had already found a cultivation path, why not use those Mountain Burrowing Rats to practice it? Why did he fly back? It was truly baffling. “Wu Yuan, why did you fly back?” Qu Yi asked directly.

Qing Wugui smiled at Qu Yi, then said seriously, “Qu Yi, I’ve been trying different attack methods—increasing the number of lightsabers from one to five—but I’ve found my intent to kill becoming increasingly vague. Just now, I had a realization: my way of killing should be to sever the laws themselves, so that I can determine those laws.”
Qu Yi found this somewhat abstract and still didn’t understand Qing Wugui’s meaning.
Seeing Qu Yi’s expression, Qing Wugui said happily, “To put it simply, take the Metal element law as an example. If I sever the Metal element law within my soul sphere, then no cultivator’s Metal element law will affect me anymore, and any Metal element spells cast at me will disintegrate on their own. In other words, I am the Metal element law, and I determine it.”
After hearing this, Qu Yi was filled with surprise.