Chapter 38: Ling Xue Descends the Cliff to Meet Prince You

The two arrived at Death-End Cliff. Qin Lingxue let the biting cold winds from both sides whip against her as she asked with a grave expression, "Big Brother, are you really hiding down here?"

Qin Anyu smiled slightly. "Unexpected, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Indeed, I did not expect it." Then, looking up at him, she continued, "People from our sect have come here to explore, but not a single one returned. Some were even at the Qi Refining stage."

Qin Anyu understood what she was implying, but offered no explanation, merely asking, "Do you dare to go down yourself?"

She took a deep breath and uttered a single word: "I dare!"

He nodded. "Then follow me." As long as she had the courage, there was no problem; otherwise, explanations would be futile.

Being at the ninth level of the Qi Cultivation stage, she was far superior to Qin Youqin. In less than half an hour, the two descended to the platform.

Once there, he had Qin Lingxue eat some food to replenish her energy while he gathered medicinal herbs to refine Miasma-Clearing Pills. This batch turned out ink-blue and smooth, far better than his previous attempt.

Seeing the pills complete, Qin Lingxue, who had been watching from the side, finally spoke, "Big Brother, you can even refine pills?"

Qin Anyu laughed and said, "Didn't I tell you? There are many things I can do."

Most high-level cultivators were proficient in alchemy to some degree, though the quality varied. Unless a specific pill required a specialized alchemist, they usually handled their own needs; otherwise, how could they sustain such massive resource consumption? However, coming from a supreme power, he technically didn't need to refine his own pills, but he kept the habit, as it was a way to hone his soul power.

After leaving the platform, Qin Anyu handed her a Miasma-Clearing Pill. "The miasma here is very thick; you must take this to push through."

Qin Lingxue looked at the hazy gray fog ahead. "Big Brother, is this gray mist the miasma?"

He nodded. "It’s not just miasma in there; there are venomous snakes and other things, so be careful."

From then on, the task of clearing the path fell to Qin Lingxue, while he followed behind, providing cover and protection.

At this point, the foundations of a disciple from a major sect became evident. Facing snakes attacking from all angles, she struck them down one by one, leaving none behind.

When she encountered the first skeleton, she asked in surprise, "Big Brother, I think I saw a skeleton moving. Am I hallucinating?"

He chuckled. "No, that is a skeleton. It’s something you must encounter to pass through here. Only by shattering these skeletons can we reach our destination."

She asked with suspicion, "How could such a place exist? The disciples from our sect likely didn't know about the miasma, let alone the skeletons, which is why they never returned."

Qin Anyu nodded. "Look at this skeleton—it’s made of all sorts of bones. Some of them might even have been contributed by the people from your sect."

Unlike when he brought that young girl in, this time the skeletons appeared in pairs, and they were as powerful as the last one he had faced. Perhaps it depended on the person; the girl had been a mere mortal and was ignored, and he himself had only been at the fifth level back then.

Facing these skeletons, Qin Anyu found them easy enough. After sparring for a while and finding little value in them, he quickly shattered them. Qin Lingxue struggled more; against the same opponents, her shorter reach made the combat difficult. However, under Qin Anyu’s guidance, she abandoned her rigid, practiced forms and focused her full attention on the fight. She would shatter one, rest for a moment, eat some red ginseng to recover her strength, and summarize her combat experience.

After shattering the ninth and final skeleton, she sat on the ground, limbs heavy, but filled with excitement. "Brother, I feel like my practical combat experience has improved significantly. If I met that eighth-level fighter again, I could kill them in one strike."

Qin Anyu nodded. "That is because you lacked practical experience before and were too tethered to your routines."

She pulled out a piece of red ginseng, chewed it, and said, "Big Brother, who knew that forgetting the routines would bring such a huge improvement? The sect never taught us this. Are there such brilliant cultivators in the Linxia Sect?"

She assumed these insights were learned by her brother at the Linxia Sect, little knowing that if her brother had truly known these things, there would be no room for the Immortal Emperor Wuwo to exist.

He said calmly, "For a cultivator to go further, one must create their own unique combat techniques and arts. Only what is most suitable for oneself is the best."

This was exactly what the ancestors of the Immortal Emperor Wuwo had advocated, and it was how the family’s ancestral teachings had been passed down. The family remained the supreme power in the Immortal Realm precisely because of this heritage.

Qin Lingxue chewed the ginseng, lost in thought. No one in the sect had ever shared such a view. Everyone practiced the same routines; during combat, once an opponent launched a move they had mastered, one would immediately know what the next move would be.

Over these past two days following her brother, many things had changed. Every encounter was a life-or-death battle. Those routines were useful, but defeating an opponent was difficult. If not for her brother’s guidance, not to mention these skeletons, she would have struggled even to kill that eighth-level fighter.

If only Second Brother could have come along; under Big Brother’s guidance, his combat prowess would improve even faster. But Second Brother... alas.

After regaining some of her strength, she continued forward with Qin Anyu and soon arrived at a vast landscape of lush green mountains and clear waters, leaving her stunned. "Big Brother, where is this?"

Qin Anyu laughed. "At the bottom of Death-End Cliff."

She gulped several times. "I know this is the bottom of the cliff, but how can such a world exist in such a deep place?"

He smiled. "This was once a secret cultivation realm for the low-level disciples of a sect. It hasn't been completely destroyed, but it's close."

He reached this conclusion because the seemingly blue sky was becoming unstable, the great formations that once contained the beasts were near collapse, and the combat strength of the skeletons was severely inconsistent. If the formations here were still intact, she would never have made it through so easily.

He scanned the area and, not seeing Qin Youqin, said to her, "I’ll take you to see someone."

He led her to the outer edge of the beast zone for Qi Cultivation level cultivators. Seeing the faint signs of combat within, he knew that girl must be here.

Qin Lingxue was surprised again. "Big Brother, there are people and beasts in there? Is that person a disciple of this sect?"

Qin Anyu ruffled her hair. "What are you thinking? That’s that girl, Qin Youqin. Don't underestimate her; she’s at the fifth level now."

Qin Lingxue rubbed her cheeks; there had been too many shocking events today, and her face felt numb. "Big Brother, how long has she been cultivating?"

He calculated the time. "Less than two months. She has good talent, is willing to endure hardship, uses the right methods, and has plenty of medicinal herbs, so she has progressed rapidly."

Amidst her countless surprises, Qin Youqin dragged a cow out from inside. Seeing them, she shouted with delight, "Young Master is back, and Young Miss is here! It’s perfect timing—I ran out of meat, so I just killed a cow."

Looking at her, Qin Anyu’s mouth twitched—in just a few days, she had reached the sixth level.