Killing In The Shadows

In that moment, Chao briefly recalled what he knows about the Qiao Family. They actually weren't a particularly strong power. From what he remembers, they're at a level lower than even the Ming Family.

But what they lack in power, they do make up in social connections. This family, more than others, likes to keep up an amicable and welcoming appearance to all.

On a pure surface level, Chao couldn't really say that the Qiao Family has a troublesome attitude.

That Qiao Lie fellow actually showed some respect when identifying his status. Though, this didn't mean Chao would so easily buy into the surface.

Who knows the kinds of deads and actions that go on underground?

As a cultivator, Chao's highly aware that he needs to take these thoughts into great consideration.

For now, however, Chao decided to file this for later.

Qiao Lie wasn't causing any discourse, and it was nice to see his little sister and her friends be genuinely happy with their fantasy.

"Alright, alright. If you're so sure about it..." As he trailed off, Chao pulled out his cosmo sack and brought out two small dazzling blue crystals.

The shine of the crystals reflected off everyone's pupils. Chen Li, Xue, and Nia's eyes went wide as dinner plates as they intently stared at the crystals.

Chao chuckled in amusement. "Yes, yes. These are too low-grade Spirit crystals. Here."

Shoving the Spirit crystals into Chen Li's hands, he closed them and adamantly said, "I can always earn more. So you three go and get some food or any other things you like. Remember to spend wisely and not to cause a fuss. The greediness of the poor district is not less than the cultivator districts."

Chen Li promptly turned serious with the Spirit crystals in hand. She solemnly nods, saying, "We will be sure to stay safe, brother."

"Mn. We won't do anything foolish." Xun and Nia simultaneously responded.

'They're just going shopping yet are so serious,' Chao internally sighed. He really couldn't blame them, considering it is a fight for survival no matter what you do in this society.

The thought of simply following the girls did occur to Chao.

But as if she could read his thoughts, Chen Li put on an expression similarly determined and said, "You don't have to follow us, Chao. It's better for us to be as low key as possible to avoid anything unnecessary. Plus, with just half of a Spirit crystal, we can still buy plenty enough for all of us. You should just focus on your own cultivation. It'll be better for all of us."

Knowing how stubborn she could be and having a good amount of faith in her, Chao nodded. "Alright then. Now go on, hurry up before it gets dark."

The girls didn't stick around a second longer, quickly hurrying out of the door at an eager pace.

Left alone, Chao didn't immediately go to his room. His worries still couldn't leave him. Thus, he expands his soul sense for 200 meters around his house.

He detected his sister and his friends and then two other auras that made his brows wrinkle. These two auras were familiar to him in all the wrong ways possible.

What's worse, these auras had the audacity to follow behind Chen Li's group!

Cold killing intent surfaced within Chao's eyes. He waited until they all reach 200 meters from the house before sneakily going out and following behind the two familiar auras.

Still wearing his patrol badge, Chao walked down several streets while keeping a calm stride.

In the poor district area, people gave him a far wider breadth than in the Western District. This amount of respect couldn't register within Chao's mind at this moment.

He patiently followed behind until those two familiar auras suddenly stopped in a wide, abandoned alleyway.

Nobody was on the sidewalk from the front to the back. A perfect to commit any deads without having to deal with troublesome suspicions.

Chao basically made zero noise as he stepped into the alleyway. He then poured Origin Qi into his ears, greatly enhancing his hearing to listen in on two people whispering with each other.

One of them said first, "She went into the small market. Uhm, Tao? Are you sure this is a good idea? Nue pretty much died to him, no matter how much we want to deny it. And that guy has now joined the Ming Family! It could end up bad for us."

"And it can also end up extremely well for us. Just think, do we have any other option to turn to? With Nue dead, our profits will drop by a huge margin. We're barely making ends meet now. As cultivators, if we want to survive, being daring is absolutely necessary. Let's focus on nothing else but success!" Tao's tone didn't waver in the slightest. It was like he had had all the assurance in the world.

It greatly affected the other boy, Lian, as he quickly sobered up. "Right, right? We can't fall here. Otherwise-"

"It will mean your death." Chao's cold voice cut into the alleyway.

He appeared merely ten meters away from two young men crouched behind some garbage.

"Ah?!"

Lian and Tao promptly sprang up. Their throats started to dry as a slow-rising fear coursed through their bodies.

Right before them was the same young boy who killed Nue and became a patrol guard! Only an idiot would believe that this thief was some kind of weak cultivator.

At this moment, Lian and Tao desperately tried to scourge up anything to say. Death was inching them by the second. They believed they only had one slim chance to make it through this!

However, that chance would never come.

Chao didn't bother wasting a breath more. The energies within his dantian erupted. He instantly activated the power of Asura Aura. His Origin Aura wildly surged like a hurricane.

Opening his palm, a Chao instantly formed his Ice essence sword and swiped out at naked speeds to any mortal eyes.

Two flashes of icy sword light burst forth.

Lian and Tao's souls quivered at the upcoming sensation of death. It was fast, far too fast for them to react. Their Spiritual Sea thoughts were simply too slow against Chao's speedy attacks.

'Chii~!!'

The icy sword lights drilled into Lian and Tao's heads and unleashed an overwhelming force of essence, bursting their skulls open in a horrifying manner. Their blood and grey brain matter splattered the alleyway walls.

Chao coldly watched on as their headless corpse fell over. The gore didn't bother him at all. Rather, it fueled his belief.

All those who dared to have any thoughts of his sister will face death!

It wouldn't matter the type of person they were, Chao would unhesitatingly kill whoever dares to threaten Chen Li.

Recalling his Asura Aura, Chao took a small breath. He really never felt that much killing intent as he did now.

For a brief moment, he nearly wanted to make those boys greatly suffer before death. But doing such a thing would only be a waste of time, hence Chao opted to quickly kill them and be done with it.

At this time, Chao suddenly felt two streams of dantian energy flow into his own dantian. His dantian slightly strengthened and his Spiritual Sea perception abilities slightly advanced.

A clear sensation coursed through Chao's mind. From those boys' death, he felt closer to understanding the sensation of both Origin Qi and Law essence in general. Their cultivation comprehension perfectly fused into Chao's own Spiritual Sea.

A small smile curled Chao's lips. He couldn't help but think, 'This system truly is useful. Seems like the more I kill, the better I become.'

At the thought of killing, Chao also recalled that these boys should have some valuables on them.

Since they're dead, Chao didn't have any qualms with looting dead bodies. He searched through their clothes, collecting two cosmos sacks. His soul sense counted around 5 energy crystals in total from both sacks.

These two truly were poor. But every Spirit crystal counted in Chao's eyes.

Glancing back down at the headless corpses, Chao flicked his fingers, sending out two ice streams that froze over the corpses. With another flick of his fingers, the corpses shattered into tiny icy bits.

Leaving the alleyway, Chao decided to take the rest of the time to follow Chen Li's group around.

After around thirty minutes of sneaking tailing close by, the girls went on route to go home. When they reached over halfway to his house, Chao moved faster than them, quickly returning home within a minute.

In his room, Chao immediately sat down, ready to start another long night of cultivation. Before he could, an alarm-like sound rang through his mind.

His system suddenly spoke to him. 'Because the host has Spirit energy crystals on him, it should be noted that host can perform perfect energy conversion. This is in which the host can absorb the energy crystal or any other external resources, be it pills or other crystals, and converge into pure energy that will fuse into both host's dantian and Spiritual Sea. Be aware, host, that your cultivation will take numerous times the amount of effort and time to breakthrough because of your already deeply powerful foundation. A foundation that will continue to grow with each proceeding minor breakthrough and a major breakthrough. The most appropriate cultivation for the host is conquering people, and organizations, killing, and the use of various resources.'