Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu

Hu Bo’s hand held his drawn sword. His status was a noble one; he was in the uppermost social class below the imperial family of Rain Country, yet had now actually suffered an injury from someone else. This had inflicted a heavy blow on his self-esteem, and there was no way his ego could accept such a thing happening, so his desire to erase this future ruler increased even further!

Five flashes of Sword Qi, that could be considered a strong enough existence among rulers.

“You will not be able to kill me today, nor will you be able to do so in the future—you will only die by my hand!” Ling Han said deeply. From the moment Hu Bo had committed murder within the grounds of the Ling Clan Residence, that already meant this man’s fate was sealed; not even the gods would be able to change his fate!

Because this was a man he intended to kill.

“Hu Bo, what are you doing here?”

“Xiu,” a figure flashed into the vicinity, and Liu Yu Tong had appeared.

She had been in the midst of analyzing the third level of cultivation technique from the Three Yin Mysterious Arts, but hearing the commotion outside becoming louder, she immediately realized that something was not right, and thus immediately leaped out. Her beautiful face was filled with anger, and because she saw that Ling Han was covered with blood, her heart could not help tightening as a powerful killing intent immediately rose to life within her.

Anyone who dared to injure Ling Han… they were all unforgivable!

However, this Hu Bo was the Seventh Young Master of the Hu Clan, and was of the same social status as herself. Moreover, he was even stronger than her, so she could not act rashly, or she could possibly cause Ling Han’s death! This was something she was even more unwilling to see.

“Yu Tong!” Hu Bo immediately restrained his killing intent, smiled and said, “Your trip this time took quite a few months. I was very worried about you, so I deliberately came over to escort you back!”

“I don’t need you to meddle in my affairs!” Liu Yu Tong said coldly. She pointed at the door and said, “You can get lost now!”

“Yu Tong, it can’t be that you’ve fallen in love with this brat, right?” Hu Bo’s gaze swept over to Ling Han, uncontrollable jealousy brimming in them, “Then… this brat is definitely going to die!”

“You dare to take one more step?” Liu Yu Tong slanted her body to stand in front of Ling Han, an icy expression on her beautiful face.

“Heng, it can’t be that you’ve really been captivated by him!” Hu Bo was about to be driven mad with rage. He and Liu Yu Tong were both members of the Eight Great Clans of the imperial city, and in order not to be pushed around easily by the imperial family, it was common for the Eight Great Clans to ally with each other through marriage.

After Liu Yu Tong was discovered to possess such powerful talent in the field of martial arts, the members of the other seven Great Clans all started brimming with desire to have her marry into their respective clans, and Hu Bo was one of her many admirers and pursuers. And, personally, he was very satisfied, because not only did Liu Yu Tong possess a terrifying talent in martial arts, she was also one of the Twin Stunning Pearls of the imperial city. What man would not want to marry her?

But he had never imagined that she had just stepped out for a short while, and her heart and soul was captured by a wild brat!

A mere country bumpkin!

“I want to kill him! I want to kill this little bastard!” He roared with rage, and with one leap, pounced towards Ling Han.

“How dare you!” Liu Yu Tong stepped forward to parry. “Hong,” the aura of Gushing Spring Tier exploded.

“Yi!” Hu Bo gasped in shock, a surprised expression on his face. “Gushing Spring Tier! You’ve broken through to Gushing Spring Tier!” There was no way he wouldn’t be surprised. Although it was common knowledge that Liu Yu Tong was extremely talented in the field of martial arts, but no matter how talented she was, she should have only been able to break through to Gushing Spring Tier after she has passed twenty years old.

Moreover, a few months ago Liu Yu Tong had only been in the eighth layer of Element Gathering Tier, so theoretically, it would already have been difficult enough for her to reach the peak period of the ninth layer of Gushing Spring Tier by now. And to break through to Gushing Spring Tier…. she should at least have needed another one or two years to settle.

Though power could be forcibly increased with the aid of alchemical pills, it was impossible to fake one’s aura. This was definitely the aura of Gushing Spring Tier, and from the feel of it, she had just broken through quite recently.

Genius, she really was a genius!

“Yu Tong, I’ve blamed you wrongly!” He quickly said.

Being able to break through to Gushing Spring Tier in such a short period of time, how could Liu Yu Tong have any spare time to “get into a romantic relationship”? She must have gotten some kind of fateful encounter here, and had been putting all her efforts into breaking through. This must be the reason why she had been staying here for such a long period of time.

“Get lost!” Liu Yu Tong ignored his words, her palms moved, and a terrifying offensive power rose up.

The symbol of Gushing Spring Tier was Origin Power given form. With the claps of her palms, one after another, giant hands of Origin Power were formed, flying towards Hu Bo.

And because Hu Bo felt that he was “in the wrong”, he did not dare to parry her attacks. He only kept dodging while pleading for mercy. But because he was at the peak period of the first layer of Gushing Spring Tier, he was much more powerful than Liu Yu Tong. Moreover, Liu Yu Tong had just broken through, so there was no way she would be used to using the increased power that she possessed now, and he very easily dodged her attacks.

And more importantly, though Gushing Spring Tier allowed the martial artist to learn Black Grade martial arts techniques; Liu Yu Tong had just broken through, so how would she have had the time to cultivate any? So she was even less of a threat to Hu Bo.

“Yu Tong, calm down. I’ll leave, alright? When you return to the imperial city, I’ll look for you again!” Hu Bo retreated, but before he left, he gave a cold glare to Ling Han and said, “Brat, don’t think that just because you’re close to her, you’re favored! Yu Tong is not someone you can have delusions about. If you dare, I will definitely tear you to pieces!”

Without waiting for Liu Yu Tong’s reaction, his figure took a great leap, and he had already disappeared to a far off distance.

Liu Yu Tong chased after him for a few steps but then gave up. Hu Bo was much faster than her.

“I’m sorry!” She raced back to Ling Han’s side and said with deep remorse. Hu Bo had come to the Ling Clan Residence and killed so many people, yet she was unable to apprehend him.

“You don’t have to apologize, that guy belongs to me!” Ling Han humphed coldly. The current him indeed did not yet possess the ability to kill Hu Bo, but it would definitely not be too much of a wait.

Liu Yu Tong knew that Ling Han was a man who kept his word, so she quickly said, “The Hu Clan is one of the Eight Great Clans of the imperial city, and their power is at the same level as our Liu Clan. They also possess a powerful warrior of Spiritual Pedestal Tier as support. You definitely must not act rashly.”

Ling Han had already guessed that Hu Bo must have an exceptionally high social status. Otherwise, he would not have been qualified to pursue Liu Yu Tong. He nodded, and said, “Am I the rash type of person?”

Liu Yu Tong could not help but observe a moment of silence in tribute of the Hu Clan. Although Ling Han was currently only in Element Gathering Tier, his talent in martial arts was higher than her own by a hundredfold. And together with his achievements in the field of alchemy, the Hu Clan have gained a powerful enemy this time.

Though there were still a thousand things left to do at the Ling Clan, Ling Dong Xing still forced Ling Han out of the Ling Clan Residence, commanding him to immediately set off to report at the Hu Yang Academy.

After a moment of consideration, Ling Han realized that his staying here wouldn’t help anything anyways, so he might as well set out.

He and Liu Yu Tong brought Ling Zi Xuan and Hu Niu with them. However, because Ling Zi Xuan’s parents had both died in the great slaughter previously, Ling Han still had to look for someone to take care of these two little girls after they had reached the imperial city.

Now, Hu Niu had slowly gotten accustomed to eating cooked meat, but she was still only interested in eating meat. She wouldn’t even touch any kind of vegetable. But she was now exceptionally clingy towards Ling Han. Whenever there was time, she would lean against him like a kitten, resting her little head on his knee.

Don’t think that she had put away her wild nature though, because to other people, she was still extremely ferocious. But because of Ling Han, she had also become slightly closer to Liu Yu Tong and Ling Zi Xuan. Or at least, she would not try to bite the two of them anymore.

And, Ling Han realized to his extreme shock that this wild little girl never seemed to be able to get full. No matter how much food they gave her, she would be able to easily consume it all. And after she had eaten some demonic beast meat, there actually appeared a spike in her cultivation level, and she quickly stepped into the fourth layer of Body Refining Tier.

…She had obviously not awakened her Spirit Base yet, and she had never learnt any kind of cultivation technique before!

This caused Ling Han a great shock.

Power would not simply appear without reason. For example, the Origin Power within the body of a martial artist had come from refining the Spiritual Qi around him. And Hu Niu did not practice any kind of cultivation, so her power had obviously not come through this channel.

Then, it must have come from the food that she had eaten.

Could this little girl be able to directly refine the food she ate into her own Origin Power?

When this deduction arose in his mind, Ling Han could not help feeling astonished. What kind of terrifying ability was that?

In order to prove the truth of this deduction, Ling Han and Liu Yu Tong kept hunting down demonic beasts for Hu Niu to eat her fill.

Indeed, the more she ate, the faster her power grew. But there was a limit to it, because her stomach was not a bottomless pit after all. By the time the four of them reached the imperial city, Hu Niu was shockingly already in the sixth layer of Body Refining Tier.

This was not as terrifying as Ling Han’s own pace of cultivation, but it was enough of a great shock, because even now, she had not yet awakened her Spirit Base!

Ling Han had a feeling that he had picked up a valuable treasure.