I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 353: Chapter 73: Destined with My Buddha Sect

“A dragon?!”

The Star Officer Shaowei exclaimed in shock and instantly lost his composure.

Even after being accustomed to extraordinary events over time, the sight of the dragon head emerging from the clouds was inevitably shocking.

This was a legendary beast, rumored to have disappeared from the human realm during the Middle Ancient era, existing only in legends, with almost no one having witnessed it in reality.

And wasn’t it an evil creature that was causing trouble here?

How could there be a dragon?

“No, not a dragon, but a dragon’s head!” Zhou Heng’s eyes shone with golden light as he activated his law eyes, piercing through the myriad of facades to perceive the true nature of this dragon head.

Behind this gigantic dragon head, there was no dragon body to be found. It was merely a lone head flying in the sky, though from the stump behind the head, countless slippery tentacles writhed, stirring the clouds with their movements.

“Roar!!”

The dragon head suddenly let out an angry roar, its eyes streaming with dark blood tears, releasing an extremely violent and ferociously evil presence.

The clouds above churned violently in response, while the cold winds on the ground grew even more savage.

The common people within Yulong Mansion City were all hiding in their homes, shivering uncontrollably, not daring to look outside.

For Zhou Heng and the Star Officer Shaowei, who were gazing directly at the dragon head, the roar contained an extremely horrifying spiritual shockwave, capable of effortlessly crushing the spirit of the vast majority of Secret Six Rank Martial Artists.

The Star Officer Shaowei wore a mask that could protect against spiritual shocks, so he was unharmed. He only felt a bit dizzy at the onset.

However, he was very concerned for Zhou Heng’s safety. After regaining his composure, he hastily looked at Zhou Heng and found that the youth stood there completely unscathed, as if unaffected by the spiritual shock of the dragon’s roar.

“What’s going on?” The Star Officer Shaowei couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

Even though Zhou Heng had previously displayed a flying speed that drew his attention, Shaowei still didn’t believe that Zhou Heng’s cultivation strength was particularly strong.

After all, Loose Cultivators, even if fortunate to receive a decent inheritance, often lacked guidance and could easily take the wrong path, resulting in generally weaker abilities compared to their peers.

But now, observing Zhou Wei’s performance, it seemed that might not be entirely the case.

At the very least, Zhou Wei’s Divine Soul shouldn’t be weak, or perhaps he possessed a treasure that protected his Divine Soul.

This person was not simple.

The Star Officer Shaowei revised his assessment of Zhou Heng’s strength.

“Roar!”

The dragon head bellowed again, and this time, its blood-stained eyes shifted focus, locking onto the Star Officer Shaowei.

Subsequently, the void echoed with overlapping laughter.

“Hahaha! Star Officer of the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer, you’ve indeed come as I expected, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time!”

Before the voice fell, the colossal dragon head dived down from the sky, its gaze fixed on the Star Officer Shaowei, while the laughter that seemed omnipresent in the void continued.

“Ah, such a delicious aura, truly delectable!”

The thousands of slimy tentacles behind the dragon head stretched out, spreading like serpents, emanating an invisible and sinister force, beginning to corrupt the elemental energy of heaven and earth in this area.

Their intent was to permeate the elemental energy of Yulong Mansion’s heaven and earth with malevolence, rendering it unusable by normal Martial Artists, thereby greatly reducing the Star Officer Shaowei’s power.

“You are… an evil spirit?!”

The Star Officer Shaowei’s pupils contracted as he instinctively stepped back twice, but seeing that Zhou Heng had not retreated, he gritted his teeth, stepped forward twice, and returned to his original position. At the same time, he formed incantations with his hands, invoking the Taoist Formulas, drawing upon the starlight!

“Die!”

“`

The starlight that suddenly lit up the pitch-dark firmament tore through the darkness and condensed into a sword light that descended from the sky, slashing towards the dragon head.

The extremely pure starlight shattered the spreading evil force, descending like Heavenly Punishment, appearing as a beam of light that engulfed both the dragon head and the thousand slippery tentacles that protruded from it.

“Run!”

As the turmoil unfolded in an instant, the young Star Officer seized Zhou Heng’s shoulder, ready to employ his Escape Skill to transform into a streak of light, attempting to flee with him.

Against an evil spirit, the young Star Officer harbored no thoughts of combat.

He was very self-aware.

He knew his limits and would never blindly overestimate his strength.

An evil spirit is an entity that reaches the Sect Fifth Rank and then elevates its very essence through a specific ritual. This means that the weakest evil spirits are equivalent to the Sect Fifth Rank.

A Secret Six Rank True Gang Realm Martial Artist facing an evil spirit, if they fought, would undoubtedly perish.

The disparity was too great, with absolutely no chance of success.

All that could be done was to run.

And even in fleeing,

The evil spirit was too strong!

Even in escape, it was imperative to act first.

If they were even slightly slower, it would certainly be a fatal outcome.

Only by doing so could they have a sliver of a chance to live.

However, just as he was about to grab Zhou Heng and run, he suddenly realized that he couldn’t move Zhou Heng.

This young-looking Loose Cultivator, his feet seemingly rooted to the ground.

No!

Even if he were rooted three to five miles deep, the young Star Officer felt he could pull him out, yet Zhou Wei remained completely immobile, as if he had merged with the very earth.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Is he really that strong?” the young Star Officer first thought in astonishment and then became furious, “Damn it! Are you insane? Run! This is an evil spirit. My Taoist Formulas can’t trap him. Facing such a monster, you will undoubtedly die! Flee!”

But he still could not pull Zhou Heng along.

“…” After a brief silence, the young Star Officer closed his eyes, resigned to not escaping and sneered, “Ignorant Loose Cultivator, you have no idea how powerful an evil spirit is. Just you, just me, we are certain to die.”

“You could have run away by yourself,” Zhou Heng said indifferently.

“I couldn’t bring myself to run away in the face of an evil spirit, leaving someone beside me unaided,” the young Star Officer scoffed, his gaze fixed on the starlight in front of him, “Once the power of this formula dissipates, and the evil spirit comes out, we’ll both be dead.”

“I don’t think so,” Zhou Heng began to smile.

“You can’t possibly think you can contend with the evil spirit,” the young Star Officer looked at Zhou Heng in surprise, since they were going to die anyway, he simply relaxed.

Boom!

Just then, the column of light formed by the starlight exploded, and the dragon head burst out from within, the mocking laughter omnipresent in the void once again.

“Hahaha! Interesting, truly interesting, to think that both of you would stay to face death!” The voice of the evil spirit was full of mockery, “Are you thinking of joining forces to fight me? Hahaha!”

It didn’t take Zhou Heng and the young Star Officer seriously at all.

“Not joining forces,” Zhou Heng suddenly opened his mouth and spit out a Sword Pill, “I alone am enough.”

“…”

“…”

“`

The scene instantly fell deadly silent.

The dragon head lingering in the air froze, and the thousands of slippery tentacles seemed to have been fixed in the sky, motionless. The echoing voice of the evil spirit also vanished.

Shock coloured the face beneath the mask of the Minor Star Officer, his eyes wide open, staring at Zhou Heng as if looking at a madman, “What, what did you just say?!”

He almost thought he had heard wrong, experiencing an illusion.

This loose cultivator martial artist at the Secret Six Rank True Energy Realm actually claimed he could defeat the evil spirit alone??

And he spoke with such a matter-of-fact tone?

He even really spat out a Sword Pill, as if he were truly about to take action against the evil spirit.

Wake up, you are only Secret Six Rank, and you haven’t even reached the True Gang Realm!

How can you fight the evil spirit?

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!

Now, that was the only description the Minor Star Officer could think of.

However, since this loose cultivator martial artist was prepared to take action, as a righteous organization member, he couldn’t just sit back and wait for death, so the Minor Star Officer also prepared to fight back.

“Good, good, good!” The voice of the evil spirit rose again, it seemed extremely angry, shaking its dragon head and roaring furiously, “Then you all just wait for me to…”

Clang!

A sudden sword cry broke the evil spirit’s words; endless sword light soared straight into the sky!

This Sword Pill that Zhou Heng had spat out from his mouth had, at some point, turned into a 500-zhang-long sword light, accompanied by the roaring of purple thunder; the world seemed to be left with only this slash of purple-gold sword light.

The sword light, like a long river, instantly engulfed the dragon head.

The thousands of tentacles tried to struggle, but to no avail. Under this sword light, the tentacles had no power to resist and were directly ground into powder.

The dragon head roared and swayed, trying to break free from the range of the purple-gold sword light, but no matter how it charged, the edge of the sword light was incredibly firm, utterly immovable.

After just two or three breaths’ time, the purple-gold sword light dispersed.

The Minor Star Officer was on high alert.

After all, after the power of his Taoist Formulas subsided, the dragon head controlled by the evil spirit had burst out completely unscathed.

But he was quickly stunned.

Unlike the last time, after the sword light faded, the huge dragon head had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only a pair of huge dragon horns and two pitch-black dragon eyes, falling to the ground.

The dragon head was exterminated?!

The Minor Star Officer’s eyes widened in disbelief, looking towards Zhou Heng, his heart overwhelmed with shock.

What was the origin of this loose cultivator martial artist, and what martial arts did he use just now?

Why did it happen like this?!

That was an evil spirit, cut down by a single slash?

It simply defied belief!

Inconceivable!

“This… Brother Zhou, you just…” the Minor Star Officer barely managed to suppress the shock in his heart, about to ask, but Zhou Heng gestured to stop him.

“Now is not the time for talk,” Zhou Heng shook his head, squinting his eyes slightly, his gaze surveyed the surroundings, suddenly he fixed his sight in one direction, “Thinking of running?!”

“`

With that, he leaped into the air and transformed into a streak of cloud light, rushing miles away in an instant. Then, raising his hand, he snatched a mass of purple-black substance from the void and flew back.

“Is this evil spirit thing you mentioned this thing?” Zhou Heng asked, pretending to be unfamiliar with evil spirits.

“Ah, this…” The Junior Star Officer opened his mouth, looking at the purple-black substance in Zhou Heng’s hand, momentarily speechless and unsure how to respond.

He was truly astounded now, beyond any measure.

Initially, he thought the dragon’s head was the evil spirit, but he hadn’t expected the real evil spirit to be hiding in the shadows all along, and he didn’t detect it in the slightest, not to mention the strength of this loose cultivator martial artist…

In a flash, he had identified the evil spirit and in a back and forth movement, he effortlessly captured it.

Too strong!

“Indeed, this is an evil spirit,” nodded the Junior Star Officer, then explained, “However, using ordinary martial arts or Taoist formulas, one cannot…”

Woosh!

A blazing crimson flame ignited in the palm of Zhou Heng’s hand.

As the flames churned and the light grew intense, it dispelled the evil aura, much like a fire dragon coiling in his palm, enveloping the evil spirit he held.

This was the power of the Nine Dragon Godly Fire Cover, flames of utmost hardness and positivity, ideally suited for refining and eliminating demonic and ghostly presences.

“Ah, no!” screamed the evil spirit from within the flames, its wails piercingly tragic, “What kind of fire is this, no, it can’t be, don’t kill me, please don’t…”

The evil spirit was quite intelligent, even knowing to beg for mercy.

But Zhou Heng remained unmoved, decisively continuing to burn the evil spirit to ashes without hesitation.

Although he was curious about the origins of this dragon’s head and whether dragons still existed in the world, evil spirits were cunning by nature, and even if he spared it, he might not get the answers he wanted. To avoid further complications, it was better to simply dispose of it.

Afterwards, Zhou Heng collected the pair of dragon horns and eyes that had fallen to the ground, lightly patted his hands and said with a smile, “Well, that’s the end of that.”

As if the whole ordeal was just an ordinary occurrence for him.

The Junior Star Officer stood, dumbfounded. After a brief daze, he hastily asked, “You… no, who exactly are you? With the kind of power you have, you can’t just be some unknown person.”

Although Zhou Heng had only shown the tip of the iceberg regarding his strength, to the Junior Star Officer, even that was far beyond the norm for someone of the Secret Sixth Rank.

The ability to eliminate evil spirits so easily indicated strength comparable to a true Sect Fifth Rank, or even stronger. A Sixth Rank martial artist with such strength would definitely have a worldwide reputation.

“You will find out in time,” Zhou Heng responded with a smile, opting not to answer directly, “We’ll meet again.”

At that, he leaped into the air, turned into a streak of cloud light, and flew toward the prefectural city government office. Mounting his sorrel horse, which was still grazing, he rose with the speed of thunder and disappeared into the sky in the blink of an eye.

The Junior Star Officer didn’t pursue.

He understood a principle: since the other party did not wish to reveal his identity for now, chasing after him would only be bothersome.

It was better to conduct his own investigation in secret.

…

Yujang Prefecture.

Surrounded by rivers on three sides, accessible from all directions, it was considered the most bustling place in Kunzhou, with people from every region arriving daily to experience its prosperity.

Zhou Heng led his sorrel horse off a passenger ship and took in the exceptionally lively port.

Merchants, tourists, martial artists, and all sorts of people were either disembarking from boats or boarding to depart, smiling faces all around in a scene of thriving activity.

“Not a bad place,” Zhou Heng nodded to himself, ready to lead his sorrel horse away when he suddenly noticed a monk with a ruddy face approaching.

The monk seemed very excited, his eyes fixated on the sorrel horse. Coming face-to-face with Zhou Heng, he joyfully said, “Esteemed patron, your horse is extraordinary, it shares a connection with my Buddha Sect.”

“`