7 The Cross Slope

Led by Li Tianchou, the group of men quickly left the city through the West Gate and rushed swiftly ahead. All the men from the patrol office were highly trained in martial arts. Even though they were not experts but as they ran with all their might, they were as fast as racehorses, achieving great speeds.

Although martial arts training did not have as many techniques as Immortal cultivation, martial arts was still the most popular and widely practiced cultivation method. In all the dynasties and countries under the sun, all the soldiers and generals have martial arts as their main form of cultivation. Albeit those who can train to become true masters were rare,it allowed countless commoners to access the benefits of cultivation.

Immortal cultivation paid great attention to spiritual roots1 and destiny, Confucianism focused on character, while Buddhism favored intuition. Martial arts is the only cultivation form where as long as you were prepared to work hard, you would be able to train to attain a certain level of success.

Unfortunately, most of the time the easiest choice could also be the most difficult. The threshold requirements to train in martial arts was low and there were no limits based on innate talent or resources. Even those with physical disabilities were able to train in some special martial art forms. However, as one ascended to the higher levels of martial arts, it would become increasingly difficult to advance. Achieving a high level or even reaching immortality via martial arts was thought to be harder than trying to ascend into heaven. 

Failing to become an immortal, one's lifespan would be limited. Where would there be time for the practitioners to take their own sweet time to slowly train in martial arts for cultivation? For that very reason, few cultivators used the way of martial arts to reach the innate stage within the cultivation world. However, if an innate stage martial arts cultivator became an immortal, the full strength of their offensive power would make a person's skin crawl!

That group carried weapons and ran so swiftly that they appeared to be flying. In a short time, they were already miles away from the city, approaching a small hill.

Qin Feng may not be well-versed in martial arts, but since he had achieved spiritual awakening his running speed was much faster than an ordinary martial artist. He was equal to the level of the top martial arts practitioner in the group.

Common martial artists needed to achieve the innate stage before they would be able to detect spiritual energy in the air or draw spiritual energy for cultivation to form innate Qi2. Only those who possessed innate Qi could rival a cultivator in the Qi Refinement Stage. If they could not release Qi to act as a shield or to attack their enemies, a cultivator would be able to cast spells from a distance that would completely destroy a martial artist.

Speaking of fighting ability, it was impossible for Qin Feng to defeat an innate stage martial artist in his state at that time. However, all his efforts cultivating in this period of time had not gone to waste as he had learned a couple of common spells.

At home, apart from his father Qin Long imparting him with various knowledge in cultivation, his family had also arranged for specialized clan elders to instruct those who have achieved spiritual enlightenment.

Even so, what the commoners who did not have great ability learned were mostly spells to generate clouds, evolve mist, and help vegetation grow. That was due to the fact that they needed these spells to help manage the vast area of spiritual land owned by their family.

For those like Qin Feng who carried hopes of entering a sect to become a disciple, they would have to acquire far greater knowledge. Even though he had not surpassed the basic cultivation methods, casting small spells like Lightness spell, Wind Control Spell, and Agility Spell was well within his ability.

All this time running on the road, Qin Feng was at all slow, in fact, he was faster than many of the patrol officers. Furthermore, unlike them, he did not get out of breath or felt blood surging to his head as he ran. That was the cool part about being a cultivator. Their running ability was more superior compared to common martial artists by a huge margin.

When the group arrived at the peak of the small hill, Li Tianchou frowned suddenly and waved his hand out to gesture for the men to stop. His cold eyes swept across their surroundings. The hill was shrouded in a heavy mist, full of haunted gloom and coldness. A cool breeze went past and one could vaguely catch a whiff of a pungent scent. 

At the road ahead, stood an old hollow Pagoda Tree, the tree trunk was girthy and thick, wide enough that 4-5 people would be needed to encircle it with their arms. The sparse tree branches were covered in sharp pine needles, each about two inches long. The tree trunk was covered in strange and unusual vines as thick as a human arm. Like snakes, they appeared to be writhing and constricting the tree. Especially since it was the middle of the night, it was a hair-raising sight.

Li Tianchou felt slightly uneasy. "What is this place? Why is there such a strong sense of Yin energy3 here? he asked aloud.

Qin Yang stepped forward and answered with cupped fists, "Master Li, this place is a mass gravesite full of unmarked burial mounds. As it is located where the two small hills meet, it is called the Cross Slope4."

"A mass gravesite? No wonder," Li Tianchou started to relax. All he needed was to identify where the Yin energy surrounding them was coming from. Once he knew, he could be mentally prepared.

Even though the mass graveyard exuded a heavy sense of Yin energy, Kun City was still only a small city and did not see much violent chaos. Hence, unlike several other large cities where countless people had died, the burial site would not easily breed dangerous ghosts or ghouls.

The area of the mass grave was not too large, even if there were a couple of evil spirits lingering around in the mortal world, they would not be anything too threatening. Otherwise, those cultivator families in Kun City would have joined forces ages ago to exterminate the ghouls.

Li Tianchou turned to look at Qin Feng and asked, "That Daoist priest said ten miles west of the city. That should be here, right?"

"Yes, you're right," Qin Feng nodded as he replied, "If they had come here, we should be able to find traces of their tracks."

Li Tianchou used his Divine Sense 5to scan the area, yet he did not discover the residue of fighting spells. Despite this, he was not disheartened because he was only a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage. The furthest distance he could see with his Divine Sense did not exceed the range of a thousand feet.

Moreover, this mass gravesite and the nearby forest covered an area of ten miles. The woods were dense with vegetation and pretty well hidden, hence they would still be relying on the patrol officers to search the area.

If they only relied on his abilities to search the entire region, it would use up more than half of his Divine Sense energy reserves. When the time came to face the evil cultivator in battle, he would be defeated easily.

Li Tianchou retrieved twenty pieces of talisman paper and handed them to Qin Yang. He ordered, "Hand out these talismans to your subordinates and get them to spread out and search. If any of you discover anything, immediately activate the talisman and I will be there as soon as I can."

After another thought, he added, "We must find Zhou Jinglei and the others as fast as we can. Otherwise, when the Zhou family of Jun City comes calling, I will drag your Qin family down with me and make sure the blame and punishment is shared."

Qin Yang nodded his head. Even though he was very clear that the evil cultivator would definitely be a tough foe to go against, he still had some reservations. If any of his subordinates bumped into the evil cultivator, they would be dead meat. However, that was what they signed up for when they became patrol officers. If they met with danger they could not retreat but only push ahead.

Qin Yang immediately handed out the talismans from Li Tianchou to his officers one by one. It was a simple type of warning talisman. They were not worth much, but were extremely useful. Once activated, the talisman would explode, sending out a deafening sound.

Li Tianchou watched as group after group of officers dispersed into the woods under the instruction of Qin Yang. After that, he stepped on his sword and started to fly across the mass grave. He needed to investigate the situation to see if he could uncover any clues.

Qin Yang kept turning to look at Qin Feng, filled with worry and reluctance to leave his younger cousin behind. If anything happened to Qin Feng, he would not know how to explain himself to Qin Long.

"You should come with me," Qin Yang tugged Qin Feng as they headed out with a group of officers heading in the opposite direction of the graveyard.

Qin Yang felt pretty smart. There was a huge chance that the evil cultivator had brought the Young Master Zhou and his clan brothers into the mass grave with the intention of needing to bury them among the other graves. He decided to do the opposite and head in the direction away from the gravesite. That way, they should not meet with any danger, right?