Chapter 42

The middle-aged man appeared at the foot of the mountain steps with ease, looking at his old lair right before his eyes, he let out a sigh, feeling a sense of survival after a great ordeal. He had no trace of sorrow for the tragic deaths of his two companions.

At the top of the mountain, at the end of the stone steps, there was a medium-sized Taoist temple called Qingyun Temple.

The surroundings of Qingyun Temple were serene, with overlapping peaks, peculiar pines and rocks, layers of green bamboo, and streams winding around.

The middle-aged man climbed the steps, ignoring the beautiful scenery around Qingyun Temple, and directly pushed open the red-painted wooden door and walked in.

"Uncle Master! You're back! A senior has come to pay respects to you," a young Taoist boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, ran out from a side room upon hearing the door open, and said to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man was startled at first, but then he calmed down, thinking he had been too worried. That kid who wouldn't die even with his heart pierced, no matter how powerful, couldn't possibly know this place. Before he fled, he had looked back and seen clearly that the middle-aged man with the scar had also died.

Thinking of this, he immediately put on the dignity of an uncle and said, "Oh! Someone is paying respects, where is he? Lead me to him."

"Uncle Master! The senior is reading in the study, um! As soon as the senior arrived at the temple, he went straight to the study and started reading the books there. He reads very fast, and he has already read half of the books in the study. Uh—let me take you there!" The young Taoist boy said with a somewhat strange expression.

Hearing this, the middle-aged man thought that if it were really that kid who had come to kill him, he would have jumped out to kill him long ago. It was impossible for him to be leisurely reading books. Moreover, the senior had walked straight to the study upon arrival, clearly having been to Qingyun Temple before. The study had at least five hundred books, and he had already read half of them, which meant he had been there for quite some time. Hmm! Could it be a fellow Daoist who had been here before?

With these deductions, he completely put aside the last bit of caution in his heart and said casually, "What do you mean, lead me! Go prepare some wine and dishes for Uncle Master. Uncle Master will have a good meal with the guest."

The young Taoist boy obediently agreed and left to prepare the food and drinks.

The middle-aged man, while guessing who might be visiting him at this time, walked towards the study.

Inside the study, Hua Xia Jiu stood in front of the bookshelf, putting back the books he had finished reading and picking up another one to read seriously. It was more like scanning than reading; he read ten lines at a glance, flipping through the pages as fast as a whirlwind. Anyone watching would think he was searching for something in the books.

Hua Xia Jiu learned from the memories of the woman and the middle-aged man with the scar that Qingyun Temple was a thousand-year-old Taoist temple with a long history and a long-standing tradition.

Ten years ago, the middle-aged man with the scar and two others were pursued by their enemies and fled to this place. Seeing that the spiritual energy here was relatively abundant and the scenery was beautiful, they had evil intentions and poisoned and killed the dozen or so Taoists in the temple, then took over the place.

With a thousand years of accumulation, the temple had a substantial collection of books, especially on the subject of divine beliefs on the Dao Soul Continent.

Hua Xia Jiu, born in a world where information was transparent and knowledge was power and wealth, knew the value of knowledge. On the Dao Soul Continent, knowledge could be converted into tangible strength.

Therefore, he seized every opportunity to learn and enrich his knowledge of this world, especially knowledge related to enhancing personal strength, like a land that had been parched for three years finally receiving long-awaited rain.

Hua Xia Jiu mechanically scanned the content into his mind, categorizing and storing it in different folders.

Hua Xia Jiu looked very serious while doing these things, at least he appeared to be. In reality, this task hardly occupied his mind at all. His soul consciousness already enveloped the entire Qingyun Temple, and any movement within the temple could not escape his notice. Moreover, although he was simple, he had an extremely rational approach to doing things, so he couldn't just leisurely read books in the enemy's lair.

When the middle-aged man returned to Qingyun Temple, Hua Xia Jiu already knew. He even heard every word of the conversation between the middle-aged man and the young Taoist boy. The reason the middle-aged man couldn't sense Hua Xia Jiu's soul consciousness was that Hua Xia Jiu's soul realm was already equivalent to the middle stage of the Core Formation realm, far surpassing the middle-aged man's realm.

Before long, the middle-aged man walked to the study and pushed the door open without any suspicion.

As soon as the door was half-open, years of life and death experiences made the middle-aged man's heart tremble. An alarm bell rang in his mind, and he instantly sensed an extremely dangerous aura behind the door. His face changed, and he shouted fiercely, pushing off with his foot to retreat.

Just as he was about to retreat, a streak of golden light suddenly shot out from the study, with an extremely fierce momentum, like a golden bolt of lightning, piercing towards the middle-aged man's chest.

The middle-aged man, seeing that he could hardly dodge, a疯狂的神色在眼中闪过，左臂猛地横移到胸前，恰好挡住了金光。

嗤——

金光被中间老者的左臂稍微阻挡了一下，便刺穿了他的左臂，继续向他的胸口刺去。

有了这一瞬间的缓冲，中间老者手中出现了一个巴掌大小的青铜雕像。

砰的一声，雕像一出现，中间老者便一脸肉痛地将其捏碎，然后闪电般向后退去。

下一刻，一股浓郁如实质的金光从破碎的雕像中四散而出，瞬间弥漫了方圆数十米。

这金光不同于庚金法术的冰冷犀利，而是充满了柔和温暖的气息，甚至有一股浩浩荡荡的神圣气息缭绕其上。

轰——

一声惊天巨响传来，华夏九用丹田内三分之一的真元作为牵引，凝聚而成的庚金长枪形成的必杀一击，竟然被一道面容模糊的金光人影所挡。两者同时在巨响中炸开，将整个书房化为漫天碎屑。

另一边，中间老者被金光刺得目盲，看不见其中的具体情况，正准备用魂识进入其中探测。突然，一道冰冷的晶光从金光中射出，向他激射而来。

中间老者见此，吓了一跳。仔细一看，才发现这冰冷的晶光竟然是由十几道首尾几乎相连的冰箭组成，这些冰箭成一条直线，闪电般向他的咽喉射来。

中间老者见是最普通的冰箭术，心中一松。虽然这些冰箭的速度看似快了不少，并且还奇怪地连在一起，但他并没有怠慢，但他的重视依然不够。

中间老者随手将手中的拂尘在身前雾成一圈，真气弥漫中，无数土灵气凝聚在一起，刹那间形成一道土黄色的乌龟壳，将中间老者看似牢牢地保护了起来。然后，他便思考起脱身之计。战到此时，他哪能不知道书房中正是华夏九，深知自己不是对手，所以心中毫无战意。

今日每更时间略微提前，这样大家能够早点看到，只求收藏，求红票，求好评。

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The middle-aged man, seeing the golden light, a疯狂的神色在眼中闪过，left arm suddenly moved horizontally to his chest, just in time to block the golden light.

*Chi—*

The golden light was slightly blocked by the middle-aged man's left arm, then pierced through it, continuing to stab towards his chest.

With this brief moment of delay, a palm-sized bronze statue appeared in the middle-aged man's hand.

*Bang!* As soon as the statue appeared, the middle-aged man, with a pained expression, crushed it and retreated lightning-fast.

In the next moment, a dense, substantial golden light scattered from the broken statue, instantly filling the area within dozens of meters.

This golden light was different from the cold and sharp nature of the Metal Elemental spell; it was filled with a warm and gentle aura, even radiating a grand and sacred presence.

*Boom—*

A deafening explosion echoed, and the lethal strike formed by Hua Xia Jiu's Metal Elemental spear, powered by a third of his true essence, was blocked by a blurry golden figure. Both exploded in the deafening sound, turning the entire study into a cloud of debris.

On the other side, the middle-aged man, blinded by the golden light, could not see the details inside. He was about to use his soul consciousness to probe when a cold, crystalline light suddenly shot out from the golden light, heading straight for him.

The middle-aged man was startled. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the cold, crystalline light was actually composed of a dozen or so ice arrows, almost connected end-to-end, forming a straight line and shooting towards his throat at lightning speed.

Seeing that it was the most common Ice Arrow spell, the middle-aged man relaxed. Although the ice arrows seemed faster and strangely connected, he did not take them lightly, but his concern was still insufficient.

The middle-aged man casually formed a circle with his duster in front of him, and with the spread of true qi, countless earth spirits condensed into a yellow turtle shell, seemingly protecting him securely. Then, he began to think of a way to escape. By this point, he knew that the person in the study was Hua Xia Jiu and realized he was no match, so he had no fighting spirit left.

Today's update time is slightly earlier, so everyone can see it sooner. I only ask for your support, red tickets, and good reviews.

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