HIDDEN EVIL [XIAO SHUXIANG THE SERIES]
243 - Elder Chen Duan Shan

Qi Deviation was something bad for a cultivator. This will damage the organs of the body, mentally to be able to eliminate lives.

Many factors were capable of making one experience Qi irregularities and one of the more frequent ones was when a cultivator was trying to increase his strength.

"..............."

It was this state that was the most vulnerable and that was why Elder Chen Duan Shan continued to monitor Xiao Shuxiang's condition.

He did not stay silent as he saw there were signs of Qi irregularities on the dazzling young man. Elder Chen Duan Shan even started to form a hand seal and flashed spiritual energy when he felt Xiao Shuxiang was in trouble.

Elder Chen Duan Shan's spiritual energy surrounded Xiao Shuxiang's body. He controlled it until it did not directly hit the young man's spiritual energy.

This was because giving a sudden relief was precisely able to inflict severe internal injuries on Xiao Shuxiang even though Elder Chen Duan Shan's goal was to save.

"..............." Elder Chen Duan Shan was so focused in controlling his spiritual energy rate. He made his energy follow the flow of Xiao Shuxiang's spiritual energy and slowly made it fuse together.

Xiao Shuxiang felt pressure at two points. The first is the pressure due to the waterfall that continues to water his body and the second is the coldness of the water.

Honestly, it was a tough exercise. Xiao Shuxiang certainly had never done this before, even in the past. All he did was challenge the strongest Demonic Beasts within the forest to improve his sword arts.

"..............." Xiao Shuxiang frowned. He felt Qi circulating through his limbs and bones.

The coldness of the waterfall seeped into Xiao Shuxiang, as if enveloping every cell in his body. The cold felt like it was flowing in his blood so that there was no untouched place.

It is a piercing cold, but somehow makes the feeling can become calm. Though Xiao Shuxiang had always felt his blood boiling, tight and so eager to carry out a rebellion.

Xiao Shuxiang was always thinking about fights and blood almost every day, so he always did things as a diversion. You could say, he didn't settle in one place.

The people around him knew, even Elder Chen Duan Shan was conscious. Xiao Shuxiang's biggest enemy was himself.

Each time the young man grew stronger, his killing appetite would grow even greater. The initial step used to control such lust was none other than suppressing that lust with the Soul Control Sutra.

"..............."

The big problem was that Xiao Shuxiang was not part of the White Flow region, naturally the young man knew nothing about the Soul Control Sutra and this was a bad thing.

"............. Am I in too much of a hurry?" Elder Chen Duan Shan held his breath when he saw that Xiao Shuxiang's skin had suddenly become bruised and there were even bloodshed.

The Soul Control Sutra when memorized in the usual way, would certainly not hurt. But the effect requires a long process. Not to mention, this also depends on everyone.

Wang Zhao initially experienced the pain in his body when asked to study this silk for the first time by Elder Dao Fang An. Obviously, he had difficulty because he did not get the same education from the same school as him.

One thing that was even more important was that Wang Zhao had never taken the lives of so many people. He was very much different from everyone else and it was because of this that he did not feel much pain in studying the Soul Control Sutra.

"............ I think it's overreacting,"

Elder Chen Duan Shan felt the situation was getting no better for Xiao Shuxiang. He originally thought that the effects of the Soul Control Sutra would not be this severe, considering that the young man was still young.

"............ The quality of his bones is 21 years old. It was impossible that he had already taken the lives of thousands of people at such a young age. Even if he were the one who had already massacred the citizens of that city, an effect this severe would not happen. It feels..."

Elder Chen Duan Shan was speechless, he was already too shocked by what he witnessed this.

The Soul Controlling Sutra would be worse in effect when studied by Black Flow cultivators who had once killed up to more than five hundred people.

The problem was, how many lives had Xiao Shuxiang taken?! What was seen was not the effect of five hundred lives, not even tens of thousands.

In fact, how many hundreds of thousands of people had he killed?! Though his age had not even reached the age where he was able to challenge the world.

!!!

Elder Chen Duan Shan was startled and even pushed back by the violent energy waves. He spat out blood and it only came to his senses that the stone that Xiao Shuxiang was sitting on earlier was now exploding.

Elder Chen Duan Shan's eyes glared. He looked at the fire elemental spiritual energy and shot up into the sky. That energy formed an animal that was none other than a Phoenix.

"............ Fire Phoenix?" Elder Chen Duan Shan coughed, his chest ached but still trying to watch the flying Fire Phoenix bird.

The Upper Cultivation Realm. The Fire Phoenix actually existed, but was rarely encountered. The residence of that rare Demonic Beast was very far from the territory where humans lived. It was even a steep mountain range and filled with fiery rocks.

"............. How-" Elder Chen Duan Shan was again shocked when he heard the explosion in the sky. The Fire Phoenix he saw spread its wings while making a loud and extremely ear-splitting sound.

The explosion created from the wingspan of the bird was even able to remove the clouds on both sides. For a moment, the sky looked red-dark and it was something scary rather than amazing.

The Fire Phoenix witnessed by Elder Chen Duan Shan had flaming red wing feathers with yellow-gold belly feathers. The tail feathers are long and look beautiful and mighty.

The Demonic Beast has a sharp eye and is a form of power. The phoenix looked down on whoever was beneath it.

Elder Chen Duan Shan prepared for the possibility of having to fight with a Demonic Beast that could somehow appear. Even from being too tense, he did not know where Xiao Shuxiang was now.

The Phoenix swooped down and was as if it was about to pounce on Elder Chen Duan Shan. It was just that at the same time, Elder Chen launched a huge attack and did not even lose quickly to an arrow.

The explosion due to the clash of power made the ground that Elder Chen Duan Shan was treading on shake violently. The Fire Phoenix came down and made the waterfall lake explode again. Someone was seen standing filled with fire spiritual energy.

"Son..!" Elder Chen Duan Shan gasped. He darted and then landed beside a figure that was none other than Xiao Shuxiang.

"Son, are you okay?" the look on Elder Chen Duan Shan's face seemed so worried. He touched the shoulder of the young man beside him.

Xiao Shuxiang shook his head slowly, the bruise on his body was no longer visible. It felt like the wound Elder Chen Duan Shan had witnessed earlier was just an illusion alone. Though Elder Chen Duan Shan was sure this young man was seriously injured.

"That was .... I thought I was dead," Xiao Shuxiang exhaled and rubbed his face wet with water. He clucked while putting his hands on his waist.

Elder Chen Duan Shan blinked at the condition of Xiao Shuxiang who was far from what he had imagined. He subconsciously asked, "Are you really okay?"

"Huuft .... This turned out to be more difficult than I thought," Xiao Shuxiang said without turning his head towards Elder Chen Duan Shan. It felt like he was talking to himself.

"Sir-"

"Not only is the seal inside this body, even Yinng xiong is sometimes a sealer to hold me back. And what I'm doing is-and all that doesn't even hurt a lot of people."

"Sir-"

"Am I really that horrible that everyone is afraid of"

"Son! Did you hear me?!" Elder Chen Duan Shan snapped and made Xiao Shuxiang flinch in shock.

Elder Chen Duan Shan also shook his head slowly, "You are outrageous once. I've been calling you since, are you senile huh?"

"Te-Elder Chen," Xiao Shuxiang was seen smiling bitterly. He said slowly, "You calm down. Relax ...."

Xiao Shuxiang said, "I'm fine. My body was sick at first, but it's not anymore."

"You're such a bitch," Elder Chen Duan Shan said, "This old man has been worrying about you ever since. Afraid that something bad might happen to you, but you just .... Haaa... Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Elder Chen Duan Shan was eager to pinch Xiao Shuxiang's head, but that intention he puffed out. Elder Chen Duan Shan also massaged his forehead and then invited the young man beside him back to his residence.

Xiao Shuxiang did not argue. He was tired and wanted to rest. Compared to being exhausted, he was much more mentally tired at the moment.

"Your back ...." Elder Chen Duan Shan said as Xiao Shuxiang took his clothes back. He looked at the phoenix painting on the back of this young man and even the phoenix seemed to be moving.

"Is your father a Demonic Beast?" Elder Chen Duan Shan asked out of curiosity.

Xiao Shuxiang put back on his clothes and replied, "My father is just an ordinary human being. How could the elder think that way?"

"If it wasn't your father, would it be your mother?"

"No, Elder Chen. My parents are not Demonic Beasts at all. They are just ordinary people. The only thing running in my father's blood is noble blood,"

"Then how do you explain that phoenix painting I saw on your back?" Elder Chen Duan Shan was not interested in nobles in the Lower Cultivation Realm. He has something more important to discuss.

Xiao Shuxiang walked over, answering the question of the old man beside him. He said, "You could say I once ate phoenix meat. But actually I myself don't even know how to back-up"

"wait. What did you eat just now?" Elder Chen Duan Shan interrupted. His face is unusual.

Xiao Shuxiang blinked and innocently replied, "I once ate a phoenix..."

"You know the phoenix is the rarest Demonic Beast, right? How can you eat it?!" Elder Chen Duan Shang felt pain in his neck because Xiao Shuxiang did not appreciate the heavenly being.

Xiao Shuxiang was flabbergasted for a moment before then saying, "All I eat is a phoenix that is already dying, even its age is still very young. It's not that he doesn't want to be appreciated, but his condition is impossible to save anymore."

Xiao Shuxiang said, "I even felt a pain in my heart while eating that Demonic Beast. Feels .... It's still crowded here, too,"

Xiao Shuxiang took a breath as he remembered how much money had come out just for a dying phoenix. The money he had collected simply vanished. It was the past that hurt the most during his life.

Elder Chen Duan Shan explained, "Phoenix, let alone a fire-type one has the purest Demonic Core among the other Demonic Beasts. As an adult, he could even prey on a dragon. The most dangerous thing about a phoenix is that it is an animal capable of coming back to life. The phoenix is a symbol of Eternity, but you are...."

"..............." Xiao Shuxiang nodded slowly, he knew this. The ashes of a dead Fire Phoenix would be able to give birth to a new phoenix whose life force was even greater.

"It's gonna be complicated ...." Elder Chen Duan Shan rubbed his chin, "You have the Fire Phoenix Spirit within you and this is quite a risky thing. The training I gave you was against this Phoenix Spirit,"

"So the exercise failed?" Xiao Shuxiang was startled and even stopped his footsteps.

"Do you feel something has changed?"

Xiao Shuxiang frowned and looked at both of his palms. He said slowly, "I ... Before I felt my blood being soothed. It made my mind clear and my back feel light,"

"Then what about now?" Elder Chen Duan Shan asked, yet it made Xiao Shuxiang speechless.

Seeing the silence of this young man made Elder Chen Duan Shan exhale. He already knew with just a 'silent' answer from Xiao Shuxiang.

Elder Chen Duan Shan said, "The blood of the Fire Phoenix is like a rushing waterfall and if combined with your strength which also has the same conditions-it will be a turbulent wave. It affects your appetite and it's well worth your 12-Star Seal, though,"

"But Elder Chen, I feel in a good state. I can-"

"Not if you're in a fight" Elder Chen Duan Shan interrupted. "Don't I tell you, your strength is like a big wave in a calm lake. If you get too excited, you'll have trouble controlling yourself. Moreover, your techniques in swinging the sword focus more on how to kill the opponent without caring about the risk,"

"How did Elder Chen know?" Xiao Shuxiang said, "I'm impressed. Though my encounter with you can still be counted with one hand,"

Elder Chen Duan Shan coughed softly and then said, "You are a young child. At your age ... You have fiery emotions. And those your age have pretty much the same condition,"

Xiao Shuxiang crossed his hands and touched his bangs slowly. He thought of something and actually agreed with Elder Chen Duan Shan's words if he didn't remember his actual age.

Xiao Shuxiang breathed softly, "Nafsu killed me who had a big role in this. I used to suppress that lust with hibernation and it was pretty effective, but I couldn't do the same in these conditions."

Now, sleep was one of the biggest threats to Xiao Shuxiang. He needed another way to suppress his killing urge.

"What is possible .... I have to do the Heart Demon Cleansing?" Xiao Shuxiang was heartbroken when he remembered that he had always avoided doing this.

"What's up?" Elder Chen Duan Shan asked, "You're thinking about my words?"

"I need another way, Elder. Something that not only suppresses my lust, but also allows me to control it. I need that kind of technique,"

"..............." Elder Chen Duan Shan thought about it as well, he rubbed his chin and then said. "Do not hurry, this is still your first day. We'll look for him, there's nothing we can't do while we're trying. Come on, follow me,"

******