From the moment the Tiger Soul awakened, I became invincible.

Chapter 145 Tearing Off Faces, Slaughtering the Returning Origin Sword Realm

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The stench of blood deep within Sword Qi Valley had faded somewhat, replaced by a tense and chilling atmosphere. People from various forces gathered, and the previously scattered martial artists now coalesced into several formations.

At the forefront were three True Self Realm experts: the White-Haired Immortal, Liu Chen, the "Azure Edge Sword" steward of the Returning Origin Sword Realm, and others. Behind them were nearly a hundred elite True Qi Realm peak warriors. Further out were ordinary disciples from various forces, forming a dense, impenetrable encirclement around the Shadow Leopard.

Qin Wu stood in the group of Guiyuan Sword Realm cultivators, his fingertips resting on the hilt of the Tiger King Blade.

He hadn't been idle for the past three days: the medicinal power of the Spirit Pool Lotus had completely dissolved under the catalysis of the Shadow Leopard's flesh and blood, and the true qi in his dantian had broken through the shackles of the late stage of the initial stage of true qi like a tidal wave, steadily stepping into the peak of the initial stage of true qi.

What surprised him even more was that the fusion rate of the Shadow Leopard Martial Soul had reached 70%—at this moment, when he closed his eyes, he could clearly sense the movement of the grass within a hundred meters, as if a black leopard was hiding in his body, ready to pounce.

It's fair to say that in just three days, his Shadow Leopard Martial Soul has made tremendous progress. And this is only an immature Shadow Leopard; he will soon encounter a real, adult Shadow Leopard.

He wondered what kind of surprise this adult Shadow Leopard would bring him. Even if he couldn't get the flesh of an adult Shadow Leopard, he believed that as long as he could fight it, his Shadow Leopard Martial Soul would definitely undergo another transformation.

"Kid, be smarter later."

Just as Qin Wu was pondering, Liu Chen glanced at him sideways, his voice filled with undisguised malice, "The Shadow Leopard is fast, and you have good agility, so go to the front and be the 'bait'—don't even think about running away, our swords in the Returning Origin Sword Realm are faster than the Shadow Leopard's claws."

Qin Wu's lips curled into a cold smile.

"Everyone, I'm here to cooperate with you in hunting down the Shadow Leopard, not to be used as bait by you people of the Returning Origin Sword Realm."

Upon hearing Qin Wu's words, Liu Chen sneered and then said.

"Since you've joined my Guiyuan Sword Realm team, you must follow my Guiyuan Sword Realm's arrangements. Otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite."

Hearing his words, Qin Wu said nothing more.

The conflict between him and Guiyuan Sword Realm is now an open secret. Both sides are eager to kill each other, so there's no point in saying anything now. Once they actually start fighting, that's a different story.

Then Qin Wu looked towards the center. At this moment, a large number of True Self Realm martial artists had already entered.

Ultimately, this was a coordinated attack on the Shadow Leopard, and these martial artists who hadn't reached the True Martial Realm were just the outer perimeter. The real force responsible for surrounding and killing the Shadow Leopard was the True Martial Realm experts from various factions.

The Shadow Leopards are extremely fast, which is why they were assigned to stay here.

If all goes well, they might not even need to lift a finger. At this moment, the White-Haired Immortal led a group of True Self Realm warriors into a dense forest. This was the location of the Shadow Leopard they had previously investigated. As soon as they entered the forest, they sensed the dense sword energy. The moment they sensed this sword energy, someone spoke up.

"That Shadow Leopard is indeed remarkable to be able to live in a place like this. Everyone should be careful. Even though we are already True Self Realm experts, we might still suffer some injuries if we are accidentally hit by the sword energy here."

"Why worry so much? No matter how strong that Shadow Leopard is, it's still just a monster. Even if it has some intelligence, it can't compare to us. Besides, we have the White-Haired Immortal Elder here. That Shadow Leopard is nothing but a clown, easily killed."

The white-haired old man was clearly pleased with these words. He stroked his pale beard, laughed heartily, and said...

"That strange beast is indeed nothing, but everyone should still be careful. After all, we don't know much about the specifics of that creature. If we accidentally fall into its trap, it will be troublesome."

After speaking, the white-haired immortal led the group forward, cautiously searching towards the location of the Shadow Leopard. The Shadow Leopard's presence was very evident here, and as they moved forward, the group's expressions grew increasingly grave.

They did appear quite composed before, but they were all well aware that the Shadow Leopard was no easy opponent. If it weren't for the presence of the White-Haired Immortal, they would never have ventured into the Shadow Leopard's territory so easily.

Suddenly, a scream rang out. Everyone looked in the direction of the scream and saw that a True Self Realm expert's chest had been ripped open, and even his heart was gone. Upon seeing this, everyone's expression changed drastically.

"That beast is nearby."

Someone spoke up, both surprised and angry.

The person who just died, although only a martial artist at the initial stage of True Qi cultivation, had still reached that level and possessed considerable strength. Yet, his heart had been ripped out without anyone noticing.

This shows just how fast the Shadow Leopard was; no one at the scene could react in time.

Even the old man with white hair showed a change in expression. Although he was very confident in his own strength, what the Shadow Leopard was showing at this moment did make him feel a little worried.

Suddenly, the white-haired immortal felt a black shadow flash by. He immediately chased after the shadow in the direction it had flashed. Almost the next second, another scream rang out.

The head of a martial artist in the early stage of the True Self Realm was removed.

This time, however, everyone finally saw what the shadowy creature looked like. It was indeed a Shadow Leopard, and it was enormous.

Upon seeing them, the Shadow Leopard showed no fear in its eyes, only intense ferocity and hatred, as if there was some irreconcilable conflict between them. However, the group didn't dwell on it; they simply drew their weapons and surrounded the Shadow Leopard.

The enormous Shadow Leopard showed no fear and charged suddenly in one direction. The White-Haired Immortal, without hesitation, charged directly at the Shadow Leopard. He was the only peak True Self Realm expert here; the strongest among the others was only at the late True Self Realm stage.

The late-stage True Self Realm cultivator also launched a synchronized attack with the White-Headed Immortal. Facing the combined attack of the two, the Black Shadow Leopard moved with incredible speed, easily dodging the attack of the late-stage True Self Realm cultivator, and then used its claw to directly clash with the White-Headed Immortal.

With a loud clang, the White-Haired Immortal's knife collided with the Shadow Leopard's claws, but instead of cutting off the Shadow Leopard's claws as expected, sparks flew, as if he had struck refined iron.

"What a beast!"

The old man with white hair looked somewhat frightened.

He never expected that the Shadow Leopard's claws would be so strong; such a powerful beast was not something that could be easily dealt with.

"Everyone must work together; we absolutely cannot let it get away."

The Shadow Leopard was incredibly fast. They knew very well that if it escaped, it would be extremely difficult to surround it again. At that point, it would become very difficult for them to do anything in Sword Qi Valley, especially since they had just seen the human-like hatred in the Shadow Leopard's eyes.

Although he didn't know where that hatred came from, it didn't stop him from realizing that if the Shadow Leopard left, they would probably be in grave danger.

Even if he himself faced this monster, he wouldn't be confident of victory.

The two sides suddenly clashed, with the Shadow Leopard dodging left and right while attacking at extremely fast speed. Soon, the Shadow Leopard had already sustained some injuries.

Although its claws were extremely hard and impervious to swords and blades, its other body parts were not as formidable. Even so, in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, several True Self Realm martial artists had died at the hands of the Shadow Leopard, and many more were injured.

Even the old man with white hair had a scratch on his chest, but fortunately the wound wasn't very deep, so it didn't have much of an impact on him.

However, at this point, the Shadow Leopard could no longer hold on.

Faced with attacks from so many martial artists, its injuries worsened, and if the situation dragged on any longer, it would surely die.

Then the Shadow Leopard suddenly turned and ran, and the White-Haired Immortal's expression changed.

"Pursue!"

Without hesitation, he chased after them, and the others followed closely behind.

The Shadow Leopard fled in the direction where Qin Wu and his group were.

Not long after, Qin Wu and his group noticed the Shadow Leopard rapidly approaching.

Upon seeing this, Elder Liu Chen of the Guiyuan Sword Realm's expression changed slightly.

The Shadow Leopard was incredibly fast, covering hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye. Even he, a True Self Realm martial artist, couldn't match its speed. Then he looked towards Qin Wu.

What good is strength if Qin Wu is still doomed?

Then Liu Chen suddenly shoved Qin Wu: "What are you standing there for? Go!"

Qin Wu didn't refuse, only glancing at him before charging forward. But as he took his third step, he abruptly dodged to the side—a dark shadow flashed past him like lightning, the gust of wind stinging his cheek. It was the Shadow Leopard! It had been lurking nearby, taking advantage of Liu Chen's shoving to launch a surprise attack!

"You're courting death!" The two Guiyuan Sword Realm disciples behind Liu Chen roared and drew their swords, only to see the Hunting Shadow Leopard's tail sweep across like a steel whip. Before they could even scream, they were sent flying, their chests caved in and turned into a bloody mess.

"Useless!" Liu Chen's face turned ashen. He had intended to use the Shadow Leopard's claws to kill Qin Wu, but instead, he lost one of his own men. He was about to order the others to surround Qin Wu when he saw Qin Wu suddenly turn around and run towards the Guiyuan Sword Realm team—and the Shadow Leopard, as if enraged, relentlessly pursued him!

"Qin Wu! Are you crazy?!" Meng Qiudie exclaimed from afar, only to see Qin Wu's footwork shifting, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, each time narrowly avoiding the Shadow Leopard's pounce, while deliberately leading it towards the Guiyuan Sword Realm's formation.

"Stop him! Don't let this beast get any closer!"

Liu Chen roared, but the disciples of the Returning Origin Sword Realm were already terrified by the ferocity of the Shadow Leopard and scattered in all directions to avoid it.

Qin Wu seized the opportunity and suddenly turned back. The Shadow Leopard couldn't stop in time and crashed into the group of Guiyuan Sword Realm cultivators—claws flew, blood splattered, and three more people died instantly.

"Qin Wu! I'll kill you!" Liu Chen's eyes were bloodshot as he drew his sword and lunged at Qin Wu. But just then, the White-Haired Immortal and the others finally arrived.

The white-haired immortal formed a hand seal, and a visible "wall of energy" suddenly crashed into the Shadow Leopard. At the same time, another True Self Realm expert unleashed a blade of energy, slashing a deep, bone-revealing wound into the Shadow Leopard's hind leg.

"Roar—" The Shadow Leopard, in pain, abandoned its fight and fled into the depths of the dense forest. Although the White-Haired Immortal and the others wanted to give chase, they were stopped by Liu Chen's furious roar: "Immortal! This Qin Wu deliberately provoked the beast to injure people, causing the death of my Guiyuan Sword Realm disciple! He must be killed today!"

The old man with white hair frowned. He could tell that Liu Chen was deliberately targeting Qin Wu, but at this moment, the opportunity at the core of Sword Qi Valley was more important.

He waved his hand: "Steward Liu, we can settle this personal matter later. Let's hunt down the Shadow Leopard first!" With that, he led his men to give chase.

Liu Chen watched the white-haired immortal's retreating figure, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes:

"Qin Wu, no one is protecting you now." The Guiyuan Sword Realm disciples behind him also surrounded him, each with unfriendly eyes.

Qin Wu slowly drew his Tiger King Blade, the blade reflecting his cold eyes:

"Liu Chen, do you think I'm afraid of you?" He paused, then his voice suddenly rose. "Your Fury Wave Sword Master of the Guiyuan Sword Realm sent people to intercept and kill my Tianwu Mountain disciples back then. That debt should be settled today!"

Liu Chen's expression changed: "You actually knew?"

"So what if you know?" Qin Wu shifted his feet slightly, the aura of the Seven Steps Blood Burning Technique beginning to rise within his body. "Today, you will all die!"

As soon as he took the first step, Qin Wu's true energy surged, breaking through the shackles of the True Qi Realm and reaching the combat power of the early stage of the True Self Realm.

With his second step, the Shadow Leopard Martial Soul erupted completely, making him even faster than the Shadow Leopard itself.

With the third step, a layer of black malevolent energy condensed on the Tiger King Blade, seemingly capable of devouring the surrounding light.

"Kill!" Liu Chen thrust his sword forward, but Qin Wu merely dodged to the side, and the blade flashed like lightning, striking Liu Chen's wrist—with a "crack," Liu Chen's right hand, along with his sword, was severed.

"Ah—" Liu Chen screamed and retreated, only to see Qin Wu follow him like a shadow, piercing his heart with a single strike. The other Guiyuan Sword Realm disciples, seeing this, were terrified and turned to flee. But Qin Wu wouldn't give them a chance. His figure flashed, and with each strike, someone fell to the ground.

In less than half an incense stick's time, only two or three disciples from the Guiyuan Sword Realm remained, having managed to escape. Qin Wu looked at the corpses on the ground, sheathed his sword, and stood there, his murderous aura gradually dissipating.

He watched everything with a calm expression.

This was his first clash with the Returning Origin Sword Realm, but certainly not the last. He then frowned.

This wasn't a perfect outcome; several people from the Guiyuan Sword Realm actually escaped. Those individuals will likely inform the Guiyuan Sword Realm of this situation. Even though his conflict with the Guiyuan Sword Realm was originally limited to the Raging Wave Sword Master, from this moment on, he will probably be facing the entire Guiyuan Sword Realm.

……