Heavy snow fell from the sky.

The snowflakes were all spiritual energy because of their structural components. They had nothing to do with the temperature between heaven and earth.

Xu Xiaoshou silently got up and put Hiding Pain and the scabbard into the ring on his chest.

The Black Fallen Scabbard seemed to sense Xu Xiaoshou's unpleasant mood, as it didn't come out to make trouble.

With his white clothes stained with blood, Xu Xiaoshou crouched down on the ground and took a look at the large corpse in front of him.

The surging power was still seeping into this world. It must be the remaining energy of the golden blood.

“Why should I mind?”

As far as killing humans was concerned, he didn't think highly of the idea. Yet, facing the giant corpse in front of him, he didn't experience the heart palpitations he'd felt the first time.

After all, he'd changed…

Xu Xiaoshou gently shook his head. He was just a little too sentimental.

Yuan Tou could've lived, but he'd insisted on getting himself involved with matters concerning Xu Xiaoshou and Zhang Xinxiong, and this had ultimately put his life and death beyond his control.

“Maybe the world operates this way. Choices sometimes mean life or death.”

Puff!

Xu Xiaoshou lit a fire and watched as the giant in front of him gradually disappeared.

Suddenly, he flew up and rushed into the flame of the Infernal Heaven; and he pulled out…

A ring.

Xu Xiaoshou smiled broadly. “My G.o.d, I've finally gotten some loot from a fight for the first time.”

He'd killed several people, yet either he'd hit his opponent a little too hard out of fear that they wouldn't die if he didn't hit hard enough, or other incidents would occur after he killed them.

In short, he'd never experienced the joy of picking up a prize.

“Ahem, sorry. I forgot you were still here.”

Xu Xiaoshou put on a mournful look, hid the ring at his waist, and waited until the flames had burned out and causality was broken to joyfully take it out again.

He swept his spiritual thoughts over the ring and found that the guy had more inventory than he did.

Well… He was a senior disciple of the Inner Yard, so that was to be expected.

In addition to some miscellaneous items, the most noticeable thing inside the ring was the spiritual crystals numbering in the tens of thousands that were all piled up into several small mountains.

Xu Xiaoshou had never seen so many spiritual crystals in all his life, and he almost started drooling.

He'd fought in the perilous Wind and Cloud Compet.i.tion, and just the spiritual crystals in this one ring outnumbered the rewards he'd gotten for becoming champion. No wonder people were so interested in committing robberies to get rich…

“Pooh, this isn't a good idea. I, Xu Xiaoshou, is a righteous person who would never do such a fly-by-night thing!”

He continued combing through the contents in the ring.

Apart from the spiritual crystals, there were many bottles and jars.

Spirit pills, red gold pills… There were thousands of such fundamental magic pills.

Xu Xiaoshou's jaw dropped.

“This is too rich,” he thought. “And…”

Origin Court Pill!

Seeing the familiar but unused pills numbering in the hundreds, Xu Xiaoshou was startled.

“My G.o.d, this is Yuan Tou's entire inventory. How long did it take him to collect all this?”

Xu Xiaoshou searched around for a while, but he didn't find what he'd wanted most: the golden blood.

For such a precious item, just one drop would've been enough.

“What a pity. If I'd know that was all he had, I wouldn't have let him eat it.”

After learning such a lesson, Xu Xiaoshou decided that he would never again give his enemy such a chance in the future.

“Having a mishap isn't a big deal,” he thought. “The main thing to be learned here is that once used, the trump card is gone forever!”

“The next time I encounter an enemy, I must kill them in one blow. In so doing, I'll be able to harvest more…”

Xu Xiaoshou nodded grimly and added one more clause to his “strategy against the enemy” in his mind.

The “strategy against the enemy” didn't have much content. It was mostly from lessons learned after encountering enemies in the past.

Liu Zhen: This enemy hides their cultivation level.

Wen Chong: Chooses a proper angle for a sneak attack.

Feng Kong: The enemy's cultivation skill possibly wasn't as high as one imagined.

Now there was one more…

Yuan Tou: Kills with one hit in order to get a bigger prize…

Having written down these notes, Xu Xiaoshou gave himself a pep talk. “Come on, Xu Xiaoshou! The road ahead is still long, and life experiences need to be summarized in order for one to keep improving!”

After emptying the ring, he burned the other miscellaneous items inside, then used his spiritual thoughts to sweep the surroundings. There was no one nearby.

“Very good. Roundhead has successfully vanished.”

Xu Xiaoshou leapt up and left this place full of mishaps.

The battle had made a big impact on him. Yuan Tou, who'd taken the golden blood, had finally been able to inflict damage on him, but it'd also showed him just how powerful his own fighting strength really was.

With Eternal Vitality and Recoil, his envisioned tug-of-war strategy had fully formed. As long as the enemy couldn't kill him in seconds, only death would await them.

With the support of various pa.s.sive techniques, he'd found that he could suppress and restrain his opponent in close combat, even if said opponent had the power of a Master Level Physique.

The “Small Fireball Fist” he'd created from a stroke of genius could take advantage of the difference between his and his opponent's attributes to accomplish an explosive attack.

Well, the reinforcements this time had been really explosive!

Yet, if employed carelessly, the end result would be crushed bones and body.

The ending technique “west wind amid fading snow”…

Xu Xiaoshou was very satisfied with the name. He'd finally broken away from the series of “white cloud drifting” names and come up with a new naming system. He'd become a little genius in naming techniques!

This technique had made full use of Agility and the super cutting power of sword-drawing to accomplish the beheading.

But the power itself wasn't important.

Xu Xiaoshou was more interested in how the spiritual technique had enabled him to suddenly appear behind his enemy and then slowly withdraw his sword to finish off his opponent.

WIth Agility this time, he'd finally realized his little dream.

The only thing that had gotten in the way was…

Xu Xiaoshou felt that he'd talked too much, and that if he'd talked less, the situation would've been better.

“Well, the situation now is quite good. One can't be too demanding. Well, that's it!”

Phew!

Sensing the change in Xu Xiaoshou's mood, the Black Fallen Scabbard came outside the ring along with Hiding Pain for some fresh air.

Xu Xiaoshou immediately grabbed the scabbard. Though this thing seemed to have recognized him as the owner, he still wasn't so sure.

But nothing was more real than what was held in one's hands.

Hiding Pain made a buzzing sound, seemingly a little dissatisfied with Xu Xiaoshou's preferential treatment.

Xu Xiaoshou was amused.

How could it compare itself with the scabbard?

The “Thousand Leaf Flow, Sword-Draw Style, Black Fallen Strike” had not only scared Yuan Tou, but also himself!

He'd originally intended to enhance the power of the “sword-draw style,” not expecting that its power would be magnified a thousand times after being reinforced by the Black Fallen Scabbard.

The process had changed the most powerful single technique into the most powerful group of techniques!

“Tsk.”

“Unknowingly, I, Xu Xiaoshou, have become this strong?”

He giggled happily, and, in an excited mood, flew aimlessly in the sky.

“Calm down. Don't get too conceited…”

After a long while, he calmed down and activated his will, making a jade scroll appear in his hand.

It was the map of the Tianxuan Gate Mu Zixi had given to him. Xu Xiaoshou pressed it to his forehead, and the contents inside immediately surfaced.

“Where should I go?” Xu Xiaoshou scratched his neck.

a.s.suming that each trial secret realm had a treasure similar to the Black Fallen Scabbard, there should be twelve treasures at the twelve markers on the map.

Calculating the time, there was only a day or so left before the Tianxuan Gate opened again.

“Emptying all those treasures in such a short time would be impossible, but I could at least find one or two more…”

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the map again and found that there were two big markings on it.

One was the “Black Fallen Cliff,” which he'd already been to.

The second was the “Moro Secret Forest.” This should be the place where Mu Zixi did her trial.

“Elder Sang probably marked them!” Xu Xiaoshou speculated. Theoretically speaking, it was very likely that these were the places Elder Sang had recommended each of them to go to cultivate.

Yet, being that the old man had recommended them, these two places were most likely anything but simple and were possibly the best two of the Tianxuan Gate's trial secret places.

The best secret places must have a great deal of treasure…

Time was tight, and Xu Xiaoshou wanted to seek the best place, so he immediately made up his mind.

Using a star in the sky that always pointed north, Xu Xiaoshou found the direction and sped away.

“Little sister, your senior brother is coming to see you!”