"You are welcome. I just happened to pass by."
Su Jie shook his head. His purpose in coming here was to deal with the murder culprit. However, out of his expectations, the culprit was neither a beast nor a human but a demon!
"Is this young man from a martial arts sect? I've never heard of any notable martial arts sect within a few hundred kilometers of here…"
Zhang Xue and Zhang Wen secretly tried to figure out Su Jie's identity. They felt that Su Jie was most likely a martial artist from a martial arts sect. Otherwise, it was impossible for him to have such strength at such a young age!
"Hmm?"
Su Jie did not know what they were thinking. Suddenly, he saw something shining in the shattered head of the giant corpse.
Su Jie reached out and dug it out. Under the rain, it revealed its true appearance.
This was an irregular-shaped grayish-white crystal. It was only the size of the tip of a thumb and was cold to the touch.
"Could it be an inner core or something?" Su Jie thought to himself.
It was said that some demons and ghosts with high cultivation levels would condense inner cores in their bodies. These inner cores were treasures that could increase cultivation.
The young man in white's voice sounded from the side. "This should be the corpse core of this zombie. It's condensed from the corpse's energy. Be it Qi cultivators or demons, those who can condense an inner core are rare existences. It's not something we can deal with."
"Corpse core?"
Su Jie was slightly disappointed. He could tell from the name that this thing was valuable but not by much.
"This corpse should have been a powerful martial artist before it died. That's why it became much stronger than other corpses after turning into one." The white-robed youth looked at the corpse on the ground and felt a little strange.
Ordinary corpses were slow and fragile. They were not much stronger than ordinary people. However, this corpse was so strong that it could easily defeat the Zhang brothers. It was very likely that it was very strong when it was alive and therefore was stronger than ordinary corpses after turning into one.
'Bury it.'
Su Jie searched the giant corpse and did not find anything else useful before burying it in the wasteland. The Zhang brothers also went forward to help.
In this way, the matter was satisfactorily resolved.
"It's raining hard here, brother. Let's take shelter in the temple."
Then, Young Master Bai suggested that he wanted to befriend Su Jie, who was so powerful at such a young age.
"Okay. Let's get out of the rain."
Su Jie was also very curious about Qi cultivators, so he did not refuse and returned to the temple with the three of them.
In the temple, Su Jie and the other three sat around the fire. Young Master Bai said, "My name is Bai Hua. I'm from the Bai family of Dafeng City. The two of them are Zhang Wen and Zhang Xue. They are responsible for escorting me to the Zhouling mountain to learn martial arts."
Dafeng City was a prosperous city in the territory of the Great Xia Dynasty. Although Su Jie had never heard of the Bai family, they were most likely local nobles.
"My name is Su Jie." Out of courtesy, Su Jie introduced himself briefly. At the same time, he asked curiously: "The technique I saw you use just now doesn't seem to be a martial artist's?"
When Zhang Wen and Zhang Xue heard this, they became alerted.
Bai Hua revealed generously: "That's right. I'm not a martial artist. A few years ago, I was tested to have a spiritual root. With the help of my family, I also obtained a Qi cultivation method. However, spiritual energy is scarce in the mortal world. It's difficult for us Qi cultivators to recover the magic power we used, let alone cultivate to a certain level. Therefore, my family decided to let me go to the Zhouling Mountain to learn from a master."
"I see!"
Su Jie nodded slightly.
Qi cultivators were extremely rare and very few cultivators showed themselves in the mortal world. The main reason was that the spiritual energy in this world was too scarce!
In places where spiritual energy was scarce, it was extremely difficult for cultivators to recover the magic power they used. Even if they were talented, their cultivation was extremely slow.
On the other hand, some Qi cultivators would occupy places with rich spiritual energy with beautiful mountains and rivers and cultivate in seclusion. Over time, some hidden Qi cultivator sects were formed.
This Zhouling mountain should be a place with abundant spiritual energy occupied by Qi cultivators. Bai Hua was going there to become a disciple.
"From the looks of it… Qi cultivators are similar to martial artists. It's not easy for them to cultivate too. Moreover, it's hard to say who's stronger and who's weaker between them! The world today… is dominated by martial artists! When one cultivates the Martial Dao to the limit, they won't be inferior to Qi cultivators!"
Su Jie thought to himself.
Previously, when facing the giant corpse, it was difficult for Zhang Wen and Zhang Xue, two quasi-first-rate martial artists, to cause effective damage to the giant corpse.
Instead, it was Bai Hua's flick that almost pierced the giant corpse's head.
It had to be known that Zhang Wen and Zhang Xue had practiced martial arts for more than 30 years, while Bai Hua looked to be about the same age as Su Jie. However, after cultivating in the secular world where spiritual energy was scarce for a few years, he already had such combat strength.
It seemed that Qi cultivators were stronger than martial artists.
A martial artist who had trained hard for decades might not be able to defeat a Qi cultivator who had cultivated for a few years.
Su Jie and Bai Hua were of the same age. Su Jie learnt a lot of new things from Bai Hua.
For example, the levels of Qi cultivators were Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul.
According to Bai Hua, Qi cultivators who had just entered the Qi Refinement realm could easily compare themselves to first-rate martial artists. As for those who had reached the Foundation Establishment realm, there were very few martial artists in the mortal world who could compare to them. They could use flying swords to take the heads off of enemies from a hundred steps away and it was impossible to guard against them. They were called immortal masters!
After cultivating to the Golden Core realm, one could fly in the sky and escape into the ground. In the immortal sect, they were considered sect masters and were called Perfected Ones!
As for the Nascent Soul realm, they have a lifespan of more than a thousand years. Every one of them was a super expert at the peak. They could easily destroy a city and were called ancestors!
Bai Hua's eyes were filled with anticipation. "It's said that there's a Golden Core Daoist in Zhouling Mountain. I hope I can get his favor on this trip…"
Bai Hua was undoubtedly a lucky person. Not only did he have an extraordinary background but he also had a spiritual root that countless people could only dream of. He had a chance to embark on the path to immortality.
Su Jie was also amazed by the methods of Qi cultivators but he did not belittle himself because of this. Martial arts would not be inferior to Qi cultivation!
Qi cultivators were so powerful, yet the world today was dominated by martial artists. From the looks of it, the martial artists standing at the peak were definitely not inferior to high-end Qi cultivators!
Not to mention that Su Jie also had the [Soul Imprint] talent. This gave him the confidence to cultivate to the point where he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Immortal Dao giants.
The night passed quickly. The sky lightened, the sun rose and a new day arrived.
"Brother Su, we're going to Zhouling Mountain. It's a long journey, so we'll take our leave now."
In the morning, Bai Hua said to Su Jie and prepared to leave.
"Well, take care on the way. May everything go well for you." Su Jie nodded and wished him well.
Then, the two sides parted. For Su Jie, what happened last night allowed him to better understand the wider world and increase his knowledge.
"This young man… will become great in the future! To have such strength at such a young age, it's not impossible for him to be famous in the future!"
The three of them left while Zhang Wen exclaimed in surprise at Su Jie's strength.
In contrast, Zhang Xue said: "There are many martial artists. Therefore, there are bound to be unparalleled geniuses. However, it's too difficult to compete with powerful Qi cultivators!"
Zhang Wen nodded in agreement. Martial artists only had a lifespan of less than a hundred years. It was too difficult to achieve anything in a hundred years!
As for Qi cultivators, they had many methods. They absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and had a long lifespan. These kinds of advantages were incomparable to those held by martial artists!