Spells Grinding: From Basic Sparks to Divine Arts

Chapter 211: A Strange Twist of Fate

Qin Lu landed beside Gu Yue, his eyes scanning the carnage of the red-robed cultivator he had just dispatched. “Are you alright?”

Gu Yue stood amidst the gore, her pristine white robes splattered with blood. She gave her long spear a sharp flick, flinging off the crimson residue, and casually tucked the dead cultivator’s Storage Bag into her sash.

“Nothing serious,” she replied, her voice steady. “Just a scratch.”

She had been locked in a brutal duel, relying on her sheer combat prowess to overwhelm her opponent despite taking a few hits herself. The moment her enemy fell, she had rushed to Qin Lu’s aid, having seen him surrounded by four attackers.

But the scene that greeted her defied expectation. Qin Lu hadn’t needed saving; he had already slaughtered three of them, leaving the last one scrambling for his life. Gu Yue had simply stepped in to deliver the final blow from the shadows.

Between the two of them, five evil cultivators lay dead.

Yet, the broader battle for White Jade Market was far from won.

The sheer volume of attackers was overwhelming. Defenders were being hemmed in, forced to fight two or three opponents at once. The only thing preventing a total collapse was the swarm of Qi Condensation cultivators buzzing around the edges, using their flying Magical Artifacts to harass the enemy flanks like a swarm of angry hornets.

BOOM—!

The sky shuddered.

High above, the true titans of the battlefield—Jiang Ge, Zou Chang, and the other late Foundation Establishment experts—were locked in a cataclysmic struggle with the Blood Demon and his elites. Every clash of their techniques sent shockwaves rolling across the city, a constant, deafening reminder of the stakes.

“Xiao Can!”

Gu Yue, scanning the ground from their vantage point, pointed toward the southern wall.

Qin Lu followed her gaze. Amidst the chaos, Gu Can was leading a squad of late Qi Condensation cultivators. They were engaged with two evil cultivators, and surprisingly, they were winning. The coordinated attacks of the twenty-man squad had the two enemies on the back foot, looking ragged and desperate.

“He’s holding his own,” Gu Yue said, relief coloring her tone. “Let’s go help him—”

“Wait.”

Qin Lu cut her off, his body tensing. He wasn’t looking at Gu Can. His gaze was locked on a peculiar figure darting through the ruins below.

It was a dwarf—a stunted, twisted figure radiating a dark, suffocating aura.

Gu Yue followed his line of sight and frowned. “The Strange Child?”

Everyone on the battlefield knew of him. This demonic cultivator, often called “Brother Ge,” possessed the terrifying power of the late Foundation Establishment stage. He was one of the enemy’s heavy hitters, a monster who should have been fighting in the sky.

“Why is he disengaging?” Gu Yue whispered. “Where is he going?”

As they watched, the dwarf abruptly broke away from the main melee and vanished into a modest shop on the street below.

Qin Lu’s blood ran cold.

It was his shop. The Qin Sect’s Pill Shop.

The invasion had happened so fast that Qin Lu hadn’t had time to warn his people. He hadn’t told Feng Xi to evacuate.

Feng Xi was diligent to a fault. She would be there, right now, refining pills as if it were any other day.

And a murderous, late-stage Foundation Establishment monster had just walked through her front door.

“Xiao Xi…”

Panic, cold and sharp, pierced his chest.

“I have to go!”

“Qin Lu!” Gu Yue shouted, but he was already gone.

Qin Lu dove from the sky like a hawk, pushing his speed to the breaking point. He didn’t bother with the door. He crashed through the tiled roof of the pill shop, debris raining down around him as he landed heavily in the main hall.

CRASH!

“Feng Xi!”

Silence answered him.

The shop was a slaughterhouse. Potions and herbs were scattered across the floor, mixed with shattered glass and wood. To his left, the dismembered bodies of two mortal assistants lay in expanding pools of blood.

Whoosh!

Qin Lu activated the Heavenly Eye Technique.

The world shifted into grayscale and lines of spiritual energy. He frantically scanned the building, searching for the familiar, gentle hum of Feng Xi’s aura.

Nothing.

Her aura wasn’t faint. It wasn’t hidden. It was gone. Extinguished completely.

“You bastard!”

A roar tore from Qin Lu’s throat, primal and raw. The grief was instant, instantly sublimating into a towering, white-hot rage.

THUD!

He stomped the ground, cracking the stone floorboards, and launched himself like a cannonball toward the only signature he could feel—a burning, powerful darkness in the rear of the shop.

He flew through the hallway, the Silver Sand Sword screaming in his grip.

“Pay with your life!”

He didn’t hold back. He swung the blade with everything he had, unleashing a wave of sword Qi so concentrated it distorted the air. The attack tore through the hallway, shredding walls, pillars, and furniture as it raced toward the target.

BOOM—!

The rear alchemy room exploded. The roof collapsed, burying the area in a cloud of dust and debris.

Qin Lu skidded to a halt, his chest heaving, his eyes fixed on the settling cloud.

Slowly, a silhouette emerged.

A short, stunted figure stood amidst the ruin, completely unharmed. A soft, protective light flickered around his hands. On his back, he carried a small woven basket.

It was the Strange Child.

“Heh… hehehe…”

A voice, hoarse and ancient, scratched its way out of the child-like body. “Easy there, kid. What’s with all the anger?”

The dwarf dusted off his shoulder, looking utterly unbothered by the devastation around him.

“I’m just here to pick up some lost property. I left a pill furnace here about a hundred years ago. No need to get so worked up.”

“Pill furnace?!”

Qin Lu’s grip on his sword tightened until his knuckles turned white. He looked past the dwarf.

Standing there, untouched by the battle, was a three-legged bronze pill furnace. The dwarf stroked it possessively with a pair of gleaming steel claws.

Qin Lu froze.

He recognized that furnace. The memories of the Great Zhou Dynasty, of the mysteries that had plagued him back then, suddenly slammed into place like a locking mechanism.

The missing cultivator. The strange artifact. The shadow that had hung over that entire encounter.

Qin Lu gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with hatred.

“So… it was you?!”