Dual Cultivation System: My Cultivation Was Crippled, So I Rely on Intimacy to Level Up

Chapter 246: Su Xuan: All Six Members of the Song Family Were Killed by Us!

Following Du Chuyao’s guidance, the group arrived at the base of a jagged, steep mountain peak.

The ambient Yin energy here was bone-chilling. The mountainside was choked with a forest of dead, blackened timber, the twisted branches reaching out like petrified ghost claws. When the wind howled through the deadwood, there was no rustle of leaves—only a low, mournful wailing that sounded like thousands of resentful souls whispering from the grave.

Du Chuyao stopped and turned to Zhou Kai. She didn’t waste time with words; she simply held out a fair, pale hand.

Zhou Kai understood the toll immediately.

With a flick of his wrist, a flying sword materialized. Its blade was practically translucent, pulsing with a stardust-like radiance as it hovered obediently above his palm.

It was the Flowing Light Sword. Forged primarily from the Star Iron Essence gifted by Li Juefeng and refined multiple times by Zhou Kai’s own hand, it was the fastest, most lethal, and most comfortable weapon in his arsenal.

A momentary wince of genuine pain flashed across Zhou Kai’s face, but his tongue remained sharp. “Fairy Du, I only asked you to distract two of my Senior Brothers for an hour. Extorting a set of fourth-grade defensive Dharma Treasures for that is quite the exorbitant fee.”

Du Chuyao ignored the sarcastic bite in his tone. Her expression remained perfectly placid. “I am providing the materials. I am merely paying for your labor as a grandmaster.”

As the words left her mouth, a brilliant rosy light pulsed from her Dantian. Five palm-sized jade stones materialized, floating gently in the air between them.

The stones were distinct—cyan, crimson, yellow, white, and black. Their internal spiritual energies bled outward, weaving together in a misty, iridescent halo. These weren’t ordinary rocks; they were hyper-rare Five Elements Spirit Jades. A pure, incredibly soothing aura radiated from them, bearing the distinct, time-tempered signature of her Spirit Ying Sacred Body. She had been nurturing these stones with her own cultivation for years.

“Refine them into a set of five matching jade rings for me.” She pushed the stones toward Zhou Kai.

Zhou Kai reached out and collected them, suppressing a jolt of shock. The jade was warm to the touch, but his fingertips could clearly sense the massive, compressed Five Elements energy sleeping within them like dormant leviathans. The quality of these stones utterly dwarfed any standard Five Elements essence he had ever handled.

Standing a few paces away, Li Youci eyed the priceless jade stones, then observed the cold, strictly-business transaction between Du Chuyao and Zhou Kai. A microscopic, irritated snort escaped her nose, and she turned her head away in a huff. Watching another beautiful, powerful woman commission Zhou Kai to craft highly personal, close-fitting Dharma Treasures right in front of her sparked an irrational, burning annoyance in her chest.

Shen Hanyi remained completely aloof. Her expression was a mask of perfect ice, completely indifferent to the transaction. To her, the only thing in the universe worthy of attention was her sword.

Wu Hongxiao, however, lacked any such filter. Her large eyes sparkled with curiosity. She leaned in close, poking one of the floating stones in Zhou Kai’s hand. “With raw materials of this grade, you could easily craft ten rings, let alone five! You’re making out like a bandit on this deal, Zhou Kai.”

Zhou Kai couldn’t help but reassess Du Chuyao. The woman was a ruthless pragmatist. To casually hand over treasures of this magnitude meant she had already coldly calculated the exact value of his labor versus the final product.

With the transaction finalized, Du Chuyao didn’t waste another second. Her gaze locked onto the dead, black soil beneath their feet.

“We are standing directly above the earth vein that runs closest to the demonic entity’s core,” she explained, pointing at the dirt. “We will follow this vein deep underground. By tracking the density of the demonic energy to its absolute source, we will find our Fated Chance.”

“Then what are we standing around for?!” Wu Hongxiao barked. She gripped her crimson spear, practically vibrating with pent-up aggression. “Let’s crack this place open!”

Du Chuyao shot her a brief, flat look. Her hands blurred through a sequence of complex seals, and ancient, resonant syllables slipped from her lips.

The earth responded immediately. The ground didn’t violently rupture or explode; instead, the soil and bedrock parted obediently, sliding back like living tissue to reveal a wide, pitch-black tunnel plunging into the depths.

The moment the earth gate opened, the concentrated aura of living human flesh and the hyper-dense Spirit Qi of the earth vein surged outward like a breached dam.

It was a dinner bell for every lurking horror in the vicinity.

“Jie jie jie—!”

“ROAAAR!”

Dozens of horrific shadows exploded from the dead forest. Wailing vengeful ghosts wrapped in suffocating black fog swarmed alongside massive, bloated fiendish demons that dripped highly corrosive, foul-smelling saliva. They shrieked with hunger, stampeding toward the tunnel entrance.

“The ghosts are mine,” Li Youci declared, her voice dropping to absolute zero.

Before the final syllable even left her lips, the Ten Thousand Soul Banner materialized in her grip. She violently injected her Qi. The massive black canvas unfurled with a sound like ripping silk, and countless phantom beasts roared from within the fabric. A tidal wave of pitch-black energy erupted from the banner, instantly weaving into a massive, sky-blotting net that crashed down over the swarm of vengeful spirits.

The ghosts shrieked in absolute, primal terror as if encountering their natural predator. They thrashed wildly, but the net was inescapable. It constricted violently, dragging the entire spectral horde into the banner. They vanished into nothingness without a single struggle.

On the opposite flank, Wu Hongxiao let out a booming laugh and charged headlong into the stampeding fiendish demons.

“Zhou Kai! Watch my new spear forms!”

With a fierce, bellicose shout, she detonated the Vitality of her Bone Forging Grand Perfection. Waves of blistering heat rolled off her athletic body, turning her into a walking blast furnace.

She snapped her wrist, spinning her spear. Her hyper-condensed Vitality flooded the weapon, igniting a blinding layer of crimson fire around the spearhead that was so hot it warped the air itself.

A massive fiendish demon, resembling a rotting, oversized silverback ape, lunged at her, swiping with razor-sharp claws. Wu Hongxiao didn’t even flinch. Her spear struck like a viper—a textbook execution of the ‘Blazing Prairie’ technique. The fiery spear tip blurred, instantly impaling the demon squarely between the eyes.

Squelch!

The searing spearhead punched cleanly through the demon’s skull, which was supposedly harder than tempered steel. The violent, explosive kinetic force of her Vitality detonated a millisecond later, blowing the beast’s head apart in a geyser of charred bone and pulverized brains.

“Your spearwork is getting terrifying, Hongxiao!” Zhou Kai cheered loudly from the backline.

Fuelled by the praise, Wu Hongxiao’s assault turned into a slaughter. Her spear became a blur of lethal crimson fire, forcing the heavy demons back with every explosive strike. A fierce, arrogant grin stretched across her pretty face.

Within minutes, the ambush force was reduced to scattered ash and smoking meat.

With the entrance clear, the group descended into the tunnel.

The deeper they went, the faster the darkness swallowed the light from the surface. The damp, heavy earthen walls felt suffocatingly close, and the air was thick with the stench of ancient rot and bone-chilling Yin energy.

Zhou Kai fell into step beside Li Youci. “I’ll give you this, Youci—this place makes the spooky little cave in your personal manor look like a sunny vacation spot.”

Li Youci rolled her eyes. “The ‘spooky little cave’ deep in my manor is only possible because my father spent an exorbitant fortune to artificially tap into a branch of this exact valley’s ley line and funnel the energy back home.”

At the rear of the formation, Du Chuyao casually formed a one-handed seal and pressed her palm backward toward the surface.

Rumble.

The entrance to the tunnel seamlessly sealed itself shut, the earth and stone locking together without leaving a single seam or trace of their passage. Absolute, crushing darkness entombed them. However, for cultivators of their caliber, channeling a fraction of Qi to their eyes provided perfect night vision.

They descended for what felt like hours. Suddenly, the oppressive tunnel walls fell away, and they stepped out onto a precipice overlooking a massive, sprawling subterranean cavern.

A chaotic, overwhelmingly powerful atmospheric pressure slammed into them. It was a bizarre, impossible cocktail: suffocating ghost energy, hyper-aggressive demonic aura, and astonishingly pure, untainted Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi—all swirling together in the same space.

Instead of violently annihilating each other, the opposing energies had somehow achieved a perfect, terrifying equilibrium.

“Fascinating,” Du Chuyao murmured, her usual stoicism cracking as she surveyed the impossible ecosystem.

She stepped up to the cavern wall, pressing her palm flat against the jagged rock. The faint, divine golden light reignited in her eyes as she tapped into the deep earth veins.

Noticing the intense focus on her face, Li Youci stepped closer. “Senior Sister Du, is there a problem with the ley lines?”

Du Chuyao withdrew her hand, the golden light fading. A deep crease formed between her brows. “The earth veins here are indeed functioning as a massive geyser, constantly venting incredibly pure Spirit Qi. That much is natural. But the source of this endless, hyper-dense ghost and demonic energy… it shouldn’t be possible. I am… very intrigued.”

Meanwhile, miles away from the carnage of Tongming Valley.

Calamity Abyss Valley, Tongtian Peak.

Auspicious, glowing clouds drifted lazily around the summit. On the grand viewing platform, the three presiding Peak Masters—Li Juefeng, Song Buqi, and Yang Zhonglei—sat around a low table, leisurely sipping tea. The atmosphere was a portrait of serene, immortal calm.

Suddenly, the massive teleportation gate linked to the forbidden land rippled violently. A lone figure stumbled out.

It was Su Xuan.

He looked like a corpse. His skin was the color of old parchment, his aura was terrifyingly erratic, and he was physically hauling the unconscious, mangled body of Gao Feihuang over his shoulder.

Gao Feihuang was a horror show. He was bathed in his own coagulated blood, and a massive, jagged hole was blasted cleanly through his chest. His breathing was so shallow it was practically non-existent.

Song Buqi took a sip of his tea, his face completely devoid of expression. This entire artifact scramble had nothing to do with the Song Family anyway; he was merely here to collect a paycheck from the Yang Family for lending them some muscle.

Yang Zhonglei’s eyes glinted, a faint, incredibly smug smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Well now, Senior Brother Juefeng,” he drawled, breaking the silence. “It appears your little expeditionary force suffered some… catastrophic casualties in the valley. Down to only two survivors so quickly?”

Li Juefeng’s heart seized. Youci’s vanguard was butchered this badly? What happened to my daughter?!

A wave of profound regret washed over him. What an absolute waste. I’ve lost the Creation Spirit Yang Body and the Innate Stainless Sword Embryo.

The thought had barely fully formed before he vanished from his seat. In a blur of motion, he materialized directly in front of Su Xuan.

He didn’t even look at the Calamity Abyss disciple. He instantly grabbed Gao Feihuang’s wrist, violently driving his Divine Sense into the blood cultivator’s ruined body to assess the damage.

Flicking his free hand, Li Juefeng produced a violently red Pill that radiated a heavy, aggressive blood-煞 (sha/fiendish) energy. It was a brutal, extreme remedy. Channelling his Qi, Li Juefeng dissolved the Pill into a streak of liquid blood and forcefully injected it directly into Gao Feihuang’s Dantian.

Though the man remained comatose, a faint, healthy flush of color finally returned to his waxen face.

Song Buqi and Yang Zhonglei drifted down from the platform, landing lightly near the trio.

Yang Zhonglei looked at Su Xuan, his voice dripping with faux concern as he asked the question he thought he already knew the answer to. “Disciple-Nephew Su, give us your report. What exactly transpired inside the forbidden land?”

Su Xuan glanced at Li Juefeng, whose face was a mask of dark, tempestuous fury but whose eyes demanded an immediate explanation.

Su Xuan offered a shallow, strained bow. “I beg the forgiveness of the three Peak Masters for my lack of decorum. Bearing Senior Brother Gao, I cannot perform the proper rites.”

He drew a ragged breath, steadying himself. “Inside the forbidden land, my team—myself, Junior Brother Zhou Kai, and Junior Sister Shen Hanyi—crossed paths with a six-man hunter-killer squad from the Song Family.”

At the mention of the “Song Family,” Song Buqi gave a slow, self-satisfied nod, expecting to hear a tale of their absolute dominance.

Su Xuan didn’t pause. His voice went completely flat, utterly deadpan as he dropped a tactical nuke on the gathering.

“A conflict ensued. The six members of the Song Family were… entirely eradicated by us.”

Dead silence fell over the peak.

“Senior Brother Gao and I sustained critical injuries during the engagement,” Su Xuan continued, oblivious to the shockwaves he was causing. “However, Junior Brother Zhou and Junior Sister Shen remain in peak combat condition. The Young Miss ordered Senior Brother Gao and myself to evacuate the valley immediately to seek medical attention.”

The smug, knowing smile on Yang Zhonglei’s face shattered instantly.

Song Buqi’s eyes snapped wide open, blazing with terrifying, lethal light. An apocalyptic Aura Pressure crashed down from him, literally freezing the ambient moisture in the air.

Even Li Juefeng was stunned into silence.

They killed all of them? And Zhou Kai and Shen Hanyi didn’t even take a scratch?!

As if deciding the situation wasn’t quite volatile enough, Su Xuan coughed weakly and added one final detail.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Our scout, Disciple-Nephew Fang Lizhe—who is only in the early stages of Foundation Establishment—also survived the engagement without a single injury.”

He made absolutely sure to heavily emphasize the words “early stages of Foundation Establishment.”