Chapter 281: There are many ways to become stronger, which one is more comfortable?

The object smashed onto the floor, rolling several times across the ground before finally stopping, leaving a trail of bright red in its wake.

In Xiao Shiliu's slightly lowered eyes, he was still immersed in the act, his gaze filled with utter despair.

What about that look of disbelief before death, or the terror...?

None of it existed.

It had all been smothered in the cradle by Xu Xiaoshou, who was terrified to the extreme.

Puff, puff.

Jin Zhao Tian Yan flared up once more.

Ever since this flame had followed Xu Xiaoshou, it seemed to do nothing but refine pills or burn corpses...

Xu Xiaoshou felt a bit sorry for it.

Praised as the dominant flame of the era that could incinerate anything, it had fallen to the point of barely keeping up with him...

Fortunately, the pills refined under these conditions didn't seem to affect their efficacy or taste.

Uh...

At the thought, a faint wave of nausea washed over him.

Despite having killed so many people, Xu Xiaoshou still wasn't used to it.

In the past, he had always just set off fireworks from a distance.

Once you were far enough away, you couldn't see it clearly, so there wasn't much aversion.

But this up-close method—directly beheading and making it explode—was, frankly, a bit too stimulating.

Huff!

Composing himself, Jin Zhao Tian Yan quickly burned away the bloodstains completely. After freshening up again, Xu Xiaoshou returned to the large bed.

Zhang Jia, San Zhu Xiang...

Truth be told, he had considered storming their stronghold and finishing things with Zhang Jia once and for all.

From the outer courtyard, to the inner courtyard, and now to Tian Sang City, these repeated assassinations had left even Xu Xiaoshou feeling quite irritated.

As for strength...

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at the little white cat squatting by the side of the large bed.

Just being near him, it looked utterly content, as if it didn't need any more feeding.

Don't be fooled by its dopey appearance and lazy ways—there was someone backing it up!

Jiao Tangtang and Xin Gugu...

These two seemed capable of rivaling a Wang Zuo. If worse came to worst, he could just snatch their Zen staff and purple chain, and something was bound to change.

But even with that in mind, it still didn't seem enough.

Xu Xiaoshou felt a toothache coming on. If Zhang Jia had at least three Wang Zuo, that would be tough to handle!

Even with A Jie on his side, he could only muster about three Wang Zuo-level fighters at most.

And whether A Jie even had Wang Zuo-level combat power was up for debate.

A master who could instantly kill a Tian Xiang Jing expert might not necessarily take down a Yin Yang Jing or Xing Si Jing, let alone a Wang Zuo.

At best, his side could barely match three Wang Zuo, but Zhang Jia might not be at their limit.

Sure enough, going head-to-head with a whole family as an individual was a real hassle.

Can't rush into it!

Xu Xiaoshou settled down again. If there was only one Wang Zuo like Zhang Taiying, he would definitely make Zhang Jia pay.

But in a clash where the strength was so uneven, it was better to hold back.

Wait a bit longer...

I'm still young; I can afford to play the long game.

Honestly, this isn't so bad—occasionally having assassins drop by with treasures can even spice up life a little.

But then Xu Xiaoshou thought of San Zhu Xiang...

What kind of shady organization was this? Some kind of assassins' sanctuary?

He had actually heard of this group before. Truth be told, their reputation far outshone something like "Sheng Nu."

But that was just hearsay; he knew nothing about their internal operations.

He never imagined that such absurd trouble would land on his head.

He had been targeted by San Zhu Xiang!

A "dead apostle" with a million-reward bounty.

Xu Xiaoshou's mood turned gloomy.

Anyone with a sword hanging over their head would feel incredibly complicated.

This damn Zhang Jia, always stirring up trouble!

Since he couldn't touch Zhang Taiying for now, Xu Xiaoshou decided to focus on himself.

Boosting his own strength was the fundamental way—one of them—to eliminate the threat...

As for cultivation, even though he had just left Tian Xuan Gate not long ago, under the steady accumulation of the "Breathing Method," his current realm had already reached the peak of the initial stage.

A few more good sleeps, and he might break through to the mid-stage.

And that was without taking any pills!

Too fast! Xu Xiaoshou pondered.

In a fight, he didn't really rely on his cultivation level. Even if it reached the Upper Spirit Realm, without using spiritual techniques...

Frankly, it wouldn't help much.

The only benefit would be a larger qi sea.

But with "Yuan Qi Full," as long as he didn't overuse that newly developed "Big Fireball Technique," it was more than enough.

If he ever faced a situation where he needed to use "Big Fireball Technique" repeatedly...

Xu Xiaoshou figured he might as well just release A Jie!

By then, handling it alone would be impossible anyway.

Advancing his realm hadn't brought many benefits, but maintaining the facade of only being at the initial Innate stage often led to surprises.

Somehow, his enemies had escalated to the master level, yet his seemingly stagnant cultivation had tricked quite a few people.

Xu Xiaoshou planned to keep up this "mere Innate" illusion for a while longer—it seemed pretty useful.

Though theoretically, it couldn't last much longer.

But in this period of uneven intelligence, even the most cautious master would inevitably underestimate an initial Innate stage opponent deep down.

In a high-stakes battle, who would pass up such an opportunity?

Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't, "Agile" wouldn't, and masters certainly wouldn't!

Since he wasn't planning to rush his cultivation, he'd have to work on other aspects.

Xu Xiaoshou pulled out the jade slip: "Jin Zhao Tian Yan · White Flame" and "Long Rong Jie."

He had already reviewed these. To cultivate "Long Rong Jie," he needed to refine "White Flame" first.

While it packed a huge punch, the training was too grueling, and he still lacked some preparations.

"Jin Zhao Great Fire Seed..."

Xu Xiaoshou felt a chill in his heart. He hadn't misread it—this new thing really had an extra "great" compared to "Jin Zhao Fire Seed."

As for how much greater... he didn't know, had no intention of asking, and didn't want to think about it.

The shadow from that night at E Lake was still lingering in his mind. To get Xu Xiaoshou to actively practice this technique...

Unless Sang Lao showed up, or Zhang Taiying came knocking right away!

He put the items away and took out the rings from Li Qi and Xiao Shiliu.

He hadn't checked Xiao Shiliu's yet, but Li Qi's ring did have some things that interested Xu Xiaoshou greatly.

"Ling Zhen..."

If he could master Ling Zhen and prepare array disks for "Big Fireball Technique" in advance, then toss over a hundred of them into Zhang Taiying's room while he slept...

That would perfectly solve the issue of not being able to use "Big Fireball Technique" continuously.

This idea wasn't entirely impossible; the only prerequisite was mastering the way of Ling Zhen.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't find it too difficult—in fact, he was getting excited.

Many of the tough situations he'd faced before seemed to be handled by that red interface in his mind.

"Strong Build" before "Fengyun Zhengba," "Everlasting Vitality" after "Jin Zhao Fire Seed," and "Mastery of Cooking" right upon entering the Ling Zang Pavilion...

It seemed like this system really knew what he wanted most.

Or rather, it directly filled whatever gap he had!

Wherever there was a shortcoming, it just extended it.

So, would it step up this time and give him something like "Ling Zhen Mastery"?

Xu Xiaoshou set down the ring in his hand, stood up from the large bed, closed the ventilated window, and maximized the soundproof barrier in the room.

For him, voluntary cultivation was more like a waste of time than diligence.

He looked toward the red interface in his Yuan Fu, his eyes full of anticipation.

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long!"