Swoosh!

Suddenly, the palms of Xu Que and Qin Wei were stuck together like glue. Then, an enormous wave of vital force suddenly gushed out from Qin Wei's palm.

"Crap!" Xu Que immediately screamed.

Then he looked at Qin Wei and scolded angrily, "General Qin, what are you doing? I'm warning you, don't you dare try anything funny!"

Qin Wei was bewildered. He felt the vital force draining from his body, then saw Xu Que's expression. He could not process what was happening. I had not yelled anything, so why are you screaming first? Shouldn't I be the one demanding to know what you were doing to me?

"General Qin, I can't believe that you were this despicable! Didn't we call a truce? I can't believe that you used a sneak attack to steal my lifespan! I'm gonna kill you!" Xu Que bellowed in anger and clenched his fists.

Qin Wei finally caught on to the situation. He quickly called out, "Stop! My vital force is also draining away. What are you trying to do?"

"What am I trying to do? I should be the one asking that! I thought that all we were doing was a simple handshake, but why are you clutching my hand so tightly? You're even sucking my lifespan! Let go of me right now!" Xu Que barked furiously.

"What? Who is it if it's not your doing?" Xu Que was shocked. Xu Que's acting was convincing enough to deceive him. He scanned their surroundings and concluded right away that someone had stabbed them in the back.

Slap!

Suddenly, Xu Que gave Qin Wei a hard slap across his face. Qin Wei could not believe it and stared blankly at Xu Que.

Xu Que glared back at him, "You animal! Beast! Old pervert! Release my hand now! Right now!"

As soon as he finished scolding, he raised his free hand and gave Qin Wei another tight slap!

"Atrocious"

The slaps seemed to have slapped the dust out of Qin Wei's mind. He realized what was going on and growled.

"Crap!" Anger filled Xu Que's face as he balled his hand into a fist, preparing to attack Qin Wei.

Qin Wei stopped him immediately, "Stop! Why are you so flustered? I would never do something as underhanded as that! We might have fallen prey to a plot. There's an ambush!"

"An ambush? How's that possible?" Xu Que's eyes opened wide and looked all around.

Qin Wei's face blackened as he evaluated his surroundings. He spoke darkly, "I am Qin Wei, the First General of the Tong Tian Nation! Who is the fellow cultivator scheming nearby with such underhanded means? If you don't cease your actions right now, don't beg for mercy when I find you out!"

Ding! "As per the Host's current cultivation stage power, the Ancient Life and Death Wheel had reached the maximum Vital Force Extraction Limit! You have received a total of 1,200 years of lifespan." Suddenly, the System notification rang within Xu Que's mind.

At the same time, both Xu Que's and Qin Wei's palms suddenly lost all attraction and loosened.

Puu! Xu Que coughed out blood, his face filled with agony. He could not help it. To suck 1,200 years worth of lifespan vital force in an instant was overly nourishing. His body was almost at its limit.

Qin Wei also pressed his chest with a cryptic expression as he speedily healed his injury. He was already hurt before losing over 1,000 years of lifespan for no good reason. It had aggravated his injury and was driving him insane. However, seeing that Xu Que was also injured had somewhat soothed his nerves. He even believed that the mysterious incident just now was not due to Xu Que.

"Li Bai, my Little Friend. How are you feeling? Are you all right?" A moment later, Qin Wei suppressed his pain and came before Xu Que, pretending to be concerned. The very instant that Xu Que says that he was gravely injured, he would kill him. The best opportunity to kill your enemy was when they're weak!

"Thank you for your concern, General Qin. I am all right; I just lost 1,000 years of lifespan!" Xu Que shook his hand and answered calmly.

Qin Wei raised his eyebrows and observed Xu Que closely. Upon confirming that he was indeed okay, he curbed his desire to attack and nodded his head, "That's good. I have also lost a little over 1,000 years of lifespan! Once I find the one who secretly attacked us, I'll make sure that he dies a horrible death!"

1,000 years of lifespan was not little, but also not much to a cultivator at the Great Vehicle Stage. Although it had no real effect on his ability, he still felt disgusting, like he had swallowed a fly. After all, none of the tens of thousands of cultivators in this world would say no to a longer life!

"Hm, how dare he attack both of us! He must be tired of living! I will get my revenge for sure! Rest assured, General Qin. I will go back and gather the followers of the Exploding Heavens Faction and find that sneak attacker! Excuse me!" Xu Que said indignantly. Then he stepped onto a bolt of lightning and left immediately, shooting across the sky.

Qin Wei had not felt anything amiss with Xu Que's actions. To a cultivator at the Form Synthesis Stage, 1,000 years of lifespan was equivalent to half of their whole lifespan, a painful loss. It was normal for him to seek revenge eagerly. He raised his head and watched as Xu Que's figure disappeared on the horizon. His face gradually clouded with gloom.

"Hm, once I recover from my injuries, I'll make sure to plant the Soul Insect Gu within you. I'll then throw you onto the Road of Heavenly Ascension, where you'll toil your life away for me!"

... ...

Several moments later, Xu Que finally returned to the mountain where he had practiced secluded meditation. Once he touched down, he fell onto the ground and blood gushed out of his mouth, as though there was not a drop of strength remaining in his body. He had exhausted all of his Taoist Connotation in his battle with Qin Wei.

Besides, by making the System activate the 'Ancient Life and Death Wheel' to steal Qin Wei's 1,200 years of lifespan forcefully had its cost. It cleaned out all of his True Core Strength, and he had suffered some internal injuries as the huge wave of vital force gushed through his body. To return to the mountain, he had secretly activated the System's automatic recovery ability to regain a small portion of True Core Strength, so that he could pretend to be uninjured in front of Qin Wei.

"Xu Que!" Jiang Hongyan had been waiting for him to return. She rushed out of the cave and was shaken to see Xu Que lying injured. In her eyes, Xu Que was powerful enough to fight a cultivator at the Crossing Calamity Stage with no problems. To hurt Xu Que, you would need at least 100 Crossing Calamity Stage cultivators banded together or the Heavenly Tribulations had become more powerful.

"I'm okay, he, he." Xu Que sat up and waved.

The System's automatic recovery ability was domineering. It had already recovered quite a bit of internal injuries and True Core Strength. Seeing that he seemed to be truly fine, Jiang Hongyan heaved a small sigh of relief, "Did a strong enemy appear on the battlefield?"

"That's not it. I just bumped into Qin Wei on my way back!" Xu Que smiled.

Jiang Hongyan's expression changed into a fit of rare anger, "He tried to kill you?"

"Ha, ha, that's right! He tried to kill me, but in the end...ha, ha, ha!" Xu Que laughed out loud. He then filled her in with what had happened. As they approached the end of his recounting, Jiang Hongyan gasped in surprise, "You mean to say that, not only did you injure him severely, you also destroyed his celestial artifact, and ,on top to that, stole 1,000 years of his lifespan?"

"Yeah! It's a pity, though, that I had exhausted too much of my Taoist Connotation during my Heavenly Tribulations today. Otherwise, I would have many chances to kill him!" Xu Que nodded, apparently regretful.

Jiang Hongyan felt dazed at what she had heard. No matter how she contemplated, she wouldn't have thought that Xu Que's strength had already become this mighty. He was just at the second level of the Form Synthesis Stage, but he was able to fight on a par with someone at the peak of the Great Vehicle Stage. Furthermore, his opponent had a Half-Grade Celestial Artifact.

In the end, Jiang Hongyan glowed as she said softly, "If you want his life, I will bring you his head!"

"Save the trouble. If we want to kill Qin Wei, we won't even need to dirty our own hands!" Xu Que beamed his signature mischievous smile.

Jiang Hongyan paused, then asked jokingly, "What wicked idea do you have now?"