Chapter 13: Two Against an Army

Chapter 13: Two Against an Army "Apostle?" Xu Tao held back a cynical laugh. "Please... I’m not one of those." As a cultivator, rather than praising gods in the heavens, they went against them. In short, he should be the complete opposite of an "apostle." But of course, he didn’t dare explain that directly. He could tell that the woman before him, Jehanne, was a religious one. If she learned that he wasn’t someone who worshiped the same "God" as her—given that she was currently more powerful than him—then... his life would most likely be forfeit. And suddenly, almost as if it was waiting for that timing, the ground began to shake. "...!" All three of them inside the small, dark room shuffled, bumping against each other. To make matters worse, the sand around them started to loosen. If they didn’t do anything, they’d end up buried alive! "Let’s talk later—first, let’s get out of here!" Xu Tao grabbed Pepe and Jehanne, pulling them both into a tight embrace, before once again using his secret technique: Earth Escape Method! With it, the three of them "swam" straight up and burst out of the sand’s surface without much resistance. Given the increase in Xu Tao’s Qi, the short distance didn’t bother him much. But the problem was— "Shit! They’re still here!" —The place they came out of was still within the Sand Beetle’s nest. Combining the sudden earthquake that woke up all the worms and beetles, and their dynamic escape with a pillar of sand exploding... it was easy to figure out what would happen next. KIIIICHIIIK! Without delay, a throng of beetles flew toward them. "Prepare for battle!" Xu Tao shouted, not even having time to explain. "Talk will be only after we survive this!" But Xu Tao underestimated one thing—Jehanne’s power. "Against these insects?" She chuckled, waving her arm. The next moment, light particles gathered, and a long spear about three meters long, with a pure white flag attached to its tip, appeared. The spear looked simple at a glance, but looking closer, it had complex reliefs written all over its shaft. From afar, it looked smooth—but up close, it was covered in engravings. Unlike the detailed spear, the flag itself was too plain. Just a long strip of triangular cloth—about 30 centimeters wide at the base, and as long as the shaft itself. WHOOSH! Like a professional majorette, she swung her spear around. The whole time, she never let the white cloth touch the ground. "—Too easy!" ’Why were there giant beetles attacking?’ ’What were those things peeking out of the sand?’ Such obvious questions didn’t even cross Jehanne’s mind. Like a berserk fighter, she just rushed forward, cutting through the enemies with a swing of her spear. "Woah..." Even Xu Tao, the man who had reached the peak of cultivation, felt awe watching her fight. The spear tip was just half a meter away from the base of the white flag, but amazingly, not a drop of the monster’s blood or fluids stained it. Jehanne, with pure skill alone, kept it pristine—unblemished, just like her faith in God. "But I won’t lose either!" Xu Tao stopped just being an observer. He jumped forward, wielding his sword with precise, calculated strikes. "Pui~!" Pepe, on the other hand, remained behind the two, jumping up and down as if cheering them both on. The fight continued in a "safe" pace for a few minutes. Neither Jehanne or Xu Tao were injured the entire time. Rather, their kill count were jumping through two digits region quite rapidly! "That’s a weird sword," Jehanne commented mid-battle. "No hand guard, no reliefs. Just a handle and a naked blade!" Of course, she didn’t stop attacking while speaking. In the time it took her to say that, two more giant Sand Beetles fell—pierced hundreds of times, like they’d been swept by a machine gun. "It’s a good sword, I tell you!" Xu Tao answered back. "Perfect in every way!" He wasn’t losing in pace either. Even though he was "weaker" than Jehanne, his speed at mowing down the giant beetles wasn’t any slower! But of course, there was a major difference. Jehanne was barely using any energy, swinging her weapon casually. Xu Tao, on the other hand, was tapping into his Qi reserves with every swing—making him run low in reserves just about now. "Kuh...!" And just as he killed the fiftieth giant beetle, he realized something. His level had finally passed 50—jumping straight to 61! That meant his stat limit should’ve increased. He checked, and found that after refining the residual Qi from the Divine Level Pill, his Cultivation stat rose to 512 already. Sure, the system didn’t let him add free points to it, but that didn’t stop him from increasing through other means! But now, what’s the problem? It’s that the stat limit for level 50 was only raised to 128. His current Cultivation stat was far beyond that, meaning he still couldn’t add points to it directly! "Shit...!" He cursed, swiping at the screen—and in doing so, he "accidentally" pressed the plus on the VIT stat. In that instant, his fatigue disappeared. A magical sensation. It was just a 1-point difference, but going from 0 to 1 seemingly made a huge change! "This is...!" Xu Tao double-checked his status—and realized what he’d done. But instead of regretting the mistake, he embraced it—putting one point into every stat that had a zero value. Power surged from within, almost like he was reborn. He was still low on Qi, but right now, he felt like he could split those beetles’ heads even without it! "If one point can do this much...!" He didn’t stop there. Instead, he distributed all the free points—all 110 of them—into the five stats equally! [ Name: False Fisherman Level: 61 Stats: STR: 22 INT: 22 VIT: 22 AGI: 22 DEX: 22 Cultivation: 512 Bonus Points: 0 Currency: Money: 15,720 Gold System Points: 46 ] The change in Xu Tao’s body was so overwhelming, even Jehanne noticed from afar. "You... did you just gain divine protection or something?!" she shouted, grinning. "You feel over 20 times stronger than before!" Xu Tao smiled, casually waving his sword. That simple wave caused the sand to stir into a small cyclone, spiraling into chaos. "Not a blessing. Just a basic power-up!" And with that as his battle cry, he stepped forward again. What happened next was plain and simple—massacre. None of the larvae, not even the adult beetles, could stop Xu Tao and Jehanne anymore. In the end, they spent roughly 30 minutes—just half an hour—to clear the entire nest. Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnovel.com Only