"Blegh!"
A dry retch was followed by a mouthful of coughed-up blood.
Mingled with the crimson were fragments of internal organs.
From that alone, it was clear just how gravely wounded he was.
Yet, he was still the lucky one.
Sima Wenjie looked anxiously to the side, at the man slung over his second sister's back.
That was their eldest brother, Sima Xian.
Just moments ago, he had triggered his origin essence with a secret technique, swallowed a Blood Burning Pill, and fought two wood-attribute flood dragons single-handedly.
When the Azure Musk Flood Dragon Gathering Banner unleashed all six dragons at the end, Sima Xian had shoved aside his second sister, Sima Huiniang, who was standing at the forefront, completely disregarding his own life.
Consequently, his injuries were so severe that he was on the brink of death.
"Third Brother, stay focused. Keep watch on our surroundings and find a safe place to hide."
Hearing the tense yet methodical orders in his ear, Sima Wenjie hastily gathered his wits.
Before long, he found an empty room.
After scouting around to confirm it was relatively safe, they stepped inside.
The moment he relaxed, wave after wave of dizziness washed over him.
"Second Sister, Eldest Brother..."
"He isn't dead yet! What are you panicking about?"
Sima Huiniang glared at him and tossed him a bottle of pills.
Immediately after, she produced a large pile of medicinal pills, quickly identified a few, and shoved them by the handful into the unconscious Sima Xian's mouth.
Finally, she poured a bottle of golden liquid down his throat.
Not stopping there, she circulated her spiritual power to help the unconscious Sima Xian refine the medicinal efficacy.
Minutes and seconds ticked by.
Under the siblings' nervous watch, Sima Xian slowly opened his eyes.
He parted his lips, wanting to speak, but the mere act of opening his mouth sent fresh crimson blood dribbling uncontrollably down his chin.
"Eldest Brother, don't talk. Focus your mind quickly. While the Yang Restoring Water's effects are still active, hurry and heal your wounds."
The one speaking was Sima Huiniang, the second of the Three Sima Cultivators.
Yet among the three, she was the real leader.
Whether venturing out to conduct business, participating in auctions, or making decisions in battle, she was almost always the one calling the shots.
It was only because the previous fight had been so fierce, and their eldest brother had resolved to sacrifice himself, that her presence had taken a back seat for a brief moment.
At the words "Yang Restoring Water," Sima Xian's eyes trembled, glinting with unshed tears.
Sima Wenjie gasped in shock. "B-but that's the spirit elixir meant for your Foundation Establishment breakthrough, Second Sister! How could you—"
"Go guard the door and watch out for scoundrels!"
Sima Huiniang glared at him.
Turning back to Sima Xian, who desperately wanted to speak but could not, she forced a smile at her elder brother, whose gaze was steeped in despair.
"Eldest Brother, I beg of you, please survive.
"It's just a bottle of Yang Restoring Water. As long as the three of us are alive, we'll have plenty of chances to buy another.
"Your injuries are severe, but as long as we act fast, you won't necessarily die."
Sima Xian's lips parted slightly, and after great effort, he managed a faint grunt of assent.
With Huiniang's support, he sat up cross-legged and mobilized every drop of spiritual power in his body to mend his wounds.
By the doorway, Sima Wenjie was in slightly better shape. After all, he had not been the primary combatant during the battle and had spent most of his time searching for flaws in the formation.
Having ingested the pills just now, his condition was steadily recovering.
With half his attention cast outside and half inside, the anxiety in his heart gradually subsided.
"Come to think of it, that person who showed up at the end was truly audacious. Not only did he dare snatch food from a tiger's jaws and steal the supreme-grade dharma artifact, but he also shattered the formation core and created a chance for us to escape.
"I wonder who that was.
"If I ever get the chance, I must repay him properly.
"Second Sister, who do you think it could be? We know quite a few friends in Dahe Market. Could it be an acquaintance?
"Second Sister?"
Receiving no answer after a long pause, Sima Wenjie spun around.
His eyes instantly locked onto the foot of the bed inside the room. Huiniang was slumped against the wall, unconscious.
How could the might of a supreme-grade dharma artifact be so easily withstood?
It was precisely because his elder brother and sister had absorbed the vast majority of the blows that he had gotten away with the lightest injuries.
"Second Sister, don't scare me!
"Pills... where are the pills?"
***
"No one followed me?"
"As expected, with my movement speed, ordinary people couldn't possibly react in time when I struck so suddenly.
"If not for those scavengers who came afterward looking to fish in troubled waters, that storage bag would have been mine as well."
Luo Chen paused in his tracks, pulling his aura down to near-total concealment.
Pushing a door open, his eyes flared with spiritual light, sweeping over the interior of the room in an instant.
Finally, his gaze stopped beneath a cupboard in front of him.
Luo Chen's brow rose, followed by a look of delight.
A moment later, he was sitting comfortably upon a soft straw pallet.
The original owner of this place was quite the turtle!
Not only was the house in a secluded location, but they had also dug an exceedingly concealed underground room beneath it.
If not for his deeply ingrained Spiritual Eye Art, which made him extraordinarily sensitive to spiritual energy, he never would have noticed the spiritual energy trap at the entrance.
Unfortunately, that very trap had given away the secret cavern below.
"Not a bad spot. I can use it as one of my safe houses for entering and leaving the city in the future."
Luo Chen was quite pleased. He then replayed the recent battle in his mind to ensure he had not left any loose ends that could lead pursuers to his trail.
That Qi Refinement Great Perfection cultivator named Qiu Bai had certainly been no pushover!
At the Zhenlong Black Market, he had cleverly secured the supreme-grade dharma artifact before rushing away.
Luo Chen had thought the man was putting on a brave face while hollow inside, but it turned out he had simply hurried outside to lay an ambush ahead of time.
Not only that, but he had also planted an informant inside the black market auction.
That way, he could identify which fat sheep were prime targets.
And by coincidence, that informant had been the very person competing with him for the Yang Restoring Water.
Qiu Bai and Liu Han!
Judging from their conversation, both came from Liuguang Market.
It was said that Liuguang Market was extremely barren and scarce in resources.
As a result, rogue cultivators turned bandits there in droves, and bloodshed was rampant!
Judging from the battle just now, they truly had real skill.
Whether it was setting up the ambush or fighting face-to-face, every move was far beyond that of an ordinary ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator.
Even the Three Sima Cultivators, whom Luo Chen considered quite formidable, had been played in the palms of their hands.
Still, they were people from Liuguang Market through and through.
Even toward partners, they dared to stab each other in the back.
"If I remember correctly, the artifact that killed Qiu Bai in the end was clearly the high-grade unconventional dharma artifact that someone brought out during the open trading session.
"The one named... Stiff-Mouthed Zombie."
A peculiar name for a dharma artifact, derived from its peculiar effect.
It was rather impractical, as it had to bite onto the enemy's body to work.
Yet despite that limitation, its power was terrifying.
Once it bit down, the target would turn into a rigid corpse in an instant, unable to move a muscle.
Then, extreme yin power would spew from the artifact's mouth, reducing the victim's body to ashes.
Judging by its performance back then, its effectiveness was truly extraordinary.
A dignified Qi Refinement Great Perfection cultivator had been left almost utterly defenseless.
"No, considering Liu Han's movements when he appeared, his sudden strike was premeditated all along."
Luo Chen recalled Liu Han's every action.
From floating up into the air shoulder-to-shoulder with Qiu Bai, to his flattering remarks, to that "spontaneous" pat on the shoulder at the end...
Every single thing had been done to set up that final blow.
"Despicable outsiders indeed. What a vile, treacherous mind."
Luo Chen clicked his tongue in wonder, resolving to be cautious, cautious, and cautious again whenever dealing with cultivators from Liuguang Market in the future.
"Speaking of which, I wonder if that Huiniang managed to get away?"
Thinking of "Huiniang," Luo Chen's expression turned somewhat complicated.
She was the pretty female cultivator who had purchased the Lotus Hidden Carp at the auction.
Back then, he had felt her voice was somewhat familiar.
Later, when he left and heard her companion call out "Huiniang," the realization finally struck him.
Wasn't she one of the rogue cultivators he had met back when he lived in the outer city, who had fled out of the Howling Moon Mountain Range?
He recalled that the others had looked down on him back then.
Only Huiniang had kindly offered a word of advice, telling him that the area was unsafe and that he should move away soon.
Truth be told, Huiniang's advice had been spot on.
Though no demon beast attacks had occurred there, Gao Ting'e had later pursued an enemy right to that spot, which had been just as perilous.
Just now, Luo Chen had seen the battle clearly from the sidelines.
The supreme-grade dharma artifact's final attack had not killed the three instantly.
It had merely shattered their protective talisman and gravely injured them.
While Luo Chen had seized the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and snatch the supreme-grade artifact, he hadn't minded lending Huiniang a helping hand along the way.
That white mist array was merely a simple formation laid out with a few formation flags.
As long as one found a few of the formation cores, it could easily be disrupted.
An ordinary person truly wouldn't have been able to spot them amid the blinding white fog.
However, possessing the Spiritual Eye Art, he had easily located a core—the seemingly ordinary stone mill.
Of course, whether Luo Chen had also harbored intentions of using the three to tie down Liu Han was hard to say.
At the very least, he had given the Three Sima Cultivators a chance to flee!
After carefully reviewing everything from start to finish and confirming he had left no loose ends, Luo Chen finally put his mind at ease.
"The cultivators of the Zhenlong Black Market didn't deceive me; they genuinely wished to build good relations.
"North Street Lane Three truly is a haunt for rogue bandits.
"Before I arrived, someone had laid an ambush, and after I left, even more cultivators swarmed in."
Luo Chen kept that piece of well-intentioned advice in mind.
Then, he happily retrieved the Azure Musk Flood Dragon Gathering Banner.
A grin spread across his face.
"A wood-attribute supreme-grade dharma artifact... This item was simply meant for me!"
***
Luo Chen had no instruction manual for this supreme-grade dharma artifact.
Almost all his information regarding it came from Tianxingzi's introduction at the black market auction.
However, in a black market like that, the organizers would never fully disclose an item's strengths and weaknesses.
Otherwise, they would be exposing the buyer's future trump cards.
For instance, the azure musk fragrance from the Azure Musk Flood Dragon Gathering Banner didn't just enter through the mouth and nose; it could also seep into an opponent's body through pores and acupoints.
It was truly impossible to guard against.
The reason the Three Sima Cultivators—three ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivators seasoned by long-distance travel and trade—had fallen at a disadvantage so quickly was largely due to this insidious effect.
Yet Tianxingzi had clearly omitted the artifact's drawbacks as well.
He had merely said that a late Qi Refinement cultivator could barely summon three dragons once, while a ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator could summon them twice.
Any normal person would assume that someone at Qi Refinement Great Perfection could summon them three times.
After all, reaching Great Perfection meant purifying all of one's spiritual power to the utmost limit of the realm.
The sheer volume of their spiritual power far exceeded that of peers in the same realm.
Managing one additional activation should have been trivial.
Yet in reality, even someone as strong as Qiu Bai could only summon them twice.
"No, could it be that Qiu Bai was merely feigning exhaustion?"
Luo Chen couldn't say for sure. He would have to test it in secret.
Perhaps it possessed more hidden uses, or perhaps it harbored more flaws.
Nothing was certain yet.
The only indisputable fact was its power.
It was immense—far exceeding the Fire-Tipped Spear in his hands.
"I have yet another trump card!"
Luo Chen erased the spiritual energy imprint Qiu Bai had left behind. After a brief refinement, he stowed the banner away.
Lying back on the bed, he tallied up his gains from the auction.
He had not made many bids, securing only a bottle of Yang Restoring Water, a Tier 2 fire-element spell manual, and five bottles of Moisturizing Pearl Liquid.
None of them would bring an immediate surge to his combat strength.
Even so, they were undeniably superb supplementary resources for his cultivation.
As for the Tier 2 fire-element spell manual, if he could master it thoroughly during the Qi Refinement stage, it would undoubtedly become another trump card in his arsenal.
"Yet my true harvest was confirming the market demand and price for the Blood Burning Pill!"
A smile lit up Luo Chen's eyes.
Truth be told, the high cost of the Blood Burning Pill had kept him uneasy about its commercial viability.
After all, he had expended a great deal of effort deducing the recipe, even spending ten achievement points to reach entry level.
If it turned out to have no commercial value and could only be used for himself, it would have been an immense loss.
Now, it seemed exceedingly lucrative!
"Especially in these unstable times, with fighting and slaughter running rampant. This is the perfect moment for the Blood Burning Pill to shine!"
Dawn gradually broke, and a cool, refreshing morning breeze swept across Dahe Market.
After the previous night's thundershower, the scent of fresh earth drifted through the outer city.
The bloody stench brought on by violence and conflict had dissipated considerably.
More cultivators were out and about in the vicinity as well.
If nothing unexpected had occurred, today was the day for the small bazaar.
Mingling with the crowd, Luo Chen quietly entered the inner city.
He spotted Zhou Yuanli standing guard at the city gate, while the other bodyguards were nowhere to be seen.
"So it seems Zhou Yuanli really is the bodyguard Mi Shuhua trusts the most.
"Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to stand guard at the gate so early."
Without looking back, Luo Chen left Zhou Yuanli far behind.
In truth, he had suspected this long ago.
Among the five bodyguards, Zhou Yuanli was the strongest and the most mature and prudent.
It made sense for Mi Shuhua to trust him and assign him the task of keeping watch over Luo Chen.
This was fine by him.
At least in terms of everyday security, he had a relatively dependable person by his side.
Loaded with his spoils, Luo Chen returned to the courtyard.
It wasn't until the sun was fully up that he appeared before the others, yawning widely.
"Sneak out to fool around with someone last night?"
Seeing his sluggish demeanor, Qin Liangchen teased with a chuckle.
Luo Chen started, then grinned foolishly.
He truly had stolen something last night!
That guy he had robbed was probably furious to the point of madness by now.
To have such a massive supreme-grade dharma artifact stolen right from under his nose...
He could only hope the storage bag the man acquired had enough wealth to make up for it!
***
Meanwhile, in a place Luo Chen knew nothing about, a dust-caked Liu Han stared blankly at a storage bag, his eyes completely hollow.
"Can a Qi Refinement Great Perfection cultivator really be this broke?"
He had expected there to be no spirit stones inside.
After all, when Qiu Bai bid on the supreme-grade dharma artifact at the Zhenlong Black Market, he hadn't had enough spirit stones and had barely managed to scrape by by pooling several equivalent spirit materials.
Yet he never imagined that, apart from a high-grade dharma artifact and a mid-grade defensive dharma artifact, this storage bag contained absolutely nothing else.
Yes, completely empty!
No talismans!
No pills!
No spell manuals, mechanical puppets, spirit herbs, or precious materials... nothing at all.
This net worth was cleaner than his own face.
No wonder Qiu Bai had been in such a hurry to murder people for their treasures outside.
How could a cultivator be impoverished to this degree?
"What sin did I commit to deserve this!"
Liu Han felt like weeping without tears. For the sake of this garbage, he had sacrificed a high-grade unconventional dharma artifact!
***
After finishing his alchemy session at noon, Luo Chen took his bodyguards out for a stroll through the outer city.
As they walked, he casually inquired about the conditions in various outer districts.
For instance, where did out-of-town cultivators mostly gather? How many shops were run by local cultivators?
And how were the Mountain Breaker Gang's businesses distributed throughout the outer city?
It had to be said that all five bodyguards were veterans of the gang, readily providing answers to whatever he asked.
Only then did Luo Chen realize the Mountain Breaker Gang was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Shops in the inner city, pleasure houses and taverns in the outer city, and even the garment shop built last winter were all thriving.
Unfortunately, things had grown too chaotic lately, causing profits across all these businesses to plummet.
"If the Gang Leader gains enough good fortune from the Core Formation ruins and successfully forms his core in the future, our Mountain Breaker Gang will instantly become a Core Formation faction. We might even be able to establish our own sect!"
The thought of establishing a sect filled Dongfang Liang with boundless passion.
By then, they would be disciples of a sect, holding status wherever they went!
Luo Chen curled his lip inwardly. Achieving Core Formation was nowhere near that easy.
Foundation Establishment was one thing; with sufficient external aids, adequate aptitude, and a bit of luck, one had a solid chance of success.
Core Formation, however, required a proper spirit vein!
Without a suitable Tier 3 spirit vein, an ordinary rogue cultivator couldn't possibly form a core.
Breaking through a bottleneck and daily cultivation were two entirely different matters.
Besides, Luo Chen secretly hoped Mi Shuhua wouldn't achieve Core Formation. If he did, Luo Chen would truly become nothing more than a pure tool in his eyes.
During their conversation, Luo Chen also casually asked about black markets.
This time, he asked about ordinary black markets—the lower-tier kind.
To his surprise, such places were quite commonplace.
With each of the five bodyguards chiming in with a few sentences, Luo Chen quickly pieced together the full picture.
"East, south, west, north—there's a small black market in every direction!"
This was truly unexpected.
In particular, one of those black markets was organized by the Mountain Breaker Gang itself, frequently used to auction resources useful to middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.
For a time, the mid-grade Jade Marrow Pills Luo Chen refined had been wildly sought-after treasures there.
"No way. That stuff could actually be in such high demand?"
"We sold them individually!" Dongfang Liang had actually guarded the entrance to that black market before becoming Luo Chen's bodyguard.
His role back then had been similar to that Wang-surnamed cultivator who gave Luo Chen advice at the Zhenlong Black Market.
Mainly, his tall and burly physique gave him an imposing presence!
"Plus, they were auctioned alongside other resources.
"Hall Master, you might not know this, but during that period, we held steady auctions for your Jade Marrow Pills. The prices weren't overly high, but they drew in a massive crowd. The Mountain Breaker Black Market's attendance once ranked among the highest in the entire outer city black market circle."
Luo Chen's brow twitched. Now he understood why his reputation as "Danchenzi" had grown so prominent.
It turned out the gang had been secretly promoting him all along!
Still, if a black market consistently offered steady auctions of an alchemist's pills, it was indeed bound to draw a crowd.
Chatting as they walked, Luo Chen soon arrived at the foot of Mount Qinghe.
From a distance, he spotted a young man with a jade-like face and a stern, aloof demeanor. Bare-chested, showing off finely sculpted muscles, he swung a heavy iron hammer down on an iron ingot, strike after strike.
Tsk, tsk. The view was truly something to behold!
"Xiao Duan, keeping busy?"
Duan Feng looked up, the corners of his mouth twitching. Wasn't that obvious?
Luo Chen waved a grand hand. "Come on, you five! Line up behind him, backs straight!"
The bodyguards were slightly bewildered, but they instinctively walked over and stood beneath the banner.
"Now, I'll chant a line, and you repeat it at the top of your lungs."
Under Duan Feng's shocked, trembling gaze, Luo Chen chuckled and chanted, "Wind is howling, rain is falling, broken artifacts aren't appalling!"
Zhou Yuanli parted his lips, muttering the line in a faint whisper.
The others did the same, their voices buzzing like mosquitoes.
Immediately after, Luo Chen roared, "Didn't you eat today?
"Louder, all of you!"
Zhou Yuanli's face flushed bright red. He swore that even at his lowest, he had never done anything so humiliating.
Just as he hesitated, Dongfang Liang's booming voice rang out beside him.
"Wind is howling, rain is falling, broken artifacts aren't appalling!"
"Hmm?"
Luo Chen's gaze locked onto Zhou Yuanli. That old fellow had just been slacking off.
"One more time! Don't let me catch anyone slacking, or you can roll right back to Gang Leader Mi. I, Luo Chen, have no use for useless bums who can't even open their mouths.
"Listen closely! A few spirit stones, don't fret the price, Fenghai Smithy treats you nice!"
Zhou Yuanli gritted his teeth, his neck stiffening. Closing his eyes tight, he bellowed with all his might,
"A few spirit stones, don't fret the price, Fenghai Smithy treats you nice!"
Five late Qi Refinement cultivators infused their spiritual power into the chant simultaneously.
The thunderous sound shot straight into the clear sky, startling the cloud cranes.
Every rogue cultivator in the vicinity couldn't help but turn to stare.
*What a total disgrace!* Zhou Yuanli thought miserably.
Yet he didn't dare refuse to shout. Luo Chen was glaring straight at him; if he were truly sent back to Mi Shuhua, his fate would be far more humiliating than this.
Following that, Luo Chen improvised a few more rhyming jingles on the spot, turning the scene into a live advertisement for the artifact shop.
It wasn't until Duan Feng looked at him with pleading eyes that Luo Chen finally stopped, still craving more.
He waved a hand dismissively.
"Step aside. Look at that pathetic display. You can't even shout a slogan with enthusiasm—how can I count on you when bandits show up?"
Zhou Yuanli, Liu Qiang, and the rest scattered like startled birds, fleeing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
They truly couldn't afford to lose any more face.
After all, they weren't nobodies; plenty of rogue cultivators in Dahe Market recognized them.
Once the men were out of earshot, Luo Chen's expression turned serious.
"How have the earnings been lately?"
Duan Feng let out a sigh.
Seeing that, Luo Chen felt his heart skip a beat.
Yet Duan Feng's next words brought him a massive sigh of relief.
"I was too conceited before. I never took your advice to heart.
"This artifact business really does make far more than fighting for my life."
Under Luo Chen's gaze, he held up a hand to indicate a number.
Two thousand!
Luo Chen's eyes widened. It had barely been half a month since the opening of Fenghai Smithy!
He had earned that much already?
As Duan Feng explained through voice transmission, the realization dawned on Luo Chen.
Repairing artifacts brought in only a few hundred spirit stones.
Mainly, that work was very time-consuming.
The real money came from buying used dharma artifacts and selling them at a premium.
Many used artifacts appeared severely damaged, but that was often just because ordinary cultivators didn't know any better.
After buying them cheaply, Duan Feng needed only minimal repairs to restore eighty to ninety percent of their original power.
Then, he would sell them at a high price.
To begin with, the Guyuan Mountain Range was the place with the highest rate of artifact wear and tear in Dahe Market.
Now that conflict was escalating, the demand had spread even wider.
In a short period, Duan Feng had continuously bought low and sold high. The profit generated by the price difference alone was enough to make heads turn.
"I still have several heavily damaged mid-grade dharma artifacts on hand that I bought for just two or three hundred each.
"Give me a bit of time to fix them up, and each one can sell for seven or eight hundred.
"The only thing holding me back is a lack of hands."
Duan Feng pointed at the iron ingot before him. "Take hammering this refined iron raw material, for instance. It's the most basic labor, but it eats up time and manpower. In truth, an ordinary middle-stage Qi Refinement cultivator—even an early-stage one—could handle it.
"If I could free up enough time, I could study several formation manuals in my possession. Perhaps in the future, I could even repair high-grade dharma artifacts."
Luo Chen had never heard Duan Feng speak so many words in one breath.
Yet he listened with utmost seriousness, for this was Duan Feng's domain of expertise.
Halfway through, Luo Chen understood the predicament Duan Feng faced.
To put it bluntly, it was just like his own pill refining back in the day.
Basic tasks required no technical skill whatsoever.
Yet without anyone to help, they were immense time sinks.
And that problem was actually very easy to solve!
People?
They were the one consumable never in short supply.
Even in the cultivation world, there were vast numbers of low-tier rogue cultivators ready to be put to work!
"That's an easy fix. I—"
Just as Luo Chen was about to offer a solution, the words froze in his throat.
He and Duan Feng turned in unison toward Mount Qinghe.
Along the wide dirt path winding down the mountain beneath the canopy of ancient trees, a massive crowd of cultivators was fleeing madly.
When a crowd swelled into the hundreds, they moved like a rolling tide!
At first glance, it looked as though ferocious demon beasts were pursuing them from behind.
The cultivators outside the mountain ceased their work, watching the refugees in shock and confusion.
Their robes were drenched in blood and covered in claw marks.
It looked as if they had just survived a brutal fight to the death.
Closer! They were getting closer!
Soon, the vanguard reached the mountain's edge.
Without hesitation, Luo Chen dispatched the nearby Liu Qiang to grab a middle-stage Qi Refinement rogue cultivator and bring him over.
"What happened? Why are you in such a panic!"
The rogue cultivator, having been focused purely on running for his life, had initially been furious at being snatched away.
Yet seeing the group of late-stage cultivators before him, he shuddered involuntarily.
"S-seniors, the demon beasts in the mountain have rioted! They're attacking humans indiscriminately!"
A demon beast riot?
Luo Chen's brow furrowed, and he asked pointedly,
"What about the Foundation Establishment cultivators leading the expeditions?"
The rogue cultivator stammered in terror, "A few days ago, the Heavenly Craft Spirit Snatching Array shrank abruptly, forcing out all rogue cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage. We have no idea what the situation is with those Foundation Establishment seniors right now!"
The array shrank?
Duan Feng seemed lost in thought, murmuring softly, "That usually happens when a grand array lacks sufficient energy. It shrinks to protect its core area."
Luo Chen raised an eyebrow.
It appeared the contest over the Core Formation ruins had reached its most critical juncture.
Releasing the rogue cultivator, Luo Chen gazed into the distance.
With his double-stacked Spiritual Eye Art, his field of vision far exceeded that of any Qi Refinement cultivator; calling it a lesser Clairvoyance was no exaggeration.
As far as his eyes could see, agile figures darted and leaped among the towering ancient trees.
Deep within the forest, massive silhouettes over ten feet tall were brutally hunting down rogue cultivators.
"Let's go. We're heading back!"
Luo Chen said calmly. A gentleman did not stand beneath a collapsing wall!
Chapter 129