"Hold my steps?"
"Hold your mother's steps!"
Boss Hu cursed loudly, pivoting in another direction to flee.
Within that mist of blood, the sky-filling sword light converged in an instant, condensing into a blood-red sword pill.
Buzz!
The sword pill hummed softly!
In the next breath, it erupted with blinding speed, streaking after him like a shooting star in hot pursuit.
It was simply too fast, far beyond what an ordinary Foundation Establishment True Cultivator could dodge.
His mind violently shaken, Boss Hu summoned his flying sword to intercept it.
Yet the sword pill's agility far surpassed his sword-control arts; in a flash, it skirted right around his flying sword.
"Damn it!"
In his frantic panic, Boss Hu slapped down a talisman, which flared into an earthy yellow barrier of light.
This was a Tier 2 Vajra Talisman, renowned for its defensive resilience.
Not stopping there, he also summoned a Dark Yellow Iron Shield to block before him.
With this, I should be safe, right?
All of this took long to describe, but unfolded in an eyeblink.
Simultaneously, the meteor-like sword pill slammed into the Vajra barrier.
Chhh...
Under Boss Hu's terrified gaze, the Tier 2 defensive talisman proved utterly fragile, shattered in a fraction of a second.
In the very next moment, the sword pill struck the Dark Yellow Iron Shield.
Screeech... screeech...
The ear-splitting shriek of grinding metal threatened to pierce his eardrums.
Sparks flew in all directions, dazzling and intense.
Yet, after all was said and done, it had been held off.
"The might of a great cultivator... is this terrifying..."
Seeing the sword pill recoil, seemingly preparing to strike again, Boss Hu shuddered and spun around to flee.
Yet out of nowhere, an ominous foreboding of imminent doom surged through his mind.
He jerked his head up.
Before his pupils, the sky and sun were completely blotted out!
Without his realizing it, an enormous mountain had loomed over his head, bearing down with deceptive speed.
The majestic spiritual pressure whipped up a thousand turbulent currents of wind and cloud.
Under that horrifying pressure, Boss Hu could not even maintain his footing and plunged to the earth.
He struggled to lift his head, his face deathly pale.
"No!!!"
The Heavy Turn Seal rumbled downward, poised to crush him into meat paste.
Yet three feet above his head, it halted abruptly.
Boom...
Though the artifact came to a stop, its residual force forcibly compressed the ground by three meters.
A massive crater was gouged into the earth.
Boss Hu lay limp and sprawling within it, devoid of strength in all four limbs.
The calamity had ceased.
Whoosh!
A figure appeared before him—none other than Qin Liangchen, who had wrought slaughter moments before.
"Get up. Come with me. Our guild leader wants to see you."
As he spoke, the mountain overhead shrank into a small seal and flew spinning back.
Only then did that tremendous pressure slowly dissipate.
Boss Hu trembled all over, looking as though he had been scared out of his wits as he scrambled to his feet.
"Who is your guild leader?"
"You'll know once you're there!"
Looking at the disheveled man, Qin Liangchen curled his lip and walked ahead on his own.
Stumbling and staggering behind him, Boss Hu's eyes darted furtively, showing none of the terror he had feigned.
Just as his eyes shifted, preparing to strike without warning and flee for his life, a sudden metallic hum rang by his ear.
The sword pill was hovering beside him at some point, spinning steadily.
From time to time, it spit sword light, making the fine hairs on his skin stand on end.
Boss Hu subconsciously shuddered, the scene of Kou Ji's slaughter flashing across his mind.
That was definitely not an impromptu finishing blow!
It had been an ambush laid in advance.
Otherwise, even a great cultivator in late Foundation Establishment could not silently instakill an early Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Not to mention the mountain into which that small seal had transformed.
It had clearly been positioned along their retreat route ahead of time.
Only with prior preparation could there be such a thunderous strike!
Boss Hu dared not harbor any further reckless thoughts. Such a figure was not someone he could fool with petty tricks.
He didn't kill me outright like he did Kou Ji, which means keeping me alive serves some purpose.
I hope he's easy to deal with.
Still, how did he discover our plot in the first place?
...
"Guild Leader, I brought him back."
Aboard the flying boat, Boss Hu saw the young man surrounded by a host of cultivators.
Dressed in red cloud Daoist robes, with skin fair as white jade, sword-shaped eyebrows, and bright eyes.
Seeing how young his face was, Boss Hu could not help exhaling in relief.
So young; he probably isn't overly bloodthirsty.
Yet when he caught sight of those eyes—deep as ancient, abyssal pools—his soul violently shuddered.
"Clear the battlefield. Do not linger; continue forward."
"You, follow me inside."
In a daze, Boss Hu found himself led into the central hall of the Langqi Flying Boat.
The moment he stepped inside—
Thud!
Discarding all dignity befitting a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, his knees buckled and he fell to his knees.
"Senior, please spare my life! This Hu was merely possessed by greed for a moment. Seeing as I caused Senior no loss whatsoever..."
"Raise your head!"
Boss Hu looked up instinctively.
What met his vision were eyes like a freezing pool, an abyss that seemed to reflect straight into the depths of his sea of consciousness.
Intimidation and oppression, confusion and chaos—his soul roiled ceaselessly, longing to resist.
Yet weak as he was under this immense pressure of divine soul, he was utterly helpless.
In his sea of consciousness, only a colossal, indifferent pair of eyes looked down upon him.
"Name!"
"Hu Wei. 'Wei' as in committing reckless misdeeds."
"Where are you from? Under whose orders?"
"From Daguang Immortal City. No one ordered me; I saw wealth and grew greedy."
"Tell me everything you know regarding Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks, one by one."
"At the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield, the leader is Master Yaoxing, a late Golden Core cultivator of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect. There are five Sword Sect Golden Core cultivators and three hundred Foundation Establishment sword cultivators. The main force of the allied army consists of Flame Alliance cultivators, as well as the Sword Sect's subordinate forces: Tiandao Dock, Cold Moon Temple, Quicksand Sword Sect..."
In the quiet hall, only Hu Wei's voice echoed.
Swift and resolute at first, it gradually grew sluggish and slow.
The intelligence he recounted became increasingly vague, replaced by words like "roughly," "presumably," and "perhaps."
When it came to defensive lines and base locations, he was completely in the dark.
At last, looking exhausted, he said with difficulty, "That... that is all I know."
"Mm."
With that soft grunt, Hu Wei jolted awake.
The colossal eyes within his sea of consciousness had vanished.
He stared blankly around the hall as everything he had uttered rushed back into his memory like a tidal wave.
In a single instant, his face drained of all color.
He had run headfirst into an iron wall!
Not only was the man before him overwhelmingly powerful, but his soul strength was suffocating, and his esoteric arts were extraordinary.
Before him, Hu Wei had virtually no secrets left to keep.
No wonder the other party had been prepared in advance.
With this level of soul strength, his external spiritual sense likely spanned ten-plus li.
With over a dozen of them traveling without concealment, they had been as conspicuous as candlelight in the dead of night.
He swallowed hard and remained prostrate on the floor.
"Senior, I've told you everything I know. Please spare my life! A person of your stature must have a generous heart..."
"I have one last question for you."
A gentle smile appeared on Luo Chen's face, his tone mild.
Hu Wei nodded frantically like a chicken pecking rice. "Please, ask! I will hold nothing back, telling everything I know!"
"A very simple question. Don't be afraid."
Hu Wei could not help feeling a wave of relief, eagerly listening.
Toying with the sword pill in his hand, Luo Chen said casually, "If I hadn't been here, how did you plan to deal with the cultivators aboard this boat?"
Hu Wei froze.
He instinctively looked up, and was just about to speak.
A flash of sword light rose from Luo Chen's hand.
"I—"
Hu Wei felt the world spinning around him.
When the spinning stopped, all he saw was his own headless body kneeling in the hall.
Luo Chen shook his head. "You shouldn't have hesitated."
Hu Wei died with his eyes wide open.
Having disposed of Hu Wei, Luo Chen fell into contemplation.
Just now, he had used the Spirit-Captivation Technique to intimidate the foe, followed by the Spirit-Befuddling Technique to bewilder his mind.
Although it was not as domineering as the soul-searching techniques of the demonic path, he had extracted the information he wanted.
This band of rogue cultivators was not strong.
There were only two early Foundation Establishment cultivators, nothing more.
Unable to make any waves on the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield, they had switched identities to ambush logistics convoys of the Luoyun Sect faction.
It earned them spirit stones and let them claim merits issued by the Sword Sect.
Nothing worth mentioning; they couldn't even last three rounds against Luo Chen.
What interested Luo Chen was that the composition of the Sword Sect faction's allies was unexpectedly complex.
Or rather, not complex, but remarkably simple.
It was merely the Sword Sect and the Flame Alliance.
What was complex were the subordinate forces beneath the Sword Sect.
Tiandao Dock, Cold Moon Temple, Quicksand Sword Sect... seven or eight forces in a row, all prominent first-rate major forces within the Jade Cauldron Domain!
Each sect had at least one Golden Core cultivator holding the fort!
This scale was genuinely impressive.
When considering the subordinate forces of Golden Core major sects—whether the Flame Alliance, Ice Fort, Mount Ailao, and so forth—most were merely Foundation Establishment-level factions.
Only Azure Pill Valley, with its immense wealth and influence, possessed one or two first-rate Golden Core-level subordinates.
No wonder the Sword Sect could unite with just one ally yet stand firm against the four-sect coalition on the Luoyun Sect's side, even maintaining the upper hand.
While the four sects have united motives but divergent efforts, the foundation the Sword Sect has cultivated over three hundred years in the Jade Cauldron Domain is also not to be underestimated.
After musing for a moment, Luo Chen felt he had gained a deeper understanding of the situation at the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield.
Once he arrived, he would not be caught off guard and bewildered.
When confronting foes, he could at least recognize their affiliations.
Sending out a voice transmission, Qin Liangchen soon walked in.
At first glance, Qin Liangchen saw Hu Wei's corpse lying on the floor, eyes wide in death.
"Take it out and hang it from the flagpole!"
Qin Liangchen asked in surprise, "Isn't that a bit too conspicuous?"
Decapitating a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator and displaying his head in public was an extreme act, even in the cultivation world.
Yet Luo Chen did not care much.
"On our journey ahead, who knows how much trouble awaits. While I'm not particularly afraid of trouble, dealing with unnecessary trouble is troublesome in itself."
The phrasing was a bit convoluted, but Qin Liangchen grasped the meaning right away.
With the head of a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator hung high, any cultivators along the way harboring ill intent would have to weigh whether they possessed the guts to provoke a force capable of slaying and brazen enough to publicly display the severed head of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Furthermore, the route they were traveling was in the relatively safe rear.
Troubles would not be frequent to begin with.
Hanging the head would deter even those few disturbances.
"Indeed, the Guild Leader is right. Being conspicuous has its benefits!"
Qin Liangchen chuckled, scooping up Hu Wei's headless corpse with one arm and carrying the severed head in the other before exiting the hall.
A short while later, the clamor of Luotian Association cultivators echoed from outside.
Displaying the severed head of a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator was immensely shocking to Qi Refinement cultivators.
After the uproar, hushed murmurs discussing Luo Chen arose.
Having not fought openly for years, the Guild Leader's prowess had improved yet again!
While still several li away, he had effortlessly defeated True Cultivators of the same realm like a dragon elusive in the clouds.
One killed in an instant, one suppressed!
Such feats deeply awed the Luotian cultivators.
Likewise, it bolstered their confidence for the journey to the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield.
Following the Guild Leader, they had never tasted defeat; it was always triumphant advances and unbroken victories!
Inside the hall, Luo Chen paid little mind to the chatter.
Looking at the two storage pouches before him, he took some interest.
One belonged to Hu Wei, the other to Kou Ji.
Releasing his spiritual sense into them, Luo Chen smiled.
The pair's capabilities were subpar.
The spiritual sense imprints they had left behind were quite crude.
With his current attainments, cracking them was as easy as turning over his hand!
With a casual wave of his hand, a sweep of the Great Circle Cleansing Art erased their imprints.
Such ease truly made him sigh with emotion in hindsight.
Back in the day, cracking Duan Qiankun's storage pouch had taken him a full three years!
Even after his cultivation rose considerably, erasing the imprint of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator would still take him six months or even a year.
Nothing like now, broken with a mere flick.
"A powerful soul brings many conveniences."
Smiling slightly, Luo Chen probed his spiritual sense inside.
"Eh?"
He had assumed there wouldn't be anything good inside, but a scan gave him a pleasant little surprise.
With a thought, an ore roughly a zhang tall appeared at his feet.
Examining it, Luo Chen nodded.
"Indeed, it really is raw Soft Thunder Sand ore. If refined well, it should yield at least two liang."
Soft Thunder Sand was the most common material used in refining magic treasures. Ranked as a Tier 3 material, it was always in high demand.
Two liang of Soft Thunder Sand was easily worth several thousand spirit stones, and hard to come by on the market.
"And this is just a single chunk of raw ore."
"Who knows how much raw ore is buried within Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks, or how many other precious minerals are excavated each year."
"Just from the mineral resources of this one place alone, the Sword Sect rakes in countless spirit stones annually."
"No wonder the Luoyun Sect covets this place so fiercely, fighting tooth and nail to seize it."
Chuckling, Luo Chen stowed the item away.
Then, he transferred the combined total of over forty thousand spirit stones from the two storage pouches into his own.
As for the other items, he didn't care much for them.
There were a few top-grade magical artifacts, but with the sword pill and the Heavy Turn Seal in hand, he was hardly lacking.
However, he kept Hu Wei's shield.
It was a rare top-grade defensive magical artifact. While he had no use for it, he could reward it to someone else in the future.
Top-grade defensive magical artifacts were items that even Foundation Establishment True Cultivators coveted!
Luo Chen planned to keep the remaining miscellaneous items to deposit into the Luotian Association's treasury upon returning; they would surely find a purpose.
Having handled these matters, Luo Chen once again went into seclusion.
The Langqi Flying Boat flew steadily forward.
For the rest of the journey, they encountered no major troubles.
During this time, Luo Chen occasionally released his spiritual sense to survey the surroundings.
With the strength of his soul, he could cover an area spanning twenty li around him!
In the process, he truly did detect a bandit group consisting of three Foundation Establishment True Cultivators.
However, upon spotting the severed head hanging from the Langqi Flying Boat, they hesitated and ultimately chose to withdraw.
Several days later.
The Langqi Flying Boat slowly descended upon a land blanketed in golden yellow.
"Guild Leader, we've arrived!"
Inside the hall, Luo Chen opened his eyes and rose to his feet.
Chapter 365