Annihilation

Yin Lang, who had been providing intelligence for Lin Junjie, was currently hiding in a bush, observing everything that was happening from afar.

He was insidious and cruel, often engaging in illicit activities. Those who knew him well had given him the nickname Yin Lang.

He had a full-blooded brother who, two to three years ago, had invited him to rob a group of mortals, who were said to be rich prey.

At the time, he thought about how much profit a group of mortals could yield, and coupled with other matters, he didn't participate.

Who would have thought that his full-blooded brother would never return? After investigating through various channels, he learned that he had been killed by Wang Hong and his group.

From then on, he had been secretly watching this group. He discovered that this group was indeed rich prey. They had set up over a dozen stalls and even had a shop. Their assets were at least several thousand Spirit Stones.

However, this group had always stayed within the city, so he had no opportunity to make a move.

This time, he finally got an opportunity, but observing their imposing aura, he felt uncertain and instigated Lin Junjie to come.

Lin Junjie was merely a collateral branch of the Lin family, with an allowance of only two Qi Gathering Pills and twenty Spirit Stones per month.

He occasionally robbed rogue cultivators. Upon receiving Yin Lang's news, he immediately brought his men to pursue them.

Yin Lang found an excuse to slip away en route and hid in the dark to observe.

If Lin Junjie won, he would go in for a few finishing blows and perhaps get a share of the spoils. It wouldn't be too late.

If Lin Junjie lost or died, then this group would have offended the Lin family. The Lin family was a medium-tier power, with even Foundation Establishment cultivators. Crushing these people would be as easy as crushing an ant.

Yin Lang felt fortunate at this moment that Lin Junjie below was ambushed and killed in the first exchange.

Of the remaining people, the one at Qi Refining Layer Five was entangled by Wang Hong. The remaining ten people engaged in battle with the forty-odd soldiers.

The soldiers divided into three waves, attacking in turns. Their attacks were continuous like a tide, each wave targeting the same person until they were killed.

These soldiers coordinated seamlessly; before one wave ended, the next had already arrived. The talismans and spiritual shields cast by the cultivators could only withstand one or two waves of attacks before being broken, after which they were pierced by several spears.

In this short period, three cultivators had already lost their lives.

Moreover, these soldiers only attacked; they did not defend at all. Facing the magical attacks or talisman attacks from the other cultivators, they didn't even bother to look. They were all blocked by a large number of defensive talismans thrown by two Qi Refining cultivators among the soldiers.

Their mutual trust and coordination were evident.

This scene made Yin Lang exclaim at the wastefulness. In this short time, dozens of spiritual talismans had been used, worth hundreds of Spirit Stones, all wasted for nothing. These mortal soldiers could be found again if they died; there were thousands of mortals, as many as one could wish for.

On the other side, Wang Hong was fighting with the cultivator at Qi Refining Layer Five.

That cultivator unleashed a black Flying Sword, slashing towards Wang Hong. Wang Hong, not to be outdone, summoned his Spear to meet it. The two collided in mid-air with a clang.

In an instant, they clashed several times in the air. Wang Hong took out a bottle of Spirit Wine and quickly downed it, throwing the bottle away, then quickly grabbed another bottle and drank it.

His spiritual energy was being depleted too quickly. Qi Refining Layer Four was still not quite suitable for controlling Magic Artifacts.

The opposing cultivator also took out Spirit Wine and took a small sip, and his magical power had already recovered. The quality of his Spirit Wine should be better than Wang Hong's.

Seeing that he might be at a disadvantage if this continued, Wang Hong took out several Fireball Talismans and hurled them at the opposing cultivator.

The opposing cultivator awkwardly dodged several Fireball Talismans, his hair also scorched, and he cursed loudly, "Brat, what a waste! I've never seen you use Spirit Stones to smash people right from the start. Those are mine."

The magical artifacts of both sides continued to collide. Wang Hong drank another bottle of Spirit Wine. He said, "Grandpa just likes to smash people with Spirit Stones. If they're yours, then come and get them!"

Saying this, he threw out a few more talismans, without even checking the results, and then threw out a handful of talismans.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sea of fire formed by the Fireball Talismans engulfed the cultivator at Qi Refining Layer Five, who, under the continuous bombardment of talismans, had nowhere to hide and was ultimately completely submerged, turning into ashes.

On the other side, of the ten cultivators, only five were left struggling to hold on.

Wang Hong did not rush to join the battle but stood not far away, observing.

Seeing that the situation was dire, one cultivator tried to escape, but Wang Hong restrained him with a binding spell.

At this sight, Zhang Chunfeng shouted, "Surround!"

The original three-wave attack formation transformed into five small teams, flanking from left and right, completely encircling the remaining four.

During this time, someone tried to escape, but Wang Hong sent them back. He still wanted to use them for training.

Fifteen minutes later, the battle ended. All twelve people were killed. After collecting the spoils, they burned the bodies.

After dealing with the battlefield, the group returned to the city overnight. They didn't know if Lin Junjie still had any backup plans.

Yin Lang, who was still lying in the bush, let out a long sigh of relief after Wang Hong and the others had left.

This group had put too much pressure on him. He had never seen a group of mortals plus a few cultivators at Qi Refining Layer One or Two possess such combat power. His brother had truly died without injustice.

More than forty people, the vast majority of whom were mortals, with the highest cultivation being only Qi Refining Layer Four, had actually killed over a dozen cultivators. This included Lin Junjie, a cultivator at Qi Refining Layer Six.

He had initially thought that even if Lin Junjie couldn't gain an advantage, at most three to five people would die, but he never expected them all to perish here.

He himself was only at Qi Refining Layer Five. If he hadn't slipped away beforehand, he would probably have become part of those ashes by now.

Normally, those mortals were like ants that could be crushed at will. When they met them, weren't they all prostrating themselves and treating them like gods?

This battle had shocked him greatly. He secretly resolved that with enemies like these, they must be eliminated.

Wang Hong and his group returned to their lodging and distributed the spoils.

These twelve people only had over three hundred Spirit Stones in total, but they obtained ten Magic Artifacts, a few elixirs, and a few spiritual herbs.

"Two of them didn't even have Magic Artifacts, yet they came to join the fun." Wang Hong chuckled.

Lin Junjie's magic artifact was actually a mid-grade flying sword, and he also had a copy of Alchemy Basics, which contained recipes for three elixirs and some fundamental knowledge of alchemy. Wang Hong took these two items, leaving the rest for his soldiers to distribute.

This battle was a huge loss when calculated, as the talismans alone were worth over a thousand spirit stones.

Although this victory seemed impressive, it was achieved by simply overwhelming the enemy with spirit stones.

Without the talismans, the outcome of the battle would have been uncertain, and even with victory, casualties would have been heavy.

It seemed the progress of learning talisman crafting needed to be accelerated.

"There are so many things to learn in cultivation," Wang Hong couldn't help but sigh. "Alchemy, talisman crafting, practicing spells, and meditation."

In reality, he was overthinking things. Most cultivators focused primarily on their cultivation, practicing one or two spells, and then hunting Demonic Beasts or searching for spirit herbs to earn resources for their practice.

The next day, Wang Hong found a shop called the Myriad Laws Tower.

As he stepped inside, the first thing that caught his eye were rows of rosewood shelves filled with books, jade slips, and other items.

A maidservant in white approached him and bowed. "Greetings, fellow Daoist. Please come this way."

She gestured and led Wang Hong to a tea table, where she sat him down and brewed him a pot of spirit tea.

Wang Hong took a sip of the fragrant tea, feeling his spirits relax.

The maidservant in white then asked, "Our shop deals in all sorts of books and jade slips. Do you have any specific needs, Daoist? I will find them for you."

Wang Hong pondered for a moment before replying, "I want to learn alchemy, spirit herbs, talisman crafting, spirit wine brewing, spirit cuisine, and spell cultivation. Please find books on all these topics for me to look at."

The maidservant in white was stunned. It was the first time she had ever seen someone want to purchase books from so many different categories simultaneously. Could he possibly learn them all?

Many people, even over their entire lifetimes, could only master one of these skills and still thrive in the cultivation world.

Learning these crafts not only required time but also substantial resources.

Even ordinary cultivation families, with abundant resources, could only afford to support mastery in one craft.

Some families were known for alchemy, others for formations, and some for artifact refining – this was the reason why.

Let alone an individual.