"You're insane!"
The Formation Breaking Hammer was worth 2,000 low-grade spirit stones.
Lin Zhi Shan felt the pain of it too, but his expression was gloomy. The loss was a minor matter; losing face was a major one!
"Fairy Liu, may I ask how I offended you?" Lin Zhi Shan said in a low voice. "You broke my formation for no reason. If you don't give me an explanation... this matter isn't over!"
"Give you an explanation?!" Liu Mei was so furious that she laughed instead. "You fucking dare to play dumb!"
"What am I playing dumb about? Liu Mei, you'd better make yourself clear!"
Lin Zhi Shan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly noticed the pale pink, dense mist drifting toward him from all around. He tried to flee, but it was already too late.
In the blink of an eye, the dense mist had spread across the heavens and earth.
The fragrance assaulted his nostrils, but who in the outer sect didn't know how formidable Joy Peak's "Crimson Powder Miasma" was?
"If you had only killed my Joy Peak sisters, that would be one thing, but you even absorbed her essence.
"It had always been Joy Peak's people who absorbed others' essence. Since when could outsiders absorb the essence of Joy Peak disciples?"
Liu Mei's furious voice was still laced with alluring sweetness. Her voice rose and fell, seeming to come from first the left and then the right.
"Who the hell did I absorb?!" Lin Zhi Shan was shocked and enraged. A dark green spiritual force had already formed a protective shield around him. "I have countless pills. Why would I need to absorb essence from your Joy Peak... Wait, speaking of which, one of my disciples, Lin Miao, died too. Was it you who killed him?!"
"Stop joking around! Su Hao has already confessed. You're still trying to fool me!"
Liu Mei grew even angrier. The Crimson Silk Ribbon in her hand shot out with terrifying force, slamming toward Lin Zhi Shan's back.
Lin Zhi Shan's protective spiritual force cracked, but did not completely break. As he dodged, spiritual force rapidly replenished and repaired the protective barrier. At the same time, he sprinted forward, trying to escape this pink poisonous miasma.
"Who is Su Hao?"
As Lin Zhi Shan fled, he was utterly baffled. For a moment, he couldn't even recall who that person was. "Wait... wasn't he that medicine slave?"
"Fairy Liu, would you really believe the words of a mere medicine slave? Don't let a treacherous villain drive a wedge between us!"
Lin Zhi Shan faintly sensed that something was wrong.
He had originally only been putting on a show of strength, and now he was even less willing to fight.
He truly didn't want to make an enemy of Joy Peak, especially not Liu Mei, whose beauty was renowned and who had countless men beneath her skirts.
"Fine, then open your mind and let me question you properly!" Liu Mei sneered after another sneak attack with the Crimson Silk Ribbon failed.
"Liu Mei, you really know how to joke!"
Lin Zhi Shan's face darkened. If he opened his mind and let Liu Mei bewitch him, wouldn't he be entirely at her mercy? All his secrets would be exposed!
"There's no talking sense into you. Don't think I'm afraid of you. You're the one pressing me at every turn. Once I get out, I'll definitely demand an explanation from the elders of your Joy Peak!"
A vine-entwined spell sword appeared in Lin Zhi Shan's hand.
Spiritual force surged. He formed a hand seal with one hand, and the vines wrapped around the spell sword rapidly grew. In the blink of an eye, countless sharp thorns shot toward every direction.
When a different sound came from the west, the noise of thorns striking silk rang out.
Lin Zhi Shan dashed away in fury, sword in hand, pursuing the west. At the same time, he activated a bell-shaped magical artifact. As the bell shook, vibrating sound waves transformed into countless clusters of shockwaves.
Wherever the sound waves passed, the dense fog scattered, revealing the scene ahead.
There was no sign of Liu Mei ahead, only a torn piece of Crimson Silk Ribbon drifting down.
"Not good!"
Lin Zhi Shan's expression changed drastically.
The dense fog on the left churned violently. Like a giant serpent, the blazing-red Crimson Silk Ribbon swept through the air.
The next second, Lin Zhi Shan was tightly wrapped layer upon layer by the Crimson Silk Ribbon.
"Heh?"
Liu Mei emerged from the pink miasma, her body swaying like a seductive serpent. Her slender hand held the end of the Crimson Silk Ribbon. "A loser will always be a loser. You have the cultivation of Qi Refining Level 8, but not the combat strength of the eighth level. This was much easier than I expected."
The outcome was decided. The Crimson Powder Miasma from all directions rapidly gathered toward a red ring on Liu Mei's hand.
"I'm only at Qi Refining Level 7!" Lin Zhi Shan roared furiously. He had only just managed to cultivate the Hundred Profound Gang Body. Where would he have found the time to break through?
Before his voice had even faded, the Crimson Silk Ribbon instantly transformed into countless strips of torn cloth.
Lin Zhi Shan angrily activated a silver-white cone. This magical artifact was unstoppable in its sharpness. It instantly destroyed a low-grade magical artifact before stabbing toward Liu Mei.
The battle outside the cave dwelling was fierce.
Su Hao was hiding behind a rock, secretly watching everything.
With the Crimson Powder Miasma blocking his view, he couldn't see what was happening inside.
Only when Lin Zhi Shan deliberately showed weakness and was captured, and Liu Mei withdrew the Crimson Powder Miasma, did he suddenly launch a counterattack.
Everything that followed was witnessed by Su Hao.
Having learned his lesson from being discovered by Zhou Cui Feng, Su Hao was even more careful this time. He narrowed his eyes and observed the battle instead of looking directly at the two of them, avoiding the mysterious battle instincts of cultivators.
Liu Mei couldn't arrange such a Crimson Powder Miasma again in a short time. The situation reversed, and she fell into a disadvantage.
In the end, at the cost of damaging three magical artifacts, she successfully exhausted the remaining power of the disposable mid-grade magical artifact, the Tiger King Cone.
But she was already at the end of her strength. After all, her Qi Refining Level 6 cultivation was one level lower than Lin Zhi Shan's.
By the end, neither of them had much spiritual force left, and they began fighting at close quarters.
Liu Mei was ultimately somewhat weaker physically. After taking a blast of spiritual force from Lin Zhi Shan, she borrowed the Crimson Powder Miasma's cover and fled.
"Lin Zhi Shan, just wait! For today's grudge, I'll make you repay it a hundredfold!"
Liu Mei's venomous voice came from the distance.
"Bitch..." Lin Zhi Shan panted heavily. His spiritual force was already depleted, yet he still hadn't figured out what had happened.
His protective formation and the Tiger King Cone had both been destroyed.
His losses exceeded 3,000 spirit stones.
That could all be set aside. Spirit stones and magical artifacts could still be acquired somehow, but offending Liu Mei of Joy Peak was the greatest trouble of all.
"Su Hao? What exactly did that boy tell Liu Mei... A female disciple of Joy Peak had her essence absorbed?
"Could that boy have framed me?
"How could a mere medicine slave possibly lie to Liu Mei's face?"
Lin Zhi Shan clutched his chest, grinding his teeth in hatred.
He had also been seriously injured in this battle.
"Su Hao..." Lin Zhi Shan repeated the name through clenched teeth.
"Master, were you calling me?"
At some point, Su Hao had already appeared beneath a tree twenty meters away.
Cold sweat instantly poured down Lin Zhi Shan's body. He whipped his head toward the source of the voice. "You... what are you doing here?!"
"Master, wasn't I worried about you?" Su Hao walked toward Lin Zhi Shan step by step, the spiritual force around him rising in successive waves. "Liu Mei was going to cause trouble for you, so I came specially to help!"
"Your strength..."
Qi Refining Level 3, Qi Refining Level 4, Qi Refining Level 5!
His spiritual force roared like fire, faintly glowing crimson.
Lin Zhi Shan was horrified. Su Hao wasn't cultivating the Hundred Profound Medicine Veins, but some kind of Fire Element Cultivation Method?
More importantly, the realm of his opponent's strength was far too bizarre. In less than twenty days, he had gone from an ordinary mortal all the way to Qi Refining Level 5... No, Qi Refining Level 6?
Holy crap, Qi Refining Level 7!
"It was you who absorbed the essence of the Joy Peak disciple!" Lin Zhi Shan's soul nearly left his body, although this truth still couldn't fully explain all the suspicious points about Su Hao.
A sword appeared in Su Hao's hand.
With golden decorations and a dragon-patterned scabbard, it was instantly recognized by Lin Zhi Shan as the magical artifact embryo—the Golden Rock Sword!
"Wait, Su Hao..." Lin Zhi Shan's mind shook violently. He subconsciously raised a hand, wanting to stall for time.
With all his attention focused on the Golden Rock Sword, he completely failed to notice Su Hao's left hand behind his back as the Soul Shaking Bell gave a gentle shake.
The bell's chime was crisp. In midair, an invisible pressure transformed into a terrifying ghost face. It snarled ferociously, seizing the soul and shaking the spirit!
Lin Zhi Shan's face turned deathly pale. His mind trembled violently, pain filling his eyes as his entire body became unable to move.
Su Hao gripped the sword in his right hand and strode through the air. With one step, he swept the sword across in a clean, decisive slash!