A Spear Through the Chest, the Masked Old Man's Identity

"You..."

The Masked old man's gaze changed abruptly.

Ji Haoyuan's strength was something he had never anticipated beforehand.

At this moment, he could clearly sense the resolute killing intent contained within those three attacks.

Ji Haoyuan wanted to leave him here for good!

The Masked old man's heart trembled.

At the same time, a surge of inexplicable fury rose within him.

His hands began rapidly forming seals.

Buzzz! Buzzz! Buzzz!

The flying sword beneath his feet erupted with azure light.

Phantom flying swords appeared all around him, their sword qi chilling and sharp.

A rapid series of explosive booms rang out.

Azure light and blazing flames intertwined.

The powerful shockwaves carved straight crimson and azure streaks through the air around them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Masked old man's figure was abruptly forced back again and again.

Surging spiritual power burst into waves of air beneath his feet.

At this moment, he felt the blood and qi within him churning ever more violently, while a burning, stabbing pain ran through the meridians all over his body.

Unable to hold it in any longer, he spat out a mouthful of blood with a "Pwah!"

His heart was instantly filled with horror.

Without another word, he turned and fled.

What a joke.

After fighting to this point, if he still could not see the gap between their strengths, then he truly would have lived in vain.

There would be plenty of time in the future.

He would remember today's debt.

However, though he wanted to leave, Ji Haoyuan had no intention of letting him off so easily.

Just as he had said before, someone had broken the formation of his marketplace and killed members of the Ji Family. If such a matter could simply be brushed aside, what would others think of the Ji Family?

Did they truly think the Ji Family were soft persimmons, ripe for anyone to squeeze?

More importantly, allowing a Foundation Establishment enemy like this to escape and lurk in the shadows would pose far too great a threat to the Ji Family.

Now that matters had reached this point between them, if possible, he naturally had to eradicate this hidden danger completely.

So, in the next instant.

Ji Haoyuan raised three fingers and lightly tapped his brow, chest, and Dantian respectively.

This was a small technique he had devised while in seclusion, taking time to ponder it himself.

By stimulating the three acupoints of Yintang, Shanzhong, and Qihai, then applying a special hand seal, he could increase the circulation speed of his spiritual power by thirty percent over its original rate.

It was a rather unconventional method of temporarily boosting combat strength.

Buzzz!

At that moment, Ji Haoyuan's entire body abruptly turned into an afterimage. Moving several degrees faster than before, he instantly caught up with the Masked old man.

"What?"

Sensing Ji Haoyuan closing in, the Masked old man's heart shook violently.

He had never expected the other man to pursue him at such terrifying speed.

What puzzled him even more was—was this really necessary?

They were both Foundation Establishment cultivators. Though he was no match for Ji Haoyuan, it would not be so easy for Ji Haoyuan to truly kill him.

At least, in the Masked old man's view, unless Ji Haoyuan paid a certain price, it was absolutely impossible for him to keep him here for good.

And as for that price, the Masked old man himself would never be willing to pay it unless he had no other choice.

It was not easy to cultivate to Foundation Establishment. Unless they bore a life-and-death grudge, no one wished to risk death or even severe injury to fight another cultivator of the same level to the bitter end.

Unfortunately, Ji Haoyuan clearly did not think the same way.

Of course.

Most importantly, in Ji Haoyuan's current view, the price he needed to pay to keep his opponent was nowhere near as great as the Masked old man imagined.

Boom!

A huge mass of flames in the sky suddenly swelled.

Then it shifted and stretched.

In the blink of an eye, centered around the Crimson Flame Pattern Spear, it rapidly formed into a gigantic spear several zhang long, its surroundings entirely composed of flames, and viciously stabbed toward the Masked old man!

"Damn it!"

The Masked old man could no longer remain calm.

He suddenly slapped the Storage Pouch at his waist.

With a rustle.

A Talisman glittering with brilliant golden light appeared before him.

It was precisely a Second Order defensive Talisman—the Golden Shield Talisman!

"You want to keep me here? Dream on!"

The Masked old man's eyes turned savage.

The flying sword beneath his feet shot forth with a whoosh, leaving behind a sword trail flickering with azure light through the air. Carrying an imposing force that seemed capable of severing everything, it met Ji Haoyuan's Crimson Flame Pattern Spear head-on.

Rumble—!

Ji Yunshan and the others below all felt waves of tremors beneath their feet.

They looked up into the sky, worry unconsciously appearing on every face.

Only after the light in the sky gradually dispersed did everyone's eyes suddenly widen, traces of shock involuntarily surfacing on their faces.

High in the sky.

Ji Haoyuan held the Crimson Flame Pattern Spear.

The spearhead and half its shaft had pierced straight through the Masked old man's chest, pinning his entire body dead in midair.

"You..."

The Masked old man lowered his head with difficulty and looked at the long spear that had already pierced his body.

The life in his eyes rapidly faded away.

Until his death, he could not have imagined that a probing attack would truly cost him his life.

Bang!

Ji Haoyuan flung the Masked old man's corpse heavily onto the ground.

Only then did his figure reappear before Ji Yunshan and the others.

"Fifth Uncle!"

"Fifth Uncle-Grandfather!"

Upon seeing Ji Haoyuan appear, Ji Yunshan and the other Ji Family cultivators all stepped forward with respectful expressions.

At this moment, every face was brimming with excitement.

Successfully killing a cultivator of the same realm was something they had never imagined possible before.

Even for their Old Ancestor, Ji Bochang, or those long-established Foundation Establishment cultivators, it was something exceedingly difficult to accomplish.

Yet the elder before them, who had only recently advanced to Foundation Establishment, had done it.

This could only mean one thing.

Ji Haoyuan's strength, as well as his foundation, far exceeded the expectations of them all.

"Yunshan, does any of you recognize this man?"

At this moment.

Ji Haoyuan had already torn the mask from the Masked old man's face, revealing a rather aged countenance.

After seeing the old man's face beneath the mask, the other Ji Family members present still wore blank and puzzled expressions.

But Ji Yunshan, standing beside Ji Haoyuan, suddenly narrowed his eyes, his pupils contracting slightly.

"Mm..."

Noticing Ji Yunshan's unusual reaction, Ji Haoyuan immediately turned his gaze toward him.

"What is it? Yunshan, do you know this person?"

Ji Yunshan took a slight breath before nodding with a somewhat solemn expression.

"Reporting to Fifth Uncle, if I am not mistaken, this man should be the Foundation Establishment Ancestor of the Sun Family of Fuyang Prefecture."

"The Foundation Establishment Ancestor of the Sun Family of Fuyang Prefecture?"

At his words, Ji Haoyuan's eyes narrowed.

The others present also could not help revealing looks of astonishment.

"Didn't the Sun Family of Fuyang Prefecture perish in a Demon Calamity decades ago? How could this be...?"