Joining Forces!

"Congratulations to the host for killing a Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm suspect and gaining 6080 Merit Points."

Hearing the system's prompt, Shen Zhui frowned.

"This person clearly surpassed the strength limit of an Acquired Realm martial artist, yet the system still only counted him as one?

"That's true. I killed him when his strength had already declined. If I could have killed him at his peak, it would have been different."

"I swung my blade seventy-eight times and still couldn't kill him, only managing to defeat him after his strength waned. Dealing with a pseudo-Xiantian Realm opponent was this difficult. It seems my blade technique still needs a second form before I can possibly slay a Xiantian."

Shen Zhui shook his head. The Unity of Heaven and Man realm, though powerful, and his Slay Cang technique having been honed through practice, combined with his superior movement techniques, still took him this long to kill the enemy.

Clearly, if he wanted to deal with a true Xiantian Master, his own strength alone would likely not be enough.

"The gap between the Acquired and Xiantian realms is indeed not easily bridged."

Putting aside his thoughts, Shen Zhui turned to look at Yan You.

"Yan You, how's it going?"

"I don't know. Just now, it seemed like a Dharma-establishing barrier blocked the special token. Only recently did the County Magistrate's edict break through. I don't know..."

Huh? Yan You suddenly froze, turning to stare at Shen Zhui as if he were a monster.

He had been focused on the matter of the divine statue and hadn't noticed what was happening with Shen Zhui.

Now, upon seeing him, he immediately noticed something unusual.

"You killed him?"

"He's already dead."

"How did you do it?" Yan You couldn't help but ask. He hadn't even sensed Shen Zhui borrowing Divine Power just now.

Could he have killed a pseudo-Xiantian Realm martial artist with his own strength alone?

"This isn't the time to ask that. We need to leave quickly." Shen Zhui glanced at the divine statue.

Sin Value assessment!

Buzz!

Shen Zhui's vision instantly changed. In his eyes, the statue was no longer inanimate but had come alive.

He clearly saw a golden light moving within the statue, and a phantom struggling within it, as if in great pain!

Above the phantom, Shen Zhui saw a scarlet number!

"Four hundred thousand! That's so high!" Shen Zhui's heart skipped a beat.

"Acquired Realm, Merit Points range from dozens to a maximum of over nine thousand.

Xiantian Realm, that Wu Gu, a High-stage Xiantian, only had over sixty thousand.

Spirit Bridge Realm, probably not even a hundred thousand.

"I wonder which realm this Yin God clone belongs to? Divine Ability Realm?"

Shen Zhui was somewhat excited, but it was clear that destroying this statue was impossible for him.

Even if he and Yan You swapped places, and he were the one to break the statue's barrier with the token, it wouldn't count as him killing it personally.

"What a shame," Shen Zhui said with some regret. "I wonder how much I'd get for assisting."

If it wasn't a direct kill, but merely assistance, it would still count towards Merit Points. Of course, Shen Zhui wasn't sure about the exact distribution, only knowing that the greater the effort, the greater the share.

"The token is about to come out." In Shen Zhui's eyes, the phantom grew weaker and thinner under the token's crushing force.

The statue lost its previous smoothness and became much dimmer.

The moment the phantom completely disappeared—

Rumble~

The entire temple began to shake, and the statue exploded violently!

The cyan token suddenly returned to Yan You's hand, though its light had dimmed considerably.

"Let's go!" Shen Zhui no longer hesitated and quickly left the sub-shrine with Yan You.

Meanwhile, Daoist Xiangyang, who was flying towards the sub-shrine he was guarding, was urgently issuing orders.

"Chen Jin, Chen Jin, what's the situation! Remember to hold the ancestral hall to the death, or you'll be dead!"

"Wu San, Wu San, hold on, I'll be there soon!"

"You guys..."

His words abruptly stopped. Daoist Xiangyang suddenly sensed something. A red light flashed within him and then vanished.

"This is bad!" Daoist Xiangyang's face turned deathly pale. "The sub-shrine has been destroyed!"

"Useless! A bunch of good-for-nothings!" He sped forward, his eyes bloodshot.

"I must kill those intruders, otherwise, if the Family Head blames me, I'll be beyond salvation!"

In the plaza in front of the ancestral hall.

The moment Shen Zhui and the other destroyed the sub-temple's statue, Han Mao also felt the change.

During the battle, he had already killed five people, leaving only two peak Houtian realm martial artists and three ninth-stage martial artists.

But the opponents' bodies were emitting wisps of red light one after another, their strength increasing. Although it wasn't exaggerated to the point of being comparable to the Xiantian realm, Han Mao couldn't take down these five coordinated opponents for a moment.

Seeing the divine power within him gradually dissipate, Han Mao was about to use his lifespan to borrow more divine power.

Just then, an anomaly occurred, and the red light on the five people's bodies suddenly vanished.

The strength boost instantly disappeared, and there was even a brief pause!

"It's Yan You and the others who succeeded, haha, what a great opportunity!"

Seizing this sliver of opportunity, Han Mao charged at the two peak Houtian realm martial artists and cut them down with a single blade.

"Cousin! The mission is complete!"

"Brother Han, I'm here to help you!"

Afterward, Shen Zhui and Yan You emerged. The three ninth-stage Houtian realm martial artists were killed by the three of them working together in less than ten breaths.

"Good, let's rendezvous with Zhao Hu and Zimo and leave this place quickly." Han Mao felt the power within him receding like a tide, and he almost lost his footing.

Seeing this, Shen Zhui quickly stepped forward and steadied Han Mao.

"Cousin, are you injured?" Yan You was anxious.

"I'm fine, retreat!" Han Mao growled.

"Let's go." Shen Zhui and Yan You, one on each side, supported Han Mao and quickly descended the stairs towards the ground.

On the ground, beside the rock garden.

Zhao Hu and Rong Zimo were guarding the entrance, with about a dozen corpses lying in front of them.

Fortunately, most of the people on the ground were not strong. They had already teamed up to kill the ninth-stage martial artist guarding the entrance earlier, so now the two of them could handle a group of seventh and eighth-stage Houtian realm martial artists. Although it wasn't easy, they were still relatively safe.

"Clang, clang, clang~"

Zhao Hu and Rong Zimo stood back-to-back, blocking the arrows shot from all around.

Now, no one dared to approach and die. They were just surrounding them from the periphery, shooting with crossbows.

"Fortunately, these heavy crossbows and arrows were damp and damaged in the winter, so they don't have much power. They don't dare to come closer," Zhao Hu laughed.

"Brother Hu, I wonder how Brother Han and the others are doing downstairs. If we wait any longer, I'm afraid that Xiantian Master will return." Rong Zimo, however, was a little anxious.

"What are you afraid of?" Zhao Hu said nonchalantly. "With the tokens in our hands, we can borrow the power of the temple. What is there to fear from a Xiantian Master?"

"Brother Hu, don't forget, there are three mission locations this time. According to the order, this is the weakest one. If we use divine power too early, it might be difficult to complete the mission."

"At worst, I'll live a few years less!" Zhao Hu gritted his teeth. "I actually hope a Xiantian Master comes so I can kill them properly!"

"..." Rong Zimo was speechless.

Just as Zhao Hu and Shen Zhui and the others were about to rendezvous, Daoist Xiangyang was also approaching the manor.

Suddenly, there was a tremor in Daoist Xiangyang's arms, and a blood-red token flew out from his embrace on its own.

Before he could react, a small, ethereal figure in a red Daoist robe appeared from the token.

"Xiangyang."

"Patriarch." Daoist Xiangyang's expression tensed. "Patriarch, this humble one is incompetent..."

"No need to say more." Li Mingtai stared at him coldly.

"I already know about this. Go quickly and delay those five people."

"I have already ordered Daoist Mu and Heifeng to come and help you. You only need to delay them for a moment. Once the three of you gather, you can kill these five people!"

"Daoist Mu and Heifeng are also coming? It seems the Patriarch is truly enraged." Daoist Xiangyang was startled and quickly nodded in agreement.

"Go, take off their heads. I want to send them to Wei Wenhe!"

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