With the six words "finished Spirit Seizing Array Disk" falling, Chen Dengming frowned and hesitated slightly.
He had heard Lüo Bing mention the Spirit Seizing Array Disk before. It was indeed a good item, and could even help him slightly improve the awkward situation of his Gold Wood Spirit Root.
However, meddling in other people's business was not his style either. Yet with the opportunity placed right before him and matters concerning his spirit root involved, not fighting for it seemed indefensible. After all, judging from the opponent's spiritual might, he had the Gold Silkworm and Blood Centipede twin Gu in hand; even if he could not win it, making a clean escape was still guaranteed.
Damn it!
The expression of that yellow-robed cultivator instead shifted, and the very instant he let out a low curse, the talisman in his hand was instantly activated.
Boom!
Another fireball condensed and appeared in a flash, the air heating up violently, and with a swish it shot to slaughter the cultivator on the ground.
This was the cleverness of talismans.
Activating a talisman allowed even a cultivator who had not practiced the Great Fireball Technique to the realm of mastery to perform instant casting at any time.
Yet just as this fireball flew out, a fireball similarly flew out in an instant from Chen Dengming's direction.
The two fireballs collided against one another, exploding with a rumble. Trails of fiery tongues accompanied turbulent surging qi to scatter in all directions, and the scorched, burning aura diffused, scorching the leaves of the trees not far away until they curled up.
Hm? Instant spellcasting?
The yellow-robed cultivator's expression was solemn, the brilliant light in his gaze flashing and sweeping toward Chen Dengming, who was driving his flying sword as it descended. His face grew unsightly, and he said in a deep voice.
"Fellow daoist, this is private business of my Hutong Street and has nothing to do with you. This person is a wanted criminal of my Hutong Street; I hope you will not meddle in other people's business."
"Hutong Street...?"
Chen Dengming's gaze was cautious, and a thought arose in his heart. After landing, he carefully sized up the yellow-robed cultivator, judging this person's level of strength, and gradually finally recalled why this person looked so familiar.
This yellow-robed cultivator turned out to be precisely the nameless cultivator he encountered when he first arrived near the Gathering Place.
Back then, the other party was similarly pursuing another cultivator, and that cultivator had also asked him for help.
The situation that occurred at that time was identical to today's, except the location was different, as if time were revolving—except back then he was merely a Xiantian.
However, clearly, the other party did not recognize that he was precisely that former Xiantian.
This person has consistently used talismans for spellcasting, and his spiritual might is also at the level of the Qi Cultivation Second Level...
Chen Dengming's heart settled slightly, and his gaze swept once more over the so-called wanted cultivator on the ground, his expression abruptly becoming bizarre.
What a coincidence!
Meeting old acquaintances back-to-back—no wonder this cultivator said he recognized him.
This blood-vomiting cultivator on the ground had unkempt hair and a face covered in blood and grime, looking quite wretched. He had not been able to tell at a single glance just now, but upon looking closely at this moment, was it not precisely Jiang Qiang, whom he had encountered in the past?
It's you again? You're still not dead yet?
Chen Dengming was somewhat speechless.
That day it was also this Jiang Qiang who was being hunted down by someone, and as a result he ended up taking the blame for the other party, forced with no other option than to exterminate two bounty cultivators.
This time the fellow was actually being hunted down once more; it seemed that day in and day out he was either hunting someone down or on the road fleeing. They might as well just call him Jiang the Runner—why on earth wasn't he dead yet?
The yellow-robed cultivator had an astonished expression. The moment he heard Chen Dengming speak, he assumed they were very familiar with Jiang Qiang, and was quite vigilant and irritated, but as a result it seemed they were not familiar at all and even had a grievance, causing him to immediately laugh aloud.
"So fellow daoist also has a grievance with this wretch? Rest assured, I will immediately make him die as you wish."
"Eh?"
Chen Dengming waved a hand, looked toward the yellow-robed cultivator, and suddenly cupped his fists with a polite smile, "No need, this fellow daoist, I do indeed know him, yet we cannot be considered to have a grievance either. Why doesn't Your Excellency sell this younger brother a favor and just let it go this time?
Whatever compensation you want, this younger brother has spirit stones here and can also compensate you. I only want the Spirit Seizing Array Disk, how about it?"
The yellow-robed cultivator frowned, his countenance sinking as he looked over Chen Dengming's appearance with suspicious seriousness, his gaze falling upon the white hair at his temples. A trace of doubt gradually manifested within his eyes, as if he somewhat recognized Chen Dengming.
Chen Dengming's gaze narrowed, capturing the doubt and sudden realization that flashed across the yellow-robed cultivator's eyes.
"Many thanks, fellow daoist!"
Jiang Qiang, who was sprawled on the ground catching his breath, had a joyful expression at this moment and immediately prepared to crawl toward Chen Dengming.
"Then how about this instead."
Chen Dengming abruptly changed the subject, looking toward the yellow-robed cultivator with humility and courtesy, "Seeing that you also seem unwilling to let him go easily, speak then—why are you hunting him down? I only require the Spirit Seizing Array Disk in his hands, what do you want?"
The yellow-robed cultivator suddenly narrowed his eyes, saying coldly and harshly, "I want nothing, but my boss Qian Yuan also wants the Spirit Seizing Array Disk in his hands! I recognize you now; you're that fishmonger from Old Shack Street, aren't you?
To think that you once killed someone from our Hutong Street, yet now you still dare to continue ruining my boss's business?"
"Oh? It turns out Boss Qian also wants the Spirit Seizing Array Disk?"
Chen Dengming let out a hiss, his expression one of sudden understanding as his mind raced through a myriad of thoughts.
A flash of cold intent appeared in the yellow-robed cultivator's eyes as he gave a faint, light laugh, "Chen by surname, do you want me to give you face, or will you give my boss Qian Yuan some face?
This Spirit Seizing Array Disk is very important to my boss; this person, you cannot protect, and the array disk, you cannot take away!"
"Let me think about it."
Chen Dengming nodded slightly, his brow ridges rising to reveal a thoughtful look, before he abruptly let out a light laugh and suddenly pinched a hand seal to wave.
Swish!—
The flying sword floating before him flew past at an incomparable speed in an instant, a cyan light flashing as it arrived right before the yellow-robed cultivator.
The yellow-robed cultivator let out an angry roar, a lotus-shaped shield abruptly appearing outside his body.
The shield spun, resembling a thousand-handed Buddha, and amidst several * clanking* sounds it completely blocked all the stabbing strikes of Chen Dengming's flying sword.
"Scoundrel! Did you really think I had no precautions against you?" The yellow-robed cultivator roared indignantly, rapidly retreating while simultaneously taking out another talisman from his hand. "Are you driving this Hutong Street of mine to a desperate enmity—?"
Before he even finished speaking, a golden thread instantly appeared from between Chen Dengming's charging and flicking hands.
In a flash it seemed to elongate into a golden circular arc, bypassing the lotus-shaped defensive magic tool and arriving at the yellow-robed cultivator's flank from a tricky angle.
"What!?"
The yellow-robed cultivator was terrified, immediately condensing a spirit shield outside his body.
Yet before the spirit shield had completely formed, he only felt his heart thump, and immediately a tearing, excruciating pain transmitted from the position of his heart throughout his entire body. His strength rapidly drained away, and his vision blurred.
"Thud!—*
The yellow-robed cultivator's body collapsed limply to the ground, and only then did a blossom of blood bloom from the location of his heart, scattering onto the earth.
Following that, a golden thread instantly carried blood as it flew out, sweeping into Chen Dengming's sleeve with a hum.
"Tap!—*
His black long boots landed, treading up a bit of dust. Chen Dengming's sleeve fluttered as his figure touched down, arriving before the yellow-robed cultivator while the spiritual might on his body gradually converged.
"We've already started fighting, and you still have the energy to talk nonsense and make threats. With all that vigilance just now, I actually overestimated this person."
His vigilance diminished slightly. He lowered his head to carefully examine the wound at the yellow-robed cultivator's heart.
With the flick of a finger.
A strand of spiraling spiritual qi rapidly rotated and condensed between his fingers.
With a sudden flick.
Swish!—
The spiraling qi pierced straight through the yellow-robed cultivator's glabella, completely ensuring this person's death so as to avoid any bizarre, melodramatic plots where someone's heart happened to grow off-center or their soul turned into a freakish entity.
Jiang Qiang, who had long since been scared stiff into a wooden chicken, gave a shudder and instantly sobered up. The look he cast toward Chen Dengming was filled with sheer terror and confusion.
If one were to ask what thoughts were in his mind at this moment, besides bewilderment, there was probably only one clear thought—fast, far too fast! As cultivators who were both at the Qi Cultivation Second Level, it shouldn't be this fast!
Yet Chen Dengming's attacks were simply crisp and decisive; in less than three breaths of time, he had directly slaughtered a cultivator of the same realm.
He hadn't even managed to clearly see what kind of magic tool that golden thread driven by the other party was.
Mysterious, powerful!
He once more recalled those two bounty cultivators who had been exterminated by the other party in the past, and could not help feeling fortunate that he hadn't acted rashly with greedy thoughts back then, but had instead left behind a single spirit stone and departed.
"Really... How can a grown man use this kind of lotus-shaped defensive magic tool? What kind of hobby is that?"
At this point, Chen Dengming was somewhat depressed as he picked up the yellow-robed cultivator's items, walking over while picking and choosing.
Jiang Qiang hurriedly climbed to his feet, gasping for breath as he cupped his fists in gratitude.
"Don't rush to thank me, there's compensation to pay! This kind of matter is too dangerous; settle up for this time together with that time before last."
Chen Dengming waved a hand, rejecting any attempt to get chummy.
Jiang Qiang froze, then immediately nodded, preparing to take out the array disk he carried on his person.
"No rush for now. It's not safe here; do you still have spirit qi left? Can you perform spellcasting?"
Chen Dengming frowned, sizing Jiang Qiang up and down.
Jiang Qiang hurriedly said, "I do... should... should be able to."
"You know the Great Fireball Technique, right?"
"I do!"
"Good!"
Chen Dengming pointed at the corpse of the yellow-robed cultivator on the ground, pausing for a moment. "Right, what was his name? It seems he didn't introduce himself just now, did he?"
Jiang Qiang was just about to reply.
Chen Dengming waved his hand, "Forget it, he's already dead so it doesn't matter. Get to it—destroy the corpse and eliminate all traces. Make sure to do it a few more times until you can smell the burnt stench."
Jiang Qiang, "???"
He then instantly reacted. Without asking questions, he began pinching hand seals and casting spells.
He had already guessed that this mysterious expert either wanted to conserve his own spirit qi and save effort,
or wanted to exhaust his spirit qi so he wouldn't hatch any bad intentions,
or perhaps wanted to give him a sense of participation as well, representing that the one who killed the Hutong Street cultivator wasn't just the other party alone.
In short, someone this strong yet this cautious, who even insisted on smelling a burnt stench—he was ruthless and far too dangerous to provoke.
After a short while.
The two of them carefully tossed the yellow-robed cultivator's corpse next to those unlucky fellows previously exterminated by Iron Forest Hall to keep them company.
Hopefully, even if someone from Hutong Street could still recognize their own carbonized brother later on, they would still produce a misunderstanding and pin the blame on Iron Forest Hall.
Afterward, the two of them left in company, their conversation faintly drifting over on the wind.
"What were you doing before you got wanted and hunted down? How did you manage to provoke Hutong Street?"
"Oh? You actually happen to be an array master nurtured by Hutong Street? Impressive. That status is noble and superior to mine—I was just a fishmonger before."
Jiang Qiang gave an unnatural, accompanying laugh, not daring to refute, "."
A fishmonger?
A fish killer, more like it!
Killing and robbing people twice in a row with such familiarity—his heart was probably already as cold as a fish-slaughtering knife after years at the fish stall.
Unbeknownst to them, they had already reached a secluded little grove ahead.
Chen Dengming glanced around, rubbed his hands together, and smiled cordially.
"Alright, nobody is here. Where are the items? Take them out and let's have a look."
"Okay, okay..."
Cold sweat broke out on Jiang Qiang's back, and he always felt that Chen Dengming's amiable smile was terrifying.
He had been just as cordially smiling when speaking with that yellow-robed cultivator earlier, looking completely spineless, yet his strikes were ruthless and fierce.
He forced himself to calm down, taking the array disk out from the pack on his back. His movements were extremely slow and careful, terrified that the other party might think he was playing tricks.
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