Fire countered water. Before long, the flames vanished.
A shocking wave of heat surged toward him as a giant fireball the size of a water vat fell from the sky and slammed into the blue water barrier around Han Changming.
Rumble!
Flames shot into the sky, and billowing fire engulfed Han Changming.
The middle-aged man raised a hand. A gleaming red flying knife shot out and slashed toward the sea of fire.
With a loud crash, the red flying knife cut the flames to pieces. Han Changming had vanished without a trace.
A dozen or so zhang underground, Han Changming sped forward, wrapped in a ball of yellow light.
He was clearly no match for his opponent. Only an idiot would stay and fight to the death. As for whether the two men could survive, that was up to their luck.
Han Changming wasn't about to risk his life for two strangers. The lessons he'd learned growing up had never included fighting to the death for outsiders.
What worried him was the Spirit Grain at his residence. It was worth quite a few spirit stones.
Han Changming faintly heard two men scream. He paid them no heed and hurried back to his residence.
In the golden rice paddy, a small mound suddenly rose. A pair of pitch-black eyes poked out of the ground.
Han Changming stared toward the entrance, tense and hardly daring to breathe.
With the paddy concealing him, the four evil cultivators hadn't noticed his presence.
"Harvest the Spirit Grain, and the spirit herbs too. Hurry up! We've turned a misfortune into a blessing this time—we're going to make a fortune." The middle-aged man gave his orders and strode toward the bamboo house.
A woman in a green skirt summoned a green sickle and swung it at the paddy. Stalk after stalk fell, and some grains scattered across the spirit field.
Han Changming's heart ached. This was the result of a year's hard work, and now the evil cultivators were taking it away. He couldn't accept it.
He burrowed underground and moved toward the young woman in the green skirt.
He had already sent a Sound Transmission Talisman to his clan uncle. As long as he held them off for a little while, his clan uncle would surely arrive.
The four of them were evil cultivators through and through, experienced and cautious. Even though Han Changming had fled, they had still put up a barrier around themselves.
The young woman in the green skirt was directing her green sickle to harvest the Spirit Grain when the ground beneath her suddenly turned uneven. She sensed something was wrong.
"Damn it, that kid's underground!"
A mound of earth abruptly rose nearby, and Han Changming burst out of the ground.
He held a stack of more than ten Fireball Talismans in both hands.
Before the young woman in the green skirt could react, more than ten crimson fireballs slammed into her. A sheet of flames clung to the green barrier around her.
Han Changming flipped his hand, and more than ten Earth Arrow Talismans appeared in his palm. He hurled them all at once, transforming them into a dozen yellow earth arrows that shot into the sea of fire.
A woman's agonized scream rang out. The Spirit Protection Barrier around the young woman in the green skirt shattered, and more than ten yellow earth arrows pierced her body. Two finger-wide bloody holes marked her head.
She had the lowest cultivation. When picking persimmons, you went for the softest ones first.
By then, the others had also spotted Han Changming. They summoned their magical artifacts and attacked him.
Han Changming had been prepared. The moment he landed his strike, he burrowed back underground.
Wrapped in a ball of yellow light, he quickly sank deeper.
Suddenly, the earth shook. Soil all around him rushed inward, as if trying to squeeze him flat.
He hurriedly poured his magic power into the yellow barrier. It twisted and buckled as it struggled, but in the end, the soil failed to crush him.
He held a Spirit Gathering Stone in his left hand, drawing in its spiritual energy to restore his magic power.
In a fight, having a Spirit Gathering Stone was like carrying an endless supply of Spirit Recovery Pills.
Aboveground, the three men collected their companion's corpse and continued ransacking the place. But after what had happened to the young woman in the green skirt, they didn't dare let their guard down. They each put up two barriers.
A mound suddenly rose in a corner of the courtyard, and Han Changming's head poked out of the ground.
A man in yellow was catching spirit fish from the spirit well, holding a white spirit moon, three feet long, in both arms.
"Damn it! First they harvest the Spirit Grain I planted, and now they're catching the spirit fish I raised with my own two hands." Han Changming's anger flared. He waved his hand, and five Fireball Talismans flew out, transforming into five crimson fireballs that hurtled toward the man in yellow.
Rumble!
A swath of crimson flames engulfed the middle-aged man, but the two defensive barriers protected him, and he was unharmed.
Han Changming's attack missed its mark. He immediately burrowed underground.
He hadn't gone far when a green flying sword suddenly descended from the sky and slashed into the yellow barrier, caving it in.
Han Changming was startled. He hurriedly poured magic power into the yellow barrier, drew more power from the Spirit Gathering Stone, and sank rapidly.
After that, Han Changming didn't dare emerge aboveground lightly. With the Spirit Gathering Stone in hand, he could restore his magic power quickly. He used the Earth Escape Technique to dart through the ground, and the three men were frightened of him. Afraid he would suddenly burst out of the earth and strike, they moved more slowly.
They had no talismans that could counter the Earth Escape Technique, so all they could do was proceed carefully. After all, they usually fought on land or out at sea. They had never bothered to buy talismans to counter the Earth Escape Technique. This was their first time meeting an opponent as shameless as Han Changming.
If they had time, they would have used the Earth Escape Technique to pursue him. But they had seen Han Changming activate a Hundred-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman and didn't dare waste too much time. They knew full well that the Han Clan was a cultivation clan.
Once reinforcements from the Han Clan arrived, they would be the ones in trouble.
"Forget the loot! Let's go. The Han Clan's reinforcements will probably be here any moment."
The middle-aged man summoned a leaf-shaped artifact and jumped onto it. The other two followed.
They hadn't flown very high when more than twenty crimson fireballs came hurtling toward them.
Han Changming had half his body buried in the ground. The evil cultivators had stolen the Spirit Grain, spirit herbs, and spirit fish. He couldn't just let them leave.
Those were clan assets. If the enemy took them, he would be punished. Of course, the clan hadn't demanded that he fight to the death. He simply couldn't accept that the evil cultivators had stolen the fruits of a year's hard work.
His heart in his throat, he kept praying that his clan uncle would hurry.
"Fireball Talismans! Watch out!"
The middle-aged man furrowed his brows and summoned a yellow shield. It instantly grew larger, then circled around them.
More than twenty crimson fireballs struck the yellow shield in succession, and a sheet of flame wrapped around it.
Before long, the flames dispersed. The yellow shield was unharmed, and the three Qi Refining cultivators hadn't suffered so much as a scratch.
A series of sharp whistles rang out as more than twenty yellow earth arrows flew in and struck the yellow shield one after another. A muffled flurry of clacks sounded, and several marks appeared on its surface.
"You brat, you're asking for death!"
The middle-aged man was enraged by Han Changming. He waved his hand, sending out a red talisman that transformed into ten watermelon-sized crimson fireballs, linked together and hurtling toward Han Changming.
Chain Fireball Talisman.
Before you continue