Guerrilla Harassment

Water overcomes fire; before long, the flames vanished without a trace.

An astonishing heat wave struck as a giant fireball, the size of a water vat, descended from the sky and slammed into the blue water barrier surrounding Han Changming.

Rumble!

Fire soared into the sky, and billowing flames engulfed Han Changming's body.

The middle-aged man raised his hand, and a gleaming red flying blade shot out, slashing into the sea of fire.

With a loud boom, the sea of fire was shattered by the red flying blade, but Han Changming had vanished without a trace.

Ten-plus feet beneath the ground, Han Changming moved rapidly, enveloped in a ball of yellow light.

He was clearly no match for his opponent; only someone with a broken brain would stay behind to fight to the death. As for whether those two men could survive, that would depend on their own luck.

Han Changming would not throw his life away for two strangers. The education he had received since childhood did not include fighting to the death for outsiders.

What he felt uneasy about was the spirit grain at his residence; that was worth quite a few spirit stones.

Han Changming vaguely heard the two men's screams, but he ignored them and quickly returned to his dwelling.

Within the golden rice field, a small mound of dirt suddenly bulged, and a pair of pitch-black eyes poked out from the ground.

Han Changming stared at the doorway, his expression tense, not daring to even breathe loudly.

With the cover of the rice field, the four evil cultivators did not notice Han Changming's presence.

"Hurry and harvest the spirit grain, and the spirit herbs too. Move quickly; this time, we've turned a misfortune into a blessing—we've struck it rich," the middle-aged man ordered, striding toward the bamboo building.

A woman in a green dress summoned a green sickle and slashed at the rice field. Stalks of rice fell, and some grains scattered into the spirit field.

Han Changming felt a pang of heartache. This was the result of a year of hard work, and to have it taken away by evil cultivators like this left him feeling deeply unwilling.

He burrowed into the ground and moved toward the position of the woman in the green dress.

He had already sent a sound transmission talisman to his clan uncle; as long as he could stall them for a while, his uncle would surely arrive.

The four evil cultivators, including the woman in the green dress, were indeed experienced; even though Han Changming had escaped, they still kept protective barriers active.

As the woman in the green dress was driving the green sickle to harvest the spirit grain, the ground beneath her feet suddenly became uneven, and she sensed something.

"Not good, that brat is underground."

A large mound of dirt suddenly bulged from the ground not far away, and Han Changming burst out from beneath the surface.

His hands were clutching a stack of Fireball Talismans—over a dozen of them.

Before the woman in the green dress could react, she saw more than ten crimson fireballs slam into her, a massive sheet of flame clinging to the green light barrier around her.

Han Changming flipped his palm, and a dozen Earth Arrow Talismans appeared in his hand. He threw them all at once, transforming them into a dozen yellow earth arrows that struck into the sea of fire.

A miserable scream from the woman rang out. The woman in the green dress's protective spirit barrier shattered, and the dozen yellow earth arrows pierced her body, leaving two-finger-wide bloody holes in her head.

Her cultivation was the lowest; one always picks the softest persimmon to squeeze.

At this moment, the others discovered Han Changming's presence and began casting their magical artifacts to attack him.

Han Changming had been prepared; having succeeded in one strike, he immediately burrowed back underground.

Enveloped in a ball of yellow light, he dove rapidly.

Suddenly, the earth shook, and the soil around Han Changming squeezed toward him rapidly, as if trying to crush him flat.

He hurriedly injected spiritual power into the yellow light barrier. The barrier twisted and deformed, but after struggling for a good while, it managed not to be crushed by the soil.

He held a Spirit Gathering Stone in his left hand, absorbing the spiritual energy within to recover his spiritual power.

When fighting, having a Spirit Gathering Stone in hand was equivalent to having an inexhaustible supply of spirit-replenishing pills.

Above ground, the three men collected their companion's corpse and continued to loot the property. However, having seen the example of the woman in the green dress, they dared not be careless and applied two protective barriers to themselves.

A mound of dirt suddenly bulged in the corner of the courtyard, and Han Changming's head poked out from the ground.

A man in yellow clothes was grabbing spirit fish from the spirit well, holding a three-foot-long white spirit fish in both hands.

"Damn it, harvesting the spirit grain I planted, and now grabbing the spirit fish I worked so hard to raise." Han Changming's anger flared. He flicked his hand, and five Fireball Talismans flew out, transforming into five crimson fireballs that slammed toward the man in yellow.

Rumble!

A massive sheet of crimson flame engulfed the man's body, but with two defensive barriers, he was not seriously harmed.

Han Changming failed to land a fatal blow and immediately burrowed back underground.

He hadn't dove very far when a green flying sword suddenly descended from the sky, slashing into his yellow light barrier, causing it to cave in instantly.

Han Changming was startled and hurriedly injected spiritual power into the yellow light barrier while absorbing power from the Spirit Gathering Stone to dive faster.

After this experience, Han Changming dared not easily emerge from the ground. With the Spirit Gathering Stone in hand, his spiritual power recovered quickly. He used the Earth Escape Technique to travel rapidly underground. The three men were terrified by Han Changming, fearing he would suddenly burst from the ground to strike them, so their movements became sluggish.

They had no talismans to counter the Earth Escape Technique and could only act with caution. After all, they mostly fought on the ground or on the sea; they would never have bought talismans to counter the Earth Escape Technique, and this was their first time encountering such a shameless opponent as Han Changming.

If they had time, they would have used the Earth Escape Technique to pursue Han Changming, but seeing that he had used a Hundred-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman, they dared not delay for too long. They knew full well that the Han Clan was a cultivation family.

Once the Han Clan's reinforcements arrived, they would be the ones in trouble.

"Forget the loot, let's go! The Han Clan's reinforcements are likely arriving soon."

The middle-aged man summoned a leaf-shaped magical artifact and jumped onto it; the other two followed suit.

They hadn't flown very high before more than twenty crimson fireballs came crashing down toward them.

Han Changming had most of his body buried in the soil; the evil cultivators had snatched away the spirit grain, spirit herbs, and spirit fish, and he naturally wasn't willing to let them leave just like that.

That was clan property, and if it were stolen by enemies, he would be punished. Of course, the clan hadn't ordered him to fight the enemies to the death, but Han Changming was unwilling to accept it; he had worked hard for a year, and the evil cultivators had just snatched away the fruits of his labor.

He was burning with anxiety, praying incessantly in his heart for his clan uncle to arrive quickly.

"Not good, Fireball Talisman, dodge!"

The middle-aged man frowned and sacrificed a yellow shield, which instantly expanded and began to spin around them.

More than twenty crimson fireballs struck the yellow shield one after another, and a large expanse of flames engulfed it.

Not long after, the flames dissipated, the yellow shield remained intact, and the three Qi Refining cultivators were completely unharmed.

"Swish, swish" sounds of breaking air rang out as more than twenty yellow earth arrows flew over, striking the yellow shield in succession with a series of muffled thuds, leaving several marks on the surface of the shield.

"You brat, you're looking for death!"

The middle-aged man was enraged by Han Changming. With a flick of his hand, a red talisman flew out, transforming into ten watermelon-sized crimson fireballs that connected into a single sheet and smashed toward Han Changming.

Chain Fireball Talisman.