As he pondered how to proceed in the future, he traveled ten zhang beneath the ground. Half an hour later, Wang Daoyuan had escaped over a hundred li away.
Traveling ten zhang underground, even with the Earth Escape Talisman supplying spiritual power, kept his body under extreme pressure. He felt utterly exhausted. If he did not return to the surface and rest soon, he feared he would collapse from fatigue.
However, he did not dare simply swagger out into the open. After all, he was only a little over a hundred li from the battlefield, and the enemy was skilled at controlling spirit beasts and Spirit Insects. If he showed himself now, he could easily be discovered.
He first rose to a point five zhang beneath the surface to ease the burden on his body, then began searching for a suitable place to rest.
There were often Underground Caves, cracks in the rocks, and caves dug out by Demon Beasts in the mountains. Thousands of years ago, Return Goose Mountain had been crawling with Demon Beasts. They had later been wiped out by human cultivators, so there should be quite a few abandoned caves left behind.
Just as he was about to search the surroundings, he discovered a crack in the rock ahead. It was not very large, but it could still hide one person without issue.
After entering the crack, he found it fairly spacious, enough to accommodate three to five people. Though it lay deep underground and the crack twisted and turned, leaving its interior pitch-black, Wang Daoyuan had been half-crushed by the rocks. Being able to come out and catch his breath was already good enough.
Traveling through rock did not consume spiritual power, but it was especially exhausting. He carried all kinds of pills for detoxification, healing, and restoring spiritual power, yet none that could relieve fatigue.
Fortunately, he still had Crimson Blood Brew. Crimson Blood Ginseng could replenish vitality and blood, strengthen the body, and somewhat alleviate physical exhaustion. He took out a jar of Crimson Blood Brew he had brewed three years ago. This jar had remained in the Spirit Pearl Space the entire time, making it a thirty-year vintage by now.
After one mouthful, he immediately felt refreshed and invigorated, his body much lighter. As expected of a thirty-year vintage, its fatigue-relieving effects were truly excellent.
He drank half the jar in one go. Wang Daoyuan felt brimming with energy, his exhaustion swept away without a trace.
He took out an Earth Escape Talisman and was about to continue on his way when he suddenly felt himself enveloped by a powerful divine sense. The strength of that divine sense alone far surpassed his own. It had to be a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Just as Wang Daoyuan was about to flee, a voice came from overhead. "What fragrant wine! It must be at least a twenty-year vintage to possess such rich aroma. You underground rat, get out here at once. With that little ability of yours, don't even dream of escaping my grasp. Come up obediently and hand over all your Storage Bags. If I'm in a good mood, I might even spare your life."
Wang Daoyuan naturally could not believe his nonsense. He immediately activated the Earth Escape Talisman, only to slam headfirst into a stone wall. The talisman he had just activated also began to burn.
Wang Daoyuan was somewhat dumbfounded when laughter rang out overhead again. "You insist on bringing suffering upon yourself. Come up obediently, or once I make my move, I'll make you beg for life and be unable to beg for death."
With no other choice, Wang Daoyuan could only crawl out along the rock crevice. Once he reached the surface, he saw a burly man standing before him, his face covered in fierce flesh, the very picture of a savage demon. His aura far exceeded that of Twelfth Uncle and Ninth Granduncle. He should be a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
The burly man said, "Hand over the Storage Bags on you, and I'll spare your life. Otherwise, a mere Qi Refining Layer Seven cultivator like you has only one path before a dignified Foundation Establishment Cultivator like me: death."
Wang Daoyuan's thoughts raced. This burly man was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but his aura was far inferior to the clan head's. He should be at Foundation Establishment Early Stage. Even so, facing him head-on was hopeless.
Better to give him a storage bag first, then find an opportunity to ambush him with Talismans. I still have several Tier Two Talismans. Killing him is entirely possible.
Wang Daoyuan put on the appearance of a useless coward, trembling all over as he shakily removed a storage bag from his waist with one hand and handed it to the burly man. With a mournful face, he begged, "Everything this junior owns is in here. I beg Senior to spare this junior's worthless life. This junior will never forget Senior's great kindness."
The burly man accepted the storage bag and impatiently checked what was inside.
He displayed none of the bearing of an expert whatsoever. Wang Daoyuan was somewhat suspicious, feeling that the man was putting on an act to lure him into attacking.
Yet if it was real and he did not act, then once the man finished inspecting the storage bag, he would have no chance at all.
The instant the burly man opened the storage bag, Wang Daoyuan activated a Golden Sword Talisman. A small golden sword shot straight for the man's throat.
Wang Daoyuan did not use a Tier Two Talisman. Instead, he used a high-grade first-order Golden Sword Talisman.
If the man was acting and Wang Daoyuan attacked, then he would be pretending not to have seen through it, treating this moment as a heaven-sent opportunity to strike. Any normal person would definitely use their strongest trump card at such a time, ensuring a single fatal blow;
If the burly man was not acting, and his attention truly was wholly focused on the storage bag without the slightest guard up, then this Golden Sword Talisman would be enough to take his life.
Even if he was acting, attacking with a high-grade first-order Talisman showed that Wang Daoyuan had no other trump cards, concealing the Tier Two Talismans as his true ace. This time, I've calculated to the third level. Let's see how many levels you can calculate to.
The moment the Golden Sword Talisman was unleashed, a mocking look appeared on the burly man's face. A layer of earthen-yellow illusory armor appeared around his body. When the small golden sword struck the phantom, it directly dissipated, while the armor phantom remained completely unharmed.
This was the Earth Armor Technique, the strongest defensive spell among common First-order spells, without question. The Earth Armor Technique cast with Foundation Establishment cultivation naturally could not compare to an Earth Armor Talisman in power. Moreover, the burly man could continuously supply it with spiritual power.
There were only two ways to break the Earth Armor Technique: one was to crush it head-on with absolute power; the other was to exhaust the caster's spiritual power, causing the Earth Armor Technique to collapse on its own.
Both methods were difficult to achieve with Wang Daoyuan's strength. His only Second-Order Mid-Grade Talisman was not an offensive Talisman, but a Divine Movement Talisman. A single Tier Two Low-Grade Talisman might not necessarily break through the Earth Armor Technique.
If a Tier Two Low-Grade Talisman failed to kill him in one strike, the burly man would become wary and fly into the air on his Flying Sword. Wang Daoyuan's Talismans would find it difficult to hit him then. At that point, he could only let himself be slaughtered.
The burly man sneered. "A mere Qi Refining Layer Seven junior thinks he can ambush me? You truly don't know whether you're dead or alive."
With that, the burly man took out an earthen-yellow longsword and slashed at Wang Daoyuan. Wang Daoyuan stuck five Golden Armor Talismans onto himself and activated them at once. Five layers of Golden Light Shields enveloped him. When the longsword struck the golden armor, it only broke through two layers.
This Foundation Establishment Cultivator's attack power was unexpectedly low. Four years ago, when they had hooked the Clear River Carp, that Foundation Establishment Cultivator had merely attacked casually. Against him and Ninth Granduncle, Wang Daoyuan had only borne a small portion of the damage, yet three Defense Talismans had been broken and he himself had suffered severe injuries.
Although the Earth Attribute excelled at defense rather than offense, even a Foundation Establishment Layer One cultivator should be able to break four layers of golden armor with one sword strike. If he used the Sword Control Technique and sent his Flying Sword slashing over, all five layers of golden armor would likely shatter, leaving Wang Daoyuan seriously injured.
After blocking that sword, Wang Daoyuan placed another three Golden Armor Talismans on himself. Yet the burly man still did not attack with a Flying Sword, instead wielding his longsword like a Qi Refining cultivator.
Wang Daoyuan felt that he had overestimated the Foundation Establishment Cultivator before him. He clearly did not know the Sword Control Technique. That made things rather interesting. The strongest attack of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was the Sword Control Technique. Within a hundred zhang, it utterly crushed Qi Refining cultivators. When an expert put his full strength into a single sword strike, even seven or eight Defense Talismans would not be enough.
Yet this Foundation Establishment Cultivator did not know the Sword Control Technique and cultivated an Earth Attribute technique. In terms of attack, speed, and agility, he had nothing worth showing off. His longsword was only a first-order high-grade magic tool as well.
If the burly man had no other tricks, then he truly would not be able to defeat Wang Daoyuan anytime soon. After all, Wang Daoyuan still had more than four hundred Talismans, over two hundred of them defensive Talismans. Since the man could only break two layers with each strike, he would need more than a hundred strikes to break all the Talismans.
To launch attacks of that level more than a hundred times in succession was something not even a Foundation Establishment Layer One cultivator could manage. Even the clan head could not do it. If word spread that a Qi Refining Layer Seven cultivator had left a Foundation Establishment Cultivator at his wits' end, it would be enough to make him famous.
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