The six men stopped hiding and charged out of the woods.
Spiritual energy exploded beneath their feet as they sprinted at full speed.
The wind howled. The six moved with blinding speed, hot on Su Yun's heels.
Cultivators at the seventh and eighth levels of Qi Refining were incredibly fast, steadily closing the gap.
In a matter of moments,
they forced Su Yun into the shadowy valley.
The valley was strewn with rocks and choked with weeds. The light was dim, and a chilly breeze stirred.
His retreat was blocked. Ahead stood a steep cliff. There was nowhere left to run.
The six men spread out in a fan, slowly closing in.
Scarface stood at the front. His expression was sinister, and the scar on his face looked especially savage in the gloom.
The other five wore vicious grins, their eyes fixed on Su Yun with mocking amusement.
The sharp-chinned youth sneered.
"Damn, you can really run."
"Never thought someone at the sixth level of Qi Refining would be so alert."
The burly man clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking. His killing intent was plain to see.
"Big Brother, don't waste your breath."
"Just kill him and search his storage bag."
"Let's get it over with and split the loot."
Scarface raised a hand, signaling everyone to quiet down.
He looked Su Yun up and down, his tone arrogant, with the playful air of a cat toying with a mouse.
"Kid."
"I know you've got plenty of spirit stones and materials on you."
"Know what's good for you and hand over your storage bag."
"I'll leave your corpse intact and let you die quickly."
"Dare to resist,"
"and this valley will be your grave."
In their eyes, Su Yun was already a dead man.
Su Yun stood alone in the middle of the encirclement, his expression calm.
His gaze swept over the six vicious faces before him, and a faint, cold smile curled his lips.
"A way out?"
"No need to trouble yourselves."
"This valley is remote and peaceful, with good feng shui."
"I'd say it's a fine place to bury all six of you."
The moment he said it, silence fell.
The six bandits froze.
Then, a second later, they burst into laughter.
A mere sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator, surrounded by six high-level cultivators,
and he still dared to run his mouth?
The sharp-chinned youth laughed so hard his face twisted, his eyes full of scorn.
"Did I hear that right?"
"A sixth-level nobody dares to talk to us like that?"
The burly man's eyes widened, his killing intent surging.
"You refuse a toast, only to drink a forfeit!"
"Die!"
Scarface's expression darkened completely. His eyes blazed with murderous intent as he stopped holding back.
The spiritual energy of a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator erupted.
Gray spiritual energy swirled around him. He pressed the fingers of his right hand together, condensing a three-foot-long blade of sword energy.
The blade was so sharp it chilled to the bone, slicing through the air with a piercing whistle.
This was his trump card, the Wind-Splitting Blade.
It was enough to badly injure an ordinary ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator.
"Die!"
Scarface swung his arm. The gray blade of sword energy tore through the air, slashing straight at Su Yun's head.
As the blade was about to strike,
Su Yun's expression didn't change. He smiled faintly and casually formed a hand seal.
Golden light burst forth.
A translucent golden circular shield appeared out of thin air in front of him.
Its surface was smooth, golden light flowing across it.
A moment later,
the gray blade slammed into the golden shield.
A dull boom rang out.
Sparks flew. A gust of wind burst outward, and dust billowed into the air.
But the shield didn't shatter, and Su Yun wasn't cut down as they had expected.
The golden shield stood perfectly still, without so much as a crack.
It hadn't even trembled.
It was as if that fierce blade had merely given it a light tickle.
Silence fell over the valley.
The six bandits' eyes shrank. They were all dumbfounded.
"W-what the hell?"
The burly man swore instinctively, his face full of disbelief.
"It blocked it?"
"It stopped a strike from a ninth-level cultivator just like that?"
The sharp-chinned youth stared at the golden shield, his throat suddenly dry.
"What kind of ridiculous defense is that?"
Scarface's expression turned grave. He stared at the shield.
"It's a defensive magic artifact! A high-grade one!"
We've struck it rich!
We're going to be rich!
Greed surged in Scarface's eyes, and his breathing grew ragged.
"Never thought you'd be carrying a treasure like this."
"Too bad for you."
"That artifact belongs to us now!"
"Everyone, attack together!"
"Don't hold back. Wear down his shield!"
At his command,
the other five bandits released their spiritual energy at once.
Gray blades of sword energy, green wind blades, ochre stone spikes, black poison needles—
all kinds of spells rained down on Su Yun.
Boom!
Explosions thundered one after another as dozens of spells crashed against the golden shield.
Spiritual light burst wildly, and shattered rocks flew in every direction.
Dust churned through the valley as fierce gusts raged.
The attack looked terrifying, and the pressure was immense.
The dust slowly settled.
The golden shield remained completely intact. Its surface still shone brightly, without the slightest dimming.
Forget shattering—
it hadn't even trembled.
The Golden Spirit Shield, empowered by Thousandfold Amplification,
could withstand even a full-force barrage from an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, let alone a ninth-level Qi Refining one.
The six men stood frozen, their minds completely blank.
Su Yun still stood behind the shield, looking relaxed as he smiled at the six men.
His voice was full of undisguised mockery.
"That's it?"
"Did you lot skip a meal? Your hits feel like wet noodles."
"Can't you show me something real?"
Scarface's face twitched, turning dark as the bottom of a pot.
The sharp-chinned youth beside him broke into a cold sweat, speaking rapidly.
"Big Brother!"
"This guy's defense is absurdly tough, like a thousand-year-old turtle shell!"
"Our ordinary spells can't break through!"
He glanced anxiously toward the edge of the valley.
"The explosions were so loud, the spells must've been heard all around."
"The Azure Cloud Market's managers have surely noticed something's wrong."
"If we keep dragging this out, none of us will escape once they get here!"
The two cultivators beside him quickly chimed in.
"That's right, Big Brother. We can't waste time!"
"The market managers are all Foundation Establishment experts. We're dead if we run into them!"
"We have to finish this fast!"
The six men were starting to panic.
They'd thought they were hunting an easy mark.
Instead, they'd run into a hard bone they couldn't chew or crack.
Scarface's face darkened, the scar at the corner of his eye twisting.
He glared at Su Yun behind the shield, gritting his teeth as he growled.
"What are you panicking for?"
"I refuse to believe this turtle shell can withstand anything!"
He flipped his left hand, revealing a scarlet talisman in his palm.
Its markings glowed red-hot, and tiny sparks seemed to smolder across the paper.
A second-tier, low-grade Blazing Fire Talisman.
Second-tier, low-grade talismans were comparable in power to a full-force strike from an early Foundation Establishment cultivator.
One talisman cost a full three hundred low-grade spirit stones.
He'd normally have been too stingy to use it, saving it for emergencies or a powerful enemy.
Scarface's heart clenched with pain. It was almost unbearable.
But he didn't dare hesitate.
The longer this dragged on, the greater the risk.
"Explode!"
He poured his spiritual energy into the talisman.
Scarlet flames surged skyward in an instant.
The talisman ignited and burst apart. In midair, a scarlet firebird more than a zhang long took shape.
Its wings burned, and blazing flames coiled around it. The air warped and shimmered from the heat.
A wave of heat rushed over them, searing everyone's skin.
Su Yun lifted his brows slightly, and some of his nonchalant smile faded.
This was his first time facing an attack on the Foundation Establishment level head-on.
Su Yun focused and readied himself, silently pouring spiritual energy into the shield. Its golden light thickened once more.