Ambush in the Valley, Showing Off

The six of them stopped hiding and charged straight out of the woods.

Spiritual power exploded beneath their feet as they sprinted at full speed.

With the wind whistling, the six men moved with swift agility, tailing Su Yun closely.

The seventh and eighth-level Qi Refinement cultivators were incredibly fast, constantly closing the distance.

In just a few moments.

Su Yun was forced by the six of them into that deep, secluded valley.

The valley was littered with jagged rocks and overgrown with weeds; the light was dim, and a chilling wind blew through.

His retreat was cut off, and a steep cliff stood before him—there was nowhere left to run.

The six men formed a fan shape and slowly closed in.

The scarred man stood at the very front, his expression sinister, the scar on his face looking particularly hideous in the dim light.

The other five men had fierce eyes and playful expressions, staring fixedly at Su Yun.

The sharp-featured youth sneered.

"Damn it, you sure can run."

"I didn't expect someone at the sixth level of Qi Refinement to be so alert."

The burly man clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking as his killing intent became blatant.

"Boss, don't waste your breath on him."

"Just kill him and strip his storage bag clean."

"The sooner we finish, the sooner we split the loot."

The scarred man raised a hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.

He looked Su Yun up and down, his tone arrogant, carrying the playfulness of a cat toying with a mouse.

"Kid."

"I know you have plenty of spirit stones and materials on you."

"Be sensible and hand over all your storage bags."

"I'll leave your corpse intact and spare your life."

"If you dare to resist."

"Today will be your burial ground."

In their eyes, Su Yun was already a dead man.

Su Yun stood in the center of the encirclement, alone, his expression calm.

His gaze swept over the six vicious faces before him, and a faint, cold sneer curled the corners of his lips.

"Spare my life?"

"No need to trouble yourself."

"This valley is remote and quiet; the feng shui is quite good."

"I think it's a perfect place to serve as a grave for the six of you."

As soon as these words were spoken, a deathly silence fell.

The six rogue cultivators were all stunned.

The next second, they burst into raucous laughter.

A mere sixth-level Qi Refinement cultivator, surrounded by six higher-level cultivators.

How dare he spout such nonsense?

The sharp-featured youth laughed until his face twisted, his eyes full of mockery.

"Did I hear that right?"

"A sixth-level piece of trash dares to talk to us like that?"

The burly man's eyes widened in rage, his killing intent surging.

"If you won't drink the toast, you'll be forced to drink the forfeit!"

"Die!"

The scarred man's expression turned completely dark, his eyes filled with icy killing intent, no longer holding back.

His ninth-level Qi Refinement spiritual power exploded outward.

Gray spiritual energy swirled around his body, and he brought the fingers of his right hand together, condensing a three-foot-long, narrow blade of energy.

The blade energy was sharp and bone-chilling, slicing through the air with a shrill, piercing sound.

This was his trump card—the Wind-Splitting Blade.

It was powerful enough to severely wound an ordinary ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivator.

"Die!"

The scarred man swung his arm, and a gray blade of energy tore through the air, slashing directly toward Su Yun's head.

As the blade energy was about to strike him, Su Yun's expression remained unchanged. He smiled faintly and casually pinched a spirit seal with his fingers.

A golden radiance erupted in an instant.

A translucent golden circular shield appeared out of thin air in front of Su Yun.

The surface of the shield was smooth, with golden light flowing across it.

The next second, the gray blade energy slammed violently into the golden shield.

A dull, explosive sound rang out.

Sparks flew, a powerful gust of wind spread outward, and dust billowed into the air.

The expected outcome—the shield shattering and the man being cleaved in two—did not happen.

The golden shield remained perfectly still, without even a single crack on its surface.

It did not even tremble.

It was as if that fierce blade energy had been nothing more than a light scratch.

The entire scene fell into dead silence.

The six rogue cultivators' pupils shrank, and they were collectively stunned.

"What the...?"

The burly man cursed instinctively, his face filled with disbelief.

"He... he blocked it?"

"A strike from a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator, blocked by him so easily?"

The sharp-mouthed youth stared fixedly at the golden shield, his throat dry.

"What kind of hellish defense is this?"

The scarred man's expression turned completely grave as he locked his eyes on that layer of light.

"It's a defensive magic tool! A high-grade defensive magic tool!"

They were going to be rich!

They were going to be incredibly rich!

Greed surged in the scarred man's eyes, and his breathing grew heavy.

"I never expected you to be hiding such a treasure."

"Consider yourself unlucky today."

"This magic tool belongs to us now!"

"Everyone, attack together!"

"Don't hold back! Shatter his magic shield!"

At his command, the remaining five rogue cultivators simultaneously channeled their spiritual power.

Gray blade energies, cyan wind blades, earthy-yellow stone spikes, and pitch-black poison needles.

A dazzling array of spells, dense and overwhelming, all bombarded Su Yun.

BOOM!

Continuous explosions rang out as dozens of spells smashed against the surface of the golden shield.

Spiritual light exploded violently, and shattered rocks flew everywhere.

Dust billowed within the valley, and fierce winds raged.

The offensive looked terrifying, filled with immense pressure.

The dust slowly dissipated.

The golden shield remained completely intact, its surface glowing brightly without the slightest dimming.

Let alone shattering.

It hadn't even wavered in the slightest.

The Golden Spirit Shield, bolstered by Thousandfold Amplification.

Never mind a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Even if an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator were to bombard it with all their might, they wouldn't be able to break its defense.

The six of them stood frozen in place, their minds completely blank.

Su Yun remained standing in the center of his protective shield, his expression languid as he looked at the six people before him with a smile.

His tone carried undisguised mockery.

"Is that it?"

"Did you lot skip breakfast? Your strength is pathetic."

"Can't you show me some real skill?"

The scarred man's face twitched violently, his complexion as dark as the bottom of a pot.

The sharp-featured youth beside him broke into a cold sweat, speaking in a rapid-fire rush.

"Boss!"

"This guy's defense is ridiculously hard, just like a thousand-year-old turtle shell!"

"Our standard techniques can't break through it at all!"

He looked toward the perimeter of the valley in a panic, his eyes filled with anxiety.

"The commotion just now was too loud; the sound of the spell explosions must have traveled everywhere."

"The managers of Azure Cloud Market have surely noticed the anomaly by now."

"If we keep dragging this out, we won't be able to escape once they arrive!"

Two other cultivators nearby chimed in repeatedly.

"That's right, Boss, we can't delay!"

"The market managers are all Foundation Establishment grand cultivators; if we run into them, we're dead!"

"We have to finish this quickly!"

The six of them began to lose their composure.

They had originally thought they were hunting a fat sheep.

Instead, they had slammed into a hard bone that they couldn't bite through or smash.

The scarred man's face was gloomy, the scar on his eye socket twisting.

He stared fixedly at Su Yun behind the shield, gritting his teeth as he growled.

"What are you panicking for!"

"I don't believe this turtle shell can withstand everything!"

He flipped his left hand, and a crimson talisman appeared in his palm.

The patterns on the talisman were glowing red and hot, with tiny sparks faintly burning on the surface of the paper.

A low-grade Tier 2 Blazing Fire Talisman.

A low-grade Tier 2 talisman possessed power equivalent to the full-force strike of an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

A single talisman cost a full three hundred low-grade spirit stones.

He usually couldn't bear to use them, saving them only for life-saving moments or hunting powerful enemies.

The scarred man's heart ached, his pain at the loss reaching its limit.

But he dared not hesitate.

The longer they dragged it out, the greater the risk.

"Blow him to bits!"

He poured his spiritual power frantically into the talisman.

A crimson firelight soared into the sky in an instant.

The talisman self-ignited and exploded, condensing into a crimson firebird over a zhang long in mid-air.

The firebird's wings burned, its body wreathed in scorching flames, causing the air to twist and heat up.

A wave of heat rushed toward them, searing everyone's skin.

Su Yun raised an eyebrow, his nonchalant smile fading slightly.

This was the first time he had faced a Foundation Establishment-level attack head-on.

Su Yun focused his attention, silently pouring spiritual power into his shield, and the golden spiritual light thickened by another layer.

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