Wariness

Rumble!!!

A violent surge of energy swept through the area as the burly Scar-Faced Man unleashed his full power and charged straight ahead.

Everywhere he went, trees and rocks shattered one after another.

The ground itself shook!

Facing the oncoming charge, Shen Changchuan felt as if he were suffocating!

Peak sixth level of the Qi Induction Realm!

His opponent was a full two levels above him!

The disparity in their magical power, and the pressure that came with that gap in cultivation, left Shen Changchuan unable to move his hands and feet for a brief moment!

Fortunately,

that sensation soon faded as Shen Changchuan broke free of it.

Ever since he had devoured and refined the Green Origin Water Grass, Shen Changchuan's spiritual sense had improved considerably. He had even unlocked inner sight, something only cultivators in the later stages of the Qi Induction Realm could achieve.

With a powerful soul,

he was naturally more resistant to the pressure exerted by cultivators of a higher realm.

However,

that didn't mean

Shen Changchuan could afford to relax.

On the contrary,

at this very moment,

he was facing the most dangerous battle of his life!

Zhao Hangao was badly wounded, and he had killed every enemy lying in wait on either side.

During the fight,

Shen Changchuan had unleashed a string of attacks, leaving him in the awkward position of having spent his strength with no new power yet to replace it!

And as if that weren't enough,

the Scar-Faced Man was bearing down on him like a train, his charge unstoppable!

At this critical moment,

Shen Changchuan forcibly squeezed out the last trace of magical power in his body and cast the Light Body Technique in an instant. His figure shifted like a ghost, and he narrowly dodged the burly Scar-Faced Man's terrifying charge by a hair's breadth.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The burly Scar-Faced Man couldn't stop in time.

He barreled straight past Shen Changchuan,

smashing through one tree after another,

sending splintered wood and shattered stone flying everywhere!

His frenzied charge hit nothing but empty air.

But now,

there was no hint of triumph on Shen Changchuan's face. Instead, it had gone deathly pale.

He staggered, nearly dropping to one knee!

The backlash had struck him!

He had expended a massive amount of magical power in a short time,

then forced more strength from his body to cast a spell.

The damage this had done to his dantian and meridians was immense!

Thankfully, the Green Origin Water Grass widened and strengthened my meridians. Otherwise, squeezing them like this would have twisted and torn them apart!

Feeling the intense pain in his dantian and meridians, Shen Changchuan couldn't help thinking this.

His meridians had become far more resilient after being tempered.

Otherwise, this time,

he would have been in serious trouble!

But even as the thought crossed his mind,

Shen Changchuan didn't stand still.

He gripped a Spirit Stone,

using a forceful method to draw out the spiritual energy within and refine it into his own magical power.

At the same time,

he leapt several times,

landing farther back to put some distance between them.

Meanwhile,

the Elephant Mountain Qi-Gathering Art within him circulated rapidly, refining the spiritual energy he had drawn in as he regulated his breathing and restored the flow of his magical power.

"Damn brat!"

After only a few breaths,

the burly Scar-Faced Man returned, his face dark with anger.

His body was covered in dust, wood chips, fallen leaves, and other debris. He looked rather the worse for wear.

Even so,

he still exerted tremendous pressure on Shen Changchuan!

After all, he was at the peak of the sixth level of the Qi Induction Realm.

Shen Changchuan couldn't afford to take him lightly.

Fortunately,

after catching his breath for those few moments, Shen Changchuan had recovered.

He still had about seventy percent of his magical power left.

Not bad.

The situation wasn't too dire yet.

"Perfected Wind Blade Technique, perfected Light Body Technique, perfected Gold Thorn Technique, and even a perfected scouting eye technique. I have to say, you really are a scion of a prominent family!"

"No wonder you had the nerve to leave home alone without a Dao Protector!"

The burly Scar-Faced Man stared coldly at Shen Changchuan, his expression dark.

He was no country bumpkin who tilled the soil and knew nothing of the world. He wasn't some Spirit Planter from the countryside.

In a sense, having traveled far and wide, he knew far more than many cultivators of the same realm.

There was a reason he had survived this long:

he had a keen eye.

From their brief exchange earlier, he had already seen through Shen Changchuan's methods.

That was why he couldn't help drawing a sharp breath,

and why his gaze was filled with wariness.

Perfected spells—

it was already an extraordinary feat for an ordinary person to master even one.

Among dozens of cultivators, there might not be a single one who had mastered a spell to perfection!

Yet this brat before him was only fifteen or sixteen,

and at that age,

he had somehow mastered four of them?!!

Since when

had perfected spells become so common?!

How had he managed that?!

"They're just minor tricks, nothing worth mentioning. My Shen Clan is a prominent family with a long history. It's only natural that we have a few secret techniques."

"Still, who might you be, sir? Why did you set up an ambush here and make an enemy of me, Shen?"

Shen Changchuan's gaze flickered.

He spoke up,

using the opportunity to invoke the Shen Clan's name and fish for information from his opponent.

To be honest,

even now, he was still completely in the dark about this ambush.

Why had Zhao Hangao betrayed him?

What forces did these people belong to?

Had someone from the Shen Family Estate sent them to kill him in a struggle for power, or were they simply rogue cultivators looking to make a quick profit?

Who was targeting him?

Shen Changchuan had no answers to any of these questions.

"Hmph! A dead man has no need to know so much!"

The Scar-Faced Man gave a cold laugh, looking at Shen Changchuan as if he were already dead.

Then he stopped wasting words.

He took a long sword from his Storage Bag. Its blade seemed to chill the bone, gleaming with a cold, sinister light.

He gripped the sword and pointed it at Shen Changchuan.

"Go to hell!"

The Scar-Faced Man roared. He leapt into the air, becoming a gray blur as he thrust toward Shen Changchuan!

The sword came fast and viciously, as swift as lightning.

Magical power shimmered along its keen edge, adding several times to its fearsome force!

If that strike landed,

Shen Changchuan would undoubtedly be cut in two!

Fortunately,

after catching his breath for a few moments, Shen Changchuan had steadied the flow of magical power in his body.

The perfected Light Body Technique activated almost instantly,

and Shen Changchuan's body became incomparably light.

He shifted his step,

his figure gliding several yards to the side like a ghost,

and narrowly avoided the Scar-Faced Man's lightning-fast strike!

However,

this time the Scar-Faced Man didn't overcharge as he had before. He kept perfect control over the force of his sword.

The moment

his strike missed,

while he was still in midair,

he reversed the blade,

and immediately slashed toward Shen Changchuan again!

The way he shifted his strength was almost effortless, like lifting a heavy weight with ease!

Facing the magical power shimmering along the sword's edge, Shen Changchuan didn't dare meet it head-on. He retreated once more.

The Scar-Faced Man pressed after him again!

In an instant,

layers of sword shadows flashed through the forest, swift as startled rainbows and streaks of lightning. Guided by the sword's edge, his powerful magical energy swept through the air as a storm of Sword Qi.

The surrounding trees and boulders were all cut down and toppled!

And yet,

even as the crossing sword lights wove a dense, impenetrable net through the forest,

not a single hair on Shen Changchuan's head had been touched!

But there was no anger or frustration on the Scar-Faced Man's face.

Instead, a look of satisfaction flickered across it.

He knew perfectly well that when facing a cultivator who had mastered a spell to perfection, trying to fight them with spells without possessing a perfected spell of his own

was simply asking to die!

His only choice was to rely on his superior cultivation and strength, close the distance, and fight at close quarters. That was the only way to make the most of his advantage!

That was exactly what the Scar-Faced Man was doing!

And the results

were just as he'd expected!

Shen Changchuan was driven back step by step.

He hadn't even had a chance to cast a spell before the Scar-Faced Man interrupted him!

All he could do was dart left and right beneath the man's Sword Qi, utterly unable to counterattack!

After dozens of exchanges,

Shen Changchuan had been dodging for so long that his steps seemed to falter.

The brat seemed unable to maintain his focus and sharp reflexes through such intense evasive movements any longer!

"Now!"

The Scar-Faced Man's eyes lit up.

At that instant,

Another sword-light stabbed out like lightning, Sword Qi sweeping forth like a venomous dragon and cleaving through a swath of trees.

Shen Changchuan was forced back once more!

"It's over!"

The half-faced man flipped his palm and took out a fist-sized bell.

The bell was pitch-black all over, like a temple bell shrunk down tenfold or even a hundredfold.

Yet faintly, black mist seemed to rise from its surface, radiating an evil aura.

"What is that?!"

Shen Changchuan's mind tensed in an instant.

However,

Clang!

At almost the same moment,

The Scar-Faced Man poured his magic power into the bell and struck it with a sharp blow!

In an instant,

A piercing, high-frequency roar swept in all directions, spreading in the blink of an eye to cover an area dozens of zhang wide!

Shen Changchuan, facing the bell's sound head-on,

Felt as if a club had slammed into his head. His ears rang incessantly!

His body seemed to fall beyond his control as well, frozen in place.

"Heh heh, my Soul-Absorbing Bell is a rare treasure."

"Unless your spiritual sense is powerful enough to rival that of a late-stage Qi Induction Realm cultivator who has opened their inner vision, anyone weaker than me will be immobilized for a short while!"

"Just lie down and die!"

The outcome was settled!

The Scar-Faced Man put away the Soul-Absorbing Bell,

Then sneered and gripped his long sword,

Walking toward Shen Changchuan, who stood rooted in place under the bell's control.

However,

Just as he was a few zhang away from Shen Changchuan,

Suddenly,

Rustle, rustle—

Vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, shooting up like long snakes and coiling around the burly Scar-Faced Man's feet in the span of a breath.

Several more vines stretched up from behind, twisting around his hands and arms!

"What?!"

The Scar-Faced Man suddenly sensed something was wrong,

But before he could think it through,

Boom, boom, boom!!!

Five crimson fireballs radiating scorching heat came hurtling straight at his head!

"Not good!"

In the face of imminent danger, the Scar-Faced Man also summoned the Golden Bell Technique's defense.

But compared to the Golden Bell Technique of that Qi Induction Realm fourth-stage man earlier,

Both its thickness and the brightness of its golden light far surpassed the other man's!

But it did little good,

Clang, clang, clang!!!

When the fireballs struck the Scar-Faced Man, they exploded on impact,

A scorching storm of flames swept through,

And the powerful energy shattered the layers of his Golden Bell Technique one after another!

Until at last, the final two fireballs exploded right against the Scar-Faced Man, their flames swallowing him whole!

At that moment, the Scar-Faced Man was almost reduced to a charred lump!

The Fireball Technique at fifth-layer perfection

Had nearly crippled him in an instant!

Shen Changchuan's sudden string of attacks had caught the Scar-Faced Man completely off guard, leaving his mind in chaos for a moment.

And at that very instant,

The last Gold Needle in Shen Changchuan's palm shot out like lightning,

Piercing straight through his head in an instant!