The quasi-low-grade magical artifact Shen Changchuan had kept in his hand all along became the final blow that decided life or death!
This Gold Needle,
was naturally one of the two Gold Needles in Shen Changchuan's possession.
The Gold Needle paired with the Gold Thorn Technique
was Shen Changchuan's most powerful trump card.
Before this,
when Shen Changchuan faced enemies, he usually used both of his quasi-artifact Gold Needles together, pairing them with the Gold Thorn Technique to fight.
But in truth, that wasn't necessary.
He had used both Gold Needles together
only because the enemies Shen Changchuan faced at the time were a giant wild boar and a Crocodile Demon.
Both of those enemies
were Demon Beasts with enormous bodies and tenacious vitality.
When facing Demon Beasts with such powerful vitality, a single Gold Needle might not be enough.
That was why, in his earlier battles, Shen Changchuan had used both needles together, ensuring that one strike would kill the huge, tenacious Demon Beasts.
But this time was different.
This time, he was facing cultivators—people.
When facing people,
there wasn't much difference between using one Gold Needle and two.
Because a hit to a vital spot meant death either way.
So,
when he first struck down the Second Brother, who was at the fifth level of Qi Induction, he had used only one Gold Needle.
He had kept the other one—the most lethal weapon at his disposal—
clenched in his hand the whole time.
Until this very moment,
he had endured for so long before finally erupting, successfully turning the tables and killing the powerful enemy at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Induction!
"Whew!"
Seeing the Scar-Faced Man lying not far away, charred all over, a gaping hole in his head, his life completely extinguished as his body fell backward,
Shen Changchuan let out a long breath.
But there was no joy or smugness on his face.
On the contrary, his face was as pale as paper. He looked utterly drained, and his back was nearly soaked with cold sweat.
Only after his opponent had fallen
did Shen Changchuan sway unsteadily for a moment, nearly collapsing to the ground.
There was no helping it.
This battle had taken too much out of him!
He might have seemed to dispatch his enemies one after another with ease.
But in reality,
from the moment he shattered Zhao Hangao's dantian with a punch and launched his assault,
he had been walking a tightrope.
One misstep,
and he would have plunged into the abyss, dying on the spot!
In that brief quarter of an hour,
Shen Changchuan had pushed his nerves to the limit, and the flow of his magical power had been pushed to its limit as well!
Several times,
when his magical power couldn't keep up, he had no choice but to ignore the consequences and forcefully wring the last bit of strength from his body and meridians to fight his enemies!
A few breaths later,
Shen Changchuan finally managed to catch his breath.
But by then,
less than one-tenth of his magical power remained, and his meridians ached from being pushed to their limits again and again.
Still, now that he had recovered a little,
he was at least capable of fighting again.
Although his remaining strength was less than half of what it had been at his peak, and what little magical power he had left would last only a short while,
it was enough.
"You... you... how is that possible?!"
Not far away,
Zhao Hangao stared wide-eyed at Shen Changchuan, severely wounded. Pointing at him, he cried out in horror as if he had seen something beyond belief.
Zhao Hangao was, after all, at the fourth level of Qi Induction.
So Shen Changchuan had struck hard, crippling him with a single blow.
Zhao Hangao was still alive, but his injuries were so severe that he had been lying on the ground, unable even to stand.
Just moments ago,
after being crippled by the sneak attack, he had still been cursing Shen Changchuan for his shamelessness, seething with hatred. He had sworn that once the three men from He Mountain captured Shen Changchuan, he would torture him thoroughly to vent his fury.
That fury and hatred had lasted right up until this moment.
Right up until the eldest of the three—the Scar-Faced Man at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Induction—had also fallen to the ground, utterly lifeless.
Now, Zhao Hangao
looked at the three ghastly corpses scattered around him,
then looked back at Shen Changchuan, his eyes filled with terror,
as if he were staring at a demon wearing human skin.
In his fright,
even though he was lying there, unable to stand, he couldn't help using his hands to push himself backward.
"How is this possible?! It can't be! How could you be this powerful?"
Zhao Hangao's face was filled with terror.
He struggled frantically to crawl backward, as if he wanted to get as far away as possible from the terrifying demon before him.
His body left a clear trail across the ground.
How could he not be terrified?
Three of the famous Four Evils of He Mountain had gathered here,
led by their eldest, who was at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Induction, with another at the fifth level and one at the fourth. They had laid an ambush, yet in the blink of an eye, the man before him had slaughtered them one after another?!
Judging by the aura he had displayed during the fight, Shen Changchuan was only at the fourth level of Qi Induction!
The weakest among the Four Evils of He Mountain was at the fourth level of Qi Induction!
How could this be?!
How could things have turned out like this?!
Zhao Hangao simply couldn't understand it,
much less accept it!
But
Shen Changchuan had no intention of explaining.
He walked over in a few strides and knocked him unconscious with a hand chop.
He still had uses for this man.
For example, he could find out who the people trying to kill him were.
And why they had targeted him.
If he couldn't get to the bottom of those things, they would remain like a thorn buried deep in his heart.
At the very least,
he needed to know where this danger came from
so he could prepare in advance.
But although the matter was urgent,
this clearly wasn't the right place for an interrogation. Shen Changchuan planned to take him back to Dawan Village and deal with him properly there.
So he simply knocked him out for now,
to prevent anything unexpected from happening along the way.
Once Zhao Hangao was completely unconscious,
Shen Changchuan began gathering the spoils scattered around him.
To avoid any mishaps,
he started by searching the body of the weakest one, the Fourth Brother at the fourth level of Qi Induction.
Since the man had been wearing leather armor, Shen Changchuan had assumed he would have a fair bit of wealth on him.
That was what he had thought.
But he was soon disappointed.
He searched nearly every inch of the man,
but aside from the leather armor he had been wearing, there was nothing else of value.
Even the armor had been cut through by the two Wind Blade Techniques Shen Changchuan had unleashed in quick succession during the battle, completely losing its spiritual properties and all its value.
Well,
not entirely all its value.
In the Mortal Realm, if the split parts were sewn back together, it could still count as a treasure impervious to blades and spears, and fetch some silver.
But that was obviously of little use to Shen Changchuan.
A thought suddenly crossed Shen Changchuan's mind.
Could this man's wealth have been kept by his eldest brother?
From the way he had produced the Soul-Absorbing Bell with a flip of his hand earlier, it seemed he had a Storage Bag.
Though the thought crossed his mind,
Shen Changchuan didn't go straight to search the eldest brother's body.
Instead, he first walked in the other direction,
toward the body of the fifth-level cultivator he had first killed in a sneak attack.
Soon,
Shen Changchuan found a dagger in the man's hand.
A sharp wind blade along the dagger's edge reflected a dark blue glow.
It seemed to be a low-grade magical artifact,
and one that had been coated with poison, at that.
But aside from the dagger,
just like the previous man, he had nothing else.
Shen Changchuan had found nothing.
His gaze
then shifted toward the corpse of the eldest brother, who had been at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Induction.
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