"Fellow Daoist, why don't you show yourself?"
Xu Hei's booming shout came from the sky.
Old Drum Elder let out a long breath. Billowing black smoke rose around him and bore him into the air. "The higher sect has given its order. Intruders... will be killed without mercy!" A Dao Foundation manifestation spread around him, turning into surging black earth that swept forward.
"Oh? Another user of Rebirth Earth?"
After exchanging a few blows, Xu Hei gradually grew confident.
"I thought I was one of the weakest Dao Foundation cultivators around. Who knew there was someone even weaker... without so much as a Dao Foundation Spirit Artifact..."
Xu Hei raised a hand, and Ten-Thousandfold Mountain appeared above Old Drum Elder's head before crashing down.
This Dao Foundation Spirit Artifact had been forged from Six Directions Earth mixed with Kun Mountain Jade. It was heavy as ten thousand jun and possessed another transformation called Profound Heavy Radiance. Caught in that light, Old Drum Elder felt his whole body seize up beneath a crushing weight. He could not even control his escape light.
Boom!
Ten-Thousandfold Mountain transformed into a giant mountain the size of a house and came crashing down.
"Old Drum Elder!?"
A young man cried out hoarsely. His flesh withered until he was skin and bones, and he spat out a small insect.
The insect turned into a pitch-black arrow and shot straight at Xu Hei.
"A Qi Ingestion cultivator? Is this... refining all his blood essence into a lifebound gu, then burning it away for a single strike?"
Xu Hei chuckled and lifted a hand.
The light of Maiden Earth gathered into a patch of black soil and buried the arrow...
The gap between major realms on the Breath-Nourishing Dao could never be bridged by risking one's life.
"Aligu?"