Instant Kill

Time passed slowly.

Before long, noon approached, and Ground Owl finally returned.

"Little Gray!"

Liu Yueling cried out happily. She then met Ground Owl's gaze, seemingly learning of everything it had seen along the way. With delight on her face, she said to Lu Li:

"Big Brother Li, Little Gray found the place you mentioned, but there are quite a few people there. Two of them even made Little Gray feel threatened."

Lu Li's expression shifted at her words, and he glanced at Little Gray.

This Ground Owl was a mutated breed. It did not fear even Early Stage Meridian Opening martial artists. Anyone who could make it feel threatened was most likely at the Middle Stage of Meridian Opening.

"Middle Stage of Meridian Opening... Drooping-Ear Monk isn't there, and the strongest among them should only be at the Sixth Layer of Meridian Opening."

After thinking for a moment, Lu Li smiled.

"Alright. I know the situation now."

As he spoke, he rubbed Liu Yueling's head.

"Have Little Gray protect you for now. I'm heading out, and I'll be back soon."

"Alright."

Liu Yueling was very obedient, though she pouted slightly.

"When I get back, I'll take you to eat donkey-meat flatbread..."

After coaxing the little girl like an old father, Lu Li went downstairs, left the city, and headed straight for the Barren Mountain behind it.

This was a mountain forest with sparse vegetation. He had heard that it had once been densely forested, but after the common folk cut down trees without restraint, it gradually became barren.

Only after the authorities issued a ban had it slowly recovered to its present state.

Lu Li moved through the Barren Mountain like a gust of wind, his figure like an afterimage that was difficult to catch.

After obtaining the Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual, movement techniques and lightness skill were no longer his weakness. In gaming terms, his Agility stat had received an epic-tier boost.

"The sacrificial site is on another mountain. Drooping-Ear Monk and the Xue Household will have heavily guarded it, but no one knows about this blood pool, so its defenses are far weaker."

The corners of Lu Li's mouth curled up unconsciously, like a three-hundred-pound stomach that had gone hungry for days spotting a free buffet.

"Drooping-Ear Monk, you really are my lucky star."

Before long, the terrain became increasingly steep and the vegetation ever more lush. Soon, Lu Li halted and narrowed his eyes at a ruined temple protruding from an open patch of ground in the distance.

It was an old, dilapidated temple, its walls and roof riddled with holes, making the scene inside clearly visible.

An eerie Bodhisattva statue stood at the center of the temple. A thousand eyes had been carved all over its body, and no one knew how it had been made, but the carvings were lifelike.

After just one glance, Lu Li nearly developed trypophobia.

He looked away and turned toward the side of the Bodhisattva statue, where there was a sunken pit nine feet long and wide. It was filled with scarlet blood, bubbling with a gurgle.

"Drooping-Ear Monk's blood pool..."

Having spotted his target, Lu Li did not act rashly. Instead, he closed his eyes slightly and extended Weapon Lord's perception.

"Three at the First Layer of Meridian Opening, two at the Fifth Layer of Meridian Opening. They're all behind the temple... Drooping-Ear Monk's men all carry weapons."

After locating his targets, Lu Li opened his eyes and looked ahead.

The Bodhisattva statue blocked the temple's rear from view, but under Weapon Lord's perception, he knew every person's position clearly.

Lu Li used the Ride Things, Roam the Mind Manual and silently crept over.

Though his strength allowed him to slaughter this group head-on, a sneak attack was undoubtedly safer.

Behind the temple, five bald monks sat in a circle. A doe lay in the middle of them, twitching weakly with foam spilling from its mouth.

Like a ghost, Lu Li watched from within a patch of grass. He swept his gaze over them, and his eyelid immediately twitched.

It was a female deer.

"Tch... Master really is something else. He made us guard this damned place and forbade us from leaving even half a step. I can only use these animals to satisfy myself."

A scar-faced monk cursed as he tugged at the waistband of his pants.

"Amitabha. Junior Brother, you were the one having the most fun just now."

Beside him, a fair-faced monk softly chanted a Buddhist invocation. He wore a smile, yet an evil air clung to him.

"Bah, weren't you having a great time too?"

The scar-faced monk sneered. "I never noticed before, but you're a man who doesn't discriminate between meat and vegetables either."

"This is cultivation."

The fair-faced monk smiled, seemingly unangered.

"Sigh, Senior Brothers, don't make us envy you any more."

As he spoke, the other three monks began voicing their envy.

"You two can enter the city tomorrow and enjoy yourselves, lying in wait for that Hidden Heroes Alliance. Meanwhile, us junior brothers have to wait bitterly for another half year."

"Haha... That's because your cultivation is too weak. Naturally, we have to handle such matters for you."

The scar-faced monk laughed heartily, clearly delighted. He had long grown tired of this godforsaken Barren Mountain.

"Amitabha. Your Senior Brother Kong Ye is right. This trip runs deep, and you cannot handle it. Naturally, your senior brothers must take care of it."

Yuchen smiled. Meanwhile, Lu Li, over a hundred meters away, heard their words with perfect clarity.

"These fake monks... They're simply an affront to my eyes. With conduct like this, they are clearly Drooping-Ear Monk's disciples. Those two monks must be the pair going to ambush Peng Shan and the others in seven days."

Lu Li's gaze shifted slightly.

Drooping-Ear Monk's two disciples were both at the Sixth Layer of Meridian Opening, the same as Lu Li. In seven days, they would successfully strike, nearly killing Peng Shan.

"Eradicating evil for the people is my unshirkable duty."

With a silent sigh, Lu Li erupted in an instant. Xuandu left its sheath, raising a frigid flash of blade light. The Intransigent Qi Field Domain expanded in an instant, layered with the Poison Astral Body and God-Devouring Blade Qi.

Even with his odds of victory nearing ten out of ten, Lu Li still had no intention of confronting them head-on. He continued with the sneak attack.

"Who is it?!"

The instant Lu Li sprang into action, Kong Ye sensed the disturbance. He roared and drew a short hammer from behind his waist. Yuchen was even more decisive, flicking out three poisoned silver needles.

"Using poison in front of me?"

Lu Li said nothing. Within a breath, he crossed the hundred-meter distance.

The hidden weapons entered the Intransigent Qi Field Domain and instantly came to a halt. They struck his skin with a crisp clang, then fell to the ground.

They did not even pierce his skin.

"What?"

Before Yuchen could express his shock, the Intransigent Qi Field Domain swept over him. His expression changed drastically as he shouted a warning.

"Careful, there's poison!"

"Take my hammer!"

Kong Ye roared, his hammer smashing through the air as though it had burst the atmosphere, producing a thunderous boom.

Lu Li raised his eyes and swung Xuandu straight at it.

At the moment of impact, the short hammer flew away. Kong Ye's tiger's mouth split open, blood flowing as his heart shook.

He had been born with powerful bones and sinews, possessing talent in external cultivation. After cultivating until now, his strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, and he wielded the fierce weapon of a hammer.

Yet now, he had been defeated in a single instant!

"You practice external cultivation too..."

Before his stunned words could fully leave his mouth, Lu Li slashed with his blade. Kong Ye's head burst like a smashed watermelon, red and white matter spraying everywhere.

"You!!"

Yuchen was both shocked and furious, but his fear was even greater.

In the blink of an eye, Lu Li had killed Kong Ye in a single move. He was no match for such strength.

But the moment he tried to move, he found it difficult to use his lightness skill. It was as though a fish had been trapped in a mire, his movements slowed several times over.

In that brief instant, Lu Li's blade struck again. Icy blade light erupted, and a bloody line split across Yuchen's face. The next moment, he was severed into two pieces where he stood.

"M-Monster!"

The remaining three monks were terrified beyond measure. Before they could even see clearly, their two senior brothers at the Sixth Layer of Meridian Opening had been instantly killed.

Even their master could not achieve such a thing.

Lu Li sheathed his blade and stood still, lowering his gaze to look quietly at the three men, already frightened senseless.

Whoosh~

A faint ripple stirred the air. The remaining three men suddenly turned pale, then collapsed to the ground together, blood pouring from their seven orifices.

The poison from the Body-Devouring Powder had taken effect.

In just three breaths, all five men had died!