Cornered

The hairs on the back of Su Shi'er's neck stood on end. Without a second thought, he immediately activated the Blood Light Shield.

In an instant, a blood-red light shield appeared, enveloping his entire body.

Bang... bang...

The ice spikes rained down, and the shield was instantly covered in cracks, but it did not shatter.

Borrowing the force of the impact, Su Shi'er lifted his body a few more feet. With his Phantom Step, he vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

Watching Su Shi'er's retreating figure from afar, she gritted her silver teeth, her eyes wide with fury, utterly frustrated.

"That brat, he even learned Meng Tianyi's Blood Light Shield?!"

"Given how cautious he acts, I'm afraid Meng Tianyi didn't run away—he died at this kid's hands."

"But that damned little bastard, leaving on his own is one thing, but he even swiped my four Soul Severing Nails. Absolutely infuriating. Don't let me run into you again, or I'll chop you into eight pieces."

Just as she was muttering angrily, a fluorescent star band drifted through the air.

"Hm? A Minor Tracking Spell?! Someone else is coming!"

The female cultivator surnamed Chu let out a low cry, immediately held her breath, and muttered a silent incantation as she stepped to the side.

Under the spell, her figure quickly faded into invisibility.

Half a cup of tea later, two figures—one fat, one thin—appeared on the hillside. They were the two disciples from Tianhua Peak who had been tracking Su Shi'er.

Seeing the two corpses on the ground, their eyes tightened, and they immediately went on alert.

"Hm? Judging by the looks of these two on the ground, they must have killed each other." The short, stout disciple swept his gaze around quickly and immediately analyzed.

The tall, thin disciple's face lit up with joy. "Isn't that perfect? We get to pick up the leftovers! As for that kid, seeing this treasure and not even taking it—he must have spotted us!"

"Mm... Hurry and pick this up. We'll continue the chase! People dying is a small matter, but losing the materials is a big deal." The short, stout disciple nodded, stepped forward, and reached for the Glazed Gold in the burly man's hand.

Beside him, the tall, thin disciple wasn't idle either. He quickly moved to pick up the Storage Pouches at the two men's waists and the Precious Sword in the old man's hand.

Just as the two stepped forward, the next second, a cloud of ink-black mist suddenly erupted from the two corpses.

The ink-black mist spread rapidly, enveloping the two the moment it appeared.

"Not good! It's a trap!"

"Damn it, it's poisonous!"

Seeing the sudden change, the tall, thin and short, stout disciples both changed color in alarm and hurriedly tried to flee into the distance.

But the moment they took a single step, their bodies convulsed, and they collapsed directly to the ground, eyes rolling back, spitting blood as they died.

"The Five-Poison Spirit Snake's venom is truly extraordinary. Too bad there was only that much. If I had more, I'd be rich in no time!"

The next second, the female cultivator surnamed Chu appeared on the scene.

With a smile on her face, she muttered softly to herself, quickly gathering the items from the old man and the burly man on the ground.

Then, her gaze fell on the fat and thin men on the ground.

"Good thing that kid ran off just now, or I wouldn't have been able to poison two unlucky bastards at once."

"Tianhua Peak is way stronger than Luofu Peak! These two aren't weak either—in a few days, they should have found two or three materials, right?"

Smiling and whispering to herself, the female cultivator surnamed Chu's eyes narrowed into slits.

Rubbing her hands together, she raised her hand and snatched the two Storage Pouches into her grasp.

Pouring her true essence into them to inspect the contents, her delicate brows furrowed, and her expression turned especially gloomy.

"You've got to be kidding me. Aside from a dozen or so broken talismans and one Low-grade Magical Artifact each, there's nothing else?"

"And these are Tianhua Peak disciples? Two days and they couldn't even find a single piece of material?

What a waste!"

The female cultivator surnamed Chu gritted her silver teeth and cursed hatefully.

Little did she know, the fat and thin men, along with the one Su Shi'er had killed, were in the same group.

And the materials the three of them had gathered over the past few days happened to be in the Storage Pouch Su Shi'er had taken.

Pursing her lips, the female cultivator surnamed Chu, looking disgusted, tossed out a few Fireballs to incinerate the corpses on the ground.

"Those two just now used a Minor Tracking Spell, clearly meant for that kid. Could it be... their stuff was snatched by him?"

"Hmph, whether it was or not, I need to get my Soul-Chasing Nails back first."

Her eyes darting around, the female cultivator surnamed Chu turned her head to look in the direction Su Shi'er had fled.

Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the star band in the air, activated an Escape Talisman, and chased after Su Shi'er.

Su Shi'er didn't dare stay in the air for long. For one, the true essence drain was too great, and for another, it was too conspicuous.

After breaking free, he landed on the ground and continued his cautious exploration.

And upon seeing the four iron nails in the Storage Pouch, his mood lifted greatly.

"Who would've thought these four Soul Severing Nails were actually High-grade Magical Artifacts?! That green gleam means they've been steeped in poison plenty—that woman really does have a heart like a venomous scorpion."

"But judging by how nervous that bitch was, these four iron nails must be worth a fortune! Hmm... definitely far more than a single Level 1 Top-grade Defense Talisman."

The more Su Shi'er looked, the happier he grew, feeling as though he'd finally gotten a breath of fresh air and could hold his head high.

Three days later, after visiting several places in a row with little to show for it.

That day, he activated the Heavenly Eye Technique, following the faint traces of earth spiritual energy in the air, and arrived before a vast stone forest filled with boulders twice a man's height.

"Judging by the spiritual energy distribution here, there should be something decent beneath these giant rocks. At the very least... it ought to be a Grade 2 Earth Spiritual Material."

"Wait... this place—doesn't it match the Boulder Forest marked on the Spiritual Plant Garden map?!"

Just as he was thinking this, his pupils dilated sharply at the sight before him. He immediately pulled out the palm-sized map to confirm.

"A stone forest stretching dozens of li in depth—no mistake, this is definitely the place."

"That means the Spiritual Plant Garden should be a hundred li east of here. Whether it is or not, I'll check it out after collecting the spiritual materials here!"

Having made up his mind, Su Shi'er followed the flow of spiritual energy in the air and stepped into the stone forest.

Soon, he had ventured deep into the forest.

Just then, his peripheral vision caught a figure. His pupils contracted, and his expression instantly turned serious.

"Kid, I never thought I'd run into you so soon! The grudge from four years ago—today, I can finally settle it!" A burly disciple with a face full of rough flesh and a fat build walked toward him with a sinister grin.

This disciple's cultivation wasn't high, only at Qi Refining Stage Three. But he was an old acquaintance—Fatty Huang, the menial disciple who had deliberately made things difficult for everyone the first time Su Shi'er collected his pills.

"Settle a grudge?"

Seeing the other's provocative stance, Su Shi'er stood his ground, completely unmoved. His gaze swept around, quickly assessing the surroundings.

"Quite the cautious one, aren't you? Too bad—there's no escape for you today!"

Another voice rang out, and then two more figures emerged from the boulders on either side of him.

One of them was the Sword-Bearing Youth from four years ago, Zhao Yu.

The other was a burly man with a leopard-like head and round eyes, exuding a fierce and vicious aura. The murderous intent rolling off him made it clear he wasn't someone to trifle with.

"Qi Refining Stage Five?! Qi Refining Stage Six?!" Su Shi'er glanced left and right, his pupils shrinking, his face instantly turning extremely grim.