Leaving the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, the afternoon sunlight was somewhat dazzling.
Chen Chen slung the newly purchased Ink Shadow Sword across his back, pressed down the conical hat on his head, and merged into the flow of people on the street.
His pace was neither hurried nor slow, making him look like an ordinary Rogue Cultivator who had just finished buying supplies and was preparing to leave the city.
But his Nine Nether Soul Refining Art, already at the minor success stage, had long pushed his Spiritual Power to its limit.
Behind him, that malicious Spiritual Sense clung to him like maggots on bone, following him at neither too great nor too short a distance.
"Second Level of Qi Condensation..."
Chen Chen clearly sensed the other party's cultivation.
Just like the Myriad Treasures Pavilion's shopkeeper, he was at the Second Level of Qi Condensation.
However, this man's aura was far colder and more condensed than that pampered shopkeeper's.
Clearly, he was a ruthless character who had spent years licking blood from the edge of a blade.
"Is it because of the things I sold, or because of the Spirit Stones I took out?"
Thoughts raced through Chen Chen's mind.
Most likely, it was both.
A Seventh Level of Body Tempering brat casually taking out a Profound-rank martial skill and several hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones would look like a walking fat sheep to anyone.
They had clearly mistaken him for a lamb awaiting slaughter.
A cold curve tugged at Chen Chen's lips.
He did not choose to shake them off immediately, nor did he head toward the city gate.
Instead, he deliberately picked remote, deserted alleys.
He was creating an opportunity for them.
An opportunity... to make a move.
And also an opportunity... to send themselves to their deaths!
After passing through two long, narrow alleys, an abandoned residential area appeared ahead.
The houses here were dilapidated, with weeds growing everywhere. Clearly, no one had lived here for a long time.
Even the air was filled with the scent of decay.
This was Luoyun Town's notorious no-man's-land, a place where many shady deals and killings took place.
Chen Chen stepped into a collapsed courtyard wall and stopped.
He turned around and waited quietly.
"Rustle... rustle..."
Soft footsteps came from the alley entrance.
Three figures formed a triangular formation, blocking all his paths of retreat.
The leader was the thin black-clad man who had set his sights on him in the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
He wore a Ghost Masked Man's green-faced, fanged mask, revealing only a pair of cold eyes like those of a venomous snake.
Behind him followed two black-clad men dressed the same way, both at the Qi Condensation First Layer.
"Kid, you've got some nerve."
The leading Ghost Masked Man spoke, his voice hoarse, like two pieces of sandpaper grinding together.
"You knew we were following you, yet you still dared to burrow into a place like this. Should I call you stupid, or should I say that you're... far too confident in your own strength?"
Chen Chen raised his head, his gaze beneath the conical hat calm as still water.
"Who are you?"
"Who we are is none of your concern." Another masked man at the Qi Condensation First Layer sneered. "You only need to know that everything on you will be ours today!"
"If you know what's good for you, obediently hand over your storage bag and that newly bought sword. Then cripple your own cultivation, and we may consider leaving you an intact corpse."
"Oh?" Chen Chen's voice betrayed neither joy nor anger. "The three of you think you're enough?"
"Hahaha! Kid, you really won't shed tears until you see the coffin!" The leading Ghost Masked Man seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. "Don't think we can't tell that you've concealed your cultivation! That little Spiritual Power impact trick of yours might fool that cowardly shopkeeper at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, but you're still too green to fool us, the Ghost Shadow Three Fiends!"
"Let me guess. At most, you're at the Qi Condensation First Layer, and you only possess Spiritual Power far beyond your peers because of some Secret Method, right?"
"Unfortunately, before absolute strength, no amount of flashy tricks is of any use!"
As his words fell, his aura erupted with a boom!
The pressure of the Second Level of Qi Condensation crashed fiercely toward Chen Chen like a tidal wave!
The two companions behind him also released their auras at the same time. The three waves of pressure intertwined, enough to make any cultivator at the Qi Condensation First Layer lose their composure and have all fighting spirit drained away.
They seemed to greatly enjoy crushing their opponents with sheer momentum.
Yet the scene they had expected—Chen Chen trembling in terror and kneeling to beg for mercy—never appeared.
Chen Chen remained standing quietly where he was, as if those three waves of pressure were merely three gentle breezes brushing over his face.
"That's it?"
Chen Chen calmly uttered two words.
The aura he had deliberately suppressed finally ceased to hide itself.
Boom!
An aura no weaker than theirs, and even more condensed and domineering, surged skyward from within him!
Peak Qi Condensation First Layer!
"Hm?"
The leading Ghost Masked Man's pupils shrank slightly.
He had not expected this brat's cultivation to have truly reached the peak of the Qi Condensation First Layer, and to be even more solid than he had anticipated.
But that was all.
Between the peak of the First Layer and the Second Level still lay an insurmountable chasm.
"Interesting. Looks like I'll gain another fine collectible today."
He licked his lips, his eyes filled with undisguised greed and killing intent.
"Big Brother, stop wasting words with him! End this quickly, lest the night grow long and dreams multiply!"
"Attack together! Kill him!"
The two companions behind him could no longer hold themselves back. They let out low roars and pounced at Chen Chen from the left and right!
Each held a poisoned dagger, its blade glinting with a faint green light beneath the sun. Their angles were vicious, striking straight for Chen Chen's ribs and the center of his back.
Their coordination was seamless; clearly, they often engaged in this sort of murder and robbery.
Yet at the very instant they moved, Chen Chen moved as well!
Seven Shadows Step!
For the first time in actual combat, he unleashed his perfected movement technique without holding anything back!
His figure suddenly blurred.
With one step, one became seven!
Seven identical figures appeared in the field at once. Each carried fierce killing intent, making it impossible to tell which was real and which was false!
"What?!"
The expressions of the two Qi Condensation First Layer cultivators charging forward changed drastically!
Their attacks instantly lost their target!
They could only rely on instinct and wildly stab at two of the afterimages.
Splat!
The daggers passed through the afterimages without any resistance.
Those afterimages slowly dispersed like wisps of blue smoke.
They had missed!
The two were horrified and immediately tried to retreat.
But it was already too late.
A cold, utterly emotionless voice seemed to speak from behind them, right beside their ears.
"Too slow."
Splat!
Splat!
Two sprays of blood bloomed at the same time!
A pitch-black longsword, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, swept across both their necks simultaneously at an unimaginable angle!
The two masked heads flew into the air!
Blood dyed the ruined courtyard wall red.
[ Ding! Killed a Qi Condensation First Layer martial artist. Cultivation Points +120! ] [ Ding! Killed a Qi Condensation First Layer martial artist. Cultivation Points +120! ]
Instant kill!
Two Qi Condensation Realm cultivators of the same level had been instantly slain in a single exchange!
All of it happened in the blink of an eye!
The leading Ghost Masked Man at the Second Level of Qi Condensation had not even had time to react before his two brothers had become two headless corpses!
The smile on his face froze instantly!
His pupils contracted to their limit!
For the first time, an expression of utter horror appeared on his face!
"Th-this... what kind of movement technique is that?!"
He cried out in shock.
Yet the only answer he received was an icy, bone-piercing sword edge!
After killing the two men, Chen Chen did not pause in the slightest. His seven figures merged into one, and the Ink Shadow Sword in his hand fused with the domineering blood-red true qi of the Asura God Transformation Art, turning into a black bolt of lightning that shot straight for the man's brow!
This sword strike was fast, precise, and ruthless!
It carried all of Chen Chen's comprehension and killing intent since stepping into the Qi Condensation Realm!
"Courting death!"
The Ghost Masked Man finally snapped out of his shock.
With an enraged roar, his Second Level of Qi Condensation true qi erupted. The longsaber in his hand whipped up a fierce gale as he held it horizontally before himself!
Clang—!
Sword and saber collided with a thunderous crash!
A terrifying shockwave spread wildly outward from the two of them!
The surrounding broken walls and ruins collapsed with a boom under the impact of the shockwave!
Pfft!
Chen Chen felt an enormous force strike him. He was sent sliding several meters backward before barely steadying himself, his blood and qi churning violently in his chest.
The Second Level of Qi Condensation was indeed much stronger than the First Layer.
But the Ghost Masked Man opposite him was not having an easy time either!
Though he had blocked the strike, his tiger's mouth had gone numb from the impact, and his entire arm throbbed with soreness.
What terrified him even more was that a cold, domineering, corrosive blood-red true qi had invaded his body along the saber blade, wildly ravaging his meridians!
"What kind of damned true qi is this?!"
He stared at Chen Chen in horror. The greed and contempt in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by deep wariness and... a trace of fear.
This brat before him was absolutely no ordinary Qi Condensation First Layer cultivator!
He was a monster!
"Run!"
A single thought grew frantically in his heart.
Without another thought, he turned and fled.
But would Chen Chen give him that chance?
"Trying to run? Too late!"
Chen Chen sneered and raised the Ink Shadow Sword in his hand once more.
This time, the nearly imperceptible glimmer of blood on the blade seemed to have grown slightly richer.
As though it craved even more... blood.
Before you continue