Can't Kill Him? Well, Now I Can

The Eastern Bian Li Clan? A Golden Core patriarch?

Seeing how convincingly Zhang Yuan spoke, all three froze.

In the end, the burly man who seemed so rough and carefree reacted first, cursing, "Old man, this brat's playing us!"

"The Eastern Bian Li Clan is far away in the Bian Kingdom, with the Ya Kingdom and Wen Kingdom between them and us. That's far more than ten thousand miles! Even if one of their descendants really came here, why would he be alone, without a single guard?"

At the burly man's words, both the black-robed elder and the lavishly dressed young man nodded inwardly, their gazes turning hostile as they looked at Zhang Yuan.

"Boy, you'd better tell us the truth, or don't blame my divine ability for showing no mercy..." the black-robed elder said viciously.

Zhang Yuan considered this.

Li Huixi's name doesn't carry much weight here.

But it hardly mattered. He had never intended to bluff his way past the three of them.

The black-robed elder and the burly man were clearly seasoned offenders who knew the nearby cultivation clans inside out. A few words would never fool them.

Zhang Yuan glanced above their heads. Only one of the three had a golden tag.

In that case... I might as well kill them all.

"Fellow Daoists, why not look beneath your feet?" Zhang Yuan suddenly asked.

The burly man frowned and looked down. Three iron chains, each thicker than his body, slithered toward them across the ground like pythons.

They made neither sound nor stir. Without Zhang Yuan's warning, he probably would never have noticed.

Not good!

The burly man's heart clenched, and he tried to leap away. But the iron chains already at his feet moved faster, instantly winding around his waist and abdomen before wrenching tight.

"Aaah!"

Agonizing pain shot through his waist and abdomen. The burly man cried out despite himself and tried to unleash a divine ability to escape.

Yet the divine ability that should have obeyed him as readily as his own limbs refused to manifest.

How is this possible!

I'm at fifth-turn qi refinement! Why can't I use my divine ability?

Zhang Yuan's expression remained calm.

The iron chains were his second divine ability, [Myriad Coexistence]. Through the connection established by [Myriad Coexistence], he blocked every imago of the heavenly dipper and earthly baleful forces the burly man needed to invoke his divine ability.

Establishing a connection through [Myriad Coexistence] was not undetectable, but with [Severing Past and Present, Leaving No Trace] to assist it, forming a symbiotic relationship became easy.

Or rather, a parasitic relationship was a more fitting description.

The burly man's organs felt ready to burst, and the iron chains nearly severed him through the middle. With panic fueling the fire raging in his heart, he retched up a mouthful of blood.

"Old man, save me..." the burly man managed, pinning his hopes of survival on the black-robed elder beside him.

The old man had a divine ability that let him substitute a false death for his own. As long as the old man intervened, he could be saved.

But when he turned his head, he discovered that the black-robed elder had already escaped. The lavishly dressed young man was in the same predicament as himself, about to die as his waist was torn apart. Despair flooded his heart.

The black-robed elder had unleashed his divine ability and ridden the wind into the air. Looking down at Zhang Yuan, he was filled with horror and bitter regret.

Three divine abilities! This man is a mighty adept of nine-turn qi refinement!

Had they known, they would never have tried to intercept him and steal his spoils.

At least I escaped. But my poor grandson is surely doomed today.

Indeed, the burly man was the black-robed elder's own grandson. Even so, the elder had no intention of saving him.

If he tried, he would very likely get himself killed as well.

His grandson's death was certainly painful, but if it bought his own survival, then the boy would not have died in vain.

On the ground.

"Spare me! I haven't done anything yet... Spare my life, Senior! I'll serve you like an ox or a horse!" the burly man pleaded desperately.

"No. You already have," Zhang Yuan said without any change in expression.

The three had pursued him, which meant they intended to murder and burn their way to golden belts of wealth!

They were already bent on killing him for his treasures. No matter what the burly man said, Zhang Yuan would never let him go.

Zhang Yuan flicked his hand lightly, and the iron chains tightened further.

Crack.

Without ever managing to unleash a divine ability, the burly man at fifth-turn qi refinement split in two amid a spray of blood, his halves falling to the ground.

Seeing the burly man die so easily, the lavishly dressed young man beside him was nearly scared witless.

Zhang Yuan shifted his gaze and briefly sized up the lavishly dressed young man.

This man was not a cultivator of the sha ingestion gang devoration path, but an Outer Dao Cultivator. His cultivation was roughly at foundation establishment perfection.

"Don't... don't kill me! I'm a descendant of the Ling Kingdom Wang Clan!" the lavishly dressed young man hurriedly declared his origins.

"The Ling Kingdom Wang Clan?" Zhang Yuan asked in puzzlement.

As far as he recalled, the Five Surnames and Seven Houses included no Ling Kingdom Wang Clan.

"That's right! Though our Ling Kingdom Wang Clan isn't among the Five Surnames and Seven Houses, we're still a first-rank aristocratic clan! If you kill me, our clan's Heavenly Being will never let you off!" the lavishly dressed young man threatened.

"Fair point."

Zhang Yuan nodded, and the iron chains binding the lavishly dressed young man suddenly loosened.

Joy surged through the young man's heart. He was just about to speak again when he saw Zhang Yuan cast a divine ability on himself, blurring his face.

A first-rank aristocratic clan, with a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being presiding over it. I really can't kill him casually.

I'll have to use [Severing Past and Present, Leaving No Trace] to erase the karma and conceal myself.

Then I can kill him without worrying about the consequences.

Xiao Yuanjun's divine ability really is useful.

"I'm Wang Shaohua of the Ling Kingdom Wang Clan! You can't kill me... Please, I'm begging you, don't kill me! I don't know them! I was just passing by!"

Seeing this, the lavishly dressed young man could hardly fail to realize what Zhang Yuan intended. He immediately began shouting and screaming.

Zhang Yuan turned a deaf ear.

He tightened the iron chains.

The lavishly dressed young man's cries ceased, and he lay beside the burly man's two halves.

"Fire."

Zhang Yuan spoke softly.

Though the dao status of a Qi Refinement Perfected could not influence heaven and earth over a wide area as a Foundation-Building Heavenly Being could, conjuring a fire out of nothing was no problem.

Flames engulfed the lavishly dressed young man and the burly man.

A short while later, both were reduced to drifting ash, scattered between heaven and earth without a trace.

Having dealt with the two, Zhang Yuan had not forgotten the black-robed elder who had escaped the bonds of [Myriad Coexistence]. He raised his head slightly.

When cutting weeds, pull out the roots.

Not one of the three can be left alive.

Seeing Zhang Yuan look his way, the black-robed elder's heart jolted, but he did not panic too much.

As long as he avoided those iron chains, his Wind-Riding Divine Ability would let him escape even if he could not win.

Even if his opponent also possessed a Sky Traversal divine ability and was a little faster, he was confident he could use the terrain to shake him off.

"Hmph! I'll remember today's grudge! Once I prove and attain celestial human, I'll tear you into ten thousand pieces to avenge my grandson!"

Leaving that threat behind, the black-robed elder fled on the wind.

Zhang Yuan was puzzled.

The burly man was the black-robed elder's grandson?

Then why didn't the elder show the slightest intention of intervening when I killed him? He just watched from the sky.

Never mind.

Since grandfather and grandson share such a deep bond, I'll send them to their reunion.

Zhang Yuan tossed the Golden Carriage from his palm and stepped inside. It became a streak of golden light, chasing after the black-robed elder fleeing on the wind.

The black-robed elder had misjudged one thing.

When [Golden Chariot] enhanced Zhang Yuan himself, he was indeed only a little faster than the elder. But when he manifested the Phoenix-Luan Golden Carriage that formed the foundation of the divine ability, the difference in speed was a gulf between heaven and the abyss.

Had the black-robed elder fled the instant he escaped [Myriad Coexistence], Zhang Yuan might truly have struggled to catch him.

But he had insisted on leaving a threat before departing, and that gave Zhang Yuan his chance.