"Ah!"
"Watch out!"
Silver light streaked past, swift as lightning. Before those nearby could even make out what had happened, it was already in front of Li Chen.
It was aimed at Li Chen's left temple, fired from a spot two or three stories high diagonally behind him. The angle was not particularly tricky, but it lay precisely in his blind spot, and the attack seized the instant when he turned his head while talking to someone.
Danger detected. Emergency defense activated! Gang Essence Shield!
The Auxiliary Brain's voice rang out in his mind, reacting almost simultaneously with his own awareness.
Li Chen was slightly startled, then watched a rigid spiritual glow rise over his body. With a metallic clang, the flying sword struck as though it had hit something solid and stopped dead in midair.
His gaze sharpened, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Someone really is courting death by trying to assassinate me?"
In truth, the sudden upheaval surrounding him lately had already given him a vague sense of foreboding.
That instinctive premonition, combined with what the Detection Mechanism Devices deployed outside had seen, told him that enemies already had their sights on him.
Some coveted the Spirit Peak Blessed Land and were fanning the flames, while the mastermind who had spread the information earlier was also pushing things along from the shadows. The various parties hit it off at once, acting without prior agreement to test his mettle.
It was not just Li Chen. Almost every Territorial Lord had experienced similar probes.
After all, a Spirit Peak Blessed Land was far too precious to an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. Back in Suyang, even Luo Changshan's death had drawn covetous eyes from every quarter. Those people certainly did not mind plucking the fruits of victory