Lian Li realized where the five men were weakest. Throwing caution to the wind, he charged straight into their midst and hacked wildly.
Unable to withstand this mad-dog style of fighting, the men scattered backward, looking instead like the ones being hemmed in.
Li Ling watched, both annoyed and amused. "How are these people so useless?"
They had received intelligence, laid an ambush in advance, successfully launched a surprise attack, and held an overwhelming five-to-one advantage. Yet once they crossed blades at close quarters, they still proved this pathetic.
But he soon realized that, seeing how many allies they had, none of them wanted to exert themselves or risk injury.
Although they were acting under orders and would receive compensation for any losses, each man remained responsible for his own future and fate.
Suffering a senseless loss and pinning one's hopes on the higher-ups having a conscience and keeping their promises was no way for a cultivator to behave.
The mission belonged to the trading association; their lives belonged to themselves. If they could finish it easily, why risk their necks?
Just look at that unlucky fellow earlier. One careless moment had gotten him killed. What a waste!
As he pondered this, bloody light surfaced around Lian Li. A scorching aura filled the entire valley, baking this little island hollow in the chill of spring until it felt like midsummer.
As that blazing aura swirled, blood-red vital essence streamed toward his body like ten thousand rivers flowing into the sea.
The source of that vital essence was the corpse of the man who had died earlier!
Flames appeared in the air, with waves of heat rolling outward.
The billowing heat even stirred the flow of Heaven-and-Earth Origin Energy. In the void beyond mortal sight, vast amounts of fire-aspect origin energy