"Thud!"
The green-robed cultivator's head fell to the ground and rolled several times, gathering dust, shock and disbelief still frozen on his face.
Lin Changheng's figure fully emerged. The Flowing Light Sword flew back to him, and he flicked it with a finger to shake off the blood before putting it away.
The Black Seal Platform, now without anyone controlling it, rapidly shrank to its original form and fell to the ground with a clang.
Without so much as glancing at the two corpses, he beckoned, drawing the shrunken Black Seal Platform and the green-robed cultivator's Storage Bag into his hand. Only then did his gaze turn toward the Storage Bag left behind by the Qiu Family patriarch and the damaged bronze bowl.
The mantis stalked the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
And this oriole needed only an instant's opening to strike and settle everything.
Aside from seizing the perfect moment, Lin Changheng had done only two things.
First, he had activated Illusion Otherworldly Art: Clarity, acquired through spirit seizure from the essence blood of a mystic spirit-grade Azure Rain Mist Toad. Drawing on the vegetation's energy here, he had cast it directly, obscuring his opponent's sight with illusions and throwing his mind into disarray.
Its use was restricted by the surroundings: it could only be cast with the aid of water vapor or wood energy. This lush woodland happened to be ideal.
At its current strength, even a foundation establishment middle stage cultivator could not escape its effects once it was cast.
Lin Changheng had also discovered that as the bloodline grade and concentration of the demon beasts subjected to spirit seizure increased, the otherworldly arts he acquired grew noticeably more powerful.
That was only reasonable.
Second, he had unleashed the Flowing Light Sword to kill his