An ambush

To prevent anyone with ulterior motives from following him, Xiao Yu returned straight to the Leisurely Cloud Inn after leaving the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and rented another room. He stayed in the new room for a while, then slipped back into his original room when no one was watching.

Having removed his disguise and resumed his appearance as a Giant Sword Sect disciple, Xiao Yu let out a long breath. He tossed everything he had taken off into the Mysterious Space, then washed himself several times with the Cleansing Art and Water Curtain Art. That should have removed any hidden marks someone might have left on me, Xiao Yu thought.

After sitting cross-legged, Xiao Yu turned his hand over, and two magical artifacts appeared in it: the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords and the Spirit Turtle Shield.

Looking at the two magical artifacts he had just acquired, Xiao Yu could no longer hold back an expression of sheer delight.

Among Qi Refining Stage cultivators, only a tiny fraction possessed top-grade magical artifacts. Every one of them was either an elite disciple of their sect or had a powerful backer.

Previously, Xiao Yu's most formidable weapon had been nothing more than a high-grade flying sword artifact, and even that had been given to him by his father.

Now that he had these two artifacts, his strength would take a qualitative leap. And that was not even counting the Talisman Treasure he had acquired on this trip. What was a Talisman Treasure? Anyone who had read A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality knew: it was a trump card for both Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators, not something to be used lightly. A Talisman Treasure could often decide the outcome of a fight.

The Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords consisted of one mother sword and six son swords. Every blade was a dark cyan, gleaming with cold light. After examining them for a while, Xiao Yu slowly infused them with magical power and spiritual sense to refine them.

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived. Feeling that he had nurtured them sufficiently, Xiao Yu used the Object Control Art and attached his spiritual sense to the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords to control them.

With the mother sword in front and the son swords slightly behind on either side, they flashed into seven streaks of cyan light. They whistled around the room, turning, slashing, and chopping with remarkable agility.

After controlling the seven flying swords for a while, Xiao Yu felt thoroughly satisfied.

He then experimented with different amounts of magical power and spiritual sense, determined to familiarize himself with their performance under various conditions. A full hour passed before he stopped, by which point Xiao Yu had scarcely any spiritual power left in his body.

After putting the Mother-and-Child Swords into his Storage Bag, Xiao Yu began meditating to recover his magical power.

Not long afterward, Xiao Yu picked up the Spirit Turtle Shield and slowly infused it with magical power and spiritual sense to refine it. This process took another full day and night.

Once deployed, the Spirit Turtle Shield transformed into a turtle-shell-shaped shield that could defend him from the front, back, left, or right at his will.

Its defensive coverage could protect essentially all his vital areas, instantly giving Xiao Yu a strong sense of security. He then practiced controlling the shield with varying amounts of magical power and spiritual sense, just as he had with the swords, until his magical power was completely exhausted.

Refining and familiarizing himself with the artifacts took three days. Only when he could wield them as naturally as his own limbs did Xiao Yu leave the inn. He then spent another day browsing the Market, gathering seeds for all the supplementary Foundation Establishment Pill ingredients that were missing from his medicinal garden.

In the predawn hours of the fifth day, Xiao Yu quietly left the Market. Once outside the no-flying zone, he took out his sword-shaped flying artifact and formed several Spell Seals. The flying sword grew to a foot wide and three feet long. He hopped lightly onto it, fed magical power through his feet, and flew toward the Sect.

Just after Xiao Yu left the Market, two more cultivators emerged, a man and a woman. The man was burly, with a brutish face and a thick black beard, while the woman was a gorgeous young married woman, overflowing with charm. Both were in their thirties and at the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

Anyone who examined their faces closely would recognize them as the pair Xiao Yu had encountered while shopping at the Spirit Talisman Pavilion.

"You old devil, this man is so cautious,

"and he's a Giant Sword Sect disciple, too. He probably won't be easy prey. Why don't we forget it and find some reckless greenhorn of a fat sheep instead? There won't be so much risk," the alluring woman said. "What's there to fear? He's only at the eleventh level. Someone who comes to the Market alone and sneaks away like that can't have much backing. Besides, it's two against one. There's no reason we can't take him," the black-bearded man replied dismissively.

When the pair had seen Xiao Yu approach the shopkeeper alone at the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, they had taken notice. Later, when he finally emerged after a long time, they concluded that he must have completed a major transaction and was carrying considerable wealth. Thus, they had set their sights on him.

The two were a married pair of independent cultivators who frequently operated near the Giant Sword Sect's Market. Over the years, they had done plenty of this sort of business without capital, but their constant caution had kept them from running into trouble.

They had exchanged the resources they stole for cultivation pills, allowing both of them to reach their present cultivation levels and become formidable figures among independent cultivators.

But after exhausting their resources, their cultivation had stagnated for some time. If they did not find a solution, they feared they would never reach Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.

At the man's suggestion, they decided to pull another job. After marking Xiao Yu at the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, they had secretly watched him with the fire-eyed, golden-gazed discernment they had honed over the years. Aside from his disguised visit to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, they had observed most of his movements.

As soon as they discovered that Xiao Yu had left the Market, they followed him.

"Well... all right. But if anything seems wrong, we should run immediately!" the alluring woman said after a moment's hesitation.

"Fine. Let's hurry after him before he gets too far," the man answered somewhat perfunctorily.

Their figures flashed as they sped forward, moving no slower than Xiao Yu on his flying artifact.

Xiao Yu flew until after noon, then found a dense forest and landed to replenish his magical power. All the while, he kept his spiritual sense extended, vigilantly monitoring his surroundings.

Time ticked by. Suddenly, Xiao Yu sprang up and fixed his gaze on a patch of bushes twenty zhang away. "Who's there? Get out here!"

The people behind the bushes were startled by Xiao Yu's shout, but then a burst of laughter rang out, and they revealed themselves. It was none other than the man and woman!

The black-bearded man sneered. "I didn't expect your spiritual sense to be so powerful, fellow cultivator. Even after I concealed my aura, you still detected me. You're no ordinary man!"

Xiao Yu ignored the black-bearded man's praise. After recognizing the woman's face, he gave a cold snort.

"So it's you two! Surely you didn't follow me all this way just for a chat?"

Xiao Yu was both shocked and furious. He had merely bought a few things, yet someone had targeted him for no reason. Murdering people for their treasures in the world of A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality certainly lived up to its reputation.

Seeing Xiao Yu's chilly attitude, the black-clad man did not become angry. He rubbed his hands together and said, "You made a substantial deal with the shopkeeper at the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, then visited several other shops. You must be quite wealthy, fellow cultivator. I, Wang, have been short of spirit stones lately, so I'd like to borrow a few from you. I'll repay them after a while!"

Killing intent surged through Xiao Yu. He sneered. "Do you really intend to borrow spirit stones, or are you planning to murder me for my treasures?"

"Well, it's... ah!" Before the black-bearded man could finish, Xiao Yu raised his hand and hurled two talismans straight at him. Immediately afterward, Xiao Yu slapped his Storage Bag, producing several flying swords that gleamed with cold light—the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords!

The swords shone cyan as soon as they emerged. Transforming into seven streaks of cyan light, they circled briefly around Xiao Yu. Then, at his low command of "Go!", the Mother-and-Child Swords shot before the black-bearded man in an instant.

The black-bearded man was horrified! He hurriedly slapped his Storage Bag and deployed a flying saber and a shield artifact. Then he shouted "Slash!" The flying saber blazed with white light and met the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords, while the shield erupted with dark light and expanded into a massive barrier before him.

With a clang, the mother sword collided violently with the flying saber. They spun in midair, then clashed again! A series of clangs followed as the son swords struck the saber as well.

Within a single breath, cracks appeared in the flying saber. The black-bearded man's face drained of color. "Top-grade artifacts! Damn it! Sister Fu, keep him occupied! This brat is dangerous!" At the same time, he cast a protective barrier around himself and controlled his shield to block the sea of fire unleashed by Xiao Yu's two Firecloud Talismans.

Meanwhile, the alluring woman took out a hairpin. With a Spell Seal, she transformed it into a sharp spike that hurtled toward Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu's expression shifted slightly. He deployed the Spirit Turtle Shield, which blazed with white light and blocked the spike's path.

With a ting, the spike struck the shield. White light flashed across the shield, leaving its surface completely unscathed.

Xiao Yu relaxed at the sight. You truly got what you paid for. Although the spiritual pressure radiating from the hairpin reached the level of a top-grade magical artifact, it was clearly inferior to a premium specimen and could do nothing to the Spirit Turtle Shield.

The alluring woman's expression changed drastically. "How is that possible? This shield's defense is so strong!" At once, she began considering retreat. She knew they had run into a tough opponent and had to make a quick escape.

A ruthless look appeared on Xiao Yu's face, and his gaze sharpened. He formed a Spell Seal with one hand toward the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords, and an astonishing sight unfolded!

Once Xiao Yu completed the Spell Seal, cyan sword radiance suddenly erupted from the Mother-and-Child Swords. It was incomparably sharp. After several ringing clashes with the man's flying saber, the saber shattered into more than a dozen pieces.

The Mother-and-Child Swords immediately slashed at the man's shield at tremendous speed. The dark shield had survived the Firecloud Talismans' sea of flames unscathed, but now its Dark Light dimmed rapidly before their very eyes.

"Ah, my flying saber!" Even as he mourned his saber, the black-bearded man hurriedly pulled a talisman from his Storage Bag. After muttering a few words, he slapped it onto himself, and a shimmering white barrier immediately enveloped him!

Though safe for the moment, the black-bearded man watched his shield's radiance rapidly dim, cold sweat streaming down his face as terror filled his heart. This brat is so troublesome! It's all because of my greed. I may lose my life this time! He shouted to the woman again.

"Sister Fu, use your trump card! If you delay, your husband's life will be lost!"

Hearing this, Xiao Yu's vigilance soared, and he stared intently at the alluring woman.

The woman formed another hand seal, and her hairpin artifact burst forth with greater speed and force, colliding with the Spirit Turtle Shield once again.

It seemed to have little effect, however. A thunderous bang rang out, and when the two separated, the shield still shimmered with spiritual light, without any sign of damage.

The woman then recalled her hairpin and began chanting. Just as Xiao Yu thought she was about to unleash some formidable technique, her figure flashed, and she fled at tremendous speed in the direction she had come from. In mere moments, she was already far away.

The alluring woman had actually fled... fled just like that. Husband and wife truly were birds of the same forest, flying their separate ways when disaster struck!

Xiao Yu stared dumbfounded, then quickly recovered. He cursed himself inwardly for getting distracted during combat-a fatal flaw. With a shift of thought, he turned his fierce gaze back to the man.

The black-bearded man had also seen the woman flee. Furious, he unleashed a stream of curses. "Ah! You bitch! You've abandoned me like this! Even if I become a ghost, I'll hunt you down!"

He then pulled several talismans from his Storage Bag, activated them, and hurled them at Xiao Yu, hoping to hold him back long enough to find a chance to escape.

But the talismans he threw were all low-grade, with only two or three mid-grade ones mixed in.

Xiao Yu effortlessly blocked their attacks with the Spirit Turtle Shield. They did not interfere in the slightest with his control of the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords as he continued attacking the man.

When the black-bearded man saw that his talisman harassment had achieved nothing, panic seized him. As cracks appeared in his shield under the swords' assault, despair filled his eyes. The shield was about to break, and he would die with it.

He hurriedly begged for mercy. "Spare my worthless life, fellow cultivator! I'll give you everything I own and obey your every command from now on! Please spare me!"

Xiao Yu ignored him completely. Without pausing, he increased his magical power output, driving the seven cyan streaks of the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords to slice repeatedly across the black shield at tremendous speed.

In his despair, the man erupted into one final frenzy. He hurled the low- and mid-grade magical artifacts in his Storage Bag at Xiao Yu and made them self-destruct one after another.

The shock waves churned Xiao Yu's blood and vital energy, but with the Spirit Turtle Shield protecting him, he suffered no injury.

Two breaths later, amid the man's pleas, a deafening bang rang out. The dark shield shattered into countless fragments. The Mother-and-Child Swords then swept through the man, cutting him into more than a dozen pieces. His white barrier could not hinder them in the slightest.

"Whew." Xiao Yu let out a long breath and recalled his artifacts. He went forward to collect the man's Storage Bag, then sent out several fireballs to burn his remains and erase the evidence.

Without taking time to clean up the scene, he cast the Wind Riding Art on himself and sped away in another direction.