The oriole

Xiao Yu traveled for four hours straight before finding a secluded spot on a small hill, where he rested briefly to recover some strength.

Before long, just as Xiao Yu was about to rise and leave, a series of booming sounds from a fight suddenly came from the distance, rapidly approaching the foot of his hill.

Cultivators from Yellow Maple Valley and the Qingxu Sect! Xiao Yu was startled when he saw who had arrived.

He hurriedly activated the Aura Concealment Technique and Concealment Technique, then let out a soft breath of relief and peered down!

Both the Aura Concealment Technique and the concealment technique he used had been enhanced, making them twice as effective as their normal versions.

The Aura Concealment Technique suppressed the fluctuations of his spiritual energy, countering the Heavenly Eye Technique; the Concealment Technique hid his presence and weakened others' ability to detect him with their spiritual sense.

With his current twelfth-layer cultivation, ordinary Qi Refining Stage cultivators had no chance of discovering him when he used these two spells, unless they already knew he was there. Only cultivators who kept spirit beasts with special abilities might detect him through his scent or some other means.

With these techniques at his disposal, he decided to hide to one side and watch what happened below.

Two men stood at the foot of the hill, magical artifacts in hand, facing each other from a distance.

One was a tall young man in yellow robes with twelfth-layer Qi Refining cultivation. His face was pale, and he panted heavily, looking as though he had just been through a fierce battle!

Facing him was a middle-aged Daoist in gray robes, his hair tied in a Daoist topknot, who watched him with leisurely ease.

The yellow-robed young man spoke. "Zhang Da! There's no grudge between us. Do you really have to wipe me out?"

The Daoist surnamed Zhang gave a cold laugh at his words. "Wang Yu, are you some greenhorn who's only just entered the cultivation world? Strength reigns supreme here. Do I need a reason to kill you and take your treasures?

"Besides, the patriarchs of our two sects have a wager. Killing you here is exactly what our patriarch wants! Heh heh, I don't care what backing you have outside! We're inside the Forbidden Grounds now! Who would ever know if I killed you?"

The yellow-robed young man's face grew even paler at this!

"Heh heh, I've had enough fun. The feng shui here looks pretty good. I'll make this your burial ground!"

The Daoist formed several spell seals with one hand. The horsetail whisk artifact in his other hand blazed with silver light and shot forward!

The yellow-robed young man was horrified! He had already suffered terribly at the hands of that whisk. He hurriedly tossed his flying sword artifact into the air!

As his fingers rapidly formed spell seals, the flying sword immediately swept forward!

Then he patted his waist and took out a flying saber artifact, which also flared with light as it flew forward to meet the attack.

The two immediately became locked in battle. Magical artifacts and talismans flew everywhere, making even Xiao Yu's heart pound as he watched from the hill!

The yellow-robed young man was clearly no match for the Daoist surnamed Zhang. Even with two magical artifacts pitted against the whisk, he was plainly at a disadvantage.

Amid a blaze of silver light, the silver strands at the tip of the whisk hardened one by one into steel needles and stabbed at the young man's saber and sword artifacts.

A string of metallic clinks rang out as the saber and sword were struck, swaying wildly from side to side. Before long, their spiritual glow rapidly dimmed.

The yellow-robed young man turned deathly pale. Sweat drenched his body, and despair gradually appeared in his eyes!

Suddenly, a savage look crossed his face. Gritting his teeth, he pulled a thumb-sized blue-green pearl from his Storage Bag, then hurled it at the Daoist surnamed Zhang!

"Heavenly Thunder Pearl!" the Daoist blurted out in horror when he saw the blue-green pearl in the young man's hand.

His relaxed expression instantly turned ashen. He hurriedly slapped his Storage Bag and took out a small jet-black shield. Forming a seal with one hand, he poured all his magical power into it, and the shield artifact instantly expanded to roughly four feet across,

concealing him behind it! A thunderous boom shook heaven and earth, and the Daoist was swallowed by lightning and fire!

Xiao Yu was startled as well when he heard the Daoist's cry!

A Heavenly Thunder Pearl was an immensely powerful, single-use item refined by cultivators at the Core Formation Stage or above from lightning gathered in the sky. Its power was so great that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be seriously injured if caught off guard and struck!

No matter how strong the Daoist surnamed Zhang was, he could not possibly survive the might of a Heavenly Thunder Pearl. After all, he was only a Qi Refining Stage cultivator.

Just as Xiao Yu had expected, once the dust and smoke cleared, an enormous crater several dozen feet across appeared in the ground. Wisps of smoke rose from it, and bloody severed limbs and shattered remains lay scattered all around!

The shield artifact the Daoist had just used had also been blasted to pieces! Even his Storage Bag was nowhere to be seen.

A look of exhilaration appeared on the yellow-robed young man's face when he saw the scene in the crater!

"You worthless piece of trash! Weren't you going to kill your Grandpa Wang? Who killed whom now? Hah..." the yellow-robed young man screamed wildly, his hair disheveled and madness in his eyes.

But the very next instant, his voice stopped abruptly, and a faint line of blood slowly appeared across his neck.

With a spurt, blood suddenly sprayed from the wound!

The young man's head fell to the ground, his eyes still filled with disbelief!

The one who had struck was Xiao Yu. When he saw that the Daoist surnamed Zhang was dead and the yellow-robed young man had gone mad with excitement, leaving himself completely unguarded, Xiao Yu decided to act.

But he feared it might be a trap, so he watched the young man's eyes a little longer. Only after deciding the madness was not feigned did he push his Aura Concealment Technique and Concealment Technique to their limits and quietly approach from behind.

Only when he came within a little over a hundred feet did he unleash the mother sword of the Radiant Mother-and-Son Swords, beheading him in a single strike!

The yellow-robed young man had never imagined that a third person was present, much less that he had witnessed his entire battle with the Daoist. Thus, even in death, he never knew where the attack had come from.

Xiao Yu quickly tucked the young man's Storage Bag into his sleeve, then released two fireballs to destroy his corpse and the Daoist's remains before swiftly darting away!

After such a commotion, Xiao Yu did not believe no one would come to investigate. It was best to leave early!

After running more than a dozen li without stopping, Xiao Yu found an enormous tree nearly ten feet thick. Using a magical artifact, he hollowed out a space in its upper trunk large enough to shelter two people.

Xiao Yu then took several pieces of moonlight stone from his Storage Bag and embedded them in the walls, instantly lighting up the hollow!

These moonlight stones were among the miscellaneous supplies he had bought earlier, a common source of illumination among cultivators.

With a clatter, Xiao Yu emptied everything from the yellow-robed young man's storage pouch. Hundreds of colorful Spirit Stones gleamed dazzlingly beneath the moonlight stones' glow, and among them was even a mid-grade Spirit Stone.

"This fellow really was wealthy. An ordinary Qi Refining Stage cultivator could never save up this many Spirit Stones!" Xiao Yu muttered.

He then examined the other items. The saber and sword artifacts had lost much of their spiritual power under the whisk's attacks and were almost unusable.

The rest were merely mid- and low-grade magical artifacts. It seemed the yellow-robed young man had lost all his powerful artifacts in his earlier battles.

There were only a few talismans left as well. The remaining contents were several jade slips, a few jade boxes, and a pile of miscellaneous items!

To Xiao Yu's disappointment, he found no Heavenly Thunder Pearl in the man's Storage Bag.

After a moment's thought, however, he accepted it. How could this man possibly have several items as powerful as Heavenly Thunder Pearls? Having even one as a final lifesaving measure was already remarkable.

When he gently opened one of the jade boxes, delight immediately appeared on Xiao Yu's face. He promptly opened all the others as well.

Inside the jade boxes lay stalks of spirit herbs and medicinal plants. This fellow had truly been lucky, obtaining several spirit herbs after only a single day inside! But now, they all belonged to Xiao Yu.

Doing his best to suppress his excitement, Xiao Yu closed the jade boxes again, then picked up the jade slips and examined them one by one.

These jade slips recorded ordinary cultivation methods, including one pill formula useful to Qi Refining Stage cultivators. There was also a map of the Forbidden Grounds, presumably issued by Yellow Maple Valley to its disciples. He could compare and combine it with his own map and perhaps obtain more useful information.

Unfortunately, the Daoist's Storage Bag had been destroyed by the Heavenly Thunder Pearl. Otherwise, there would have been more loot to collect, Xiao Yu lamented, still unsatisfied.

After putting away everything useful, Xiao Yu leaped out of the tree hollow, got his bearings, and dashed off again.