Seeing the enormous fireball hurtling toward him in a sneak attack, Lin He snorted coldly and immediately steered the Flying Spirit Boat to the left, dodging it.
Just as he was about to change direction and resume his flight, seven or eight fireballs billowing with heat and six or seven Ice Spikes radiating a chilling cold came flying up from below in rapid succession. The barrage was ferocious, covering almost every direction Lin He could dodge. There was simply no way to evade it.
Lin He's expression darkened. He had chosen to avoid a fight, but his attackers clearly had no intention of letting him go. That stoked the anger in his heart.
"If you're so determined to fight, then let's fight!"
Lin He took out the Fire-Repelling Armor and put it on. A red barrier immediately appeared around him. The seven or eight fireballs struck it without causing the slightest damage, producing only a few muffled thuds.
"As expected of the Fire-Repelling Armor. Its defense against fire really is excellent."
The sight put Lin He's mind at ease. The six or seven Ice Spikes that followed caused a somewhat stronger reaction when they struck the red Protective Shield, but they still failed to shake it in the slightest. Lin He was delighted, while the two ambushers below were shocked, their attacks faltering despite themselves.
"Hmph. Now it's my turn!"
Keeping the red Protective Shield up, Lin He sharply surged his magical power and drove the Flying Spirit Boat straight down to his right, charging through their attacks. Every attack launched at him had come from that direction.
As a high-grade flying magical artifact, the Flying Spirit Boat was far faster than the leaf-shaped flying magical artifact. Moments later, Lin He reached the two ambushers below. With a raised hand, he sent out a pair of Blazing Fire Claws, one at each man.
The moment the Blazing Fire Claws moved, intense heat spread outward and enveloped the two men. The scorching temperature instantly left their mouths dry and their tongues parched, as though they were being scalded. These were clearly no ordinary magical artifacts.
One of them was a burly man at the tenth level of Qi Condensation whom Senior Brother Liu had invited to help him fight. The power of the Blazing Fire Claw gave the burly man a fright.
He frantically took out a water-attribute shield, hoping water could overcome fire and save his life. Unfortunately, his shield was only a mid-grade defensive magical artifact. Even with an elemental advantage, the gap in quality between their artifacts was too great for it to help.
Sure enough, the tremendous heat of the Blazing Fire Claw made the water-attribute shield shudder violently, like water coming to a boil. Then the Blazing Fire Claw struck, tearing straight through the wavering shield.
The burly man was about to activate a talisman to escape, but before he could even grunt, the claw seized his head and crushed it like a watermelon. His brains immediately spilled across the ground, a sickening sight.
Lin He did not even look at the man. Instead, he focused all his attention on the other attacker, for one simple reason: he actually knew him. He had visited the Kirin Pavilion many times, and as one of its steward disciples, Senior Brother Liu had naturally crossed paths with him. Lin He had never imagined that the man would try to kill him.
Senior Brother Liu's face was deathly pale. He had guessed that Lin He might possess a Top-Tier Magical Artifact, which was why he had spared no expense in hiring someone with a cultivation level equal to his own to help.
In his view, even with a Top-Tier Magical Artifact, his opponent's cultivation was still low, merely the Eighth Layer of Qi Condensation. They were fighting two against one, and their ambush had given them the initiative. The advantage was theirs.
He had never expected Lin He to react so swiftly after being attacked, much less possess two Top-Tier Magical Artifacts, one for offense and one for defense. The pair had been thrown into a frantic scramble, and his helper had died before he even understood what was happening.
Senior Brother Liu bitterly regretted letting greed get the better of him. From somewhere, he had obtained a high-grade iron shield, which transformed into an iron wall and barely held off the Blazing Fire Claw's attacks.
"Senior Brother Liu!" Lin He suddenly said in a low voice. "You and I have no grudge against each other. Why would you hide your face and ambush me with lethal force? Isn't that a little too vicious?"
Senior Brother Liu stared gloomily at the faltering iron shield and hurriedly pleaded, "Junior Brother Lin, I only let greed get the better of me for a moment. Please spare me."
"Greed?" Understanding dawned on Lin He. "I sensed someone watching me in the Market. To think it was you. In that case, you've brought death upon yourself."
As he spoke, Lin He sent the other Blazing Fire Claw into the fight. A single claw had already left Senior Brother Liu struggling to cope. With a second joining it, they swept forward like a blade splitting bamboo. The iron shield was on the verge of shattering and looked ready to give way at any moment.
Senior Brother Liu panicked at the sight and hastily begged for mercy. "Junior Brother Lin, spare me just this once! I'll never dare do it again!"
Lin He ignored him and intensified his assault instead. With a single swipe from the two Blazing Fire Claws, the iron shield finally failed. They tore through it, scattering broken fragments across the ground.
Without the iron shield's protection, the two Blazing Fire Claws descended straight toward Senior Brother Liu's head. Seeing that he was about to meet the same end as the burly man, he truly panicked and hurriedly cried out,
"Junior Brother Lin, don't kill me! I have a token that can obtain Golden Origin Wanderer's hidden legacy. If you kill me, you'll lose an opportunity as vast as the heavens!"
"Golden Origin Wanderer? Explain everything. If you tell a single lie, I'll send you to join your companion immediately."
At those words, Lin He eased his assault. The two Blazing Fire Claws hovered menacingly above Senior Brother Liu's head, making him break out in a cold sweat. Like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, he spilled everything.
"My Liu family was once a great clan in the Yuanwu Kingdom. Unfortunately, our fortunes have since declined, and I had no choice but to flee and join the Yellow Maple Valley. But an ancestor of my family had some ties to Golden Origin Wanderer. Golden Origin Wanderer was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and when he passed away, he left behind three tokens. When his hidden legacy opens, only Foundation Establishment cultivators will be able to enter, and those tokens are the keys to obtaining certain special treasures. My family obtained one, and I've hidden it somewhere secret. As long as you spare me, I'll fetch it and give it to you."
"Heh. When his hidden legacy opens? How do you know exactly when that will be? Don't tell me I'll have to wait a hundred years."
Lin He scoffed at such imprecise information. Before long, the demonic path would invade. How could he possibly stay here waiting for some elusive hidden legacy?
Senior Brother Liu looked a little embarrassed and hurriedly explained, "When the hidden legacy opens, the token will react on its own. All you need to do then is activate it, and you'll naturally sense the direction. Junior Brother Lin, everything I've told you is true. When the time comes, we can join forces, claim Golden Origin Wanderer's hidden legacy together, and then roam the world side by side, unrivaled. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
As soon as Senior Brother Liu finished speaking, one of the Blazing Fire Claws above him descended and seized his head. Then, with a gentle squeeze, it burst like a crushed watermelon, scattering across the ground. He met the same end as the companion he had hired to help him.
"I have no interest in waiting for something so elusive, much less going with someone like
you. Go to your death in peace."
Once he was done, Lin He removed everything from their Storage Bags, then used a fireball spell to destroy the bodies and erase the traces. After flying far away, he found another spot, dug a deep pit, and buried their Storage Bags inside. Only then did he return to the Yellow Maple Valley.
As soon as he returned to the Yellow Maple Valley, Lin He took out the things he had removed from the two men's Storage Bags. There were only forty Low-Grade Spirit Stones and a few mid-grade and Low-Grade Magical Artifacts. Their sole high-grade iron shield had been destroyed during the battle.
Lin He had obtained only two Earth-Escaping Talismans from the burly man and a Pitch-Black Token from Senior Brother Liu. As for the other things, they no longer caught his eye.
"Still trying to trick me? The token was on you all along. I should find some time to dispose of these magical artifacts. For now, I need to prepare for the upcoming Forbidden Land Trial. First, I have to raise my cultivation. That's the foundation of everything."
With that thought, Lin He resumed his cultivation.
Time slipped by, and ten months passed in the blink of an eye. Only a little over a month remained before the Forbidden Land Trial.