With the Lightbody Talisman empowering him, Lu Changsheng traveled light as a swallow, his strides swift as flight.
Just as he reached halfway down the mountain, he suddenly heard movement behind him.
He looked back.
Immediately, he saw three figures wearing bamboo hats racing down the mountain, their movements swift as the wind.
In an instant, Lu Changsheng's heart gave a violent thump, and his expression darkened.
Had someone set their sights on me!?
That was Lu Changsheng's first thought.
Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence?
He had not encountered a single person on his way up.
Yet the moment he headed down, three people had immediately followed, all in such a hurry.
And besides...
Although the three figures wore bamboo hats that concealed their faces...
Lu Changsheng vaguely recognized one of them-a burly figure dressed in yellow robes.
Someone like that seemed to have bought talismans from him.
At this moment, Lu Changsheng was at least sixty or seventy percent certain that these three were coming for him.
Damn it, I've already been so careful and restrained. I only put out that handful of talismans for sale, and someone still targeted me.
A shadow of gloom crept over Lu Changsheng's face.
Without further thought, he immediately took out a first-tier mid-grade Wind-Running Talisman and activated it with his spiritual power.
At once, a swirl of blue-green wind enveloped him, putting wind beneath his feet and dramatically increasing his speed.
He hurtled along like racing wind and lightning. His cloak snapped in the gale, his hood blew back, and even the skin of his face stung.
"A Wind-Running Talisman?"
"This brat actually has mid-grade talismans too!"
"He had so many talismans to sell. Sure enough, he's a fat sheep!"
Seeing this, the three men racing toward Lu Changsheng brightened and picked up their pace as well.
In their eyes, Lu Changsheng was now a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered!
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
After sprinting some distance, Lu Changsheng saw that the three behind him had also accelerated. He had not shaken them off at all; they were even drawing closer. His expression turned ugly.
At this point, he did not need to think to know that these three were after him, intending to kill him and steal his goods.
Moreover, even with both a Lightbody Talisman and a Wind-Running Talisman empowering him, he still could not shake them off.
That meant their cultivation was far higher than his.
At least the sixth layer of Chain Qi, perhaps even the seventh.
"If I can't get away, then I'll just have to fight!"
Lu Changsheng knew that continuing to run like this would accomplish nothing but waste his strength. Traces of ferocity surfaced in his eyes.
Immediately, with his arm concealed beneath his black cloak, he took a handful of talismans from his Storage Bag-some ten or twenty of them.
At the same time, he gripped the Golden Light Brick Talisman Treasure tightly, repeatedly glancing back at the three closing in as he ran.
"Fellow Daoist, please wait."
"Fellow Daoist, why are you running so fast? I only came to get acquainted and make friends."
"That's right, we only want to be friends with you."
The three pursued relentlessly, calling out as they steadily closed the distance.
"Make friends, is it? Making friends is my favorite thing."
Hearing this, Lu Changsheng stopped and watched the three approaching with an impassive expression.
The instant they entered spell range, Lu Changsheng activated every talisman in his hand.
At once, the talismans burst with light.
Under Lu Changsheng's control, some transformed into faint golden light, curtains of water, and vines, enveloping his entire body.
Most, however, transformed into fist-sized firebolts, water spheres, arrows as thick as a forearm, and sharp crescents...
All of them shot toward the three pursuers in a single howling barrage.
"Not good!"
"Watch out!"
"This brat still has this many talismans!?"
Seeing Lu Changsheng activate so many talismans at once, the three were startled and caught somewhat off guard.
They were all at the sixth or seventh layer of Chain Qi, yet even they struggled to fend off so many talismans attacking at once.
Still, all three were seasoned hands.
Without some ability, they would never have dared become bandit cultivators.
One of them, a short, thin figure, also took out several talismans and activated them, swiftly casting a spell as yellow light flashed in his hands.
"Earth Wall Spell!"
Thick earthen walls rapidly rose from the ground, blocking the incoming talisman barrage.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"
Yet beneath the fierce firepower of that pile of talismans, the earthen walls rapidly crumbled one after another.
Just as the last of the earthen walls were about to collapse, a tall, thin figure among the three had already deployed a black shield.
The shield flew from his hand and rapidly enlarged, spinning in midair and radiating dark, mysterious light as it endured the talismans' ferocious barrage.
The last of the three, the burly man in yellow robes, deployed a flying knife several inches long.
The flying knife transformed into a white rainbow and shot straight toward the point between Lu Changsheng's brows.
Yet at that same moment...
They sensed an astonishing aura emanating from Lu Changsheng.
His black cloak billowed without any wind, snapping loudly as golden light burst from his hand.
A gleaming golden rectangular object emerged from his hand, shot upward, and rapidly grew in midair.
Even the flying knife hurtling toward him slowed.
And the astonishing aura and magical power they sensed were emanating from this object!
"This brat really is loaded! Not just all those talismans, but a treasure like this too! We're rich!"
The short, thin man's eyes filled with delight at the sight.
However, when the burly yellow-robed man who had deployed the flying knife saw the rapidly enlarging golden brick, his pupils contracted as he recognized it.
"A Talisman Treasure!"
He hastily shouted, his deep voice filled with terror.
"What!?"
"A Talisman Treasure?"
The other two froze upon hearing this.
Looking at the Golden Light Brick, which had already grown as large as a house and resembled a small mountain in the sky, their eyes widened and horror spread across their faces.
Before they could think any further, spiritual energy swirled around the Golden Light Brick. Golden rays shone in every direction as it released a terrifying pressure.
The three felt as though they were carrying a mountain on their backs. Their bodies sank, their spiritual power grew sluggish, and they could barely move.
Danger!
Grave danger!
At this moment, the three clearly felt the threat of death suffusing their entire bodies. They all cried out, begging for mercy in terror.
"Fellow Daoist, let's talk this over!"
"Spare me, fellow Daoist! Spare me! I
was wrong! I must have been blind..."
"Sir, I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old child to support! Please withdraw your divine ability and let me go!"
At this moment, all they could think was how absurd this was.
Utterly absurd. Absurdity's mother had opened the door for absurdity-it had come all the way home.
A cultivator at the third layer of Chain Qi, attending a trading gathering in a little place like this, actually had a Talisman Treasure!
That was fucking absurd.
If you had a Talisman Treasure to protect you, why the hell did you run?
If you'd just shown us the Talisman Treasure, how would we have dared chase you?
We would have turned around and left, even offered an apology.
Who uses a Talisman Treasure at the slightest disagreement like this!?
Isn't using a Talisman Treasure to kill people like us a waste!?
Are we even worthy of it?!
At this moment, the three simply did not know what to say.
The Golden Light Brick's pressure also left them unable to speak.
The Golden Light Brick, like a small mountain, slammed straight down upon the three.
"BANG!!!"
An earth-shaking crash rang out, making the entire Ox-Head Mountain seem to shudder violently.
Before you continue