Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup!
Across the wilderness, the young man galloped wildly on horseback, racing onward without pause.
Several hundred zhang behind him, a middle-aged man in yellow robes, wearing a green Daoist crown and possessing narrow eyes and brows, flew upon a magic tool. He stared coldly at the young man as he pursued him relentlessly.
As time passed, the distance between them steadily shrank, soon falling below a hundred zhang.
The divine sense range of an ordinary late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator generally did not exceed a hundred zhang. Thus, a hundred zhang was the normal maximum attack range for Qi Refinement cultivators.
Beyond that range, they could no longer lock onto an enemy with divine sense and ensure their attacks would hit.
Therefore, shortly after entering within a hundred zhang, the middle-aged man in yellow showed no hesitation. He pinched a talisman between two fingers and struck it downward.
In an instant, firelight flashed. The talisman burned up at once, transforming into a crimson firebird that swooped toward the young man on horseback.
It was a mid-grade first-rank talisman—the Firebird Talisman!
On the horse's back, Zhou Chun looked back and saw the yellow-robed man's movement. His face immediately darkened as he recognized the talisman's origins.
As a descendant of a Cultivation Family, one did not necessarily need to learn every spell, but one had to recognize the vast majority of spells that ordinary cultivators could learn.
Otherwise, if someone used a spell whose origins and effects one did not understand, that ignorance might very well cost one's life.
Moreover, most spells could be made into corresponding talismans.
Thus, once Zhou Chun recognized the spell behind the yellow-robed man's talisman, he fiercely slapped the back of the Ink Scale Colt beneath him. His body suddenly soared into the air, leaping forward through the sky.
Rumble!
Less than two breaths after Zhou Chun leaped from its back, the firebird reached the galloping Ink Scale Colt's head and exploded with a thunderous roar.
Scorching flames instantly swallowed the Ink Scale Colt whole.
Its miserable neigh rang across the wilderness. Covered from head to hoof in flames, the Ink Scale Colt continued charging forward for over a hundred zhang amid agonized cries before exhaustion finally sent it collapsing to the ground.
By the time the flames on its body had completely died out, even its bones had been charred black and baked until they split apart.
But at a time like this, neither Zhou Chun nor the middle-aged man in yellow had any mind to care whether a beast lived or died.
Although Zhou Chun had escaped disaster by jumping from the horse, without the Ink Scale Colt as transportation, he could no longer continue fleeing.
After unleashing the Firebird Talisman, the middle-aged man in yellow had already controlled his flying magic tool down toward the ground. By the time Zhou Chun landed firmly after jumping from the horse, he too had safely landed.
After touching down, he flipped his palm and stored the flying magic tool inside his Storage Bag. Then he took out two other magic tools and strode toward Zhou Chun.
As he walked, he called out to Zhou Chun in a mocking tone, "Go on, keep running. I can give you another few dozen zhang of a head start!"
Zhou Chun ignored the man's arrogance. He knew that a battle today was unavoidable. Once he had steadied himself, he swiftly slapped the Spirit Beast Pouch at his waist and released the Rock Earth Turtle within. Then he withdrew magic tools and talismans from his Storage Bag.
After more than two years of Zhou Chun's cultivation, the Rock Earth Turtle was now as large as a bathing tub. Its magical power had reached the level of a Fifth Layer Qi Refining cultivator, making it a First-grade Mid-tier Demonic Beast, and the innate spells it had awakened and mastered had reached four in number.
When the middle-aged man in yellow saw Zhou Chun release the Rock Earth Turtle, surprise flickered across his face. He looked at Zhou Chun and said, "You even have a Rock Earth Turtle at your side. It seems you, junior, are quite favored by the Mu Family!"
Hearing this, Zhou Chun's heart stirred, and he could not help saying, "You are mistaken, sir. I am not a Mu Family cultivator, but a member of the Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge."
"The Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge? That cultivation family that migrated over from the Feng Kingdom?"
The middle-aged man in yellow paused in slight surprise and followed Zhou Chun's words with a few questions. It seemed he had heard of the Zhou Family's name as well.
This made Zhou Chun seem to glimpse a sliver of hope. He immediately drew a deep breath and answered solemnly, "Precisely."
Yet after hearing this, the middle-aged man in yellow merely pondered briefly before shaking his head dismissively. "So what? They are nothing but a pack of stray dogs driven from their old nest!"
Then he looked at Zhou Chun with a half-smile and said, "Don't tell me you thought announcing your family name would scare me into letting you off?"
Zhou Chun fell silent at once. He indeed had entertained such thoughts.
But judging from the yellow-robed man's demeanor, he clearly would not let the matter rest.
Therefore, Zhou Chun swiftly extinguished those unrealistic fantasies. Steeling his heart, he looked at the middle-aged man in yellow and called out, "Since you are so confident, then allow me to witness your skills!"
Before his words had faded, the Rock Earth Turtle at his side struck first.
It slapped a turtle paw against the ground, and a sharp stone spike as thick as an arm burst from the earth where the middle-aged man in yellow stood.
But as though he had anticipated it, the middle-aged man in yellow moved the moment the stone spike erupted and left his original position.
He then mocked Zhou Chun in passing. "Don't bring out such petty tricks to make a fool of yourself. I have fought through a hundred battles—what kind of scene have I not seen? Do you really think a junior like you can scheme against me?"
Zhou Chun's expression turned somewhat ugly, but he did not respond. He merely sent out his pale golden flying dagger magic tool.
This magic tool was called the Golden Willow Blade. Shaped like a willow leaf, it was incomparably sharp and a fairly good first-grade mid-tier magic tool.
Yet the middle-aged man in yellow was a Layer 10 Qi Refining cultivator. Since he even possessed a flying magic tool, how could his other magic tools be inferior?
With a raised hand, he summoned a pitch-black iron shield that automatically blocked the willow-leaf flying dagger, easily knocking it away.
Before Zhou Chun could make another move, the man flicked his sleeve and spat out a single word. "Go!"
At once, a silver cold gleam shot from his sleeve, hurtling straight toward Zhou Chun.
Zhou Chun's heart jolted. He hurriedly raised a hand and sent out his defensive magic tool, a blue-green wooden shield.
But he had severely underestimated the might of that silver gleam.
The cold gleam flashed. The first-grade low-tier magic tool Zhou Chun used for protection, the Green Wood Shield, instantly shattered into more than ten pieces that fell to the ground. Then the Adamantine Shield around him shook violently, forcing his legs to go weak as he dropped onto the ground on his backside.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man in yellow threw back his head and laughed. "Hahahaha! It seems I overestimated you. Even your defensive magic tool is this sort of trash. Clearly, you are no one with backing in your Lineage. You might die, and no one would even spare a thought for you!"
What he said was correct, but not entirely so.
Zhou Chun indeed had no powerful elder in the Zhou Family to serve as his backing, but his original defensive magic tool had not been trash like the Green Wood Shield.
The Zhou Family had once been one of the Three Absolute Sect's three giants. It had not been difficult for them to issue every family descendant who reached the mid stage of Qi Refinement with one offensive and one defensive mid-grade first-rank magic tool.
Unfortunately, the first-grade mid-tier defensive magic tool Zhou Chun had originally used had been damaged during his earlier battle with Li Han of the Li Family.
And after the Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge experienced its split, more than half its assets had been taken away by Yu Jinghua, a Golden Core stage cultivator, to establish Spirit Beast Manor. The family simply could not afford to casually replace magic tools for its descendants now.
That alone would have been fine. Even if the Lineage did not replace magic tools for free, Zhou Chun could still use Spirit Coins to purchase them from the Lineage at a discounted price.
But after hatching the Rock Earth Turtle, Zhou Chun had spent most of his Spirit Coins purchasing pills from the Lineage to raise his Spirit Pet.
Otherwise, even though demonic beasts grew far faster in their early stages than cultivators, the Rock Earth Turtle could not possibly have become a First-grade Mid-tier Demonic Beast just two years after hatching.
It could only be said that plans could never keep up with changes.
Zhou Chun had thought he would remain safely within the Lineage for the next several years and cultivate. How could he have anticipated that he would encounter such a perilous situation today?
Fortunately, the Rock Earth Turtle had not eaten all those pills for nothing, nor had it failed Zhou Chun's generous care.
The moment it sensed its master in danger, it glared furiously at the middle-aged man in yellow and slammed a paw against the ground. Five or six stone spikes erupted from the earth around him at the same time.
This was the spell it had awakened and mastered after becoming a First-grade Mid-tier Demonic Beast: Chain Earth Spikes.
The middle-aged man in yellow had been careless—or perhaps overly confident in his own strength and experience. Unlike Zhou Chun, he had not raised a protective barrier from the start.
Now, with several stone spikes appearing at once, even though he detected the danger in advance with divine sense, he could not evade them in time. One stone spike grazed through his left thigh, tearing away a huge chunk of flesh.
"Ah! It hurts like hell!!"
The middle-aged man in yellow collapsed onto the ground on his backside, his left leg injured. His face twisted in pain as he let out a shrill scream.
Clutching his thigh with a face full of agony, he glared at the Rock Earth Turtle with eyes blazing in fury and roared, "You damned beast, I will boil you alive!"
Though his mouth uttered harsh words, he swiftly took out an Adamantine Shield talisman and activated it, forming a barrier around himself.
Then he hurriedly took out medicinal powder and ointment for stopping bleeding and treating wounds from his Storage Bag, administering first aid.
Seeing this, Zhou Chun's eyes immediately lit up with delight. He fiercely praised the Rock Earth Turtle in his heart, then quickly stored it inside the Spirit Beast Pouch and directly cast the Wind Riding Technique to flee.
If he did not run now, when would he?
While the middle-aged man in yellow was occupied treating his wounds and unable to pursue him, as long as Zhou Chun escaped his line of sight, he had a way to survive this disaster.
Before you continue