He gathered his things. Unfortunately, his luggage had been riddled with holes during the fight, and he could barely carry it.
The traces of the fight were obvious. Tire tracks and bullet holes were everywhere, and the most conspicuous of all was the wrecked car off to one side.
Li Xingkong had no intention of cleaning up. Few of the things on these people caught his eye. The only thing that might have been useful was the car, but unfortunately, he had wrecked it so badly that even he found it off-putting.
Before leaving, Li Xingkong took one last look around and spotted a line of hurried footprints. They were quite obvious: there was nothing but grass along this stretch of road, so anyone leaving it was bound to leave traces.
They probably belonged to the cowboy who had escaped, but Li Xingkong couldn't be bothered to chase him.
After all, the entire convoy had been wiped out. The man probably wouldn't dare come after him alone.
The problem now was that, even after he had traveled so far, someone had still found him. Continuing toward Nature City probably wouldn't go well either. His escape plan didn't seem to have accomplished much.
Li Xingkong had originally thought that even in modern society, a search for someone had to follow some logic: start from the center and spread outward. As long as he ran fast enough, he could evade pursuit.
But Li Xingkong had overlooked one thing: this was the information age, and there was this thing called the internet.
No matter how fast a person ran, could he be faster than the internet?
It seemed he needed to change his plan. After all, blindly running away didn't seem to be a solution.
Besides, he urgently needed to practice a few more spells.
In that brief head-on clash, he had won a complete victory, but the hand he had punched with was injured, and several bones in it were broken.
Fortunately, he had Spiritual Qi and had treated the injury promptly and directly, but while it healed, he still couldn't use his full strength.
His destructive power was sufficient, but his body couldn't withstand it now either-a classic case of high attack and low defense.
He needed an offensive spell he could unleash from a distance.
Aside from offense, he also needed to put defense on the agenda. Although he had dodged the bullets with his agile movements, he had still felt a flicker of alarm when those dark gun barrels were pointed at him.
His body couldn't withstand gunfire yet. If a bullet hit him and caused a laceration or wound, he wouldn't be able to recover quickly without enough nutrients and energy, even with the help of Spiritual Qi.
"System, I need a ranged offensive spell I can learn quickly. Do you have any recommendations?"
After thinking it over, Li Xingkong decided to find a simple ranged offensive spell he could learn quickly and practice it first.
"Do you have any requirements for the spell's offensive capabilities?"
The system replied, "There are quite a few spells you can learn quickly. Tell me what you need specifically, such as consumption, area of effect, penetration, tracking, and so on."
Li Xingkong thought it over. He was dealing mostly with ordinary people, who might have armor such as bulletproof vests, but their overall defenses were still lacking. His requirements for damage were therefore quite low. As for tracking, a spell that hit wherever he aimed would be enough for now; he didn't need tracking yet.
Penetration would be better to have, but it wouldn't matter much without it. After all, most of the people who would come after him were gang members, and such people rarely had heavy armor or large-scale protection.
That left consumption and range as the most important factors. Low consumption and a wide range were the key considerations in his choice of spell.
Once he had explained his requirements to the system, it began searching for a spell.
Before long, the system had a result. "Found one. Tsk, tsk, I have to say, this spell really suits you. Its predecessor also originated in a similar technological civilization."
Li Xingkong was curious. There was a spell like that? He immediately began receiving the relevant information.
But once he had finished receiving it, an indescribably strange look appeared on his face, a kind of speechlessness that was hard to put into words.
The spell was called the Shotgun Spell. It could be practiced as soon as one entered Qi Refining. It was easy to learn and had a wide area of attack, often covering a fan-shaped area a hundred meters in front of the user. Its power was directly tied to the user's mana: the more mana, the greater the power.
As its name suggested, the spell had been inspired by the shotgun. Yes, its creator had originally been an expert with shotguns. After embarking on the path of immortal cultivation, he had combined it with his own preferences to create this spell.
The spell was also simple to cast. All one had to do was hold a handful of pebbles and throw them with force. The pebbles flung from the hand would fly like a spray of shotgun pellets, hitting wherever they were aimed. At advanced levels, one was no longer limited to pebbles: a handful of dirt, sand, or shredded paper could achieve the same effect.
"Wait, isn't this just throwing pebbles? You call this a spell?"
After reading through the whole thing, Li Xingkong was left a little speechless. Wasn't this something even children could do?
"The most important aspects of this spell are the structure of the mana circulating through the hand and the technique for exerting force."
The system said, "Although it looks like a child throwing pebbles, making those pebbles unleash the power of a shotgun blast isn't something brute force can accomplish."
Li Xingkong agreed with that. He could throw pebbles too, after all, and he certainly couldn't achieve that kind of power.
Just imagine: if he got into a conflict with someone in the future, they would still have to draw their guns, while he could simply fling a handful of sand at them and wipe them all out. That was much more useful than a gun.
It also consumed little mana. As long as he was on the ground, he would have endless ammunition. Pebbles were everywhere, after all.
The main reasons the spell was quick and easy to learn were, first, that it didn't require constructing a complex mana structure, and second, that it didn't require prolonged aiming practice. Wherever it hit, it covered an area, so there was no need to aim at all. It was much more convenient than ordinary spells like the Fireball Spell.
Of course, its power couldn't be compared to theirs. If this spell were used against a cultivator, it really would be like scratching an itch for them.
Simply put, it was a spell for bullying weaklings. Against those without defenses, one attack could hit a whole group; against those with strong defenses, it couldn't do a thing.
With this spell, Li Xingkong was already more or less in an invincible position. After all, modern society was characterized by high attack and low defense, and this one spell had his offensive needs completely covered.
"Right, I still need a defensive spell, preferably one that can guard against sneak attacks."
Now that he had an offensive spell, he naturally couldn't neglect defense.
"As for defensive spells, those are harder than offensive ones."
The system first gave Li Xingkong a warning.
"Why? Aren't they all spells from the Qi Refining stage?"
Li Xingkong didn't quite understand. Since they were all spells, their difficulty should logically have been about the same.
"If you want to guard against sneak attacks, the spell has to remain active on your body for a long time. Every spell consumes energy to operate."
The system briefly explained the reason:
"Generally, to maintain an Early Qi Refining layer of mana protection over your whole body, you need at least the mana absorption efficiency of Mid Qi Refining. Only then will you have mana left over for daily cultivation."
"So if I wanted to learn that kind of spell now, my mana wouldn't keep up."
Li Xingkong understood. He would consider that spell later. For now, he might as well learn an ordinary protective spell first.
"Then I'll learn a more ordinary one. It doesn't have to protect my whole body; a small area will do. Of course, the stronger the protection, the better."
After thinking it over, Li Xingkong stated his requirements for a protective spell.