Lured to Their Deaths!
On the seventh day after Shi Jian emerged from seclusion.
In an abandoned hunter's shed thirty li outside Hongtian City, Zhou Sun crouched on a crossbeam, one hand resting on his saber...
His eyes were half closed, as though he were dozing.
Outside the shed, two figures landed one after the other.
The newcomers wore the gray cloth robes of ordinary Rogue Cultivators and had unremarkable faces. One was tall and thin, the other short and stout. Neither stood out in the least.
But both were at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.
That was already quite high among Rogue Cultivators. Their footsteps were light, but their breathing was uneven. They had clearly traveled a long way and were out of breath.
The two entered the shed and looked around.
Seeing nothing amiss, they began talking in low voices. "I got the full story in the city. That Foundation Establishment bear Demon Beast belonging to the Sun Clan seems to have gone into seclusion after clearing the mountain five years ago, and it still hasn't come out."
"Really?"
"Absolutely. The Rogue Cultivators in the city's market are all talking about it. I hear that ever since the Sun family started keeping that bear demon, they can barely even pay their spirit tax. They're so poor their pockets jingle."
"I saw a few Sun family cultivators with my own eyes. Every one of them was dressed plainly, just like a mortal. Hiding their heads and showing their tails like that, they must have something to hide."
"This information is definitely right!"
The short, stout cultivator chuckled. "One Demon Beast in seclusion, a few dozen Qi Refining ants, and a bunch of small fry in the city..."
"This job's in the bag!"
"Let's rest a while, then go back and report to the two seniors."
As they spoke, the two regulated their breathing there for a while, then quickly left.
Only several hours later did Zhou Sun open his eyes on the crossbeam. The corners of his mouth curled up in a sneer.
So poor their pockets jingled?
He received twenty jin of spirit rice and a bottle of Qi Condensing Powder every month. The Sun Clan kept twenty hired fighters like him. Was that what they called so poor their pockets jingled?
Information every Rogue Cultivator in the market knew...
Sun Bo'an had indeed deliberately spread it in recent days, intending to bait a trap. He hadn't expected the fish to actually dare bite the hook!
Zhou Sun jumped down from the crossbeam. His figure quickly vanished into the shadows as he raced toward Hongtian City...
Two hours later, the news reached Sun Bo'an.
After reading Zhou Sun's communication talisman, Sun Bo'an gave a cold sneer, then turned to report to the ancestor. The fish had taken the bait!
There really were people who didn't fear death and dared to come!
Several days later, in the dead of night, three quarters into the hour of the rat.
A thin mist shrouded Hongtian City. Several Sun Clan guest elders stood watch on the walls, patrolling as usual. Everything was as it had always been.
Soon, in the dense forest south of the city.
A group of figures stood ready to set out. Once all was prepared, two streaks of spiritual light, one green and one red, swept toward Hongtian City!
The thirty or forty Rogue Cultivators accompanying them also charged out, heading straight for Hongtian City.
"Kill!"
A man appeared within the green spiritual light. He looked to be in his early thirties, with a sinister face and a jade-green flying sword in his hand.
He was one of the killers who had ambushed Lü Fangzhi, the Foundation Establishment Rogue Cultivator Wei Chen, at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage!
When the red spiritual light dispersed, it revealed a burly man with a bushy beard. Scarlet Law Power coiled around his body, and he carried a spear, its tip still stained with dark brown blood.
This man was called Jiao Lei, the other Foundation Establishment Early Stage Rogue Cultivator!
"Remember, once we're inside, seal off the market first. That's where the big haul is. Clear out everything valuable!"
"Cut the crap. Get out of my way, I'll break the formation!"
Jiao Lei laughed wildly and flourished his spear. Spiritual power instantly gathered at its tip, and he thrust it at the city gate...
With that single strike, the entire southern city gate instantly crumbled apart!
Though the city-protecting grand formation had been activated, it was only a First-Tier Superior-Grade formation. How could it withstand an attack from a Foundation Establishment cultivator?
When the formation broke and the city gate collapsed.
The Qi Refining Rogue Cultivators swarmed in, heading straight for the market in the heart of the city!
Just as they were congratulating themselves, thinking they had caught the city off guard...
Boom!
A violent burst of demonic Qi erupted from the direction of the city's main peak, then bore down on them like an overwhelming tide, without the slightest regard for reason!
The Qi Refining Rogue Cultivators had only just rushed into the city when the demonic Qi forced them to their knees on the spot. Several with low cultivation even bled from all seven orifices and fainted...
And on the rooftops to either side.
The Sun Clan guest elders appeared one after another, sealing off their retreat!
Zhou Sun stood on the eaves, his long saber already drawn. Its light flashed downward, cutting down two Qi Refining Rogue Cultivators who tried to flee.
"Sorry, this road is closed!"
Sun Kezheng led the Sun Clan members out from the other end, cutting off and surrounding the remaining Qi Refining small fry and blocking their path!
"Anyone who renders meritorious service this time will be rewarded with Spirit Stones and a residence in the city!"
"Everyone who takes part will have their benefits raised by one level!"
Looking at the many cultivators surrounding them, Wei Chen felt a chill run down his spine. No matter how stupid he was, he knew they had fallen into a trap!
He had just been about to ride his sword away when, in the next instant, a black shadow descended from the sky.
Shi Jian slowly stretched out his body. His two-zhang-tall frame appeared like a small mountain landing on the ground, his formidable demonic might whipping up a gale!
He blocked Wei Chen and Jiao Lei's path, their figures reflected in his vertical pupils.
"Fellow Daoists, why are you running?"
"You've come all this way. Won't you leave a gift?"
Shi Jian grinned, his fangs gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
Wei Chen and Jiao Lei exchanged a glance, both turning pale with shock. But they were seasoned hands who lived by licking blood off a blade's edge. Despite their fear, their hands did not move slowly.
"Attack together!"
"Kill this demon and slaughter the city!"
Jiao Lei roared, his spear wrapped in fiery red Law Power as it thrust straight for Shi Jian's throat...
Shi Jian tilted his head.
The spear tip brushed past the fur on his neck. Flames slid over his black fur without singeing a single hair.
Shi Jian struck out with his right paw, delivering a slap.
No Law Technique enhanced it, no Divine Ability transformed it. He faced his enemy with the utmost, purest physical strength alone-one force to break ten thousand techniques!
Jiao Lei reacted by crossing his arms in front of himself, holding his spear horizontally to block...
Crack.
The spear shaft snapped in two, and Jiao Lei was sent flying backward in an instant. He smashed through several houses before finally coming to a stop.
His eyes rolled back as he lay embedded in a wall, a great gush of blood spraying from his mouth...
One slap.
A Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator had been sent flying with a single slap!
At the sight, Wei Chen's scalp went numb. His jade-green flying sword turned into twelve sword shadows, stabbing at Shi Jian's eyes, mouth, nose, lower abdomen, and other vital points at once!
Shi Jian couldn't even be bothered to dodge. Demon Power surged through his body.
Clang, clang, clang, clang-
The twelve sword shadows struck the protective spiritual shield formed by Demon Power over his body. Like iron swords striking stone, they sent sparks flying everywhere...
"Impossible!"
Wei Chen cried out in alarm. The next moment, Shi Jian was right in front of him.
He desperately controlled his sword as he retreated, still trying to make one last struggle. Unfortunately, Shi Jian's paw had already struck his protective spiritual shield...
The spiritual light shattered, and Wei Chen's body was pinned to the ground beneath the bear's paw.
Then Shi Jian pressed down. Bones cracked inch by inch, Wei Chen's eyes were squeezed out on the spot, and blood was forced from his body...
Like a mosquito, he was squeezed until he burst alive!
Elsewhere.
Jiao Lei struggled out of the ruins. Just as he was about to flee, he saw Shi Jian shoot toward him again, raising his paw to deliver another slap!
The blow struck Jiao Lei at the waist, bending his whole body like a shrimp. The sound of bones breaking was clearly audible...
Jiao Lei fell to the ground screaming, and Shi Jian pierced his Dantian with the tip of a claw!
From the start of the fight to its end, less than a hundred breaths had passed.
Of the two Foundation Establishment Rogue Cultivators, one was dead and the other crippled. A demon bear had ground them into the dirt, and neither had been able to fight back at all...
Shi Jian looked down at Jiao Lei on the ground and asked:
"Who has Lü Fangzhi's flying sword?"
Jiao Lei's face was deathly pale, his lips trembling, his expression full of despair.
He could no longer feel his cultivation. His meridians and Dantian were all destroyed. He had become a cripple, with no possibility of cultivating again...
"Not talking?"
"Don't worry, I have plenty of patience." Shi Jian smiled kindly as he gradually increased the pressure of his paw...
A muffled crunch of breaking bones came from Jiao Lei's chest, and his face twisted in pain.
Shi Jian intended to let him experience what it felt like to be crushed to death alive, little by little, and make him understand what despair meant!