Disciples Descend the Mountain, Breaking Through to Kill

"No? You're too fast! I haven't even entered the formation yet!"

Feng Shi stood outside the formation, looking into it; the two were separated by a thick barrier.

From a distance, Zha Yuanyuan shouted, "Fellow Daoist Feng, Emerald Screen Mountain has been Bandit Cultivators! They're all dead, all of them are dead!"

Feng Shi's expression changed drastically. "Then what about my dojo?"

"They burned, killed, and looted; there were fires everywhere!" Zha Yuanyuan's face was filled with sorrow, and she no longer cared about her image.

Feng Shi's vision went black, and his mind went blank. "My home is gone!?"

Most of his important items were kept in Storage Bags, but his dojo had many businesses, including cranes, spirit medicine, array plates, and Pill Furnaces —accounting for half of his wealth.

"It's over, it's all over!" Feng Shi was utterly despondent.

However, he had been the boss for many years and was quick-witted.

He questioned, "Fellow Daoist Kong and the others are at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, no weaker than me, and they are protected by an array. Why are they nowhere to be seen? Are you trying to deceive me?"

Zha Yuanyuan smiled sadly, "Their cultivation is profound, so they were already considered targets. Today, a second-tier Earth Dragon Beast appeared on the mountain, and Fellow Daoist Kong and the others almost fought over it. Who knew that several cultivators would suddenly appear—"

"If it weren't for my low cultivation level and the fact that I possess a Mystic Thunder Orb, I would have been captured long ago."

"If Fellow Daoist Feng doesn't believe me, he can always go back and see for himself!"

Feng Shi's eyes narrowed. "A second-tier Earth Dragon Beast?"

This Demon Beast often dwells in caves deep within Spirit Veins; its entire body is a treasure trove. Its demon core can be used in medicine, its hide can be made into armor, its Essence Blood can be refined, and its claws and teeth can be crafted into magical Law Artifact.

"No wonder Fellow Daoist Kong and the others fell for it—" Feng Shi's expression changed.

Then Zha Yuanyuan cried out urgently, "Alchemist Zhou, I was marked with a spiritual energy mark during the melee. Those thieves will probably arrive soon. My spiritual energy is almost exhausted. Could you—"

Feng Shi was shocked. "What? A spiritual energy mark? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

He quickly pulled out his flying boat, stepped onto it, and it disappeared swiftly into the horizon.

Zhou Ning stood inside the formation. This wasn't a charity where he would save all sorts of scoundrels. It would be ridiculous to think that he could withstand any means of combat just because of the formation's power.

He said, "If you have any of the following: a third-tier spirit jade, Billowing Water Mist Root, or Water Cloud Essence, you may enter my formation."

Zha Yuanyuan's face froze. She didn't recognize the last two items, but the third-tier spirit jade alone was incredibly valuable—it was a treasure for drawing third-tier talismans!

Her lips trembled as she pleaded, "Is Alchemist Zhou really going to stand by and watch me die? You are under the protection of the Azure Mystic Sect— "

Zhou Ning declared righteously, "How could I, Zhou, be such a heartless and ungrateful person? If only I had a small island, I could shelter all the cultivators of the world and bring them joy!"

He pointed and saw a small courtyard built on the edge of the island, outside the range of the formation.

"That is a place I specially prepared for all people to live in."

Over the years, there have been similar incidents involving Little Willow Marsh. If Zhou Ning is always morally blackmailed, will he still be able to cultivate?

The person he saved may not thank him, but the person who is hunting him will definitely hate him!

Unfortunately, Zhou Ning was a very kind person. He couldn't manage other places, but he could still build two houses on the island. Apart from the lack of a formation and the relatively high number of deaths, everything else was perfect.

Zha Yuanyuan looked at the small courtyard, paused for a moment, and then resentment appeared in her eyes.

Zhou Ning, watching the approaching spiritual light in the distance, said, "Fellow Daoist, you should retreat quickly before the Bandit Cultivator arrives."

Upon sensing this, Zha Yuanyuan almost pleaded, "Alchemist Zhou, please do me a favor and allow me to enter the formation for a short while. I am willing to humble myself and serve you at your beck and call—"

Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes, sensing that something was amiss.

Upon learning of the Bandit Cultivator, Feng Shi fled as fast as he could.

Although this woman was marked with spiritual energy, it wouldn't warrant such a long delay. After all, human instinct is to avoid danger from afar.

"Alchemist Zhou, I beg you, I beg you!" Zha Yuanyuan knelt in the mud, pleading desperately.

Finally, several streaks of light flew down from the sky, with a gaunt man with a gloomy face and Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivation at the forefront.

He brandished a blood-stained blade, its stench thick and menacing, and slashed at Zha Yuanyuan on the ground.

Zha Yuanyuan screamed, her face drained of color, and charged towards the light blue light shield, crashing head-on into it.

The blood-red blade struck, slashing fiercely at the pavilion, sending bricks and stones flying and shattering the roof.

Zhou Ning frowned.

The gloomy man stood in the sky and said, "Alright, stop pretending."

Zha Yuanyuan immediately returned to normal, glaring at Zhou Ning with resentment.

This person is truly heartless; despite her pleading, they didn't budge an inch.

Otherwise, once she enters the formation, she could seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack and kill Zhou Ning, easily taking control of the entire island.

Emerald Screen Mountain was like that. There were seven cultivator families renting the land, but they were not united. Zha Yuanyuan used a few tricks to defeat them one by one.

The gloomy man stood high above, toying with the blood-stained knife in his hand, his eyes filled with indifference towards human life. He said calmly, "You're Alchemist Zhou, aren't you? You're lucky to be alive today, heh heh."

A fat cultivator behind him sneered, "So what if he's a second-tier Alchemist? Under our might, he'd better cower in fear!"

59

Zha Yuanyuan slowly straightened her clothes, a mocking smile playing on her lips, "Just a tortoise."

Zhou Ning was already displeased that his pavilion had been vandalized, and the other party still dared to be so arrogant.

He sneered, "A bunch of poor Rogue Cultivators, relying on hiding their faces and cheating people all day to earn a few worthless Spirit Stones, do they really think they're something special?"

"Wan'er, bring out some fruit!"

Jia Tingwan immediately brought out a table and chairs and served a plate of Snow Cherry Fruit.

Zhou Ning sat in a chair, legs crossed, and picked up a Snow Cherry Fruit: "Have you ever seen one? Snow Cherry Fruit? You'll never get to eat one of these in your entire lives."

As he spoke, Zhou Ning took a bite of the fruit; it was refreshing and delicious.

The gloomy cultivator's eye twitched.

Someone behind him angrily shouted, "They're just some Spirit-Breaking Fruits! Do you really think they're some kind of treasure?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ning waved his hand, and the table was covered with jade bottles, from which hundreds of True Essence Pills, gleaming with a frosty glow, floated up.

The Bandit Cultivators outside the formation were almost dazzled, their expressions changing drastically. These True Essence Pills were probably worth five or six hundred Spirit Stones!

Zhou Ning scoffed, "What I, Zhou, have, you could never get in your entire lives. From now on, you'd better stay here like a toad in the mud!"

The Bandit Cultivators, having been hit where it hurt, cried out and pulled out their Law Artifact, beginning their attack on the formation.

The gloomy cultivator suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which landed on the blood-red blade. Suddenly, the blood-red light shone brightly, reaching a length of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), and with a terrifying blade light, it slashed fiercely at the azure light shield.

Zhou Ning was surprised. Was this power even slightly superior to Elder Xu's silver greatsword Swordsmanship weapon from that day?

Zhou Ning wanted to laugh just thinking about what was going to happen next.

"The Three Talents Azure-Guarding Formation, with three layers of light shields—"

As expected, accompanied by a loud bang, cracks appeared in the azure light shield, which then exploded into countless starlight.

The shadowy cultivator, his eyes bloodshot, brandished a blood-red blade and roared, "Follow me into the formation and kill!"

The group of Bandit Cultivators pounced on the Foundation Establishment cultivator like vicious dogs, their faces filled with cruelty. They wanted to capture this Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator and torture him to death to vent their hatred!

Seeing the formation shatter, Zha Yuanyuan let out a shrill cry, "I've never killed a second-tier Alchemist before!"

Zhou Ning slowly and deliberately conjured a two-zhang-long fire blade. Although he had not yet broken through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, his Law Power had greatly increased. As soon as the fire blade was formed, the surrounding air became distorted and unstable.

At the same time, Zhou Ning touched his eye socket, gently plucked it, and a phantom eyeball was removed.

He casually tossed it into the sky, and "Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils" immediately unleashed the Delusion-Burning Fire.

He pushed his palm forward. "Break!"

The fire blade flew out with a "whoosh" through the air.

A swarm of cultivators descended from all directions like mosquitoes, attacking Zhou Ning.

The fat cultivator targeted by the fiery blade was at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. He immediately released a defensive Law Artifact to block it, but as soon as the shield was thrown out, although it could expand, he couldn't control it and it fell straight down.

His expression changed drastically, and he was filled with fear. He quickly crushed a defensive talisman.

However, before the earthen-shaped light shield could solidify, the fire blade came crashing down upon them.

The scorching, sharp blade sliced through the fat monk like a hot knife through butter, leaving him in despair as his body was torn apart, blood and entrails spraying everywhere.

The shadowy man caught sight of this eye, his face contorted with shock and anger. "Third brother!"

The other Bandit Cultivators didn't think that way. They were all Bandit Cultivators, and with such a huge harvest in front of them, losing one person meant losing one share of the spoils!

Sneer, greed, arrogance, and sinister Zhangzhang— faces approached rapidly.

However, in the next instant, the array moved, and an even thicker azure light shield formed. The two Bandit Cultivators collided head-on, their faces contorted in the impact, and they were violently thrown back.

Zha Yuanyuan looked utterly bewildered and exclaimed in a shrill voice, "There's an array!"

The Bandit Cultivators looked as if they had seen a ghost; hadn't the formation been broken?

The male cultivator with the gloomy expression also noticed that a faint dark light shot out and, in an instant, snatched away the third brother's Storage Bag.

Zhou Ning slammed the item on the table in disgust and said, "Wan'er, it's yours."

Jia Tingwan stared blankly at the bulging Storage Bag, "I'm rich?"

Zhou Ning glanced at the cultivators Bandit Cultivator the formation and said disdainfully, "You still dare to dream of breaking the formation? That's all you've got. No wonder you're Rogue Cultivators; you've never seen the world."

"If I, Zhou, casually pick out anything, you'll all fight over it like wild dogs."

"As for me, I only need to leisurely refine pills, Foundation Establishment -Core Formation will be within my grasp!"

Zhou Ning wasn't afraid of offending them at all. These bastards all wanted to kill him, so there was no need for him to save face.

The main problem is that the other side is a group of Bandit Cultivator have no backing. They dare to act so arrogantly in Emerald Screen Mountain, which will surely anger the Aristocratic Clan. There will be no place for them in Leping Commandery anymore.

"Get out of here now, or the Aristocratic Clan will kill you all in an instant!" Zhou Ning waved his hand as if shooing away ants.

The gloomy cultivator stared at Zhou Ning, his long, narrow eyelids making him appear even more sinister. His voice was deep. "Alchemist Zhou, is it? I, Liu Jun, will remember what happened today."

Zhou Ning chuckled, "Don't worry, those False Core Lineage have remembered what you did today. Get lost."

The group of Bandit Cultivators dared not delay any longer and departed.

A hundred miles away, above the clouds.

An Azure-Winged Cloud Eagle spread its wings and flew, its back shrouded in several clusters of spiritual light.

Gu Xiangning stood at the back, some distance away from the other cultivators.

She originally intended to go directly to Hedong Commandery after descending the mountain, but she asked her senior sisters and brothers to allow her to detour and visit Little Willow Marsh first.

If you do the math, it's been thirteen years since she last saw Zhou Ning.

"I wonder if he's happy now?" Gu Xiangning wondered.

Beside her was Fang Tianyu. Even though he had broken through to the Foundation Establishment thirteen years ago, he was still at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Early Stage. It would take him another three or four years to break through the bottleneck and advance to the middle stage.

Senior Brother Fang said, "Zhou Ning is now a second-level Alchemist. Such skill is astonishing!"

Over the years, he had spent most of the gains he had made from venturing into the Azure Ruins Secret Realm, and once again experienced the difficulty of cultivation.

The True Essence Pill can increase cultivation speed by 60%, but he couldn't afford to consume it all in a year.

He planned to discuss alchemy with Zhou Ning.

Guo Changying, dressed in close-fitting leather armor, looked heroic and valiant. Holding the Canglang Spear in both hands, she looked in the direction of Little Willow Marsh: "That guy probably has some luck on him."

Gu Xiangning was actually surprised. There were five people on this trip. Before setting off, only she and her Senior Brother Fang planned to take a detour to Little Willow Marsh, so they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

Just when everyone thought the matter was settled, Guo Changying unexpectedly voted in favor.

"What's going on between her and her older brother?" Gu Xiangning didn't understand.

"Moreover, her cultivation is progressing incredibly fast; she's already Foundation Establishment Middle Stage— "

Gu Xiangning remembered that Guo Changying and Fang Tianyu both had High-Grade Spirit Roots and their Foundation Establishment times were almost the same, yet Guo Changying was several years ahead.

"Junior Sister Changying!" A slightly greasy voice suddenly rang out.

Gu Xiangning glanced sideways and saw a young man in a tight-fitting outfit. He had an ordinary appearance, with scars on his face, and was at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. This man was the offspring of True Person Chang, named Chang Wenqiang.

Guo Changying's voice was bright and clear. "Say that again and I'll tear your mouth off!"

Fang Tianyu rubbed his forehead, sighing helplessly, "Here we go again."

Chang Wenqiang shook his folding fan and said, "Junior sister, why do you keep people at arm's length? I know your Lineage was wiped out and your parents died tragically, but I don't think you should bear these burdens."

Guo Changying ignored him.

"I heard from my father that you are a very strong-willed woman who relies on yourself in everything and is very self-reliant," Chang Wenqiang said.

Guo Changying still held the Canglang Spear.

Chang Wenqiang said, "But, Junior Sister, you may not know that being strong-willed doesn't necessarily give you an advantage in cultivation."

Fang Tianyu grimaced at the sight.

Guo Changying gazed at the boundless sky, her resolve unwavering. "Bottleneck or inner demon, I will pierce them with a single spear thrust."

Chang Wenqiang shook his head and sighed, "But living like that will be exhausting. I don't want to see you overworked. No matter what your past was like, I hope you won't be so strong-willed anymore."

Guo Changying raised an eyebrow, and said impatiently, "What are you babbling about?"

Chang Wenqiang laughed, a frank and domineering laugh. He clenched his fist and pounded it into his chest, the sound booming, "Because your strength has arrived!"

Gu Xiangning couldn't help but cough, then quickly covered her mouth.

Fang Tianyu rubbed his forehead.

Even the most silent senior sister in the Daoist robe at the very front couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "If you talk like that again, I'll throw you off!"

She was the only one with Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivation during this trip.

Chang Wenqiang was confused. "What's going on? Did I explain myself poorly?"

Fang Tianyu praised, "Very good, don't say that again."

Suddenly, he frowned, conjured a beam of spiritual light in his hand, and pointed it towards his eyes.

Fang Tianyu observed for a moment and said, "Senior Sister Luo, there are several cultivators ahead. They have a strong aura of Blood Qi on them and several Storage Bags hanging from their waists. They've probably just killed someone."

Senior Sister Luo slowly turned around and drew an ice sword that emitted a chilling aura.

She had almond-shaped eyes, but no seductive charm; her gaze was cool and aloof, her demeanor refined and proud. "Since we've run into each other, let's stop and ask," she said.

Fang Tianyu's face lit up with excitement; these cultivation materials were finally here!

Several cultivators from various sects took out their Law Artifacts without prior arrangement, and even Gu Xiangning took out a jade zither and held it in her arms.