Suppressive Fire

"Come play with your big sister."

The woman saw him use a voice transmission talisman to call for help, but she didn't care in the slightest.

Prey was only fun if she killed it after she'd had her fill of playing.

She liked thrills.

After fleeing for a while, Qin Fei had no choice but to stop. Any farther and he would be outside the market.

Demon Beasts ran rampant outside, and he might also run into a squad of barbarians. It would only be more dangerous.

He had stalled as long as he could, but along the way, he hadn't seen a trace of the enforcement team.

"Little brother, why have you stopped running?"

The woman closed in on him step by step, an amused smile on her face.

"You and I have no grudge against each other. Why are you pressing me so hard?"

Qin Fei turned around. With no path of escape, he decided to face her head-on and see if he could find out what she wanted.

"Heh, is everyone in Shangyu Market this naive? What reason does a Bandit Cultivator need?"

Qin Fei instinctively felt something was wrong. As far as he knew, he had always been careful and had never revealed his wealth in public.

Besides, he wasn't her only target. She was also after the merchant association and Old Zhang.

It seems she isn't targeting me alone. Perhaps the merchant association is her target.

Qin Fei speculated to himself, though he knew he wouldn't get anything out of her by asking.

He slowly backed away, spreading both hands. Without her noticing, a puppet sphere had appeared between each of his fingers.

"You still want to resist? You're courting death!"

The woman's patience was wearing thin. Clearly, she no longer wanted to drag things out.

What she hadn't expected was for Qin Fei to strike first and seize the advantage.

"You really think you've got me in the palm of your hand?"

He waved one hand, throwing out several spheres.

Eight crimson puppets appeared in midair, instantly surrounding the woman.

With the growth of his Divine Sense and the rise in his cultivation, he could now control eight Qi Refining Third Layer puppets at once.

The woman was somewhat surprised, but she quickly regained her composure.

"I really did underestimate you. But do you think this is enough to escape the palm of my hand?"

"I never thought this would be enough to defeat you. But what if I add this?"

The woman sensed movement behind her and spun around. What greeted her were several huge, flying dragons of flame.

The dragons lunged at her, their scorching heat sweeping across the surroundings until even the air blurred.

Through the firelight, a black-and-red steel puppet could be dimly seen breathing fire. The fire dragons were spewing from its mouth.

"A Late Qi Refining puppet!"

The woman's composure finally vanished, replaced by a hint of gravity.

She couldn't understand why Qin Fei had a puppet of this level.

Of course, there was no time to think about it.

The fire dragons were already upon her. The woman retreated, her hands leaving afterimages as she formed a Method Formula. An ice-blue shield appeared out of nowhere.

Bang-

The fire dragons struck the small shield, and a layer of ice crystals spread from their heads.

Surprisingly, the ice crystals seemed unafraid of the flames.

They spread rapidly, and the fire dragons' might steadily weakened.

A smile appeared on the woman's face. She seemed quite confident in the ice-blue shield.

Qin Fei wasn't about to sit and wait for death. With a thought, he had all nine puppets open their palms, and a gun barrel extended from each one.

Immediately afterward, they attacked in unison.

He was no gentleman. If he could use superior numbers, he would never fight outnumbered.

She was a great Late Qi Refining cultivator. Against an opponent of that level, even his survival was uncertain. How could he dare hold back?

As for Qin Fei himself, he hid far away.

The barrels were like Gatling guns spitting blue flames, all manner of Technique Methods spraying from them nonstop.

Firelight filled the sky, each flash reflecting off the others, while Technique Methods exploded everywhere.

The woman had never seen a scene like this. She felt as though she were surrounded by thousands of soldiers and horses.

Technique Methods of every kind came at her as though they cost nothing, hurled her way no matter how powerful or weak.

The light of the explosions nearly blinded her.

The suppressive fire left her with no chance to fight back.

The ice-blue shield could cover the east but not the west, the head but not the tail.

If she hadn't had several other Law Artifacts to protect her, she would have been unable to hold out long ago.

It was Qin Fei's first time unleashing his full firepower too, and he clicked his tongue inwardly at the sight before him.

So I'm this fierce.

Sure enough, all fear comes from insufficient firepower.

He felt as if he were on an interstellar battlefield, controlling countless mecha, wielding laser cannons and hefting Gatling guns as he bombarded a single bedbug.

The Spirit Stones powering the puppets were rapidly consumed, but Qin Fei had fallen into a complete frenzy.

Though he was desperately short of Spirit Stones and still owed the merchant association a huge sum,

he had to admit that smashing someone with money felt incredible—so incredible it was addictive.

The nine puppets' fire never stopped, blasting a crater several meters deep into the ground.

Dust and smoke billowed everywhere, and combined with the dazzling light of the Technique Methods, they made it impossible to see inside the crater.

Following the law that where there was smoke, there was no damage, Qin Fei kept the puppets firing and even intensified the bombardment.

Only after another half an incense stick's worth of time did the firepower gradually cease.

There was no movement in the crater. It was deathly silent.

Qin Fei didn't go forward to investigate himself. Instead, he sent a puppet into the crater while he hid behind the Flame Martial Envoy.

Since he could share the puppet's perspective, he could see everything in the crater clearly.

The crater was scorched black, and the lingering might of the Technique Methods still smoldered in its corners.

A pungent smell rose from the scorched earth, but there was no one in sight.

"Where is she?"

The woman in the evil ghost mask was nowhere to be found.

Only a few broken Law Artifacts and a black Storage Bag lay quietly on the ground.

After a closer look, however, Qin Fei did find some clues.

Tiny scraps of flesh and blood were mixed into the blackened soil, along with occasional hard white pieces that seemed to be fragments of bone.

The woman really had been blasted to bits.

Muttering inwardly, What a pity, Qin Fei picked up the Storage Bag and quickly left the scene.

He didn't want the enforcement team to haul him in for questioning.

On the road, a rumble came from the distance. It was Tang Zhan, riding a motorcycle to meet him.

After the group had finished their gathering, Tang Zhan had planned to go roaring through the streets with everyone, but then he received Qin Fei's call for help.

Not daring to delay, he hurried to the place Qin Fei had mentioned.

But when he arrived, he found no one there, so he began searching aimlessly.

Only now did he run into Qin Fei on his way back.

Seeing that Qin Fei was safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly asked:

"Where's the person who tried to rob and kill you?"

Qin Fei swung himself onto the back seat of the motorcycle and replied offhandedly:

"Gone. How's Old Zhang?"

He didn't say much about his own situation, merely glossing over it.

"Good thing you warned us in time. Brother Hu reached Old Zhang before that man did. Otherwise, Old Zhang might have..."

"Good, as long as he's all right. Did you manage to stop that man from getting away?"

The weight lifted from Qin Fei's heart, and he asked with some anticipation.

The moment he was in danger, he had notified Wang Hu and told him to protect Old Zhang.

Wang Hu had already broken through to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, so against a Seventh Layer cultivator, there was a good chance he could stop him from escaping.

But Tang Zhan shook his head:

"Brother Hu was far stronger than that man, and Old Zhang only got a bit of a fright.

But that man was ruthless too. At the critical moment, he sacrificed one of his own arms and used a secret technique to escape.

Brother Hu was afraid he was trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain, so he didn't pursue him."

Hearing this, Qin Fei fell into thought.

There was nothing wrong with what Wang Hu had done. The enemy was highly likely to have accomplices, so he couldn't pursue too far.

But what exactly did this group want?

To rob them?

He couldn't shake the feeling that wasn't it.

The two had clear targets and had even prepared to go after Tang Zhan and the other two. Only because they were difficult to deal with had they first gone after Qin Fei and Old Zhang, who were on their own.

It looked more like they were targeting the merchant association.

If that was the case, there were too many possibilities.

Perhaps someone was green-eyed over the merchant association, perhaps a competitor was behind it, or perhaps it was an enemy of Fairy Caiyi's...

There was no way to know.

"Forget it. If they're after something, they'll definitely make another move. You and I should both be careful for the time being."

Qin Fei decided that once he got home, he would enter secluded cultivation again and not go anywhere.

Tang Zhan nodded as well. He planned to report the matter to Fairy Caiyi and thoroughly investigate who was targeting the merchant association.