Boom!

The next moment, streams of azure spirit aura emerged from the array flag, surging intensely, brilliant and dazzling, flashing like stars.

Buzz!!

A layer of spirit aura shield instantly expanded hundreds to thousands of times, encompassing the entire mountain, with the majestic spiritual pressure intimidating all directions like a tidal wave.

"You actually have a Second-stage array!!"

The man struggling out from the raging sand saw this scene, angering him to the point his eyes turned red, gritting his teeth.

"Hmph!"

Xu Ping let out a cold snort, manipulating the array.

Buzz!

At this moment, a massive cage of Spiritual Power formed instantly in the sky, wrapping around the bronze corpse.

Unable to dodge, the bronze corpse was tightly entangled.

"Not good!"

Seeing the bronze corpse trapped by the array, the long-haired man's face shifted dramatically as he hurriedly tried to control the bronze corpse to break free.

Crack crack crack...

A vast blue-black mist erupted from the bronze corpse, attempting to tear apart the cage binding it, the sound of metal breaking from the strained cage.

Xu Ping understood well the tactic of capturing the leader first; his heart was resolute without a trace of hesitation, his gaze firmly locking onto the long-haired man.

"Slash!"

His figure flashed, disappearing instantly from the original spot, the next moment, a colossal sword qi accompanied by the sound of thunder slashed toward the long-haired man.

The long-haired man's face changed drastically, but with his calf shattered, his movement was hampered, forcing him to withstand it; he hastily summoned a piece of upper-grade defensive Magical Artifact and also launched a Second-stage upper-grade defensive talisman.

Boom!

The sword qi broke through the upper-grade defensive Magical Artifact but was blocked by the Second-stage upper-grade defensive shield.

The long-haired man had no time to breathe a sigh of relief, yet suddenly numerous sword qi slashed toward him from the void.

Boom boom boom!!!

The Second-stage upper-grade defensive shield was severely dimmed under the violent attack and nearly shattered.

"No!"

In the long-haired man's terrified gaze, the Second-stage upper-grade defensive shield shattered.

A sword qi flashed by, slicing across the long-haired man.

"Ah..."

The long-haired man let out a tragic scream, cut vertically from bottom to top by the sword qi's sharp edge, his body split in two, with blood spewing out.

He slowly fell to the ground, a look of death restlessly lingering on his face.

And the bronze corpse lost the long-haired man's control, quietly bound firmly by the array, unable to move.

"Phew!"

At this time, Xu Ping landed from the void, his face as pale as paper, his chest rising and falling, breathing slowly.

This battle consumed too much; both his Divine Sense and Mana were almost entirely depleted.

If the long-haired man could have held out a bit longer, he might have been captured.

"This man is really powerful!" Xu Ping's gaze fell on the already split-in-half long-haired man, a trace of dread emerging in his eyes.

He had nearly exhausted all his means to barely kill the long-haired man, who had lost a leg.

If both were intact and faced off, the outcome would have been uncertain.

"It's time to go!"

The battle's commotion had been too great; Xu Ping dared not linger.

He collected the silvery bell into his storage bag; it was a valuable item.

With this silver bell in hand, combined with his Spiritual Sense Attack, his strength could significantly increase, at least firmly suppressing a Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

After securing the silver bell, Xu Ping searched the long-haired man's body, found a jade token, and once he confirmed there was nothing else, flicked two fireballs to burn the long-haired man's corpse to ashes.

"Finally, there's this bronze corpse." Xu Ping shifted his gaze to the bronze corpse tightly bound by the array.

The bronze corpse's strength was also extremely formidable, comparable to a Second-stage Middle Grade Body Refining Cultivator.

And being essentially a corpse, unaware of life or pain, far more ferocious than an ordinary Second-stage Middle Grade Body Refining Cultivator, definitely making it an excellent aide.

"Pack it up, study it thoroughly later!" Xu Ping dispelled the array, the bronze corpse falling to the ground, its white pupils staring vacantly ahead.

With a wave of his sleeve, Xu Ping retrieved it into his Storage Ring, not forgetting the Second-stage Demon Ape.

Glancing in a certain direction, he employed the Wind Manipulation Skill, lightly tapped his foot, and headed toward the mountains.

His figure soon vanished amidst a dense fog.

...

...

A short half-hour later.

Several black-robed figures arrived at the scene.

Noticing the mess all around, one of the black-robed figures' face slightly changed: "Xu Liang's aura disappeared here, could it be that he is dead?"

"But with Xu Liang's strength, plus the unique treasure he carried, he could handle Second-stage upper-grade Demon Beasts; what in these inner mountains could kill him?"

"The battlefield has been tidied up, clearly not by a demon beast, it should be a cultivator." Another figure calmly analyzed.

"Can it be that the people of Yue Country discovered us and sent a cultivator to eliminate us?" Another speculated nervously.

...

The leading black-robed figure remained silent, frowning slightly, sensing quietly. After a moment, he spoke slowly: "The one who killed Xu Liang was a sword cultivator, moreover..."

He pointed a finger, and the sword mark on the ground, a residual sword qi burst forth slightly, with faint thunder sounds echoing.

"Moreover... it was a sword cultivator who comprehended Sword Qi Thunder Sound." The leading black-robed figure's expression turned grave.

"A sword cultivator who comprehended Sword Qi Thunder Sound?" Hearing these words, the other black-robed figures were shaken.

Sword cultivators are renowned as the strongest offensive cultivators in the Cultivation Realm, often considered the chosen ones.

Would any sect really send such a chosen one to ambush them?

"This should be coincidental; if Yue Country's people truly found us, they would have sent a Golden Core cultivator instead." The leading black-robed figure opined.

After pondering momentarily, the others found this reasonable, causing the tense atmosphere to slightly relax.

However, at this moment, the leading black-robed figure spoke in a chilling tone: "From now on, no one should act alone. You know my methods, don't force me to be merciless."

His icy gaze swept over the black-robed figures present, causing them to lower their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Let's move!" With an order from the leading black-robed figure, he soared flying at low altitude with his Magical Artifact, and the others quickly followed.

...

...

Yellow Dragon Mountain Range.

In the inner mountains, a secluded cave was shrouded in a thin spirit aura, resembling a shelled egg.

Inside the slightly dim cave, Xu Ping swallowed a Qi Recovery Pill, quietly restoring his mana.

It was unknown how much time had passed.

Xu Ping slowly opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing in his eyes, instantly illuminating the slightly dark cave.

"Phew!"

He exhaled a long breath, softly muttering to himself: "My mana has finally recovered."

Being in the inner mountains of Yellow Dragon, with mana entirely spent, was tremendously dangerous, even if his Body Refining was not lacking, he couldn't help but feel unease.

Now with his mana restored, he finally felt assurance in his heart.

"It's time to look at the spoils!" Xu Ping's eyes inevitably flickered with a trace of delight.

The items on that long-haired man's body were indeed substantial!

Xu Ping took out the long-haired man's Storage Ring, with a sweep of his Divine Sense, effortlessly breaking open the Divine Sense seal on it in an instant.

He delved his Divine Sense into the Storage Ring.

A pile of Spirit Stones, various Spirit Medicines and Spiritual Ores, numerous talismans, a few ancient books, two upper-grade Magical Artifacts, and a dozen middle and lower-grade magical artifacts.

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