Invincible Beyond Heavens: Cultivating With A Broken EXP System

“No… no.”

Ling Zhen’s face turned pale as panic filled his eyes. The oppressive Sword Intent had already locked onto him, making it difficult for him to even breathe properly. Now that Li Yun was approaching him step by step, the pressure felt even heavier.

“Senior brothers, attack him!” Ling Zhen shouted desperately as he forced himself to gather some courage.

However, the senior disciples of the Martial Ascension Gate were also being suppressed by the Sword Intent. Although they had each formed an Intent Seed, their understanding of intent was still far inferior to Li Yun’s ten percent Sword Intent.

Even so, they chose to act. Unlike the senior disciples from the Boundless Martial Palace who remained still, they stepped forward to intercept Li Yun.

“Die, you thief. Double Dragon Fist!”

One of the senior disciples rushed forward and appeared in front of Li Yun. His fist surged with powerful Qi as two dragon shaped shadows formed around it. The technique he used was a Low Grade Profound Rank fist art that he had already mastered to the advanced stage.

Li Yun calmly drew his sword and swung it downward.

Bang.

The moment the two attacks collided, the senior disciple was sent flying backward. Li Yun had deliberately held back his strength because the man was still a disciple of his own sect, and he had no intention of severely injuring him.

Li Yun then turned his gaze toward the other two senior disciples. With two swift movements of his sword, he sent them flying backward as well.

After dealing with them, he continued walking calmly toward Ling Zhen.

“Ling Zhen, is it?”

Li Yun spoke calmly as he stopped in front of him. His voice was steady, yet the pressure surrounding his words was overwhelming.

“Take out the Martial Dao Crystal.”

As he spoke, Li Yun deliberately released a trace of Killing Intent from the Killing Intent Seed within his body. The invisible aura spread silently and pressed down upon Ling Zhen like a chilling blade resting against his throat.

Ling Zhen’s entire body trembled under the sudden pressure. Never in his life had he experienced such bone chilling fear. It felt as though death itself was standing right in front of him, waiting for the slightest sign of resistance.

He swallowed hard, struggling to steady his breathing. With shaking hands, he reached into his robe and slowly pulled out the Martial Dao Crystal.

The crystal was pure white and about the size of a clenched fist. Its surface shimmered faintly as if countless traces of profound martial understanding were hidden within it.

Li Yun calmly took the crystal from his hand.

At the same time, he placed a small pouch into Ling Zhen’s palm.

“This contains thirty middle grade spirit stones.”

After speaking those words, Li Yun immediately circulated the Raging Wind Tiger Art. His figure turned into a blur as a powerful gust of wind swept across the canyon. In the next moment, he had already vanished from the scene.

Only a few seconds after he disappeared did the suffocating pressure finally fade.

The disciples from both sects immediately released long breaths of relief.

“Who was that person?”

Ling Zhen inhaled deeply several times as he tried to calm his trembling body.

“Sword Intent… he had already comprehended true Sword Intent. I have only heard of core disciples at the Qi Sea Realm achieving such a level. Could he be a core disciple from one of the great sects?”

“Who knows?” Zhao Shu said with a serious expression. “If he truly wanted to, he could have killed every one of us and taken the Martial Dao Crystal without leaving anything behind. The fact that he did not do so means we should consider ourselves fortunate.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“However, what you said might indeed be correct. Someone who possesses such Sword Intent can only be a Qi Sea Realm disciple from one of the four great sects.”

Ling Zhen gave a faint smile as he placed the pouch Li Yun had given him into his robe.

“Well, this situation certainly ended in a rather unusual way,” he said calmly. “Zhao Shu, since both of us ended up losing something here, how about we simply step back and forget about this matter?”

Zhao Shu looked at him for a moment before nodding.

“As you wish.”

With those words, he raised his hand and signaled to the disciples of the Boundless Martial Palace.

Under his command, they slowly withdrew from the canyon together with him.

As Zhao Shu left with the disciples of the Boundless Martial Palace, Ling Zhen finally released a long breath of relief.

He had originally believed that Zhao Shu would immediately turn his attention toward the pouch Li Yun had given him. The pouch contained thirty middle grade spirit stones, which was not a small amount of wealth. Yet to Ling Zhen’s surprise, Zhao Shu had not mentioned it at all and had simply withdrawn with his people.

“Anyway, we should leave as well,” Ling Zhen said as he turned toward the other disciples of the Martial Ascension Gate.

He then looked at the senior brothers who had stepped forward earlier to protect him.

“Senior brothers, are you all alright?” he asked with concern.

“We are fine,” one of them replied. “That thief did not injure us seriously for some reason.”

The other two senior disciples nodded in agreement as they stood beside him.

Ling Zhen found the situation somewhat puzzling.

“Whoever that thief was, he did not seem like a bad person,” Ling Zhen said thoughtfully. “Well, there is no point thinking about it any longer. Let us return to the sect.”

With that decision made, the disciples of the Martial Ascension Gate began moving toward the exit of the canyon.

On the other side of the canyon, Zhao Shu was leading the disciples of the Boundless Martial Palace away as well. However, his expression was dark and filled with frustration.

“Zhao Shu, you have become rather greedy, do you not think?” Shi Feng said with a sneer as he walked beside him. “A Martial Dao Crystal is not some ordinary treasure. Even core disciples would be willing to fight to the death for something like that.”

Zhao Shu sighed as he heard those words.

“Senior Brother Shi, please do not misunderstand. It was not I who truly wanted the Martial Dao Crystal.”

“It was not you?” Shi Feng looked at him with surprise. “Then why did you summon us so urgently and promise each of us ten middle grade spirit stones?”

Zhao Shu gave a helpless smile.

“This Martial Dao Crystal was not something I wanted for myself,” he explained. “It was Senior Sister Yan who wanted it. That is why I urgently summoned you senior brothers and promised each of you middle grade spirit stones. Otherwise I would not have cared about the Martial Dao Crystal at all. I have not even comprehended an Intent Seed for any element yet, so such a treasure would be useless to me.”

“What?”

Shi Feng stopped walking the moment he heard those words. Shock spread across his face.

“You mean Senior Sister Yan is the one who wanted the Martial Dao Crystal?”

“Yes,” Zhao Shu replied.

Shi Feng’s expression immediately grew anxious.

“This is a serious problem, do you not think?” he asked.

“I know it is,” Zhao Shu said with a heavy sigh. His expression had become extremely solemn. “But there was nothing I could do. That masked Robe Thief was far too powerful. If he had wished to kill us, he could have done it easily. None of us would have been able to resist him.”

He shook his head in frustration.

“If he had not appeared, this mission that Senior Sister Yan assigned to me would have been completed by now.”

After a brief pause, Zhao Shu added quietly, “Senior Sister Yan herself should already be on her way to the Black Wind Desert for the Martial Dao Crystal.”

“What?” Shi Feng’s eyes widened in alarm. “She is coming here personally?”

“That was the original plan,” Zhao Shu said with another sigh. “I was supposed to obtain the Martial Dao Crystal and deliver it to her once she arrived. Unfortunately, things did not go as expected.”

At this point, all he could do was wait and see how Senior Sister Yan would react when she learned what had happened.

Standing beside him, Shi Feng silently regretted agreeing to help Zhao Shu in the first place.