Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

But his decisive sword strike ultimately caused Dong Cheng’s massive palm to veer half an inch, the power brushing Xu Xiaochun’s side and crashing into the ground, creating a deep pit.

Xu Xiaochun seized the opportunity to escape, standing shoulder to shoulder with Zou Qi.

Both wore expressions of intense gravity.

In a single encounter, the difference was stark.

Even though Dong Cheng was poisoned, his strength still firmly suppressed the combined forces of the two!

”You two ignorant, reckless juniors!”

Dong Cheng, furious, laughed instead, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.

”Since you’re so eager to die, I’ll grant your wish!”

He no longer held back, an azure light surged around him, a magical treasure resembling a small bronze bell rose above his head, emitting an unsettling fluctuation.

Zhao Zhiye also forcibly suppressed the poison, advancing together with Dan Chenzi, blocking Xu Xiaochun and Zou Qi’s escape route.

The situation was perilous!

From behind a distant cliff.

Li Ji’an’s face broke into a slight smile.

”These two lads are truly bold beyond belief.”

Upon sensing their presence earlier, Li Ji’an was genuinely surprised, never expecting the two with one Fake Pill cultivation and one early Core Formation would dare to ambush Dong Cheng.

Of course, they must have intended only to ensure Xiaoqiao’s safe departure.

Yesterday, when Li Ji’an informed Xiaoqiao about today’s journey, he did not avoid them.

They must have realized from yesterday that when Li Ji’an asked Xiaoqiao to secretly leave the Ten Thousand Merchants Domain early, Xiaoqiao’s passage here might be unsafe, hence coming in advance to guard.

Li Ji’an could not blame them for their reckless behavior this time.

Knowing they were outmatched and still choosing to throw themselves against the odds only proved their camaraderie with Xiaoqiao.

More commendable to Li Ji’an was that they chose to bear it themselves under these circumstances and did not ask Li Ji’an for help, clearly considering him.

He flipped his wrist, and a mask as thin as a cicada wing, neither resembling skin nor fabric, appeared in his palm.

Faceless Mask.

Magical power injected, silently and seamlessly covered his face.

In the next moment.

His figure and aura abruptly transformed.

Becoming sinister and fierce, faint ethereal images of cyan feathers circulated around him.

Remarkably, it was the Cyan Feather Ascendant who had already perished by his hands!

”Kill.”

He uttered a low command.

Beside him, Ning Sujin had long been prepared.

Nascent Soul-level Primordial Spirit Power quietly spread out, precisely disrupting the connection between Dong Cheng’s mind and the tiny bronze bell being activated above him.

At the very moment when the treasure’s magical light paused for an extremely brief instant!

In the void less than a meter behind Dong Cheng, a fluctuation appeared without warning.

A completely transparent phantom, leaking no trace of breath, flashed like a ghost.

In its hand, was an ancient, dim long blade.

Quietly, the blade sliced through the air.

No gleam.

No sound of wind.

Only an intensely pure, full-force intent from a Nascent Soul-level Puppet’s strike.

Dong Cheng was, after all, a late-stage Core Formation Ascendant, his senses frantically alert at the brink of death.

Startled, he turned his head.

He saw only an almost invisible blade shadow, rapidly enlarging before his eyes.

He wanted to dodge, to activate his magical treasure, to summon his magical power...

But his Primordial Spirit was disrupted, the poison hindering, and the blade’s speed was too swift.

”No—!”

Crunch.

A slight yet teeth-grindingly crisp sound.

In Dong Cheng’s wide-open eyes, the vitality froze instantly.

A head soared skyward.

The severed neck was mirror-smooth, immediately corroded by the remnant blade qi and the abrupt outbreak of poison; no blood splattered, only a desolate grey.

A late-stage Core Formation Ascendant, Dong Cheng.

Beheaded in one strike by the Invisibility Puppet!

The headless body swayed and then collapsed.

The bronze bell gave a mournful cry, its light extinguished, clattering to the ground.

All of this happened too quickly.

From the Invisibility Puppet’s emergence to Dong Cheng losing his head, all in a flash.

Zhao Zhiye and Dan Chenzi hadn’t fully reacted yet.

In the next moment,

Li Ji’an, transformed into ”Cyan Feather Ascendant”, surged as a cyan lightning bolt directly into the battlefield!

The target was Zhao Zhiye, deeply poisoned and mentally shattered!

Zhao Zhiye watched helplessly as his greatest ally Dong Cheng perished in an instant, his soul scattered in terror.

Seeing the ”Cyan Feather Ascendant” attack, he was thoroughly frightened, hastily managing only to summon his Lifebound Flying Sword to block.

From the hands of ”Cyan Feather Ascendant”, the pair of cyan curved blades belonging to the original wielder emerged, crossed, slicing out.

One was insidiously vicious, aimed straight at Zhao Zhiye’s throat.

One traced a bizarre arc, cutting off all escape routes.

Zhao Zhiye was already poisoned, his magical power operating sluggishly, and with his mind in disarray, how could he withstand this meticulously planned sneak assault?

Squelch!

Blood light flashed.

Zhao Zhiye clutched his neck, blood gushing through his fingers, eyes filled with terror and reluctance, slowly collapsing.

Mid-stage Core Formation True Man, Zhao Zhiye, has fallen!

The remaining Dan Chenzi was already ashen-faced with fear, turning to flee immediately.

At this moment, Xu Xiaochun and Zou Qi had already regained their composure from the shock, and didn’t detect any killing intent towards them.

After a brief thought, Xu Xiaochun took action.

A dark green poison needle shot backward first, precisely embedding into Dan Chenzi’s back.

Dan Chenzi staggered a step, fell to the ground, his body quickly turning black, breath completely gone.

The battle ended abruptly.

At the edge of the abandoned mine pit at Black Stone Hill, only the sound of heavy breathing and the intense smell of blood and stench remained.

Xu Xiaochun and Zou Qi looked at the three bodies on the ground, then at the ”Cyan Feather Ascendant” whose aura was unfamiliar and face unclear not far away, their expressions skeptical and deeply horrified.

The terrifying sight of a hidden strike decapitating Dong Cheng was deeply imprinted in their minds.

That was a Core Formation Ascendant!

The ”Cyan Feather Ascendant” did not look at them.

He merely raised a hand to call Dong Cheng and Zhao Zhiye’s storage rings, along with that small bronze bell, into his sleeve.

Then, his cold gaze swept across Xu Xiaochun and Zou Qi.

He didn’t say a word.

With a flicker of his figure, he transformed into a green shadow, blending into the dense night, disappearing.

Came abruptly, left decisively.

Xu Xiaochun and Zou Qi exchanged glances, seeing fear, relief, and a hint of confusion in each other’s eyes.

They didn’t dare stay long.

Quickly cleaned up any traces they might have left.

Then fled in another direction at high speed.

Confirming that both had gone far.

Li Ji’an and Ning Sujin’s true selves finally emerged from concealment.

Ning Sujin’s face was slightly pale, her breath somewhat unstable.

Fully activating the Invisibility Puppet to unleash that Nascent Soul strike put a significant burden on her Divine Soul, unable to do it a second time in the short term.

Li Ji’an looked at the three bodies, especially Dong Cheng’s headless corpse.

With a thought.

A trace of golden flame lightly flew out from his dantian.

It was the Little Fire Spirit.

Skillfully circling around the corpses.

A small cluster of seemingly weak, yet terrifyingly hot and purifying golden flames fell.

The flame touched the bodies and the surrounding blood-stained, poisonous soil.

Silently.

All presence and energy dissipated completely.

Not even ashes remained.

Any traceable auras, causes and effects, residual poison power, in front of this Earth Spirit fire, were all incinerated completely.

Leaving behind only a spotlessly clean, even ”pristine” looking charred rock ground.

After completing this.

The Little Fire Spirit flew back to Li Ji’an’s dantian.

Li Ji’an turned, directing his gaze towards the direction of Feihong Immortal City.

Almost simultaneously with Dong Cheng’s demise.

Inside Immortal City, in a room of a medium-sized inn.

The Zhao clan nephew, who had been following Zhao Zhiye discreetly, only having Foundation Establishment cultivation, was seated cross-legged on the bed cultivating.

Suddenly.

His blood and energy began to riot without any warning.

In an instant, the energy and blood rampaged within his body.

He didn’t even have time to scream, as his whole body exploded, ostensibly looking like someone who had practiced some Body Refining Technique gone astray and burst to death.

This was precisely the Thousand Mechanisms Blood Attraction that Li Ji’an had quietly implanted in him that day being triggered.

Eliminate the weeds by the roots.

Li Ji’an withdrew his gaze, his expression showing no ripple of emotion.

”It’s been taken care of.”

He said softly, supporting the slightly fatigued Ning Sujin.

Ning Sujin leaned against him, nodding gently.

Their figures faded once again, like water droplets merging into the night, silently returning to Feihong Immortal City.

As if they had never left.

Black Stone Hill returned to its deathly silence.

Only the whistling sound of the night wind passing through the abandoned mine shafts remained.

As if the brief and deadly ambush had never happened.

The escape light of Xiaoqiao’s group had safely crossed this perilous area, disappearing behind the northeastern mountain ranges.

...

Back in the Dao Field quiet room.

Li Ji’an looked at the two storage rings in his hand, showing little joy.

The recruitment by Holy Beast Mountain, the twenty-year deadline, and the potential threat of Beixuan True Monarch, all exceeded his expectations and disrupted his stable cultivation plan.

”Twenty years...” Even with the dual support from Tong Yaoyao and the Five Blessings Commerce Association, it would still take him at least six decades to possibly break through to late-stage Core Formation.

And with his current mid-stage Golden Core strength and all his trump cards, he had no chance against a True Monarch.

Planning for the future...