Lu Tiandu smiled faintly as he gazed at the cave abode, which had remained untouched by outsiders. It was precisely this cautious approach that had allowed him to visit several markets over the past six months without being tracked.
Just as he was about to slip into the Stone Bead World, a message from the formation relayed that someone had landed on this mountain.
"Strange! Who would stop at this nameless hill?"
Curious, Lu Tiandu stood in the cave ambush, waiting to see if it was someone passing by.
"Boy, come out! Stop hiding! I've found you!" At that moment, an old voice called out.
Lu Tiandu's expression instantly froze. He had just been congratulating himself on his caution, and now someone was tracking him down?
Lu Tiandu clutched several high-level talismans in his hands, a faint golden glow emanating from his body as he scurried out of the cave abode.
He stared expressionlessly at the old man standing on a circular magical instrument above the hill. He asked,
"Senior, do you recognize me?"
A quick scan of the old man's aura revealed him to be a cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.
Lu Tiandu wore an innocent expression. After all, he had never seen this man before. Although he had sold his third Dingyan Pill today, he had always been seen in black, wearing a ethereal bamboo hat. He had then returned to the Stone Pearl World, changed into regular clothes, and put away the bamboo hat before going out to buy some inexpensive spiritual medicine seeds and other items.
There was no way this man was following him for such a small sum.
Besides, once he left the market, he would find a secluded spot, unleash his incredibly fast spiritual light shuttle, and then disappear. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn't be able to catch up with him.
"Boy, hand over your bamboo hat and the flying magic weapon you just used!"
The old man in hemp clothes stood on the circular plate, stroking his graying beard with the air of a master, and directly stated the purpose of his visit.
When Lu Tiandu heard the word "baby hat," his eyes flashed with coldness, and he asked curiously,
"How did you find out I was the man in the black hat?"
Furthermore, the old man seemed unaware of the Dingyan Pill sale, otherwise he would definitely demand spirit stones.
"Hmph, that's none of your concern, kid. Hand over the two treasures, and I'll spare your life!"
The old man's eyes twirled around in an impatient manner.
"It seems I'm the only one left to uncover this secret!" Lu Tiandu curled his lips. "In that case, Senior, please don't leave!"
Seeing that the old man wasn't in a hurry to act, Lu Tiandu put away the talisman he had hidden in his hand. His hands shifted,
and he quickly formed hand seals. At the same time, a faint golden light still shone faintly around him.
"Good boy, you, a Qi Refining Stage kid, dare to attack a Foundation Establishment Stage senior?"
The old man looked at Lu Tiandu as he formed hand seals and cast a spell, looking amused.
If this kid had run away, he would have been afraid he wouldn't have been able to catch up, but now he dared to stay here, he was truly courting death!
Without further ado, the old man slapped his storage bag, and a foot-long golden spear appeared in his hand. Just as he was about to inject his spiritual power into the weapon, the surroundings suddenly changed dramatically. All he saw was a cloud of yellow sand, accompanied by a raging wind, which blew his clothes into disarray.
"Oh no! This kid's acting strangely! He's actually set up a formation here!"
The old man, observing this change, and seeing Lu Tiandu disappear without a trace nearby, thought to himself that something was amiss.
He quickly increased his mana, steadying the white crystal disk beneath his feet. He spun the golden spear around him, and the disk beneath his feet emitted waves of white light, enveloping him.
Meanwhile, Lu Tiandu, carrying a yellow formation flag, floated within the formation.
The flag shone with a hazy yellow luster, transforming into a ball of light that enveloped him, silently blending him into the Sky Wind Fierce Formation.
Watching the old man wandering aimlessly through the formation, Lu Tiandu realized that he probably didn't recognize what kind of formation it was.
So he did not take action immediately. He wanted to see how long the formation he presided over, who had reached the perfection of Qi training, could trap the cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Lu Tiandu used hand gestures to direct the power of the formation to trap the old man, all the while experiencing its various transformations.
Half an hour later, looking at the furious, cursing old man, Lu Tiandu smiled faintly.
It seemed that as long as he had enough spirit stones, he could keep the old man trapped for as long as he wanted.
However, mid-level spirit stones were expensive, so there was no need to use them on this old man.
Using the ball of light formed by the formation flag as a disguise, Lu Tiandu approached within ten feet of the old man.
He didn't dare get any closer. After all, the notes left by the formation master stated that approaching within ten feet would result in a high probability of being detected by the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
With a casual flip of his hand, a silver shuttle appeared in his hand.
Since obtaining the shuttle, he had mostly used it as a flying magical tool. Today was the time to test its offensive power.
Lu Tiandu threw the shuttle into the air, his hands shifting, rapidly firing several spells.
Soon, the spiritual shuttle began to spin in the air. Still palm-sized, its silver light radiating from it grew increasingly dazzling.
At that moment, Lu Tiandu extended his finger and whispered, "Go!"
A flash of silver light vanished from Lu Tiandu's sight, and he instantly shifted his position.
As the spiritual shuttle flew out of the light barrier created by the formation flag, the old man's spiritual sense detected Lu Tiandu's position and he quickly pointed his golden spear at him.
It wasn't that he hadn't noticed some kind of attacking weapon within the silver light, but rather that he had assumed his own white crystal disk would be able to block the young man's weapon without a problem.
He now understood that, despite being a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he clearly couldn't break the formation. Therefore, Lu Tiandu's momentary exposure gave him some hope of breaking it.
However, the old man's eyes widened in disbelief.
Before his spear could reach Lu Tiandu's original position, the silver light suddenly appeared before the white light transformed from the white crystal disk.
With a muffled thud,
the silver light and the white screen collided, and the old man's face instantly turned horrified.
The white light shield from his White Crystal Disk lasted for less than a breath before it was instantly pierced by the silver light.
Before he could command the White Crystal Disk itself to block the attack, the protective light shield cast by his own Foundation Establishment Stage mana was instantly pierced by the silver light.
"Ouch!!!"
A scream rang out from the old man.
Having been carelessly pierced by the Spiritual Light Shuttle, the old man stumbled and fell toward the mountainside. Although he immediately activated the Light Body Technique, he still fell flat on his face.
A bloody hole appeared in the old man's shoulder, oozing blood. Had he not dodged in time, his head would have been pierced.
"It's broken!"
Only then did the old man's fear dawn on him. Without even bothering to stop the bleeding, he instantly pulled out a high-level defensive talisman from his storage bag and slapped himself with it.
He quickly placed the white crystal plate before him, gritted his teeth, and commanded the golden spear to hover above his head for defense.
After doing all this, he stared with a grim expression at Lu Tiandu, who stood in the air more than twenty feet away, carrying the formation flag.
(End of this chapter)