Han Yi trailed behind the group, the three daggers strapped to his body trembling slightly, poised for action.
In this critical moment, Han Yi couldn't afford a single lapse in focus. If they encountered enemies, he would unleash his full strength without hesitation, bombarding them with spells before anything else.
Beside him walked Tao Shouhua, another Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivator who had been selected for the Inner Peak four years prior.
"Junior Brother, don't be nervous. Stick close to me," Tao Shouhua said. "We'll follow Senior Brother Cui. With his Pill Sword Technique, cutting down those enemies will be as easy as slicing vegetables."
"Just stay calm, especially don't attack any fellow disciples."
Earlier, during introductions, Han Yi had meticulously memorized the names and preferred spells of everyone in the small team, including Tao Shouhua.
Now, Han Yi glanced at Tao Shouhua, inwardly amused. The man was clearly overwhelmed by tension, using idle chatter to mask his anxiety.
Han Yi swiftly cut him off. "Alright, Senior Brother Tao, I understand. You be careful too."
The words had barely left his lips when—
Whoosh!
A pillar of flame streaked down from the sky, plunging straight into the group's midst.
"Careful!" Lu Su shouted, raising his hands. A Magic Artifact in his palms swelled with power as he channeled his Mana into it, activating the Earth Shield Technique. A shimmering barrier of earth materialized, blocking the fiery onslaught.
Sizzle... sizzle...
Flames splattered, accompanied by the sound of burning flesh.
A Blood God Sect cultivator flashed forward with inhuman speed, appearing above Lu Su's head in an instant. He hurled a blood-red cloth-like Magic Artifact downward.
The artifact expanded rapidly, threatening to engulf and trap Lu Su.
But at that moment, a piercing sound erupted as a sword light streaked through the air, slicing a gash in the blood-red cloth. Lu Su narrowly escaped.
The swordsman was Cui Xingchen, a Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivator.
With a gentle flick of his wrist, the sword light arced gracefully back to him, hovering in mid-air and transforming into a gleaming golden sword pill.
At first glance, the sword pill resembled a large, round golden Medicinal Pill, about half the size of a fist.
This was the Pill Sword Technique.
Behind the group, Han Yi witnessed the Pill Sword Technique for the first time, his eyes lighting up with fascination.
The technique used a Medicinal Pill as the sword's core. Its key advantage lay in allowing the sword pill to be stored within the body, nurtured in the dantian, where it could effortlessly merge with the cultivator's Mana without any deliberate refinement.
"Impressive! Senior Brother Cui is too strong!" Tao Shouhua exclaimed softly, his tense expression transforming into exhilaration.
The others also showed renewed hope.
But as Lu Su escaped, his face suddenly paled.
"Careful!"
Boom!!
A golden beam of light suddenly erupted, shattering the darkness and piercing the night sky like a fiery arrow. It streaked toward Cui Xingchen, striking him directly.
Cui Xingchen's face twisted in terror. Instinctively, the sword pill floating beside him transformed into a Pill Sword, which he thrust forward to block the golden light.
But the force behind the golden light was overwhelming.
In an instant...
Crack!
A fissure appeared on the Pill Sword, the sharp sound causing Cui Xingchen's pupils to contract violently.
Before he could react, the terrifying force crushed the Pill Sword against his body, carving a straight line through over a dozen buildings as he was hurled from sight.
In the blink of an eye, Cui Xingchen—a master of the Pill Sword Technique and one of the team's strongest fighters—had been utterly defeated, his fate unknown.
The golden light soared from the rubble and returned to its master's hand.
A youth with a chilling smile grasped the light, transforming it into an unremarkable golden shuttle.
"A Top-Grade Magic Artifact—the Golden Light Shuttle."
"Damn it!" Lu Su roared, his face ashen. "Run!"
But instead of fleeing himself, he charged forward, his mana surging as he poured it into his Mid-Grade Magic Artifact, determined to fight the Blood God Sect youth to the death.
"You're asking for death!"
"I'll grant your wish."
The icy youth, despite being only at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, wielded the Golden Light Shuttle—a Top-Grade Magic Artifact.
A Top-Grade Magic Artifact! Most cultivators at the peak of Qi Refining considered themselves fortunate to possess a High-Grade Magic Artifact. Top-Grade Magic Artifacts were typically reserved for cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Yet here was a Qi Refining eighth-layer cultivator wielding such a treasure. Against opponents at the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refining, his power was akin to a wolf among sheep—utterly overwhelming.
While fully activating a Top-Grade Magic Artifact required a Qi Refining cultivator to expend a vast amount of Mana and divine sense, even a partial activation could instantly obliterate entire groups of sixth and seventh-layer junior brothers.
My only hope was to stand and desperately hold him back, buying time for my junior brothers to escape. Perhaps, if the youth failed to fully master the Golden Light Shuttle, I might even seize the opportunity to counterattack.
Time to gamble everything.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
A split second before the golden light erupted and hurtled toward them, Han Yi's heart leaped into his throat.
Danger.
Mortal danger.
When the golden light struck Cui Xingchen, sending him flying, Han Yi instinctively sidestepped, dragging the dazed Tao Shouhua out of the path of Cui Xingchen's tumbling body to avoid being hit.
By the time Lu Su shouted, "Run!" Han Yi had already whirled around and darted backward. Before fleeing, he yanked Tao Shouhua, who stood frozen in shock, off balance and immediately released his grip.
"Run!" Han Yi repeated, his voice urgent. Without another glance at Tao Shouhua or the others, he activated the Light Body Technique to its fullest extent. His figure dissolved into the darkness, becoming a flickering wisp of wind that vanished into the night.
"B-but..." Tao Shouhua stammered, his protest dying in his throat as the other fellow disciples from the Sixth and Seventh Layers of Qi Refining scattered like startled birds, each unleashing their own movement techniques as they fled toward the camp's perimeter.
Gritting his teeth, Tao Shouhua surged forward in the direction Han Yi had disappeared.
As he turned to flee, his dull, desperate eyes flickered with a faint glimmer when he glanced back.
Behind him, Lu Su was locked in combat with a youth wielding the Top-Grade Magic Artifact, the Golden Light Shuttle.
The Golden Light Shuttle, unable to fire twice in quick succession, was surprisingly being overwhelmed by Lu Su.
But at the last moment before Lu Su could turn back, a Blood God Sect cultivator, his robes billowing fiercely, recklessly charged into the fray, sweeping a fan-shaped silver light across the battlefield.
Lu Su, who had been relentlessly pressing his advantage against the sinister youth, instantly froze.
Tao Shouhua watched in horror as the scene of carnage shattered like a broken mirror, split into two disconnected halves.
No, not the entire battle—only Lu Su's position.
It was clear: Lu Su's body had been severed. That fan-shaped silver light must have been some kind of razor-sharp Magic Artifact that had sliced him in two in an instant.
Tao Shouhua's soul nearly leaped from his body in terror.
"He's dead! Senior Brother Lu is dead?!"
"Run! Run! Run! Run...!"
"Run for your life!"