"Eh?"
Zhang Tiezhu let out a faint sound of surprise. He had left a strand of divine sense on his flying sword and was well aware of its attack strength. Yet, to his astonishment, it had been stalled for an instant. The defensive power of that Water Curtain Talisman exceeded his expectations.
But beyond his surprise, what welled up in his heart was delight.
Heh, as expected of disciples from a major sect. The stronger you are, the greater my harvest will be.
Forming a hand seal, he recalled the flaming sword and sent it stabbing back toward its target, leaving an arc of fire blazing through the air.
When the enemy's sword first struck against the Stone Turtle Shield, Ji An had felt the jarring impact ripple through the artifact. Strangely, it eased the tension in his heart slightly.
The sword's force had been continuously diminished by his defenses by the time it landed on the shield; its strength was like an arrow at the end of its flight. Dangerous, yes, but not fatal.
With his perfected Wind Riding Technique, his movements were as agile as a fox darting through the wilds. In an instant, he leapt three zhang forward, closing into his own attack range.
Courtesy must be returned.
He activated a Geng Metal Talisman, golden light, sharp and ruthless, shot toward the enemy.
Even as the talisman flared, Ji An flicked another behind him. A Water Curtain Talisman unfurled as icy dread prickled at his back. Danger was closing in.
Turning slightly, he glimpsed the incoming strike, Stone Turtle Shield already shifting into place to block.
He cursed inwardly:
Damn bastard! He just won't let me go!
While Ji An defended himself, Li Lingyu had already set her Sky Net Umbrella spinning under her control.
Her eyes locked onto the flaming sword, ready to intervene at a moment's notice.
If her junior brother couldn't endure even a single round of attacks, then she would have to think about escaping alone.
But when she saw him withstand the sudden strike, a breath of relief eased her chest. With confidence renewed, she charged forward in tandem with him.
Her hand lifted, golden script flaring across the talisman in her palm.
Their foe was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his spiritual power denser and more abundant than theirs.
She knew very well: if they couldn't pose a true threat, they would eventually be worn down to death.
Using talismans served two purposes: conserving their own spiritual power and testing the opponent's defenses so they could adjust their tactics.
Two beams of golden light shot toward Zhang Tiezhu, one from each side.
His eyes burned painfully at the sight. Alarm flickered in his heart. He recognized the Geng Metal Finger, but never before had he felt such an oppressive danger from it.
The twin strikes landed almost simultaneously against his protective light. Feeling the drain of his spiritual power, Zhang's shock deepened.
This strength, though not quite a superior-grade talisman, isn't far off. Damn. I need to take one of them out quickly!
After Ji An once again withstood his flying sword, Zhang's gaze shifted toward Li Lingyu.
Controlling two superior-grade artifacts at once drained his divine sense far too quickly. He needed a swift resolution.
The male disciple's aura was weaker, true, but his movement was nimble and his defenses sharp. Taking him down would be troublesome.
The girl, on the other hand, would be easier prey.
He slapped a Golden Armor Talisman onto his body, infused more power into his defensive artifact, and focused solely on commanding his sword to attack Li Lingyu.
Abandoning the split control freed his hands for spellcasting.
Dodging the incoming attacks to minimize consumption, he curved his flaming sword in a sharp arc, lunging at Li Lingyu's flank.
At the same time, his fingers weaved a secret seal.
Explosive Fireball.
The advanced form of Flame Burst, a spell only Foundation Establishment cultivators could learn. He had cultivated it to minor mastery for years.
Facing the flying sword's ferocity, Li Lingyu instinctively copied Ji An's earlier tactic, activating a Water Curtain Talisman while spinning her umbrella to form a second line of defense.
And at that moment!
Zhang Tiezhu's incantation completed, and a yellow flame condensed in the air, quickly swelling into a fireball the size of a watermelon. Like a blazing meteor, it streaked toward Li Lingyu.
If it so much as grazed her, she would be blasted into pieces.
He had carefully studied her movement speed; avoiding it entirely was nearly impossible.
Li Lingyu's face instantly went pale. From the fiery hue alone, she knew she could not withstand such an attack. Using her artifact to block would only expose her to his flying sword.
Her only option was to trigger another Water Curtain Talisman, hoping to buy a moment of resistance. She twisted her body and lowered her stance to avoid the brunt of the strike.
But just as she raised her talisman
A figure flashed before her eyes. Suddenly, two additional layers of water curtain appeared in front of her.
Ji An.
Throughout his assault, he had been watching their opponent's movements. He had anticipated that the enemy would cast a spell while controlling his artifact after all, Ji An himself could do the same. There was no reason a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't.
Why the man hadn't done it against him earlier, Ji An didn't know, but he had remained on guard for exactly this possibility.
The moment that the fireball condensed, Ji An darted closer to his senior sister. The enemy's sword was targeting her, not him. It only made sense that the spell would as well.
He had shields and talismans aplenty; she didn't.
Sure enough, when the fireball shot toward Li Lingyu, Ji An was there in time. He triggered the talisman and cast the spell in a seamless flow.
Boom!
The Explosive Fireball collided with the barrier, detonating with violent force. The first, then the second water curtain, shattered instantly. But the third clung on, holding for half a heartbeat before bursting apart into fragments of spiritual light.
That half a heartbeat made all the difference; it blunted most of the explosion's force. Li Lingyu was only thrown back a few steps by the shockwave.
So he's not as fearsome as he looks.
A cold grin tugged at Ji An's lips. He himself could easily layer three Water Curtains in rapid succession: talisman, spell, talisman. He had already shown this triple defense once before, in his battle against the Fire-Horned Ox.
"Senior Sister, keep his flying sword occupied!"
He sent the command through a voice transmission. A better plan had formed in his mind.
Surging toward the enemy, he unleashed his combo: talisman, spell, talisman. Three streaks of golden light shot out, two of them striking home.
Li Lingyu, still shaken by the brush with death, exhaled in relief. Her near miss left her painfully aware of her lack of real combat experience. But hearing Ji An's voice, she obeyed without hesitation.
Even if her artifact took damage, she would buy him the opening.
The Sky Net Umbrella spun violently, colliding with the enemy's retreating sword. Her teeth clenched, her focus razor-sharp. From time to time, she flung out a Geng Metal Talisman to harry the blade.
A dramatic reversal unfolded. Zhang Tiezhu's flying sword was pinned down, while Ji An circled him relentlessly, pelting his protective glow with talisman after talisman.
Whenever the enemy loosed another spell, Ji An was already prepared, layering two Water Curtains and raising his shield to lessen the blow.
The deafening fireball blasts left his ears ringing, but he had seized the initiative.
It was clear now: this Foundation Establishment cultivator lacked true combat experience. He wasn't the hardened type used to life-and-death fights.
Two quarters of an hour passed. Zhang Tiezhu, seeing the disciples still pulling talisman after talisman from their bags, began to feel uneasy. Hundreds had already been thrown, and who knew how many remained?
Meanwhile, Li Lingyu was adapting quickly, tangling up his sword while still managing to land an occasional strike on him.
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to be driven back by two Qi Refining juniors armed with talismans… it would be laughable if it weren't happening to him.
Ji An's sharp eyes tracked the shimmer of the protective aura. Bit by bit, he discerned its pattern.
At this point, three or four more hits from his Geng Metal Fingers would shatter the barrier. If they struck before Zhang could replenish it with more power, they might even wound him outright.
He quietly transmitted his conclusion to Li Lingyu, then added:
"I'll shout to signal. That's our cue to attack together. We'll only get one chance. Make it count!"
Li Lingyu could only strike after Ji An's opening blows, and only then would they have any chance of truly harming the enemy. If a bandit cultivator felt the threat of death, he might finally choose to retreat.
Ji An sighed inwardly. For a moment, he had actually believed the two of them might slay this robber outright.
A Qi Refining pair killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator, just the thought was enough to stir one's blood.
But after hurling out hundreds of talismans, the enemy's defenses were still solid as ever. Ji An felt that if this dragged on, they might be the ones to falter first.
"Junior Brother, do it. I'll give everything I have."
The voice transmission came steady and resolute.
Ji An closed the distance by a few steps and let out a sharp shout:
"Hyah!"
Repeating his earlier gambit, he triggered two Geng Metal Talismans and cast another Geng Metal Finger.
Zhang Tiezhu, conditioned by their rhythm, instinctively shifted to avoid a direct hit and reduce the drain on his protective glow.
But then
From the ground, a jagged stone spike suddenly jutted upward, blocking his evasive path.
The earth split at the hand of the lurking Spirit-Seeking Rat.
Because the spell wasn't an attack aimed directly at him, Zhang hadn't sensed it in advance. By the time the stalagmite burst forth, it was too late. He crashed straight into it.
His body slowed for the briefest instant. It was enough.
All three Geng Metal Fingers struck home.
The moment Ji An's shout rang out, Li Lingyu stepped forward. She unleashed a talisman and, at the same time, whipped the Sky Net Umbrella before her. From its tip blazed a streak of crimson light.
Twin Flame Shuttles concealed within the umbrella's handle fired in tandem, fusing into a single blazing line.
It was the artifact's sole offensive ability. Each shuttle was itself a superior-grade artifact, and each carried the full might of a peak ninth-layer Qi Refiner's strike. More than that, Flame Shuttles were especially effective against protective barriers.
She had been waiting for all battles for this chance. Now it was here.
The Flame Shuttles spun at insane speed, piercing through Zhang Tiezhu's protective glow, shredding his Golden Armor spell, and drilling clean through his chest. His heart and lungs were torn apart and seared to ash before the shuttles exited his back in a burst of fire.
Ji An, hand already on his sword, was preparing to add another strike when he saw the red flash.
A heartbeat later, the enemy's body toppled to the ground.
Cautious still, Ji An sent his blade in a swift arc. The glow traced a circle around the man's neck, and the head, black hood and all, tumbled to the dirt and rolled a few times.
Blood fountained like a ruptured wineskin.
Only then did Ji An's taut nerves ease. His heart thundered in his chest like war drums, his robe was scorched in several places, and his arm stung with the fiery cuts from glancing sword strikes.
He glanced at Li Lingyu. Her final strike had been vicious and utterly decisive. He hadn't seen it coming either.
"What are you staring at? Pack up, we need to get out of here!"
Her legs still trembled. She looked down at the umbrella in her hand, its canopy torn in several places. With shaky fingers, she cast a control spell, lifting the enemy's flying sword and stowing it in her bag.
Ji An rushed to the corpse, snatched up the yellow flag artifact, ripped off the man's storage pouch, and roughly searched his body.
Once certain he'd missed nothing, he yanked off the black hood.
Li Lingyu came closer and hissed in recognition.
"It's the owner of that smithy! We should report this to the market patrol. There's a bounty to claim!"
"Not yet," Ji An shook his head. "We'll tell Master first and let the sect negotiate with the market. He wasn't on any wanted list, too careful, I'd wager. They won't find proof of other crimes, so the bounty would be small. Letting the sect handle it should bring greater benefit."
With a wave of his hand, Ji An summoned the Mountain River Seal. The bandit's body was crushed into pulp. The Spirit-Seeking Rat darted forward and greedily gnawed at the remains.
Their flying beast, which had kept its distance during the fight, was called back. The two mounted quickly and sped away from the scene.
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