6: Chapter 6 Decisive Action, Eliminating the Roots

The night wind howled, Qi Yang urged his divine mobility talisman to the extreme, transforming his entire body into a blurry black shadow weaving through the forest.

Ten miles behind him, three figures were giving chase relentlessly.

Leading them was a bald, burly man with a scar running from the corner of his eye to his chin, looking fierce and malevolent.

He was the Qi Condensation Seventh Layer bandit Cultivator.

"Big Brother, that old thing seems to be panicking and rushing blindly!"

A monkey-like bandit Cultivator beside him lowered his voice, his eyes flashing with a greedy light.

Scarface spat a mouthful of saliva, his eyes filled with contempt.

"He is just a Loose Cultivator with one foot in the grave. He probably fears we will intercept and kill him on the main road, so he wants to drill into the mountain forest to run away. Pursue him! He definitely still has top-grade Spirit Medicine in his hands. After finishing this job, the three of us brothers won't have to worry about resources for a few years!"

The three accelerated, spiritual power erupting beneath their feet as they tightly bit onto the scent left behind by Qi Yang.

Half an hour later, the trees ahead became twisted and thick, and a pungent, rotten stench began to drift in the air.

The grayish-white miasma was like a wall, lying horizontally before everyone.

They had reached the Misty Forest.

Qi Yang did not have any pause, plunging headfirst into the dense miasma.

Seeing this, the three people chasing from behind immediately stopped their steps.

The monkey-like man looked somewhat hesitantly at the rolling miasma: "Big Brother, the miasma in this forest is poisonous. Could that old thing be trying to drag us down to die together with him?"

Scarface let out a cold snort, pulling out three crimson Medicinal Pills from his Storage Pouch and distributing them to the two.

"Frightened of a bird! Swallow the miasma-avoiding pills; an old bone like him isn't afraid, what are we afraid of? Don't let him run away!"

The three swallowed the Medicinal Pills, drew their Magical Artifacts, and charged headfirst into the Misty Forest.

The light in the forest was dim to the extreme, the miasma seriously obstructing vision, and even perception was suppressed within a radius of three zhang.

The surroundings were frighteningly quiet, with only unknown poisonous insects making rustling sounds under the dead leaves.

"Old thing, don't hide anymore! Hand over the Storage Pouch, and this Lord will leave your corpse intact!"

Scarface gripped a ghost-head broadsword, vigilantly looking around, his voice echoing in the forest.

There was no response.

Just when the three thought Qi Yang had run far away and were preparing to disperse and search, the thick fog ahead suddenly rolled eerily.

Qi Yang was standing under an ancient tree less than ten zhang away from them.

The gloomy mask on his face had already been removed, revealing that true face full of wrinkles.

Only at this moment, within those turbid old eyes, there was not the slightest bit of habitual submissiveness, only a sheet of coldness.

"If you want to kill this old man, it depends on whether you have this life for it."

Qi Yang's voice was hoarse, without a trace of fluctuation.

Before the words fell, his withered fingers fiercely crushed a jade Talisman.

Hum!

The ground around suddenly lit up with twelve deep blue pillars of light.

These pillars of light soared into the sky, intertwining in mid-air into an inverted bowl-shaped light barrier, tightly sealing the range of a hundred zhang radius!

First-grade intermediate Formation, Maze Formation Plate!

This was the life-saving trump card that Qi Yang spent a huge price to scout in the Ghost Market a few months ago, and it had long been quietly buried by him in this forest.

As soon as the Formation opened, the surrounding miasma seemed to be stirred by some kind of power, becoming ten times denser than before.

The vast white fog completely obscured their vision, and the three of Scarface couldn't even see each other's faces clearly.

"Not good! There's an ambush!"

Scarface's expression changed drastically, raising his ghost-head knife and hacking fiercely toward the light barrier.

Clang!

After a loud noise, the light barrier only rippled, showing no signs of breaking at all.

Right at this moment, Qi Yang's hands rapidly formed seals, pulling out three cyan Talismans from his Storage Pouch and simultaneously throwing them into mid-air.

First-grade lower Talisman, Gale Talisman!

A gale suddenly arose, howling and wreaking havoc within the Formation.

Qi Yang took the opportunity to open a black porcelain bottle, pouring all the grayish-white powder inside into the wind.

This was an improved version of tendon-softening powder brewed from poisonous herbs ripened by the black gourd, colorless and odorless. Once it stained the skin or was inhaled into the lungs, it would make the Cultivator's spiritual power circulation become as sluggish as a quagmire.

The gale whipped up the poisonous powder, enveloping the three of Scarface.

"Hold your breath! It's poisonous!"

Scarface reacted extremely fast, roaring loudly and immediately mobilizing his Qi Condensation Seventh Layer spiritual power to form a layer of protective shield on his body surface.

But the other two Qi Condensation 5th Layer bandit Cultivators reacted half a beat slow; the moment they inhaled a breath of miasma mixed with poisonous powder, their complexions suddenly turned purple-red.

"Big Brother... My spiritual power... can't be raised anymore!"

The monkey-like man screamed in terror, finding that the Spiritual Qi inside his body was like being frozen, unable to even execute the most basic spells.

The identities of prey and hunter completely reversed at this moment.

In the Misty Forest, the gale raged with poisonous powder.

Qi Yang stood at the edge of the Formation, like a cold bystander.

He didn't have any nonsense, nor did he relax his vigilance because the opponent was poisoned.

Even a lion uses its full strength to capture a rabbit, let alone the opponent having a Qi Condensation Seventh Layer.

Qi Yang patted his Storage Pouch, and a palm-sized black shield flew out, expanding violently against the wind, transforming into half a person's height to block in front of him.

It was precisely the first-grade superior defensive Magical Artifact just bought in the Ghost Market, the black turtle shield.

Following closely, his right hand reverse-gripped an unremarkable short black sword.

The blade shimmered with a faint blue light, smeared with venom that killed upon drawing blood.

Qi Yang kicked off with his feet, his entire person silently blending into the thick fog.

"Get out here! If you have the guts, fight me head-on!"

Scarface waved the ghost-head broadsword, frantically slashing at the surrounding air.

The sword Qi carved trails of qi waves through the fog, but didn't even touch a corner of Qi Yang's clothing.

The spiritual power inside his body was being frantically consumed. Although he held his breath, that poisonous powder falling on his skin was still eroding his spiritual power protective shield bit by bit.

He knew that if this dragged on, today he would really fall into the hands of this old man.

Just when Scarface was bumping around like a headless fly, a shrill scream suddenly sounded on his left side.

"Ah!"

That was the voice of the monkey-like man!

The scream only lasted for half a breath before stopping abruptly, as if its neck had been forcibly choked off by something.

Scarface suddenly turned his head, looking over with bloodshot eyes.

The thick fog rolled, and he only saw a blurry black shadow flash by, leaving an extra corpse on the ground clutching its throat and twitching.

Qi Yang's movements were fast to the extreme.

He did not use any spells that consumed spiritual power, relying entirely on his familiarity with the terrain and the suppression of the toxin to sneak up behind the monkey-like man.

The short sword easily pierced the opponent's undefended back heart, twisting smoothly along the way to completely cut off their vitality.

Killing people didn't need fancy Moves; being lethal was enough.

"I'll slaughter you!"

Scarface went completely crazy. Following the direction of the sound, he gripped the knife with both hands, pouring the spiritual power within his body into the blade without reservation.

A giant blade aura a zhang long tore through the thick fog, carrying a piercing sonic boom as it fiercely slashed toward that black shadow.

Bang!

A deafening dull sound rang out.

The blade aura fiercely hacked onto the black turtle shield.

Qi Yang only felt an overwhelming force surge into both arms along the shield, shaking his blood and Qi to churn, a hint of sweet bitterness welling up in his throat.

Taking advantage of this rebound force, his body drifted backward like a falling leaf, shedding most of the force.

The light on the black turtle shield flickered violently, gaining a shallow white mark, but it stubbornly resisted this blow.

Two hundred Spirit Stones, well spent!

Seeing that his full-strength blow was actually blocked, a trace of despair finally flashed in Scarface's eyes.

His spiritual power had already been more than half consumed, the toxins began to seep into his Meridians, and his movements obviously slowed down.

Meanwhile, the other Qi Condensation 5th Layer bandit Cultivator had long been scared out of his wits, frantically pounding his fists against the Formation light barrier in an attempt to escape with his life.

Qi Yang swallowed the blood in his throat, his gaze growing increasingly icy.

He no longer engaged in close combat, but instead pulled out three Talismans covered in crimson patterns from his Storage Pouch.

First-grade intermediate Talisman, Thunder Fire Talisman!

Qi Yang spat out spiritual power from his fingertips, turning the three Talismans into three dazzling fireballs, carrying crackling thunder light as they accurately smashed toward Scarface and the bandit Cultivator pounding the Formation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violent explosion sounds blasted in the forest, flames soaring into the sky.

That Qi Condensation 5th Layer bandit Cultivator pounding the Formation was blasted into charcoal by the Thunder Fire Talisman within a breath.

Although Scarface barely managed to prop up a protective shield to block the explosion, his entire person was also blown backward, heavily crashing into a tree trunk and violently spewing a large mouthful of fresh blood.

His protective shield completely shattered, and the poisonous powder poured into his mouth and nose.

"Cough cough... Senior, spare my life... I'll give you all the Spirit Stones..."

Scarface collapsed limply on the ground, despairingly raising his hands and frantically begging for mercy.