87: golden strands of silver

On a small hill nearby, Lin Houyuan controlled a sword and a shield, but having only recently entered the Foundation Establishment Stage, he could only continuously defend.

Large swathes of sand and stone were sent flying by the Poison Flood Dragon Evil Marks Cultivator, his pair of black Spirit Claws seemingly capable of breaking through anything.

If caught, even a Foundation Establishment Body Cultivator would likely suffer severe injuries.

Transformed into a half-Flood Dragon Cultivator, he completely overwhelmed Lin Houyuan.

However, Lin Houyuan's constant defense, coupled with a full set of third-tier Magical Artifacts for protection, made the Poison Flood Dragon Evil Marks Cultivator's expression particularly grim.

Although he was known as one of the Lingnan Seven Fiends, it was only because he had fortunately achieved Foundation Establishment that he gained some notoriety; in terms of financial resources and background, he had almost nothing.

"Lin Houyuan, if you keep defending like this, don't you want to save your son?"

"Do you really think Li Xiulei is the Cultivator who hired us?"

Lin Houyuan's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this; indeed.

Li Xiulei was a Cultivator from the Purple Mansion Li Family, not the Huangyun Li Family. If he were to act, and the news reached the Qingxuan Sect, Zi Xuan Sanren could use it to seize an advantage against the Li Family.

Moreover, this time, besides Li Xiulei, no other Li Family Cultivators had arrived, which was too unusual.

There was a high probability that someone else was targeting the Lin Family, and the Lingnan Seven Fiends were at most accomplices, while Li Xiulei was simply hired to hold off Lin Xianzhi.

"You're right, he's currently lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to deal with your son!" the Poison Flood Dragon Evil Marks Cultivator said again.

Lin Houyuan's face turned extremely ugly after hearing this.

Although he didn't fully trust the Poison Flood Dragon Evil Marks Cultivator, judging from the current situation, Lin Shiming would definitely encounter an ambush.

He wanted to break through; even if he couldn't escape, a warning would be good.

But as soon as he attacked, he exposed a flaw. The Evil Marks Cultivator, skilled in Body Refining combat techniques, was practically a humanoid Yao Beast.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Houyuan was covered in injuries.

Yet, he continued to attack, moving towards Lin Shiming's direction, looking for an opportunity to send a sound transmission talisman.

He knew this was the Poison Flood Dragon Evil Marks Cultivator's trick, but facing such a ploy, he couldn't calm down, nor could he just watch helplessly... The pockmarked ground was riddled with countless holes, dug by the Centipede Evil Marks Cultivator, creating a dense pattern.

Lin Shiming's Flying Sword had been close behind, and if the Centipede Evil Marks Cultivator had been half a step slower, it would have been slain.

Under Lin Shiming's command, the Red-haired Demon Monkey also continuously cornered the Centipede Evil Marks Cultivator.

However, at every critical moment, it would directly burrow into the ground, proving incredibly annoying.

Relying on its earth-escape ability, the Centipede Evil Marks Cultivator did not flee; instead, it constantly sought opportunities, and significantly depleted Lin Shiming's spiritual power.

Seeing this, Lin Shiming decisively stopped, letting the Red-haired Demon Monkey and the Centipede Evil Marks Cultivator fight each other, while he himself, controlling his Flying Sword, directly went towards the Poisonous Snake Evil Marks Cultivator.

The latter had transformed into a giant python, presenting a large target, perfect for the Flying Sword to strike its head.

Lin Shiming and Lin Shijie quickly formed a pincer attack.

The Poisonous Snake Evil Marks Cultivator's face instantly paled. Especially after witnessing Lin Shiming's earlier Divine Might, he had no intention of fighting and immediately burrowed into the ground.

Lin Shiming did not choose to take out an earth-escape talisman, burrow into the ground, and pursue the two.

He was not skilled in underground combat; if he blindly entered, he might instead face danger.

Lin Shiming took out a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone, pretending to recover his spiritual power, while looking at Lin Shijie, hoping the latter would set up the Spirit Capturing Formation.

With this Spirit Capturing Formation in place, at least one more of the Lingnan Seven Fiends could be killed.

Lin Shijie was also quite annoyed at this moment; after finally getting a chance to test his sword, the opponent had escaped underground.

So he took out the Spirit Capturing Formation and began to arrange the Formation Flags, with Lin Shiming acting as his Protector.

It was at this moment that the Poisonous Snake Evil Marks Cultivator and the Centipede Evil Marks Cultivator attacked Lin Shiming almost simultaneously.

The former spat out a Green Snake Sword, which instantly transformed into a sword light heading towards Lin Shiming, while the latter's hook suddenly burrowed into the ground.

The next moment, it transformed into a poisonous hook, emerging from underground and thrusting towards Lin Shiming.

Lin Shiming waved his hand, throwing out several more Iron Bramble Wood seeds, while three Spirit Swords formed a 'pin' shape, protecting him.

The black Spirit Hook and the Spirit Sword from the mouth were both blocked by Lin Shiming's Spirit Swords.

However, just as Lin Shiming was about to attack with his sword, the System unexpectedly chimed.

This was the first time the System's prompt had appeared during combat.

"Please beware of the Golden Filament Silver Thread ambush!"

Lin Shiming instantly felt a chill down his spine.

There were still others!

Since it was an ambush, there absolutely had to be others.

And it was an insidious needle-thread type Magical Artifact, probably even more insidious than his Mystic Soul Needle.

Lin Shiming suppressed the shock in his heart, flipped his hand, and cast a Spirit Art opposite to the previous one.

In the air, the three Spirit Swords, which were about to fly out, were forcibly pulled back by Lin Shiming, flying around his body. At the same time, the Thick Earth Shield and another top-grade Spirit Shield unfolded in an instant, rotating 360 degrees in a ring, protecting Lin Shiming within them.

The next moment, Lin Shiming only felt a dazzling golden light appear silently all around him.

The three Spirit Swords made contact first, immediately emitting a screeching metal-cutting sound.

A series of sparks flew, and only then did Lin Shiming see that it was an extremely fine strand of silver thread.

Not only was it invisible to the naked eye, but most importantly, his Divine Sense couldn't even detect it.

For Cultivators, what they often used to survey their surroundings was not their naked eyes, but their Divine Sense.

Such a deeply hidden silver thread Magical Artifact, if not for the System's reminder, he would definitely not have reacted in time.

Lin Shiming felt a lingering fear in his heart. At the same time, to avoid further attacks from the silver thread, the three top-grade Magical Swords immediately began to circle, trying to entangle and capture the silver thread.

But the silver thread pulled away with a flick, disappearing once again.

And the place where it disappeared was exactly where the bald Cultivator with the Toad Evil Marks had stood before.

It was clearly a trapping Formation containing a Spirit Concealment Formation.

At this moment, the Formation opened again, and a Middle-aged cultivator walked out, still wearing the same spirit-isolating veil as before.

"It's Cultivator Wu!" Lin Shiming recognized Cultivator Wu at a glance.

He had never expected that he hadn't even silenced the other party, yet the other party had come to his door, intending to silence him.

"Fellow Daoist Lin is very capable, to even detect the Golden Filament Silver Thread Magical Artifact." Cultivator Wu's tone still held admiration, and his demeanor was extremely relaxed, as if the person who had just tried to kill Lin Shiming was not him at all.

Lin Shiming wanted to continue asking, but he found that in front of him, some seeds were suddenly crushed, yet there was nothing visible.

Lin Shiming was instantly startled. This Cultivator Wu truly deserved his reputation for killing people from the Spirit Beast Sect; every word and phrase was a trap.

The casual ease on his lips was to divert attention, but in reality, he had already deployed a Yao Beast!

Upon carefully scanning with his Divine Sense, he suddenly discovered a transparent flash of light, outlining a faint shadow of a lizard in the Void Realm, very difficult to see with the naked eye, and also possessing concealment abilities against Divine Sense.

This was clearly a Color-Changing Lizard Yao Beast.

The lizard came extremely fast. Sensing that Lin Shiming had discovered it, it no longer concealed itself and instantly pounced towards Lin Shiming.

And the next moment, the catalyzed Iron Bramble Wood burst out of the ground, blocking all paths for the Color-Changing Lizard Yao Beast, and countless iron bramble thorns rained down, covering the Color-Changing Lizard.

Almost simultaneously with the lizard's charge, the Red-haired Demon Monkey also descended from the sky, smashing a staff towards Cultivator Wu.

And just as it was about to strike, the Red-haired Demon Monkey suddenly took out the thousand layer mountain and smashed it towards Cultivator Wu. Under normal circumstances, an ordinary Cultivator would be flustered.

But Cultivator Wu, who had been observing for a long time, showed no surprise. He merely raised his hand, and another black gorilla charged out, also a second-tier Late Stage Yao Beast with thick skin and flesh.

The black Yao Monkey took out a second-tier top-grade shield and fiercely thrust it upwards, sending the thousand layer mountain flying. Then, it clenched its fist and smashed it towards the Red-haired Demon Monkey, and the two immediately engaged in a close-quarters battle.