99: This familiar feeling, damn it!

Just as the gray-robed Elder was about to gather his spiritual power to resist, he saw the sword blade already at his eyes. He felt a chill on his neck, and his consciousness completely plunged into darkness.

His head rolled to the ground, blood splattered on the rock wall, and his eyes were still wide open, filled with unwillingness and disbelief.

On the other side, Li Xuanfeng had already circled into the group of Blood Soul Sect Disciples.

His Sword Qi changed its trajectory, seemingly ordinary but astonishingly fast. Just as one Disciple was about to brandish his Magical Artifact, his throat was pierced by the Sword Qi, and he fell straight to the ground.

Another Disciple turned to run, but his back was instantly penetrated by Sword Qi, and he didn't even let out a scream.

The remaining Disciples panicked at the sight, but their blood-colored spiritual power was no match for Li Xuanfeng's restrained Sword Qi. In just a few breaths, more than a dozen Disciples all fell in a pool of blood.

Shi Wanshan walked over, squatted down, and reached out to touch the foremost corpse. He first felt for the Storage Pouch at the waist, then "swish" he tore it off and stuffed it into his bosom.

Then he flipped over the wrist guard on the wrist, the ring on the finger, and didn't even miss the small medicine bottle hidden in the underwear. His movements were as practiced as rummaging through his own storage box.

"Martial Uncle Shi, what are you..."

Li Xuanfeng watched dumbfounded, forgetting to sheath the sword in his hand. He had only seen Martial Uncle Shi fight bravely, never this "stripping treasures" stance.

"How can we fight for nothing?"

Shi Wanshan didn't even raise his head, and tore off the chest guard from another corpse.

"These demonic Sect brats have robbed many factions. We are robbing the rich to help the poor!"

After stripping all the treasures from the dozen or so corpses clean, Shi Wanshan took out a "Corpse Dissolving Pill" and crushed it, scattering the powder.

A light green medicinal mist hissed out, not only dissolving the corpses and bloodstains into ashes, but also not sparing the fragments of Magical Artifacts remaining on the ground, completely pulverizing them, leaving no trace.

Shi Wanshan even specifically walked a circle around the battleground, his fingertips sweeping spiritual power across the rock wall, erasing the sword marks and spiritual power imprints left during the fight.

The scene instantly returned to its original empty appearance, as if no one had ever fought there.

"Today was truly an eye-opener!"

Li Xuanfeng watched Shi Wanshan's series of actions, finally coming to his senses, and muttered to himself.

"I used to hear Master nag about destroying bodies and erasing traces after killing, but today I truly learned it firsthand."

Shi Wanshan put away the Profound Iron Essence and turned to see Li Xuanfeng still standing foolishly. He reached out and patted his shoulder.

"Why are you standing there foolishly? Let's go!"

The two quickly departed, carrying a pile of spoils.

If any Loose Cultivators were to return at this time, they would probably only wonder why the dozen or so Blood Soul Sect members, along with their treasures, had evaporated.

As soon as the two turned a mountain bend, they ran into two Burning Heaven Palace Disciples hurrying through with their Magical Artifacts.

Their gazes were anxious, sweeping over every Spiritual Plant and every rock along the way, as if they were urgently searching for something.

Shi Wanshan and Li Xuanfeng exchanged a look, immediately held their breath, reined in their aura, and silently followed behind the two.

Not long after, they successively encountered three more teams of Burning Sky Disciples, all with tense expressions, hands on their Magical Artifact handles, and hurried footsteps, clearly engaged in a large-scale search for someone.

"You say... can we really find them?"

In the team, a young Disciple asked in a low voice, with a hint of unease.

"Do you really want to find them?"

The older Disciple next to him gave him a sidelong glance, his voice even lower, speaking earnestly.

"Even if we do run into them, with our meager abilities, can we beat them? Be clever, just go through the motions and make it look like we're searching. You need to learn to slack off."

These words drifted into Shi Wanshan's ears, and he couldn't help but chuckle softly.

Even within the Burning Heaven Palace, there were such slacking Disciples. It seemed Lie Tianxiong's prestige within the Sect needed improvement.

He turned to Li Xuanfeng: "Let's go, follow them and see who is important enough for the Burning Heaven Palace to make such a big fuss."

He signaled Li Xuanfeng to quicken his pace, and they soon circled to a secluded mountain hollow.

Deep within the hollow, they saw a dark cave, with two people standing at the entrance.

On the left was the Burning Heaven Palace's Grand Elder Yan Cangyun, holding a burning fire talisman in his right hand, his eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

On the right was a black-robed Elder, his body filled with dormant flame spiritual power, his hands clasped across his chest, his breathing extremely light, clearly guarding someone inside the cave.

Shi Wanshan's eyes narrowed, and a subtle inner force circulated at his fingertips.

"Lie Tianxiong must be in the cave. They are guarding it so tightly, he must have found some good treasure and is refining it."

"Then should we... take the opportunity to snatch it from them?"

Li Xuanfeng tightened his long sword, a hint of eagerness flashing in his eyes. His previous experience of stripping treasures with Shi Wanshan had given him a bit of a mind for taking advantage of others' misfortune.

Shi Wanshan glanced at him, a smile playing on his lips: "You brat, you're starting to get restless too."

He pondered for a moment, looking around, making sure there were no other people here.

"I'll deal with the black-robed Elder, and you go deal with Yan Cangyun. We must end the battle quickly; their people will hear the commotion and soon return for support. Also, don't let Lie Tianxiong inside the cave notice."

Li Xuanfeng nodded, and both simultaneously circulated their spiritual power. Shi Wanshan wrapped his inner force around the Profound Iron Sword, his footsteps as light as a cat's.

Li Xuanfeng, on the other hand, retracted his Sword Qi until only a sliver of sharpness remained, circling behind Yan Cangyun.

Almost simultaneously, Shi Wanshan suddenly rushed out, his Profound Iron Sword striking directly at the black-robed Elder's back. The sword's momentum was so fast that the air rippled.

Li Xuanfeng also attacked at the same time, his Sword Qi aiming directly at Yan Cangyun's wrist, which held the fire talisman.

The black-robed Elder was caught off guard and hastily gathered flame spiritual power to block, but the inner force on the Profound Iron Sword numbed his arm. Just as he was about to counterattack, Shi Wanshan had already circled to his side, and the back of his sword struck heavily on his back neck. The black-robed Elder grunted, falling straight to the ground.

On the other side, just as Yan Cangyun was about to activate the fire talisman, his wrist was cut by the Sword Qi. The fire talisman fell to the ground with a "snap." Li Xuanfeng took the opportunity to step forward and struck him in the chest with a palm. Yan Cangyun spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and also fainted.

Li Xuanfeng pushed Yan Cangyun's body into the bushes, swiftly pulled off the glowing Storage Ring from his finger, and didn't even miss the wrist guard engraved with the Burning Sky pattern on his wrist, quickly putting them into his Storage Ring.

Seeing this, Shi Wanshan's mouth twitched. Good heavens, he was indeed a Genius Disciple of the Sect; he learned the skill of plundering wealth remarkably fast.

He had only seen him plunder once before, and now his technique was so proficient, self-taught indeed.

Shi Wanshan also squatted beside the black-robed Elder, skillfully patting down his entire body, taking the Storage Ring from his finger, the jade pendant hanging around his neck, and even pulling out the small cloth pouch sewn inside the hem of his clothes.

After dragging the two unconscious individuals deep into the mountain hollow and hiding them, Shi Wanshan pulled out a spiked club.

He whispered to Li Xuanfeng: "Later, you attract his attention, and I'll hit him with the club, guaranteed to knock him out. If Lie Tianxiong is truly refining a treasure, we might even be able to snatch a semi-finished product."

With that, he quickly pushed open the stone door of the cave.

As soon as they entered the cave, they saw Lie Tianxiong sitting cross-legged on the ground, with no treasure's spiritual light in front of him.

A fist-sized, bruised lump swelled on his head, his hair was messy, and his robes were stained with dust, looking very disheveled.

Clearly, he had been injured by Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu earlier and was hiding here to heal. The lump hadn't gone down after a long time, and he was rubbing it with a worried expression.

This scene completely exceeded Shi Wanshan's expectations.

"What a prominent lump!!!"

Shi Wanshan couldn't help but blurt out.

The spiked club in his hand quickly swung out, intending to strike Lie Tianxiong's head, but glancing at the protruding lump, his wrist shifted slightly, and the spiked club slammed "thud" next to the lump, adding another purplish-blue new lump.

Lie Tianxiong had just finished rubbing the old lump and hadn't fully recovered when he saw two masked figures burst in. Without even a chance to shout for help, he was struck by the spiked club and fell straight to the ground.

Lying on the ground, in a daze, only one thought remained: "Damn it, not again... this familiar feeling, accursed!"