Somewhere in the secret realm
Bai Gui cursed loudly: “Damn it! Where the hell did that guy run off to?”
“Alright, Young Master Bai, calm down. It’s no use getting angry now. Even if he teleported outside, he’ll just have to swallow it. If he tries to make a fuss about that trash kid’s injury, even better. We’ll insist that he’s the one who slashed him first, trying to rob and kill him, and we stopped him just in time, so he ran away in panic- classic case of a thief yelling to catch the thief…”
One of his companions sneered. “Anyway, when Young Master Bai knocked that trash down, the guy didn’t even see who it was. He probably thinks it was that bumpkin who did it.”
“That’s right. There’ll be plenty of chances to get rid of that bumpkin later. We came to the secret realm for opportunities- we shouldn’t waste this once-in-a-century chance.” Another cultivator handed Bai Gui a freshly roasted piece of spirit beast meat. “Let’s just focus on searching for opportunities for the rest of our time here.”
“You’re right, I was too hasty.” Bai Gui relaxed noticeably at their words. Fine, he thought. I’ll let you live a few more days, Long Tian.
Rustle rustle.
At that moment, there was movement in the distant underbrush.
No one paid much attention at first, but the bushes rustled again.
“Must be a spirit beast that smelled the meat. I’ll go check it out. Maybe we can add another dish to the table.” A Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator walked over.
No one was concerned since they were already out of the danger zone, and beasts here only reached up to the 7th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. If the guy couldn’t handle it, he’d just call for help.
After a while, the bushes rustled again, and the voice of the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator came:
“Hey, someone give me a hand.”
The tone was calm and unhurried.
“Maybe it’s too heavy. I’ll go.” A Foundation Establishment Realm layer 7 cultivator got up.
A few moments later, his voice sounded. “Still need one more. This game is too heavy. We can’t carry it with the two of us.”
“Useless!” A Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 cultivator laughed and cursed, then walked over.
And then nothing. Silence returned.
Around the campfire, six people remained.
As time passed, they started to sense that something wasn’t right and called out toward the bushes:
“Hey! What are you all doing over there?”
Boom!
Their answer came in the form of an unknown object flying from the trees, crashing into the fire, and causing a violent explosion.
The blast was intense, but not dangerous for Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivators. One of them even dragged the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 5 Bai Gui out of harm’s way.
“Who dared to ambush your grandpa!? Trying to slaughter your own sect members?!” a Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator roared.
Suddenly, a strange, sweet scent wafted from the fire.
Someone shouted quickly, “It’s poison! Hold your breath!”
But it was too late.
Even a small inhalation caused immediate weakness. The effect was rapid.
Half of them collapsed in seconds, leaving only three standing: Bai Gui, the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 who saved him, and a Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator.
They had stood farther back and managed to hold their breath in time.
“Who’s there? Come out!” the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator shouted.
Rustle rustle. From the brush stepped out a plain-looking young man, but his eyes were sharp and bright.
“It’s you?!” Bai Gui’s eyes nearly spat fire. “Long Tian, what do you mean by this?!”
“Nothing much,” Long Tian said flatly. “Just came to take your worthless lives.”
“Brother Yao!” Bai Gui immediately turned to the stage 9 cultivator next to him—he knew he couldn’t win this fight himself.
“No need for Brother Yao,” the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator sneered, drawing his sword. “This guy only beat a Foundation Establishment Realm layer 6 once- must’ve gotten lucky. I could handle an overconfident guy like him with one hand.”
Bai Gui wasn’t thrilled with the comment, but he still believed Long Tian couldn’t possibly beat someone at the 8th layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator shouted and launched his killing move at Long Tian: “You dare touch my brother, die!”
Long Tian’s eyes flashed with amusement. He summoned a shovel, stepped forward instead of dodging, and met the strike head-on.
A crisp clang rang out as their positions swapped.
The Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 cultivator turned his head slightly. “What kind of weapon is that?”
“Blind or just ignorant?” Long Tian rested the shovel on his shoulder. “If I have to say, it’s for digging your graves.”
Thud.
The Foundation Establishment Realm layer 8 fell over, blood pouring across the ground. His sword was broken.
From Bai Gui’s angle, he couldn’t see the wound, but Long Tian had split the man’s chest open with a single blow.
“D-Don’t come any closer!” Bai Gui panicked and hid behind the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 cultivator.
“Relax, Young Master Bai. I’m here. No one will lay a finger on you,” the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 cultivator said calmly, though his expression was grave.
He had barely seen Long Tian’s attack earlier- it had been that fast.
“I underestimated you,” the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 cultivator said coldly. “But don’t think you’ll live after this.”
He sneered and swiftly pulled out a teleportation stone, crushing it.
But nothing happened.
He had just been smug about not being stupid enough to risk his life for some young master, but the scenery didn’t change after he crushed the stone.
The next second, Long Tian closed the distance and swung his shovel.
His head flew.
Blood splattered all over the horrified Bai Gui.
Bai Gui had no real strength to speak of. Faced with this, he collapsed on the ground, too terrified to even think of fighting back.
“Y- you- you killed fellow sect members…”
“So what?” Long Tian stood over him, shovel on his shoulder, and looked down on him. His face was splattered with blood, making him look like a demon from the abyss. “Didn’t you also want to kill me and Qiu Li Gao?”
Bai Gui trembled and pulled out his teleportation stone, crushing it. Again, nothing happened. “H-How…?”
He didn’t realize that the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 cultivator had tried to teleport too and let his guard down and got killed by Long Tian in one strike for it. If the Foundation Establishment Realm layer 9 cultivator had fought instead of running, he might’ve delayed Long Tian for a bit.
“Obviously I set up a teleport-blocking formation,” Long Tian said, raising the shovel. “Any last words?”
“I’m from the Bai Family! You can’t kill me!” Bai Gui cried in terror.
“And let you go so you can bring more people to kill me later? Don’t be stupid.”
The shovel fell.
Bai Gui’s head rolled. His eyes remained wide open in disbelief- he hadn’t thought Long Tian would really kill him.
Long Tian worked efficiently, showing no hesitation. He quickly finished off the remaining three who had collapsed earlier.
Then he stored all the corpses in his jade pendant.
He found the nests of several mid-stage Crystallization Realm spirit beasts and threw the bodies in, faking a scene of them being killed by wild beasts. The beasts, drawn by the blood, would help destroy the remains and make it more convincing.
He didn’t touch their weapons, storage pouches, or rings. He only took a few spirit stones and spirit herbs. Taking too much might cause the people who later came in to look for their corpses to become suspicious.
After cleaning up, Long Tian returned to the outer edge of the secret realm.
He hunted some game, made a campfire, and began to roast meat.
At that moment, space rippled, and a graceful, elegant man appeared before him.