Chapter 211: Chapter 150: Hoarding for Speculation

The moment they met, the man activated one life-saving measure after another.

First, an automatically activating Protective Master Jade Talisman flared to life. Then came two Wooden Tokens, each capable of blocking a single blow from a Foundation Establishment Technique. On top of that, he tossed out Talismans as if they were free. Someone with such deep pockets was clearly no ordinary Loose Cultivator.

’So he really is a sect cultivator!’

Lü Zhong thought to himself. ’All the more reason I can’t let him get away.’

A mocking glint flashed in his eyes as he watched the wave of Magic Skills, unleashed by the Talismans, shoot toward him. He began Chanting and forming hand seals. Just as the spells came within ten feet of him, he activated the Flying Star Return Skill.

Instantly, an invisible force field materialized around him.

The Flying Star Return Skill absorbed and converted incoming Magic Skills.

The technique’s conditions were rather demanding. The Counteracting Force Field lasted for only a single breath, and in that time, it could only convert Magic Skills within a foot’s distance. There was also a limit to the power of the incoming attacks; they could not exceed the Caster’s own power by more than one Small Realm.

Even so, the Flying Star Return Skill was a potent weapon in combat.

Lü Zhong had always suspected the skill was designed specifically for hunting other Magic Cultivators of the same rank.

Just as was happening now. As the wave of Magic Skills struck the Counteracting Force Field, most of them were absorbed and converted.

A brilliant light flared.

Streams of dark blue starlight erupted one after another, forming intensely piercing beams. They shot out from the curved Counteracting Force Field, blasting forward.

At that moment, less than a hundred feet separated them.

The black-clothed cultivator was caught completely off guard. By the time he could react, it was too late to dodge. Besides, he had just exhausted all of his life-saving measures.

His body was pierced by several beams of light, and his aura visibly dwindled.

Lü Zhong closed the distance with a single Star Shifting Step, appearing behind the man. He swung the Golden Devourer Sword.

With a flash, the man’s head went flying.

Meanwhile, the other black-clothed cultivator saw that the ambusher was a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator and acted with surprising decisiveness. He didn’t even bother with a token cry to avenge his comrade. Instead, he snatched the rosacea-nosed old man’s Storage Bag, tossed his Sword forward, and leaped onto it, preparing to make his escape with Sword Control.

’Hmph, trying to run?’

Lü Zhong retrieved the first man’s Storage Bag with a flick of his wrist and summoned his Wood Spirit Wind-controlling Ship.

Normally, flying via Sword Control was the fastest means of travel. But Lü Zhong’s Wood Spirit Wind-controlling Ship was unusual. It possessed a Divine Technique for acceleration, and its maximum speed far surpassed that of the Sword Control Skill.

In less than eight minutes, the distance between them shrank to within a thousand feet.

And it was still shrinking fast.

Realizing this, the black-clothed cultivator’s expression flickered between fear and resolve. Finally, gritting his teeth, he plunged straight down.

Lü Zhong glanced down at the misty valley, thick with Cloud Qi. He knew exactly what the man was thinking. The cultivator was obviously trying to leverage the superior maneuverability of Sword Control to shake off his less agile Flying Ship.

Too bad for him, he had miscalculated!

Seeing that he had closed the distance, Lü Zhong summoned a patina-covered Copper Mirror.

In a high-speed chase like this, ordinary Magical Artifacts and Magic Skills were useless; their travel speed was simply too slow. Fortunately, the Qingyang Mirror’s attack was a beam of Mirror Light, and it was more than fast enough.

Having been nurtured for several years, the Qingyang Mirror’s power had been mostly restored. Now was the perfect time to use it.

He formed a hand seal to control it, and the mirror’s surface reflected the fleeing cultivator’s figure.

"Freeze!"

Lü Zhong commanded softly.

A beam of light shot out, striking the black-clothed cultivator dead-on.

The man broke free a moment later, but Lü Zhong’s objective had been achieved.

With a sickening THUD, the man, immobilized for just a fraction of a second, failed to change course in time and slammed head-on into a cliff face.

For a cultivator to hit a mountain at such high speed... the result was predictable.

Even Lü Zhong couldn’t help but frown as he looked at the red smear plastered across the cliff face. It was a truly gruesome way to die. ’At least it was instantaneous,’ he thought. ’He wouldn’t have felt any pain.’

He reached out and retrieved the Storage Bag, then cast a Qingyang Fire Rain Technique, incinerating the blood-stained patch of cliff until it was clean.

When it came to killing for treasure, the act of killing wasn’t the most important part. Dealing with the aftermath was.

Lü Zhong had always been meticulous about this. He cleaned every scene thoroughly, striving to leave no trace behind. It was the only way to prevent his victim’s sect elders from tracking him down and causing endless trouble.

After cleaning up the bits of flesh and clothing that had fallen to the base of the mountain, he took to the air again in the Wood Spirit Wind-controlling Ship. The other scene still needed to be dealt with. But considering the commotion caused by the Five Heroes of Cloud Mountain blowing up a mountain, it had probably attracted many of the Loose Cultivators who eked out a living in White Bone Ridge.

’I’ll have to see how things are.’

If possible, Lü Zhong would, of course, prefer to tie up all loose ends.

Unfortunately, by the time he returned to the first site, a crowd of about twenty Loose Cultivators had already gathered. There were even two Foundation Establishment Cultivators among them. Although both were only at the initial stage of their cultivation, with so many people drawn to the scene, killing them all to ensure their silence was out of the question.

’Good thing I was cautious and avoided everyone on my way here,’ Lü Zhong thought, hiding behind a cliff wall. He mentally reviewed the entire sequence of events one more time. Concluding there was little chance he had left any clues, he finally allowed himself to relax.

He wasn’t worried that the two slain sect cultivators might have been protected by a Secret Skill like the Soul-Chasing Blood Curse, which could leave a mark on their killer. Having spent time in a Sect himself, he was well aware of how strict the activation requirements for such skills were.

Take the most common of them, the Soul-Chasing Blood Curse, for instance. Only a Nascent Soul Cultivator could cast such a technique.