Chapter 128

This person was masked, his exposed eyes flashing with intense killing intent. His entire body surged with *gangqi*, and before he even neared Xu Yang, he had already struck out with a blast of *gangqi* through the air, causing the atmosphere to roar.

The *gangqi* was like a rainbow, the killing intent like a tide.

The opponent had come to kill, not merely for the spiritual herb.

Lu Ren had told him to be sharp and just hide, but hiding was impossible; the opponent had specifically arranged for a *gangqi* expert to kill him.

Since that was the case, he would expose his *gangqi* cultivation today. After such a long time, exposing it didn't matter much.

A fierce wind whistled as the *gangqi* pierced through the void. Just as it was about to strike his body, Xu Yang moved.

He sidestepped, and the scorching *gangqi* grazed his body, slamming into the ground.

The ground shook, bluestone shattered, and rocks flew as a deep crater appeared, with cracks spreading in all directions.

If he had truly only been at the Qi Refining realm, he would likely have been blasted into two pieces by that strike of *gangqi*.

Taking two steps, Xu Yang’s figure suddenly vanished from his spot, and scorching *gangqi* erupted, pushing his body to fly out like a thunderbolt.

Amidst the roaring of his muscles and bones, he threw out a punch he had been charging for a long time.

Eleven consecutive crisp cracks sounded as his fist, carrying the force of eleven layers of power, tore through the black shadow’s protective *gangqi*, descending like a heavy meteor.

Before the punch even arrived, the fierce wind from it had already blown the mask off the black shadow’s face, revealing a face that looked as if it had never seen the sun, deathly pale.

"*Gangqi*!" The black shadow’s pupils contracted.

This was not the Qi Refining realm at all, but a *gangqi* expert with the same cultivation as him.

Caught off guard, while he was still in mid-air, Xu Yang’s fist had already smashed into his chest.

Domineering *gangqi* burst forth, pouring madly from the fist, and all eleven layers of force were driven into the black shadow’s body.

"Bang!"

"Crack!"

A teeth-gritting sound of bone fracturing echoed. The spot where the fist landed collapsed, the pale face twisted, and he opened his mouth to spray a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

"Hoo!"

With a scream, he flew backward faster than he had come, continuing to spray blood in mid-air, his body twitching.

Originally, he wouldn't have been so pathetic, but he had been arrogant, thinking Xu Yang was only at the Qi Refining realm, and had tried to kill him from a distance with *gangqi*. He had allowed Xu Yang to seize the opportunity to close the distance rapidly, shatter his protective *gangqi* with one punch, and take the full force of the eleven-layered Wave-Crushing Fist.

"Bang!"

His body hit the perimeter wall and stopped, leaving a web of cracks.

"Help..."

His face was full of terror, and he opened his mouth to call for help from his companions, but Xu Yang had already followed like a shadow.

Before he could even shout half a word, Xu Yang’s fist had already smashed into his throat.

"Crack!"

The sound of bone breaking came, and he clutched his neck in pain, his body slowly collapsing.

"Ah..."

A scream came from ahead.

Xu Yang’s heart sank heavily. This was Gu Hao’s voice; he had definitely suffered a severe injury, otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a sound during the battle.

"Quick, send the signal for help!" Another roar came.

It was Jin Gang.

At this moment, his voice was indescribably panicked and carried a hint of helplessness; one could only wonder what kind of powerful enemy he had encountered to be unable to even send a signal.

"These idiots really played with fire."

Sounds of *gangqi* colliding came from several directions; neither Lu Ren nor Hu Fengyi had been able to spare a hand to send a signal.

Xu Yang had no choice but to untie the signal firework from his waist and pull it hard. The next moment, a firework exploded over the Hundred Herb Hall, illuminating the dark night.

Yangcheng existed because of the Purple Sun Sect, and the people managing the city were naturally from the Purple Sun Sect. Many people lived in the city, and upon seeing the distress signal, help would arrive soon.

"Liu San, that trash, couldn't even kill a Qi Refining martial artist, and even let him send a distress signal."

"We have the goods, let's go."

"We'll punish him when we get back."

The roars came from ahead. Clearly, after the distress signal was sent, this group didn't dare linger, fearing that if the Purple Sun Sect experts arrived, none of them would be able to leave.

Xu Yang bent down and searched the corpse, but other than a few silver taels, he found nothing else.

After doing this, he jumped onto a nearby large tree to lie in wait.

After a while, the sounds of fighting ahead ceased, and he jumped down from the tree, dragging the corpse with him.

The warehouse area had been reduced to ruins, with pits of varying depths everywhere. The iron door of the warehouse had been violently blasted open, and the items inside were scattered all over the ground.

Jin Gang’s face was ashen, his hair disheveled, and there were dried bloodstains at the corner of his mouth; it was unclear how badly he was injured.

Gu Hao was in the worst shape; one of his arms seemed broken, and he was clutching it with his other hand, cold sweat pouring down his face, a blood-seeping fist mark on his chest as he sat on the ground in a sorry state.

Hu Fengyi had likely been slashed by a blade; his chest revealed white bone, the wound over half a foot long.

While it looked the most severe, such flesh wounds were not serious for an expert who had refined *gangqi*; a few days of rest would heal them.

Lu Ren walked over from another direction, his steps heavy, the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers split, and a palm print on his ribs.

All four of them looked terrible; they had played with fire, failed to earn merit, and the spiritual herb had been snatched away.

Seeing Xu Yang appear dragging a corpse, the four of them looked over subconsciously, showing expressions of shock.

Xu Yang had actually killed someone?

No wonder he was able to send the distress signal.

Lu Ren’s expression was even more complex—shock, disbelief, and a sense of humiliation. The bold words he had spoken in front of Xu Yang now felt like slaps to his own face.

"Chase them, we can't let them get away," Jin Gang said through gritted teeth.

"We can't, if we go to chase, who will guard this place?" Hu Fengyi said.

Just as Gu Hao was about to speak, a sound of breaking air rang out. A figure drifted down from the roof, a domineering aura kicking up a wave of air and dust, revealing a slender figure.

This person was dressed in white, with sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes, holding a long sword in his hand. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark night.

Most eye-catching was the large purple sun embroidered on his chest, outlined in gold thread, which shimmered when hit by the nearby lamplight.

Xu Yang’s gaze narrowed; he knew this was the mark of an inner sect disciple of the Purple Sun Sect.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Sun Jian!" Jin Gang’s expression changed, and he hurriedly stepped forward to bow.

Sun Jian looked down at them and said, "What happened? Why was the distress signal sent?"

Jin Gang said, "A group of thieves broke in, injured us, and snatched a spiritual herb."

"Trash, which direction did they run?" Sun Jian barked.

Jin Gang didn't dare delay and hurriedly pointed in the direction the group had fled.

Sun Jian tapped his toes on the ground and instantly turned into a streak of red light, disappearing.

"Gu Hao, Hu Fengyi, guard this place. We're going to chase too," Jin Gang said through gritted teeth.

If they didn't retrieve the item, there would be no good outcome; the value of one spiritual herb was far more important than the lives of a few outer sect disciples.

Saying this, he chased in the direction Sun Jian had disappeared.

"Let's go!" Lu Ren barked, suppressing his injuries as he followed.

Xu Yang dropped the corpse in his hand and also leaped onto the roof in one bound; he feared he would be implicated by these idiots.

"You've refined *gangqi*?"

At such a moment, Lu Ren still couldn't help his curiosity.

Xu Yang tapped his toes on the roof, *gangqi* erupted, and his body soared into the air: "I luckily refined *gangqi* yesterday."

Lu Ren’s mouth twitched; this guy always broke through his cultivation at the critical moment.

If it weren't for what happened tonight, he would never have told anyone he had already refined *gangqi*.

The two soon caught up to Jin Gang, but they couldn't find the group that had snatched the spiritual herb at all. After a while, the law enforcement disciples in Yangcheng joined the search.

But until dawn, that group seemed to have evaporated into thin air and was not found.

Jin Gang’s face was ugly as he led Xu Yang and Lu Ren back to the Hundred Herb Hall.

As soon as they entered the Hundred Herb Hall and stepped into the backyard, they saw Gu Hao and Hu Fengyi standing to the side with their heads bowed, not daring to breathe loudly.

Directly in front, Outer Sect Deacon Zhao Qing sat with a gloomy face, an oppressive aura emanating from him, making the air feel as if it had solidified.

Jin Gang bit the bullet and stepped forward, bowing: "Disciple pays respects to Deacon Zhao."

Zhao Qing snorted: "You trash, trying to pull chestnuts from the fire, and now you've burned yourselves. One spiritual herb, ten of your lives wouldn't be enough to compensate."

He had only come to ask a few questions, and soon he knew what kind of scheme Jin Gang and the others had been plotting.