Chapter 541

After transforming into Hua Tianxiong's appearance, Qin Ming turned his head and grinned at him: "Don't be nervous—I'm just taking precautions."

"These two old foxes from Shendao Mountain are extremely cunning; judging by how tense they are, they're almost certainly not going to give up searching for you."

Lu the Shopkeeper's disguise must not be exposed lightly by Qin Ming.

Since Shendao Mountain's people have already targeted Hua Tianxiong, it might as well be his identity that appears.

The two waited inside the Small Spirit Realm for a full hour.

Outside the Five Elements Mountains, the two Shendao Mountain cultivators searched fruitlessly and eventually abandoned their hunt, leaving in frustration.

They waited another two full hours.

Only then did Qin Ming transform into Hua Tianxiong's form and slowly walk out of the Small Spirit Realm.

He immediately unleashed a spiritual sense comparable to Nascent Soul early stage, sweeping the surroundings—but immediately furrowed his brow.

"You sneaky Hua Tianxiong, I didn't expect you to actually have some skill—you managed to slip through my brother and I's search without a single slip."

"You must have some incredible concealment treasure, huh? Hehehe!"

A mocking voice echoed.

The figures of Yun Yangzi and Wen Yuliang instantly materialized from the nearby space.

Clearly, after their fruitless search, they hadn't gone far—they'd pulled a classic ambush.

The one who had just spoken was Yun Yangzi; he showed no surprise that Hua Tianxiong had evaded their magical tracking.

After all, Hua Tianxiong was the head of Qianji Trading House, one of the Ten Major Trading Houses of the Wanda Merchant Alliance—he'd surely have special survival tactics.

Yun Yangzi and Wen Yuliang kept scanning the fake "Hua Tianxiong," as if trying to see through him.

But their spiritual senses, the moment they touched the three-zhang radius before Hua Tianxiong, slammed into a colossal mountain and were entirely repelled.

And a crushing wave of spiritual pressure surged toward them!

"How is this possible?"

"This spiritual sense—it rivals Nascent Soul level!"

Wen Yuliang's mocking expression froze on his face, replaced by disbelief.

"Wen younger brother, this kid's suspicious!"

Yun Yangzi shed his underestimation, adopting a posture of dire warning, and pulled out a golden longsword magic treasure.

His eyes locked onto the fake "Hua Tianxiong," yet after staring for a long while, he saw nothing unusual.

Even his cultivation base was merely Golden Core early stage.

"Hmph! Pretending to be mysterious!"

"Let me see what your real face looks like!" Wen Yuliang's hand reappeared with the Illusionary Mirror, aiming it straight at Qin Ming.

The green light swept over—yet the fake "Hua Tianxiong" showed no anomaly; even his magic power aura remained perfectly still.

"Huh? Is he just bluffing, putting on a show?" Wen Yuliang murmured.

Qin Ming gave no reaction—clearly, their techniques couldn't pierce his True Demon Illusion.

At that moment.

Suddenly.

His powerful spiritual sense detected a hidden golden sharpness rising from beneath his feet.

Shh! A golden needle magic treasure shot upward at blinding speed, instantly piercing through Qin Ming's figure.

Yun Yangzi narrowed his eyes, extended his withered right hand, and summoned the flying needle back.

Qin Ming's figure dissolved like a bubble, reappearing a hundred zhang away.

"Hmph!"

"The Third Elder of Shendao Mountain resorts to ambush tactics against me? How disgraceful."

With that, Qin Ming's gaze sharpened; he gestured, and several massive wooden spikes rapidly formed in midair, lashing toward the two opponents.

Simultaneously, he curled his fingers in a phantom grasp—several emerald-blue glimmers vanished instantly into the void.

Yun Yangzi's face flickered with shock—he hadn't expected Hua Tianxiong, a Golden Core early stage cultivator, to dodge his strike so easily.

Worse, the opponent had retaliated with such a powerful wood-element spell—it was utterly unexpected.

The next instant, a chilling dread prickled his scalp.

He sent out his spiritual sense to scan—but found no trace of danger, no clue to the source of the hidden attack. This eerie scene sent a cold shiver down his spine.

Yun Yangzi formed hand seals and immediately activated a protective aura, then pulled out several life-saving talismans and used them all at once.

Three thick layers of defensive shields formed before him.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

A series of piercing sounds rang out.

Yun Yangzi barely blocked the wooden spikes with his magic treasure, but three emerald-blue streaks pierced through his shields and struck his skull.

His head exploded like a watermelon.

Qin Ming narrowed his eyes—he recognized it as an illusion. The man wouldn't die so easily.

Instantly, as expected, the Yun Yangzi struck by the Wood Emperor Nail staggered back hundreds of zhang, blood trickling from his lips.

Fear still flickered in his eyes.

The figure pierced through the skull dissolved into a wooden effigy made of grass and wood.

He'd clearly used some survival witchcraft to absorb this fatal blow.

Now enraged and terrified, Yun Yangzi bit his middle finger, muttered incantations, and unleashed another spell toward Qin Ming—utterly invisible.

Qin Ming's heart skipped a beat—he sensed something foul approaching.

In a moment of distraction.

His True Ultimate Body automatically activated a crimson protective true aura.

Shh! A blinding golden radiance flashed beside him, striking the true aura.

There, a golden soul-worm writhed, baring its fangs as it spat a dazzling poison that surged toward him.

This technique was silent and utterly vile.

But all the poison was blocked by Qin Ming's protective true aura.

"You even blocked my lifeblood Golden Silkworm Soul-worm!"

"Who are you?!"

Yun Yangzi could no longer hold back his cry.

He knew better than anyone the power of his lifeblood Golden Silkworm Soul-worm.

Even ordinary Golden Core late stage cultivators couldn't survive a single strike.

Now his trump cards kept failing—this wasn't something a Golden Core early stage cultivator could accomplish.

As he spoke, Yun Yangzi directed the Golden Silkworm Soul-worm to attack Qin Ming again.

Qin Ming sensed the creature was peculiar—it was a mid-stage third-rank Soul-worm.

It excelled at piercing physical defenses and specialized in soul attacks; any other Golden Core late stage cultivator would struggle to resist such a treacherous poison.

When the Golden Silkworm Soul-worm failed its first strike, it instantly swelled in midair into a massive golden worm, four or five zhang long, opening its mouth to spit dozens of golden threads.

The surrounding space twisted violently.

At this moment.

Qin Ming's Shoutian Rat wasn't with him—he immediately summoned the Silverwing Frost Bee from the Small Spirit Realm and sent it toward the Golden Silkworm Soul-worm.

The moment the Silverwing Frost Bee appeared, its six silver wings flared, rippling the surrounding space.

It unleashed a soul-shattering shockwave, instantly severing all the golden threads.

The two spirit insects met in midair and immediately tore and entangled each other.

Seeing Hua Tianxiong reveal one trick after another—and now possessing a mid-stage third-rank spirit insect—Yun Yangzi finally lost his composure.

But before he could react.

The air before him writhed again—a massive mid-stage third-rank Aquatic Giant Crocodile Spirit King opened its jaws and lunged at him with terrifying force!

Yun Yangzi shrieked in terror, frantically unleashing all his techniques to battle the Aquatic Crocodile.

……

(End of Chapter)