Chapter 667: Slaying the Third Layer

"Huh…"

He Pingsheng took a deep breath and looked at the cultivator before him: "You are greedy—and foolish!"

He Pingsheng had originally intended to explain a few words, to make him understand that coveting another's possessions under countless eyes invites no good end.

After all, if you steal from me, others who steal from you will feel no moral burden.

Can't you even grasp this?

Isn't that foolishness?

But the next instant, the other suddenly flew into a rage: "What did you say?"

"How dare you call me greedy and foolish?"

"You deserve to die… die…"

Boom…

The Daoist's body erupted with immense power: "You speak exactly as my dead father did… I hate most when others call me foolish!"

"Back then, I killed that old beast myself!"

"Today, I'll kill you myself!"

Boom…

A crimson longsword suddenly fell from the sky, slashing toward He Pingsheng.

The blade's light stretched a hundred zhang, descending from the heavens.

He Pingsheng had already stowed the Silver River Celestial Shuttle and spun away from his original position.

The cultivator's strike landed empty.

Yet the blade's light was brutally powerful—it missed He Pingsheng entirely and struck deep into the mountains below.

Immense energy erupted in crimson, radiating outward.

Every mountain peak within a thousand zhang was obliterated.

A Void Refinement expert's strike—crushing mountains, parting seas—was no empty claim.

"You run fast!"

"Again!"

Boom…

The Void Refinement cultivator clutched the longsword in both hands and slashed at He Pingsheng again and again.

This time he was wiser—he no longer underestimated He Pingsheng as before; he now wielded both magical power and Dao techniques.

The rules of space descended, locking He Pingsheng in the void.

There was no way to evade it.

He Pingsheng pulled out a blood-red turtle shell and unfurled it.

A pale green phantom of a divine turtle appeared.

Though the Void Refinement cultivator was at the third layer, his attack power paled beside the Moonlight Buddha Sovereign He Pingsheng had faced earlier—this strike shattered the divine turtle's defense but left no residual force to strike him.

"My turn!"

He Pingsheng launched the Heaven's Mechanism Thirteen Rods.

One rod fell.

In the void, a three-hundred-zhang purple-red rod shadow rained down like dense snowflakes.

The final thirteen rods merged into one, slamming violently onto the opponent's body.

The man immediately revealed his true form: a brown deer-like creature with spots, now towering a hundred zhang in size.

Yet this hundred-zhang body was smashed from the void and hurled downward, crashing into the earth below.

Boom…

The hundred-zhang body struck like a mountain into the deep valley below.

White mist in the valley churned violently, and several more peaks were shattered.

"Again…"

He Pingsheng gave the beast no chance—he waved his hand and eight poison needles shot out.

Supreme Spirit Treasure: Eight Treasures Purple Cloud Needles!

Though He Pingsheng had only cultivated twelve of the twenty-four sealing layers, it was enough for him to use them.

The eight poison needles vanished, zipping out silently, invisible and traceless!

Within a breath, they pierced the deer creature's massive body from eight directions.

Then, the eight needles returned to He Pingsheng's front, silently retracted and stored within his dantian.

Now came the waiting.

He stood in the void, patiently awaiting movement below.

After roughly ten breaths, the deer creature finally spoke: "Brother Daoist… I was wrong… I was greedy…"

"I shouldn't have!"

"Please, Brother Daoist, quickly remove the poison—afterward, we'll have no further ties!"

He Pingsheng wanted to laugh.

How ignorant must one be to say such a thing?

Clearly, though this child had reached Void Refinement, his emotional and intellectual acuity were deeply lacking.

"The last man who coveted my Emperor's Artifact is now forged into a magic treasure!" He Pingsheng said coolly: "Look—those poison needles that pierced you were taken from him!"

The deer creature panicked upon hearing this: "Brother Daoist, how can I earn your forgiveness?"

He Pingsheng said: "Come out… rise up, and we can talk properly."

"Good!" The deer creature drew a deep breath; though the poison had numbed half his body, he was still a Void Refinement master and could still fly.

But the moment he emerged from the mist and saw He Pingsheng, he suddenly saw seven emerald beams surge from He Pingsheng's spiritual sense and blast toward him.

"No—!"

The deer creature screamed as the poisonous 【Formless Northern Dipper Nails】 technique slammed into his spiritual sense.

He instantly became a living corpse, his massive body crashing back into the gorge.

This time, he was utterly lifeless.

"You came up when I told you to—truly, you're incredibly foolish!" He Pingsheng shook his head.

He couldn't fathom how such a fool had lived to reach Void Refinement.

He Pingsheng's gaze swept the distance, then farther still—those who had secretly watched the battle all fled instantly.

Originally, they had hoped to profit from the chaos, waiting until the deer creature seized He Pingsheng's flying vessel, then swooping in to steal it themselves.

That way, they'd avoid karmic entanglement and moral guilt.

But now, this Void Refinement cultivator had been slain by a lower-rank opponent.

And in just two strikes?

Terrifying!

Truly… utterly terrifying!

After all, how could an ordinary person wield an Emperor's Artifact?

How could anyone possess an Emperor's Artifact?

Even if one had one, who would dare use it so brazenly?

He must have power, he must have backing.

Old monsters who had lived for millennia weren't fools—they fled faster than rabbits.

He Pingsheng's spiritual sense swept the surroundings; seeing the cultivators who had once been eager to strike now departing, he descended into the valley.

Hmm…

Time to clean up the battlefield and claim the spoils.

The ring was one thing!

This vast Void Refinement deer creature's flesh, skin, and bones were all top-tier treasures.

Its blood could be used to make talisman ink; its skin, to craft sixth-grade talisman paper.

The Liuliying contained Dao principles.

Collect it all—leave nothing behind!

He Pingsheng moved swiftly; soon, he had stripped the deer creature clean from head to toe.

After stripping the deer creature, he dared not retrieve the Emperor's Artifact, instead summoning the Eight Treasures Boat to hover nearby.

As he flew, he sensed for Ting Tong's aura.

Alas, the surrounding valleys were numerous, filled with countless mysterious mists—he could not sense Ting Tong's presence.

A streak of light shot from a nearby valley and landed before He Pingsheng.

It was Zhou Qingmei.

"Did you see anything?" He Pingsheng asked her.

Zhou Qingmei shook her head.

She had searched the nearby mountains for a long time but found nothing.

A hundred thousand li—if he could use his spiritual sense, he could cover it quickly; but without it, searching valley by valley might take a hundred years and still yield nothing.

What to do?