Chapter 73

Thinking this way, he raised his hand to summon the ink shield and tentatively walked step by step toward Yang Lingrui.

“Oh? Really? I’m curious—how exactly will you take my life?”

Thud.

Thud.

He closed the distance with each step, while Yang Lingrui’s expression stiffened.

When the scholar came within three feet, Yang Lingrui finally broke. Staggering backward, he raised trembling hands to summon wind blades again.

But at this range, the scholar wouldn’t allow it.

Holding the ink shield steady with one hand, he flicked his paintbrush with the other. Ink droplets scattered through the air, hardening into jagged black swords that shot toward Yang Lingrui.

Having exhausted his diamond talisman, Yang Lingrui activated his spiritual shield talisman and summoned protective winds, relying on his Mystic Iron Soft Armor to withstand the assault.

The scholar—a late-stage cultivator of the seventh level of Gathering Qi—knew this strike would inflict severe injuries. Yet this was his plan: to trade injury for a kill at close quarters!

The superior-quality mountain-opening talisman flared to life. As the glow of Talisman Technique erupted, Yang Lingrui’s body flew backward like a snapped kite string.

“Another one? Doesn’t matter! I’ll block them all!”

When the scholar saw the familiar light of a mountain-opening talisman, he readied his defense. But the instant it struck his shield, he knew his mistake.

It was a mountain-opening talisman, yes—

But superior-quality, not some flawed imitation!

“Impossible!”

His ink shield shattered after barely holding for a breath. The attack carried the force of an eighth-level Gathering Qi spell.

Squelch!

“Aaaagh—!”

The energy blade carved deep into his flesh, slicing from left shoulder to right hip. He spun through the air before crashing to the ground.

Yang Lingrui lay nearby, his Mystic Iron Soft Armor nearly destroyed, flesh mangled where ink blades had struck. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head to see the scholar writhing in a spreading pool of blood.

“Still alive?!”

Despair washed over Yang Lingrui. He’d calculated every possible angle in this fight.

But their cultivation realms were too far apart. Even sacrificing himself with a superior-quality talisman hadn’t been enough.

“Cough… haaack!”

The scholar vomited blood. With shaking fingers, he dipped his paintbrush and drew an ink seal over his chest wounds, barely staunching the bleeding.

“Die! You’ll die!!”

Feral with rage, he began dragging himself toward Yang Lingrui.

At this moment, both individuals were at their limit; even a cultivator at the first level of Gathering Qi could have easily ended their lives.

Yang Lingrui struggled to rise, but his injuries were too severe. He couldn’t even twitch a finger.

The scholar dragged a bloody trail across the ground, finally crawling within arm’s reach of Yang Lingrui.

"Hahaha! After killing you, I’ll spread word about your family’s treasure talisman. Not just you – your entire Yang Family will perish!"

The mad scholar cackled, fingers stretching toward Yang Lingrui’s throat.

Dingling—

A crisp bell tone rang through the forest, transforming into a sound wave that pierced the scholar’s mind.

"NOOOO!!!"

The scholar’s face contorted as he collapsed, clutching his head and wailing.

A golden light shot from nearby trees, striking his waist. Normally insignificant, this basic technique became the fatal blow to his weakened state.

The impact sent his body skidding across dirt. After final twitches, he lay motionless.

Seeing this, Zhao Qi rushed forward, placing spirit liquid and elixirs into Yang Lingrui’s mouth.

"Rest, senior brother. I’ll handle this."

Zhao Qi stopped three paces from the corpse. Though it showed no signs of life, he methodically blasted the head, heart, abdomen, and key Qi meridians with spells.

Only then did he approach to search the body, retrieving a paintbrush and two storage bags. After attaching a fire talisman, he watched flames reduce the corpse to carbonized ash.

"Sister Lingqing warned high-level cultivators are hard to kill," Zhao Qi muttered. Still uneasy, he stomped the ashes into powder. "Now he can’t revive."

Returning to Yang Lingrui, he found his senior brother propped against a fallen tree, faint spiritual power circulating through him.

"He’s dead. These were on him."

"Keep them. I can’t even open storage bags now."

After stowing the items, Zhao Qi carried Yang Lingrui to inspect the ash pile.

"He won’t… come back?"

Yang Lingrui’s eyelid twitched at the gray powder. "If he does, we’ll accept our fate."

Zhao Qi hurried from the area, racing toward Yang Family territory with his burden.

"How found me?" Yang Lingrui mumbled against his shoulder.

"Sister Lingqing sent me three days ago. Said you were in danger." Zhao Qi adjusted his grip. "She placed a tracking mark in my sea of consciousness using secret methods."

Yang Lingrui understood. Three days prior – when he’d met Su Lingyun. The Immortal Master must’ve alerted Yang Lingqing through Thought Transmission, like during Yang Linghu’s mine crisis.

Another debt to the Immortal Master. Yang Lingrui sighed internally. His weak cultivation constantly required the immortal’s intervention.

Without the Immortal Master’s preparations and Gao Hui’s Wind Guiding Pearl, he’d have died long before Zhao Qi’s arrival.

The attackers had outnumbered him, playing mantis stalking cicada. The scholar thought himself the lurking yellow bird. Yet in the end, Yang Family devoured both predator and schemer.