Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The battle was swift and fierce.

First, a phantom was used to attract attention.

The other two phantoms, along with the true body, became invisible on the side and began casting spells.

What followed was a violent assault, swift and relentless as a storm.

"Flash Skill," blinding.

"Earth-Shocking Skill," controlling.

"True Fire Skill," killing.

The three spells followed one after another, like mercury spilling to the ground, leaving barely a gap, directly dumbfounding a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and killing him without him having any chance to fight back.

If it had been a one-on-one fight, Xiao Changyi’s power would never have been so useless, but faced with this carefully laid ambush, even if it happened a hundred times over, the result would be the same.

The flames turned the vicinity red, melting spots that were directly exposed to the flames and emitting billowing blue smoke with a pungent odor.

Chen Li quickly used the Penetrating Vision Skill to scan the surroundings but failed to find the storage bag, presuming it was destroyed in the stream of flames. Fortunately, the magic artifact was still there; he reached out and rolled up the flying sword half-buried in the lava and stored it in his Ten-Directional Storage Bag.

Everywhere he looked, there were ruins and desolation.

Soft suppressed groans and the heavy breaths of terror seeped through the ruins.

Clearly, there were many people still alive beneath the rubble, but none dared make a sound, not even daring to glance in this direction, fearing that they would be silenced if discovered, so they played dead.

Chen Li shook his head, not daring to linger here, the huge noise from earlier would likely draw the enforcers of the Returning True Sect before long.

He used the Invisibility Technique and quickly vanished on the spot.

He ran swiftly all the way.

Before long, he was back in the courtyard.

Chen Li took off the mask and black clothes and threw them into the storage bag, reverting to his original appearance.

"It should be that nobody noticed!"

The Phantom Skill is a replica of oneself, what you look like before casting is what the phantom looks like after!

Before setting out, he deliberately changed his appearance and attire, then on the way, he expended a great deal of spiritual power to recast the spell, gradually replacing the phantoms that had set out earlier—all to conceal his tracks.

As for doing these things, Chen Li was already skilled and experienced.

"It’s just a pity that I couldn’t find the storage bag."

At the thought, Chen Li felt a pang of loss.

This was the legacy of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, who knew how many valuable things were inside.

This was the first time Chen Li had seen a storage bag destroyed, and it was by his own hand:

"After the storage bag was burned, I wonder where the items inside went? They’re probably no longer in this dimension."

"Fortunately, the biggest threat has been dealt with," Chen Li looked towards the neighboring house, sneering in his heart, "Next, it’s your turn, but there’s no rush. Let’s see how things look tomorrow. After all, there are plenty of opportunities."

Without that late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, the rest were of no concern!

...

"What, senior brother didn’t come back all night?" Lin Qing was struck as by thunder, "No... No way, he went back early last night."

The next day, before dawn had even broken,

Xiao Changyi’s wife, Feng Min, rushed over to Lin Qing, her face, usually calm, now full of worry, "Think again, where might he have gone? Has something happened to him?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Sister-in-law, don’t panic! With the senior brother’s strength, surely nothing could have happened. Maybe he went to other juniors’ houses. Just wait patiently a little longer, he’ll probably be back before noon," Lin Qing immediately tried to reassure her, but her heart was sinking fast, a bad premonition gnawing at her.

If it were someone else, he might suspect they ran off to the brothels or gambling houses to spend the night.

But his senior brother was upright and self-disciplined, always devoted and respectful to his wife, treating her as an equal, and didn’t even have a concubine. He never touched those things.

Yet, such a living person had disappeared, and no matter what the situation was, it shouldn’t be possible that he didn’t return for the night.

The more Lin Qing thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. After persuading Feng Min with a few more words, he managed with great difficulty to send her away. He quickly activated the Array and prepared to go back to his room to pack his belongings and stay at an inn outside for a few days to observe the situation.

Just as he entered and was about to close the Array passage,

suddenly a figure flashed into the room.

Before he could react,

accompanied by a sharp piercing scream,

a sword instantly penetrated his heart, its terrifying speed turning the nearby organs to mush; the defense of the robe he was wearing was utterly useless.

"You... Chen... you, cough cough..." Lin Qing looked at Chen Li with a face full of fear. As soon as he began to speak, he coughed up blood continuously, mixed with bits of organ tissue.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, what an impressive act!" Chen Li pulled out the sword and sneered coldly, "I was almost fooled by you. You’re right to guess that I really am a member of the Returning True Sect."

"Misunderstanding... cough cough..." Lin Qing tried to retreat while quickly reaching for the Magic Artifact at his waist.

However, he didn’t manage to reach it.

The next moment, his vision blurred, and with a boom, he was kicked violently in the chest and sent flying more than ten meters away. The crisp sound of bones cracking rang out densely, and for a moment, it was unclear how many bones were broken. He tumbled a few times and lay stiff on the ground like a corpse, his chest severely caved in, blood continuously gushing from his mouth, his body twitching.

Chen Li stepped forward and stood on his shriveled chest, applying a little pressure. The friction of broken bones in the chest cavity made an unnerving crackling sound, "Weren’t there five of you in that group initially? Who is the other person?"

Lin Qing suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His eyes, oozing with blood, crazily started to laugh hysterically, "Hahaha, I curse..."

As Lin Qing uttered the curse, Chen Li keenly sensed a faint fluctuation of Mana, obviously preparing to launch some kind of curse secret technique in his dying moments.

"Seeking death!"

Chen Li’s expression turned cold, and he instantly lifted his foot and stomped down hard on Lin Qing’s head.

With a "boom,"

the head was directly crushed,

brain matter, bone fragments, and blood splattered all over the place, leaving a mess.

The headless corpse convulsed violently a few times and then gradually grew still.

Chen Li looked down and frowned slightly. He expelled Gang Qi from his body, cleaning the blood and flesh from himself, then cast an Evil-Breaking Skill before squatting down to search the body meticulously. A Ten-Directional Storage Bag, a Formation control Token, and a flying sword that looked to be of Second Order high quality.

Besides that,

inside the belt, Chen found several packets of powder.

They appeared to be some kind of poison.

Chen Li glanced at them and tossed them aside, showing no interest whatsoever.

Then, he walked over to Lin Qing’s home, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much of value. He looked around and then withdrew.

The corpse certainly couldn’t be left there; it had to be disposed of.

Fortunately, Chen Li was experienced in these matters.

He could use the Ice Skill to freeze it or the True Fire Skill to incinerate it.

After some thought, he decided the Ice Skill was appropriate; the latter was simply too noisy.

A few minutes later, the body had been completely turned into fine powder, mixed with the surrounding soil, and buried deep underground. After finishing all this, he retracted the Array and quickly left the courtyard.