Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 348 Unexpected Discovery - Battle of Wits (4K)

"Huh, this route is weird, where is he going?"

After leaving the market, Xiao Chen discovered that Hong Xingfeng did not head north, but instead began to secretly circle around.

Every few hundred miles, it would suddenly accelerate, change direction, or turn back.

It's obvious they're using this method to get rid of potential tracking.

However, his actions were meaningless under the divine sense range of a Nascent Soul cultivator that covered thousands of miles.

Xiao Chen only needed to keep an eye on him from afar with his divine sense to follow him leisurely.

He originally planned to go directly to Hong Xingfeng for a talk.

But seeing this strange scene, he suddenly became interested and patiently followed him around in a big circle.

Finally, they arrived at a small mountain 20,000 miles away from the market town.

From afar, one can see a small pavilion built on the mountaintop, where a burly man with a red beard is sitting and drinking alone.

Hong Xingfeng arrived at the foot of the mountain and landed directly there.

Then he quickly ran to the pavilion and called out loudly from afar, "Senior Qiu, I have collected all the thunderstones you asked for last time and brought them over."

"At least we didn't waste any time."

As he spoke, he took off a storage ring and respectfully handed it over with both hands: "The items are all here, please check them, senior."

Upon hearing this, the burly man grabbed the wine jug and tucked it into his waistband.

He reached out to take the storage ring, but paused slightly.

Immediately, even from over 600 miles away, his gaze went straight to the direction from which Xiao Chen had come.

To observe the contents of the storage ring, one naturally needs to use their divine sense.

Although the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator is concealed, it is very easy for cultivators of the same level to detect.

Therefore, the big man immediately realized that someone was spying on them.

So he skillfully followed the direction of the divine sense to investigate.

Of course, the reverse is also true.

Xiao Chen immediately felt an unfamiliar divine sense sweeping around him, and then realized that his location had been exposed.

Hmm, there was another unexpected discovery!

According to the information provided by Zhang Cunfu, there are only eight Nascent Soul True Monarchs in this area.

At this point in time, everyone should be preoccupied with the Shuangyu Conference, and it's unlikely they would meet Hong Xingfeng in such a remote and desolate place.

Or rather, even if they wanted to summon such a broker, they only needed to send someone to make the call.

There's no need to travel all the way to the wilderness to trade spiritual materials.

In other words, the identity of this burly man with a red beard is highly suspicious.

Could it be the infamous, evil, and wicked cultivator from the Rebellious Immortal Alliance?
Now that the other party had noticed him, Xiao Chen no longer concealed himself. Instead, he opened his divine sense to the fullest extent and quickly scanned the area within a thousand miles to confirm the surrounding environment and the number of people.

Great, there are only three of them here.

Since there were no obvious traces of formations, he could rest assured.

"Damn it, they even brought a tail with them!"

The burly man with the red beard glared at Hong Xingfeng and said, "You're always causing me trouble. I have to clean up your mess."

"Stand here quietly, or I'll kill you if you take a single step out."

As he spoke, a large sword appeared in his hand, and he strode down the mountain, heading straight for Xiao Chen.

At first glance, the broadsword looked no different from an ordinary magical weapon.

However, if you look closely, you can see that there are two slight bumps on the back of the knife.

As true essence was poured into it, the entire blade shone with a dazzling red light, surpassing even the beauty of autumn crabapple blossoms.

Moreover, the red light at those two protrusions was clearly much stronger.

"Good lad, you've got some nerve, not even running away after being discovered."

The burly man with the red beard saw that Xiao Chen showed no intention of dodging or hiding, and was a completely unfamiliar face to him.

Instead, he hesitated for a moment.

So he raised his knife and shouted, "Who are you? Why are you hiding in the back like a ghost?"

The reason he didn't make a direct move was that it's usually difficult to kill someone in a one-on-one situation.

Therefore, the purpose of taking action is often only twofold: to expel the opponent and to test their strength.

Under such circumstances, asking the other party's name upon arrival is also a form of spying and intelligence gathering.

Especially at this particular time, figuring out the origins of this unfamiliar face is equally crucial for them.

"What a coincidence, I was just about to ask you the same question."

Xiao Chen, of course, wouldn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, "And who are you? What are you planning to do, sneaking around here?"

"Let me guess, you must be from the Reverse Immortal Alliance, right?"

Upon hearing this, the burly man with the red beard immediately turned angry.

A hint of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes: "Hmph, looks like a lackey from the Holy City."

He immediately raised his broadsword and roared, "Prepare to die!"

The two were still more than forty miles apart, but as he swung his sword and slashed angrily, layers of sword light fell from the sky.

Xiao Chen looked up and seemed to see a torrential downpour.

It seems that the other party has comprehended a branch of the Great Dao related to 'rain'.

"Why are you resorting to violence so soon?"

Xiao Chen remained calm and skillfully used the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Shield to protect himself.

He had already judged from the aura emanating from the other party that their cultivation level should only be at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, which meant that there was no difference in cultivation level between the two.

If the opponent doesn't have any special tricks up their sleeve, he can basically secure the win.

"Sizzle! Sizzle!"

Strangely enough, when those sword lights landed on the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover, they instantly melted into liquid, emitting a series of corrosive sounds.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Chen felt his true essence begin to drain away rapidly.

Those liquids seemed to have the property of dissolving hostile true essence. Although they could not quickly destroy the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Shield, they could greatly increase the loss of true essence.

To be honest, this move doesn't really look like swordsmanship.

At the same time, the burly man with the red beard did not rush to continue his attack, but instead took out a spirit shield to protect himself.

Then continue to add more sword flashes from afar.

Judging from this posture, they clearly want to deplete Xiao Chen's true energy first.

He clearly seems like an impatient person; he'd start a fight after only three sentences.

However, once the actual battle began, the tactics they chose were quite stable and patient.

In what capacity should we retaliate?

Seeing this, Xiao Chen used his true essence to repair the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Shield while quickly thinking about which aspect of his methods should be exposed.

Every spell cast will inevitably leave a trace.

Meanwhile, the commotion of their battle had already spread, and it was impossible to keep it from the nearby Guiyun Sect.

Therefore, Xiao Chen was mainly thinking about whether he should use the "Crimson Sky Mountain-Severing Palm" to disguise himself as a fire-type cultivator or the "Azure Wave Bone-Penetrating Needle" to disguise himself as a water-type cultivator.
I originally wanted to use the name Jin Guang Sanren, but I haven't learned any metal-based spells yet.

After careful consideration, he decided to use the "Azure Wave Penetrating Needle" to retaliate.

For now, I'll just live as a rogue cultivator with water elemental roots.

Considering that water-based spells are generally blue in color, how about I start calling myself Blue Light Wanderer?

Um, this doesn't sound quite right, let's choose another one.

What should we call him?

While conceiving his new identity, Xiao Chen skillfully threw three Azure Wave Penetrating Needles into the air. The red-bearded giant tried his best to dodge, but was still hit by two of them. Unfortunately, they were both blocked by the spiritual shield, leaving only two crisp sounds.

Immediately afterwards, the Bibo Penetrating Needle also liquefied and began to attempt to penetrate.

However, a flash of white light appeared on the surface of the spirit shield, which blocked the penetration, and it had no choice but to make a final explosion.

"Boom! Boom!"

The two explosions occurred on the outermost edge of the shield, leaving only slight marks.

It's obvious that this spirit shield is of better quality than the one used by the Shadow Mirroring True Monarch before.

In other words, if you want to dismantle it by force, it will probably take a lot of time.

"So everyone really has a spirit shield, huh?"

Xiao Chen could clearly sense that as cultivators' realms increased, everyone became more enthusiastic about improving their survival skills.

Since advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, almost every enemy of the same level he has encountered has a sturdy, custom-made spiritual shield or a special life-saving spiritual object.

Things were fine when I was on the other side of the Ocean of Compassion.

At worst, we can just fight a little longer and wear each other down.

However, it wouldn't work well next to the Guiyun Sect.

After all, 20,000 li is indeed a bit too close for True Lords.

It might only take a moment for a nearby True Lord to arrive and assess the situation.

If you can't finish the battle quickly within 15 to 25 minutes, it's best to leave beforehand.

With this in mind, Xiao Chen threw out three more Azure Wave Penetrating Needles to test the strength of the opponent's spiritual shield.

After realizing that it wouldn't be easy to take it down in a short time, he simply turned around and flew away, ready to leave.

With his advantage in stealth techniques, he could fight or leave at will.

Although being off-sea would slow them down slightly, thanks to the Hextech enhancements, they were still far ahead of the red-bearded giant.

In the blink of an eye, they had left the other person behind.

"You brat, don't you dare run away!"

The burly man with the red beard gave chase for a while, but realized he couldn't catch up. He immediately took out a token from his pocket and waved it in the distance.

The token instantly transformed into a streak of red light and landed in front of Xiao Chen in the blink of an eye.

It split into dozens of red iron chains, binding him and the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Shield together.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the burly man with the red beard quickly closed the distance between the two.

At the same time, he no longer harassed them from a distance with his sword.

Instead, he moved right up to Xiao Chen and swung his sword at him with both hands.

"Crack!"

As the greatsword fell, a noticeable crack appeared on the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Cover.

It is clear that he was under tremendous pressure.

Not only that, but the burly man with the red beard suddenly unleashed a burst of blood and qi, raising his sword to strike again.

The red light on the broadsword, enhanced by the power of qi and blood, became even more dazzlingly bright red, and its power increased by 30%.

“Crack~!”

The Four Symbols Mountain Guardian Cover, having suffered such a direct blow, immediately became riddled with cracks and was on the verge of collapse.

The Xuanwu spirit pattern seemed to let out a mournful cry, becoming almost transparent.

Xiao Chen frowned slightly, it seemed that relying on the strength of a single spirit rune was clearly not enough.

Next, I need to set aside some time to collect all four elemental runes.

However, there is another problem: what does the other party mean by this?
He was about to leave when the other party activated a talisman to forcibly keep him from leaving.

Aren't you worried that if you keep this up, the Guiyun Sect will find out?
Xiao Chen initially thought the other party was a member of the Reverse Immortal Alliance. Could it be that he was wrong?
He was right; the burly man with the red beard was indeed from the Reverse Immortal Alliance.

He didn't actually expect to be able to keep the person there directly.

The reason they went to such lengths as to use talismans and even risk close-quarters combat was simply to obtain more information about the battle.

After all, he has already used two magical artifacts in the fight so far.

However, this unfamiliar young man only used magic to fight back, without even taking out a single magical artifact.

In his view, it was obvious that they were hiding their true intentions.

They wanted to conceal their magical artifacts.

If he lets the other party go like this, it would be equivalent to revealing part of his own hand while knowing almost nothing about the enemy.

This was undoubtedly difficult for him to accept.

In addition, the Double Jade Gathering is about to be held.

At this moment, a Nascent Soul True Monarch, seemingly from the Holy City, suddenly appeared from the Guiyun Sect.

If they know nothing about each other, their plan to seize the two jades will undoubtedly be much more risky.

That's why the burly man with the red beard decisively intervened to stop him.

Even if dragging it out would be risky, or even waste a few talismans, he still wanted to probe the other party's strength.

Ideally, we should try to find out what's special about the other party, or at least investigate the magical artifacts they use, so as to provide crucial information for our side.

It should be noted that the number of weapon-refining masters in the Holy City is not very large.

Many special types of magical artifacts can be analyzed in detail to trace their origins and thus deduce the general background of their users.

Therefore, in order to force the other party to use the customized magical artifact.

The burly man with the red beard attacked even more vigorously, trying to create enough pressure.

The spiritual energy barrier is about to shatter; shouldn't you summon your spiritual shield now?

He wasn't greedy; he glanced at the design and inscriptions of the spirit shield and immediately retreated.

However, these things were only his one-sided thoughts.

For Xiao Chen, this was utterly baffling.

He watched the burly, red-bearded man trying his best to keep him there, and couldn't help but feel speechless.

The other party didn't seem worried about the newcomer; rather, it seemed like they were stalling him so that nearby cultivators could come and join the attack.

But if the other party isn't a cultivator from the Reverse Immortal Alliance, why would they be sneaking around here trading with Hong Xingfeng?

This is pure madness!

Seeing that the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Shield was about to break under the strain, Xiao Chen no longer concealed his intentions and directly activated the Soaring Palm to break the surrounding chains.

Then, without lingering in the fight, they prepared to flee.

But the burly man with the red beard took out an identical talisman and used the same trick again to block his way.

"Are you ever going to shut up? Don't force me to take action!"

A hint of killing intent flashed in Xiao Chen's eyes. He only wanted to hide his trump card, but the other side was clearly determined to relentlessly attack.

The burly man with the red beard was also anxious; he didn't want to waste any more time.

So they continued to press forward with all their might, trying to force the opponent to use their spirit shield for defense.

It was clear that there was no room for negotiation.

Xiao Chen sighed and activated the mechanical grappling hook.

Just as the burly man cleaved through the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Barrier with his sword, they grabbed him completely.

Then, as usual, the mechanical grappling hook struck him directly on the temple, stunning him for a moment.

"Soaring Palm!"

Xiao Chen immediately struck him in the chest with a palm strike.

(End of this chapter)