Imperial Scepter

The battlefield was filled with the smoke of battle.

Li Daoqiu, carrying Wang Hu whose shoulder blade had been pierced by a long sword, moved unsteadily toward Gao Chun.

Wang Hu's left arm hung limply at his sides, his face ashen white, with only the faint rise and fall of his chest indicating that he was still breathing.

Gao Chengzhi followed closely behind, his face pale, his eyes filled with the terror of having witnessed the bloody battle.

He was forced out by his grandfather to undergo training, and he didn't want to come from the bottom of his heart. At home, as long as he finished the training exercises required by his parents, he could freely read novels in the rest of the time. He never thought that the dangers of the Southern Wilderness would be so deadly.

"Hold your breath, don't get entangled in a fight!" Li Daoqiu shouted in a low voice, his fingertips already gripping a first-grade earth wall talisman.

A bandit charged forward, brandishing his knife, the blade gleaming coldly as it aimed directly at his face.

Li Daoqiu spun around and raised his palm, rapidly channeling pale yellow profound energy into the talisman. The talisman instantly transformed into a yellow light and fell to the ground, whereupon a solid earthen wall, half a person's height, stood up with a bang.

Before the bandit could stop, his longsword slammed into the earthen wall, the impact numbing his arm and causing him to stagger backward.

Li Daoqiu still harbored the confidence to break through the encirclement.

The dozen or so talismans in his storage bag were his greatest reliance at this moment.

Unfortunately, he only had two Dao Seeds, yellow and purple, which allowed him to activate defensive and assassin talismans.

If we can activate control talismans to slow down the bandits, our chances of breaking through will be much greater.

Even more critically, his cultivation level is a constraint. With the strength of a three-star bronze realm cultivator, activating a first-grade talisman requires one-tenth of his profound energy, and activating two second-grade talismans requires him to exhaust all his profound energy.

He had planned this all along, handing two second-grade Wind Travel Talismans to Gao Chun and Gao Chengzhi, who were carrying Wang Hu, and then using the speed advantage of the purple Dao Seed, the four of them could break through together.

He didn't even consider the safety of Liu Neng's five team members.

Unexpectedly, Gao Chun suddenly threw Wang Hu onto his back and charged alone towards the bandit leader, completely disrupting all his plans.

Gao Chengzhi gripped the talisman at his waist tightly, his palms already soaked with cold sweat, feeling a mix of regret, anger, and anxiety.

What he regretted was coming to this godforsaken place; he could have been so much more comfortable reading stories at home. What angered him was his uncle's reckless heroism; he could have escaped but instead rushed out, forcing him to come and rescue him. What worried him was that the battle was one-sided, with them and Liu Neng's team being relentlessly suppressed by the bandits.

With mixed feelings, he protected Li Daoqiu as he approached Gao Chun, while secretly gritting his teeth.

Seeing a bandit's longsword, gleaming with a chilling light, aimed straight at Li Daoqiu's back, Gao Chengzhi's pupils constricted. Without a second thought, he clenched his teeth and lunged forward from the side!

The pale red Xuan power circulated rapidly, gathering at the tip of his fist, and with the unyielding brute force of a young man, he slammed it fiercely towards the bandit cultivator's vulnerable waist.

The bandit reacted extremely quickly. After noticing the attack from the side, he spun around and changed his move, slashing down with his long sword. With a "sizzle," the sword sliced ​​through Gao Chengzhi's shoulder, and blood gushed out instantly, soaking his clothes.

Despite the excruciating pain, Gao Chengzhi did not furrow his brow; his youthful face was filled with a stubbornness beyond his years.

Instead of backing down, he roared and unleashed his pale red Xuan power, smashing his fists even more fiercely at the enemy.

The bandit was taken aback by Gao Chengzhi's reckless attitude and hastily parried, but was forced back by him.

Just then.

Gao Chengzhi suddenly caught sight of his uncle, Gao Chun, being violently struck by the bandit cultivator's magic wall. He then fell heavily to the ground like a kite with a broken string, covered in blood, and lay limply motionless.

Gao Chengzhi's eyes instantly turned frighteningly red, his brain seemed to have been struck by lightning, and the veins on his forehead throbbed.

All that remained in his chest was a reckless surge of energy; all his previous regret and anger vanished, and only one thought exploded in his mind: save his uncle!

He recklessly channeled his pale purple profound energy and rushed towards Gao Chun like a madman, his only thought being to get to his uncle's side.

During the attack, he sometimes condensed pale yellow profound energy for defense, and sometimes condensed pale red profound energy for counterattack.

During the impact, he muttered to himself, his eyes filled with panic.

"If you die, who will buy me sketchbooks? How will I explain it to my family? Please, please don't die! Otherwise, my mom will beat me to death!"

Gao Chengzhi's reckless and frenzied fighting style actually scared away the four bandit cultivators who were attacking and harassing him.

But he already had many wounds on his body.

His chest was grazed by the force of the bandit's punch, leaving a purplish-blue bruise that made it hard for him to breathe.

The old wound on his shoulder was still bleeding, and a new knife wound had appeared, with the flesh turned outwards, a shocking sight.

A long gash was also cut open on his leg, and blood trickled down his trouser leg, soaking through his shoes and socks. Every step he took was excruciatingly painful.

Crimson drops of blood dripped continuously, flowing down the hem of her clothes and spreading out in crimson spots at her feet.

His cultivation was already shallow, and with such a fierce consumption of energy, his profound energy was quickly depleted. In addition, he was seriously injured, his face turned as pale as paper, and he was panting heavily. His offensive power also weakened significantly.

Just when he was about to give up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gao Chun stagger to his feet, supporting himself on the ground; he was clearly alright.

His tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and he instantly regained some of his rationality, no longer blindly charging and attacking.

"I'm exhausted. I should have brought more Xuanli Pills!" he muttered, but his steps didn't stop. He quickly retreated to Li Daoqiu's side, and the two cooperated, advancing and retreating together.

When the bandit leader saw that none of the nine youths had escaped and that each of them was severely injured, a greedy glint flashed in his eyes, his desire almost overflowing.

He stared at the group of youths possessing multiple Dao Seeds, his rough laughter sending dust billowing across the battlefield: "Hahaha! Go easy on them! Don't let these treasures die!"

"Exhaust their profound energy, then capture them alive! A genius with multi-colored Dao seeds can be sold to a sect hidden in the Southern Wilderness Forest—enough to keep us happy for years!"

In fact, he had been keeping an eye on these two groups of teenagers for a long time.

When they joined forces to deal with the herd of black bulls, he hid in the shadows and carefully observed them. He also searched the surrounding area thoroughly to confirm that there were no high-level experts secretly protecting them.

As for the loss to Liu Neng's team last time, it was simply because he deliberately threw the game.

At that time, there were Silver Realm experts hiding in the shadows watching him, and in order to save his life, he didn't dare to go all out.

This made Liu Neng really think his team was so powerful, little did he know that if it weren't for the protection of a Silver Realm expert, they would have been his prisoners long ago.

Seeing that his prey had no way to escape, he was so smug that his mouth almost stretched to his ears, convinced that these nine little cubs were already his.

The other four bandit cultivators, all at the fourth level of the Bronze Realm, immediately adjusted their tactics, ceasing their heavy attacks and instead harassing the enemy relentlessly, forcing them to exhaust their profound energy.

Under this tactic, Li Daoqiu, carrying Wang Hu on his back, and Gao Chengzhi finally rushed to Gao Chun's side.

The four reunited.

"Are you crazy?!" Gao Chun's chest heaved violently, his scarlet eyes fixed on the two of them, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing.

Looking at Gao Chengzhi's deep shoulder wound and bloodstains, he was heartbroken: "Chengzhi, why did you come back? You had such a good opportunity just now, why didn't you just leave!"

"Hmph! Who's going to save you if I leave?" Gao Chengzhi turned his head away arrogantly, his eyes reddening. "If you die, my mom will scold me when I get back, and no one will buy me new storybooks!"

Li Daoqiu put Wang Hu down, stood up straight, and his gaze was as firm as iron: "No! We can't abandon you!"

His voice rang out firmly: "We came together, and we'll leave together! You're the captain, and the team members would never abandon their captain!"

Gao Chun felt a lump in his throat, and the heat instantly blurred his vision.

He knew that the two of them were determined, but if they continued to drag this out, everyone would perish here!

What should we do next? How can we break through this situation?

Just at this time.

The bandit leader's sharp, hawk-like eyes swept over Gao Chun and his group of four, his gaze darkening: Hmm? Two of them still have strength left.

That won't do; we must first cripple their ability to resist!

He decisively used his magic.

"Defense Technique: Earth Wall Shield!"

A surge of earthy-yellow profound energy erupted from his palm, rapidly condensing into shape in front of him.

The shield was about half a zhang square, its surface covered with flowing, mysterious runes, and it shone with a thick, earthy yellow halo, making it look indestructible.

As soon as the shield was formed, it charged towards Gao Chun and Li Daoqiu with the force of thunder, kicking up clouds of dust, determined to severely injure them and render them completely incapable of fighting.

He had already seen through the battle situation. The other youths had exhausted their Xuan power and lost their vigor. Only these two still had some vitality left and could barely hold on to resist.

Since we must capture these multi-talented youths alive today, we must first break their last pair of sharp claws!

"Uncle, stay away!"

Gao Chengzhi clenched his teeth, drawing blood from his lower lip, his bloodshot eyes filled with determination.

He poured all the remaining profound energy in his body into the earthen wall talisman, and the talisman suddenly burst out with a dazzling yellow light, with the mysterious runes spinning rapidly.

The talisman, originally the size of a thumb, instantly dissipated, and a towering, golden earthen wall rose from the ground, firmly blocking the way.

"Bang!!"

The bandit leader's magical earthen wall crashed down with overwhelming force.

Gao Chengzhi's talisman-covered earthen wall instantly became covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and debris flaked off, while the magical earthen wall remained intact, pressing closer step by step.

His face was deathly pale, his hands were trembling, his profound energy was completely exhausted, and his meridians were throbbing with pain, but he stubbornly refused to back down.

"Run! Uncle!" he roared, his voice filled with defiance and tears.

"Bang!!"

The yellow wall shattered with a crash, and the black earthen wall, carrying a strong wind, smashed straight toward his head!

"No!"

Gao Chun's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulged on his forehead, and his eyeballs bulged slightly from extreme anger and anxiety.

He is about to break his own seal and unleash the full power of the four-star bronze realm!

At the critical moment.

A figure in cyan, like a flowing rainbow, drifted gracefully from the distant horizon.

Before even approaching the battlefield, the figure raised his hand to cast a spell.

"Control Spell: Thousand Miles of Frozen Land!"

In an instant, the air between heaven and earth turned frigid, and countless icicles condensed out of thin air, forming a giant ice mountain that resembled a long, icy coffin, which imprisoned the bandit leader who was about to charge forward.

The ice layer was thick and crystal clear, exuding a bone-chilling cold. The bandit leader was frozen in place, his limbs and bones completely encased in ice, unable to even circulate his profound energy, and completely unable to move.

"Grandpa!"

When Gao Chengzhi saw the face of the figure in blue, his tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and the huge weight that had been hanging over his heart was lifted off his feet.

The fear, fighting, and exhaustion of his profound energy over the past few days surged through his body in an instant, and he fainted as everything went black.