A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

"Fire Toad and Green Serpent Gentleman of the Crimson Robe Society, I hope I haven't mispronounced your names?"

Qin Changqing looked at Liu Sheng and his companion, who both had expressions of surprise and gloom, with a half-smile, and said slowly.

"Ah!? No wonder this guy looked familiar when I first saw him! It turns out he's that Fire Toad, the traitorous cultivator who's been on the sect's wanted list for a long time!"

Before Liu Sheng and his companion could react, Gu Caiwei, who was not far away, opened her mouth and covered her mouth with her hand, her bright and pretty face full of belated surprise.

No wonder this short, fat man looked familiar; she had seen his face on the wanted poster long ago.

"Hmph! Since you know so much about my brother and me, you must be no ordinary rogue cultivator. May I ask which prestigious sect you belong to?"

Ma Hualong's face turned ashen. He was shocked and furious to see that Qin Changqing had revealed their backgrounds in a single sentence. His eyes darted around, and he subtly moved towards Zhou Ping and the other man beside him.

"It's fine if you don't know my background, but I've heard that this 'Mother-Child Spirit-Breaking Shuttle' is a set of top-grade magic weapons, extremely powerful. You two refined it together, each with one, and used it to intercept and kill many innocent cultivators. Now take out the other one as well. You don't have a second chance to launch a sneak attack today."

Qin Changqing appeared confident and in control, as if he had his back completely, which made Liu Sheng and his companion, who were on high alert, hesitate.

"Do you really think that with your cultivation at the eighth level of Qi Refining, you can completely overpower my brother and me?"

Liu Sheng and his companion exchanged a glance, and before Qin Changqing could react, they both shot off behind them, seemingly with one mind, heading straight for Zhou Ping and Gu Caiwei.

Two flying shuttles, one black and one red, appeared in their hands. As their spiritual light surged, they shot towards the calm Qin Changqing without reservation, seemingly trying to gain the upper hand and temporarily restrain this mysterious and dangerous late-stage cultivator.

Zhou Ping had already recovered from his previous shock. Upon hearing the name of the Tribulation Cultivator, he had prepared his defenses early on, and even summoned his black round shield and Bagua mirror at the same time.

Facing these ruthless cultivators whose cultivation levels were several levels higher than his, he didn't think he would have a chance to fight back. So he decided from the beginning to focus on defense and leave the rest to Qin Changqing.

"Senior Brother Qin is so calm; he can't be bluffing, can he?"

With two defensive magical artifacts on his body and the azure lotus shield within his body held back, Zhou Ping felt reassured. He couldn't help but secretly speculate that with his current defensive capabilities, he should be able to withstand even the opponent's rhombus-shaped flying shuttle to some extent.

Gu Caiwei, on the other hand, was much more composed than him. Suddenly, the "Azure Wave Mirror" emitted a bright blue light, and the wave-shaped protective shield around it expanded by more than one circle. The sound of waves could be heard coming from within it, making it seem somewhat frightening.

Not far away, Qin Changqing raised his hand and waved it, and three more cyan lotus shields appeared in front of him. With their combined strength, they firmly blocked Liu Sheng and his companion's "Mother-Child Spirit-Breaking Shuttle".

Looking up at the blue water shield that completely enveloped Gu Caiwei, his eyes remained calm, as if he had expected it all along, and he showed no surprise.

As the apple of the eye of the Gu family and the pride of the Bihua Xuanzong sect, it was quite normal for Gu Caiwei to be able to produce a magic weapon of such a high grade. On the contrary, Zhou Ping, who was standing to the side, could tell from a brief sensing that the two defensive magic weapons in front of him were somewhat unsatisfactory.

He could barely withstand an attack from one person, but if two people saw that Gu Caiwei was too difficult to deal with and turned to attack him, his chances of survival would be slim.

As a fellow disciple, Qin Changqing, having provoked these two cultivators, naturally wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. So, with a thought, a rustling sound came from the bushes not far away, and a black shadow rushed towards Zhou Ping's direction. Its speed was so fast that it arrived in front of Zhou Ping even though it was behind.

In a flash, Liu Sheng and his companion arrived in front of Gu Caiwei and Zhou Ping, but upon seeing the powerful magical shield surrounding the woman, their expressions changed.

"A top-grade defensive magic weapon!?"

Their attack slowed slightly, and after a quick glance, they suddenly changed their approach, simultaneously striking the magical weapon in their hands towards the wary Zhou Ping.

Ding-dong!

A deafening clang of metal striking metal rang out, and Liu Sheng and Ma Hualong were stunned. Staring at the dark figure that suddenly appeared in front of them, a loud bang went through their minds, and the hairs on their bodies stood on end.

A pitch-black steel figure, devoid of any spiritual energy fluctuations, was seen gripping the two people's magical artifacts tightly with its claw-like iron hands, without sustaining any damage.

Even more bizarre was the face of the steel figure, which was devoid of any facial features, and instead contained numerous densely packed, finger-sized circular holes, from which a faint white light was now emanating.

"A high-grade puppet!?"

Liu Sheng and his companion cried out in alarm, their souls nearly leaving their bodies. They no longer cared about the magical artifacts that were difficult for the puppets to break free from, and hurriedly retreated.

Ma Hualong patted his storage bag, and the gong-shaped magical artifact he had previously used immediately appeared in front of him, firmly protecting most of the area in front of the two of them.

Liu Sheng opened his mouth and spat out a ball of emerald green liquid with a "poof," which instantly transformed into a large, viscous, emerald green net that swept over the black puppet.

The two reacted decisively, making the right choice in an instant. Their offensive and defensive maneuvers perfectly demonstrated their usual tacit cooperation.

Before the two could make any further moves, a dozen white beams of light shot out from the black puppet's face, striking their faces in the blink of an eye at close range.

At the same time, a cold voice sounded behind them, like a demon's whisper.

"Have you two forgotten about me...?"

Qin Changqing had somehow moved behind and above Liu Sheng and his companion. A flash of green light appeared in his hand, and a small green sword suddenly grew from three or four inches to three feet long, bursting out with a dazzling green sword light. With a flick of his fingers, he fiercely slashed at Ma Hualong, who was wide open.

Hiss hiss hiss.....

After the noise, two screams came from the dense forest. One stopped abruptly, while the other continued to groan in pain.

Zhou Ping stared in astonishment at the scene before him, his heart filled with shock. Gu Caiwei, standing beside him, turned pale. After glancing at the sticky substance splattered on her dress, she suddenly gagged, covering her mouth tightly with her hands, refusing to look at it again.

Two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators were instantly killed and seriously injured. The short, fat cultivator named Fire Toad was facing the black puppet head-on, and his head was pierced through the green net by a white beam of light, turning it into a mangled mess, with red and white matter splattering everywhere.

This outcome was due to the fact that Bi She Lang Jun subconsciously shifted his body to the side, moving the gong in front of him to block Qin Changqing's deadly sword strike. As a result, there was no defensive barrier in front of the two of them, and Liu Sheng was struck in the head by the beam of light before he could react and died instantly.

Although Bi She Lang Jun managed to block Qin Chang Qing's deadly flying sword, his shoulder and neck were pierced by several bursts of white light, and blood gushed out like a spring.

With such severe injuries, even if Qin Changqing and the other two didn't kill him, he clearly wouldn't live much longer unless he immediately took that miraculous healing medicine that could bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded. Otherwise, he was doomed to die.