Within the silent expanse of the Jade Pendant space, Chen Ping sat on the black earth, his chest heaving like a bellows. Cold sweat clung to his forehead, and his heart hammered against his ribs.

He stared down at his trembling hands.

The three cyan Golden Blade Talismans were gone, reduced to fine gray ash that slipped through his fingers.

Twenty-seven Tier-2 talismans remained. That was it.

“I killed three. Five are still waiting outside,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing in calculation.

That lightning strike had worked because of surprise and overwhelming firepower. He had traded three expensive talismans for three lives. It was a good trade, but not one he could repeat.

The survivors would be terrified now. They would be clustered together in an unbreakable defensive formation, waiting for him to reappear.

A head-on assault?

Chen Ping ran the numbers instantly. To crack the combined defense of five late-stage Qi Condensation experts from the Thick Earth Sect—specialists in defense—would require a fortune.

He would need to drown them in at least a hundred Tier-1 talismans just to wear down their Qi, followed by a precision strike with seven or eight Tier-2 talismans to finish the job.

The cost… it made his heart bleed.

Thirty thousand Spirit Stones had bought these life-saving cards. One battle would burn through a quarter of his entire fortune. And this was just the entrance to the Secret Realm.

Escape was the logical choice.

He had Earth Evasion Talismans. He could slip away, leave the formation, and live to fight another day.

But then he thought of the tree.

The True Essence Fruit Tree. A variant bearing six fruits.

One fruit could change a cultivator’s destiny. Six could build a foundation of power that would last centuries. And with his black earth space, he could take the entire tree.

“I cannot give it up.”

The hesitation vanished from Chen Ping’s eyes, replaced by the cold glint of iron.

Risk and reward were two sides of the same coin. If he burned his fortune today, he could earn it back tomorrow. But a True Essence Fruit Tree? That was a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

He checked his sleeves. Fresh talismans were loaded, ready to fire instantly.

He calmed his breathing. His gaze hardened.

With a thought, the air around him rippled.

Outside, the five surviving disciples stood back-to-back, a tight circle of fear and steel. Their shields were active, their eyes darting nervously at every shadow, every rustle of leaves.

The silence stretched, pulling their nerves taut as bowstrings.

Just as the burly leader blinked, a microscopic lapse in concentration—

Hum.

Space distorted near a cluster of bushes, less than thirty meters away.

The nightmare returned.

“There! Kill him!” the leader screamed, his fear instantly converting into berserk rage.

But Chen Ping was faster.

He didn’t speak. He simply raised his arm.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

It wasn’t an attack; it was a bombardment.

Chen Ping’s fingers flicked, scattering over a dozen Tier-1 talismans like seeds in the wind. They ignited instantly, transforming the air into a multicolored hell.

Roaring fire serpents, massive spikes of glacial ice, a rain of golden needles, spinning wind blades, and boulders the size of houses—all materialized at once.

The Five Elements Arts, unleashed in a chaotic, destructive torrent, smashed toward the five disciples.

“Hold! Form the Thick Earth Wall!” the leader bellowed.

The five disciples poured their Qi into the ground. Instantly, a massive wall of compressed earth rose before them, shimmering with a metallic luster. Their yellow robes flared, adding a second layer of protective light.

BOOM!

The world disappeared in a deafening roar.

Fire scorched the rock, ice froze the cracks, golden needles sparked against the stone, and wind blades gouged deep furrows. The impact of the boulders made the ground shudder like an earthquake.

The Thick Earth Wall groaned and shook, dust and gravel raining down, but it held.

“Is that all?” the leader shouted, his confidence returning. “Wear him out! He’s just throwing money! Once he runs out of paper, he’s dead!”

Chen Ping didn’t react. His face was a mask of indifference, his arm a machine.

He raised his left hand. Another dozen talismans flew out.

This time, the attack was insidious.

Vine Entanglement Talismans activated. Thick, thorny vines erupted from the earth beneath the disciples’ feet, coiling around their ankles like vipers, disrupting their stance and Qi flow.

Simultaneously, Armor-Piercing Golden Needles whistled through the air, drilling into a single, stress-fractured point on the wall.

“Cut the vines! Reinforce the wall!” the leader screamed, panic creeping back into his voice.

The formation wavered. They scrambled to hack at the vines while pouring more Qi into the crumbling defense.

But Chen Ping gave them no respite.

Twenty sheets. Thirty sheets. Fifty sheets.

He was burning money at a rate that would make a sect elder weep.

A sea of fire, a domain of ice, a storm of gold and wind. The confined space of the formation became a meat grinder of elemental chaos.

Under the relentless, insane bombardment, the Thick Earth Wall finally let out a screech of failure.

Spiderweb cracks raced across its surface.

The disciples behind it were pale as ghosts. Veins bulged on their foreheads, sweat soaked their robes, and their Qi drained away like floodwaters through an open gate.

Every talisman that slammed into the wall felt like a sledgehammer to their chests.