“Damn it! Just how many talismans does he have?!”

A disciple’s voice cracked, thick with despair.

They had never seen such an “extravagant” fighting style. This wasn’t a battle of arts or skill. It was simply using Spirit Stones to smash people to death.

Suppressed by the endless torrent of elemental attacks, the five elites were pinned down, unable to even lift their heads. Their Qi reserves were draining fast. If this continued, they would become fish on the chopping block—helpless and waiting for the knife.

The burly leader’s face was dark enough to drip water.

He felt the immense pressure. Being passively beaten like this was a slow death sentence.

The opponent’s reserves far exceeded his imagination. In just the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, the enemy had burned through fifty or sixty Tier 1 Top-grade talismans. That was nearly three thousand Spirit Stones.

Squandered in minutes.

How could an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator be this wealthy?

“I can’t wait any longer!”

A flash of heartache crossed the leader’s eyes, instantly replaced by resolute madness.

He slapped his storage bag. A stream of earthy yellow light shot out, hovering before him.

It wasn’t a talisman. It was a palm-sized jade seal, shaped like a miniature mountain peak. It looked ancient and unadorned, but the spiritual pressure radiating from it was heavy enough to crush bones.

“A Talisman Treasure?!”

Chen Ping’s pupils contracted to needle points.

A lethal crisis seized his heart. He recognized this item. It was a special consumable crafted from a fragment of a true Dharma Treasure, sealing a portion of its devastating power within. Its might far exceeded ordinary Tier 2 talismans.

“To force me to use this treasure… consider yourself honored in death!”

The leader laughed ferociously, his face turning deathly pale as the seal sucked a massive amount of Qi from his meridians. He bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the jade.

Hummm…!

Absorbing the blood, the seal erupted with blinding yellow radiance.

A terrifying pressure, heavy as a descending mountain, filled the formation. Chen Ping felt the air thicken into sludge. He was suffocating.

The seal swelled in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a massive, house-sized mountain phantom composed of solid earth essence. At its base, an ancient character for “Suppress” glowed ominously.

Rumble!

The colossal mountain phantom locked onto Chen Ping and crashed down.

It seemed slow, but its pressure locked space itself, sealing off all avenues of escape. The ground beneath Chen Ping’s feet cracked and sank under the invisible weight.

A moment of life and death.

Chen Ping’s eyes held nothing but the descending mountain.

He wasn’t panicked.

No matter how strong the Talisman Treasure was, it was being wielded by a Qi Condensation cultivator. Its power was finite.

“Break for me!”

He let out a low roar, his hands moving in a blur.

He didn’t throw Tier 1 talismans this time. They were useless against this level of force.

He threw five deep cyan Golden Blade Talismans.

Five Tier 2 Low-grade talismans. Another two thousand five hundred Spirit Stones.

The burly leader stared, dumbfounded.

Just how rich is this guy?!

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Five ten-foot-long cyan blade auras tore through the air, screaming like banshees.

They didn’t scatter. Under Chen Ping’s precise Divine Sense control, they converged, fusing into a single, colossal golden blade phantom.

Slash!

The giant blade met the descending mountain base.

Clang——!!!

The sound was like the earth splitting open.

Blinding gold and yellow light devoured the clearing. A terrifying shockwave blasted outward, shattering the pale yellow light curtain of the trapping formation like glass struck by a hammer. Trees and rocks within a hundred feet were pulverized into dust.

When the light faded and the dust settled, Chen Ping staggered back a dozen steps, blood trickling from his mouth. His internal organs churned violently.

But the mountain phantom was gone.

On the ground lay the earthy yellow jade seal, its light dim, its surface covered in fine cracks. It let out a mournful hum.

The collision had exhausted its power.

The burly leader’s eyes were wide with disbelief. His greatest trump card… blocked?

The other four disciples were terrified out of their wits. They were bleeding from their noses and mouths, their clothes in tatters, their shields shattered. They looked at Chen Ping not as an enemy, but as a monster. A walking God of Wealth who killed with money.

“Split up and run!!!”

The leader screamed, his voice hoarse with fear.

The treasure was gone. They were injured. And the enemy still had talismans.

Staying meant death.

Without hesitation, the leader turned into a yellow streak of light and vanished into the forest. The other four scattered like startled rabbits, fleeing in four different directions.

Chen Ping stood alone in the ruined clearing, chest heaving.

He watched them go, his eyes icy. He didn’t chase. His escape arts were average, and hunting them down one by one was too risky and expensive.

“What a pity…”

He murmured, suppressing his churning blood.

He walked over to the three headless corpses, deftly stripping their storage bags and incinerating the bodies with a Fireball Art. Then, he picked up the cracked jade seal. Even damaged, the materials were valuable.

Pocketing it, Chen Ping turned toward the True Essence Fruit tree.