“Enough talk, let’s move! These two are managers of the Wang family’s pill shop. They must have a lot of money on them!” Jiang Chao urged, firing several fireballs at the two as he spoke.

“Eighth Uncle, hold them off first. I’ll break the formation!”

Wang Hao really didn’t want Wang Yanfeng to speak anymore. The formation trapping them was just a Tier 1 Three Talents Entrapment Formation. It might be troublesome for other cultivators, but for Wang Hao, who had mastered the Fireball Technique to perfection, it was just a matter of blasting it a few more times. If a few times weren’t enough, then he’d blast it a dozen times!

A true protagonist acts ruthlessly with few words. Wang Yanfeng’s behavior was that of a classic cannon fodder, and Wang Hao couldn’t let him drag them down.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Huge fireballs exploded on the light barrier, immediately thinning it considerably.

“It’s working, keep it up! Eighth Uncle can hold on,” Wang Yanfeng said, holding up a small orange shield to block the trio’s spell attacks. Seeing Wang Hao’s single round of attacks significantly thin the light screen, his face showed delight.

“These targets are a bit tough. Go all out! These two have almost exhausted their Qi. They definitely can’t hold on much longer!” Seeing his attacks prove ineffective and his opponents about to break the formation, Jiang Chao grew anxious. To make his act convincing along the way, he didn’t have much Qi left either. Once the Wang family duo got out, they would surely target him first.

Boom! Rumble!

The Three Talents Entrapment Formation worked well against demonic beasts, but against cultivators, breaking it was only a matter of time. These three had no choice; they were broke!

Wang Hao unleashed a ten-hit combo of fireballs, followed by a fierce strike with the Gale Sword he obtained from a previous duel. The yellow light screen collapsed with a thunderous crash.

“A Tier 1 Top-Grade magical artifact! What a fat sheep!” The dark-faced man wasn’t panicked; instead, he eyed Wang Hao’s Gale Sword with greed. “I’ll handle this kid. That fine sword of his is mine!”

He pulled out a long whip and lashed it towards Wang Hao.

Jiang Chao also coveted the Top-Grade artifact, but unfortunately, his Qi was insufficient. Reluctantly, he could only assist the woman in green.

The dark-faced man was at the seventh layer of Qi Refining. In the past, Wang Hao might have turned and run. But after his duels at Wang Family Ridge, where he even defeated an eighth-layer core disciple of the family, would he fear a mere rogue cultivator?

The dark-faced man fiercely swung his whip; the crack of its tip was ear-piercing. Wang Hao immediately raised his sword to block.

A crisp crack sounded as the whip tip struck his longsword, causing it to emit a buzzing hum.

The first clash ended in a draw. However, Wang Hao’s strength wasn’t in his swordsmanship but in his six fully mastered techniques!

“Not bad skill. Take another whip!” the dark-faced man shouted excitedly.

But Wang Hao had no interest in playing around with him. Although Wang Yanfeng was at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, his combat experience was lacking. Coupled with depleted Qi, he could only passively defend against the woman in green and Jiang Chao. After just moments of engagement, he was forced into retreat. Wang Hao had to deal with the dark-faced man quickly to help him.

Wang Hao sidestepped to dodge the dark-faced man’s attack while simultaneously scattering dozens of talismans for an area attack. Lightly raising both hands, he released five fireballs in succession.

Seeing this, the dark-faced man’s expression changed drastically as he frantically whipped his weapon in defense.

“With skills like these? You really dare!” Wang Hao couldn’t help but laugh out loud while activating an Entangling Vine Technique to bind the dark-faced man’s limbs.

“No!” Amidst the dark-faced man’s horrified cry, a massive fireball engulfed him.

“Brother Cui!” Jiang Chao cried out in pain while simultaneously thinking of retreat. “San Niang, we’re no match for them! Let’s withdraw!”

Without waiting for the woman in green to reply, he disengaged from the fight and tried to flee.

How could Wang Hao let him escape? Using his Object Control Technique to guide his flying sword, he swiftly pursued Jiang Chao while throwing out several talismans to block his escape route.

Slash!

Jiang Chao already had little Qi left. Frightened and having lost confidence, he failed to dodge in time and was beheaded by Wang Hao’s sword.

Three against two became two against one. The fate of the woman in green was sealed. Seeing Wang Hao slay two in a row, Wang Yanfeng felt an itch to act himself. Mimicking Wang Hao’s method, he scattered a large number of talismans, creating a huge ruckus with booms and rumbles. Then, using a net-like magical artifact to trap the woman in green, he shouted to Wang Hao, “Wang Hao! Do it!”

Wang Hao inwardly sighed at the absurdity. With only one opponent left, they could have worn her down together. Why waste so many talismans? This Eighth Uncle really was unreliable!

Complaints aside, he wouldn’t miss this opportunity either. Directly controlling his flying sword, he pierced it through the woman’s abdomen.

The woman in green clutched her stomach where the sword had pierced her; her face wore an expression of unwillingness as she closed her eyes forever.

Wang Yanfeng retrieved his artifact and walked over, shaking his head with regret for a moment before saying, “Hao’er, you see how dangerous Duan Yuan Mountain is? It’s good I accompanied you this time. In the future, never enter these mountains alone!”

Damn it! Clearly, you were coveting spirit herbs and decided to enter the mountains!

“Eighth Uncle… I broke that formation and killed those people!”

“Ahem… Don’t dwell on such details. Let’s transplant that Borage and get out of here quickly!”

ROAR!

Just then, a roar suddenly came from afar.

“Oh no! A Tier 2 demonic beast! Run!” Hearing the roar, Wang Yanfeng’s face drastically changed color. Not caring whether the Borage would survive or not anymore, he violently shoveled it up, roots and all, before hurriedly stuffing it into his storage bag and turning to flee.

Wang Hao felt utterly exasperated. This beast was likely attracted by their battle noises; Wang Yanfeng’s final talisman barrage contributed greatly.

He also cursed himself for being careless. If he had been constantly monitoring his map system interface, he would have surely seen any approaching beast.

Hastily collecting the storage bags from the dark-faced man and his companions, he chased after Wang Yanfeng.

But not long after they started running again, Wang Hao noticed two Tier 2 beasts appearing ahead and another two on their right flank. Meanwhile, Wang Yanfeng kept charging forward heedlessly towards danger.

Wang Hao was speechless again—a true master at courting death! But he couldn’t just abandon him. He had no choice but to quickly catch up and stop him.

“Run fast! Why are you stopping me? Don’t you value your life?” Wang Yanfeng grew frantic instantly.

This made Wang Hao furious inside. “Charging ahead like that is what will get us killed! You’re agitating all the nearby beasts!”

“What do we do then?” Anxiety filled Wang Yanfeng’s face.

“Follow me! Use the Earth Escape Technique!”

Calling out once more, Wang Hao led by example—he dove underground first, heading leftward.

The path ahead remained unknown; a white blankness covered that area on the map display. But they had no other choice now since Tier 2 beasts blocked the front, back, and right sides. If it were just one, maybe it would be manageable—but four or five? No chance!

One was at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, the other at the seventh layer; their speed fell far short compared to Tier 2 beasts. After running for the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, they still got caught up by a single low-level Tier 2 white tiger-type beast behind them, which was now pursuing closely.

The tiger slammed both paws onto the ground forcefully. The underground duo felt earthquake-like tremors instantly. The surrounding soil began crushing against their protective shields continuously. Prolonged exposure meant certain death via crushing pressure below the surface eventually.

They had no choice but to emerge back above ground. Immediately upon surfacing, the tiger let out a furious roar followed by a wind blade attack flying towards the duo. Wang Hao hurriedly slapped out several Earthen Wall Talismans consecutively. That single wind blade pierced through three earthen walls before finally dissipating.

“Eighth Uncle… you go ahead first… I’ll hold it off briefly…” Since Wang Yanfeng lacked combat prowess and was effectively zero help, staying behind was basically suicide anyway. So, the only option left was for Wang Hao to act as the rear guard alone.