They had also made plans. They would not take action against those who had just entered the Duan Yuan Mountain Range. Their targets were the cultivators preparing to leave. These cultivators often carried collected spirit herbs and materials from hunted demonic beasts, which could be sold for a considerable amount of money.

In the past few days, they had easily killed several people and obtained many good items. Today, they thought it would be just as easy. Who would have thought they would run into Wang Hao? Fighting until now, his spiritual power was nearly depleted, and he even had thoughts of fleeing.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator facing a Qi Refining one and still thinking of running away—just thinking about it was humiliating!

Zhao Kuang panted like a dog in summer, almost sticking out his tongue.

When he saw Wang Hao looking at him with a smile, he immediately became furious, temporarily suppressing his thoughts of escape. He resolutely swallowed a spirit pill—yes, it was a Spirit Recovery Pill. He didn’t have any Foundation Establishment-level pills; this could only restore one-tenth of his Qi.

But he believed it was enough to deal with Wang Hao, at least ensuring he could escape later. He circulated his spiritual power, pretending to be nonchalant in an attempt to maintain his image of having victory in hand.

Wang Hao almost laughed out loud. “Senior really is quite the actor! If you went into acting, you’d definitely win a little golden statue!”

“Kid, still talking tough even now? Don’t think that just because you have a Tier 1 High-Grade spirit beast, I can’t do anything to you!” Zhao Kuang said fiercely. “You know nothing about the supernatural abilities of a Foundation Establishment cultivator! Hand over your storage bag quickly, and I’ll make it painless for you.”

Wang Hao put on a frightened expression and glanced at the Frost-Eyed White Tiger standing in formation beside him. “Xiao Bai, what do we do? A Foundation Establishment cultivator! So scary!”

His acting was so clumsy that even Xiao Bai rolled its eyes. It opened its large mouth and roared, as if saying, “This rookie Foundation Establishment cultivator? I can handle him myself!”

“Insolence! Kid, take this!” Provoked into anger, Zhao Kuang launched another fierce attack. Wang Hao dodged to the side, watching Xiao Bai engage Zhao Kuang in intense combat.

Zhao Kuang only had a sliver of Qi left, barely managing to fight Xiao Bai to a standstill. Seeing this, Wang Hao decided it was time to use the Shatter-Soul Spike. Even if he couldn’t defeat Zhao Kuang himself, Xiao Bai was there to ensure his safety.

First, he threw out spirit talismans to distract Zhao Kuang. Then, he condensed his Divine Sense into a long spike and fiercely stabbed it into the other’s Sea of Consciousness.

The distance was so close, and with careful planning against an unprepared opponent—plus Divine Sense attacks being formless and intangible—Zhao Kuang hadn’t even reacted before the Shatter-Soul Spike pierced his Sea of Consciousness. He immediately felt a sharp pain in his brain as if it were splitting apart. His eyes widened as he stared at Wang Hao with an expression of utter disbelief. “You…”

Xiao Bai instantly pounced, swiping its paw and smashing Zhao Kuang’s head into pulp. Clearly, he was dead beyond any doubt.

“His Divine Sense was so weak too! It seems my Divine Sense power after reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refining has already surpassed that of an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator!” Wang Hao murmured to himself while observing Zhao Kuang’s condition. “Those who kill shall always be killed. Ah, why bother? A Foundation Establishment cultivator could make a living anywhere; why insist on this kind of zero-investment business?”

Wang Hao’s words were a bit like speaking without feeling the hardship. There weren’t many people as wealthy as him. An early Foundation Establishment cultivator without any special skills, only serving as a guest elder for some family or sect, would receive a stipend of merely two hundred Spirit Stones per year. Yet a single bottle of Gathering Qi Pills cost at least three hundred Spirit Stones—simply not enough!

And was being a guest elder necessarily safe? Taking benefits from others meant selling your life for them. It really couldn’t compare to robbery—higher profits and more freedom!

Wang Hao waited for a while. Seeing that Zhao Kuang remained motionless, he added another strike with his Gale Sword before feeling assured enough to search the corpse. After all, caution ensured a long life. It was possible Zhao Kuang had some hidden trump card; a dying strike from a Foundation Establishment cultivator was not something his Qi Refining self could withstand. Respecting one’s opponent was key to living longer.

Holding Zhao Kuang’s storage bag, Wang Hao smiled with satisfaction. But moments later, his smile froze. “This is too poor! Even the Qi Refining cultivators of the Wang family are better off than you!”

The entire storage bag was filled with useless junk—only a few dozen Spirit Stones, two magical instruments (both Tier 1), and the most valuable items were a pile of Tier 1 spiritual herbs.

It seemed those two magical instruments might not even all be his; they were probably shares from robbing some herb-gathering cultivator! “Starting your business and running into me right away—that’s just your luck!”

Wang Hao cast a Fireball Technique, burning Zhao Kuang’s corpse and the surrounding traces clean. He wasn’t worried about retaliation either; from the information in the storage bag, this Zhao Kuang was just a minor lucky rogue cultivator without any significant background. He did have a few accomplices, but Wang Hao didn’t think they had the capability to attack the market or the Wang family’s stronghold!

After meditating to recover some Qi, Wang Hao applied Swift Movement Talismans and traveled several hundred li until he encountered a mountain stream. He then activated a Water Escape Talisman, diving into the water and following the stream’s flow downstream toward the southeast.

Among escape techniques, the Earth Escape Technique was the most practical because soil was everywhere; the Fire Escape Technique was the fastest but also the most conspicuous (after all, everyone could see a giant fireball flying by); the Wind Escape Technique was the most flexible but required a wind-attribute spiritual root to perform; while the Water Escape Technique was the hardest to track because water constantly flowed—the traces left by Water Escape would drift with the current and become untraceable after a short while.

After escaping along the water for a moment, Wang Hao went ashore (after all, there were also demonic beasts in the water; one couldn’t stay long). Checking his direction—with full-speed travel, he could reach Mount Ruojun in about three or four days—he quickly set off in that direction.

At the edge of the Duan Yuan Mountain Range, Wang Hao encountered Li Derong. Seeing her condition—even more relaxed than himself—he suddenly felt like laughing. What kind of monsters had these two robbers run into? Clearly, they hadn’t checked their almanacs before going out.

“Were you waiting here specifically for me?”

Li Derong nodded. “That Foundation Establishment cultivator’s methods were mediocre. After fighting for a while without being able to defeat me, he retreated. I figured the other person wouldn’t be your match either, so I waited here for you!”

Wang Hao said, “Good! Let’s head to Mount Ruojun first! Regarding the Foundation Establishment Pill matter—I will definitely do my utmost to facilitate it!”

Mount Ruojun looked vastly different from before: many new structures had been added; spirit fields had been simply cultivated; Wang family clansmen busied themselves among them—a scene full of vitality and prosperity.

Before even reaching the mountain gate, they saw Wang Yanzhao rapidly flying toward them using an escape technique. It seemed Wang Yanfeng had only returned just ahead of them!

“Hmm? You’ve reached the ninth layer of Qi Refining?” Wang Yanzhao originally intended to scold Wang Hao thoroughly but seeing both return completely unharmed with increased cultivation—and with Li Derong (an outsider) present—he restrained his anger.

“Senior,” Li Derong bowed respectfully. “Derong has a request this time!”

“This isn’t the place for discussion,” Wang Yanzhao said as he led both flying toward the mountaintop and into the main hall where Wang Yanfeng was waiting.

Seeing Wang Hao and Li Derong arrive together, Wang Yanfeng said, “I guessed that with both your capabilities…” He smiled warmly. “…you’d definitely be fine!”

Such thick skin! Although he told him to go ahead first—Wang Yanfeng really left without looking back! But then again, aside from being somewhat timid, Wang Yanfeng didn’t have major flaws!

“Enough small talk,” Wang Yanzhao said after sitting down and activating a formation preventing outsiders from overhearing. He had heard only bits and pieces from Wang Yanfeng earlier, which worried him enough to fly out to meet them, but the details were still unknown.

Wang Hao thus explained the events of the past three years, briefly mentioning the Condensing Essence Fruit situation.