The Foundation Establishment cultivator froze. It was a fatal latency spike.
Sun Yi’s velocity shifted abruptly, a sudden acceleration that defied the standard physics engine. By the time the enemy processor registered the threat, a golden dragon was already occupying his entire field of view.
“Not good!”
The cultivator’s expression twisted in horror. His reaction times were decent; he instantly deployed a layer of True Qi shielding and crushed a defensive talisman, stacking his damage mitigation protocols.
But against Sun Yi’s DPS, it was insufficient.
Crash.
The golden dragon tore through the talisman’s light barrier like it was wet tissue paper. The True Qi shield buckled and failed a microsecond later. The kinetic energy slammed home.
“No—!”
A desperate scream was cut short. The golden light dissipated, revealing a small golden flying sword hovering obediently by Sun Yi’s side.
Opposite him, the cultivator stood frozen, a bowl-sized hole punched cleanly through his chest. His hardware had suffered a catastrophic failure.
“You… you aren’t… Qi… Qi Refining…”
The man’s eyes rolled back, his system shutting down permanently as he collapsed.
Sun Yi walked over to the corpse. The man’s face was frozen in a mask of indignation, unable to reconcile the data even in death.
Sun Yi shook his head, offering a final correction. “Your analysis was flawed. I really am only at the Qi Refining stage. I just have better optimization.”
He didn’t waste time. He looted the Storage Bag—asset acquisition complete—and whipped out his Spirit Plate.
Scanning for hostile signals…
The radar was clear.
“Time to execute the exit protocol,” Sun Yi muttered.
He didn’t know if Elder Jin Jue’s firewall could hold back the Golden Core admins from the Black Wind Stockade. If they sent a high-level executive to hunt him down, his current build wouldn’t survive the encounter.
He didn’t even bother to destroy the corpse or wipe the logs. Speed was the priority.
Sun Yi activated his flight technique, turning into a streak of light as he relocated to a safer sector.
High in the distant sky, the server load was critical.
Elder Jin Jue was locked in a high-stakes deadlock with two Golden Core cultivators. His flying sword danced around him like a golden barrier, parrying incoming attacks with fluid precision.
Daoist Centipede controlled a massive purple-backed centipede—a tank-class summons with absurd defense stats. It tried repeatedly to breach Jin Jue’s perimeter, but the golden sword kept it zoned out.
Above Jin Jue’s head, an ancient bronze lamp hovered, projecting a dome of flame.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Screaming skulls, summoned by the Old Monster Skeleton, smashed against the fire barrier. Each impact resulted in a sizzling recoil, the skulls crying out in agony as the holy fire burned them.
“Damn it! A Third-Grade, Ninth-Rank Spirit Artifact!” Old Monster Skeleton roared, his eyes burning with greed and frustration. “That lamp is hard-countering my necromancy!”
Daoist Centipede’s expression was equally grim.
Elder Jin Jue’s performance metrics were exceeding projections. Even though all three of them were Golden Core late-stage, in a 1v1 scenario, neither bandit would be a match for the Qingyun Elder.
Currently, by double-teaming him, they only held a slight advantage. Their third partner, Daoist Ghost Wood, was severely damaged and idling in the background, unable to contribute to the DPS check.
“Hmph! You’re dual-threading a flying sword and a high-tier artifact,” Daoist Centipede sneered. “Let’s see how long your battery lasts!”
Jin Jue looked at them calmly. “Your concern is noted, but unnecessary.”
Internally, however, his alerts were flashing red.
True Qi Reserves: 30%.
He had only recently upgraded to the late stage; his stability wasn’t perfect yet. Running two high-drain applications simultaneously was depleting his energy rapidly.
He had stalled for thirty minutes. By his calculations, Sun Yi should have successfully compiled his escape by now.
“Time to disconnect,” Jin Jue decided.
His eyes flashed. He poured a surge of energy into his sword. The golden blade expanded, transforming into a massive hard-light construct that slashed viciously at the purple centipede.
SCREECH!
The centipede hissed, channeling demonic power into its tail to meet the strike.
BOOM!
A shockwave ripped through the clouds, displacing the air for miles. The centipede was knocked back by the sheer force, and Jin Jue’s sword recoiled.
Seizing the micro-second gap, Jin Jue’s hands flew through a series of seals. The bronze lamp flared.
A three-zhang-long flaming bird erupted from the lamp, diving straight at Old Monster Skeleton with the heat of a tactical nuke.
Old Monster Skeleton’s face paled. “Defense formation!”
He hurriedly recalled his scattered skulls, merging them into a ten-meter-tall bone giant to intercept the bird.
BOOM!
The flame bird detonated. The bone giant shattered into fragments, the individual skulls wailing as they were flung backward, charred and smoking.
With the enemies momentarily stunned by the flashbang, Jin Jue retracted his lamp. His right hand snapped a cyan talisman.
System Command: Execute Fast Travel.
A cyan light enveloped him instantly. Before the bandits could re-target, Jin Jue transformed into a cyan rainbow and vanished towards the horizon.
“Bastard! Jin Jue, you coward! Stand and fight!” Daoist Centipede roared, his voice shaking the sky.
But it was too late. By the time the three Elders rebooted their senses, the cyan light was gone.
“Dammit! A High-Grade Wind Escape Talisman,” Old Monster Skeleton spat, his face twisted in envy. “I didn’t think the old fox had such premium cash-shop items.”
A High-Grade Wind Escape Talisman allowed a user to burst with speed comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator. There was no catching him.
“We let him escape. The Head Chief will not be pleased,” Old Monster Skeleton muttered, frowning. “What is our next move?”
Daoist Ghost Wood dragged his broken body over, his eyes venomous. “He can dodge the first arrow, but he cannot dodge the volley. Sooner or later, I will grind his bones to dust. But first, we need intel. We must secure that Qi Refining brat. He is the key to cracking the Qingyun Sect’s encryption.”
“Strange,” Daoist Centipede frowned, looking toward the forest where Sun Yi had vanished. “It has been a significant amount of time. Why hasn’t Gao Qiang reported in?”
“Did something go wrong?” Old Monster Skeleton asked.
Daoist Ghost Wood scoffed. “Gao Qiang is a distinguished Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivator. You think he can’t apprehend a Qi Refining ant? He has a full team assisting him. Even if that little brat has some tricks, he cannot escape Gao Qiang’s palm.”
“Logic dictates you are correct, but I feel a disturbance in my Dao heart,” Old Monster Skeleton said, his eyes narrowing. “Let us investigate.”
“Agreed.”
The three Golden Core masters turned into streaks of light, rushing toward the last known coordinates of their subordinates.
Within moments, they arrived above the devastated forest sector.
“Gao Qiang’s signal ends here. Why is it silent?” Daoist Centipede’s frown deepened.
They expanded their Divine Sense, scanning the area.
Almost immediately, they located the bodies.
Seven corpses. Seven Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Gao Qiang lay among them, his chest shattered.
The three Elders stared at the carnage, their faces turning the color of stagnant water. The air around them grew heavy, suffocating under the weight of their sudden, explosive killing intent.
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