Chapter Thirty-Three: Mantis Catches Cicada

  The man holding the flute's face sank, and he said: "Brother, have you forgotten how our two uncles were killed last year? If they hadn't slaughtered hundreds of ordinary people in White Water Town outside Longyang City, how would they have brought about their own demise? Slaughtering ordinary people is a great taboo for us cultivators. Don't you know that?"

  "How can Tiē Yì be considered an ordinary person? Since big brother says so, I'll just take him down alone!" As he spoke, the man with the knife was about to stand up from the tree fork.

  "Hold on! Longyin City is under the protection of Iron Wing, and the deaths of the two masters must be related to Iron Wing. Master Bo specifically instructed us to be extremely cautious with Iron Wing's group, and this time we came to investigate what they are doing. Moreover, if Iron Wing was just a Qi Refining Third Layer cultivator as Master Bo said, how could he have killed six wolf kings in an instant? Let's observe carefully before speaking, perhaps there are powerful cultivators hiding in those carriages!"

  It's clear that these two men didn't see the aquatic using flying sword to kill the two green wolves, so they thought all six green wolves were killed by General Iron Wing.

  "Are those children sitting in the carriage? Where would monks be present? If they were, this group of low-ranking beast soldiers would have been killed off by now!"

  "Although the Jade Tripod Sect's cultivators have all become turtles, we still need to be careful. The other sects in the Tai Yue Mountains and some powerful rogue cultivators are not to be underestimated. Those two uncles of ours were Golden Dan period cultivators, yet they couldn't even escape with their lives when those two joined forces. If we were to encounter the person who killed our uncles, could we even escape with our lives? Even the Seventh Elder's great divine powers couldn't track down the killer's whereabouts. What does this imply? The killer might be a Primordial Infant old monster! I don't want to follow in my uncles' footsteps! Let's wait a bit longer, if that Iron Wing fellow can really defeat those beast soldiers, we'll take action then!"

  "Alright! I'll listen to you, big brother. But let's wait a bit longer. However, regarding the unexpected fall of the two Shifu, it might not have anything to do with the massacre of ordinary people. It's possible that Huo Ling Zong and Yan Dan Shan's cultivators are secretly plotting behind our backs, killing people and stealing treasures. Didn't they say that several personal magical artifacts of the two Shifus have all gone missing? These two major sects are nominally working together with us to deal with Yu Ding Men, but who knows what kind of despicable things those old monsters might be doing in secret?"

  Two men were chatting casually while directing the pack of wolves and the Black Iron Army to fight each other. At this moment, the person holding the flute suddenly stopped playing, turned his head around, gazed at a large tree as thick as a water bucket, and shouted loudly: "Who is hiding here?" Before he finished speaking, a layer of white light had already risen from his body, and in the blink of an eye, a transparent egg-shaped shield had formed outside his body. This person was actually so cautious.

  Near the big tree that this person's gaze was directed at, a burst of yellow light had already exploded, and four six-foot-long earth-yellow spears flew out silently from the light and shadow. Two of them stabbed towards the two green wolves under the tree, while the other two respectively stabbed towards the two men on the big tree. The four spears were clearly not law enforcement weapons, but seemed to be conjured up by magic at will. Although they were silent and soundless, the strong spiritual power contained within made the two men's hearts skip a beat, their faces suddenly changing color.

  The man with the knife let out a loud shout, and his curved blade flew out of his hand to meet the incoming spear. The man with the flute had a silver ring on his ankle that turned into a streak of silver light flying towards the large tree, the ring whistling through the air, looking quite intimidating. At the same time, he shook his right sleeve violently, and a five-inch long white cylindrical object flew towards the sky, piercing the air with a sharp sound, and in an instant, it reached a height of a thousand feet, exploding with a loud "bang", and from within the white mist came a shrill cry like a wolf's howl. The cry pierced through clouds and rocks, echoing far away, seemingly audible even hundreds of miles away.

  In the dense forest, two green wolves didn't even have time to let out a cry before they were pierced through the head by yellow long spears and killed on the spot. The two spears, still in motion, collided with each other in mid-air and bent into a twisted shape, like two intertwined hemp fibers. They merged into one, and from the spear tip, a foot-long yellow blade suddenly shot out, striking towards the barefoot man who had drawn his curved knife.

  Behind the large tree with a trunk as thick as a water bucket, a black-robed Taoist's figure flashed out. With a light wave of his left sleeve, the silver ring that was struck by the flute-playing man disappeared into thin air. He looked up at the white mist left behind by the explosion of the white cylindrical object in the sky, and a hint of regret flashed across his eyes. His right sleeve shook again, and another earth-yellow light column flew out, transforming into a seven-foot-long spear in mid-air, whistling towards the flute-playing man with an even more ferocious momentum than the previous four spears.

  At this time, the miserable cry of the knife-wielding man had already come from one side. The curved knife he had sacrificed was knocked flying by the first long spear, and the second mace-shaped long spear suddenly accelerated, bursting through the man's protective divine light, inserting into his abdomen and exiting from his skull. With a loud "boom", the long spear exploded, and the corpse of the knife-wielding man shattered into pieces in a cloud of yellow mist, dying instantly, not even leaving behind a wisp of his soul!

  "Golden Elixir Period cultivator?" the flute-holding man exclaimed, his white jade flute flying out to meet the incoming long spear. His body moved swiftly, and he fled towards the outside of the dense forest with a speed as swift as the wind. The moment the white jade flute touched the long spear, it suddenly exploded in mid-air, not only did the two incoming yellowish-brown long spears turn into nothingness in the explosion, even the three large trees nearby were affected by the blast and turned into fragments.

  A string of afterimages flashed by from the treetops, and in just a few breaths, the flute-playing man had burst out of the dense forest. This person's speed was several times faster than that of a galloping horse. Just then, a gentle breeze blew past his side, and the flute-playing man felt a chill at his waist. When he looked down, his body had been severed in two from the waist. In front of him, a snow-bright curved knife flashed by quickly. The appearance of that curved knife was exactly that of the top-grade magic weapon that his companion never parted with.

  The black-robed Taoist's body moved slightly, and he was already beside the two severed bodies of the flute-playing man. Compared to the flute-playing man's escape speed just now, he was much faster. A pair of triangular eyes shone brightly, looking towards the lush grass in front, with a hint of mockery at the corner of his mouth. He stretched out his hand and grabbed at the air, and suddenly a small, dark green light ball flew out from the grass, but no matter how hard it struggled to escape, it couldn't get out of the black-robed Taoist's palm, which was exerting a huge pulling force.

  A blurry face was faintly visible in the light ball, constantly twisting and changing. It looked like a strand of Yuanshen from that flute-playing man. The black-clothed Daoist opened his mouth, and a thin yellow light thread flew out of his mouth and entered the dark green light ball, as if to search for the soul of the flute-playing man.

  Everything seems complicated, but in fact it's as fast as lightning. From the appearance of the black-robed Taoist to the killing of these two cultivators, it was only a moment. At this time, a loud eagle cry came from thousands of feet high in the air. The black-robed Taoist suddenly raised his head and looked up at the sky, his face changing instantly.

  A thousand feet high in the sky, a huge vulture emerged from a cluster of snow-white clouds, diving towards the ground. The vulture's plumage was snowy white, and its wingspan reached over six feet long when spread wide. Hidden among the clouds, it was indeed difficult to spot. A pair of grey-brown eyes were filled with ferocity, and on top of its head grew a blood-red fleshy tumor the size of a fist.

  A flash of white light on the back of a vulture, a figure floated out lightly and flew away. The person was in mid-air, raised his hands, and from his palms flew out more than ten feet long white sword lights. The sharp sword lights made a "hissing" sound, and wherever they passed, the air was filled with an icy chill!

  Feeling the enormous spiritual pressure transmitted through the white sword light, the black-robed Taoist's eyes flashed with a cold glint, and he let out a cold snort. With a forceful grip of his palm, there was a dull thud, and the dark green ball of light in his hand had vanished into thin air. With a flick of his sleeve, a yellow object the size of a palm flew out from the wide cuff of his robe. The object exploded with a dazzling golden light in mid-air, rapidly expanding to form a shield over a zhang high, which instantly blocked in front of the black-robed Taoist more than ten zhang away.

  A Daoist in black stood firmly on the ground, right in the center of the whirlwind. His right hand flashed with a dark light, and out of thin air appeared a four-foot-long black longsword. This sword was quite strange, seemingly made of neither gold nor wood. Its head was flat and round, its body thick and heavy, resembling an unsharpened sword blank. It was dull and lusterless, without any shine.

  The sound of clashing metal echoed back and forth, as more than a dozen white sword lights struck the golden shield one after another, shattering into tiny ice shards. The surrounding space grew even colder. These dozen or so white sword lights were actually condensed by the white-robed figure's icy magic, while the dazzling golden shield was repeatedly forced back by the sword lights' impact, its surface flashing with unstable golden light as it shrunk smaller and smaller, eventually transforming into a three-foot-long shield that flew towards the black-robed Daoist.

  In the air, the face of the white-robed figure was already clearly visible. This man was about forty years old, with curly hair and beard, his long hair tied back by a gold hoop, high nose and deep eyes, an icy expression, a pair of brown-yellow pupils shining with eerie cold light, his arms were unusually long, reaching below his knees, and his feet were bare.

  Judging from his appearance and attire, he bears some resemblance to the two middle-aged men of the Di tribe earlier. Obviously, they are from the same sect. However, this person is a late-stage Golden Elixir cultivator, and the bald vulture under him is a third-grade demon beast "Crane-top Vulture" known for its flying speed. The fact that he can appear so quickly here suggests that he has been hiding in the vicinity all along. Looking at his intentions, it's clear that he wants to use the two men from earlier as bait to lure out the black-robed Taoist.

  The black-robed Taoist was none other than Wu Mu, the Taoist from Yun Tai Guan who had been secretly protecting the children all along. Seeing the golden shield flying towards him, his face changed and he retreated dozens of feet, creating distance between himself and the white-robed man in mid-air.

  This chapter is over, your support is my greatest motivation!