When dealing with an enemy, as long as he could take their life, Li Yan would use any means necessary. He didn't care what methods he used—whether they were despicable or honorable was of no concern to him.
And Tianxingzi, needing to use this brief window of time, naturally had no idea what happened next.
Li Yan moved like a shadow. With a single step on the ground, he shot forward. Executing the "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill, he charged out against the pressure of the restriction.
As Zhu Luomu and the others turned their heads to watch, they saw a figure, with a thunderous "thump," approach the retreating Yu Rong. The small mountain itself seemed to tremble from the impact.
The moment he got close, Li Yan threw another punch.
By now, Yu Rong had finally reacted, her Divine Sense quickly sweeping over the approaching figure.
'A Foundation Establishment stage cultivator!'
Attacking a Golden Core cultivator, Li Yan no longer dared to hide his strength. The Spirit Power fluctuations around his body could no longer be concealed.
Sensing the unbelievably vigorous power of Qi and Blood from her opponent, Yu Rong swiftly made a judgment.
'And a Body Cultivator at that. What an insidious face!'
Not only was this Body Cultivator's physical body extremely strong, but the timing of his sneak attack was also perfect. It was precisely when she had mustered a surge of power to suppress the berserk Spirit Power inside that Magical Treasure.
His punch landed right at the juncture where her new strength had just been born and her old strength was spent. The blow trapped a breath in Yu Rong's chest, causing a massive shock to both her mind and body.
As a result, a stabbing pain now shot through her meridians whenever she tried to circulate her Spirit Power. This undoubtedly weakened her further.
Her opponent had caught up to her in a single step, as if the suppressive restriction in the sky didn't exist for him.
This forced Yu Rong to hastily mobilize a portion of her Spirit Power to block, leaving her no time to form hand seals and cast an art in retaliation.
Yu Rong knew that as long as she could block this attack and use the force to create distance, she would only need an instant to riddle this Body Cultivator with countless holes.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest while the spiritual light at her feet shone brightly, ready to borrow the force of her opponent's attack at a moment's notice.
She would not engage in a physical clash with a Body Cultivator. Even with her Golden Core cultivation, she had nothing to fear, but she was already injured, and the pain in her meridians made her unwilling to do so.
"Boom!" Another deafening roar.
In the eyes of Zhu Luomu and the others, they saw the Golden Core cultivator from the Cangyu Sect, whose face was already contorted with ferocity.
For a moment, her neck suddenly shot forward, and her eyes bulged from their sockets, looking as if they were about to pop out.
At the same time, her body paused in mid-air for an instant, as if the Spirit Power around her had been scattered.
Just a moment later, a blinding light erupted from the point of impact where the fist of the pouncing figure met her crossed arms.
Then, a series of "kaka-kaka..." sounds of breaking bones rang out continuously.
An indescribable, extreme pain rapidly filled the bulging eyes of the Golden Core cultivator.
The muscles on her face twisted into a position that would normally be impossible. To Zhu Luomu and the others, it was impossible to tell that it was supposed to be a face.
Then, with her neck craned forward, she flew backward at an even faster speed.
Only now did the blinding light begin to fade. Everything had happened with unbelievable speed. Zhu Luomu sucked in a cold breath, and the disciples of Falling Star Valley couldn't help but shiver.
The appearance of the Golden Core female cultivator was now quite tragic. Her crossed arms dangled from the forearms at a bizarre angle.
Her elbows were still pointing upward, but her two hands were now hanging down by her lower abdomen.
Even more terrifyingly, Yu Rong's once proud and cloud-piercing chest was now a deeply sunken valley, while her back was hunched high like a camel's.
Anyone could see that with a single punch, this figure had not only shattered the forearms of a Golden Core cultivator, but the force had continued unabated, piercing through and shattering her sturdy sternum, causing the broken bones to protrude from her back.
The exchange was simply too fast. The physical impact was too great, and Yu Rong had her Spirit Power protecting her, so a large amount of blood couldn't seep out in the first instance and was instead sealed within her chest cavity.
But they soon had their answer. The retreating Yu Rong finally reacted. A breath later, a blood-curdling scream shot into the sky, piercing straight into one's mind and soul, causing the onlookers' ears to ring and their spirits to shake.
Zhu Luomu and the others could feel the boundless pain in that voice.
'To make a Golden Core cultivator, whose consciousness is as steady as a rock, feel such pain, how much power must that have taken...'
In his horror, Zhu Luomu had to quickly protect his ears with Spirit Power.
Accompanying Yu Rong's scream, a flood of red mist finally burst forth from her chest like a collapsing dam.
Watching the blurry figure who, after throwing the punch, advanced relentlessly through the red mist with Spirit Power flickering around him, the eyes of Zhu Luomu and the others filled with extreme admiration.
"He... he... he hit the female cultivator's chest? That... is a female cultivator..." the brawny cultivator surnamed Zhang stammered in disbelief from hundreds of zhang away. He was a very orthodox type of cultivator.
At this moment, Li Yan had no idea what the cultivators on the other side were thinking. When he sparred with Gong Chenying, he would still have some reservations, feeling that some places were inappropriate to strike.
But as long as the opponent was an enemy, he didn't care where he attacked. Any move that could severely injure the enemy was a good move.
He pressed his advantage relentlessly. With a flick of his "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill, he bypassed the large cloud of blood mist rushing towards him and instantly circled behind Yu Rong.
He turned a deaf ear to the piercing screams of the Golden Core cultivator and, without hesitation, threw another punch at her camel-humped back.
His previous two consecutive punches had already completely shattered the unprepared Yu Rong's protective shield. At this moment, Yu Rong was still in a state of extreme pain, with no consciousness to summon any protective items.
In addition, Li Yan's figure was faster than a ghost, flashing behind her almost as soon as she retreated.
"Whuff!" With a dull thud, Li Yan threw another punch as fast as lightning, striking down from above. Yu Rong, who was in a daze, suddenly felt her heart seize.
The crisis of death gave her a moment of clarity. In her haste, she also sensed the fatal danger coming from behind and instinctively sent her Spirit Power surging toward her back.
However, at such a close distance, how could Li Yan's sneak attack, deliberately timed for when her mind was in turmoil, possibly leave her a chance to defend?
With a crisp "crack," the body of the contorted Yu Rong trembled violently, and her rapidly retreating figure froze in mid-air.
Her mouth gaped open, and the two long, sticky whiskers at the corners of her mouth stretched taut horizontally in an instant, forming a straight line.
Then, she dazedly lowered her head and saw a fist wreathed in black qi emerge from her own chest, which was still spraying a mist of blood.
As a series of "guk-guk-guk..." sounds came from her throat, her body exploded into a rain of blood with a "bang!" The storage pouch in the air was snatched by the figure behind her, who then flashed into the distance.
From the moment Zhu Luomu was sent flying to the moment Yu Rong was turned into minced meat, less than three breaths had passed. Three lightning-fast close-quarters attacks, as smooth as flowing water.
It all happened too fast. Zhu Luomu and the others hadn't even seen clearly who the attacker was before Yu Rong had turned into a sky full of bloody rain.
'Is it the Grand Elder?'
This thought quickly flashed through everyone's minds, because this person's attack style was completely different from Sect Master Lin Xinghe's.
They had seen the Grand Elder attack once yesterday, and they felt there was a slight resemblance.
As for whether the Grand Elder also practiced artifact refining, Zhu Luomu and the others had no way of knowing.
When Li Yan's figure appeared atop a rock, solidifying from a blur, Zhu Luomu and the others no longer cared about offending the newcomer. They all scanned him with their Divine Sense, wanting to know who had saved them.
Zhu Luomu's cultivation was the strongest, and he was the first to recognize the figure that had not yet fully solidified.
"How... is... is... it... you..."
He only managed to say a few words before his mouth hung open wide enough to fit a fist. He of course recognized this person. He had seen him when he joined Falling Star Valley, and later, he was the one who brought this person back to the sect from the Feng family.
At this moment, Li Yan's appearance became fully visible, and a cry of surprise rang out from further away.
"Zhang Ming!"
That was Feng Qiyuan's voice. He looked as if he had seen a ghost.
The brawny cultivator surnamed Zhang, who was furthest away, also had his eyes wide and round with disbelief. He had also been there when Li Yan's aptitude was tested upon entry.
As for the other Qi Condensation disciples, they truly did not recognize Zhang Ming and looked at each other in confusion.
They were all old disciples of Falling Star Valley and would normally not pay attention to new disciples, unless it was someone with heaven-defying cultivation aptitude like Feng Tao.
An even more absurd thought that Zhu Luomu and the cultivator surnamed Zhang found unbelievable was that during the brief exchange, they could sense their opponent's realm.
This was unlike Feng Qiyuan and the other Qi Condensation disciples, who were completely unable to sense Zhang Ming's true cultivation level.
'He is a Foundation Establishment cultivator. How could he be a Foundation Establishment cultivator? A Foundation Establishment cultivator killed a Golden Core cultivator? ...'
Countless ridiculously absurd thoughts flashed through their minds.
At this time, a series of explosions and angry shouts also came from the foot of the mountain.
The hundred or so cultivators behind Yu Rong had finally arrived. They had also heard Yu Rong's tragic scream, but before they could release their Divine Sense to investigate carefully, silver greatswords suddenly appeared from all directions. In an instant, the foot of the mountain seemed to have plunged into a world of ice and snow.
Li Yan held the storage pouch and smiled at Zhu Luomu.
"Fellow Daoist Zhu, you should take them back to the inner valley to recuperate first. You shouldn't stay here for long."
After speaking, Li Yan's figure flashed, and he flew towards the foot of the mountain, leaving behind a crowd of stunned people.
After a full four or five breaths, a "gulp" sound came from Zhu Luomu's throat, and he let out a long, deep breath.
His gaze slowly returned to normal, but he was still muttering to himself.
"Who is this person? Do the Sect Master and the others know? This is too terrifying. A Foundation Establishment who can kill a Golden Core..."
With such a powerful cultivator hiding beside him, Zhu Luomu felt a chill run down his spine. He had brought this person back from the Feng family with a cold attitude.
If the other party really wanted to harm him... at this thought, Zhu Luomu shivered.
Then, he subconsciously muttered, "Fellow Daoist Zhu, Fellow Daoist Zhu..."
Immediately, he gave a bitter smile. Did he expect the other party to call him Martial Uncle or Martial Grand-Uncle?
But the next moment, his spirits were suddenly lifted.
'Since this Zhang Ming has now attacked and killed the enemy, saving us, regardless of his identity, he is undoubtedly a friend and not an enemy!'
Thinking of this, he suddenly turned to his dazed junior brother surnamed Zhang and Feng Qiyuan and said in a deep voice.