Feng Yue's hideous face was utterly twisted with rage. He never expected that the other party would dare to mock him. Fury surged up inside him in an instant.
Although he had never succeeded in reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, he had become notoriously ferocious among the low-level disciples of the various sects, relying on several decent magical artifacts and his vicious, ruthless methods.
It was said that, because he had incurred someone's enmity, he had once locked a fellow cultivator in a dark room and tortured him for three days and nights straight, letting him wail day and night before finally killing him—a tale of sheer brutality.
An ordinary disciple would turn pale at the mere mention of his name, let alone in his actual presence, and would flee immediately.
With such a notorious reputation, he should have long since been eliminated by those Foundation Establishment cultivators who found him disagreeable. But Feng Yue was exceedingly cunning. While he was savage toward low-level cultivators, the moment he sensed someone far more powerful, he would flee at the first sign of trouble and take refuge back at the Sky Tower Fortress. And the people of the Sky Tower Fortress, for the sake of their own prestige, naturally would not hand him over.
Thus, those who hunted him were held back by scruples, unable to do anything but watch him live freely.
Once the storm of pursuit blew over, Feng Yue would strut out of the fortress once more and continue tormenting other cultivators. After this cycle repeated several times, those powerful figures could only grit their teeth and accept it, too bothered to involve themselves further. After all, Feng Yue knew where to draw the line—he would not strike at those with influential backgrounds or harm their close associates.
As a result, Feng Yue's ferocity soared even higher among the seven great sects, and his notorious reputation spread far and wide. This only made him more unbridled, gradually cultivating an arrogant mindset of supreme dominance and absolute authority. Apart from a rare few disciples from other sects whose reputations matched his own, he no longer regarded any other low-level cultivators worth his attention.
But now, Han Li—a mere novice at the eleventh layer—had actually spoken words of killing him. How could this not enrage the long-arrogant Feng Yue?
"Courting death!"
In his fury, Feng Yue would not let Han Li live a single second longer. He tapped the small blade before him, and the object transformed into a streak of yellow light, flying straight toward Han Li's head, intending to take it off with a single slash. He was confident that despite the watery blue water-attribute protective shield around his opponent, it would absolutely shatter under the strike of his talisman treasure, killing the man inside.
But Han Li would not let him have his way. Without changing his expression, he raised his hand, and a small black shield left his grasp, growing from small to large as it was summoned forth. It arrived precisely at a distance of two zhang away, blocking the yellow light firmly outside.
The moment the yellow glow of the small blade met the black light on the shield's surface, a screeching friction sound erupted. Although the yellow light immediately gained the upper hand and pressed the black light back steadily, the small shield fought back stubbornly, continuously emitting black light in fierce resistance.
As a result, the yellow glow could not break through the shield for the time being.
Seeing this, Feng Yue's face showed surprise, while Han Li let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Feng Yue had not anticipated that Han Li would possess such a rare top-tier defensive magical artifact. Han Li, on the other hand, was relieved that his own estimation had been correct.
He had risked using the Heaven-Flying Shield to directly withstand the opponent's talisman treasure, which had been quite a gamble. If the opponent's talisman treasure had far exceeded expectations in power, his head would have already been rolling on the ground.
That day when he had faced "Senior Martial Brother Lu," a single top-tier artifact—the Azure Flood Dragon Banner—had been able to hold off the flying sword talisman treasure for half a day. Even if Feng Yue's small blade was somewhat more powerful, his Heaven-Flying Shield should be able to hold out for a while.
With these considerations in mind, Han Li had dared to take the risk.
Seeing that he was temporarily safe, Han Li immediately grabbed the Golden Light Brick talisman treasure in his hand, preparing to unleash it and finish off his opponent in one decisive blow.
But before he could channel the spiritual power within his body and begin casting the spell to drive it, Feng Yue across from him suddenly shouted:
"Slut! Where do you think you're going?"
With a flash of movement, his figure appeared at the edge of the dense forest, blocking someone's path.
That furtive figure trying to flee into the dense forest was none other than the yellow-clad woman.
It turned out that this woman, seeing that their side had no chance of winning—and terrified by Feng Yue's notorious reputation—had seized the opportunity while Han Li and Feng Yue were fighting to slip away and escape.
Han Li had already observed her actions and felt a flash of irritation, but he couldn't be bothered to intervene.
Since the other party was of no help whatsoever in staying here, whether she chose to leave or not was entirely her own business.
However, since she had been the first to betray their alliance, he would not stop her from fleeing—but neither would he offer any further assistance. She could fend for herself.
Han Li coldly intended to ignore the woman, but the already furious Feng Yue was not so easily deceived.
He had long since harbored a grudge against the yellow-clad woman as well, due to Han Li's earlier words. Seeing her trying to sneak away, he naturally would not let her succeed. That was why he had flown over to block her path.
Han Li's Senior Martial Sister, upon seeing this scene, turned and fled in terror like any ordinary person, having completely forgotten how to cast a single spell.
Feng Yue saw this, his hideous face twitching several times. Then his figure spun with a strange swiftness, and he once again appeared eerily in front of the woman. Without a moment's hesitation, he raised his hand and drove a large hand wreathed in yellow light straight through her chest, piercing out from her back. It became a blood-soaked hand dripping with gore.
The yellow-clad woman's corpse toppled to the ground, her eyes wide open but forever devoid of light. In her final moments, she may well have regretted her rash decision to flee from Han Li's side—but there was no medicine for regret in this world.
Having already known that his opponent had no more magical artifacts or powerful talismans left, Feng Yue had struck her down at close range. After withdrawing his hand, he deliberately licked the blood droplets still dripping from his fingers, then turned to face Han Li with a savage grin.
He saw Han Li crouching inside his protective shield, face pale green, lips pressed tight. Though he was not screaming aloud, it was certain that he had been frightened out of his wits. Feng Yue thought with satisfaction.
In the past, his ease in defeating enemies had been largely thanks to his fearsome reputation. Those who fought him, upon imagining the fate of falling into his hands—alive was worse than death—would be struck with dread before the battle even began, and their combat strength would naturally plummet. Defeat became inevitable.
Now, seeing that Han Li's cultivation was not deep but his artifacts were quite formidable, Feng Yue planned to employ the same tactic of intimidation, preventing him from fighting at full capacity so he could gain a decisive advantage.
Judging from the look on Han Li's face now, the strategy seemed to be working. Secretly pleased, Feng Yue swaggered and swayed on his feet, returning once more to the standoff position facing Han Li.
Han Li's expression was indeed grim, and his heart held a complicated mixture of feelings. But it was not the opponent's brutal methods that had caused this—it was the terrifying speed of his movement technique that gave him a severe headache.
After using the Golden Light Brick talisman treasure once before, Han Li had discovered that this seemingly far more powerful artifact than the flying sword talisman treasure actually had critical flaws when it came to real combat.
Its destructive power was indeed fearsome. As long as it hit its mark, a low-level cultivator would stand no chance of survival, regardless of how many magical artifacts or protective shields they had. But the talisman treasure's weakness was equally obvious: it not only consumed a massive amount of the user's spiritual power to operate, but its speed and flexibility were utterly disappointing.
If the opponent could be restrained or trapped in advance, this talisman treasure would naturally achieve spectacular results—the perfect killing weapon. But relying solely on the Golden Light Brick itself to chase down and slay an enemy was simply out of the question. Unless the opponent's spiritual power was completely depleted, any basic speed-enhancing spell would allow someone to easily dodge its attack.
Therefore, the Golden Light Brick talisman treasure was fundamentally different from the previous flying sword talisman treasure or Feng Yue's small blade talisman treasure. It was not a close-combat artifact—it was a pure instrument of overwhelming destructive power, of the same category as the great seal used by the Foundation Establishment stage experts of the Sky Tower Fortress.
Since Han Li no longer had any artifacts or talismans capable of trapping an enemy, his original plan had been to use several golden blades to entangle the opponent first, then catch him off guard with a surprise attack from the Golden Light Brick. Based on his initial thinking, though success could not be guaranteed, there should have been at least a fifty-fifty chance.
But now, after witnessing Feng Yue's movement technique, Han Li realized this was nothing but wishful thinking. With a speed that was in no way inferior to the Luo Yan Steps, the opponent could disengage from an artifact entanglement at will, effortlessly.
Han Li was seething with frustration, yet also somewhat puzzled. Could it be that Feng Yue, like himself, also possessed some form of martial arts from the secular world?