Chapter 1719: The Robbery

Panic flared in Cheng Kuanghan’s heart. Though he hadn’t seen a technique, the memory of the exam haunted him. His companion had succumbed without a fight; he had to be cautious. Yu Erlu and the others also slowed their pace, though they continued their approach. They had heard Cheng Kuanghan’s account of the exam failure and knew of Li Yan’s invisible, formless poison.

Then, something entirely unexpected happened.

“To dare move against someone from our faction… If this were outside the valley, I’d slaughter the lot of you!”

A low, deep voice erupted by the ears of the seven people. It was so sudden that none of them had sensed its approach. The voice seemed to pass by each of them in sequence, whispering right against their ears. By the time the last word was spoken, the speaker was behind them. Each of them felt a puff of warm air against their ear.

Even more terrifyingly, as the figure passed, it struck each of them once in the center of their backs with incredible speed. They let out gasps of shock as they were sent stumbling forward. The speed was so blinding that none could react.

“Since you’ve come to return the spirit stones, you should include the interest as well!”

Inside the perimeter, a shallow smile appeared on Li Yan’s face. Cheng Kuanghan and the others felt a surge of invasive power crashing into their meridians. Their spiritual power was obstructed, and their heart pulses were thrown into chaos. As a sharp pain flared in their chests, a wave of intense dizziness hit their consciousness seas. They collapsed to the ground, helpless.

As they struggled to lift their heads, their blurred vision caught another figure appearing beside Li Yan. Then, their strength failed, and they plummeted into unconsciousness.

The forest fell into a dead silence. About half a tea session later, Yu Erlu was the first to wake. His head felt like it was being split open. For a moment, he couldn’t remember where he was. He turned his head blankly; the woods were dark, and the loud chirping of insects felt piercing in the silence.

“I… what happened…”

He found himself lying on his side on the cold ground. Memory returned like a tide. He remembered Li Yan and the second figure appearing. Instinctive dread made him push himself up. The pain in his consciousness sea made him wobble, but he stayed upright.

“Damn it, Li Yan!”

He forced himself to steady his Qi. His spiritual power surged through his limbs like a roaring river. He paused, stunned. When he was struck down, his Qi had been blocked. Now, it was perfectly clear.

Groans of pain came from around him as the others woke. Yu Erlu spread his Divine Sense, wary of another attack. After a few breaths, the seven were gathered again, their expressions shifting between shock and terror. Each held several storage rings, and their chests or collars were stained with dark red blood.

Yu Erlu’s hand gripped his rings so hard his knuckles turned white. He turned a murderous gaze toward Cheng Kuanghan, who looked equally ashen. The two women were pale with fright. They hadn’t just been scared; they were injured.

Once their heads cleared, they realized Li Yan and the other figure were gone. They were injured not from a second attack, but from the brutal way their spirit marks had been shattered. Their Divine Senses had been forcibly crushed, causing backlash that made them vomit blood. There was only one explanation: their storage artifacts had been breached.

Realizing the cause of their injury, they checked their fingers. Their rings were gone. Panic set in. While not everyone carried their entire fortune, it was the vast majority of it. Some even kept their Lifebound Artifacts in their rings; losing those meant more than just a drop in combat strength—it could damage their cultivation base.

Ignoring the pain in their heads, their eyes turned red with rage. Li Yan and his companion were truly vicious. They spread their Divine Senses again. Soon, they found a branch on a nearby tree where a faint clinking sound came from. A bundle of storage rings hung from a grass rope, clinking together in the wind. The sound had been masked by the insects and the rustling leaves.

They retrieved their rings and hurriedly checked them. Joy and terror warred on their faces. Their artifacts, materials, and pills were all there. But their spirit stones were gone. Entirely gone. Not even a single low-grade spirit stone remained. In an instant, they had been turned into paupers.

They recalled the words whispered in their ears. They knew what it meant—this was Huangqi Valley; the other party hadn’t killed them only because of the sect laws. Otherwise, they would be corpses.

The mysterious figure was far too powerful. They hadn’t even sensed him approach, and even as he struck them, their perceptions hadn’t registered it. To easily shatter the spirit marks of everyone present, the person had to be at least at the Void Refining stage. As alchemists, their Divine Sense control was superior to their peers, yet they were helpless.

“Didn’t you say Li Yan wasn’t in a faction? What was that then?” Yu Erlu glared at Cheng Kuanghan. They had offended someone powerful. The man’s words were clear: Li Yan was one of theirs.

There were many factions in Huangqi Valley. Yu Erlu’s was decent, but the figure who struck them was a monster. To hire such a person would cost Yu Erlu a fortune he no longer possessed. And if he wanted revenge, he’d have to hire someone even stronger, which was impossible now. The thought of what would have happened if they had cornered Li Yan outside the valley made a cold chill run down his spine.

Yu Erlu wanted to swallow Cheng Kuanghan whole. His heart bled; his rings had contained several supreme-grade spirit stones and a massive hoard he had earned from years of alchemy. Now, it was gone. He didn’t dare seek out the mysterious figure, and he was even hesitant about Li Yan. The other party seemed to have anticipated their plan. Given the status of the protector, Li Yan’s position in that faction must be high. Was he supposed to sell his artifacts and materials just to try his luck against them again?

“I… I hadn’t seen him for three years, but the news I gathered was indeed that! You guys checked too!” Cheng Kuanghan retorted. He was also terrified and heartbroken. He had paid Yu Erlu to help him, and now this. His voice was full of bitterness; he was a member of a faction too, but Yu Erlu acted like he owned him…

At a courtyard before the babbling stream, the gate opened. Two figures flickered inside. The gate closed, and the formations reactivated, sealing the courtyard.

By the stone table stood two figures. One wore the white uniform of Huangqi Valley, the other a black robe. If anyone had seen them, they would have been shocked to find their faces identical.

The black-robed Li Yan scanned the courtyard to ensure the formations were active before nodding to the white-robed one. The white-robed one smiled, and the black-robed one stepped forward, merging into him. After a brief blur, only the black-robed Li Yan remained. He sat by the stone table and closed his eyes.

A flood of memories and insights from the lecture flowed into his consciousness sea.

The white-robed Li Yan was his Avatar. Over the past few years, Li Yan’s true body had never left the residence, staying here to cultivate while the Avatar went out to attend lectures and perform evaluations. Each time it returned, it merged back, transferring everything it had seen and learned.

As for the evaluations for Spirit Pill and Alchemy Disciple, Li Yan felt his Avatar was more than capable of handling them. But for the Alchemist rank, his true body would have to go.

The Avatar had encountered Cheng Kuanghan today. Since the courtyard was within range, Li Yan’s true body knew exactly what was happening. He had learned about the internal factions of the sect over the last few years; such things were inevitable. Every sect, no matter how harmonious it seemed on the surface, was divided into factions. Even the Wangliang Sect had its five peaks—united against outsiders, but fiercely competitive within.

When Cheng Kuanghan approached him, Li Yan knew the man wouldn’t let the old grudge go. To deal with the seven of them, he had formulated a plan in seconds. To kill them would have been effortless; under Dong Fuyi’s guidance, ninety percent of Spirit Transformation cultivators were no longer worth mentioning. If he didn’t suppress his cultivation, he would have reached the Void Refining stage. But he wanted a permanent solution.

If he didn’t kill them, he had to terrify them. In the cultivation world, the fist is the ultimate truth. While his Avatar stood still, his true body moved. He didn’t even need the Phoenix Soaring technique to strike them all from behind. He used the Fragmented Poison Body to paralyze them and purposefully let them see him standing beside “Li Yan” before they fainted.

He shattered their spirit marks and took their spirit stones. He left their artifacts and materials so they wouldn’t be desperate enough to risk everything for revenge. Then… he put it out of his mind. To him, it was a trivial errand.

As he expected, Yu Erlu and the others didn’t come for his life because he hadn’t crossed their final line. They tried to find which faction he belonged to, but the more they searched and found nothing, the more terrified they became. They assumed his faction was so powerful and secretive that outsiders couldn’t even find a trace of it. Slowly, the talk of revenge died away.