Is this a follow-up to the previous assassination attempt or has there been a new crisis in Da Jin?

Yuan Ming's thoughts churned, a trace of chill flashed in his eyes as he quietly brought out the incense burner and lit a stick of poisonous incense.

Wisps of smoke rose and spread out close to the ground under his control, soon dissipating into the air and drifting towards Xu Changqing and his two companions.

The green pouch on Liu Su's waist suddenly bulged, emitting a gurgling sound.

"Someone is releasing poison gas! The source is that area, hold your breath quickly," Liu Su suddenly turned towards Yuan Ming's hiding place.

Yuan Ming displayed a look of surprise. His poisonous incense was colorless and odorless; how had this woman detected it? And she seemed to have pinpointed his hiding spot!

He did not stand up immediately, instead, he quickly extinguished the poisonous incense and switched to fog incense before lighting it.

Xu Changqing flew over at the sound, his hand flashed with gold light, already brandishing a golden curved sword, shaped like a snake with a forked tip resembling the heart of a venomous snake.

He pointed repeatedly into the void, the tip of the sword shining with dazzling golden light, as a dozen streaks of golden Sword Qi whistled out, striking the spot where Yuan Ming was hiding.

Yuan Ming could no longer hide and leaped up, brandishing the recently repaired Eight Diagrams Mirror in front of him.

With several loud "clangs," Yuan Ming was sent retreating several steps, both he and the mirror completely exposed.

Xu Changqing, wary of Yuan Ming's poisonous incense, stopped about seventy to eighty feet away, the golden snake sword flying out of his hand with a 'zing' directly aiming at Yuan Ming at high speed.

Yuan Ming, having clashed with early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators before, had already figured out their casting speed. As soon as Xu Changqing began to move his hand, Yuan Ming activated his White Jade Belt and darted to the side, easily dodging the attack of the golden snake sword.

"Just hold your breath and protect your body with Mana, no need to be overly cautious," Liu Su shouted loudly, a layer of golden light appearing on her body as she dived from the other side.

A streak of green shadow flashed from the pouch at the woman's waist, and a strange green snake shot out, equipped with a pair of green meat wings on its back, enabling it to leap off the ground and flank Yuan Ming from the other side.

Lin Liumu's body radiated a green protective shield as he leaped behind Yuan Ming, blocking his last route of escape.

At that moment, a white fog suddenly arose in the dense forest, quickly thickening.

"What's going on?" The trio, including the well-informed Liu Su about poisons, all got startled, her face turning pale.

Yuan Ming took the opportunity to activate the White Jade Belt, also casting Wind Swift Skill and Shadowless Step, turning his body into three or four hard-to-distinguish afterimages that shot off in different directions.

Xu Changqing and his companions couldn't distinguish Yuan Ming's real body at the moment, and with the interference of the white fog, Yuan Ming easily broke through the encirclement and dashed towards the distance.

"We can't let him escape, chase him!" Xu Changqing's expression suddenly darkened, as a surge of white light rose under him, which turned out to be the White Jade Shuttle.

His body lifted off the ground, turning into a streak of white light that closely pursued Yuan Ming.

Liu Su and Lin Liumu also hurried to follow; without Flying Artifacts, they could only run on foot, quickly falling far behind.

The surrounding fog thickened, and Yuan Ming and Xu Changqing both disappeared into the distance ahead.

Seeing this, Liu Su and Lin Liumu urgently accelerated their pace.

Although Yuan Ming's movement technique was incredibly quick, compared to Xu Changqing's Flying Artifact, it was significantly inferior; the distance between the two men swiftly closed, rapidly reducing to just twenty feet.

At that moment, Yuan Ming ahead abruptly stopped his motion and lunged back like lightning.

Boom!

Four streams of differently colored radiance shot out from his sleeves, consisting of the Cold Star Sword, Nine-Ring Gold Saber, and Elder Mengshan's pair of Wushan Claws.

The four Magical Artifacts burst forth with powerful force, trailing beams of light behind them, and reached Xu Changqing in the blink of an eye.

Xu Changqing was startled, but being an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he reacted swiftly, immediately stopping and using his left hand to maneuver the golden snake sword to intercept the Cold Star Sword.

His right hand flashed with black light as a Black Needle Magical Artifact appeared out of nowhere. It quickly enlarged to the size of a table, colliding with the other three Magical Artifacts.

A series of intense clashes ensued—"boom" after "boom"— as the Cold Star Sword and the other three Magical Artifacts were all blocked.

Xu Changqing's eyes held a cold glow, his fingertips shining with intensified golden light as he formed a spell in the void.

The golden snake sword exploded with dazzling golden light, sweeping aside the Cold Star Sword and turned into a blurred golden shadow streaking directly towards Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming showed no panic--with a light wave of his right arm, a large White Ape figure appeared in front of him, the Heavenly Snake Master's corpse integrated with White Ape Skin, which abruptly reached out with both hands.

With a loud "clang," the golden snake sword suddenly stopped, shockingly grasped firmly by the White Ape's hands.

Xu Changqing was startled by the sudden appearance of the White Ape and hurriedly tried to motivate the golden snake sword, which struggled fiercely yet failed to break free.

Yuan Ming's lips curved into a cold smile, his right index finger lightly hooking.

A nearly invisible black needle shot from the white fog behind, swiftly and silently stabbing towards Xu Changqing's head.

Only when the black needle was two feet behind Xu Changqing did he abruptly awaken. He stretched his hands out to the left and right, his palms radiating a burst of blue light, instantly forming a spherical water-blue light shield around him.

Just as the light shield formed, the Black Needle Magical Artifact stuck into it. The small black needle suddenly erupted with a shocking mana fluctuation, fully demonstrating the power of a top-grade magical tool.

The ordinary Water attribute protective shield was not infused with much Mana by Xu Changqing, and with a single thrust, the Black Needle Magical Artifact punctured it.

The light shield went "bang" and shattered, dissipating into countless blue lights.

The Black Needle paused slightly, then continued to shoot out, thrusting toward Xu Changqing's back of the head.

But Xu Changqing needed just this moment of delay, he opened his mouth to spew out a chicken egg-sized golden orb, which swiftly flew behind him and barely blocked the Black Needle.

However, a shadow flitted over the Black Needle, and a black crow burst forth, bypassing the golden orb and striking towards Xu Changqing with alarming speed.

This time, Xu Changqing couldn't react in time, the black crow struck his forehead and disappeared.

The body of this Foundation Establishment Cultivator shuddered, and he froze in place, with several magic artifacts he was controlling coming to a halt as well.

Seizing the opportunity, the Black Needle shook off the golden orb, flashed, and pierced through Xu Changqing's back of the head, coming out his forehead and pulling a trail of blood.

The spirit light on Xu Changqing's body rapidly dimmed, and he fell from the Jade Shuttle Magical Artifact to the ground, motionless.

The Jade Shuttle, Golden Snake Sword, golden orb, and black inkstone among other magic artifacts lost their luster and fell to the ground with a clinking sound.

Yuan Ming's expression relaxed, he stowed the White Ape away, pulled out a Wood Attribute Spirit Stone to recover his Mana, and waved his hand to summon.

The White Jade Shuttle, Golden Snake Sword, golden orb, black inkstone, and Xu Changqing's storage magic tool flew over and landed in his hands.

Liu Su and Lin Liumu finally caught up at this moment, saw Xu Changqing's body on the ground, and their expressions drastically changed as they both stopped in their tracks.

"Now you two can tell me who sent you, right?" Yuan Ming looked at them and slowly said.

Fear appeared on the faces of Liu Su and Lin Liumu, and the next moment they fled in different directions.

Yuan Ming let out a small cold laugh and waved his hands left and right.

The Cold Star Sword and several other artifacts split into two groups, Wushan Claws chased Liu Su while the Cold Star Sword and Nine-Ring Gold Saber struck towards Lin Liumu.

A soul crow flew out of his forehead once more, entering the nearby Black Needle Magical Artifact, which also vanished in a flash.

Lin Liumu's movement techniques were sluggish, and he was quickly caught up by the Cold Star Sword and Nine-Ring Gold Saber, both of which lit up brilliantly as they chopped down from above.

Lin Liumu, with a face full of terror, mustered all his Mana to infuse it into the Flying Wheel Artifact.

The wheel, bursting with white light, grew ten times in stature upon meeting the wind, transforming into a gigantic white wheel, colliding with the two artifacts.

With two loud clangs, the great white wheel was cleaved away, and Lin Liumu's body also trembled sharply, falling heavily to the ground, his complexion pale from the shock.

A figure blurred behind him, and Yuan Ming materialized like a specter, his hand holding a human head-sized blazing red fireball, which was none other than the Burning Explosion Skill, it seemed he had already amassed a considerable amount of Mana.

"Go!" He flicked his wrist, and the blazing red fireball struck Lin Liumu's back.

In a panic, Lin Liumu hurriedly summoned a black Cloud Pocket Magical Artifact for protection, but before the black cloud could fully shield his body, the Burning Explosion Skill fireball had already struck him.

With a loud bang, an explosion erupted!

Bursts of red flames engulfed Lin Liumu's body, forming a scorching pillar of fire shooting several feet high, shaking the nearby ground intensely.

Lin Liumu's charred body flew out of the flames, crashing heavily to the ground with half his body gruesomely mangled, visibly breathing his last.

Yuan Ming appeared beside Lin Liumu, placed his right hand on his head, and began casting the Soul Searching Divine Ability, his palm emitting strands of crystalline light that quickly penetrated the other's head.

This was his first time conducting a Soul Search on someone else; the Soul Searching Crystal Light soon touched Lin Liumu's Divine Soul essence, revealing his memory scenes.

Moments later, Yuan Ming withdrew his hand, frowning.

Lin Liumu was not entirely sure about the details of the assassination either, he merely followed Xu Changqing's arrangements, knowing only that completing the task would reward him with a considerable amount of Spirit Stones.

However, from Lin Liumu's memories, Yuan Ming uncovered important information, that the trio including Xu Changqing were not members of the Guangli Alliance; they were cultivators from Da Jin Changchun Temple.

Having Da Jin Changchun Temple's cultivators chase after himself, this assassination attempt must have been significant and not something Lin Junsheng was capable of, right?

Lin Liumu, already gravely injured and further devastated by the Soul Search, finally breathed his last.

Yuan Ming stowed the white Flying Wheel and this man's storage magic tool, then dashed towards the direction Liu Su had fled to, soon arriving near a small puddle in the nearby woods.

Liu Su sat in the puddle, each of her legs bearing a deep, bone-deep claw wound, the surrounding flesh turned black and purple, swollen significantly.

This woman's lower abdomen showed traces of blood on her clothes, with a small bloody hole penetrating through her Dantian. Her Mana had completely dissipated.

The Wushan Claw and Black Needle Magical Artifact hovered in mid-air, slowly rotating.

Yuan Ming, through the soul crow within the Black Needle Magic Artifact, controlled the entirety of the battle.

Liu Su appeared to be an individual cultivator, her movement technique fast, and her fists were harder than steel, capable of resisting magic artifacts. Her strength was significantly stronger than Lin Liumu's; unfortunately, the Black Needle had advanced to a top-grade magical tool and was manipulated by the possessed soul crow, making it impossible for Liu Su to counter.

Taking advantage of Liu Su's distraction by the Wushan Claw's attack, the Black Needle launched a sneak attack from behind, striking her Dantian in one blow, dispersing her energy and rendering her powerless.

Yuan Ming gestured with his hand, drawing the Wushan Claw and Black Needle Magical Artifact back into his sleeve.

"Yuan... Yuan Ming Fellow Daoist, I was coerced by those two and didn't want to be your enemy. I am willing to reveal the name of the mastermind behind this if you spare my life," Liu Su saw Yuan Ming appear and desperately pleaded, trying to look pitiful.

But this woman was robust and sturdy. Her attempt to look pitiful only made Yuan Ming shudder. He composed himself before regaining his calm.

"Given the steadiness in your voice, it appears you are not seriously hurt; having your Mana dissipated yet still withstanding the Wushan Claw's venom is indeed beyond my expectations," Yuan Ming said slowly.

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