This familiar feeling, damn it

Just as the Gray-robed Old Man was about to gather his spiritual energy to resist, he saw the blade right before his eyes. He only felt a chill on his neck, and his consciousness completely plunged into darkness.

His head rolled onto the ground, blood splattering onto the rock wall. His eyes were still staring wide open, full of unwillingness and disbelief.

On the other side, Li Xuanfeng had already circled into the group of Blood Soul Sect disciples.

The trajectory of his sword energy changed. It seemed ordinary but was astonishingly fast. Just as a disciple was about to swing his magical artifact, his throat was pierced by the sword energy, and he fell stiffly to the ground.

Another disciple turned to run, but his back was instantly pierced by the sword energy. He didn't even let out a scream.

Seeing this, the remaining disciples panicked, but their blood-colored spiritual energy was vulnerable in the face of Li Xuanfeng's restrained sword energy. In just a few breaths, more than a dozen disciples all fell in a pool of blood.

Shi Wanshan walked over, squatted down, and reached out to touch the corpse at the very front. First, he touched the storage bag at the waist, tore it off with a "swish," and stuffed it into his own arms.

Then he rummaged through the bracers on the wrists and the rings on the fingers, not even sparing the small medicine bottle hidden in the underwear. His movements were as skilled as rummaging through his own storage box.

"Martial Uncle Shi, what are you doing..."

Li Xuanfeng was dumbfounded. He even forgot to put away the sword in his hand. He had only seen Martial Uncle Shi fight bravely, but he had never seen this posture of "stripping off treasures."

"How can we fight for nothing?"

Shi Wanshan didn't even lift his head and tore off the heart-protecting mirror of another corpse.

"These demonic sect brats have robbed a lot of things from other factions. We are robbing the rich to help the poor!"

After stripping the treasures from the dozen or so corpses clean, Shi Wanshan took out a "Corpse-Melting Pill," crushed it, and scattered it.

A faint green medicinal mist sizzled out. Not only were the corpses and bloodstains melted into flying ash, but even the remaining fragments of magical artifacts on the ground were not spared. They were completely reduced to ashes, without leaving the slightest trace.

Shi Wanshan even deliberately walked around the battlefield. His fingertips swept across the rock wall with spiritual energy, smoothing out the sword marks and spiritual energy imprints left during the fight just now.

The scene instantly returned to its original empty appearance, as if no one had ever fought here.

"I really broadened my horizons today!"

Li Xuanfeng looked at Shi Wanshan's series of operations and finally came to his senses, muttering to himself.

"I used to hear my master nagging about destroying corpses and wiping out traces after killing people. Today, I really learned it."

Shi Wanshan put away the Black Iron Essence, turned his head, and saw Li Xuanfeng still standing there dumbly. He reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"What are you standing there for? Let's go!"

The two quickly left carrying a pile of spoils.

If any rogue cultivators returned at this time, they would probably only wonder why the dozen or so people from the Blood Soul Sect had evaporated along with their treasures.

Just as the two turned a bend in the mountain, they bumped into two Burning Heaven Palace disciples hurrying through with magical artifacts in hand.

Their eyes were anxious, sweeping over every piece of spirit grass and every rock along the way, as if they were eagerly searching for something.

Shi Wanshan and Li Xuanfeng exchanged a glance, immediately held their breath, restrained their auras, and quietly followed behind the two.

Not far along, they encountered three more teams of Burning Heaven disciples one after another. All of them had tense faces, their hands resting on the handles of their magical artifacts, and their footsteps hurried. Obviously, they were conducting a large-scale manhunt for someone.

"Do you think... we can really find them?"

In the team, a young disciple lowered his voice and asked, his tone carrying a bit of unease.

"Do you really want to find them?"

The older disciple beside him glanced at him sideways, his voice even lower and earnest.

"Even if we do bump into them, with our little skill, can we beat them? Be smart. Just go through the motions and put on a show. You have to learn to slack off."

These words drifted into Shi Wanshan's ears, and he couldn't help but chuckle softly.

There were actually such slacking disciples within the Burning Heaven Palace. It seemed that Lie Tianxiong's prestige within the sect needed to be improved.

He turned to look at Li Xuanfeng. "Let's go. Follow them and see what kind of person is worth the Burning Heaven Palace making such a big fuss over."

He signaled Li Xuanfeng to speed up, and they quickly circled to a hidden mountain hollow.

Deep in the mountain hollow, there was a pitch-black cave, with two people standing at the entrance.

On the left was Yan Cangyun, the Great Elder of the Burning Heaven Palace. He held a burning fire talisman in his right hand, his eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

On the right was a Black-robed Elder. The fire spiritual energy around him was condensed but unreleased. He crossed his arms over his chest, and even his breathing was extremely light. Obviously, he was guarding the person inside the cave.

Shi Wanshan narrowed his eyes, and the hidden force at his fingertips quietly circulated.

"Lie Tianxiong must be in the cave. They are guarding it so tightly. Lie Tianxiong must have found some good thing and is refining it."

"Then should we... take the opportunity to rob them?"

Li Xuanfeng gripped his long sword tightly, a trace of eagerness flashing in his eyes. The experience of following Shi Wanshan to strip treasures just now made him have a bit more intention of taking advantage of the situation to loot.

Shi Wanshan glanced at him, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "You kid, you're starting to get restless too."

He pondered for a moment, looked around, and made sure there was no one else here.

"I'll deal with that Black-robed Elder, and you deal with Yan Cangyun. We must end the battle as soon as possible. Their people will hear the commotion and quickly return to support. And don't let Lie Tianxiong inside the cave notice."

Li Xuanfeng nodded. The two circulated their spiritual energy at the same time. Shi Wanshan wrapped the hidden force around the black iron sword, his footsteps as light as a cat's.

Li Xuanfeng, on the other hand, retracted his sword energy until only a sliver of sharpness remained and circled behind Yan Cangyun.

Almost at the same instant, Shi Wanshan suddenly rushed out. The black iron sword slashed straight at the Black-robed Elder's back heart. The momentum of the sword was so fast that it caused ripples in the air.

Li Xuanfeng also launched an attack at the same time. His sword energy pressed straight towards Yan Cangyun's wrist holding the fire talisman.

Caught off guard, the Black-robed Elder hastily gathered fire spiritual energy to block, but his arm was numbed by the hidden force on the black iron sword. Just as he was about to counterattack, Shi Wanshan had already circled to his side. The back of the sword smashed heavily onto the back of his neck. The Black-robed Elder groaned and fell stiffly to the ground.

On the other side, just as Yan Cangyun was about to activate the fire talisman, his wrist was cut by the sword energy. The fire talisman fell to the ground with a "smack." Li Xuanfeng took the opportunity to step forward and slapped his chest with a palm. Yan Cangyun spat out a mouthful of blood and also fainted.

Li Xuanfeng pressed Yan Cangyun's body into the bushes and quickly pulled off the storage ring glowing with spiritual light from his finger, not even sparing the bracer engraved with the Burning Heaven pattern on his wrist. He put them into his storage ring in a few moves.

Seeing this scene, the corner of Shi Wanshan's mouth twitched. Good heavens, he was indeed a genius disciple of the sect. He learned this technique of looting wealth really fast.

He had only seen him loot once before, and now his technique was so skilled. He was self-taught.

Shi Wanshan also squatted beside the Black-robed Elder and skillfully felt all over his body, from the storage ring on his finger to the jade pendant hanging around his neck, and even pulled out the small cloth bag sewn on the inside of his hem.

After dragging the two fainted people deep into the mountain hollow and hiding them well, Shi Wanshan took out a mace.

He said to Li Xuanfeng in a low voice, "Later, you attract his attention, and I'll give him a blow with the mace to make sure he faints. If Lie Tianxiong is really refining a treasure, maybe we can snatch a semi-finished product."

After saying that, he quickly pushed open the stone door of the cave.

As soon as he walked into the cave, he saw Lie Tianxiong sitting cross-legged on the ground, with no spiritual light of any treasure in front of him.

On top of his head swelled a lump the size of a fist, covered in black and blue bruises. His hair was a disheveled mess, and his robes were stained with dirt. He looked thoroughly wretched.

Evidently, he had been beaten up earlier by Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu and was hiding here to heal. The swelling hadn't gone down even after half a day, and he was currently rubbing it with a miserable expression on his face.

This scene completely exceeded Shi Wanshan's expectations.

"Now that is what I call a prominent head!"

Unable to hold back, Shi Wanshan blurted out the words.

He quickly swung the wolf-fang mace in his hand. He had originally intended to smash it right onto Lie Tianxiong's head, but upon catching a glimpse of that bulging lump, he slightly shifted his wrist. With a heavy thud, the mace struck right next to the original lump, adding a fresh black-and-blue bump to his skull.

Lie Tianxiong had just finished rubbing the old lump and hadn't even recovered his senses when he saw two masked men barge in. Before he even had the chance to cry out for help, he was struck by the mace and collapsed stiffly to the ground.

Sprawled out on the floor, as his consciousness faded into darkness, only one thought remained in his mind: Fucking hell, not again... this familiar feeling, damn it!