Talisman Treasures were far scarcer than Spiritual Artifacts.

Thus, duels involving Talisman Treasures were rare, only breaking out when Major Sects vied for treasures in Secret Realms. The combatants were always individuals with profound backgrounds—either the blood kin of Golden Core Masters or the descendants of Nascent Soul cultivators.

And yet now...

"...Hmph. So what if you have a Talisman Treasure?" Zhuang Xun hastily activated his own.

Talisman Treasures also had different grades. His Red Dragon Golden Sword Talisman, for example, was a relic left by the first ancestor of the Zhuang Family. In its day, it had slain numerous Core Formation cultivators. In terms of raw power, a Gold Element Talisman Treasure was stronger than its Wood Element counterpart opposite him.

In the span of a breath, both men locked onto each other with their Divine Sense.

On Lü Zhong’s end, he had originally planned to fight dirty, launching a sneak attack while his opponent was still activating his Talisman Treasure.

At his maximum burst speed, the mere dozen or so zhang between them was a distance he could cross in the blink of an eye.

But as he prepared to act, he realized a sneak attack was impossible under these circumstances. With their auras locked onto each other, his only options were to either face the attack head-on or desperately defend himself. If he did anything else, his opponent could simply trigger the Talisman Treasure a moment early and end the combat instantly.

In the end, the Talisman Treasures were just too powerful; they completely skewed the scales of victory.

He immediately threw caution to the wind, pouring his Magical Power directly into the Cyan Plate Sword Talisman.

The two treasures within the talisman seemed to sense this, letting out a series of sharp, metallic hums.

Everything happened in the space of a breath.

As the Green and Gold Double Swords clashed, Lü Zhong also engaged Zhuang Xun in close combat.

This man truly lived up to his origins from a Nascent Soul Sect. His strength was far beyond that of any ordinary Loose Cultivator. He possessed multiple Secret Techniques, including a short-range Instant Body Technique similar to Star Shifting Step, and he could make the Magic Ring in his hand vibrate violently. After just a few clashes, the force of the vibrations had already torn open the webbing of Lü Zhong’s hand.

Lü Zhong landed a vicious strike and quickly retreated.

He had only wanted to test the true strength of a cultivator from a Nascent Soul Sect.

Now, he had his answer.

’He really is strong. He’d crush any Loose Cultivator, and I bet he’d have a huge advantage even against a disciple from a Golden Core Sect.’

Seeing his opponent forming hand seals and chanting, Lü Zhong knew without thinking that he was casting some powerful Magic Skill. Otherwise, Zhuang Xun would never have allowed him to stand there lost in thought; he would have charged forward long ago.

"Fortunately for me, I have a Spiritual Artifact!"

Lü Zhong let out a cold laugh, and the Qingyang Mirror flew out from his sleeve in response.

Zhuang Xun’s expression changed the moment he saw it.

’This is outrageous,’ he thought. ’This young man not only has a Talisman Treasure, but a Spiritual Artifact as well. He must be the descendant of some old monster, and a direct blood relative at that. Or maybe he’s a core disciple from a Major Sect. How else could he possibly have both of these things?’

’If I follow that line of thinking, he probably has a Celestial Thunder Pearl, too.’

"Who on earth are you? How about we stop here and call a truce?" he said, though his hands never stopped moving. It was clearly a ploy to distract Lü Zhong.

’The greater this young man’s background, the more he deserves to die.’

’Otherwise, I’ll never know a moment of peace again!’

Lü Zhong was utterly unaffected by his words. He controlled the Qingyang Mirror, unleashing beams of Mirror Light.

At the same time, the Spiritual Light on the Qianfeng Ring on his left hand began to flash.

’This Zhuang Xun has to die. Otherwise, when he uses the Lingyue Sect to retaliate, I’ll be the one facing certain death.’

BANG! BANG! BANG! The dense beams of Mirror Light struck the protective barrier formed by the shattered Jade Talisman, sending out ripples of spiritual fireworks. Every so often, a Qianfeng Spear would shoot forth and bury itself halfway to the tip, startling Zhuang Xun inside and making his expression shift. But he was a ruthless man and continued forming hand seals and chanting.

Seeing this, Lü Zhong became even more determined not to let him have his way.

He urged the Qingyang Mirror on with greater intensity while repeatedly activating the Qianfeng Ring.

Once cracks appeared on the shield, he used his instant movement technique to rush forward, unleashing all of his Late Sun Magic Swords in a single breath. To top it off, he landed a final Magic Sword Skill strike on the fractured barrier.

CRASH!

In the end, Lü Zhong proved to be the more skilled of the two.

Zhuang Xun saw this and helplessly halted his hand seals.

He had been just a sliver away from casting Shocking God Needle, a Divine Sense Secret Technique that would have instantly reversed the battle. He had even spent a fortune on that precious Jade Talisman—one capable of blocking a full-powered strike from a Golden Core Master—all for this opportunity. But who could have predicted that his opponent not only had two Spiritual Artifacts but was also skilled in both the Late Sun Sword Skill and the standard Magic Sword Skill, two powerful close-combat techniques.

’My choice wasn’t wrong. The only thing I got wrong was how absurdly powerful my opponent was.’

"Heh... to lose like this..."

Zhuang Xun let out a self-deprecating laugh. His vision suddenly flipped over and over before finally plunging into darkness.

Looking at Zhuang Xun’s severed head, his face frozen in a self-deprecating smile, Lü Zhong finally let out a long sigh of relief. The man had been the strongest opponent he had ever faced, far more powerful than any cultivator he had killed before.

But in the end, he had won.

His gaze shifted to the dueling Talisman Treasures. The Cyan Plate Sword Talisman, having exhausted its last bit of power, spontaneously burst into flames.

From the other side, a golden Sword Talisman floated down.

Drawing it into his hand, Lü Zhong discovered it had one use remaining.

After completely wiping the scene clean of any evidence, he finally departed with ten Storage Bags.

...

The news that the Zhuang Family’s leadership had been completely wiped out overnight quickly caused an uproar in Lingyue Immortal City. After all, the area around the Immortal City was usually peaceful, and major incidents like this were exceedingly rare.

The matter even alerted the Lingyue Golden Core cultivators.

However, Lü Zhong had cleaned up his tracks so meticulously that there was no room to even attempt a Tracking Spell.

「Half a month later.」

Lü Zhong rose from bed.

He glanced at the two women sprawled on the bed, limp as boneless chickens, and casually slapped a few Cleaning Talismans on himself.

On his way out, he remembered to tell a maid to change the bed with a set of clean, dry linens.

He made his way to the Quiet Chamber.

Inside, aside from a meditation cushion used for calming the mind and focusing the spirit, there was now a small, solid-wood table. Twenty-eight Storage Bags were arranged on top of it, all of them from the Zhuang Family.

A smile crept onto his face. Lü Zhong realized he was getting quite fond of opening loot bags.

’Let’s start with the bags from the Qi Refining cultivators...’

The first one didn’t contain many valuables. It was mostly filled with items used for combat, a box containing a hundred Spirit Stones, and quite a bit of used women’s lingerie. Other than that, there was a stack of bloody cloth strips.