"Boom!"

A thunderous explosion suddenly echoed, and the violent shockwave spread over ten meters.

The thundercloud released by the Lei Family Cultivator even burst apart, along with the hidden Lei Family Cultivator within it, all left dizzy and disoriented, spewing a mouthful of blood.

"Damn it, I..."

He widened his eyes, the Zhang Family's Tributor who had just injured him turned and ran!

And quite fast, too.

"Damn it! Where are you running to!"

The Lei Family Cultivator roared angrily and immediately gave chase.

Both of them moved at an incredible speed, within moments rushing a thousand meters away.

"Damn... should've never waded into this mess!"

"But that Thunder Shock really worked well. If I had a few more of those..."

Niu Liang shouted in his heart, escaping quickly.

Simultaneously, he slapped his storage pouch, five Spirit Stones disappeared, replaced by a second Thunder Shock.

Yet the Lei Family Cultivator was hot on his heels, pinching a seal with one hand, and as the thundercloud shifted, a bolt of lightning shot towards him.

In a fright, he hastily slapped his storage pouch again, and a shield emanating a green glow spun out to narrowly block the lightning.

But the next second, another bolt of lightning struck, and with a crash, the shield was blasted away, its Spiritual Qi greatly diminished, clearly severely damaged.

"It's over! It's over!"

"Zhang Family Ancestor! Save me...!"

Niu Liang shouted, but Zhang Yongkang had no time to care for him, barely able to protect himself.

Feeling the pressure growing from behind, Niu Liang hurriedly grabbed the mirror fragment and shouted, "System save me! System save me now!"

Zheng Yi was helpless as well, never expecting Niu Liang to be so unlucky.

Less than half a year with the mirror fragment, and now his life was on the line.

He was indeed unlucky to get caught up in a conflict between two cultivation families; he figured he'd have to find another 'host'.

But before that, there was still...

As Niu Liang was yelling, the mirror fragment emitted a wave of Spiritual Qi, and characters appeared.

[Sacrifice your entire possessions in exchange for one-time use of the Soul-breaking Spear talisman treasure.]

Soul-breaking Spear!

He had seen this treasure on the exchange list before, requiring a hundred top-grade Spirit Stones!

Unexpectedly, it could be exchanged for now?

Despite it being only a one-time use, it could surely resolve his current crisis.

Without the slightest hesitation, he quickly reversed his course, flying into the mountains and forests.

In the air, he couldn't dodge the pursuit of the Lei Family Cultivator behind, better to hide in the forest and perhaps wait for reinforcements.

"Boom!"

Another clap of thunder behind, but fortunately, Niu Liang had already rushed into the forest, dodging out of sight in a flash.

He ripped off his storage pouch and clutched his flying sword to his chest, shouting, "Quick, quick exchange!"

With a flash of light, the storage pouch and the flying sword disappeared instantly.

And characters appeared again on the mirror fragment.

[Soul-breaking Spear talisman treasure transferring...]

[Due to the item's preciousness, a certain amount of time is required for transfer.]

[One percent...]

[Two percent...]

"Still have to wait!"

Niu Liang was greatly shaken, but he had no time to think as the enemy was upon him, he fled hastily.

[Ten percent...]

"Damn Lei Family Cultivator! Once the transfer is complete, I'll make you pay!"

[Twenty-five percent...]

"Quick, quick! It's already a quarter!"

"Boom!"

The lightning exploded, and Niu Liang once again used the large trees to narrowly evade the strike.

Luckily, he had practiced the lightweight technique of Mortal Martial Artists in his leisure years ago, or he would be dead without a doubt.

His figure leapt swiftly, moving rapidly among the trees' shadows in the forest.

Frustrated, the cultivator behind him even threw out a flying sword, slicing down several large trees.

Perhaps the transfer speed quickened, reaching eighty percent!

[Eighty-five percent...]

[Ninety percent...]

[Ninety-five percent...]

[Ninety-eight percent...]

"Almost there!"

Niu Liang clutched the mirror fragment, shouting excitedly.

Once it reached a hundred percent, he'd obtain the Soul-breaking Spear talisman treasure to counter-kill the enemy behind.

At that moment...

"Poof!"

Just then, a blade light pierced from afar, suddenly impaling him completely.

Even so, Niu Liang gripped the mirror fragment tightly, eyes fixed on it.

"Quick, quick!"

"It's already ninety-eight percent, ninety..."

[Ninety-nine percent...]

With Niu Liang's hopeful gaze, the characters on the mirror fragment flickered and abruptly vanished.

"No!!!"

He roared furiously, "I am the Child of Fortune! I am the strongest Immortal Monarch! How, how can I die here... ah!!!"

"Poof!"

The flying sword swirled, piercing his neck again, silencing Niu Liang's final roar.

Shortly after, a man in black clothing emerged from behind, and with a gesture, the flying sword landed steadily in his hand.

Looking at Niu Liang's corpse, he said disdainfully, "Hmph! Just a mere Qi Cultivation Middle-stage Cultivator, yet you managed to hold out against me for so long, you can be proud of that."

"Most importantly, you actually managed to use that strange one-time-use Magical Artifact to injure me. I wonder what on earth it was?"

As he thought about this, he approached Niu Liang's corpse, still recalling the explosive power from a moment ago in his mind.

"It felt a bit like the Celestial Thunder Seed from the main Sect, but the power was even more explosive. Could it be a Celestial Thunder Seed? Or..."

His eyes suddenly lit up, indeed seeing something in Niu Liang's left hand—a black orb.

That's it!

It was exactly that one-time-use item, unexpected that it's still here.

The man in black excitedly stepped forward, just about to make a move when suddenly another ray of light came from a distance, even faster.

"Damn it!"

The man in black shouted angrily, striking his storage bag fiercely, causing black clouds to surge once again, barely blocking this sword light.

However, the power of this sword light far exceeded Niu Liang's Flying Sword, easily pressing it down.

At the same time, the sword blade flickered, surprisingly tearing his black cloud apart in an instant!

As the light flickered, a middle-aged beautiful woman in pink descended from the sky, face full of Evil Qi.

"Thief of the Lei Family, you're courting death!"

The beautiful woman shouted sharply, pointing with a single hand, and the light flickered again, transforming into a dazzling Flying Sword, slashing again at the Lei Family Cultivator.

"Yang Ping'er!!!"

The Lei Family Cultivator exclaimed in shock and immediately turned to flee without hesitation!

He had just entered the Seventh-layer Qi Cultivation, while Yang Ping'er was already a Qi Cultivation Late-stage Cultivator, possibly even a Qi Cultivation Great Perfection Cultivator. How could he possibly be her match!

His figure abruptly shot out, both hands forming seals quickly, with black clouds behind him radiating black light, transforming into a massive black cloth.

The black cloth was covered with silver thunder patterns.

Under the activation of the Lei Family Cultivator, it swiftly turned into over a dozen densely packed lightning bolts, rushing towards Yang Ping'er.

"Thundercloud Technique?"

Yang Ping'er's brows furrowed, tone sour, "As expected, it's the doing of Yinlei Mountain, I don't know what's going on, the Sect's Flying Sword transmission for aid was sent out long ago, yet..."

The Flying Sword radiated light, engulfing all these lightning bolts.

After the thunder dissipated, the Lei Family Cultivator was nowhere to be seen, and Yang Ping'er had no desire to give chase.

She walked over to Niu Liang and, looking at his corpse, shook her head and said, "Alas, Fellow Daoist Niu..."

"Even though you were just a Tributor of my Zhang Family, you have been diligent these past two years. Don't worry, my Zhang Family will protect your kin... huh? What's this?"

Yang Ping'er's eyes filled with doubt, reaching out to grab, the grenade clutched tightly in Niu Liang's left hand flew into the air.

"Clang~"

A light sound rang out as the fuse, tangled in Niu Liang's hand, was pulled out by Yang Ping'er's grab.

As smoke rose, looking at the strange black iron ball in her hand, which was still emitting smoke, Yang Ping'er suddenly felt a sense of impending doom.

Magical Power surged, and she instinctively pushed the black iron ball away, while a colored scarf rose from her waist, transforming into a glow that firmly protected her.

"Boom!!!"

Just after she completed this, the black iron ball exploded violently, the intense roar and shock wave affecting an area of over ten meters.

Even Yang Ping'er, protected by the Magical Artifact, felt a heatwave come over her, together with more than a dozen small fragments, all blocked by the colored scarf.

"What... what is this thing?"

"A one-time-use item?"

"A Yin Thunder Pearl? No! It looks more like a Celestial Thunder Seed!"

"But compared to the Celestial Thunder Seed, the power is much less..."

Yang Ping'er's heart was full of shock, "What exactly did Niu Liang do to have such a treasure?"

She quickly looked down, her expression suddenly turning grim.

"Where's the storage bag? Why is it gone? Even the Flying Sword is missing? Was it taken by the Lei Family Cultivator?"

"No..."

"When I arrived, the Lei Family Cultivator hadn't touched Niu Liang's corpse, or could it be..."

She looked at Niu Liang's right hand, pinned beneath his body, lifted the corpse, and saw that it was gripping something tightly.

"Even in death, he's protecting it, something is off..."

She didn't directly use her hands; instead, she took a few steps back, forming a seal with one hand, and the colored scarf flew out, delving into Niu Liang's hand, prying open his fingers one by one.

Soon, a seemingly shattered Bronze Mirror Fragment, enveloped by the colored scarf, flew over.

After waiting a few breaths without any surprises happening, Yang Ping'er took it in her hand, full of suspicion.

"This... what is this?"

"Niu Liang clutched it tightly even at the point of death, is it some kind of treasure?"

"Is his seemingly Celestial Thunder Seed-like one-time-use Magical Artifact related to this?"

Her heart filled with doubt, just as she was about to inspect it closely, a loud booming sound came from behind.

She instinctively turned her head to look, only to see the southern slope of Weiyang Mountain lit up in brilliant light, with numerous Fire Clouds spewing out from the glow, turning into torrents of meteors and crashing towards the ground.

"Boom!"

"Rumble!"

In an instant, almost the entire Weiyang Mountain was shaking, as a wave of heat swept in.

The mountain fire... erupted!

Yang Ping'er's expression became even grimmer, eyes full of astonishment.

"Talisman Treasure!"

"It's Master's Fire Cloud Shield!"

"What happened that it forced the senior brother to use the Talisman Treasure bestowed by Master!"

Her expression turned frantic, immediately forgetting the idea of continuing to inspect the Bronze Mirror Fragment, tossing it into her storage bag, and preparing to assist.

"Huh?"

The Bronze Mirror Fragment in her hand remained, surprisingly not entering the storage bag.

Her mind raced, and Yang Ping'er had no time to think it over. She tucked it into her sleeve, and the colored scarf swiftly encircled her, enveloping her in it as she flew down to the southern slope of Weiyang Mountain.

Along the way, the fire reflected brightly, and one or two Cultivators fled in panic, heading far into the distance.

And on the southern slope of Weiyang Mountain, Zhang Yongkang wielded a Talisman, emitting vast flames, burning up seven or eight Cultivators in succession, dominating everything.

"Hahaha..."

At that moment, a burst of laughter came from within the flames as a streak of lightning swiftly split open the Fire Clouds, dashing away into the distance.

It was Thundercloud Peak, with a white ring circling before him, protecting him from the endless Fire Clouds.

"Zhang Yongkang! Is the Talisman Treasure your last resort? This time I'll spare you, let's see what you have up your sleeve next time!"

"Weiyang Mountain, my Lei Family claims it!"

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