"Li Yun? It is actually you?"

When the three saw Li Yun clearly, they were first stunned. Then, wild joy appeared on their faces.

"Good. This is truly finding something without effort after searching everywhere. Li Yun, I did not expect the three of us to be the first to find you."

"People from Starheaven Prefecture?"

Li Yun stood up slowly, and his gaze turned cold.

He had some impression of these three people. During the previous assessment, they had been standing behind Crown Prince Xing Tian, so they were clearly cultivators from Starheaven Prefecture.

"That is right."

The man in the center laughed loudly. "Li Yun, a lowly commoner from the Southern Martial Domain like you actually dared to offend the dignified Crown Prince Xing Tian. Truly, the ignorant are fearless. Now, on behalf of the crown prince, we will capture you, you death-seeking fool. Attack together."

Whoosh!

As soon as he finished speaking, the three cultivators from Starheaven Prefecture struck at the same time.

Three green staffs flew out, each one spinning rapidly while carrying violent streams of air. They moved with astonishing speed, and during their flight, the three staffs expanded quickly like beasts exhaling.

In only a few breaths, they had transformed into three enormous pillars that seemed capable of reaching the heavens.

The three Heaven-Reaching Staffs vaguely sealed off all of Li Yun’s paths of retreat before crashing down toward him with grand and majestic force.

"You think you can capture me with only this?"

Li Yun sneered. "Perfect. I will use the three of you to test the power of the Spirit Sword Sealing Array."

As soon as his words fell, ten flying swords swept out at the same time.

They were the ten Violet Shadow Swords.

Within the blades of the swords, chilling vertical eyes opened one after another, releasing a strange and hair-raising aura. The ten flying swords and ten vertical eyes formed an invisible sealing force that instantly enveloped the three cultivators from Starheaven Prefecture.

"What is happening?"

"Not good. Why can I no longer sense my Heaven-Reaching Staff?"

"What kind of demonic technique is this?"

The expressions of the three cultivators changed at the same time.

At that moment, the essence qi throughout their bodies seemed to have been forcibly imprisoned by some invisible power. They could no longer circulate it properly. They could not even sense the three green staffs clearly, let alone control them to attack Li Yun.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Without the control of the three cultivators, the enormous green staffs immediately shrank back to their original forms and fell directly to the ground.

"Presumptuous."

The man standing in the center suddenly shouted sternly. "Li Yun, how dare you? We are acting under Crown Prince Xing Tian’s orders to capture you, yet you actually dare to resist. Are you tired of living? Do you not know that even within the Heavenly Sword Sect, there are many experts from our Starheaven Ancient Kingdom?"

His voice grew louder as he spoke, and his expression became even more arrogant.

"If you kneel down right now and obediently follow us to kowtow and plead guilty before the crown prince, you may still have a way to survive. If you continue to resist stubbornly, then even if the Heavenly Sword Sect is vast, there will be no place for you."

As he spoke, he stared haughtily at Li Yun, without the slightest awareness that he had already become a prisoner.

"You are on the verge of death, yet you still have so much nonsense to say?"

This absurd logic made Li Yun laugh out of anger.

He sneered coldly, no longer bothering to waste words with such an idiot. He directly swung his sword, and a sharp sword light flashed through the air.

The man’s head flew away.

"You dare?"

"Li Yun, you lowly commoner, you actually dared to kill someone from our Starheaven Prefecture. You are finished. From now on, whether in heaven or on earth, no one can save you. You are dead."

Seeing this, the remaining two cultivators from Starheaven Prefecture were both shocked and furious. They could hardly believe their eyes.

Li Yun had actually dared to kill someone.

Who had given him the courage to kill people from Starheaven Prefecture?

"Idiots."

Li Yun smiled coldly and swung his sword twice more.

Swish! Swish!

Li Yun swung his sword twice in succession, and both strikes were clean, decisive, and merciless. In the blink of an eye, the two remaining cultivators from Starheaven Prefecture were beheaded.

Even after their heads separated from their bodies, disbelief still remained frozen on their faces. It was as though they still could not accept that Li Yun had truly dared to kill them.

"Crown Prince Xing Tian? Hmph."

Li Yun smiled coldly.

Others might fear Crown Prince Xing Tian or feel wary of the Starheaven Ancient Kingdom standing behind him, but Li Yun did not care at all.

The royal family of the Starheaven Ancient Kingdom carried the surname Chen, and Peak Lord Shen Ming’s greatest enemy in life, the Heavenly Sword Sect elder named Chen Ming, also came from the Starheaven Ancient Kingdom.

In other words, from the very beginning, Li Yun and the Starheaven Ancient Kingdom had already been standing on opposite sides. Since that was the case, why would he fear a mere Crown Prince Xing Tian?

"This Spirit-Tracking Compass is quite useful."

Li Yun reached out and directly grabbed the golden compass.

The Spirit-Tracking Compass was a very special spiritual artifact. It did not possess any offensive ability, nor did it have any defensive power. Its only function was searching.

It could locate nearby spiritual materials and sense the essence qi fluctuations of nearby cultivators. As long as someone was within its search range, it would be extremely difficult for them to hide.

In this secret realm, such a treasure could save Li Yun a great deal of effort.

After putting away the Spirit-Tracking Compass, Li Yun continued searching through the belongings left behind by the three cultivators from Starheaven Prefecture.

He had to admit that these three truly came from Starheaven Prefecture. Although they were only at the 1st stage of the Mortal Core Realm, their wealth was even greater than Han Mingxuan’s.

Aside from fifty high-grade Spirit Stones on each of them, they also carried many Earth Rank spiritual materials related to the five elements. In addition, there were nearly a hundred flame cores.

"So many flame cores? It seems they were planning to offer these flame cores to Crown Prince Xing Tian. Unfortunately for them, they have ended up benefiting me instead."

Looking at the hundred or so flame cores, Li Yun quickly understood their purpose, and a trace of pleasant surprise appeared in his heart.

With this many flame cores, even if he could not cultivate the Vermilion Sun Incineration Art to perfection, he would at least be very close.

"There is no need to rush. It is better to collect all the fire-attribute spiritual materials first. After that, I can cultivate Vermilion Sun Incineration Art of the Five Element Supreme Divine Art to the perfection stage in one go."

Li Yun shook his head and suppressed the urge to absorb the flame cores immediately.