One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

The smoke of battle had not yet dissipated, and the pungent smell of gunpowder mixed with the scent of dust lingered at the narrow entrance of the One Line Sky Canyon.

"Has the road come to an end?"

Zhang Taichu stood in the middle of the cratered ruins, casually raised his hand to cover his mouth and yawned.

"ha--"

This long, languid sigh sounded particularly abrupt in the deathly silent canyon, even carrying a hint of sleepiness.

He lowered his eyes and casually kicked a deformed bullet that was still emitting blue smoke at his feet, making a crisp "ding" sound.

"this one?"

Zhang Taichu raised his head, his indifferent eyes piercing through the swirling smoke and dust before him, landing on the elderly foreign man with a full head of silver hair not far away:

"They set up such a large formation, with mines and heavy machine guns."

In the end, he didn't even manage to touch the hem of my robe.

"All talk and no action, that's a perfect description of you bunch of good-for-nothings, isn't it?"

Baron, who was standing at the very front of the mercenary formation, paused slightly upon hearing this, having been fiddling with his military knife.

The composure and playfulness that had been in his hawk-like eyes were gradually fading.

As a battle-hardened mercenary and the inheritor of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, the Six Treasures Immortal Thief, he possesses an almost beast-like intuition for danger.

The barrage of fire that had just struck the young Taoist priest—enough to tear an armored vehicle to shreds—hadn't even shaken the thin layer of golden light covering him.

This unscientific.

It's even less like something a human could do.

"That's interesting."

Barron sheathed his military knife back into the scabbard on his leg, his previously relaxed muscles instantly tensing up like a fully drawn bow.

He did not respond to Zhang Taichu's taunts, but simply raised his right hand expressionlessly and made a complex gesture towards the darkness behind him.

Plan B.

The two simple words were uttered with an undeniable coldness.

Click!Click!

A series of synchronized mechanical closing sounds suddenly rang out on the high ground on both sides of the canyon.

"Holy crap! These bastards had a backup plan?!"

Zhang Chulan was hiding behind a boulder, peeking out. Hearing the noise, he instinctively looked up and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

On the steep rock walls, a dozen burly figures clad in black exoskeleton armor appeared out of nowhere.

Instead of the conventional firearms they carried, they were now carrying enormous metal beasts with exaggerated shapes, resembling cannon barrels.

Instead of the rifling of conventional weapons, those cannon barrels were covered with dense alchemical runes that shimmered with a ghostly blue light.

hum - hum - hum -

With a sickening charging sound, the runes seemed to come alive, frantically devouring the energy in the surrounding air, and clusters of eerie blue orbs of light condensed at the muzzle.

"That's... a product of the combination of Western alchemy and modern technology?!"

Zhuge Qing no longer cared about his image; he stared intently at the weapons that were charging, his face turning extremely grim.

"That energy fluctuation... if I'm not mistaken, it's a modified version of the Soul-Devouring Cannon and the Tracking Missile!"

"These lunatics! Are they planning to wage a local war in the Qinling Mountains?!"

"Get out of the way!! Everyone get out of the way!!"

Wang Zhenqiu, no longer the carefree young man he had been, grabbed the still-dazed Zhang Chulan and desperately shoved himself into a crevice in the rock face to the side.

"That's a high-energy particle beam capable of melting tank armor! Even a tiny bit of it will turn you to ash!!"

"Daoist Master! Stop showing off! Run!"

however.

Faced with this impending devastating blow, Zhang Taichu remained unmoved, as if rooted to the spot.

He didn't even glance at the threats from those high vantage points, his gaze fixed on Barron, a playful smile curving his lips.

"Times have changed?"

"You think you can do anything with just a few fire pokers?"

call out--!!!

He hadn't finished speaking.

More than a dozen ear-piercing whistling sounds suddenly rang out.

On the high ground on both sides of the canyon, eerie blue beams of light, like the scythe of death, ripped through the night sky, carrying suffocating heat and an aura of destruction, and focused their fire on Zhang Taichu's location.

at the same time.

Several missiles, trailing long plumes of flame and covered with red tracking runes, emitted sharp whistles as they traced eerie arcs in the air, sealing off all of Zhang Taichu's escape routes.

boom!!!

In that instant, the entire canyon entrance was filled with dazzling blue light and the flames of an explosion.

The massive shockwave whipped up a cloud of debris and dust, forming a small mushroom cloud.

"It's over..."

Zhang Chulan lay prone in the crevice of the rock, feeling the earth-shaking tremors, and his heart sank:

"Is this something carbon-based life forms could withstand?"

"Even if my martial uncle is incredibly strong, he's still just a human being!"

Just when everyone thought that the young Taoist priest had turned to ashes.

squeak - creak -

A piercing sound, like metal being forcibly squeezed and twisted, suddenly came from the center of the explosion.

Followed by.

The sky filled with smoke and firelight, as if it had been torn apart by an invisible hand.

Zhang Taichu, who should have been reduced to ashes, was still standing in the same spot.

He casually put one hand in his pocket, and slowly raised the other hand, palm facing outward, fingers slightly spread.

And three inches in front of him.

Those alchemical missiles, powerful enough to flatten a small building, were now strangely hovering in mid-air!

Their tail thrusters were still spewing flames wildly, the projectiles were trembling violently, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable strain, as if trying to break through that final obstacle.

But those three inches seemed to be an insurmountable chasm for them.

"Crunch... crunch..."

As Zhang Taichu's raised hand clenched slightly.

Those missiles, made of special alloys, were like aluminum cans being squeezed by a hydraulic press; they instantly shrank, twisted, and were finally crushed into a lump of scrap metal!

Those terrifying, dark blue energy beams were caught directly in Zhang Taichu's hand.

sizzle-

Those high-energy particles, capable of instantly melting steel, throbbed and struggled wildly in his palm, trying to explode.

However, Zhang Taichu's palm was not covered by the Golden Light Mantra; there was only a faint, almost invisible, transparent aura flowing around it.

That was pure, ultimate power.

It is an absolute force capable of distorting the laws of physics.

"Is this all you're relying on?"

Zhang Taichu looked at the pale blue ball of light in his palm that was still struggling desperately, and a deep disappointment flashed in his eyes.

He suddenly clenched his five fingers together.

Snapped!

A crisp sound.

The ball of light, containing terrifying energy, exploded like a popped soap bubble, instantly shattering into countless tiny sparks that flowed through his fingers and dissipated into the air.

"This is so disappointing."

Zhang Taichu flicked the remaining arc of electricity off his hand as casually as if he were shaking off a drop of water.

The canyon was deathly silent.

The modified warriors on the high ground were all frozen in place, as if they had seen a ghost.

The weapons in their hands were still warm, and the blue afterglow shone on their blank faces, making them look particularly comical.

Barron's usually placid face now showed a look of terror.

His pupils contracted sharply, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he instinctively took a half-step back.

He crushed the alchemical beam with his bare hands?

Using sheer force... to flatten the missile?

Is this even human?!

"Finished?"

Zhang Taichu ignored the blank stares around him.

He slowly lowered the hand that had just crushed the high-tech device, his gaze sweeping over the figures on the surrounding high ground before finally settling back on Baron.

"Now that the fight is over..."

"Then it's my turn."

Before he could finish speaking...

Zhang Taichu slowly raised his right foot, which was clad in a cloth shoe, and then, without any fancy moves, stomped heavily on the ground.

Boom-! ! ! !

The kick did not trigger a violent explosion.

But a strange and domineering shockwave instantly spread throughout the entire area along the earth's veins.

Within a radius of a hundred meters, the scattered pebbles, shell casings, and even the missile fragments he had just crushed all defied the laws of gravity and slowly floated into the air.

Countless pebbles floated around Zhang Taichu, trembling slightly and emitting a low hum as they were drawn by the terrifying aura within him.

Like countless bullets poised to be fired.

"Oh no!! Retreat!! Retreat now!!"

Barron's hair stood on end in that instant; the fear of impending death made him scream out desperately.

He no longer cared about his dignity as a leader, and he shot backward violently, trying to escape this death zone.

"It's too late."

Zhang Taichu stood in the center of the storm of floating boulders, his expression as indifferent as a god.

He flicked his long, slender hand lightly into the air.

It's like flicking away a tiny speck of dust.

"go."

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—! ! ! ! !

As this word was uttered.

The thousands of pebbles suspended in the air instantly transformed into countless streaks of light, invisible to the naked eye, shooting towards the highlands in all directions with a sharp whistling sound.

That speed was ten times faster than the bullet from before!

That power was even more terrifying than the missile from before!

Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!

A series of dull, sharp sounds of weapons piercing flesh echoed from both sides of the canyon.

Those modified warriors wearing heavy exoskeleton armor didn't even have time to scream.

Those ordinary pebbles have now become the most deadly armor-piercing projectiles.

They easily pierced through thick armor, through hard helmets, through the forehead, and through the throat.

The blood, like blooming spider lilies, tragically blossomed in the night sky.

In the time it takes to breathe.

The once arrogant mercenary squad, which held a commanding position, was completely defeated.

Their bodies fell from the high cliff, crashing heavily onto the pile of rocks at the bottom of the valley with a dull thud.

The dust has settled.

The entire canyon entrance was once again plunged into a deathly silence.

All that remained were the corpses scattered on the ground and the increasingly strong stench of blood in the air.

And in that mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood.

Barron, the only one still standing, was panting heavily.

On his left shoulder, there was a gaping hole, a bloody wound left by a piece of gravel.

If he hadn't forced his body to twist at the last moment using the extraordinary intuition bestowed upon him by the Six Treasures Immortal Thief, that hole would have been in his heart.

"Too...too crunchy."

Zhang Taichu withdrew his hand, looked at the silver-haired old man trembling violently not far away, shook his head, and said with a tone full of dejection:

"Is this what they call... high-tech warfare?"

"I can't even catch a stone that I casually toss."

"Really..."

"Utterly boring."