Raise a sword!

Suddenly, someone appeared and blocked Lan Yingying's way, which obviously surprised Li Ruhai, who had been confident of victory.

Seeing his long-prepared Wind-Breaking Palm strike easily withstood by his opponent's bare body, Li Ruhai's surprise turned into vigilance.

When the force of the palm strike dissipated and transformed into a whirlwind howling through the mountains and forests, Li Ruhai finally saw the other person's face clearly.

That one glance, however, made him relax his guard immediately.

"So it's the renowned Alchemist Jiang." Li Ruhai grinned, a half-smile playing on his lips. "Isn't Alchemist Jiang a coward who never dares to leave the market? Why has he come to Black Market Valley at this crucial moment?"

This kind of teasing isn't enough.

Li Ruhai's gaze kept shifting back and forth between Jiang Peng and Lan Yingying.

"So that's why, you two are a pair of adulterers... No wonder Master Jiang moved to the house opposite Miss Lan's, it was so that you two could have an affair."

Jiang Peng remained expressionless, pretending not to hear the other party's slander.

He casually glanced back, his gaze meeting Lan Yingying's eyes, which were filled with surprise, but neither of them spoke to the other.

After confirming that Lan Yingying was only seriously injured and not in mortal danger, Jiang Peng then looked at Li Ruhai.

"We, Fellow Daoist Lan and I, will keep today's events to ourselves. Since the Li family is leaving the northern foothills of the Earth-Ringing Mountains anyway, it's better to avoid trouble..."

Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Peng saw a copper bell appear in Li Ruhai's hand, which he then activated with his spiritual power.

The copper bell immediately flew into the air and began to shake continuously.

Ring ring ring—

The ringing was extremely shrill, and contained some kind of mysterious power that instantly stirred up Jiang Peng's originally steady blood energy, causing the circulation of spiritual power within his body to become somewhat sluggish.

Lan Yingying was the first to succumb, spitting out a mouthful of blood, before forcing herself to say, "It's the Soul Sound Bell of the Illusionary Sound Sect!"

"What's their background?" Jiang Peng also felt extremely uncomfortable, but she could still bear it.

"A first-grade high-quality magic weapon, a unique magic weapon of the Illusionary Sound Sect. If one is affected by the bell for too long, at best one's blood and qi will flow backward and the meridians will be damaged, and at worst one's evil fire will attack the heart and one's life will be in danger."

At the moment of their conversation, Li Ruhai on the other side had already launched another attack.

"You surnamed Jiang, if you had stayed quietly in the market, my Li family wouldn't have done anything to you... But since you dared to come out and I ran into you, you'll have to stay here today."

"A mere mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, who only managed to curry favor with Old Ghost Qin through flattery, dares to embarrass the Li family! You, surnamed Jiang, who do you think you are!"

Li Ruhai raised his hand and pointed, gathering spiritual energy at his fingertips, which was then released and continuously shot towards Jiang Peng.

That's a novel spell.

This method may seem unremarkable, but it allows one to manipulate spiritual energy with ease during the Qi Refining stage, clearly indicating that it is not a simple spell.

However, in Jiang Peng's view, this method was just something to look at for its novelty.

Jiang Peng didn't even take out a weapon. Instead, he stood still and used only his bare hands to disperse all the spiritual energy that kept appearing.

A sharp pain shot through my palm, but that was all.

The skin wasn't even broken.

"Hmm, you do have some skill. No wonder you dared to step forward." Li Ruhai was surprised by how easily Jiang Peng had neutralized his tactics, but he didn't feel that things were out of his control.

It was just a test.

Once one goes all out, the gap between the late stage and the middle stage of Qi Refining is something that this young man focused on alchemy can never bridge.

So Li Ruhai activated the Soul Sound Bell in mid-air again, and the piercing sound of the bell became even more urgent.

Just then, Jiang Peng's puzzled voice rang out.

"Just now, Brother Li said that I, Jiang, had embarrassed the Li family. May I ask what the matter was?"

It can't be because of the killing of a junior member of the Li family outside the black market, can it? Even the upper sect couldn't find out about this, so the Li family wouldn't know.

But Jiang Peng still had to ask one question, to put her mind at ease.

But Li Ruhai raised an eyebrow and looked at Jiang Peng in disbelief.

"You killed my Li family's retainer, and you're acting like nothing happened?"

"A tribute from the Li family?"

"Why pretend to be stupid? That night, you killed and captured one of my Li family's retainers, and even attracted the Cangshan Pavilion to stand up for you, forcing my Li family to swallow our anger and keep quiet..."

At this point, Li Ruhai looked at Jiang Peng's feet; those magical boots were the Li family's apology gift.

"Heh, how well do these Wind Chaser Boots work?"

Jiang Peng suddenly realized.

So the sneak attack that night really was orchestrated by the Li family.

"So it was you... So why did you send people to intercept and kill me?"

"Do I need a reason to kill an unknown nobody like you?"

Jiang Peng couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hehe, Brother Li has a sharp tongue, and the Li family is quite domineering."

As soon as she finished speaking, a wisp of fire flashed in the depths of Jiang Peng's eyes.

He raised his hand, and a tiny spark flew out from his sleeve, which then suddenly spread out.

In an instant, Li Ruhai felt a tightness in his heart as everything before him was engulfed by the flames.

He felt a chill run down his spine, unable to comprehend how such a ruthless technique could appear in the hands of a mid-stage Qi Refining alchemist.

Despite his shock, Li Ruhai hastily produced a shield the size of a palm.

After the shield was infused with spiritual energy, it immediately formed a semi-transparent spiritual energy shield that emitted faint glows, perfectly protecting Li Ruhai.

At the same time, the sudden burst of flames reached Li Ruhai's vicinity.

"Hmph, this is a top-grade first-tier magic weapon. With your abilities, there's absolutely no chance of breaking through it!"

Li Ruhai's tone was so firm that a sword's edge flashed in the firelight.

"Oh no, it's not fire magic, it's swordsmanship?!"

Li Ruhai hurriedly manipulated the shield to try and block the sword's edge in the firelight, but found that the sword's edge was extremely agile.

Suddenly, his expression changed drastically.

"This is the sword technique of Jade Pavilion Sword Pavilion, this is the 'Jade Pavilion Sword Cultivation Technique,' how could you possibly know it!"

The Jade Pavilion Sword Technique is unpredictable and beyond human comprehension.

The moment Li Ruhai recognized the other party's methods, he knew that today's matter could not be resolved peacefully.

Jiang Peng's strength exceeded Li Ruhai's expectations, and at this moment, she unleashed a sword technique that could not be easily revealed.

This is an attempt to silence them... Wait!

Li Ruhai's pupils contracted as he suddenly realized that the opponent's fire technique was not simple either.

Yes, spiritual energy transforms into fire!

It was through countless hardships and at great cost that the Li family obtained the inherited cultivation technique from a place outside the northern foothills.

Although this method only has a Qi Refining chapter, it is considered a treasure by the Li family because it allows one to cultivate a rather miraculous technique during the Qi Refining stage.

"That is—"

Swish-!

A flash of sword light found an opening in the spiritual energy shield and pierced through Li Ruhai's neck.

This sword strike also abruptly interrupted the words he was about to utter.