A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

Inside the formation,

The Xu family patriarch, who had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened his eyes, a smug smile appearing on his face, and laughed heartily.

"Kid, you finally couldn't hold back and made the first move. You're still too green to fight me!"

"Yeah?"

As soon as Lin He finished speaking, more than twenty low-level rubbings flew out all at once, transforming into various low-level spells that rained down upon him.

The Xu family patriarch stood up and cautiously gave himself a mid-level defensive talisman. A golden light appeared, easily blocking all the spells.

"You think you can deal with mere low-level talismans?"

Just as the Xu family patriarch was about to say something sarcastic, the fat old man not far away suddenly let out a heart-wrenching sound.

The Xu family patriarch's expression changed, and he quickly looked over. At this moment, the fat old man's chest was pierced by a pair of sharp forelimbs. As the attack was launched, the opponent's figure finally appeared. It was the fourth-level spirit beast, the Jade Mantis, with a veil magic artifact covering the mantis's head.

"Concealing Spirit Veil!" The Xu family patriarch's expression changed upon seeing this. If they were outside, even with this top-tier auxiliary magic artifact, the Concealing Spirit Veil, it would be impossible for the other party to sneak into such close range silently. But unfortunately, this was inside the formation.

The Reversed Five Elements Formation can interfere with divine sense. The Xu family patriarch was also distracted by Lin He's low-level talisman, so he naturally couldn't spare the attention to take care of the fat old man. That's why the Jade Mantis was able to launch a sneak attack and kill him in one blow.

"Very well, I never thought I would be outsmarted by a junior like you. This jade mantis of yours is not bad, I'll kill it and use it to forge a top-grade magic weapon for me."

The Xu family patriarch was truly enraged. The successive deaths of his two nephews in front of him had made him lose face. He pointed at the golden sword in front of him with one hand, and instantly beams of golden light swept back, their momentum so powerful that it was impossible to look directly at them.

The golden light moved with incredible speed, leaving the Jade Mantis no time to dodge. It could only desperately flail its forelegs to defend itself. Beams of golden light rained down relentlessly, but the Jade Mantis's efforts were futile; the light was virtually impenetrable. In just a short while, its hard body was covered in wounds, all bleeding. And the golden light showed no sign of stopping, continuing to shoot forth—the power of this magical artifact was terrifying indeed!

The Xu family patriarch snorted coldly, showing no surprise whatsoever. He simply waited for the Jade Mantis to die. Just then, a dozen more low-grade beginner talismans flew over.

"How foolish! Attacks of this level are completely useless against me. I thought you were so clever, but it seems I overestimated you. Wait... what's this blue bead?"

White light! A dazzling burst of white light erupted completely!

With a deafening roar, the golden shield on the Xu family patriarch's body was completely unable to withstand the light and was quickly shattered by the white light. Not only that, the dazzling white light struck the Xu family patriarch's body hard. With a miserable scream, the Xu family patriarch's figure finally reappeared, but at this moment he was in a truly miserable state!

Half of his body had been blown off. He stood there with difficulty, staring at Lin He not far away with a face full of resentment.

"What exactly did you just do? That blue bead, could it be...?"

"Indeed, just a single Heavenly Thunder Particle," Lin He said calmly. "Senior was indeed not present in his true form; otherwise, he wouldn't have been blasted like this by a mere Heavenly Thunder Particle. Am I right?"

The Xu family patriarch snorted coldly, immediately took a pill to suppress his injuries, and then said, "You don't need to test me. I did send a spirit puppet clone, which can only exert 30% of its strength. But do you think you've won? I still have the strength to fight."

Without giving Lin He a chance to reply, he pointed at the Golden Rain Sword and whispered, "Slash!"

The golden sword immediately grew larger, forming a colossal sword that seemed to reach the sky. It slammed down on Lin He below, unleashing an indescribable surge of powerful spiritual energy. Lin He felt his aura locked, unable to escape, and could only brace himself against the thunderous sword strike.

Lin He was shocked. He hadn't expected that his opponent could still unleash such a sharp sword strike despite being seriously injured. However, he remained calm despite his shock and quickly took out his array plate. Immediately, more than a dozen layers of five-colored light screens appeared, completely enveloping him.

The giant sword fell, and after a series of loud noises, seven layers of five-colored light barriers were shattered. However, the giant sword's magic power was obviously also greatly depleted, and it actually stopped at the eighth layer of light barrier.

Upon seeing this, the Xu family patriarch's expression changed. He hadn't expected the Reversed Five Elements Formation to be so powerful. As if making a decision, he used all his remaining magical power.

The golden sword seemed to be nourished, and the giant golden sword trembled incessantly, as if it were overjoyed. Then, it broke through the remaining five-colored light screens in one go, revealing Lin He's true form!

"What?!"

Unexpectedly, the other party had such a method. Lin He hurriedly threw out the Xuan Tie Flying Shield to block it above his head.

It's a pity that this top-tier defensive magic weapon, which has been with Lin He for quite some time, couldn't withstand the giant sword's attack for even a moment and was quickly cut in two. Although the Flying Shield was broken, it successfully bought Lin He a little time.

The giant sword fell with the force of the attack, and Lin He quickly took out the yellow umbrella. A yellow ball of light appeared and enveloped his figure. At the same time, the umbrella continued to rotate, deflecting some of the force and actually catching this powerful attack.

Lin He looked at the golden sword in mid-air, which had shrunk several times in size, and breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, the Yellow Silk Umbrella alone could not block the power of the magic weapon, but in order to break through the light barrier defense of the formation, the golden giant sword had consumed too much spiritual power, which was why it was able to be blocked by the Yellow Silk Umbrella.

"Now it's my turn to fight back!"

At his command, Lin He released the Jade-Eyed Toad and the Golden Python. When the Xu family patriarch saw that they were both level four spirit beasts, his expression changed drastically.

"How...how do you have so many level four spirit beasts?"

Lin He didn't have time to explain to him. With a thought, he summoned the three spirit beasts to attack from three directions simultaneously. The golden python spat out a huge golden ball of light, the green-eyed toad spat out a purple ball of light, and the jade mantis spread its wings and wildly waved its sharp forelimbs.

Helpless, the Xu family patriarch had no choice but to hastily recall the golden sword for defense. However, faced with such a powerful attack, he was already severely injured and powerless to turn the tide. Soon, the golden sword's light dimmed further and further, and it was suppressed to the point that it was unable to fight back.

Just then, a beam of emerald light suddenly appeared above his head and slammed down on the golden sword, causing it to fly out of his hand.

"No!" the Xu family patriarch roared in utter despair, "How could I possibly be defeated by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator?"

Immediately afterward, the body of the Xu family patriarch was engulfed by various colored lights. Just as Lin He was about to take a closer look, a strange scene appeared. The corpse of the Xu family patriarch actually turned into a golden talisman. Then, the golden talisman suddenly tore open and turned into specks of golden light that disappeared. Only the golden sword and three high-level talismans remained in the original place.

This puppet avatar of the Xu family patriarch has thus perished!

Lin He finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he put away his spoils, he sensed a powerful aura approaching him at an extremely fast speed.