On the path to immortality, I can see destiny.

Just as Zhao Fan suddenly sprang up, transforming into a pale blue afterimage as he lunged toward the fifth brother who was holding the Qi-seeking disc.

"snort."

A cold, soft snort seemed to ring right next to his ear.

It was the gray-clad leader standing atop the high cliff. He didn't even move; he simply raised his right hand and pressed it lightly in mid-air in the direction Zhao Fan was rushing.

"Buzz!"

Zhao Fan felt the surrounding air freeze instantly, and an invisible yet heavy force, as heavy as a mountain, crashed down!

This power was so concentrated and terrifying that Zhao Fan felt as if a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders, making it impossible for him to move an inch!

"puff!"

Zhao Fan grunted, and the spiritual light of the Cloud-Stepping Boots flickered violently before dimming considerably.

His forward momentum suddenly halted, and he abruptly lost his balance. Not only did he fail to get close to Lao Wu, but he was also pulled backward by the immense force. His blood and qi churned, and his already injured internal organs throbbed with pain.

The sinister scholar's eyes swept over Zhao Fan. His figure moved forward several feet like a ghost. The pair of blue water-splitting daggers in his hand had flown out of his hand at some point, turning into two intersecting, poisoned blue rays. They were silent and fast, leaving only afterimages, and went straight for Zhao Fan's chest and abdomen, which were wide open due to his loss of balance!

The angle was extremely tricky, and the timing was absolutely perfect!

Zhao Fan was terrified. He mustered his spiritual energy and frantically activated the Netherworld Mirror above his head.

A flash of gray light appeared on the mirror, and two strands of spiritual gauze flew out, blocking the way.

"laugh……"

The poisoned blue light struck the spirit gauze, producing a corrosive sound that made your teeth ache.

The spiritual veil fluctuated violently, its color rapidly dimming, and the Netherworld Mirror itself emitted a mournful cry of unbearable strain, its spiritual light weakening by another third.

Although he blocked the fatal blow, some of the cold poison attached to the Water-Dividing Thorn still seeped through the Spirit Gauze, causing Zhao Fan's chest to go numb and making it difficult for him to control his body.

"Die!"

The one-eyed strongman roared almost simultaneously. He ignored the injury on his face and rushed forward while Zhao Fan was being suppressed by the leader and blocked by Mr. Bai's poison darts.

He poured all his raging earth-elemental spiritual power into the blade, and the yellow light on the blade condensed into a tangible substance. With a terrifying power that could split mountains and shatter rocks, he simply and brutally slashed down at Zhao Fan!

This strike, unleashed in fury, was devoid of any fancy techniques, only pure power!

Bloodshot appeared in Zhao Fan's eyes. In this life-or-death moment, he made the most instinctive and the most insane choice!

Instead of dodging or evading, he poured a large amount of spiritual energy into his Cloud-Stepping Boots, and with a sudden twist of his waist, he spun like a top whipped by an invisible whip, rushing towards a Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator to the side!

At the same time, the Golden Marrow Thorn he recalled transformed into a streak of dark light, shooting directly into the eyes of another Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator next to him!

"puff!"

"clang!"

Two sounds, almost simultaneously, exploded!

The dark light transformed from the Golden Marrow Thorn precisely pierced the throat of the Iron Hook cultivator, bringing forth a spray of blood.

The monk's eyes widened, his hands futilely covering his bleeding neck, before he slowly collapsed.

Zhao Fan, on the other hand, crashed squarely into the shield of the other cultivator!

His impact was extremely cunning; it wasn't at the center of the shield, but at the point where the edge of the shield met the cultivator's arm.

Although the cultivator was startled, he remained calm, and an earthy yellow spiritual light emanated from his shield as he maintained his stance.

"Bang!"

With a dull thud, the shield-wielding cultivator felt a tremendous force. His shield trembled violently, his arm went numb, and he involuntarily stumbled back three steps, causing a slight gap to appear in the formation.

However, his cultivation was solid, and his shield was a specially crafted defensive magic weapon. Zhao Fan's hasty collision failed to break through his defense. Instead, he heard a clear cracking sound from his right shoulder, which aggravated his injury. He spat out another mouthful of black blood, and his vision went black.

The one-eyed strongman's mountain-splitting blade had already struck!

Using the recoil from the impact, Zhao Fan's body twisted backward, and at the same time, he desperately blocked the Youxuan Mirror, whose spiritual light had dimmed considerably, upward!

"clang--!!!"

The deafening clang of metal striking metal was so loud it hurt the eardrums! The Ghost Head Blade slammed into the Netherworld Mirror! This time, the Netherworld Mirror could no longer withstand it. The mirror surface let out a mournful cry, the light went out completely, and even a tiny crack appeared on the mirror body. The blade's momentum continued, grazing past Zhao Fan's ribs.

Zhao Fan's left rib and back were slashed open by the sharp blade energy, leaving a huge wound about a foot long, deep enough to expose the bone, and blood gushed out like a spring!

If the Dark Mirror hadn't absorbed most of the force at the end, this strike would have been enough to cleave him in two!

Even so, the terrifying sword energy invaded his body, frantically damaging his meridians and internal organs.

Zhao Fan screamed and was sent flying like a tattered sack, crashing heavily into a pile of rocks seven or eight zhang away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Cough cough... Pfft!" He collapsed in the pile of stones, coughing up blood repeatedly, the blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

His left arm was numb and he lost sensation; his right shoulder bone was fractured; there was a huge wound on his left rib and back from which blood was gushing out; his spiritual energy was disrupted by the sword energy; his meridians were damaged in many places; and his consciousness began to blur.

"She's got a tough life."

The one-eyed burly man spat and drew his knife, ready to finish off Zhao Fan.

"slow."

The gray-clad leader's calm voice rang out. He remained standing on the high cliff, his gaze sweeping indifferently over Zhao Fan, then over the two corpses of his subordinates at the fifth level of Qi Refining, his eyes showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Having been struck by your earth-shattering blade energy and injured so badly, he's now a sitting duck. First, find out where the item is. Then search him."

"Yes, brother!"

Although the one-eyed burly man wished he could chop Zhao Fan to pieces immediately, he dared not disobey his leader's orders and strode toward Zhao Fan with a sinister grin.

Mr. Bai also floated forward, retracting the Poisoned Water-Splitting Thorn into his hand, its blue light flickering. He warily stared at Zhao Fan, who seemed to be on the verge of death. The other Tribulation Cultivators also gathered around, blocking all directions.

Zhao Fan lay in a pool of blood, his breath weak and his eyes unfocused, as if he would die at any moment. His right hand, stained with blood, hung limply at his side, but his fingers twitched almost imperceptibly, his blood-stained fingertips touching a hard object in his pocket—the Golden Fiend Talisman he had just bought from the market.

At this point, this thing was his only hope.

"You can ask me where it is, but I'll only tell you."

Zhao Fan's unfocused gaze suddenly sharpened. He looked at the leader in the distance and spoke with difficulty.

The leader frowned slightly, then stepped forward.

The white-robed scholar beside him immediately spoke up to stop him.

"Boss, be careful, it might be a trap."

The leader looked at Zhao Fan, who was now critically injured and on the verge of death, with disdain in his eyes.

"Do you think he can hurt me in his current state?"

Upon hearing this, the white-robed cultivator said no more, but secretly held a high-grade defensive talisman in his hand, ready to activate it immediately should Zhao Fan show any abnormality.