Elderly Martial Saint: Sixty Times the Cultivation Speed ​​at the Start

The wind in the valley carried the stench of blood, as well as the unique stench of demonic beasts.

Yi Yang stood beside the enormous corpse of the Canglinhui, his chest rising and falling slightly.

The "Vermilion Bird Burning Flame" technique he just used consumed 30% of his true energy, but it was worth it to deal with this tough and resilient Transcendent Realm demon beast.

He wasn't in a hurry to go to the center of the lake to pick the True Essence Lotus.

Just then, a series of intermittent sounds of clashing weapons drifted on the wind from the other side of the valley.

The sound was far away, but it was clearly audible in the quiet mountain forest.

Hearing the sound from afar, Yi Yang frowned slightly, then his expression returned to normal. With a flick of his wrist, the Xuan Yuan Blade silently slid back into its sheath on his back.

Pulling down the hood of his grey cloak to cover most of his face, Yi Yang slowly blended into the shadow of the boulder behind him. In this mountain forest, even his own breathing became barely audible.

The two concealment techniques of cultivation, "Thousand Illusionary Faces" and "Concealed Breath Formless Technique", are operating simultaneously.

Under the cover of his cultivation technique, Yi Yang's aura became indistinguishable from the surrounding withered leaves, rocks, and soil.

After doing all this, Yi Yang, like a true ghost, crept along the shadows of the mountain wall, quietly approaching the direction from which the sounds of fighting came.

His spiritual power, like invisible tentacles, spread outwards in a fan-shaped area centered on him, proceeding with extreme caution.

His own "Breaking Illusion" realm of divine sense allowed Yi Yang to clearly "see" the veins of every leaf and the antennae of every ant within a hundred feet around him.

As they traveled, they used their divine sense to investigate and confirmed that there were no other ambushes.

Yi Yang felt more confident.

He circled around a dense forest and stopped behind a protruding boulder, concealing himself in the shadows of the bushes, leaving only his eyes visible as he looked out at the clearing ahead, from which the sounds of battle were emanating.

On the open ground, four warriors were locked in a fierce battle.

Three martial artists dressed in cyan-blue martial arts uniforms were besieging a young man wearing a brocade robe.

The three martial artists wore blue-green martial arts uniforms with the ancient seal character "Nine Rivers" embroidered in silver thread on the chest, and each had a jade pendant with a flowing water pattern hanging from their waist.

"Nine Rivers Sect".

Upon seeing their attire, the name instantly popped into Yi Yang's mind.

This is one of the three major sects outside Qingzhou City, second only to the "Tianxin Sect" and "Wanjian Valley". Although it is not as good as the Tianxin Sect and Wanjian Valley, it also has grandmasters above the Tongxuan Realm in charge.

Along with the "Nine Rivers Sect," there are two other major sects: "Red Bright Manor" and "Jade Cauldron Sect." These three major forces roughly correspond to the four ancient families within Qingzhou City.

However, these three major forces are not as extensive as the four great families of the past. The two are only similar in terms of top-level combat strength, and the three major sects even have a slight advantage in the number of grandmaster-level experts.

Yi Yang had heard that the Nine Rivers Sect had deep roots in Qingzhou and was known for its domineering behavior. Thinking of this, his gaze swept over the three martial artists.

The leader of the Nine Rivers Sect was a middle-aged martial artist who looked to be in his forties. Of course, his actual age could not possibly be forty. This middle-aged martial artist had a sinister face, a hooked nose, and thin lips, and he was clearly not a kind person.

The aura emanating from him was clearly that of the first stage of the Profound Realm, "Qi Xuan".

The other two martial artists, who appeared to be older than him, were slightly weaker than the leader, and both were at the peak of the True Qi Realm.

Yi Yang then turned his gaze to the young man in brocade robes on the other side.

The young man appeared to be in his early thirties, with handsome features, but at this moment his face was deathly pale, his hair was disheveled, and his brocade robe was torn in seven or eight places, with blood seeping out, making him look utterly wretched.

Furthermore, on his chest, there was a very conspicuous character "Zhao" embroidered in gold thread.

This mark indicates that he is a member of the Zhao family, one of the four major families in Qingzhou.

This member of the Zhao family was also at the peak of the True Qi Realm. The long sword in his hand was shimmering with precious light, clearly not an ordinary item.

Even when surrounded, his swordsmanship remained agile and his moves were sharp, clearly demonstrating his considerable skill.

But two fists can't fight four hands.

Under the combined attack of the three from the Nine Rivers Sect, especially a Transcendent Realm expert, the young man from the Zhao family was now struggling to hold on, his energy and blood were mostly depleted, and he had more than a dozen wounds on his body. He was on the verge of collapse.

"Elder Li, this kid's swordsmanship is quite something, it's so slippery!" A martial artist from the Nine Rivers Sect asked cautiously while making a move.

The middle-aged martial artist, known as Elder Li, snorted coldly and slashed with his longsword, the blade's edge sealing off all of the Zhao family members' escape routes.

"It's all just for show!"

"The Zhao family has been declining in recent years. Is this all the skill they've produced?"

He said this, but his attacks became increasingly ruthless.

"Seniors, let's talk this out!" The young man from the Zhao family deflected the attack coming at him with his sword and shouted urgently, "I am Zhao Qian, the eldest son of the Zhao family of Qingzhou! If you hurt me today, my Zhao family will never let this go!"

"The eldest branch of the Zhao family?" The hook-nosed man, known as Elder Li, laughed instead of getting angry upon hearing this, but his hands did not stop moving.

"Hahaha, kid, you really think you're something special?"

"Don't think that just because you're from the eldest branch of the family, you're nothing compared to Zhao Wuji, the head of the Zhao family. Even if he were standing here today, I would still kill him without hesitation!"

"Besides, do you really think I don't know who the eldest grandson of the Zhao family is now? You actually think you can fool me!"

Another martial artist grinned maliciously, "The elder is right! What kind of bullshit Qingzhou Four Great Families are they? In the eyes of our Nine Rivers Sect, they're no different from chickens and dogs!"

"Zhao Qian, right? I'll remember you. Next year on this day, we'll remember to burn you a couple more sheets of paper money!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qian was both shocked and furious, his face turning ashen.

He knew that this matter could not be resolved peacefully.

In that instant when he was distracted...

"clang!"

A crisp sound.

The martial artist seized the opportunity and struck his wrist with a palm.

Zhao Qian felt a numbness in his wrist and a sharp pain in his hand, and he could no longer hold the long sword.

The longsword, gleaming with a precious light, flew out of his hand, drawing an arc in the air before embedding itself in the mud not far away.

A glint of greed flashed in Elder Li's eyes. With a swift movement, he appeared beside the longsword and drew it out.

He flicked the blade with his finger, and the blade emitted a clear, melodious hum.

"What a fine sword!"

He stroked the cold light swirling on the sword and exclaimed, "The Azure Water Cold Light Sword truly lives up to its name. This is a top-tier treasure; the Zhao family is really generous."

As Zhao Qian watched his sword fall into enemy hands, his last shred of courage to resist vanished.

He knelt down with a thud, repeatedly kowtowing to Elder Li and begging for mercy:

"Please spare me, senior! Please spare me, senior!"

"This sword, and everything else I possess, I offer as a tribute to the three seniors! I only beg that the three seniors spare my dog's life!"