The burly man was stunned when he heard Yuan Ming’s words, unsure of what to say.

He had thought that Yuan Ming was just an ordinary lone cultivator, so he and the other three followed him, intending to kill him and take the three hundred spirit stones given by the Baiye Sanmeng.

But the situation in front of him was completely different from what he had expected. Cha Ha had not appeared after using the Earth Traveling Talisman to ambush Yuan Ming, and instead, Yuan Ming appeared unharmed. The burly man couldn’t help but hesitate.

The red-clothed woman felt the same, a sense of retreat rising in her heart.

“What are you two afraid of? With three against one, do you think we will lose? Kid, be smart and hand over your storage magic tool, and maybe we’ll let you die intact!” The sinister young man, not fearing the tiger despite being a newborn calf, shouted harshly.

“Fool!” The burly man was startled and cursed under his breath, but it was too late to stop the sinister young man.

“So, the three of you came for the three hundred spirit stones? Since you want to kill and rob, you must be prepared to be killed,” Yuan Ming said calmly.

“Want to kill us? Just with your cultivation at the ninth level of Qi Refining!” The sinister young man laughed arrogantly and a green bead magic tool appeared in his hand, shooting straight towards Yuan Ming’s heart like an arrow.

With things having come to this point, the burly man had no choice but to take action. He summoned a yellow giant hammer, half the length of a zhang, with a hammerhead as large as a millstone, and fiercely smashed it towards Yuan Ming.

The red-clothed woman also took action, summoning a blue feather fan and fiercely waving it towards Yuan Ming.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Dozens of sharp ice cones condensed out of thin air and shot towards Yuan Ming’s body.

The combined strength of the three was formidable, and the burst of energy forced back the poisonous miasma within a dozen zhang of the surroundings.

Yuan Ming remained calm and pinched a seal. A golden light flashed in front of him, and a golden silk appeared, wrapping around his body several times to form a thick golden curtain.

The green flying sword, the yellow giant hammer, and the sharp ice cones all struck the golden curtain almost simultaneously, causing ripples of shockwaves to appear, but it immediately stabilized.

“How is this possible!” The burly man and the others were dumbfounded. They had already attacked with all their strength, but they couldn’t shake Yuan Ming’s defense!

Yuan Ming looked at the stable silk curtain, his expression unchanged, feeling quite satisfied.

He deliberately used the golden silk to withstand the attacks of the three to see how strong its defense was, and fortunately, it didn’t disappoint him.

“Swift!”

Yuan Ming raised the Hanxing Sword and pointed it towards the green flying sword and the yellow giant hammer outside the golden curtain.

The two magic tools were surrounded by a strong chill, and a large piece of white ice condensed out of thin air, freezing the two magic tools within it.

The burly man and the sinister young man’s expressions changed drastically. The connection between them and their magic tools was instantly severed, and for a moment, they couldn’t control them.

The two had never encountered such a situation before and panicked. The burly man, who had a higher cultivation level, forced himself to calm down and raised his hand to summon other magic tools.

At this moment, the ground under his feet suddenly cracked open, and a purple-black vine shot out, instantly entangling his legs.

The burly man’s heart trembled, and he leaped backward with all his strength, trying to break free from the vine’s restraint. However, the purple-black vine was extremely tough and not only did he fail to break free, but he was also dragged to the ground.

A white light shot out from the front and instantly arrived in front of the burly man, piercing through his body with a “pu” sound. It was the Hanxing Sword.

A sharp cold burst forth, and the burly man’s body was frozen into an ice stick, his vitality instantly cut off.

The burly man had the highest cultivation level among the four, yet he couldn’t even withstand two moves from Yuan Ming.

The sinister young man and the red-clothed woman were already full of fear on their faces and turned to escape in different directions.

Yuan Ming pinched a seal from a distance, and two spiritual lights shot out from his sleeve, heading straight for the red-clothed woman. It was the Water Cloud Banner and the black hairpin of the one-eyed woman.

At the same time, the white light on the Hanxing Sword pierced through the burly man’s body, chasing after the sinister young man.

“Stop, stop! I am from the Xue Family Fort in the Eastern Region, you can’t kill me…” The sinister young man sensed the Hanxing Sword shooting towards him from behind and let out a desperate roar. While continuing to run forward, he took out talismans one after another and threw them behind him.

Dozens of fireballs, wind blades, water arrows, and other spells appeared, all rushing towards the Hanxing Sword.

Yuan Ming remotely activated the Swift Wind Rune inside the Hanxing Sword, and the Hanxing Sword suddenly became illusory, its speed doubling as it easily dodged the attacks of the fireballs and wind blades, catching up to the sinister young man in the blink of an eye.

A white light suddenly burst forth from the jade pendant hanging from the young man’s waist, forming a translucent white glow that enveloped him.

“Bang!”

The Hanxing Sword struck the young man’s back, but it was directly blocked by the white glow. However, the powerful impact still caused the sinister young man to stumble forward and fall to the ground.

Before the young man could make any other moves, a sharp and icy sword qi swept down, freezing the sinister young man along with the white glow shield.

Then, the long sword fell, shattering the young man and the ice block into pieces.

Almost at the same time, a mournful scream came from the other side, followed by silence.

Yuan Ming took the storage magic tools from the burly man and the sinister young man and walked towards the red-clothed woman, quickly arriving by her side.

The red-clothed woman’s legs were also entangled by the purple-black vine, and a huge wound had opened between her chest and abdomen, seemingly cut by a sharp weapon. The black hairpin had also pierced her heart, and she was already dead beyond death.Yuan Ming picked up the blue feather fan and the red storage bag that had fallen nearby, and turned back to the cave.

Looking at the Cold Star Sword in his hand, a smile appeared on his face.

The burly man and his companions were not weak, but their defeat today was mainly due to the Cold Star Sword’s ability to freeze other people’s magical weapons, temporarily removing them from their control.

Ordinary ice magical weapons couldn’t do this, at most they could only affect the magical power within the weapon, and couldn’t affect the spirit residing within the weapon. However, Yuan Ming’s Cold Star Sword was forged from Yin Jade, which could attack the spirit of a person. After freezing the two people’s magical weapons, it also cut off their spiritual senses.

A Qi Refining cultivator who lost their handy magical weapon, if panicked for a moment, would naturally be at the mercy of others.

Yuan Ming activated his spiritual sense to inspect the three magical weapons.

The blue feather fan, the green orb, and the burly man’s yellow hammer were all lower-grade magical weapons. The runes inscribed in the blue feather fan were something he had seen in the Blackwood Manual, named “Ice Cone”, capable of launching ice cone attacks.

Although the cold youth’s orb was green, it was made of metal. It was small, but weighed a hundred pounds.

As for the runes inside the green orb, Yuan Ming couldn’t recognize them. Judging from the effect of the green orb, it was a kind of collision rune.

The runes inside the burly man’s yellow hammer were also in the Blackwood Manual, named “Vibration”, capable of transforming power into vibrations. The golden curtain had just rippled, which was the attack effect caused by this yellow hammer.

“I already have a forging hammer, and I didn’t expect to get a bigger one today. It seems that I have a fate with hammer-type magical weapons. Eh, this hammer has a name…” Yuan Ming gently swung the yellow hammer, his gaze falling on the end of the hammer handle.

There, it was inscribed: Mountain Shaking Hammer, three small characters.

“Mountain Shaking Hammer, the name is quite fitting.” A smile appeared at the corner of Yuan Ming’s mouth.

Of these three magical weapons, the only one he found impressive was the Mountain Shaking Hammer. This hammer was made of a certain metal, extremely heavy, even heavier than the green orb and Master Blackwood’s forging hammer. Combined with the Vibration rune, its attack power was extraordinarily strong, especially suitable for close combat.

If he were to use the White Ape Transformation and pair it with this Mountain Shaking Hammer, they would definitely complement each other.

Yuan Ming put away the three magical weapons and inspected the storage bags of the three people.

Inside the red-clothed woman’s storage bag, there were a few spirit stones, some common materials, and a lower-grade magical weapon of very poor quality, even worse than the black wooden hairpin.

On the other hand, the cold youth’s storage bag contained more than two hundred spirit stones, including a medium-grade spirit stone, and two lower-grade magical weapons of decent quality.

Finally, Yuan Ming opened the burly man’s storage bag and was taken aback.

Apart from a few spirit materials, the rest of the storage bag was filled with a large number of talisman papers, a talisman pen with a gold shaft and white tip, several bottles of talisman drawing spirit liquid, and a thin book.

“This burly man is rough and simple, I didn’t expect him to be a talisman master.” A surprised look appeared on Yuan Ming’s face.

The talisman paper, talisman pen, and spirit liquid all revealed the burly man’s identity.

Yuan Ming counted the talismans in the storage bag, there were thirty-two finished talismans, all were low-grade Fireball Talismans, Wind Blade Talismans, Water Arrow Talismans, etc., not a single mid-grade talisman.

“It seems that this man’s talisman making skills are just average.” Yuan Ming muttered to himself, and opened the thin book.

The book was similar to the Blackwood Manual, the first few pages recorded the burly man’s cultivation career, insights, etc., the last three pages depicted six talisman runes, namely Fireball Talisman, Wind Blade Talisman, Water Arrow Talisman, Rock Spike Talisman, Wood Spike Talisman, and Earth Travel Talisman.

The first five talismans were all lower-grade, but the Earth Travel Talisman was mid-grade.

“So that yellow talisman is called the Earth Travel Talisman.”

Next to the talisman records, the effect of the Earth Travel Talisman was clearly written. It allowed one to move freely underground for a short period of time, as if swimming in water, which was more sophisticated than ordinary earth escape techniques.

Unfortunately, the burly man only made one Earth Travel Talisman.

Yuan Ming sighed in regret, then put the book and other items into his storage ring, without any intention of trying to draw talismans himself.

When he was studying artifact refining in the Bi Luo Cave, he had heard people talk about talismans and had a slight understanding of talisman drawing.

Being a talisman master was a profession that consumed a lot of resources and time. To master a talisman, one had to go through hundreds or thousands of failures, consuming countless materials and energy, to slowly accumulate experience and improve the success rate.

For those with slightly poorer talent in talisman drawing, it was normal for the number of failures to double or triple. And if they switched to another talisman, they had to start all over again.

To cultivate a qualified talisman master, there was no other way than to spend countless resources over the years.

Moreover, drawing talismans was very energy-consuming and would inevitably affect cultivation. Any cultivator with ambition would not be distracted to learn this.

Yuan Ming had neither the resources nor the extra energy, so naturally he would not try to learn to draw talismans.

Biting off more than one can chew!

(End of Chapter)