Sun Youcai let out a few meaningful chuckles and reached to pat Yun Che on the shoulder. “Let’s forget about her. Ma brother, not far ahead is a teleportation array that leads into the Creek Valley.”

  Yun Che shifted his shoulder to avoid the touch and smiled. “Excellent. Then let’s hurry so we may enter sooner.” He flew forward.

  Sun Youcai’s hand missed, yet his expression did not change. “Ma brother, are you traveling alone this time?” he asked casually as he followed.

  Yun Che sneered inwardly but replied calmly, “Yes. I came out alone.”

  Sun laughed softly. “You must have slipped out in secret to trade for some magical treasures and jade talismans. I heard that in three months, the Five Halls Treasure Competition of Nether God Hall will be held. Perhaps you’ll seize the chance to rise to fame.”

  Yun Che merely smiled without answering.

  Inside, Sun Youcai sneered: Brat, true or false, meeting me today is your misfortune. I’ll refine your body into a puppet. Then even Li Qiqing won’t suspect much.

  To ensure success, he took out a jade slip and said openly, “I’ll call a friend nearby. The teleportation array can send up to three people at once—this way we save a spirit stone.”

  Yun Che, recalling the array’s function from Ma Liang’s memory, nodded.

  Soon, the surroundings grew increasingly desolate—volcanoes dotted the land, some spewing black smoke.

  “This is near the teleportation array,” Sun explained. “Strange volcanic unrest lately. The Nascent Soul ancestors sealed them just last year.”

  Yun Che smiled faintly. “Indeed, quite remote. A perfect place. After killing someone, you could toss the corpse into a volcano and even save a fireball spell.”

  Sun froze.

  Before he could speak, thunderous wind roared. A black sword light descended, revealing a gaunt, sinister middle-aged man clad in black. Even his flying sword radiated cold darkness. Black mist coiled around his hands.

  Without glancing at Yun Che, he asked Sun coldly, “Is he the fat sheep?”

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  Yun Che scanned him. This man had reached False Core stage—on par with Li Qiqing.

  Sun Youcai beamed obsequiously. “Senior brother, yes. Li Muwan and her brother seemed fond of him. If we refine him into a puppet, we may approach them more easily.”

  The black-clothed man turned to Yun Che, slightly surprised he did not flee. But a mere mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator meant nothing.

  “You may die now,” he said coldly.

  His sword shot like lightning toward Yun Che’s chest. Simultaneously, he clapped his hands, black mist forming a massive ghostly skull engulfed in eerie flames.

  Yun Che’s gaze turned icy. Ignoring sword and skull alike, he pointed at the man and whispered:

  “Perish.”

  The Extreme Realm erupted. Divine sense manifested—souls shattered.

  At Foundation Establishment, Yun Che was invincible among his peers. At Core Formation, he would reign supreme. Should he reach Nascent Soul, beneath Deity Transformation, he would stand unmatched across cultivation worlds.

  The middle-aged man’s eyes bulged. His divine sense was struck by annihilating force, collapsing instantly. Terror flashed—then vanished as his body went limp.

  The flying sword fell midair. The ghostly skull dispersed.

  Yun Che flicked his sleeve; the sword floated into his grasp.

  He tossed out the iron shard. “Devour the black mist.”

  Red light flashed. The demon spirit leapt out and swallowed the mist miserably, not daring to refuse.

  Only then did Sun Youcai awaken from shock. He retreated in terror and instantly burrowed underground to flee.

  “Follow me,” Yun Che ordered the demon spirit, then spread his Extreme divine sense and pursued northwest.

  The demon hesitated to flee—but smoke rose painfully from its body as Yun Che punished it. Trembling, it obeyed.

  Yun Che focused entirely on chasing Sun. He was intrigued by the man’s speed. Compared to the Nascent Soul woman days ago—who could traverse a thousand li in breaths—his own speed was slow. Yet Sun had easily kept pace earlier.

  He did not kill him. He wanted answers.

  Sun Youcai was terrified.

  For nearly thirty years, he had cultivated while preying on lone, weaker cultivators—never risking fighting above his level. All spoils he traded in Creek Valley for pills, raising his cultivation steadily.

  But as his level rose, ordinary pills lost effect. High-grade pills were scarce and costly. So he targeted Luo River Sect, famed for formations and alchemy. Especially Li Muwan of their Alchemy Hall.

  Yet her brother Li Qiqing, at False Core stage, surpassed him.

  Now Sun desperately wished for greater speed. His mind replayed the horrifying scene—his senior brother, a perfected Foundation Establishment False Core cultivator, slain effortlessly.

  No treasure. No spell. Just one word: Perish.

  What technique was that?

  His scalp tingled. Was Ma Liang Core Formation? Impossible. Even Core Formation elders couldn’t kill so casually.

  Nascent Soul? He had once seen the Evil Demon Sect’s ancestor kill a traitor with a flying sword—but even that did not compare.

  His mind buzzed blank.

  “C-Could he… be Deity Transformation…?”

  The moment he uttered the words, his strength drained away.

  The more he thought, the more convinced he became.

  “A Deity Transformation expert… I’m being hunted by a Deity Transformation expert…”