Chapter 421 - 248: Talisman Flying Sword, Fire Snake Frenzy!

Inside a certain inn, the sounds of steady snoring could be heard. In the next room, a flickering candle illuminated the window, casting the shadow of an extraordinary looking man.

The man turned sideways and gazed at the deep, dark night outside the inn, releasing strands of Spiritual Power, confirming that there was no trace of the Wang Family outside the inn.

"Why is there no movement from the Wang Family..."

After contemplating for a while, Li Heng confirmed that the neighboring room was soundly asleep. A flash of Spiritual Light in his hand produced a set of Night Clothes, which he quickly donned before swiftly leaping out of the window.

At the imposing gates of the Prince’s Mansion, the night wind howled and the stone lions guarding the mansion appeared to have lanterns resembling blood-red eyes. Several burly Martial Artists, wearing leather boots and armed with long sabers, patrolled the entrance, deterring anyone from approaching even slightly after nightfall.

The Wang Family has been entrenched in Shifeng Town for over a hundred years and exerts considerable influence over several surrounding towns. Over the century, the Wang Family quickly prospered, first attaching itself to a prominent provincial family and then a few years ago abandoning them to pledge allegiance to another major clan.

In the darkness, a flash of Spiritual Light in Li Heng’s hand produced a Yellow Talisman Paper inscribed with Cinnabar and Profound Talisman. He infused it with Spiritual Qi and slapped it onto himself, instantly calming the surrounding winds.

Crackle!

The Yellow Talisman Paper spontaneously combusted, flickering briefly before disappearing.

A gust of wind blew into the Prince’s Mansion, and, unnoticed by the guarding Martial Artists, a figure slipped in with the breeze, landing on a rooftop.

Li Heng formed a spell with his single hand, interlocking his slender fingers skillfully, curling his middle finger against his palm while covering it with the other four, then swiftly transforming into a sword gesture, lightly sweeping it across his eyes.

"Spiritual Phantoms guide the form, watch the night shadows."

Upon reopening his eyes, the nighttime appeared as bright as daylight to Li Heng. Furthermore, the various visible and hidden sentries within the Prince’s Mansion emitted glimmers of light. The brighter and larger the glow, the more powerful the detected presence.

The unfortunate truth was that this method only directly identifies Martial Artists but cannot specifically differentiate the Three Religions Cultivators—even if Martial Artists have not reached the Middle Third Grade, their extensively refined Qi Blood often surpasses that of the Three Religions Cultivators, causing the glow to frequently show a tinge of blood color.

At this moment, Li Heng glanced around, observing that almost all the luminosity had a blood color tinge, with the strongest within the outer mansion being several groups of Seventh-Grade Martial Artists, prompting Li Heng to proceed toward the Inner Mansion.

"Hmm?"

Li Heng halted suddenly, a hint of gravity flashed within his eyes as he detected five conspicuous glows within a study.

Four glows had blood tints; the remaining one was entirely devoid of blood color. Based on Li Heng’s past experience, he judged that the four glows were Sixth-Grade Martial Artists, with the largest amongst them likely having completed Secondary Blood Exchange.

However, among the five glows, the most striking one was unexpectedly the one devoid of blood tint.

"This glow... Not good, it’s a Half-Step Fifth Grade Daoist Cultivator from the Zhou Family?!"

Li Heng’s heart trembled slightly—the notion of Half-Step Fifth Grade typically follows two standards: One belongs to cultivators who have failed to attain Fifth Grade—despite their failure, they have still stepped beyond Sixth Grade, possessing strength far surpassing average Sixth-Grade Martial Artists, thus termed as Half-Step Fifth Grade.

This understanding is common among many cultivators.

Furthermore, in the vast world of ordinary people, some exceptional geniuses emerge, capable of crushing opponents within the same realm or even challenging across larger realms, referred to as Half-Step.

The former truly steps a half grade forward, while the latter ’Half-Step’ genius is seldom encountered.

Also, as realms continually progress, many talented individuals capable of cross-realm battles in Lower Third Grades often become ordinary at Middle Third Grades, unable to perform cross-realm battles anymore.

Those capable of cross-realm battles in Middle Third Grade across Qingzhou’s large provinces or even the Ancient County are regarded as elite and invariably belong to the core offspring of Three Gates and Four Families or nurtured by Qingzhou Government Office.

If anyone remains capable of cross-realm combat in Upper Third Grades, they are exceedingly rare, some even achieving historical fame—the most exceptional being Martial Emperor Xiang Yu, who connected Martial Dao, undefeated globally before succumbing to divine punishment after thirty encounters.

Li Heng sensed peril, intending to withdraw upon realizing the Wang Family’s current strength when suddenly a sound akin to tearing cloth erupted from within the study.

"Tributor Zhou, what’s happening?"

Inside the study, Zhou Ying’s words abruptly ceased, prompting Wang Qi to inquire upon noticing the anomaly. He observed Zhou Ying’s sharp, thin eyebrows twitch.

"Who dares to spy on this old man—courting death!"

Zhou Ying uttered a cold and fierce remark, as Spiritual Light flashed within his hand, manifesting a palm-length Jade Sword that shot forth as a silver beam, piercing through the long skies while producing a sharp, shrill whistling sound.

"Who’s there!"

Wang Qi slammed the table furiously in that instant, alarming several Sixth-Grade Martial Artists from the Wang Family outside the study, who pursued the direction from which the Jade Sword shot, using Lightweight Body Technique to chase after, each nimble, soaring a dozen feet onto the rooftop.

Li Heng sensed the enemies approaching from behind. Being unfamiliar with the town compared to members of the Wang Family, he couldn’t merely flee but had to create chaos to shake off his pursuers.

As he strategized, ruthless determination gleamed in his eyes, swiftly producing a stack of Yellow Talisman Papers.

Infused with Spiritual Qi, the papers hung in the air—each engraved with symbols combining Cinnabar and Demon Beast Blood radiating a red glow.

Li Heng bit his fingertip, quickly flicking it five times, causing fresh blood to drop onto the talisman, then rapidly forming a spell and casting them forth.

Five Yellow Talisman Papers shot through the sky, swiftly transforming into five flames, and the wind fueled the fire. Amidst the roaring inferno, the five talismans surged into thick, bucket-sized, haunting Fire Snakes.

"Explode!"

Boom, boom—the chaotic Fire Snakes exploded with five consecutive detonations.

As Li Heng whispered, the Fire Snakes erupted fiercely, causing the depths of the Prince’s Mansion to instantly blaze into a sky-high firestorm.

"Damn, they’re talismans—move quickly!"

A foremost Sixth-Grade Martial Artist from the Wang Family failed to evade in time, unable to burn his Qi Blood before the Fire Snakes exploded, emitting a heart-wrenching scream as his Power surged yet failed to block the raging flames.

In mere moments, he transformed into charcoal, collapsing from the rooftop with heavy breathing—only issuing breaths.

Seeing this scene, the remaining few Martial Artists of the Wang Family, including Wang Qi, the Master of the Wang Family, showed fear and dared not pursue further. The power capable of severely injuring a Sixth-Grade Martial Artist in an instant must have come from a Sixth-Grade Talisman.

The Sixth-Grade Talisman is invaluable, but no one dares to gamble whether the opponent has more.

Watching as the people behind him are blocked by the sea of fire, a Wang Family Sixth-Grade Martial Artist was gravely injured and about to perish. A hint of joy flashed across Li Heng’s face, but it was also at that moment.

A spark of silver light pierced through the sea of fire, magnifying rapidly in his pupil.

"Not good!"

Li Heng only had time to summon Spiritual Qi to fully exert his Protective Barrier, but it was too late. The bowl-shaped barrier in front of him had barely risen when he heard a crisp sound.

"Crack."

The barrier shattered, blood light erupted, and a silhouette scattered blood across the sky, quickly fleeing towards the direction outside the Prince’s Mansion. The previous five talismans’ explosion caused the Flying Sword to deviate, and the sword aimed at the forehead veered, piercing through Li Heng’s right shoulder before returning.

"Night attack, someone’s launching a night attack!"

Everyone in the Prince’s Mansion was alarmed, torches lit up like dragons, and like tidal waves, they rushed towards the chaos in the Inner Mansion.

In the study, Zhou Ying looked at the bloody Jade Sword in his hand, his face extremely gloomy as he commanded.

"Chase him down, he’s been injured by me, he won’t escape!"

...

"Boom——!"

The store attendant who had just delivered a letter downstairs was startled by the sudden explosion, his legs went weak, and he misstepped, screaming as he rolled down the stairs.

Su Mu stepped to the window, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at the distant flames soaring into the sky. Today, Su Mu also inquired about the matters of the Wang Family.

"That direction... is the Wang Family."

In Su Mu’s mind appeared the siblings he had met during the day, speculating that tonight’s events were likely caused by them.

Seeing the sea of fire, Su Mu glanced at the wooden bed nearby with his peripheral vision, discovering that little Li Lu was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware. However, thinking of her traveling over a hundred miles each day in recent days, he felt relieved.

At this moment, Su Mu didn’t know that during his time at Jinmen Mountain, Li Lu’s sleep was extremely shallow, needing to peruse the Ancient Texts left by her father just to barely find peace.

"The Wang Family, huh..."

Su Mu’s ears heard the siblings’ conversation from the day, briefly glancing at the letter in his hand. As the flames soared into the sky in the Wang Family’s direction, the figures monitoring outside the tavern quickly departed.

The news channels were so well-informed, and the ability to mobilize such manpower to monitor must belong to a major force in Shifeng Town. Originally, Su Mu guessed it was the Wang Family, as he had only had conflicts with them recently.

And now, no longer needing to consider which family it was, it could be determined that the letter was sent by the Wang Family.

Thinking of this, Su Mu’s eyes flickered, realizing that the Wang Family inviting him to Lake Heart Island had ill intentions ten out of ten. Su Mu always thinks in the worst possible scenarios when considering problems.

This was a habit Su Mu had before his transmigration, and since arriving in this world, this habit has only deepened, grown heavier.

"If it were just a regular transaction, the Wang Family could easily conduct it in the town, or even invite me to the Wang Family... Are they making a move against me just because of the day’s events?"

Su Mu lifted his gaze towards the raging fire, "If that’s the case, I won’t hold back either."

Li Lu’s understanding of Su Mu during this period can be summed up as ’If others don’t provoke me, I won’t provoke them.’ This point, if Su Mu knew, would certainly surprise him at her perceptive judgment.

"Uh-huh, Daoist techniques?"

Just as he was about to close the window, Su Mu made a soft noise, his deep gaze penetrating the night to see a silhouette in Night Clothes almost blending with the darkness, fleeing frantically.

Logically, with that person’s immature Body Technique, scrambling on the roof should cause quite a noise, but at this moment, the sound of his escape seemed to be mostly eliminated.

"Damn it!"

Li Heng thought grimly to himself, failing to shake off the Wang Family members behind him. He suspected Zhou Family’s Flying Sword had some trickery.

At this moment, Li Heng suddenly felt alert, perceiving that someone was watching him. Still within the Secret Technique, Li Heng was immediately vigilant, his eyes scanning around, spotting a silhouette near a lit window in the distant tavern.

"Him, can he discern me from such a distance, even at night with the Night Stealth Talisman enhancing me?"

Li Heng was shocked, ’Night Stealth Talisman’ is not an ordinary talisman but one he attained by chance, previously using it to evade a Fifth-Grade Cultivator’s investigation.

The opponent’s vision was frightfully strong, unlike anything normal humans should possess.

"Chase, he’s escaping that way!"

Glancing back at the pursuing enemies, Li Heng gritted his teeth, instinctively fleeing towards the tavern. Yet, just two streets away, a calm voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

Li Heng’s face immediately changed, his body trembled, a strong sense of crisis overwhelmed him as if confronting a great enemy, hastily changing direction, and dared not continue approaching.

Seeing the fleeing silhouette not approaching the tavern further, Su Mu nodded with satisfaction, then also took out a set of Night Clothes, slowly donning them amid the subtle ’click-click’ sound.

His previously kind and immortal-like face quickly transformed into a common and ordinary appearance, though those profound eyes carried a hint of coldness.

"I’ve been busy with medical practice recently, it’s been a long time since I exercised..."