Li Ling chuckled and raised his hands as if to surrender. "Okay, you got me. What a clever plan to catch a thief in the act. So, what’s going to happen next?"
Song Yan’s smile became less friendly as he did not understand why Li Ling could remain calm, which indicated that the lad felt that he had something to rely on against the threat he faced. This made the Fourth Realm Elder hesitate, but he still sent a message to the sect reinforcements he had called earlier to hurry it up.
The realm gap was there, as he assumed that Li Ling could only be at the peak of the third realm at most during this short period of time. He couldn’t actually gauge the young man’s level because Li Ling kept the Mana Regressing Art fully activated in order to maintain his stealthy nature when traveling through subspace.
In fact, it was this very uncertainty that contributed to why Song Yan had not yet attacked heavily, mainly monitoring Li Ling sharply with eyes full of suspicion while opting to distract him with the details of how he had been outplayed. Even with two Fourth Realm beings, Song Yan couldn’t help but feel some apprehension in his heart, his Purple Mansion giving him warning signs.
Song Yan even decided to overestimate Li Ling and assume that he had somehow used three weeks to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, something that made next to no sense and was almost entirely impossible, but he did not want to be caught off guard due to preconceptions.
"What happens now is that you will surrender and come with me back to the sect for a trial. After your crimes are read, we will notify your sect of what you did, which would be enough justification for us to seek revenge, especially if you were careless enough to get caught." Song Yan revealed with a playful smile, outwardly exuding the confidence that he didn’t have internally.
Li Ling tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm, after thinking about it..."
He then glanced at Song Yan with folded arms, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "No, I don’t think I will."
Song Yan’s smile faded as he knew that the play could not go on any longer. As such, his expression became neutral as he pointed a finger at Li Ling. "That is not up to you anymore, Young Man. Come quietly or come with your limbs and cultivation crippled, the choice is yours."
Even though he said this, Song Yan did not actually give Li Ling a choice as his pointed finger launched a surge of power towards Li Ling, taking the form of a Rolling Boulder that grew in size as it hurtled towards Li Ling, looking like it would crush him into a pulp once it connected.
Li Ling felt the aura of the boulder and raised an eyebrow, knowing that he definitely could not withstand this casual attack. The gap was just too big for even Perfection-stage daoist arts or special physiques to cross, being something that was akin to ’absolute power’ that could invalidate all ’trickeries’.
Luckily, he still had something he could use, as the young man took a step forward and disappeared, causing the Rolling Boulder to rush past his location and dissipate into earth elements that returned to Song Yan, who was frowning heavily. He did not see or sense how Li Ling disappeared, making him become vigilant and alert for a sudden sneak attack from the latter.
However, when nothing happened for a second or two, he was initially puzzled and skeptical, because how could that vindictive brat not use this chance to get his revenge?
Then Song Yan’s face changed greatly as he glanced downwards, and what he saw sent him into such a rage that his hair began to stand on end.
Li Ling, instead of running away using whatever miraculous method he utilized to avoid Song Yan’s attack, had somehow sneaked into the number 5 marketplace’s core despite its grade three barrier being active, and had spat out a full-power Fire Stream Art that covered the entire market, setting all beings within on fire.
｢System Prompt: You have gained 102,825 Slaughter Points.｣
The young man chuckled with glee at the huge payout and was about to finish off the stragglers who had managed to resist the initial attack and were persisting futilely when he heard a roar of rage come from above.
"LI LING! HOW DARE YOU!!"
Looking up, Li Ling saw the enraged vajra-looking Song Yan who was furiously rushing over on the back of his mount, a long brown naginata in hand that was definitely at the fourth grade in terms of quality from the aura it was giving out.
"Oh, he’s quite angry, isn’t he?" Li Ling exclaimed to himself in mock surprise, something which Song Yan both heard and saw, which elevated his fury by one tier. Follow current novels on novel[f]ire.net
"Die! THUNDEROUS CRASH!" Song Yan roared without saying anything further, charging his naginata with thick greenish-brown energy that formed the visage of a giant slab of rock as he threw it downward with such force that the weapon broke the sound barrier.
Li Ling’s face changed to one of fear and horror as he covered his face with terror, screaming. "No! Don’t kill me please! I don’t want to die!"
However, his words fell on deaf ears as the thrown weapon stopped for no one, crashing into the grade 3 barrier of the market and destroying it with ease as it had no controllers at the moment, unleashing the rest of its power onto the market, causing the two mountains which were covered with flames to be leveled, shattering piece by piece like peeling a hard-boiled egg.
A huge shockwave erupted after the mountain was elevated, spreading the remnant force for a few miles around that caused any ambient wildlife or shrubbery to be shattered into pieces. The smoke and dust cleared to reveal a scene of utter devastation, as if someone had dropped a small nuclear warhead atop what used to be this marketplace, only leaving a scene of utter desolation.
Song Yan frowned as his mount came to hover in the sky above the former marketplace, stretching a hand downward as his brown naginata flew back into his grip with ease. Wielding the weapon while riding his giant horned snake, he continually scanned the debris with his soul sense, making sure he didn’t miss either the corpse or spirit of Li Ling.
However, no matter how hard or how deeply he searched, he could not find a hint of Li Ling, which made him start to entertain a shocking notion.
It couldn’t be that he actually survived that, could it?
As if to confirm his thoughts, Li Ling suddenly spoke from the center of the debris, coughing loudly as he waved his hands to clear the remnant dust.
"Gefum! Fellow Daoist, can’t you be more gentle to nature? Have you never heard of global warming? I will report you to the EPA!" Li Ling threatened with red eyes from dust and high-pitched coughs as if he had contracted tuberculosis.
Song Yan saw this and was initially flabbergasted, then became even angrier because which cultivator at their level would be bothered by mere dust? Clearly, Li Ling was exaggeratedly acting in order to mock him, not to mention his confusing words which made no sense!
Seeing that he had enraged his foe, Li Ling cut the act and stood up with folded arms, smiling with mild amusement. "Fellow Daoist, don’t get high blood pressure. I am only doing this because I care about you and your future, wanting to drill it into your mind that not every person you meet on the street can be messed with."
Saying this, Li Ling didn’t continue to posture as his Purple Mansion was warning of new presences rapidly closing in that were on par with Song Yan, so he simply cupped his fists respectfully and entered subspace, rushing away to his planned escape route.
Seeing him disappear like that once more, even evading his soul sense, Song Yan was both surprised and confused. He obviously did not think that Li Ling had reached the Void Refinement realm nor did he think he had any void physique.
Rather, he suspected that Li Ling either had a stack of Void Breaking Talismans, which was possible but extremely wasteful, or that he had learned some shadowy or ghostly yin element technique from the Six Paths Demon Sect, which seemed more likely to Song Yan.
Whichever it was, he couldn’t use it forever, especially after wasting a few attempts over here. So before his compatriots even arrived, Song Yan quickly gave the order for the entire Qing Shan Sect to mobilize and search for Li Ling, even if they needed to dig three feet into the ground!
No matter what, that demonic scoundrel could not be allowed to leave after all he had done!