But thanks to his sharp instincts, Leader Li avoided the fatal blow, though his shoulder was still pierced by the sword. He frowned slightly in pain but continued thinking of countermeasures. "Attack this bastard! Now!" he shouted hurriedly to his underlings, who picked up their bows again and started shooting Qi-infused arrows toward Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan frowned lightly as he swung his sword towards Leader Li, forcing him to take a step back. He then used his movement technique to vanish from the spot like a gust of wind.
He appeared a few meters away and started running after the three criminals, but Leader Li blocked his path, stomping his foot on the ground while swinging his sword in a large arc from right to left. "Take this, you brat!"
Shen Yuan knew it would be next to impossible to stop this attack with his basic swords, so he dodged it by jumping backward. But that was the movement Leader Li had been waiting for. He let go of his sword and took out his bow from his ring, taking aim at Shen Yuan and shooting in one swift motion.
Shen Yuan didn't even have time to respond before he saw a blinding light heading his way. He crossed both of his swords in front of his chest, and just then the arrows hit him, sending him flying for a good few kilometers. He struck the cave walls at the end of the spacious area, breaking them apart and causing cracks everywhere.
Leader Li, Li Yu, and the others held their breath as they watched in anticipation, their eyes filled with hope that the cursed bastard was buried dead now.
Li Yu's face regained color as she put a hand on her chest and heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that Shen Yuan hadn't emerged after a while. The three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators also sighed in relief as they noticed Shen Yuan wasn't coming out.
Only Leader Li had a solemn look on his face as he spoke, "Don't be careless. It isn't that easy to finish off someone so strong, and I don't think I even managed to severely injure him."
As soon as he finished speaking, the rocks where Shen Yuan was buried started shaking and cracking. Shen Yuan's hand emerged from the hole, and he grabbed the broken stones, pulling himself out of the rubble.
He picked up his swords again, inspecting them to see if they were broken. Thankfully, both swords were intact. He began walking towards the group again, his eyes glowing with a dim red color as he started sprinting forward.
Leader Li's back was drenched in cold sweat as he saw that Shen Yuan wasn't even injured by his ultimate attack, even though it was done in a hurry and wasn't even one-fourth as strong as it should have been at its peak.
The three underlings paled further, their hands shaking as they held their bows.
The scar-faced guy spoke, shivering slightly, "Even the leader's full-power attack wasn't able to affect him. C-can w-we win against this monster?"
The other two were shocked and speechless, not even having the courage to speak against Shen Yuan.
Leader Li started shooting from his bow again, this time releasing consecutive shots instead of one powerful blow. But Shen Yuan used his movement technique to evade them as he continued running toward him.
Leader Li felt his hand tremble as Shen Yuan got closer. He dropped his bow and picked up his greatsword again. 'I need to use my trump card now, or else this beast will definitely kill me!' He hurriedly took out a pill from his ring, but he hesitated to eat it, knowing the consequences were not good.
He gritted his teeth as his eyes became firm, and he gulped the pill down. "Ahhh," he groaned as he felt his energy surge, his cultivation skyrocketing from the 5th level Inner Sea Realm to the 8th level Inner Sea Realm, causing his body to bulge from the overwhelming pressure.
He took deep breaths to calm his raging Qi, staring straight at Shen Yuan with bloodshot eyes as his blood rushed madly throughout his body.
He roared, forgetting all about his underlings and even his daughter standing behind him. He sprinted forward, going head-to-head with Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan's eyes turned cold as he saw the enemy leader's power surge higher. He put away his dual swords and brought out a huge greatsword, knowing that with his dual swords, he couldn't fight an opponent of equal strength head-on.
And he didn't want to win against him with tricks. He swung his sword toward Leader Li to clash with his sword head-on.
Leader Li's anger surged as he saw that the brat dared to change weapons and fight against him with a greatsword. "You dare underestimate me and use a secondary weapon?!" he cursed as he swung his greatsword with full strength as well.
BOOM!!
A shockwave was released from their attacks as wind gushed here and there, and cracks formed on the ground. Both of them didn't move a step back as they found themselves evenly matched.
But neither of them focused too much on this and continued swinging their swords, clashing from various angles as they tried to hit each other. But both parties struck each other's swords repeatedly.
At this point, the other gang members didn't even dare to interfere since the battle was far out of their league. They quietly stood in a corner and watched as their leader fought Shen Yuan. They didn't even have the courage to stand straight in front of Shen Yuan due to his overwhelming pressure.
Shen Yuan and Leader Li increased their battle intensity as the ground around them began breaking in all directions. The ground was already soaked with blood due to Shen Yuan's relentless slaughter.
Deep ravines were forming due to their clash, destroying all the Night Illuminating Grass that was growing inside the spacious area. There was even a faint sound of water flowing.