âWhat, you two would rather roll back down into the holes than spend money to get out?â Lu Yun jeered as he stood by the side of the pits, panning the surroundings.
âLittle brat, this seat is not someone you can insult even when I am injured!â Ouyang Baitian spat out a mouthful of blood and summoned his massive hammer with a wave. It wasnât too far away, so it quickly bore down on Lu Yunâs head.
âHmph!â Lu Xuan snorted and sent a flash of sword radiance toward the hammer.
The young man fell back after a loud explosion, blood trickling out of his mouth and his sword radiance dispersed. However, the hammer was likewise shunted off to the side and didnât hurt Lu Yun.
âLooks like grandfather didnât show mercy this time!â Lu Yun understood when he saw the situation.
Ouyang Baitianâs personal treasureâMountain Shakerâwas an upper rank treasure. It was domineering enough already and the patriarch was latter nascent soul. Lu Xuan was only initial golden core, but had defeated Ouyang Baitianâs treasure with a single blow. Thus, it was readily apparent just how heavily injured the other was.
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Jade green sword light flew out of the other pit and hurtled toward Lu Yun. He Wuheng quickly leapt into action and deflected Yuwen Zonglinâs flying sword. However, the Yuwen patriarchâs personal treasureâupper rank Turquoise Willowâthen spun around and shot out multiple rays of radiance that came down around Lu Yun.
The patriarch could tell that the spoiled young man was the trioâs ringleader. Killing the young man would send the other two into panicked disarray.
âHahaha! Yuwen Zonglin, huh? Everyone knows youâre the weakest of the seven patriarchs, but it looks like youâre hiding the most! Youâre much less injured than Ouyang Baitian, arenât you?â Lu Yun roared with laughter and didnât care that sword light was soon going to surround him. He waved a talisman out of his hand.
A massive golden character appeared over his head and enveloped him with protection.
The Yu Talisman was the highest defensive talisman that Lu Yun had invented. Yuwen Zonglin would need three breaths to break it even if he was in perfect condition!
As weak as Lu Yun was, heâd etched a tremendous number of powerful spirit talismans for himself. His Hongmeng qi was very high quality and more than sufficient to create powerful talismans.
An expressionless Lu Xuan tightened his grip on his sword and flung himself forward to meet Yuwen Zonglinâs sword light. He Wuheng, on the other hand, was stunned.
The young master had conducted himself with the majesty of overseeing the world just now! Heâd made short work of Yuwen Zonglinâs subterfuge and although a cruel expression marked his face, he was thousands of times stronger than the Lu Yun of three months ago!
The Yu Talisman was another stroke of stunning wealth!
Within the pit, Yuwen Zonglin grit his teeth and formed sword seal after sword seal with his hands. He sent Lu Xuan reeling back and split out numerous rays of sword light to attack the Yu character.
âHmph, looks like you wonât give up until deathâs staring at you in the face! Since you wonât hand over your riches, this boss will do it myself!â
He Wuheng sighed inwardly when he heard the honorific. The heir to the Lu Clan, one of the seven great families of Dark City, really did see himself as a bandit who robbed travelers!
The Lu stewardâs jaw sagged as Lu Yun fished out a handful of talismans from his robes and flung them into the air. Endless blades of ice, swords of wind, bolts of thunder, arrows of water, and balls of fire, as well as an assorted variety of other arts of the five elements, crashed into Yuwen Zonglinâs pit.
On the other side, Ouyang Baitian had visibly drooped from the backlash of his treasure and his injuries. He could barely move.
He Wuheng hesitated, knowing what his young master intended to do. He jumped into the pit and energy with the Ouyang patriarch, holding the man by the collar of his robes.
Yuwen Zonglin was under attack by Lu Yunâs spirit talismans and in ordinary times, this level of talisman would be a joke. But heâd already suffered a blow from Lu Tianlingâs lower rank spirit weapon at full strength. With his injuries, these talismans would be his final death knell.
Just a few rounds of them were sufficient to make him vomit blood. Green smoke circled around him and his eyes rolled back, fainting dead away. Lu Yun jumped down to retrieve the Yuwen patriarch from the pit.
The two patriarchs were now tigers out of their element and being harassed by dogs. A downed phoenix was less than a chickenâthey were captured alive.
Lu Yun looked around him and threw down a jade slip. âLetâs go!â
The three vanished without a sight, manhandling the two patriarchs with great effort.
Five figures arrived at the same time.
âWhatâs happened here?? Where are they?!â A man who appeared fifty years old scowled angrily. He was a nascent soul elder of the YuwensâYuwen Tuo. âLook at how deeply Lu Tianling is hiding things, his injuries must be almost fully healed!â
âWhereâs the patriarch? Did Lu Tianling take him?â Nascent soul elder Ouyang Xiong looked around anxiously.
âThat old fart doesnât have the courage to be so bold!â snapped a middle-aged man in his thirties. He had a fair face and no facial hair. âIf he dares capture the two patriarchs, that would force the Ouyangs and Yuwens in open hostility with his clan and we would jointly destroy them!â
A patriarch was the face of a family. It was fine for them to lose in battleâafter all, losses and victories were a matter of course in battle. The two clans could afford such losses, and it wasnât embarrassing to lose to the strongest of Dark City.
The two clans wouldnât say anything even if the Lu Clan came asking for an explanation or killed the two patriarchs on the spot.
But if Lu Tianling had taken their patriarchs alive, that was blatant humiliation and a slap across the face! The Ouyangs and Yuwens thus had an excuse to deploy their strongest strength and not rest until they razed the Lus!
The patriarch of a cultivation family could fall in battle, but not be captured. Not to mention, these families were all subjects of the same emperor. On the surface, they looked to be on the same side!
âHmm? A jade slip?â The fair faced manâOuyang Baitianâs younger brother, Ouyang Baiyiâfrowned. He picked up a piece of jade from the ground. It abruptly burst with green light and flew into the air, broadcasting an extremely arrogant recording.
âListen up, Ouyang and Yuwen scum. If you want your patriarchs back alive, bring ten thousand paramount rank spirit stones to Black Maple Peak outside the city within two hours. If you fail to do so within the allotted time, this chief will kill them both!â
âWho?! Who was that?! Who dares kidnap the patriarch?!â The two clans exploded with fury. Kidnapping a patriarch and demanding ransom was the height of lawlessness!
âGo to Black Maple Peak! Heâs dead meat! Not even immortals will be able to save him!â Ouyang Baiyiâs eyes turned bright red with wrath. The others were equally incensed.
Itâd been quite a while since the battle of the Lu residence had concluded. The cultivators thatâd evacuated in a hurry had returned home and many crowded around to see what was going on now. Theyâd naturally also caught the broadcast from the jade slip. Waves of gossip and discussion immediately rose and fell in the surroundings.
The patriarchs of the mighty Ouyang and Yuwen Clan had been captured aliveâeh, kidnapped! And the kidnapper demanded a ransom of spirit stones?? The ransom was ten thousand paramount rank spirit stones, which was the equivalent of two million upper rank spirit stones. That was the total sum of the Lu Clanâs old fortune!
Black Maple Peak, fifty kilometers outside Dark City.
Fifty kilometers could be crossed in the blink of an eye to cultivators. Although Lu Yun was but eighth level qi refinement and thus couldnât ride a sword, his Trek Talisman perfectly matched the speed of a flying sword.
âSet up the formation!â A cold light glinted in his eyes. The Yuwens, Ouyangs, and Lings had caused his family to become destitute and nearly forced his grandfather into dire straits. He would never let them off easy for this!
Heâd been planning and plotting since yesterday, wanting to ensure that he gave their enemies a fatal blow!
While Lu Tianling looked like heâd severely injured the two patriarchs, they were free to return home and would be back to their old tricks after half a year. The two clans would incur no substantial losses for their transgression.
Lu Yun was making his final preparations nowâhe wanted to thoroughly humiliate the Yuwen and Ouyang Clans.
He flung five paramount rank spirit stones into the air.