Wait a minute, where is my master?

The scholars at Qingmu Academy mostly follow the path of Confucian Skill or talismanic cultivation, but there are indeed those who practice both martial arts and magic.

Take for example the Old Dean who had been beaten by the star-admiring Taoist, and then there's Mr. Song right here.

There are even legends that the founding patriarch of the Confucians was a giant over two meters tall who would declare, "Know the way to your house in the morning, and by evening I'll have killed you," and was able to break down city gates single-handedly with his Body Cultivation.

Of course, such legends are not acknowledged by Qingmu Academy.

Hall Master Zou forcefully retracted his fist that had been grabbed and calmly retreated to the side of the muscular brute.

"Barbarian... Old Huang, you take on this body cultivator first. I'll tie up the rest of them. Once you've dealt with him, we'll kill that little Taoist together!"

From their brief clash, he realized that his own martial prowess was surprisingly no match for that of the scholar.

It was naturally upsetting, but undeniably, it was also a sound strategy.

Letting the strongest of the two, Hall Master Huang, quickly take down the only body cultivator in the opposing party, and then join forces to eliminate the little Taoist was the best course of action, after all, despite the strength of the three formations, no one could be certain that these cultivators didn't have any life-saving talismans or ace up their sleeve.

The muscular brute gave him a cold glance, then twisted his neck and said, "I'll go and kill those so-called 'Three Friends of Winter' first. Don't you dare kill the little Taoist. I want to do it myself when I get back. If he's dead, I'll kill you."

His voice was calm, but it carried a hint of madness. Hall Master Huang, who was stimulating the roots of the Mother Tree, had become extremely radical.

Hall Master Zou wanted to retort, but when he sensed the bestial aura emanating from his companion like that of an ancient ferocious beast, he didn't dare to speak out.

What mattered most was recognizing the situation at hand.

Jin Xu, who wasn't far off to the side, was momentarily stunned to hear their conversation.

Were these people targeting him? The little Taoist had always thought he was just caught in the crossfire since he had been under the cliff for quite a while without any trouble.

As soon as these four arrived, the fog, the formations, as well as the muscular brute, and the dark-faced man all appeared.

"Are these people from Medicine King Valley seeking revenge, from the Demon Sect, or is it because I showed off my wealth when buying clothes that day?"

The little Taoist was still pondering when the muscular brute and Hall Master Zou started to act separately.

Hall Master Huang moved to confront Song Xili, while Hall Master Zou tentatively threw a punch at Jin Xu.

A "crack" sound rang out.

The little Taoist looked down at the punched hole in the shoulder of his robe.

Hmm? Did someone just hit him?

This person actually took advantage of his distraction to launch a sneak attack!!!

Jin Xu was annoyed in his heart. Although the punch did not cause him any damage, his robe was torn!

Do you know how expensive clothes are!?

He had bought this robe at the Immortal Robe Pavilion in Gusu City last time.

The proprietress had assured him back then that this robe was dustproof, waterproof, fireproof, and even provided some degree of protection, so how could it be so easily torn by a mere punch?

The little Taoist looked up angrily at the dark-faced man. Golden spiritual power began to circulate, ready to condense in the palm of his hand.

But then he noticed that the man had retreated to a position not far in front of the two constables, so Jin Xu gave up his plan to use the Hand Palm Thunder and instead channeled the golden spiritual power into his arms.

Since you hit me once, it's only fair that I return the favor, the little Taoist thought.

At this moment, Hall Master Zou standing still was cursing inwardly. He had originally thought that the little Taoist showed no signs of spiritual power because he was successfully suppressed by the three arrays.

But he only realized after that punch that the formation had no effect on him at all!

The surging spiritual power, like a flood rushing into a sealed cave, appeared alright on the surface but shattered all the stalagmites within.

And Hall Master Zou's arm was that cave; though it seemed fine on the outside, every vein and acupoint within was completely shattered!

Simply put, his arm was ruined.

Just as Jin Xu was about to return the punch, and the dark-faced man was contemplating which escape route would increase his chances of success...

From another side, a call for help came through, "Little Taoist, save me! Elder Song is about to be beaten to death by this demon!"

Jin Xu looked in the direction of the voice and thought, Wow!

The once imposing Song Xili was now being hammered on the ground by a muscular brute, and Mei Shouyi, who had been hiding behind him, had now taken shelter behind Mr. Zhu.

...

After such an onslaught, Mr. Zhu was finally able to retrieve some low-level talismans from his storage ring. Unfortunately, the fireballs, ice spikes, and stone swords that were hurled at Hall Master Huang were no more than tickles to him, utterly failing to stop his fists from rising and falling.

Mr. Mei was so anxious he wanted to take a ruler to knock some sense into them, but he could not muster any Spiritual Power now and was no different from an ordinary person. If he went up there, he would simply be throwing his life away.

In his heart, he silently swore that if he managed to escape, he would certainly avenge Elder Song!

However, in his despair, Mei Shouyi suddenly remembered that the Seventh Princess of the Great Xia Dynasty had said she was rescued from this muscular brute by the little Taoist before her.

So, with a mentality of giving it a try, he began to call for help loudly.

...

Seeing the terrible state of the others and knowing they were involved because of him, the little Taoist exerted force on his feet and leaped toward the muscular brute.

Saving people was the priority. The retaliation would come after a punch later.

Hall Master Huang felt the gust of wind on his back and a cruel smile appeared on his face. He stopped his beating of Song Xili and turned around to face the incoming little Taoist, just as he was about to say something.

Upon seeing his opponent lunging at him with a punch, the muscular brute frenziedly swung his fist to meet the attack.

He was eager to see whether this Taoist, who seemed to have undergone High-level God Transformation, could match his own Body Cultivation in a test of whose fists were harder!

Then...

Hall Master Huang was engulfed within this realm.

Jin Xu withdrew his fist, took out a piece of cloth from the Mystic Treasure Pearl to wipe it off, and then looked down at his Taoist robe to see that it was untouched by the blood mist that the muscular man had turned into from his punch. It seemed that the owner of the Immortal Robe Pavilion was right about its water-repellent properties.

Instead, it was the Three Cold Friends who ended up splattered.

He frowned slightly, deciding that next time he should use Hand Palm Thunder instead. This blood mist was just too disgusting.

Moreover, he had used his full strength because the man appeared robust, but he was unexpectedly too fragile.

Could it be that cultivators could also train their muscles into becoming useless in death?

On the side, the expressions of Mei Shouyi and Mr. Zhu were like this:

"(•'╻'•)꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎᵎ, Σ(ﾟ∀ﾟﾉ)ﾉ"

They wondered if they were seeing illusions because there shouldn't be an Illusion Array within the Triple Array, right?

Mr. Zhu even forgot to stop throwing the Low-level Talismans he was holding, and they continued to rain down, now landing on the unconscious Song Xili.

...

In a damp and gloomy cave,

Xia Yunzhao suddenly emerged from thin air and fell to the ground.

She steadied herself and rose from the ground, shaking her head as the dizziness from the random teleportation subsided somewhat.

She had no idea what had just happened and had no time to react before a Hundred-mile Transfer Talisman struck her and brought her here.

After regaining some clarity, the Seventh Princess looked around and realized she seemed to be inside a cave. She hastily identified a direction and hurried toward the cave entrance.

At the same time, she took out her Communication Jade Token to inform Li Mi that the Three Cold Friends might be in trouble.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the cave, and Xia Yunzhao walked farther away.

At that moment, a writhing figure agonizingly moved to the spot where she had just been standing...