Hongi's fury was entirely justified.
If the manager of the Golden Light Pavilion hadn't been pressing him for debts and forcing him to refine artifacts, he would have taken his disciples and fled this hornets' nest long ago.
"Master, should we keep refining?" Yulou stood up, abandoning the charcoal bellows altogether.
Hongi frowned deeply. "Let's go outside and take a look. We'll settle the account first, then leave the mont we get a chance."
He was short of just this final batch of spirit stones to secure his Foundation Establishnt resources. If he could collect them smoothly, he could finally begin preparing for his breakthrough.
As for the chaotic ss enveloping Hidden Dragon Market, he wanted absolutely no part in it.
The manager of the Golden Light Pavilion was standing calmly by the entrance, staring up at the combat unfolding in the sky. Hearing Hongi's intent, he smiled smoothly.
"Fellow Daoist Hongi, rest assured. Even if the Valley Spirit Sect takes over Hidden Dragon Market, our Golden Light Pavilion will remain open for business!
And you don't even need to refine both artifacts. Just finish that Golden Halberd with the thirty-two layers of restrictions, and I will personally guarantee your spirit stones. I'll even throw in an extra two hundred pieces as an apology for the trouble."
Hongi stared quietly at the manager, whose cultivation base was roughly equal to his own. A flicker of murderous intent flashed deep within his eyes.
This was the second ti!
The second ti this man was obstructing his path to the Dao!
Up in the sky, Jiuqu, the leader of the guardian cultivators from Miaofeng Mountain, was leading his forces in a fierce battle against the cultivators of the Valley Spirit Sect.
Both sides unleashed their ultimate techniques, filling the heavens with a blinding, multicolored display of light.
Down on the ground, Hongi, a miserable working-class artificer, was locked in a grueling clash against a lackey serving an Immortal Alliance Foundation Establishnt cultivator.
Separated by a vast gulf in status, the struggle on both ends was bitter and exhausting.
"Once the situation in Hidden Dragon Market settles, I will return imdiately to finish the refining. Fellow Daoist, what do you say?" Hongi tried to reason one last ti.
The manager chuckled, shaking his head. "How many tis must I repeat myself, Brother Hongi? Even if the Valley Spirit Sect arrives, our Golden Light Pavilion will be perfectly safe. Why can't you understand that?
I took this custom order on your behalf, yet you're failing to deliver the goods, and now you want an advance paynt? You're making things very difficult for ."
Left with no choice, Hongi could only return to the forge and resu his artifact refining.
Yulou and Yu'an were equally at a loss. Fate had unexpectedly dragged them into this chaotic vortex. As minor cultivators still in the Qi Induction stage, there was very little they could do.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Suddenly, the roars of battle drifted over from the outside. Yulou, his vigilance pushed to the absolute maximum, noticed that the shouting sounded terrifyingly close.
Hexagon Dragon Market was protected by a grand formation. The forces of the Valley Spirit Sect were currently assaulting the array, while the guardian cultivator leader Jiuqu led the people of Miaofeng Mountain to defend it.
How could there be fighting breaking out so close to them inside the market?
"Master, sothing is wrong!" Yulou warned sharply.
He was worried that certain people were taking advantage of the chaos to stir up trouble.
Even Wang Rongsheng knew that the Valley Spirit Sect was about to attack, yet so many cultivators had chosen to remain inside Hidden Dragon Market.
As a highly specialized market town, Hidden Dragon Market lacked a permanent Foundation Establishnt cultivator to oversee it. If a riot broke out inside, things would turn ugly very quickly!
Spurred by Yulou's warning, Hongi did not let his guard down.
This ti, he abandoned the artifact refining entirely and imdiately drew his protective magic artifact into his hand.
Looking at the miniature golden tower resting in their master's palm, Yulou felt a surge of profound envy.
If bead-type magic artifacts were considered the absolute bottom tier, then tower-type magic artifacts were the absolute pinnacle.
The jade tower Hongi held was forged with gold for its skeletal fra and reinforced with stone for its body. It was roughly the size of a grown man's forearm, and a single glance confird it was a high-grade magic artifact.
The only question was how many layers of restrictions had been carved into it.
Tower-type artifacts were notoriously difficult to refine, but they were also the easiest to overlay with restrictions.
Judging by the appearance of the miniature tower, Yulou estimated that at least thirty layers of restrictions had been cramd inside.
"Follow outside and look!"
Hongi did not feel safe leaving the two youths alone indoors, so he decided to keep them by his side.
In the skies of Wunan, the Ten Sects and the Immortal Alliance watched over all. No Foundation Establishnt cultivator would dare risk universal condemnation by breaking the taboo of slaughtering Qi Refining juniors.
As a Peak Qi Refining cultivator who was on the absolute verge of establishing his foundation, and one who was highly proficient in fire-type arts and possessed an abundance of magic artifacts, Hongi feared no opponent of the sa realm!
Now that Hidden Dragon Market had fallen into chaos, keeping his two disciples within arm's reach was the safest option.
"Fellow Daoist Hongi, quick, help ! A bunch of rogue cultivators are trying to fish in troubled waters!"
Outside, the manager and several shop assistants were locked in a desperate, bloody struggle against a group of masked cultivators. Hongi narrowed his eyes, freezing in his tracks.
Yu'an instinctively wanted to summon his magic artifact and talismans to charge forward, but Yulou was fast, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.
With their ager pool of spiritual energy, taking such a risk was pointless. It was far wiser to preserve their strength so they could activate their Hundred-Li Wanderer Escape Talisman and flee the mont the grand formation shattered!
Hongi remained silent, but with a flick of his wrist, he silently manifested six flying swords!
What truly defined a master of the artificing path?
It was using six pieces of eighth-grade black iron to refine six mid-grade flying swords!
While other artificers desperately struggled to refine a single high-grade artifact using a single piece of eighth-grade base material, Hongi gave himself a luxurious shortcut, specifically using eighth-grade black iron to forge mid-grade flying swords.
Did that make Hongi foolish?
Hardly. Even the Wang Clan used materials ant for high-grade artifacts to forge mid-grade ones!
This was the overbearing extravagance unique to great clans and major sects—they simply did not care about the cost of spirit stones!
The six flying swords shot forward in unison, hurtling straight toward the rogue cultivators besieging the Golden Light Pavilion. Hongi roared, "I'm coming to assist you!"
Hearing this, the manager and his assistants instantly intensified their offensive, striking with newfound ferocity.
However, the rogue cultivators who dared to plunder the Golden Light Pavilion were no gentle lambs. They refused to stretch out their necks for the slaughter. Pressed by the sudden arrival of Hongi's forces, their attacks grew even more savage and desperate.
"Catch these, and activate them!" Hongi barked, tossing two round beads to Yulou and Yu'an.
As artificers themselves, the two brothers naturally understood how to manipulate bead-type artifacts. They channeled their spiritual energy, triggering the devices within monts.
"Use the Spirit-Calming Mist to suppress those rogue cultivators' divine sense!"
A thick, grey fog surged outward. Under the oppressive influence of the Spirit-Calming Mist, several rogue cultivators began to hesitate and retreat.
After all, they were not a coordinated group. They distrusted one another just as much as their enemies, and their loose alliance was far from ironclad.
Before long, with Hongi's overwhelming intervention, the reckless rogue cultivators were either cut down or scattered in flight, completely stripped of their threat.
As one of Hongi's flying swords pierced cleanly through the chest of the last masked rogue, the pavilion manager finally let out a long sigh of relief.
"Fellow Daoist Hongi, if not for you today, I don't know what—"
The flying sword that had just transfixed the rogue cultivator did not slow down. It pivoted instantly, driving straight through the chest of the Golden Light Pavilion's manager.
The swirling periter of the Spirit-Calming Mist blocked out all external light. The three-hundred-pound Hongi stood at the entrance of the Golden Light Pavilion, staring down at the manager's fresh corpse. He muttered coldly, "I must establish my foundation!"
Before Yulou's horrified eyes, the Peak Qi Refining master expertly manipulated his flying swords, easily slaughtering the remaining shop assistants whose spiritual energy had already been completely drained from the previous fight.
During the entire combat, Hongi had been holding back. He had deliberately controlled the pace of the battle, letting the rogue cultivators and the pavilion's staff wear each other down to the bone.
Then, the mont the Golden Light Pavilion's n were on the verge of exhaustion, he struck to end them all.
With the slaughter complete, he flicked his wide sleeves. Two sets of formation flags flew out, instantly blanketing the Golden Light Pavilion in a concealing barrier.
Following that, thick crimson spiritual tendrils slithered out from beneath Hongi's robes, rapidly looting the corpses and clearing the battlefield.
"Quick! Get inside and strip the Golden Light Pavilion completely bare, then we leave!" Hongi barked harshly at the stunned brothers.
They could not afford to waste a single second. This hastily erected barrier was entirely reliant on the temporary formation flags; it would never hold up against a concentrated exterior assault.
Suppressing his rising terror, Yulou acted on Hongi's commands. Working in tandem with Yu'an, they rapidly emptied everything of value from the Golden Light Pavilion's main hall.
Hongi, anwhile, located the pavilion's private treasury with practiced ease, successfully securing the exact items he had coveted.
Once everything was gathered, he unleashed a raging torrent of spiritual fla, setting the entire establishnt ablaze as a final cover-up.
Yulou watched as his master summoned a flying carriage artifact. Just as he was about to step aboard, he noticed Hongi's eyes fixed squarely on him.
As their gazes locked, Yulou's heart sank into an icy abyss.
Yu'an was still innocently nudging his older brother, urging him to hurry up and get into the carriage.
Yulou's hand, however, had already slipped into his sleeve, gripping the edge of the Hundred-Li Wanderer Escape Talisman.
Taking a few gentle steps backward, he looked at Hongi with an expression of absolute obedience. "Master, you should go first. Operating the carriage alone will make it fly much faster!"
Yu'an froze, a sudden realization dawning on him. His hand also darted toward the escape talisman hidden in his own sleeve.
Yet, trapped beneath the heavy canopy of the formation array, the two brothers had absolutely nowhere to run.
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