If he'd gotten greedy for the opportunity in the cave abode and rushed in recklessly, he would really have been like a dragon diving into a shallow puddle—more likely than not, he'd have capsized right there.
This time, the fact he almost walked into their trap wasn't because he was careless, but because he simply hadn't expected these few people to be so cunning.
They drew a map and sold it, but every time they only sold a half-finished, incomplete version. That invisibly increased how "credible" the map looked.
An old cultivator who'd roamed the cultivation world for decades, steeped in experience, might still be able to see through their scheme. But young cultivators who'd only just left their clans… one careless moment, and they'd fall right into it.
"A ninth-layer Qi trainee… and he even has a defensive artifact."
Seeing Chen Nianzhi block his flying sword, the leader's eyes flashed with greed.
Most ninth-layer Qi trainees didn't even have a single top-grade first-rank defensive artifact. That kind of treasure was extremely rare.
All these years, he'd ambushed and robbed more than a dozen hot-headed youngsters and had never seen a treasure of this level. Thinking of that, he quickly barked to the other two:
"Together! Don't hold back!"
In the blink of an eye, several magical artifacts shot toward Chen Nianzhi.
Chen Nianzhi reacted swiftly, immediately bringing out his own artifacts to meet their assault.
Among the three, the leader was at the eighth layer of Qi training. Besides the flying sword in his hand, he also wielded a ruler-shaped artifact. Both were top-grade first-rank artifacts, and he was easily the greatest threat among them.
The sword was a wood-attribute artifact; its raw killing power wasn't that high. The ruler, however, could lash out with a three-inch crimson radiance that was already close to threatening the protective light of Chen Nianzhi's small cyan shield.
Chen Nianzhi didn't dare let that artifact strike at will. He could only circle and dodge while sending out his Green Leaf Sword to tangle with the ruler in midair.
The tall, thin man was only at the seventh layer of Qi training, but he had a set of mother-and-child flying blades—one mother blade and nine child blades. Once released, they turned into ten streaks of blade light, fast as lightning and hard to guard against.
The last man looked younger, likely the leader's junior relative. He was only at mid-stage Qi training and wasn't worth worrying about.
Once the fight truly started, Chen Nianzhi realized that among the three, the most troublesome was actually the tall, thin cultivator.
That set of mother-and-child blades was viciously fast. Each blade light wasn't that powerful on its own, but if they were allowed to hammer away in rapid succession, even the small cyan shield would have trouble holding out.
Helpless, Chen Nianzhi could only keep weaving and dodging, using his Golden Light Blade to clash against the mother-and-child blades again and again.
"This isn't going to work."
After knocking the blades away yet another time, only to see them surge back in a spray of starlike light, Chen Nianzhi's brows furrowed slightly.
As the saying went, "defend too long and you'll slip up." Chen Nianzhi was not someone who would just sit there and take a beating. In a heartbeat, he drove the Golden Light Blade straight toward the tall, thin man.
The man's expression changed, and he no longer dared focus on attacking Chen Nianzhi. He hurriedly recalled his mother-and-child blades, sending them to intercept the Golden Light Blade.
In that split second, Chen Nianzhi's eyes went cold, and he unleashed his trump card.
The Red Iron Blade Embryo turned into a streak of blade light and slashed straight out. In one flash, it tore apart the tall, thin man's protective qi barrier and cleaved him cleanly in half.
"Second Uncle!""Second Brother!"
In the blink of an eye, the other two men's faces went ashen with shock. They immediately split and fled in different directions.
At this point, how could Chen Nianzhi possibly let future trouble escape? He went after the leader first.
To end this quickly and keep the last one from running too far, Chen Nianzhi ignored the cost in true qi and once more drove the Red Iron Blade Embryo. One strike heavily damaged the man's two artifacts, the sword and the ruler.
Then he sent out the Golden Heart-Piercing Needle. It shattered the man's spell-formed barrier and plunged straight into his dantian.
"Aaah—!"
With his dantian pierced, the man let out a miserable scream and turned to look at Chen Nianzhi, his face twisted in fear. He hurriedly begged:
"My dantian is ruined— from today on I'm a cripple. Please, spare my life!"
"He who kills… will in turn be killed."
Chen Nianzhi's gaze was icy. The Green Leaf Sword flashed out in one stroke; the man's head rolled to the ground.
With two of the three rogue cultivators dead, the last one didn't manage to escape either. He was beheaded by Chen Nianzhi not long after he fled.
When the battle was finally over, Chen Nianzhi collected the three men's storage pouches, then cast a Fireball Technique to reduce their bodies to ashes. Only then did he let out a long breath.
"Whew…"
The fight had looked easy from the outside, but Chen Nianzhi knew he'd gotten away with one thanks to his artifacts.
Of the three, two were old cultivators who'd been roaming the world for decades. Without the Red Iron Blade Embryo, even if he could win, it would have been far from this simple.
This world was brutally practical. A high-grade artifact or powerful technique could boost a person's combat strength by a huge margin.
Of course, that was also because Chen Nianzhi had spent years tempering his body with Hongmeng Purple Qi. The toughness and flexibility of his meridians far exceeded those of ordinary people, and the amount of true qi he could unleash in an instant was much greater than his peers.
An ordinary ninth-layer Qi trainee would already be at their limit controlling three top-grade first-rank artifacts at once. They'd have no strength left over to drive the Red Iron Blade Embryo on top of that.
Had not Han Mo required his own lifeblood essence just to wield the Blood-Melting Demon Blade back then? Even though the blade's power had diminished somewhat, it was still extraordinary.
By Chen Nianzhi's estimation, a typical ninth-layer Qi trainee would need to pour all their true qi into the blade embryo just to swing it. They'd have nothing left to control any other artifacts or spells.
Pulling his thoughts back, Chen Nianzhi swallowed a few pills and spent half a day recovering until he was mostly back to form. Only then did he step forward to examine the cave abode.
Apparently, with the three men dead, the formation here no longer had anyone controlling it and no longer attacked on its own. After probing a few times with his artifacts and meeting no retaliation, Chen Nianzhi finally stepped inside.
"A second-rank spirit vein…"
The moment he crossed the threshold, Chen Nianzhi realized that the spiritual energy in this cave abode was unusually dense—far richer than that at Lingzhou Lake.
As he explored deeper into the spirit vein, his lingering fear grew. It was obvious this had once been the cave abode of a senior cultivator. Not only was the spirit vein here a lower-grade second-rank, there was also a second-rank, upper-grade Leaving-Fire Soul-Scorching Formation laid down within.
The formation consisted of seven array flags. Once fully activated, it could unleash second-rank Heaven-Burning Leaving Fire. Once trapped inside, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator might be burned to ash, let alone him, a mere Qi trainee.
"If I'm not mistaken, those three must have stumbled upon this cave abode by sheer luck, then decided to turn it into a fishing spot to lure people in and rob them."
"Who knows how many low-level cultivators have died in frustration under this formation over the years…"
Looking at the formation in the cave, Chen Nianzhi couldn't help but sigh.
What he found next confirmed his guess. In the cave abode, he dug up quite a few identity tokens from low-ranked cultivators. Most of them belonged to young members of various cultivation clans.
During that process, he also pieced together the identity of the cave's original owner from some remnants left behind.
The previous owner had been a mid-Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator named Yang Yuanqing. A hundred years ago, in Yu County, he had been a fairly famous figure.