Several days had passed since they ventured into the Beast Mountain Range. Aside from a few first-order creatures, spirit herbs, and some minor resources, they had found nothing of true value.
"Where are the second-order beasts?" Su Feng asked, confused.
He had thought that once they went deeper, they would find at least a couple of second-order spirit beasts and could then return. However, strangely, despite how deep they were, they hadn't seen a single trace of them. It was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.
Due to the time elapsed, they were forced to rest. They set up an improvised camp and activated a simple formation. Unlike his sister Zhong's formation—which integrated defensive, alert, and attack functions—this one only served as a warning system; an early-warning array to avoid sneak attacks and react in time.
Once the camp was settled, Su Feng and Lin Xian prepared to rest, but the calm was short-lived.
"Did you hear that?" Su Feng asked, suddenly tensing up.
Confused, Lin Xian shook her head. "I didn't hear anything."
Su Feng fixed his gaze on a specific direction in the forest.
"Contact Senior Brother," he ordered in a sharp voice while unsheathing his sword.
Immediately, a figure covered in blood collapsed from the thicket, falling wounded to the ground. Behind her, five men in black robes emerged from the shadows.
"It seems this idiot finally got tired of running," one of them said with a cruel smile, before noticing the two disciples inside the formation. "Tch, now we'll have to take care of a couple more runts," he growled, drawing his weapon and lunging straight at them.
Su Feng reacted instantly. He stepped forward and blocked the impact with a metallic clash. Stupefied, the man exclaimed in disbelief:
"A mere Qi Refiner stopping my attack?"
Without giving him time to react, Su Feng exerted superhuman strength, shoving his opponent's sword upward. He followed through with a brutal kick to the man's chest. The impact sent him flying backward, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"Seems you've gone soft," one of his companions mocked with disdain. "Even a Qi Refiner can humiliate you."
"Shut up and help me! This kid is strong," the wounded man roared, struggling to compose himself.
The man let out a mocking laugh and nodded while unsheathing his sword. His companions followed suit, and in a heartbeat, all five launched a coordinated attack against Su Feng.
Seeing the tide of steel coming at him, Su Feng couldn't help but turn pale. He raised his sword in haste to block the first impacts, constantly retreating to avoid being flanked. His movements were frantic; he knew that if he allowed them to surround him, it would be over.
"B-brother Su?" Lin Xian asked, terrified by the attackers' aura. They were cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage.
"Call Senior Brother, fast!" Su Feng shouted as he went on the defensive against three attackers lunging at him simultaneously.
Lin Xian swallowed hard and, with trembling hands, pulled out the communication talisman to send an urgent message to Wu Huang. The attackers didn't lift a finger to stop her; on the contrary, they seemed to delight in tormenting these young cultivators.
"You're only calling more people for us to kill," mocked one of the black-robed men, launching a downward slash charged with energy toward Su Feng.
"Shut up, you bastard!" Su Feng roared as he repelled the steel.
However, the gap between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment was an abyss of raw strength that was hard to ignore. Seeing two other swords lunging toward him simultaneously, Su Feng reacted with survival instincts: he drew a second sword from his storage ring and blocked both attacks in a cross. The aggressors smiled maliciously and, in a blink, disappeared from his sight using a movement technique.
A third man appeared out of nowhere behind him and delivered a devastating kick. Su Feng was sent flying several meters until he crashed violently against the ground. His face covered in dirt and his nose bleeding, he forced himself to stand up, gasping for air.
"Surrender, and we promise you a quick death," one of them said through laughter, testing the edge of his sword with his thumb.
"Silence!" Su Feng roared.
Immediately, a massive amount of spiritual energy began to converge violently around him, creating a whirlwind of pressure that shook the air. The attackers' faces darkened; they looked at each other with a mixture of surprise and fear before lunging in unison to interrupt his technique.
Su Feng grit his teeth so hard his gums bled. He swung his sword with a roar and released the accumulated energy: an arc of extremely condensed spiritual light swept across the ground with a sharp hiss, slicing through nearby trees as if they were paper. The black-robed men barely managed to dodge the attack, feeling cold sweat run down their necks at the proximity of death.
"This kid... he's only in Qi Refining and can launch attacks equivalent to a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator," one of them exclaimed, his voice thick with killing intent. "We have to kill him right here, before he grows and becomes a real threat!"
The attackers all nodded, though they eyed each other cautiously, hesitating over who would take the first step against such a display of power. Su Feng, seeing their indecision, flashed an aggressive smile fueled by adrenaline. Without waiting, he lunged forward with fury.
"Die!" he roared, releasing another arc of energy.
The black-robed men scattered to dodge the blow with agility.
"Idiotic brat! Throwing attacks like that is pointless if you don't hit anyone," one of them shouted, appearing like a shadow behind Su Feng's back.
Before he could react, a devastating blow struck his back, making him spit blood and fall violently to the ground for the second time. His body protested from the damage, but before he could even attempt to get up, a heavy foot was planted on his spine, pinning him to the earth with brute force.
"Stay there and die!" the man bellowed, raising his sword and swinging it in a lethal trajectory toward Su Feng's neck.