Ling immediately raised his hands and pointed it towards Yao Tian.
"Three-Dagger Killing Formation!"
Three daggers made of purple qi condensed in front of him and rushed towards Tian. Tian breathed deep and raised his left leg.
"Swift Kick."
In a blink of an eye, he repelled all the qi daggers that Ling made with just his one leg. The purple qi daggers bounced and pierced through the wooden platforms of the treasure house.
Ling was shocked at how swift and precise the kick Tian possess. Ling stepped back and stood still. Tian, on the other hand, lowered his legs.
"Hmph, I thought you're just a lucky brat who managed to leech on the Wen Clan. But I never thought that you're also strong."
Ling smirked upon hearing Tian's praise.
"You flatter me, senior."
Tian laughed at him.
"HAHAHA!"
Suddenly, Tian's face turned serious.
"Enough chitchat. Where's my brother Peng?"
Ling remembered Yao Peng, the one he killed earlier. Ling smiled and stared at Tian.
"He's at the afterlife now."
Tian's face turned sour upon hearing his brother's death.
(Impossible! How does a mere Qi Condensation Stage brat killed a Qi Perfection Stage expert!?)
Tian adjusted his position and released a killing intent towards Ling.
"I don't know how you managed to kill my brother, but killing a cultivator who is two steps above yours is simply unheard of..."
Ling also adjusted his legs, preparing to engage a battle with a Qi Perfection Stage expert.
"I won't mourn his death, not until I severe that head of yours and hang it to-"
Tian stopped talking after noticing that Ling was rushing towards him with his palm. Without hesitation, Tian used his right leg in order to parry Ling's palm.
"You won't let me finish my sentence huh... How rude."
Ling noticed a sudden change on Tian's aura. He switched his stance by placing both of his arms to his front.
"Swift Kick."
Tian kicked Ling using his right leg. In an instant, Ling was thrown to the other side of the treasure house.
"Stand up. I know that you're fine since you managed to kill my brother."
When the smoke began to dissipate, Tian saw Ling unscathed. Ling managed to block his kick using his arms.
"Heh, I thought you'd be lying on the ground. I guess I didn't put enough strength to my legs."
Tian lowered his right legs and leaned his body forward.
"This time, I will be serious. Flash Step."
In a second, Tian dashed towards Ling at lightning speed. Ling was surprised and dodged to the right in order to avoid Yao Tian.
(Shit! Luckily I managed to dodge his charge in advance-)
Ling saw Tian smiled at him.
"You thought I didn't saw your movements? Tsk-tsk."
Tian changed his trajectory and was moving towards Ling again. Ling was shocked and ran around the area.
(He can change his direction!?)
Ling ran around inside the treasure house while Yao Tian was following behind him. Both of them seemingly equal in terms of speed, thus Tian was unable to catch Ling easily. On the other hand, Ling was desperately running due to the fact that he's running with his top speed in order to avoid Tian.
"Swift Kick: Tiger's Pounce!"
Tian kicked Ling's back without him noticing due to the limited vision Ling had.
"HYAAAAHHH!"
"GAHHH!"
Ling puked blood as he recieved the fatal blow coming from Tian. He was thrown back at the center of the treasure house.
(Guh... That kick was stronger than Yao Peng's Rock Smashing Fist!)
Ling rolled to the ground and stopped right where the secret entrance to the underground was located. He stood up while shaking due to the damage that Tian dealt to him. On the other side, Tian was shocked that Ling still survived even though he used his full power.
(He still survived on that...? I used my full power on that attack!)
While struggling to recover himself, he sensed several auras, and one of them is the last Qi Perfection Stage expert.
(This aura..!)
Suddenly, the roof of the treasure house collapsed. All the elders of the Wen Clan, including the patriarch itself, came down and surrounded him.
The patriarch of the Wen Clan, Wen Jian, stepped forward in order to confront the injured Ling.
Tian immediately lowered his head and kneeled in front of Wen Jian.
"Right Hand Yao Tian greets the patriarch!"
All the six elders followed Tian lowered their bodies and kneeled.
The Wen Clan's patriarch, Wen Jian, nodded without turning his head to look at them. Instead, he stared at Ling with a disappointed look.
"Sigh... For the past few years, I treated you like my own son. But is this how you repay my kindness? By killing my own son and causing ruckus on my clan?"
"Ptoo!"
Ling spat beside Jian and stared back with a disgusted look in his eyes.
"What nonesense are you talking about, old man? In your eyes, I'm just a disposable pawn, a lapdog for your petty clan!"
Upon hearing Ling's rude remarks, Tian charged forward to confront him.
"What did you just say..?"
Wen Jian raised his hand in order to stop Yao Tian. Yao Tian noticed it and stepped back while clenching his fists due to anger.
Suddenly, Jian choked the injured Ling using his hand. Due to being too close to Ling, the patriarch managed to reach his neck with ease.
"Disrespecting my clan is a different matter, but I am here to settle scores with you because you killed my only son. Now that he's gone, then killing you will ease his soul in afterlife!"
(Ghhk! I-I can't breathe...)
Despite his inescapable situation, Ling still managed to smile at Wen Jian. Wen Jian noticed it and wondered why.
"Despite being at the death's door, you still have the guts to smile back at me..."
Ling laughed at Wen Jia right to his face.
"Gh-hehaha... W-Who says I'm at the d-death's door now?"
Ling spread his hands wide opened and pulled all the qi threads he scattered around the area during his fight with Tian. The unsuspected elders was caught with these qi threads.
Jian noticed several qi thread rushing to his arm he used to choke Ling. He immediately withdrew his hands and dropped him to the ground. He jumped away in order to avoid the qi threads.
Jian saw that all the elders are caught with the qi threads, gathered at the center of the treasure house. Jian's brows met upon looking at the helpless and struggling to escape. He wants to help them, but one mistake may provoke Ling to end their lives.
"Patriarch, save us!" one of the elders shouted.
"Help us get out of here first before dealing with that brat!" the other one shouted.
Jian turned his head and threatened Ling.
"Ling! If you dare kill the elders of the Wen Clan, I will...!"
"You'd what..?"
Ling smirked while holding the qi threads. Then, he immediately pulled all the qi threads.
All the six elders of the Wen Clan died on the spot, severing their bodies with his qi threads. All the blood covered the entire room like a fog and blocked their vision.
Jian witnessed the entire scene and enraged by it. Tian felt an intense killing intent engulfed the patriarch's entire body.
"LING! NOW THAT YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE, I WILL TURN YOU INTO A MINCEMEAT ONCE I'VE CAPTURED YOU!"
Yao Tian wishes to capture Ling with his own hands, but Wen Jian stopped him.
"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE MY PREY!"
Tian frozed as he felt the intense killing intent that the patriarch emanates. For the first time since he served the patriarch, he witnessed how Wen Jian looks like when he's angry.
"Y-Yes... Patriarch..."
(Tch! I couldn't avenge my brother's death with my own hands! I can't even disobey the patriarch due to the large gap between our powers, even though we're at the same stage...!)
Tian clenched his fists while helplessly looking at the patriarch rushing towards Ling's direction.
Suddenly, Tian heard a loud bang ahead and saw the patriarch standing. Wen Jian, who is standing there, turned around and noticed that Ling was nowhere to be seen.
"LING! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
Jian noticed that the blood that covered the entire area began to settle down, and saw that the trapdoor that leads to the treasure room was open. The patriarch knew that Ling rushed inside, heading towards the treasure room.
"LINNNNGGGG!"
Without hesitation, he rushed inside the treasure room.
...
While Jian was distracted due to the blood fog that covered the entire room, Ling managed to open the trapdoor and entered the treasure room.
(Now that I've finally entered this room, let's gather all the treasures inside of it!)
Upon glancing the treasures inside, he was disappointed and realized that the items are just trash cultivation books and low-grade herbs that can be found easily at the forest. There are bags of gold and coins at the furthest side of the room, but there's nothing special in that room.
(H-How can this be...? All my efforts, just to obtain these trash items? Even these cultivation books are just copies of the books I've read in their library!)
Ling noticed a shelf at the end of the room that has a opened sword case on it.
(A sword stand...? But, there's no sword inside of it...)
Ling noticed a strange ring inside the shelf. The ring had a red gem embedded on it.
Curious, Ling grabbed the ring and examined it.
(It seems ordinary to me...)
He picked the ring around and decided to wear it.
(The design's good though, I'll wear it.)
Ling inserted the ring to his middle finger and continued looking around, trying to search some valuable items carefully. But all he could see are some common cultivation books and herbs.
(This is bullshit! I'll just get these two bags of gold to cover up my losses!)
Ling decided to pick up when he heard a commotion outside.
(I need to get out of here fast!)
Just when Ling was about to get the two bags of gold and hide within the shelves, Jian was already there and saw him.
(It's too late...)
Jian immediately rushed towards him and grabbed Ling's clothes. He threw Ling away from the stash of gold, and was thrown several feet across the treasure room.
"GUHHHH!"
Ling groaned as he rolled slowly to the ground. He spat a mouthful of blood and wiped his mouth using his clothes.
(My strength is losing... I can't move anymore...)
He noticed that the two bags of gold which he held before was gone. He looked around and saw it beside Wen Jian's foot.
"How dare you rob us! Was this your entire goal all along!?"
Jian noticed that Ling was trembling as he approach slowly towards him. Ling raised his hand, and his eyes are filled with hopelessness as he plead the patriarch to spare him.
"I can't gather my strength anymore... S-Spare me..."
Jian laughed hard as he heard Ling pleading for his life.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! For a mere Qi Condensation Stage, you surely gave me a hard time!"
Jian immediately stepped towards him and grabbed his left hand.
"I'll kill you slowly... So that even in your afterlife, you'd still feel the pain of killing my son and my elders!"
Suddenly, he broke one of Ling's left finger.
"Ghhhakkk...!"
Ling felt an extreme pain as the patriarch of the Wen Clan broke one of his fingers. Seconds later, Wen Jian broke his other finger, followed by the other one and so on.
"AGHHH!"
"GRAAAHK!"
"Guhh... Please stop..."
Wen Jian stared at him with satisfaction in his eyes as he break Ling's fingers slowly.
"I can do this aaaaaaaall night..."
Several minutes had passed, and five of Ling's fingers on his left hand was broken by Jian.
"Next, I'll break your wrist..."
(An opening!)
Jian believed that Ling had exhausted his strength and powerless enough to even stop him, but the truth is that his exhaustion is just near at the critical condition. He still had enough strength to escape from him, but he chose not to.
His was to distract the patriarch, thinking that he is powerless, unable to escape from his grasp. Now that Jian was enjoying the pleasure of torturing him, Ling would take this chance in order to deal a fatal blow to the unsuspecting patriarch.
(Tricking a fool with just words alone... Hmph, oldest trick in the book.)
Ling clenched his right hand behind him.
"THREE-DAGGER KILLING FORMATION!"
The qi daggers that was pierced around the treasure house vibrated, and immediately rushed towards him. The unsuspected Jian saw a purple qi daggers rushing towards him.
All the three qi daggers pierced on Jian's vital spots on his body, and was pushed back away from Ling.
"GUHHH!?"
(What the hell just... happened?)
He felt a tingling sensation at where the qi daggers was pierced on his body. It is not a normal tingling sensation, but he also felt that his stamina was weakening.
(These qi daggers... They're absorbing my vitality and qi!?)
Jian immediately pulled all the qi daggers and threw it away from him.
(What kind of formidable technique did Ling learned without me noticing it...?)
Suddenly, Jian noticed something unusual. He immediately raised his head and searched for Ling's whereabouts. No matter how he tried, Ling's traces are nowhere to be seen.
"He escaped...?"