Lin Tianming concealed himself in the adjacent valley, suppressing all of his presence, and witnessed the entire process of the battle between two cultivators above the eighth level of Qi Cultivation, utterly shocked.
Fortunately, he discovered them in time and halted his motion instead of colliding head-on with the two cultivators, or else it would have been very difficult to escape.
Beyond the shock, he was also worried that their intense battle had possibly exposed his presence.
Otherwise, with his own fifth level Qi Cultivation, he feared that the man in the red robe would silence him to keep the secret.
He didn't dare to leave rashly, which could easily reveal himself; he couldn't risk it.
Now he was in a dilemma, hoping he had gone unnoticed, and could only wait for the other to leave before making any plans.
At this moment, time seemed incredibly slow.
A quarter of an hour later.
The man in the red robe stood up, his injuries somewhat recovered, the bleeding had stopped, and he had regained some of his spiritual power.
He collected the storage bag of the man in the white robe and cast a Fireball Technique, incinerating the corpse to erase all traces.
Having done all this, the man in the red robe glanced at the little hill where Lin Tianming was hiding and shouted disdainfully; "Fellow Daoist, after watching for so long, isn't it time to show yourself?"
Lin Tianming had not expected that the other had discovered him long ago but had simply disregarded him until the battle was over before dealing with him.
Lin Tianming no longer hid and walked out of the valley with a wry smile.
He flew unhurriedly toward the man in the red robe, stopped at a distance of a hundred zhang to maintain a safe distance, giving him some time to react in case a fight ensued.
Lin Tianming spoke calmly; "I am Lin Tianming, a disciple of the Lin Family of Green Bamboo Mountain, tasked with guarding Qingfeng Town. I was just passing by on patrol and meant no harm. Fellow Daoist can leave directly."
"I am ignorant of the deeds you committed and the words you spoke just now. I have tasks waiting and will not delay further, farewell!"
After saying this, he clasped his hands together, turned around, and without looking back, he flew towards Qingfeng Town on his sword at full speed, quickly covering several miles.
The man in the red robe thought, since this person comes from the Lin Family of Green Bamboo Mountain and this place is merely over five hundred miles from Green Bamboo Mountain, if he reports to his clan and they send a Foundation Establishment elder, it will be extremely difficult to investigate the cave dwelling later.
Whether he knows anything or not, this person cannot be allowed to live.
Even though he was injured and at less than a third of his peak strength, this person was only at the fifth level of Qi Cultivation; capturing him should be easy.
After killing him, he would immediately head back to Jingzhou in Huangyang Kingdom to lay low. The Lin Family's reach had not extended to the land of Jingzhou yet, and in the future, there might be a chance to return secretly to explore the cave dwelling.
"Hmph!"
"Since you have run into this, your luck is to blame; only the dead can keep secrets."
Lin Tianming hadn't even gone several miles when the man in the red robe rode his giant hammer, flying through the air, in pursuit of Lin Tianming.
Seeing that the distance between them was rapidly closing and that catching up was just a matter of time, Lin Tianming was frantic with urgency, fearing that escape would be difficult.
Cooling down, he thought that the man had suffered serious injuries and after the great battle with the man in the white robe, a significant amount of spiritual power would have been drained; his full strength would surely be less than half.
He still had two First Order Superior Attack Talismans and two Defense Talismans. In a fight to the death, he might not necessarily lose. It would be best to fly a distance first, wearing down some of the man's spiritual power before considering a counterattack.
Lin Tianming was in the lead with the man in the red robe chasing from behind.
A chase ensued for dozens of miles until they were less than a mile apart.
Lin Tianming decided not to flee any longer and landed in a small valley ahead, taking out a Huiyuan Pill to swallow, hoping to recover as much spiritual power as possible.
The man in the red robe had used up a considerable amount of the small portion of spiritual power he had just recovered in the chase over dozens of miles. If the chase went on for dozens more miles, he would have to give up, but the boy seemed to have reached his limit sooner than expected.
"Truly, heaven is helping me."
"Boy, can't hold out any longer, right? Go to hell then!"
The man in the red robe, with his spiritual power substantially depleted and not fit for prolonged battle, directly unleashed his strongest attack, intending to finish off Lin Tianming in one strike.
After executing the Secret Art of Dominating Body Technique, the man in the red robe, with a hammer in each hand and incredibly quick movements, charged straight at Lin Tianming.
Seeing this, Lin Tianming instantly released a First Order Superior Defense Talisman and Attack Talisman to counter the man in the red robe's powerful strike.
Having witnessed the full strength of the red-robed man's strike, which had annihilated the man in white robes during their fight, Lin Tianming dared not take any chances.
The Attack Talisman transformed into a golden Spirit Sword emanating powerful sword qi, equivalent to the full force strike of a cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Cultivation, charging straight towards the man in the red robe.
The Defense Talisman turned into a huge shield with the spiritual power of the earth elements flowing rapidly on its surface. The shield, several zhang in size, positioned itself in front of Lin Tianming.
After releasing the two talismans, he ran his cultivation technique at full power, forming hand seals with both hands and unleashing his strongest strike, the Huoyuan Slash, pouring all of his remaining spiritual power into it.
A giant fiery-red sword materialized, with flames burning intensely on it, its sword qi astonishing, surging forth with power several times greater than when he executed it at the fourth level of Qi Practice.
At this moment, Lin Tianming held nothing back and struck with all his might.
Lin Tianming bellowed,
"Slash!"
Within moments, the red-robed man was a hundred zhang away from Lin Tianming, wielding his twin hammers, as a massive hammer phantom loomed in the air, heading straight for Lin Tianming.
In an instant, the Flying Sword of the High-Quality Talisman was about to make contact with the giant hammer.
With a loud bang…
The golden Spirit Sword exploded and dissipated, but it had managed to delay the hammer for half a breath's time and drain much of its power; however, it didn't stop and continued to bear down on Lin Tianming.
The hammer phantom slammed directly into the Defense Shield.
With a thunderous noise, after enduring for several breaths, the shield shattered into pieces, and the powerful shockwave sent Lin Tianming flying several zhang away.
The moment the shield broke, the giant fire sword formed by the Huoyuan Slash also collided with the hammer phantom.
The hammer phantom held out for less than half a breath's time before dissipating into specks of spiritual light scattering in all directions.
After the hammer phantom dispersed, the giant sword encountered no resistance as it made its way towards the red-robed man.
The man in the red robe's face was filled with disbelief, never imagining that Lin Tianming had so many tricks up his sleeve, possessing both a First Order Superior Attack Talisman and Defense Talisman, and could unleash such tremendous power with his divine skills.
Wanting to use other techniques, he found himself with hardly any spiritual power to utilize.
Beyond his fear, he was left without options.
With a booming sound,
The red-robed man was struck by the giant sword made of flames, sent flying back dozens of zhang, crashing through several large trees before coming to a stop.
His entire body was charred black, his flesh a blurry mess, as he lay motionless, clearly having fallen.
Lin Tianming was tossed several zhang by the blast wave, landing to one side. His inner qi and blood roiled, his meridians were in disorder, and his entire body bore over ten ghastly wounds.
If it weren't for the two First Order High-Quality Talismans, which absorbed a great deal of destructive force, he would have likely faced grim odds.
With his spiritual power almost completely exhausted after that forceful strike, if he hadn't been able to kill the man in the red robe, he would have certainly been the one to die.
At this time, if a cultivator at the First Level of Qi Refining were to appear, a single Fireball Technique could easily allow them to reap the benefits without effort.
Struggling to sit up, he took out a Huiyuan Pill, threw it into his mouth, and began meditating right there to recover.
After a quarter of an hour, he had recovered a small part of his spiritual power, and the injuries on his body gradually improved.
No longer caring to survey the area, knowing it was not safe to stay for long, he needed to find a secure place to heal and recover.
Forming seals with his hands, he cast a Fireball Technique to burn the red-robed man's corpse.
He collected both men's storage bags and Spiritual Artifacts, erasing any traces of the fight.
Casting the Green Bamboo Sword, he soared on the sword, flying towards the direction of Qingfeng Town.
After half a day, Lin Tianming, dragging his injured body, appeared outside the pavilion in the plaza, without regard for the horrified stares of the common people, he instructed Lin Shan and Lin Hai,
"Do not disturb my cultivation unless it is important," then he walked into the interior of the pavilion.
Without stopping for rest, he headed straight to the secret chamber beside him, sat on the stone bed, and began to cultivate and heal his injuries.