Clang! The disciple, whose sword had remained sheathed, finally drew his flying sword. It was still the same two-foot-long short sword, its blade aimed directly at Li Mo.
"Li, you truly have a boldness beyond measure!"
The reason he did not keep his flying sword circling around him, as his senior brother did, was twofold: one, it conserved more mana, and two, his cultivation was insufficient to sustain the sword's hovering flight.
Besides, his senior's single flying sword was more than enough to protect them both.
The senior, whose flying sword circled protectively around him, spoke: "Hmph! To us, mortals are no different from ants. Life and death are at our whim. Li Mo, you are but a mere mortal; what right do you have to bargain with us?"
His gaze swept coldly across the street, like a biting chill, making everyone's hair stand on end. In their eyes, they were nothing more than cattle or sheep waiting for slaughter.
As if to confirm his words, he quickly formed a spell, and an invisible shockwave instantly radiated outward.
Groans of discomfort echoed throughout the street. Whether they were bandits or members of the Li family, everyone felt as if their hearts were being tightly squeezed by an unseen hand, unbearable in its pressure.
Those with weaker constitutions saw stars and collapsed, their weapons falling from their hands with clattering noises, while the horses whimpered and stumbled, sending the bandits tumbling from their saddles like falling dumplings.
More and more people knelt helplessly, their hearts filled with terror. Was this the power of a sorcerer?
The vile sorcerer who had been treated like a guest by the old knife-handle had proven himself to be nothing more than a lowly charlatan.
"Xiang Jun!"
As a man, Li Xiaobai instinctively wanted to protect his future wife, but he found that, unlike the others, Wu Xiangjun was not clutching her chest and collapsing to the ground. Instead, she was staring at him anxiously, as if nothing had happened.
"Xiaolang! You?"
"I? I'm fine!"
Li Xiaobai realized that he was unaffected. Glancing around, he saw few standing, and secretly felt a sense of triumph. Could it be because he'd activated the protagonist mode?
When his gaze returned to Wu Xiangjun, the collar of her green skirt shimmered with an orange-red glow, and two fine red threads emerged, twisting around her delicate neck.
Suddenly, he understood. The reason she was unharmed was that she had some mysterious protection. Though it was unscientific, it wasn't so strange in a world filled with sorcerers and great demons.
Noticing his gaze, Wu Xiangjun blushed, holding the red threads, and weakly explained, "This was left to me by my mother. I didn't know it had such powers."
The pendant at the end of the red threads was a jade Pi Xiu, also known as the jade talisman, its orange glow fading as it returned to its original jade form. Upon closer inspection, the Pi Xiu was etched with intricate lines and mysterious runes, not just a piece of jewelry but a protective charm.
Once she returned the jade Pi Xiu pendant, Li Xiaobai lowered his voice and whispered, "If there's a chance later, we need to leave quickly!"
At this moment, they were surrounded by either bandits or vengeful sorcerers. He could only escape with his future wife Wu Xiangjun and his second brother Li Qing, while the others would be beyond his help.
In comparison, the others were far stronger fighters, and if they chose to flee, their chances of survival were much greater.
Li Mo's return to Xiyan Town was not only due to his years of fruitless search for immortals but also to avoid disaster.
The story behind it was not as complicated as one might think, but rather, quite melodramatic.
During his travels, Li Mo had briefly stayed at a secular Taoist temple, where he met a woman, and they unexpectedly fell in love.
However, the head of the Star-Picking Pavilion, Chang Sun, encountered this woman during a random meeting. Overcome by desire, he tried to take her as a concubine, assuming that his position as a legitimate Taoist would compel her submission. But the woman already had a lover and refused his advances.
In his anger, Chang Sun destroyed the temple where Li Mo was staying, but the woman was actually the illegitimate daughter of the temple's master, a fact that caused chaos.
This was not a random misfortune, but rather a result of reckless hormones.
The small Taoist temple could never stand against a sorcerer's sect, even one of modest rank. The temple was wiped out overnight, leaving no trace. The woman, too, was steadfast. To preserve her virtue, she slit her own throat, dying tragically.
Li Mo, fortunately away visiting a friend, escaped the catastrophe but returned to witness the scene of Chang Sun and his sorcerers laughing wickedly as they left the temple. When he arrived, the woman had already taken her life. Distraught and filled with fury, Li Mo used his travels to gather strange experiences, luring a great demon to kill the culprit.
Having failed in his search for immortals and lost his first love, Li Mo returned home with a heart full of despair.
However, he never imagined that the Star-Picking Pavilion would not let the matter rest, tracing his whereabouts through a few clues.
Wiping the blood from his lips, Li Mo steadied himself, then coldly faced the arrogant so-called righteous sorcerers, sneering, "Heaven and earth are heartless, treating all things as straw dogs. Mortals may be grass dogs, but you are no different!"
"How dare you!"
The younger sorcerer from the Star-Picking Pavilion was enraged. Despite facing certain death, Li Mo still dared to speak so recklessly. Did he not fear dying even faster?
He immediately summoned his sword light, which shot toward Li Mo's neck with lightning speed, showing no interest in torturing him further.
"Heh, heh!"
Li Mo let out a cold laugh and slowly closed his eyes, awaiting his fate.
"Big Brother!" His father, Li Dahu, shouted in despair.
"Young master, be careful!" A voice urgently called out. At the same time, a great force slammed into him, sending Li Mo flying two or three yards away. He tumbled several times before finally stopping.
Ignoring the pain, Li Mo quickly rose and looked toward his previous position, only to see the house steward, Li Fu Gui, standing in his place, holding a sharp knife and glaring at the two sorcerers.
Hiss!
A faint sound came from Li Fu Gui's neck, followed by a shocking red line rapidly circling his throat.
With a sudden crack, Li Fu Gui's head dropped off, the cleanly severed neck spraying blood violently.
In that brief moment when he had stood there, Li Fu Gui had already perished.
"Fu Gui Uncle!"
Li Mo's heart shattered as he saw this, his voice filled with grief. He had lost yet another dear one.
Li Fu Gui and Li Man Cang, the family stewards, were not originally from the Li family. They were brothers who had followed Li Dahu during his years of wandering the martial world. Despite the hardest and most dangerous times, they had never betrayed him.
When Li Dahu retired and returned to Xiyan Town, the two followed him, living under assumed names and taking on the roles of the stewards.
For over twenty years, no one knew that the two seemingly petty, calculating stewards were actually martial arts experts.
Though Li Mo and his brothers were unaware of their stewards' past glories, they still respected them as elders, not as mere servants.
"My old brothers!"
A man may shed no tears lightly, but losing two brothers in a single day was a heart-wrenching blow.
"Mortals are nothing but mortals! Die!"
The young sorcerer from the Star-Picking Pavilion, furious that his sword had failed to kill Li Mo and instead struck his companion, now let loose his killing intent. He summoned his sword light again, intending to pierce Li Mo's body from all sides.
The sword light surged toward him, but as it accelerated, Li Mo glared with bloodshot eyes and raised his hand, crackling with lightning.
"Burning life! Five Thunderstrike..."
Boom!
A bolt of lightning, as thick as a barrel, shot forth from his hand.
"Watch out!"
Seeing the talisman in Li Mo's hand and the electric arc that appeared out of nowhere, the senior sorcerer instantly sensed danger. He quickly divided his focus, sending his sword light toward Li Mo while casting a defensive spell to shield his unprepared younger disciple.
Thunder cracked, deafening everyone within a hundred meters.
However, the violent lightning not only obliterated the senior's defense but also engulfed the younger sorcerer, who was caught completely off guard.
The purple-blue light flashed and vanished, leaving behind a faint smell of burnt flesh. A thin wisp of smoke blew away with the wind.
"Junior! Junior!"
The senior sorcerer from the Star-Picking Pavilion looked in disbelief at where his disciple had been, now only a pile of scorched fabric and some unidentifiable metal shards.
Several shops along the street had been reduced to rubble, and among the debris, a human-shaped charred corpse could still be seen, its hand raised reflexively, as if trying to grasp something.
As if to confirm the overwhelming power of the talisman's spell.
"Heh, heh, ha ha, ha ha ha!"
Li Mo's laughter grew louder as his three-foot