As the winds of change swept through the Qingtian Domain, every faction under the mysterious organization’s banner began tightening their defenses.
But after Qi Ping demonstrated his ability to quickly kill cultivators at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, even the organization’s vast numbers started to feel insufficient. After all, they couldn’t possibly station that many Foundation Establishment cultivators within a single region.
Their only option was to reshuffle their forces, protecting as many key locations as possible while setting up ambushes in the most likely places.
With other allied cultivators from the Qingtian Domain joining in, the number of ambush points kept growing.
The more Qi Ping continued his operations, the higher the chance he would walk right into one.
And this strategy did prove effective.
When he attacked his third target—a faction with two mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators—Qi Ping managed to wipe them out, thanks to pre-arranged formations, but not without taking some injuries himself.
But when he went after the fourth Foundation Establishment faction, trouble found him. A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, seemingly out of nowhere, dealt a heavy blow to Qi Ping’s tree-man clone. Fortunately, the formations he had set up in advance bought him enough time to escape using his Thousand Transformations Art.
Now, hidden in a secluded forest, Qi Ping frowned as he assessed his injuries.
“A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator just appeared out of nowhere. Looks like they’ve mobilized a lot of forces to ambush me.”
“And after that sneak attack, my tree-man clone is starting to feel a bit unstable.”
“Have I reached my limit this time?”
In the short term, Qi Ping could only use his tree-man clone for one more operation like this. The next time he went out, he’d need to raise an animal companion skilled in divination and fate-based techniques first.
Otherwise, there would always be considerable risk.
“So how should I proceed?”
Qi Ping was feeling troubled. If he kept going like this, the chances of falling into an ambush would become very high.
The places he was likely to strike next had probably all been heavily fortified.
“I know—what if I hit some Qi Refining level factions?”
With his current speed at Foundation Establishment, it wouldn’t be hard to locate a few Qi Refining factions. That way, he could steadily earn some black market points while keeping the enemy’s attention fixed on one area.
After drawing their attention there, he could immediately move far away and hit one or two Foundation Establishment factions.
“Yeah… That’s the plan!”
Whether it worked or not, this was his best chance at earning black market points. It was far better than blindly attacking regular Foundation Establishment factions without any intel.
After making up his mind, Qi Ping spent four hundred spirit stones to refresh the mission list twenty times.
He picked an area where several Qi Refining factions were clustered together and got to work immediately.
Just as he had expected, the mysterious organization hadn’t set up any defenses among those Qi Refining factions. Qi Ping rolled right over them with ease.
Some of those factions didn’t even get a chance to send word out.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the shadows, the envoy received the news about Qi Ping being severely wounded by a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator at the fourth Foundation Establishment faction. Though frustrated, he finally breathed a small sigh of relief.
At last, it wasn’t all bad news!
Now, his defenses were getting more and more thorough, and more people were joining the hunt for the immortal herb rewards.
If Qi Ping showed himself again, capturing or killing him was practically a sure thing.
Forcing them to go this far meant Qi Ping was already the most elusive Foundation Establishment cultivator they had ever faced.
But before the envoy could enjoy the moment for long, the next piece of news sent him into another rage.
[The Bee Cultivator has destroyed multiple Qi Refining level factions of our Immortal Alliance.]
“AHHH!!!”
“Damn you!”
“If I get my hands on your soul, I will make sure you suffer every torture method in the cultivation world for over a thousand years!”
In a fit of fury, another delicate glass cup shattered, spraying crimson liquid all over the floor again.
After destroying four Qi Refining factions in a row, Qi Ping quickly pulled out and headed toward the locations he had marked earlier.
Destroying one more Foundation Establishment faction would be enough for Qi Ping. If he could take down two, then this trip would be basically perfect.
As he changed his appearance and left the area, he sensed several powerful auras closing in from all directions.
So Qi Ping had to be extremely careful. He hid for a long time before finally slipping out of the encirclement—though he nearly got discovered several times.
All he could say was that those cultivators chasing him were indeed impressive.
After breaking free, Qi Ping hurried straight to the predetermined location.
One week later, after careful observation, he locked onto his first target.
With a swift and devastating battle, Qi Ping successfully destroyed the first target.
Then, he immediately rushed to the next location. He knew the encirclement would quickly tighten back in this direction. Whether he could take down another Foundation Establishment faction depended entirely on how fast he moved.
It was now a race against time.
For the second predetermined target, because Qi Ping had already used up all the formations he had prepared in advance, he had to put in a lot more effort and time. He barely managed to destroy this one. But just as he killed the last Foundation Establishment cultivator there, several late-stage Foundation Establishment auras closed in on him.
So Qi Ping ordered part of his bee swarm to quietly dig tunnels and escape with the loot, while he led the main swarm as a diversion above ground—and prepared for the final battle of this tree-man clone.
“Bee Cultivator! We’ve finally got you this time!”
“Let’s see how you escape now!”
Facing the encircling late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, Qi Ping immediately tried to flee.
But it was obviously impossible. He tried to break out multiple times, but each time, the four late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators drove him back.
The gap was just too wide.
No matter how many tricks Qi Ping pulled, it wasn’t enough.
“Run? Why aren’t you running anymore?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be good with formations? What, ran out of formation plates?”
The four late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators looked at Qi Ping, trapped in the middle with nowhere left to go, their eyes filled with mockery and deep satisfaction.
After so much effort, they had finally caught him.
Now, what they wanted most was to capture Qi Ping’s soul. Ideally, they would seal him alive—because then, those ten immortal herbs would be theirs.
Qi Ping, surrounded in the middle, had an extremely grim expression on his face and in his eyes.
He had already tried to break out multiple times, but each time he was forced back, and he had taken some serious injuries.
“Gentlemen, would you be willing to let me go? I’ll give you everything I’ve gathered!”
After several failed breakout attempts, Qi Ping’s face showed a mix of reluctance and desperation as he pleaded.
But the four late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators refused without hesitation. If they killed him, all those things would be theirs anyway.
Meanwhile, they quietly began preparing their techniques, aiming to capture him alive.
And Qi Ping, at that very moment, had finally completed the predetermined sequence of actions and emotions.
From the panic of being surrounded by late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, to the unwillingness of failing to escape, to the despair of being unable to break through despite trying everything, and finally to the willingness to give up everything for a chance to flee—only to be rejected.
To everyone watching, Qi Ping had run out of options. He was at the end of the road.
But they had no idea—Qi Ping had finally reached the moment where he could self-destruct!
And during his breakout attempts, he had noticed something interesting: these people seemed to want him alive!
That gave Qi Ping an idea:
“If I use every last trick and my entire bee swarm, could I have a chance to take one of them with me?”
Two of these four late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were actually on his mission list. One of them was Qin Shengyun, a core disciple of the Qingyuan Sect who practiced the baby-devouring technique.
The other two weren’t on his list, but Qi Ping suspected he could also get missions for them.
That meant, no matter which one he managed to take down, he would earn a huge amount of black market points.
If he could exploit their desire to capture him alive, find an opening, and self-destruct to take one of them out… then this mission trip would be absolutely perfect.
