The head of the Chu family sneered, his words dripping with sarcasm. Partly, this was to vent the pent-up fear and anxiety that had plagued him all this time. But more than that, he was hoping to provoke Qi Ping, to slow him down and keep him from actually escaping.
At this moment, though, Qi Ping couldn’t care less about such taunts. His only priority was breaking out of the encirclement.
As soon as the Foundation Establishment cultivators closing in on him saw him trying to flee, they immediately sped up their assault.
“Bee Daoist, you’re not getting away. Surrender now, and we might go easy on you!”
A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, the first to block Qi Ping’s path, hurled a mountain-summoning spell his way, cutting off his escape route.
But even he didn’t dare push too hard. Being the first to intercept the Bee Daoist was no small merit, and he was terrified of cornering the man into desperation. What if Qi Ping whipped out a formation to trap him temporarily, then blew himself up right in his face—taking him along for the ride?
After all, the last Bee Daoist had done exactly that.
This Bee Daoist bore a striking resemblance to the previous one. Though there was no way to confirm if they were the same person, the similarities were uncanny: the same bees, the same mastery over formations, and far too many parallels in their methods. The risk was simply too great!
And because of this man’s interference, Qi Ping was forced to stop and take a detour.
But the others weren’t about to let him leave so easily.
The second pursuer arrived and quickly moved to intercept him, using the same tactic as the first: blocking his path without completely sealing it off, just to avoid being dragged into a mutual destruction.
“Bee Daoist, just give up!”
Then a third joined in, copying the exact same approach—cutting him off but leaving a sliver of an opening.
This string of predictable moves nearly left Qi Ping dumbfounded.
Originally, he had worried whether he could hold out long enough to gather all of them in one place. To that end, he had prepared several backup plans. The replica Blackstone Scale Armor he wore was already primed with a defensive formation, and he had also set up another defensive array right here in this very spot.
His goal was simple: buy enough time to draw every Foundation Establishment cultivator hunting him into the formation’s range—or at the very least, the vast majority of them.
After all, even with his expertise in defensive spells and the protection of his [Farming Domain], taking hits from twenty-plus Foundation Establishment cultivators all at once would be more than he could handle.
And yet… this was what they gave him?
It didn’t take long for Qi Ping to piece together the reason.
They’d learned from the last Bee Daoist’s self-destruction—nobody wanted to be the one stuck holding the bag!
“But do they really think I’m only capable of self-destructing? Or that I’ll just replay the same trick as before?”
Qi Ping scoffed inwardly, though he kept up the facade on the outside—looking panicked, desperate, and utterly unwilling to accept defeat, all while frantically trying to carve out an escape path.
In no time, a large group of Foundation Establishment cultivators had encircled him. Qi Ping was forced to activate the defensive formation embedded in his replica Blackstone Scale Armor.
With the speed of Foundation Establishment cultivators, it took only moments for all of them to converge on his location, forming a tight ring around him.
At that moment, every single one of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Everyone was here!
With so many of them working together, even self-destruction wouldn’t save the Bee Daoist this time!
“Bee Daoist! You’re dead for sure this time!”
“Not even blowing yourself up will save you now, Bee Daoist!”
“Fellow cultivators, be wary of his tricks! Let’s strike together and shatter his physical body first! If we can, we’ll capture his soul as well!”
“This is what happens when you cross the Immortal Alliance!”
But just as they were about to launch a coordinated assault, they noticed something odd—the Bee Daoist, for reasons unknown, seemed to relax, letting out a sigh of relief just like them!
That subtle gesture sent a jolt of unease through many of their hearts. A foreboding feeling crept up from the pit of their stomachs.
Some, however, dismissed it as Qi Ping trying to bluff his way out.
“On the verge of death, and you’re still putting on an act?”
No matter what they thought, though, the facts weren’t about to change.
Because in the blink of an eye, a terrifying combined formation erupted into existence!
When this monstrous assembly of formations—laid down by Qi Ping with the aid of the region’s geothermal fire energy and [Heaven’s Favor]—fully engulfed the area, a suffocating pressure bore down on every Foundation Establishment cultivator’s heart.
“A Tier-2 high-level formation! And one with devastating power at that!”
“Not just one—it’s a composite formation!”
These seasoned Foundation Establishment cultivators instantly felt their scalps tingle with dread.
Nobody understood better than them just how terrifying a formation could be when it leveraged the advantages of the terrain!
“Surely you didn’t all think I’d be as foolish as that other fellow and blow myself up, did you?”
“My real target is you.”
“You are my true prey! Those families were just a bonus…”
As Qi Ping’s chilling voice echoed through the air, the color drained from every face.
Then came six roaring flame serpents, born from the surging geothermal fire, howling with rage!
Golden sword energies followed close behind, tearing through the air!
Binding formations descended, locking them in place!
A wave of lethal danger flooded the area in an instant!
And Qi Ping, shielded by the formation’s power and its shifting currents, slipped out in the blink of an eye!
There was no time to think. The next moment, chaos erupted!
Within the formation, cataclysmic spell fluctuations battered every corner, wreaking havoc.
Though the formation was terrifying, with over twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators inside, they could still hold their own against it.
The real problem was the inexhaustible geothermal fire energy fueling the formation—prolonging this battle would only spell disaster for them.
At the edge of the formation, Qi Ping seized the perfect opportunity. Activating the Hundred-Pupil Illusory Realm, he instantly dragged a lone mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator into its depths. In the next heartbeat, a golden sword energy pierced straight through his skull!
The death of one Foundation Establishment cultivator instantly ignited panic and discord within the formation.
But these were no ordinary cultivators—they were prominent figures across the Qingtian Domain, each with remarkable experience and skills. After the initial shock, they quickly came to an agreement, pooling their strengths and unleashing everything they had against the formation!
After a grueling struggle to break it, the group finally emerged, battered and grimy, having shattered the formation.
By then, Qi Ping had already used the chaos to slay three mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
“Bee Daoist, did you really think a single formation could hold us? How naive…”
Before they could even finish their taunts, however, an identical formation sprang up once more!
Their sneers froze instantly on their faces.
“Well done. Keep it up!” Qi Ping, now shrouded in roiling demonic energy, retreated to the formation’s edge and clapped mockingly.
One formation, of course, wouldn’t be enough to keep these guys pinned down!
That’s why he had prepared five!
While they were still rattled, Qi Ping struck again—activating the Hundred-Pupil Illusory Realm once more while simultaneously directing the formation to slay another mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator!
After securing his first kill, he shifted focus, using the formation to target those who had expended the most energy or had already sustained injuries.
And the Hundred-Pupil Illusory Realm kept being unleashed in rapid succession—this moment of chaos was the perfect time to deploy it!
A fresh round of all-out mayhem erupted!
When the group finally broke through once more, they had lost another five mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, and two late-stage ones were gravely wounded.
“Easy now, take your time—there’s more coming!” Qi Ping said with a grin.
Then, to their utter despair, yet another formation rose from the ground! Those six familiar flame serpents howled wildly once again!
“Bee Daoist… just how many formations do you have?” a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator snarled through gritted teeth, his face twisted with fury.
“Don’t worry! I’ve got plenty to go around! Every single one of you will get your turn. And rest assured—I won’t let you hold out until any Golden Core cultivators come to the rescue!” Qi Ping’s demonic-energy-wreathed form replied, his voice dark and unhurried.
But these words, comforting as they may have sounded, only drove the cultivators deeper into despair.
This battle, which had cost Qi Ping a fortune and drained his energy reserves, was never going to end in any surprise twist. By the time the fourth combined formation had been deployed, all twenty-plus Foundation Establishment cultivators who had come to hunt him down lay dead upon this very ground.
When the last of them finally fell, Qi Ping’s Tree-Origin clone was on the verge of mental collapse. The relentless, overcharged use of the Hundred-Pupil Illusory Realm was the only reason he’d managed to cut them all down—and amid such chaos, their minds were unsteady, making them perfect targets for that very technique.
Summoning his last shred of willpower, Qi Ping gathered the spoils of war, withdrew his swarm, and slipped away from the scene.
And as the news of this battle spread through the cultivators stationed outside the formation, the entire Qingtian Domain fell into a deathly silence…
