Mythical Cultivation

Wu Ming, absorbed in his cultivation, suddenly heard a faint noise coming from a distance. The sound was faint, yet it caught his keen senses—it was clearly the whirring of a sword as it soared through the air! Wu Ming's mind raced, and he immediately paused in his cultivation, unleashing his powerful spiritual awareness to investigate.

As expected, within the range of his spiritual awareness, he saw two dazzling sword lights rapidly approaching from a distant location. As dazzling as meteors streaking across the sky, and as fast as lightning, they were already within reach of him in the blink of an eye. As the light gradually faded, he could finally make out two cultivators carrying flying swords, controlling their magical weapons and soaring towards him.

In just a few breaths, the two monks had successfully landed beside Wu Ming. They were the same two monks who had passed by Wu Ming when he first entered the swamp that day. However, they no longer looked as graceful as they had been flying with swords the day before, their bodies now covered in blood. Not far away, a large figure was also flying towards them.

The two men hurriedly shouted to Wu Ming in the formation, "Please save us, fellow Daoist. We will report back to you later." However, they did not touch Wu Ming's formation, probably because they did not want Wu Ming to misunderstand.

Wu Ming also knew that the two monks were in danger and were now trying to divert the blame. It seemed that these two monks were not good people. However, Wu Ming could not care less now because the two monks had already lured the enemy close to him. He should deal with them first.

"What's wrong with you two fellow Taoists? Why are you so flustered?"

As Wu Ming spoke, he put away the battle flag.

The two men saw that the person who appeared was a young man in his twenties, and their original plan was somewhat dashed. They had thought that the monk who dared to spend the night in the swamp must be at least more advanced than them, but they didn't expect it to be a young man.

The four of them were all casual cultivators from the area, their strength ranging from the fifth to the sixth level of Qi Refining. They had stumbled upon a map and were originally planning to treasure hunt in the swamp, but they encountered a powerful monster. Only the two of them were fast enough to escape.

But the monster had no intention of letting them go, chasing them all the way. They had thought they would die here today, but unexpectedly, they saw someone staying the night there. So they came up with a plan to lure the monster over and see if they could use the help of others to kill it. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a young monk. But it didn't matter. They would lure him with benefits first, and then see whether they would escape directly or kill the monster together.

"Fellow Daoist, the monster is ferocious. Let's kill it together first. We will tell you our story afterwards."

One of the middle-aged monks said to Wu Ming, "They didn't know what excuse to make to fool this young man, so they should let him take action first and see what happens." After saying that, they also raised their flying swords and slashed at the monster.

The conversation between the two men lasted only a few breaths, and Wu Ming saw a red snake over three meters long and as thick as a person rushing towards the three people. Wu Ming could even smell the fishy stench from the red snake's mouth.

This snake's entire body is as red as blood, hence its name. The Red Thread Snake is extremely poisonous. A cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage would be reduced to a pool of pus within three minutes if poisoned. It is considered a relatively powerful monster in the swamp. Furthermore, this snake is extremely fast, and it's unknown how these two escaped its pursuit.

Wu Ming saw the red snake was already several feet in front of him, so he stopped thinking and raised his Golden Light Sword to cut it. At the same time, he secretly raised his Black Tortoise Shield to avoid any accidents.

The red snake, seeing the three flying swords slashing at it simultaneously, showed no fear. Previously, four people had besieged it, unable to break through its defenses, and it had devoured two of them in a few rounds. Now, with one flying sword missing, it naturally showed no fear. It braved the attacks and pounced directly on the three, ready to turn them into its own dinner.

The two monks who entered its stomach earlier only made its empty belly feel a little full, less than one-third full. Now these three people should be able to make it half full.

The three flying swords simultaneously struck the red snake's body, but the two middle-aged men's attacks only caused sparks to fly, failing to even break the snake's defenses. Fortunately, Wu Ming's golden sword was powerful, inflicting a massive wound on the snake's defenseless body, nearly severing it in two. This frightened the snake into retreating repeatedly.

Seeing this, Wu Ming became even more wary of the two cultivators beside him. From their attacks, Wu Ming could tell they were at the fifth and sixth levels of Qi Refining, respectively, while Red Thread Snake was only at the seventh. If four of them were to attack Red Thread Snake, they wouldn't necessarily defeat him, but at least they wouldn't be defeated to this extent.

Instead, the two used a low-grade magical flying sword to attack the red snake, but even the snake's defenses couldn't be broken. Could it be that they deliberately attracted a demonic beast and wanted to attack him while he was fighting it? From then on, Wu Ming paid close attention to the two men to prevent them from suddenly attacking him.

However, Wu Ming had wronged the two men. They did have ill intentions towards Wu Ming, but they did not deliberately hide their strength. The four of them besieged the red-line snake, and two of their companions were eaten alive. How could they dare to hide their strength?

In reality, Wu Ming usually only met fellow cultivators, or at the very least, family members, so he naturally had high standards. He assumed that as a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage, everyone would have several mid-grade or even top-grade magical instruments, so he wouldn't be surprised. He himself had a top-grade magical instrument, so it wasn't unusual for cultivators with such a strong background to have top-grade instruments.

But what he didn't know was that as a casual cultivator, not only did they lack guidance, but many of them also went astray. Furthermore, they had to risk everything to acquire cultivation resources, so they were lucky enough to have a magical weapon, not the quality of it.

Wu Ming's vigilance wasn't wrong, however. Away from him, the two middle-aged cultivators were exchanging glances. Seeing that Wu Ming's cultivation level was similar to theirs, yet he possessed a mid-grade magical weapon, they knew they had encountered a cultivator from a clan, or even a sect. This meant they were destined for a fortune. While they hadn't yet obtained the treasures on the map, they knew a wealthy cultivator was waiting for them. Combined, it was clear who would be rich if not them.

They saw that Wu Ming had the upper hand, so they decided to wait until the battle was almost over. That would be the time when Wu Ming would be most relaxed, and then launch a surprise attack. Wouldn't it be great for them to reap the benefits?