I long to return home!

The two exchanged a glance, each revealing a solemn expression, indicating that their greed went far beyond this.

This person appears to be only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, but he is ruthless and shows no mercy to his fellow disciples. He probably has some means of self-preservation, so it's best not to act directly without being confident.

The old man with the Golden Core cultivation level smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "Fellow Daoist, great minds think alike. Since we have both obtained considerable treasures, why not turn hostility into friendship and part ways here?"

Upon seeing this, the Jianghe Sect disciple returned the greeting with a bow and a smile, readily agreeing, though his true intentions were not so clear.

This person is at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, just like me, but his small bell magic weapon is somewhat difficult to break. It's not advisable to engage him rashly. Let me stall him for a while until my Jianghe Sect Foundation Establishment disciples arrive. Then we can shift the blame for killing my brother onto him, launch a group attack, and finally kill him and seize his treasure. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Thinking of this, the Jianghe Sect disciple smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, please wait. I am Niu Asan from the Jianghe Sect. May I ask your name, fellow Daoist? I hope we can help each other in the future."

Upon hearing this, the Golden Core elder was clearly stunned. They were all involved in treacherous acts of murder and robbery, especially a rogue cultivator like him who had no powerful sect backing him up.

After a moment's hesitation, the old man finally spoke: "I am Old Man Rotten Wood. If there is nothing else, Fellow Daoist Niu, I shall take my leave." As soon as he finished speaking, the old man turned and swiftly departed.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he moved, Niu Asan immediately formed a hand seal and blocked his way, shouting, "Fellow Daoist Xiumu, wait!"

The old man with the decaying wood was startled and hurriedly took out a magic weapon from his storage bag. This magic weapon was jet black and looked like a shield rotating around him.

He frowned, his face showing displeasure, and asked, "What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Niu?" As he spoke, he hid one hand behind his back, already forming a hand seal, ready to act immediately if necessary.

However, a seasoned veteran like him, who had been doing this for many years, was well aware that the latter had something to hide. He used his divine sense to discover that a red-robed Taoist priest was rushing towards them from about seven or eight miles away.

"You brat, how dare you scheme against me!" the old man roared, his hand hidden behind his back swiftly reaching for Niu Asan. "Hundred Poison Hand!"

Suddenly, a green palm ten feet in size rushed towards the Jianghe Sect cultivator. Niu Asan knew something was wrong and quickly activated his cultivation technique to cast a spell to neutralize the Hundred Poison Hand.

boom!

A loud bang rang out, and huge waves surged on the river. Both were simultaneously thrown back several meters. Before Niu Asan could even use his divine sense to detect what was happening, a red dot could already be seen speeding towards him on the distant river, its speed comparable to that of a Golden Core cultivator.

What's going on? This person isn't a cultivator from my Jianghe Sect. Could he be an accomplice of that old scoundrel? Oh no!

Seeing this, Niu Asan turned and was about to run away without looking back, but little did he know that a shallow cut had appeared on his arm, and a few drops of blood were flowing out.

However, it was precisely these few drops of blood that allowed the red-robed Taoist priest in the distance to instantly cross a hundred feet and arrive, relying on his sensitivity to blood.

This person is none other than Huai Zhen.

Huai Zhen glared angrily at the Jianghe Sect disciple. Seeing that his cultivation had reached the Golden Core stage, he no longer held back. He slashed down with his refined blood sword, leaving a shallow but deep bloodstain on Niu Asan's body.

Niu Asan staggered back in pain, but the bloodstains flowing from his body were undoubtedly Huai Zhen's weapon. With a clench of his hand, the flowing blood sprouted into bloody thorns that pressed against Niu Asan's throat.

The old man, Rotten Wood, was quite surprised to see this, but he did not rush to make a move. He looked at Huai Zhen, who was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, but this technique was really strange. It seemed to be able to control the blood of cultivators to attack, and could even subdue the early Golden Core stage instantly. Fortunately, the target was not him, so he should not act rashly for the time being.

Seeing the sharp, blood-stained thorn pressed against his throat, Niu Asan was terrified. He gasped for breath and looked at Huai Zhen, who was filled with anger, and begged for mercy: "Senior, please don't kill me. My name is Niu Asan, and I am a disciple of the Jianghe Sect. If you don't kill me, I am willing to give you my storage bag and other treasures."

Huai Zhen remained unmoved. The two Golden Core cultivators had been too fast, and he had lost his bearings. Now, seeing a Jianghe Sect disciple, he hurriedly asked, "Where did those two Jianghe Sect disciples go? Tell me quickly!"

Niu Asan shuddered, the blood thorn pressed against his throat almost piercing his skin. He hurriedly pointed in a direction, "Senior Sister Liu went that way."

Upon hearing this, Huai Zhen glanced in the direction indicated, chanted an incantation, and instantly the blood thorns transformed into blood ropes that bound Niu Asan.

Huai Zhen flew swiftly on his sword and disappeared from sight in no time. Niu Asan, who was relieved to have escaped with his life, seemed to have forgotten something. By the time he remembered, it was too late. An old arm emitting green poisonous gas pierced into his dantian.

Under his shocked gaze, his golden core was forcibly removed while he was still alive, and a mouthful of blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth.

"Hmph, Fellow Daoist Niu, you can rest assured. I will take good care of your Golden Core storage bag." The old man with decaying wood chuckled evilly, watching as green poisonous gas began to spread from Niu Asan's dantian, and soon his entire body rotted into a lump of rotten flesh and died.

Looking at the storage bags and golden cores of the three Golden Core cultivators that he had obtained effortlessly, Old Man Rotten Wood was extremely satisfied. After a short while, he looked in the direction Huai Zhen had left and gave him a meaningful look.

One day later.

Huai Zhen was still chasing after them with all his might. Fortunately, he could already see the ripples spreading across the river and was getting closer to the two Golden Core cultivators.

Without further hesitation, he extended his divine sense to its maximum range of five miles, but found no trace of any cultivators. Just as he was wondering, he probed the bottom of the river with his divine sense and was fortunate enough to discover traces of a battle about a hundred feet below the surface, with the fluctuations increasing the further he went.

After chasing for almost the time it takes to burn an incense stick, they finally saw the two fighting in the water. Their magic was strange, and they seemed to be able to move freely in the water. About ten miles away in the water, the aftershocks of their fight had left a mess.

"Damn it, underwater combat will definitely limit our operations, but if we don't chase after them, the fifth-grade pills will surely fall into the hands of the thieves. I'll risk it all!" Huai Zhen muttered to himself, his gaze resolute as he channeled his spiritual power to form a protective shield before plunging headfirst into the water.

Indeed, the speed of flying on a sword in the water slowed down, but as we went deeper, the deceleration became more and more obvious. After sinking to a depth of 100 feet, the resistance in the water greatly suppressed the speed. It is possible that the current speed is not much faster than that of a cultivator at the peak of the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, the closer one gets to the shockwaves generated by the battle between the two, the more severely it affects Huai Zhen's speed. However, it also has the same advantage: no fish within a radius of nearly a hundred miles approach, and no magical beasts come to ambush them.