Family Cultivation: My Ancestral Home Gets Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 88 Trading Injury for Life (Twenty-Eighth Update)

The two sides rapidly approached each other, and it seemed they were about to engage in close combat.

In that split second, the old man in gray suddenly stumbled and came to an abrupt stop.

He looked down and felt a chill in his heart.

Two vines that had somehow sprouted out had coiled around his ankles like venomous snakes.

"There are still people lying in ambush!"

The thought had barely crossed his mind before an overwhelming force slammed into the shield in front of him.

"boom!"

The shield trembled violently, and the old man felt a numbness in his arms. The thick light shield flew back and slammed into his chest.

The crisp sound of ribs breaking, mixed with a mouthful of blood, bloomed into a red mist in the air.

The old man's aura immediately weakened, and he took three steps back before he could barely stand.

Upon seeing this, the figure wielding the knife raised it to deliver a follow-up blow.

Suddenly, a sound of air being torn apart rang out—the beautiful woman's flying sword was already at her face!

The sword flashed like lightning, aiming straight for the throat.

He had no choice but to parry with his sword, and sparks flew with a clang.

The flying sword made contact but immediately departed, circling back to attack from the flank.

The beautiful woman's swordsmanship was cunning and skillful; the sword light flashed left and right, forcing the swordsman to retreat repeatedly, only able to parry.

At this critical moment, the beautiful woman controlling the flying sword in the distance suddenly swayed, and her left foot sank into the ground.

The solid ground beneath my feet has turned into quicksand without me even realizing it.

But a cold smile curled at the corner of her lips, as if she had expected this all along.

With just a slight push from his feet, he leaped up as lightly as a swallow skimming the water, landing gracefully on the open ground three zhang away.

The moment my heels touched the ground, the wind was already rushing past my ears!

The beautiful woman hurriedly bent down, and a dark shadow flew past her hair bun, hitting the tree trunk behind her with a "plop" and turning into a puddle of water that flowed down the bark.

"Water Arrow Technique!"

A chill ran through her.

Although the spell was ordinary, the attack came too fast, leaving almost no room to react.

Before the thought had even finished, the soil beneath his feet stirred again.

A vine broke through the soil and wrapped around her ankle as if it were alive.

The beautiful woman lightly touched the ground with her toes, and her figure floated away again.

But this retreat led them into another stretch of quicksand.

The moment the embroidered shoes touched the ground, the quicksand covered the insteps of their feet.

"Damn it!"

The beautiful woman cursed under her breath, then realized with a start:

The person casting the spell from the shadows was surprisingly difficult to deal with.

The quicksand rose rapidly, reaching up to my calves.

Without further hesitation, she reached into her storage bag with her right hand and pulled out a green leaf-shaped magical artifact.

The moment the magic was infused, the leaves grew taller in the wind, lifting her up into the air.

At the same time, she shouted urgently, "The wind is blowing hard—"

Before he could finish speaking, the figure wielding the knife had already rushed in front of him!

The man leaped three zhang high, his long sword flashing with light, and slashed down at the beautiful woman who was still in the air.

With nowhere to grab hold of her arms in mid-air, the beautiful woman gritted her teeth and used her left hand to slap out a talisman that she placed on her chest.

The talisman ignited upon contact with her body, and a solid golden light instantly covered her entire body, enveloping her as if she were cast in gold.

"Bang—!"

The longsword struck the golden light solidly, producing a deafening roar.

The beautiful woman felt as if all her bones were about to fall apart, and she plummeted to the ground like a kite with a broken string.

The leaf-shaped magical artifact flew out of his hand and landed with a "thud" in the grass more than ten steps away.

Amidst the smoke and dust, the beautiful woman struggled to her feet, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.

Although the first-grade golden light talisman saved his life, his internal organs were damaged.

She glanced at the flying artifact in the distance, but instead of being tempted, she endured the soreness and numbness all over her body, turned around and ran down the mountain.

Although his steps were unsteady, his speed was by no means slow.

"Stone, go after them and make sure they are all wiped out."

From the nearby woods came Jiang Fu'an's calm voice.

Upon hearing the sound, the knife-wielding youth hesitated for a moment, then turned his head to look in the other direction.

The old man in gray was limping and fleeing towards the mountain valley, his back view disheveled, clearly no longer a threat.

Only then did he draw his sword and leap into the air, transforming into a black shadow as he chased after the beautiful woman.

The old man in gray breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the footsteps behind him fade into the distance.

The young man's sword strikes were so fierce that each blow made his hands go numb; he was truly terrified.

As for the early-stage Qi Refining cultivator still hidden in the forest—

The old man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a ruthless glint in his eyes.

Even if injured, crushing a low-level cultivator in the early stages is just a matter of turning one's hand.

But as soon as he took that step, his ankle tightened again.

Looking down, I saw a vine had silently wrapped around me.

The old man frowned and shouted sternly, "Boy, I advise you not to overestimate your abilities!"

"With your cultivation at the early stage of Qi Refining, you think you can—"

"call out--!"

Before he could finish speaking, a whooshing sound suddenly rang out.

A jet of water shot out from the forest, aiming straight for his face.

The old man had no choice but to swallow the rest of his words and hastily raised his shield to block.

With a soft "bang," the water arrow exploded into a splash on the shield, its power mediocre.

But this attack had thoroughly enraged the old man.

He held a shield in his left hand, and with a flick of his right, a short, black spear about a foot long was in his grasp.

The spearhead gleamed coldly, clearly indicating it was no ordinary weapon.

But before he could launch his attack with his spear, another streak of crimson light swept through the forest.

This time it wasn't a water arrow, but a fire snake as thick as a bowl!

Flames surged and churned across the snake's body, scorching and distorting the air wherever it passed.

"Fire Serpent Talisman?"

The old man's face darkened.

This talisman was far more powerful than a fireball spell, so he dared not be careless and had no choice but to raise his shield to meet it again.

"boom--!"

The fire serpent collided with the light shield, exploding into a sky full of flames.

The old man's arm went numb from the shock.

He was anxious:

If that knife-wielding youth returns, we might really be doomed here today.

Unwilling to delay any longer, he withdrew his shield and prepared to unleash the "Star-Shattering Spear" to finish off his opponent.

But before the shield could move even an inch, another fire snake roared in!

The old man cursed under his breath and had no choice but to raise his shield again to take the hit.

"Boom—Bang!!"

This time, however, the sound of the impact was somewhat unusual.

The moment the fire snake exploded, it was accompanied by a piercing metallic clang!

Immediately afterwards, a tremendous force, even more powerful than the attack from the knife-wielding youth, surged through the shield!

"How is this possible?!"

The old man was horrified; his first thought was that the young man with the knife had returned.

The shock aggravated his old injury, causing his arm to go limp. The earthen-yellow light shield slipped from his grasp, spinning and crashing into the bushes in the distance.

He staggered and looked up, seeing the last thing he would ever see:

Amidst the afterglow of the exploding fire serpent, a burly figure with a bare upper body burst forth from the flames!

The man had a full beard, and he held a long sword high above his head. The blade reflected the hazy moonlight, creating a chilling effect.

The next moment, the old man's vision suddenly spun around.

He saw the hazy crescent moon in the sky, and then glimpsed a headless body slowly kneeling down.

That gray outfit looked very familiar.

At the edge of the woods, Jiang Fu'an slowly raised his hand to wipe away the blood seeping from the corner of his lips.

He took out a set of clean clothes from his storage ring and put them on without any expression.

The reason we were able to win this battle was, firstly, to lull the enemy into a false sense of security.

The old man believed until his death that he was just a Qi Refining cultivator skilled in magic, never expecting that he also had a hidden trick of close combat.

Secondly, it requires decisiveness and ruthlessness.

In order to give the opponent no chance to react, he braved the aftershocks of the fire snake explosion to launch a surprise attack, essentially trading injury for life.