Li Banfeng sang a tune as he walked on, his voice loud enough for Zhuo Yuling and two experts from Iron Sheep Mountain, hiding in the shadows, to hear.
The singing made them dizzy, their bodies moving unconsciously.
Such a small sound failed to slip past the Silk-pulling Earrings.
"Master, there’s movement in the woods. Three people in total."
Three people.
Li Banfeng did not know their cultivation levels, but since Ling Miaoying had arranged the ambush, their ranks should be quite high.
Facing three opponents alone was ultimately a disadvantage.
He was too familiar with this territory. For his Traveling Cultivator practice, Li Banfeng had walked the domains of Shui Yongquan and Qiu Luoye countless times. Playing with them for a bit was no trouble at all.
Li Banfeng stood his ground and continued to sing. The more they listened, the more severely injured they became.
Lu Xiaolan sent a message to Zhuo Yuling with a hook: "Mom, there’s a Technique in his singing."
Li Banfeng made the first move. Zhuo Yuling, not to be outdone, led two experts charging out of the woods.
Zhuo Yuling swung her Fatty Peach, and her tail arrived even before she did.
Li Banfeng was prepared. His Tang Sword unsheathed in advance, slicing off a section of Zhuo Yuling’s tail.
Zhuo Yuling recoiled in pain, retreating for a moment, while the other two experts charged forward.
One was Fan Baoxing, a Fifth Layer Poison Cultivator, and the other was Cui Lisheng, a Fifth Layer Insect Cultivator.
Cui Lisheng’s lips quivered, emitting a series of strange cries: SSSSZZZZ!
From the grass, crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, and mantises swarmed towards Li Banfeng.
Do not underestimate these insects; they were all infused with the Insect Cultivator’s Technique. A single bite could tear off a large piece of flesh, and a swarm could reduce a person to a mere skeleton in moments.
Li Banfeng slapped his Wine Gourd. A mist of alcohol rose around him. He struck a match, and a cloud of insects was incinerated.
The slowest, Fan Baoxing, arrived nearby, a pungent, salty odor assailing his nostrils.
Home Cultivation offered some resistance against poison, but it couldn’t withstand such a continuous assault of toxins.
Li Banfeng turned and ran, with the three pursuing him.
Zhuo Yuling knew Li Banfeng was a Traveling Cultivator. Once a Traveling Cultivator truly started running, the three of them wouldn’t be able to catch him.
She had almost given up, but then she noticed that Li Banfeng wasn’t running fast.
The three steadily closed in on Li Banfeng, but just as they were about to catch him, he would silently pull away again.
This left the three of them extremely conflicted.
This man possessed the Mysterious Red Life Lotus, the very thing Zhuo Yuling had always dreamed of obtaining.
The chase continued for over ten kilometers, and the distance between the three pursuers began to spread out.
As a Body Cultivator, Zhuo Yuling had the best physique and was furthest ahead, but she found no trace of Li Banfeng.
The Insect Cultivator’s physique was passable. Cui Lisheng crouched in the bushes to rest for a moment, using his connection with the insects to search for Li Banfeng’s trail.
The Poison Cultivator’s physique was poor. Fan Baoxing couldn’t keep up with the other two and had fallen behind, leaning on his knees and gasping for breath against a tree.
Suddenly, the Tang Sword dropped from the tree above, plunging towards the back of his head.
Fan Baoxing was completely unprepared. As a Fifth Layer Poison Cultivator, he wasn’t weak; in a direct confrontation, he could have tangled with Li Banfeng for a long time.
Even in that brief respite, he did not forget to spread poison around him to guard against the unexpected.
But the Tang Sword was a Magical Treasure, immune to poison.
The blade tip pierced through the back of his head and emerged right from his face.
And just like that, Fan Baoxing died without a sound.
Li Banfeng crouched in the tree, retrieved his Tang Sword, and using the Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster Technique, he dodged the poison scattered on the ground, quietly approaching the Insect Cultivator, Cui Lisheng.
This time, Li Banfeng intended to launch another stealth attack, but things didn’t go as smoothly.
Cui Lisheng had hundreds of insects patrolling around him. Although a Fifth Layer Home Cultivator like Li Banfeng was easy to overlook, he couldn’t evade the senses of these insects.
CHIRP! CHIRP!
A cricket alerted Cui Lisheng. He quickly moved from his spot, rubbing his hands together to produce a series of sharp, piercing sounds.
He wasn’t a Body Cultivator, nor had he transformed from an insect. What Insect Cultivators excelled at was controlling insects.
Li Banfeng had seen the Insect Leader’s head before and thought this type of Cultivator would fight like an insect. He had miscalculated.
Insect Cultivators didn’t need to fight personally. After rubbing his hands for a moment, Cui Lisheng summoned a centipede.
A common centipede was nothing to fear, but a centipede over three meters long was a different story.
The centipede charged at Li Banfeng, baring its fangs. Li Banfeng dodged twice, then stomped down hard, crushing a stone. The shattered fragments riddled the centipede’s body with holes.
The centipede crashed heavily to the ground, motionless.
But then, two grasshoppers surrounded Li Banfeng.
Handling two grasshoppers was not difficult, as these creatures possessed little Spiritual Wisdom.
But behind the grasshoppers, thousands upon thousands of insects were lined up, waiting. If the fight continued like this, Cui Lisheng would eventually wear Li Banfeng down.
Seeing the situation was unfavorable, Li Banfeng chose to climb a tree.
Cui Lisheng smiled.
WHOOO—
With a long call from Cui Lisheng, dozens of bowl-sized ladybugs surrounded the treetop.
Cui Lisheng smiled, and as his lips quivered again, a large swarm of dragonflies approached from afar.
Li Banfeng could burn them with fire or slash them with his sword, but he still faced the same problem.