Li Pingcan's figure flickered as he transformed into Nightingale, soaring straight upward and darting toward the cave dwellings of the Five Spirit Beasts. 

"Venerable Nightingale, why the haste?" 

Tiger Elder was the first to come forward, feeling puzzled. The Venerable Nightingale had always exuded a calm aura, but today was completely different from usual. 

Bear Second and Ape Third were equally astonished, having never seen Venerable Nightingale display such clear and chilling intent before - enough to make these mountain overlords feel an inexplicable palpitation. 

"Friends, I have a favor to ask." 

"Speak freely, Venerable Nightingale." 

"I need to exterminate a group of villains at Black Cloud Temple three hundred li away." 

Li Pingcan's gaze swept across the five spirits. "I need your help guarding the five mountain path exits around Black Cloud Temple. Don't let even a single fly escape. After completion, I'll naturally provide compensation - setting up Hidden Profound Concealment Formations like Listening Wind Cliff for each of your dwellings." 

Upon hearing this, the five spirits' eyes instantly lit up. 

They had coveted the Hidden Profound Concealment Formation for so long. Who wouldn't want their dwelling to be safer and more concealed? 

"Venerable speaks too formally! Your matters are our matters - what need is there for compensation?" Tiger Elder spoke politely, his tiger face grinning so wide it seemed deformed. 

"Exactly!" White Crane gracefully extended her neck. "It's our honor to serve the Venerable." 

"Such a small matter - leave it to us!" Bear Second even patted his chest in guarantee, as if afraid Li Pingcan might change his mind. 

"In that case, my thanks to you all." Li Pingcan nodded slightly. 

He understood clearly that the Endless Life Sect members employed strange methods - who knew what secret techniques they might have up their sleeves? 

With the Five Spirit Beasts sharing a mental connection and positioned at five angles, they would form an impenetrable heaven net and earth snare. 

The Five Spirit Beasts immediately accepted their orders without delay, transforming into five streaks of light that silently infiltrated the forests surrounding Black Cloud Temple according to Li Pingcan's instructions. 

Deep within the dense forests outside Black Cloud Temple...

Li Pingfu and Li Ping'an had long been lying in ambush here, while Li Yuan, Xie Xiaodao and other trusted brothers were scattered about on guard, using owl calls as signals. 

Li Pingfu maintained an indifferent expression, suppressing his aura as he observed the temple's movements. 

Li Ping'an was calculating tonight's operation, considering every possible contingency and corresponding countermeasures. 

"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, I'm here." 

The three brothers reunited, exchanging a simple glance that contained all necessary words. 

The next moment, Li Pingcan gazed distantly at Black Cloud Temple that resembled a lurking beast in the night, his brow furrowing slightly. 

"There's a formation set up here." 

"A formation?" Li Pingfu was stunned. Though he was an innate expert with sharp senses, he hadn't detected any abnormalities. 

"Yes." Li Pingcan nodded. 

"If any outsider steps within three hundred paces of the temple, the formation will activate - not only shooting volleys of poisoned crossbow bolts but also triggering alarm bells inside, alerting the enemy." 

Li Pingcan explained, "However, whoever set this up was clearly a self-taught formation master who only grasped the appearance, not the principles." 

He looked toward several seemingly random boulders and a crooked old tree in the distance. 

"Unstable foundation, sluggish spiritual energy flow, nodes exposed so obviously... Was the person who set this up afraid people wouldn't notice it's a trap?" 

Li Pingfu and Li Ping'an were completely lost, but they understood one thing - their younger brother had a solution. 

"I'll be right back." Li Pingcan's figure flickered as he prepared to infiltrate. 

"Let me go with you," Li Pingfu said worriedly. 

"No need." Li Pingcan waved his hand. "Too much movement would risk exposure. Wait here for my signal - one cup of tea's time is enough." 

With that, his entire being seemed to merge with the night, disappearing into the forest shadows after a few leaps. 

Rather than directly destroying the formation's nodes, he acted like a master locksmith, using his refined spiritual energy to follow the formation's original patterns, deftly infiltrating it and temporarily "tricking" several key connection points. 

The entire process flowed smoothly and silently. 

Inside the temple, the Endless Life Sect member monitoring the formation plate remained completely focused yet detected nothing. 

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Pingcan reappeared. 

"It's done," he said casually. "We can enter now." 

That easily resolved? 

Li Pingfu and Li Ping'an exchanged bewildered looks. 

Unlike the imagined difficulties and dangers, this operation seemed too simple - they hadn't even seen what their younger brother did before the path was cleared. 

"Prepare to move!" 

At Li Pingfu's command, the trusted brothers shot forward like arrows from bows, silently charging into Black Cloud Temple. 

"Who goes there?" 

"Enemy attack!" 

The temple immediately erupted into chaos as over a dozen black-clad Endless Life Sect members rushed out from various rooms wielding weapons. Leading them was a middle-aged man with a sinister face - the sect's Sacred Envoy who had come for this meeting. 

Seeing Li Pingfu breaking through the door, the Sacred Envoy's pupils constricted violently. 

An innate expert! 

His heart instantly surged with towering waves. 

That incompetent Zhou Tong must have messed up and exposed his whereabouts. But what was even more terrifying was that the perimeter warning formation hadn't reacted at all! 

What did this mean? 

It meant their opponents had someone who could silently dismantle his formations! 

Finished! 

These two words flashed through the Sacred Envoy's mind. 

What kind of powerful figure had that good-for-nothing Zhou Tong provoked? They could actually mobilize a formation master! 

With this kind of setup, they could attack small immortal cultivation families! 

Without time to think further, he shouted sharply: "Form up! Kill!" 

The well-trained sect members, though startled, didn't panic, quickly forming a simple combined attack formation. Blades crisscrossed as baleful energy rose, surrounding Li Pingfu for the kill. 

"A bunch of worthless rabble!" 

Furious at seeing his enemies, Li Pingfu held nothing back. Like a tiger descending the mountain, he charged straight into the formation. 

Instantly, fist winds howled as the sounds of shattering bones filled the air. 

Every punch and kick from Li Pingfu contained violent innate true force. The sect members' weapons couldn't even break his protective energy when striking him, instead having their hands split open from the recoil and their weapons sent flying. 

Yet Li Pingfu's fists were like battering rams - touching meant injury, hitting meant death. 

It was practically one-sided slaughter! 

The Sacred Envoy's eyelids twitched wildly. Making an immediate decision without hesitation, he turned and fled toward the temple's rear hall. 

If he could escape, he'd make these people pay a hundredfold in the future! 

However, upon turning, he found his path blocked by a blue-green figure. 

It was Li Pingcan. 

"Where are you off to in such a hurry, sir?" 

Li Pingcan looked at him with a smile that, to the Sacred Envoy's eyes, brimmed with thick killing intent. 

"Get lost!" 

The Sacred Envoy raged. From Li Pingcan he only sensed faint martial energy - not even Divine Execution Realm level. 

How dare this insignificant nobody block his path? 

Without another word, a black streak shot from his sleeve, transforming into a black serpent that opened its bloody maw, carrying a stench of poison as it lunged for Li Pingcan's face. 

This was his treasured weapon "Venomous Baleful Chain" refined over years - insidiously toxic. Even ordinary innate experts would suffer poisoned bodies and diminished combat power if bitten. 

Facing this vicious attack, Li Pingcan neither dodged nor avoided, simply raising his hand casually. 

[Element Absorption]! 

Upon contacting his palm, the serpent weapon's baleful poison dissipated like melting snow, rapidly absorbed and converted by an invisible force until even the weapon's spiritual glow dimmed. 

Li Pingcan even felt his mana slightly increase. 

"What?!" 

The Sacred Envoy's eyes nearly bulged out. His proud venomous weapon had actually... been caught barehanded? And instead of harming the opponent, it seemed to have "charged" him? 

What kind of demonic art was this?! 

Horrified, with no time to retrieve his weapon, the Sacred Envoy rapidly formed hand seals while chanting. 

"Blood Soul Curse!" 

He pointed sharply as a bloody rune appeared midair, carrying an eerie soul-corrupting power that stamped toward Li Pingcan's brow. 

This was the Endless Life Sect's secret curse technique - exceptionally toxic and specialized in attacking souls. 

"Perfect timing!" 

Li Pingcan's eyes brightened as he advanced instead of retreating, similarly extending a finger tipped with sacred, warm radiance. 

[Divine Blessing of Nature]! 

"Hum!" 

When the bloody rune met the holy light, it was like a red-hot iron rod dropped into ice water - "sizzling" as black smoke erupted before completely vanishing. 

That pure natural energy specialized in exorcising evil was the perfect counter to such sinister curses! 

"Pfft!" 

With his curse broken, the Sacred Envoy suffered heavy backlash as his soul trembled, immediately spitting blood with a face gone deathly pale. 

He stared at Li Pingcan in utter terror - this seemingly ordinary youth had casually neutralized his two deadliest moves with ease. 

This was no martial artist! 

This was clearly a cultivation expert far surpassing him, a wolf in sheep's clothing! 

Completely terrified, the Sacred Envoy lost all will to fight, his mind screaming one thought: 

Escape! 

He frantically pulled out his last talisman - this one faint gold with far more complex and profound runes than the poison talisman, radiating intense spatial fluctuations. 

A first-grade superior talisman - Thousand Miles Talisman! 

His ultimate life-saving trump card, a treasure even late-stage Qi Refining cultivators would covet! 

Only this mission's importance had earned him the sect's reward of this talisman. 

"Brat! Just you wait! I swear I'll make you pay for this!" 

With a venomous roar, the Sacred Envoy crushed the talisman without hesitation. 

"Hum!" 

A gentle golden light instantly enveloped him as his figure grew hazy and transparent, the surrounding space distorting. 

"So many tricks." 

Li Pingcan's eyes narrowed - he hadn't expected his opponent to possess such treasure. 

"Little Brother! Don't let him escape!" 

Seeing this, Li Pingfu urgently shouted. Letting such a ruthless evil cultivator escape would bring endless trouble! 

But the Thousand Miles Talisman's value lay precisely in its overwhelming effect - spatial teleportation was far too fast to intercept. 

The Sacred Envoy's figure completely vanished in the golden light. 

Li Pingfu felt extreme anxiety, only to see Li Pingcan remain perfectly calm, simply looking toward Black Cloud Temple's forests as he said serenely: 

"Don't worry, Eldest Brother. He won't escape." 

Having anticipated the cult's cunning, he'd already prepared countermeasures, though another matter puzzled him. 

The Endless Life Sect's influence in Yunshui County was just a minor branch - they shouldn't possibly possess first-grade superior talismans like the Thousand Miles Talisman. 

This Sacred Envoy's identity likely wasn't just some ordinary branch leader. 

..........

At the forest's edge on a hidden clearing...

Space distorted as golden light flashed, revealing the Sacred Envoy's bedraggled figure. 

Staggering a few steps before collapsing on his rear, he gasped heavily, face full of post-survival relief and lingering fear. 

"So close! So close!" He clutched his chest, heart still pounding. 

That first-grade superior Thousand Miles Talisman had been his ultimate life-saving treasure earned through countless efforts and merits - never expecting to lose it in this backwater Yunshui County. 

Remembering that mysterious youth who caught his treasure barehanded and waved away his curse, the Sacred Envoy felt overwhelming terror and resentment. 

"Who was that kid? Some wolf-in-sheep's-clothing cultivation expert? Or does the Li family have some terrifying backer we don't know about?" 

The more he thought, the more alarmed he grew, feeling Yunshui County had become treacherous waters where staying longer might mean complete destruction. 

Calming slightly, a trace of smugness surfaced. 

No matter how strong that innate expert was, no matter how strange that formation master was - against a spatial treasure like the Thousand Miles Talisman, they could only watch helplessly. 

"Whatever. First I'll leave, report this to the Sacred Lord. That good-for-nothing Zhou Tong nearly got me killed!" 

Straightening his tattered robes and orienting himself, he prepared to leave this dangerous place. 

But as he lifted his foot, an indescribably terrifying pressure descended like an invisible primordial mountain! 

"Huh?" 

Every hair stood on end as intense mortal danger enveloped his heart. 

Looking up sharply, his pupils shrank to pinpoints. 

Beneath the moonlight not far ahead, an enormous striped tiger of unimaginable size crouched silently. 

The tiger's glossy fur clearly showed the "king" character on its forehead, golden beast eyes gleaming with aloof majesty in the night as it watched him with interest - like a cat observing a mouse that strayed into its territory. 

"A...a spirit beast?!" 

The Sacred Envoy's mind went blank with a "hum." 

The next instant, four figures appeared from four directions - a spirit crane spreading wings, a mountain ape leaping, a black bear stomping the ground, a spirit deer radiating nine-colored splendor... forming an encirclement. 

The Sacred Envoy was dumbstruck! 

Not just one spirit beast - but five! 

Instantly, pressure several times more terrifying than Li Pingfu's innate aura crushed his soul like a tangible mountain. 

Against this bloodline-deep pressure, his proud mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation was like a flickering candle in the wind, even his mana circulation stuttering. 

These were no ordinary spirit beasts! 

That pure and powerful aura unmistakably marked them as mountain kings! 

Impossible! How could such powerful spirit beasts exist in this backwater? And just happen to appear at my teleportation point? 

Utter terror flooded the Sacred Envoy's heart. He couldn't comprehend it, nor had time to. Survival instincts made him instinctively reach into his robes again, only grasping empty air. 

The Thousand Miles Talisman was already used. 

"Roar!" 

Tiger