CHAPTER 67: MY SERVANT FOR THE TOURNAMENT

Based on the rules, Li Shen had the chance to fight them. He told the fat young man to hide behind him, so he could fight Mo Ni and his two friends.

Mo Ni smiled, his serious expression mirrored by the man who was helping the young man. Mo Ni clenched his hand and threw the legendary spear forward, aiming it at Li Shen.

"With the power of the legendary spear, a Nascent Soul will not be able to survive!" threatened Mo Ni.

"Sigh!"

Li Shen raised his hand and pinched the blade of the legendary spear in his hand. With just his qi energy, the man destroyed it into small pieces. Mo Ni was shocked.

"How could my spear being destroyed so easily?!" Mo Ni was shocked, seeing the fragments of his legendary spear fall to the ground.

After shattering Mo Ni’s spear, Li Shen raised his head and focused his gaze forward. Now, his target was to defeat Mo Ni and force him to surrender his Soul Essence.

Li Shen formed a hand seal, causing a medium-sized magic circle to appear behind his back. He didn’t need any high-level techniques to defeat them, only a 5th-level technique was enough.

[Thousand Swords of Lightning Technique!]

He swung his hand sideways, bringing forth numerous small magic circles. One magic rune brought forth a flying sword made of condensed qi energy. Li Shen pointed his hand forward.

"Attack!" Li Shen commanded.

Thousands of qi energy swords shot forward at Mo Ni and his two friends. The three cultivators immediately summoned their ultimate magic defense walls, but only Mo Ni was able to withstand Li Shen’s intense attack for long.

His two friends were hit by the swords, their bodies pierced and thrown back quite far. Both of them vomited blood from the effects of failing to withstand Li Shen’s attack.

COUGH!

"Damn it! Who is that person? He’s only a Mid-Stage Nascent Soul cultivator, but how could he defeat my two friends?" Mo Ni asked curiously.

He turned his head forward, directly toward the stocky young man. Fortunately, his life was saved because he managed to take cover behind the mysterious man’s robe. Otherwise, Mo Ni would have been able to use the legendary spear to kill him.

"Listen to me, fellow Daoist. We are both being hunted by the countdown of this round. It would be best if we did not fight and saved our energy for making the pill later," explained Mo Ni, putting his hands together and bowing his head.

"What do you think, fellow Daoist?" asked Mo Ni.

Li Shen smiled faintly. He took a step forward, standing completely beside Mo Ni in a flash of Azure Dragon light. Mo Ni froze, turning slowly with a shocked, pale face.

’So fast. Is he really a Nascent Soul cultivator?’ Mo Ni asked.

The man raised his hand and gently patted Mo Ni’s right shoulder, causing the man to collapse helplessly under the impact of Li Shen’s qi pressure.

The stocky young man was amazed by the mysterious man’s ability to make Mo Ni kneel with just his qi pressure.

"Who are you? If you kill me, Elder Mo won’t let you go!" Mo Ni shouted.

"I won’t kill you or your two friends. It would be better if I used you," Li Shen replied.

He stretched out his hand, pulling Mo Ni’s two friends toward him. They were still awake but seriously injured. With Li Shen’s spiritual energy, he healed them both with ease.

After being healed, the two were also trapped in the pressure of Li Shen’s qi energy. Mo Ni had felt a similar pressure before, precisely when the Mo Family’s ancestor who was in the early stages of Soul Ascension arrived.

"Y-You... a Soul Ascension cultivator?" asked Mo Ni, startling the stocky young man.

"That’s not important. Hand over your Soul Essence to me, and I’ll make sure you pass the first round," replied Li Shen.

"What... if we don’t?" asked Mo Ni, stammering.

"You will be trapped for 12 hours in my qi energy pressure. Your soul power will decrease drastically and your resources will be depleted. Your chances of advancing to the next round will be very low, " said Li Shen.

"It’s up to you. I will do as you wish," replied Li Shen, keeping his hands behind his back.

"O-Okay!"

Li Shen smiled contentedly. He swung his hand to the side and removed the qi energy pressure from the three cultivators. After being freed, Mo Ni touched his forehead and handed over a drop of his Soul Essence to Li Shen.

Mo Ni’s two companions did the same to survive. Li Shen accepted the three drops of soul essence and stored them in his body. Now, the lives of Mo Ni and his two friends were in Li Shen’s hands.

"What should we do?" asked Mo Ni, glaring at Li Shen.

Li Shen tapped his magic pouch, revealing a recipe for a third-level elemental pill that he had kept since long ago. Fortunately, he still had it —Li Shen had forgotten what the materials were.

He handed the recipe forward, Mo Ni caught it with both hands. When the recipe scroll opened, it revealed the three basic materials needed to create a third-level fire element pill.

The materials were Red Copper, Bonewort Leaves, and Lesser Fireflowers. They had to find those materials immediatelywith their lives on the line. If they were late, the three of them would die along with Li Shenwho had failed.

"Alright."

The three of them left the place with resentment in their hearts because Li Shen had treated them like slaves.

Realizing that the situation was favorable, Li Shen turned around and approached the stocky young man. He told him that Mo Ni and his two friends would no longer bother him.

"Thank you, Senior. You have helped me a lot since yesterday," replied the young man, introducing himself as Bai Zhang.

"May I continue to follow you, Senior? I won’t be a bother. I promise!" Bai Zhang said firmly.

Li Shen nodded. He didn’t mind as long as the young man didn’t bother him later. He and Bai Zhang left the floating hill and flew higher into the sky. For some reason, Li Shen sensed an abundance of spiritual energy there.

Pill ingredients could also emit their own spiritual energy, albeit in small amounts. However, if there were many pill ingredients in one place, then there would definitely be an abundance of spiritual energy.

Li Shen and Bai Zhang flew into the sky and pierced through the clouds.

When they emerged from the clouds, Li Shen saw many battles taking place there. At least one floating hill was engaged in two battles between cultivators.

"What are we doing here?" asked Bai Zhang, curious.

"It’s possible that the materials below have been depleted by other cultivators, causing these cultivators to ascend to the clouds," replied Li Shen.

He stopped at a floating island and clearly saw that the material there had not been taken yet, not much had been taken. The resources on that island could be used to make third-tier pills with various elements —wind and water.

"We’ll find the material and leave before they notice us," Li Shen said, and Bai Zhang nodded.

Bai Zhang finally obtained the materials needed to create a third-tier elemental pill with the water element, while Li Shen obtained the ingredients needed to create an earth element pill. However, they were surprised by an unexpected attack from the sky.

Their presence had been discovered.

"Fellow Daoist! Is it wise to take something that is being fought over?" asked another cultivator, Nascent Soul.

"That is our material. If you wish to stay alive, hand over the material quickly!"

Li Shen smiled, storing the material in his magic pouch. He looked up, challenging them sternly.

"If you want it, you can take it from me."

"Of course, through battle!"