The two tomb owners who were on guard on the outermost part of the valley immediately noticed
Austin dashing out as their men reported to them that two cultivators were rushing towards the valley.
"Look at how fast he moves! He's like a lightning bolt spearing to the ground."
one of the tomb owners gasped.
"Hmm, look how his vital energy dissipates around him. It is obvious that this guy has only reached the
seventh level of Energy Gathering Realm. But it's such a rare sight that someone of his level can travel
at such high speed."
"Go and ask two or three men to take his soul."
"Yes, sir!"
A man in black replied. As soon as he responded, he immediately rushed towards Austin with three
men on his heels.
Although both tomb owners were amazed by Austin's swiftness, he was still only a seventh level fighter
of Energy Gathering Realm. They arrogantly believed that three or four men were enough to take care
of him.
... ...
Carrying Fanny in his arms, Austin effortlessly glided as he was flying, rushing towards the outside of
the valley.
His arms were strong enough to carry even a half ton heavy object. Since Fanny was so thin, carrying
her was a breeze for him.
Fanny was stunned as well by Austin's capability to move so swiftly. She was still able to follow Austin
closely as they made their way to this Valley of celestial energy ginseng. She was secretly gloating with
the fact that Austin didn't have the ability to throw her off even if he wanted to.
Now, she could still feel Austin's swift pace. It suddenly dawned on her that Austin hadn't moved fast
last time. Rather, he had intentionally slowed down so that she could easily follow him all the way to
this valley.
Fanny had finally realized that it would be totally impossible for her to catch up with Austin when he
started moving in full speed.
This news had Fanny gritting her teeth. She felt upset, but was definitely convinced by Austin's
strength.
But what annoyed her was the fact that Austin deliberately slowed down his pace just for her. She had
even felt complacent and proud the entire time because she was able to follow closely behind Austin.
On the other hand, she was impressed with Austin's amazing fighting power. Based on the dispersion
of Austin's vital energy, she could clearly identify that he was at the same level as her, a seventh level
fighter of the Energy Gathering Realm. However, Austin was capable of slaying cultivators at the sixth,
seventh, and even eight level of the Energy Gathering Realm easily like killing dogs and chickens.
Austin had also mastered multiple bodily movement skills. 'What kind of monster was this guy?' Fanny
thought.
While Austin was still running, four men in black emerged out of the blue and converged towards him.
Apparently, those men were about to stop him from his path.
'Who the hell were these mysterious men? They even deployed a large array in order to kill cultivators
and collect their souls.'
Hundreds of cultivators from different schools and sects had flocked here to get their hands on the
celestial energy ginseng.
Almost all of the disciples of the five major sects from Violet Orchid Empire had journeyed here.
Besides, a lot of powerful people were present as well. For instance, three members of Blood Wolf
Team were here as well.
If the array deployment was made known, most of the powerful people from the entire Violet Orchid
Empire would definitely be infuriated with these mysterious people. The cultivators from the whole
Violet Orchid Empire would certainly not rest until they had eliminated every last one of these men.
The mysterious men were clearly not fooling around, or else they definitely shouldn't have been driven
crazy to pull off such a stunt.
They were still brazen to have an array deployed despite the obvious consequences of their actions.
This only meant one thing. That was, these men were working for someone powerful.
Austin exercised his spiritual sense and scanned through the four people who were approaching and
encircling him.
All of those men were definitely at the sixth or seventh level of Energy Gathering Realm. They were all
dressed in black, and each of them held a black stick. They all appeared menacing and evil.
Rather than dodge them, Austin dashed so fast like a bullet moving straight towards those men.
20 meters.
10 meters.
5 meters.
In a flash, Austin and the four men in black drew closer to each other.
As the men drew closer, they realized that Austin had no plans of stopping or slowing down. He
planned to dash towards them with the full weight of his body, greatly shocking them.
"Freeze!"
yelled the man dressed in black who was at the head of the group.
As soon as he yelled, a streak of black suddenly flashed right in front of him, scaring the wits out of
him. But before he could even respond, the black streak sliced his neck, blood gushing out.
His head flew away from his body and was cast aside. A fountain of blood squirted out intensely from
his neck, turning the ground red.
The corpse didn't fall off the ground until some moments later.
As Austin unsheathed his Negative Shadow Blade, he leaped forward in just one step, taking him
straight in front of the next man. With one step, he was able to cover about seven or eight meters.
The man was shocked by what happened. He couldn't comprehend how Austin effortlessly reached
him at such speed with only a step forward.
Stunned, the man desperately tried to jump backward to dodge Austin's attack.
But before he could even react, Austin flung his fist, punching the man on his chest. A resounding bang
echoed throughout the area as his punch was connected with the man's body. The force was so strong
that even the surrounding shook violently.
The man's body shot through the opposite direction for a couple of meters away like a fired cannon
ball. His body fell on the ground and was badly mangled beyond repair. He was killed right on the spot.
And just like that, Austin effortlessly took care of the mysterious men pursuing him.
The remaining men felt scared and disappointed after they witnessed what Austin did to their two
comrades. 'This guy is just like a killing machine, ' they quivered in fear.
However, they were ordered to dispatch Austin and take his soul.
Even if they retreated and escaped from dying in the hands of Austin, what waited if they returned
empty-handed was a punishment more severe than what they could imagine. Disobedience was not an
option for them.
Without any other choice, the two men in black gritted their teeth, wielded their black wooden sticks
and ran towards Austin to face him together.
As soon as they swung their black wooden sticks which looked like sticks held by sons in funeral
processions, a weird force was produced which surrounded Austin.
Immediately, Austin felt that something was trying to enter his Soul Sea. Something was attempting to
take his soul away.
It seemed that these two men's weapons could produce a kind of mysterious power which attacked
someone's soul.
Nevertheless, Austin had strong power of spiritual sense. He was not deterred by their attack. Instead,
he was confident that his power of spiritual sense had become stronger than ordinary cultivators at the
Mysterious Realm. It must be due to the fact that he engulfed some of the fragmented spiritual soul of
that little monkey which had previously intruded his Soul Sea.
After sensing the attack, Austin harnessed his power of spiritual sense and concentrated it against the
invading force in his Soul Sea. With little effort, he was able to drive the force away.
'Hmm, you even have the guts to fight me in power of spiritual sense?' Austin mumbled to himself, a
hint of sarcasm was reflected as a twitch appeared in the corner of his mouth.
An idea suddenly popped up in his mind. He then used his spiritual sense flying needle, which
instantly attacked the brain of the man in black who stood on the left. The man immediately felt
unimaginable pain shot through his brain, causing him to scream out loud in pain.
When he came to his senses, he only saw a streak of red light flashing in front of him before his head
was severed from his body. Blood shot out of his body.
The man on the right was overwhelmed by grief and terror as he saw Austin executing his remaining
companion with one strike.
"This is not happening! How is it possible that you are not suppressed by our soul chasing sticks at
all?"
The last man exclaimed in astonishment.
Soul chasing sticks?
Austin found out that their weapons were actually soul chasing sticks.
The big array deployed by these men was called Soul Collection Array and the weapons these men
used for soul collection were known as soul chasing sticks. The men in black even planned to collect
cultivators' souls. So these men were skilled in soul collecting.
Soul, namely the spiritual soul left after one's death, was a type of relatively peculiar energy in the
universe. It could preserve all of one's existence such as memories and emotions after his or her
death. In other words, it was another form of existence after one's death.
Souls, simply put, are ghosts, which is a more common interpretation of people.
However, they couldn't be preserved for ever in the universe, because they were not supported by
bodies. Their energy would gradually grow weaker as time passed by. Eventually, the souls fully
dissipated and left the universe.
Austin had no idea why these men were collecting souls.
But instead of pondering over this revelation, Austin released another spiritual sense flying needle,
which intruded the man's brain. He then wielded his Negative Shadow Blade, finally putting an end to
the man's life.
While he was fighting with men in black, Austin left Fanny somewhere away from the fighting. After he
finished them off, Austin went to Fanny and pulled her closer to him.
Fanny was only 16 years old. Apart from her grandfather, no other man had ever dared to touch her
body while she grew up.
But so far, Austin had touched her over and over again. The thought annoyed and embarrassed Fanny,
turning her cheeks pink.
However, under the current situation, it was better if she didn't make any fuss.
"Fanny, have these men successfully deployed the array?"
Fanny replied after thinking for a few moments, "Yes, the energy within the valley has been more or
less controlled. They have successfully deployed the array."
"Then, how do we escape from the array?"
"Hmm, this array is rather impressive. But there is a weak point in the northeast side. We can easily
escape through that side."
Austin adopted his bodily movement skill as soon as he heard what Fanny had deduced and flew
towards the northeast side with rocket-like speed.
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