Seeing this young man so decisively end Lei Ming's life, the visitor's expression darkened. He was also a Blood Sword cultivator, and seeing his brother being killed was a profound humiliation.
"You're courting death!"
The man Lei Ming called Brother Qin stretched out his arms, a surge of rich innate energy.
This man also possessed innate strength, seemingly on par with Ming Qi, making him a true master. For the Blood Sword to have established itself in Killing Star City, he must have possessed a considerable foundation. This man must have been Blood Sword's hidden strength.
"Are you also a Blood Sword cultivator? Very good."
Ming Qi completely dismissed the other man. As a fellow cultivator of the fourth level of the Innate Controlling Artifact Realm, he was confident he could utterly slay him. When he had killed Huang Batian, he hadn't even reached the fourth level, but now, he was already there, so it was a given.
"Hand over the Alsophila Fruit!"
Clearly, this man was still preoccupied with the fruit and paid no attention to Ming Qi's words, merely mentioning it.
Ming Qi hadn't known the name of this mysterious fruit before, but he had heard of it. It was a rare and precious spiritual object, immensely beneficial to cultivators. Now that he had obtained it effortlessly, it was truly a pleasant surprise. He had never considered giving it away.
As for the man before him, whose strength was at the Xiantian level, he most likely knew Blood Sword's true intentions in coming to the Imperial Mountains. Therefore, the most correct course of action was to capture him and force Blood Sword to reveal his intentions.
Ming Qi made up his mind, and with a light tap of his right hand on his ring, he grasped the Yellow Dragon War Spear he had snatched from Huang Tianba.
With a flick of his hand, the spear instantly radiated a rich, pale red, flame-like Xiantian Yuan Energy.
Upon reaching the fourth level of the Xiantian realm, one's Yuanli gradually changes according to the cultivator's primary cultivation method, becoming purer. Ming Qi primarily cultivates fire-based cultivation methods, so his Xiantian Yuanli naturally takes on the color of fire.
Ming Qi unsheathed his Yellow Dragon Spear, and the opponent immediately recognized him.
"You killed Huang Tianba!"
Ming Qi sneered coldly, saying, "Huang Tianba is only the first, you will be the second!"
Without waiting for the opponent's reaction, he swung his spear, and a giant wolf head appeared in front of it.
"Arrogant!"
Everyone at Blood Sword knew that since Huang Tianba's death, the entire Blood Sword seemed to be tainted by bad luck, and nothing they did had gone smoothly.
Qin Zhao was a core elite member of the Blood Sword. Although he rarely appeared in public, his status within the group was no less than Huang Tianba's. He was aware that Blood Sword had recently suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a newly formed, third-rate mercenary group. Consequently, almost everyone within the Blood Sword group had directed their resentment at this newly formed group.
The leader had long suspected that a member of this newly formed mercenary group had murdered Huang Tianba. Now, with all these factors in mind, Qin Zhao had a vague idea of the identity of the strange young man before him.
Needless to say, this person was most likely the deputy leader of the Angel of Vengeance Mercenary Group, the genius leader so famously murdered in Star City.
A genius almost comparable to the Red Devil Prince Gongsun Long.
Qin Zhao was truly enraged. He watched the spear before him rapidly grow in size, the energy surrounding him rapidly radiating a sharp edge like water.
His primary cultivation technique was clearly water-based. His innate energy radiated a blue water-like glow. Water overcomes fire, and Qin Zhao was confident that with this innate advantage, he could easily suppress this ignorant young man, perhaps even slay him and reclaim the Yellow Dragon Spear.
Seeing that Qin Zhao showed no sign of fleeing, Ming Qi was delighted. If this guy had chosen to flee, he would have been completely helpless. But now that he hadn't, everything was under control.
Charge!
Ming Qi thrust the spear forward, instantly reaching Qin Zhao.
Swish!
A fist-sized aquamarine bead suddenly lit up in Qin Zhao's hand, its radiance flowing and dazzling.
Qin Zhao calmly pushed the bead gently, and a towering wall of water appeared before Ming Qi's spear. Simultaneously, under Qin Zhao's control, the aquamarine bead soared into the air, spinning rapidly in the air before careening towards Ming Qi.
Such a brutal attack?
Ignoring the nature of Qin Zhao's bead, Ming Qi's spear didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, exerting immense force with both arms. The spear made contact with the wall of water, making a dull thud. Then, the wall of water shattered into countless droplets that fell to the ground.
A single shot shattered the wall of water, and a thick, blazing flame rose from Ming Qi's back.
The Vermillion Bird's wings spread out, a dazzling light instantly obscuring the incoming droplets.
"What is this!"
Qin Zhao was secretly shocked when he saw Ming Qi suddenly sprout such a large pair of wings. Although he knew he had a certain advantage due to the water-fire conflict, if the opponent had an absolute advantage in strength, then he would be completely suppressed.
Swish!
Seeing this, Qin Zhao didn't dare to delay. With a flick of his right hand, a magical weapon was summoned. Then, with a leap, he soared into the air.
Both cultivators were at the Controlling Artifact Realm. Ming Qi possessed the powerful ability of the Vermillion Bird Divine Wings, while Qin Zhao did not. Therefore, he had no choice but to use control. From this point alone, Qin Zhao was already outmatched.
"Water Spirit Explosion!"
As Qin Zhao soared, he let out a deep cry. He saw the aquamarine bead that had been so close to Ming Qi suddenly shone with a brilliant light. Countless crystal-clear water droplets fell, crackling and exploding as they fell.
The surging power of the water element instantly enveloped Ming Qi.
Ming Qi remained calm, not even manipulating his Suzaku Divine Wings to soar. Instead, he simply folded them, shielding himself with the vast flaming wings.
The exploding water element dissipated completely upon contact with the powerful Crimson Skyfire, leaving not even a wisp of white mist.
While Qin Zhao's fighting style was somewhat novel, in terms of strength, he was far inferior to the combined Sea Dragon Immortal Army.
Seeing that his signature magical power couldn't even penetrate the enemy's defenses, Qin Zhao was horrified. He suddenly moved in the air, attempting to escape.
"Where are you going!"
As soon as Qin Zhao moved, Ming Qi immediately discerned his intention. His Suzaku Divine Wings flapped violently, and he transformed into a streak of fire and darted towards Qin Zhao.
No matter what, he couldn't escape. Although the Blood Sword was weakened at the moment, it still had its share of experts. If the enemy learned of this, it would undoubtedly cause a great deal of trouble.
Whoosh!
Although it was only a single clash, Qin Zhao no longer had any desire to fight. The opponent seemed incredibly powerful. Even though they were both at the Controlling Weapon Realm, he had no chance of even a draw.
However, Qin Zhao didn't believe he had any chance of escape. With all the Blood Sword masters gathered at the Imperial Mountain Range, as long as they could report this man's whereabouts, they could wear him down even if they had to.
With this in mind, Qin Zhao stopped fighting Ming Qi and focused solely on escaping.
Ming Qi had already fully grasped Qin Zhao's intentions. The speed of the Vermillion Bird Divine Wings was undoubtedly unmatched by ordinary Controlling Weapons. Although Qin Zhao's plan was brilliant, the outcome was disastrous.
Within ten miles, just under ten miles,
Qin Zhao was already utterly disastrously knocked down by a fireball.
The weapon that struck Qin Zhao was Ming Qi's most skilled finger-flick fire bomb. If it weren't for the desire to pry something out of Qin Zhao's mouth, Ming Qi would have been confident he could easily have killed him.
However, even a finger-flick fire bomb could deal considerable damage, especially since Ming Qi had imbued it with the Eight Trigrams Seal, which was invisibly draining Qin Zhao's energy.
Struck from mid-air, Qin Zhao's face paled.
"What do you want?"
Qin Zhao looked at Ming Qi with fear, his voice trembling.
His chances of survival seemed slim, and Qin Zhao's heart sank. Since the other party had admitted to killing Huang Tianba, wasn't that a death sentence?
"Answer me honestly. If I'm satisfied, I'll let you live."
Ming Qi stared at Qin Zhao, who was squatting on the ground, with a nonchalant expression.
"Really?"
"Do I need to lie to you? I can kill you anytime I want."
Ming Qi suddenly asked.
While the words were bitter, they undoubtedly evoked hope for Qin Zhao.
"Ask me."
"What are you Blood Sword people doing here?"
...
Qin Zhao remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.
"Don't try to lie to me, or I'll make you suffer a fate worse than death."
Seeing Qin Zhao's faltering response, Ming Qi's expression darkened.
"I didn't intend to lie to you, but the situation in the Imperial Mountains has become very complicated, and we're forced to change our original plan."
Qin Zhao said.
"Complicated? What do you mean?"
"For some reason, many mercenaries have appeared in the Imperial Mountains recently, and our original target was Mount Osho."
"Mount Osho?"
Ming Qi pondered for a moment. "Mount Osho is the main peak of the Imperial Mountains. What's on Mount Osho?"
"Our men discovered an underground treasure on Mount Osho. We originally planned to open it quietly, but now..."
Qin Zhao's meaning was clear. A large number of mercenaries had appeared in the Imperial Mountains. Any movement on Mount Osho would undoubtedly alert them, and Blood Sword's plan to seize the treasure would be completely thwarted.
"So what are you going to do?"
Qin Zhao pondered for a moment, then uttered a single word, "Wait."
Ming Qi understood that Blood Sword had originally intended to quietly open the treasure and strike it rich, but at this very moment, a mysterious individual had set up a scheme using the dragon theft as a pretext. Since Blood Sword had been completely dormant in Killing Star City, it was obvious that they had not received such a mission, and thus, there was no way of knowing what these mercenaries who had suddenly appeared were doing.
Of course, this didn't rule out the possibility that Qin Zhao was lying.
Di Kui Tianhu had just mentioned that there was a scent of the Origin Formation here. It was conceivable that there were many things in the Emperor Mountains that even Blood Sword didn't know about.
"How can you prove your truth?"