Chapter 478: Ambush

Though he had failed to refine a living corpse, the gains from this endeavor were still considerable.

After this attempt, Qin Sang had developed a thorough understanding of the Fake Core Realm. He would be much more confident and composed in his next round of corpse refinement.

Once the Earth Malevolent Qi had dissipated, Qin Sang carefully erased all traces of his aura before leaving the plaza and stepping onto the stone path.

He hadn’t expected so much to happen. Now there was less than two quarters of an hour before he had to leave Zhitian Peak.

Time was too short. Qin Sang chose to retrace his steps rather than search for that Tianxing Alliance cultivator. He planned to leave this barrier-ridden region as quickly as possible, return to the outer perimeter of the valley, and resume gathering more Elemental Star Stones.

The Snow Spirit Lotus and Iris Flower were the top priority. He could not allow them to fall into anyone else's hands.

The surrounding barriers had also been affected by the spatial storm triggered by the Star-Controlling Elder. Some slight changes had occurred, but fortunately, they were still within controllable limits.

After walking a certain distance, Qin Sang found a sea of fire conjured by a barrier and tossed in all the belongings of the handsome young man, watching with his own eyes as the fierce flames devoured everything.

Resuming his journey, Qin Sang finally had the time to check his own condition.

In his battle with the young man, he had handled it with relative ease and hadn’t sustained any real injuries.

However, due to relying heavily on the Cold Gold Sword and having clashed it against the young man’s artifacts several times, the sword's spiritual essence had been damaged. Its luster had grown dim.

The damage wasn't serious. It would recover after a day of refinement.

After some thought, Qin Sang put away the Cold Gold Sword and brought out the long-unused Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions.

These banners had gathered dust for quite a while. Ever since the great battle in the Chaotic Island Waters, Qin Sang had shelved them away and hadn’t used them again. Now, after several years, he reactivated them. The moment he held them in his hand, he could sense the primary soul of the banners stirring with an eagerness and excitement that bordered on impatience.

Qin Sang smiled faintly and infused spiritual power into the banners, raising the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions into action.

His cultivation was far superior to what it had been in the past, and wielding this set of artifacts now felt smooth and effortless. They would be more than enough to protect him until he left Zhitian Peak.

Ten small ghost banners circled around him as surging yin qi was compressed and contained within his body, forming a cloud of ghostly mist.

Before long, Qin Sang arrived at the end of the stone path. He glanced back once, a trace of emotion in his eyes, then pressed forward, picking up speed as he went.

He passed through the dense barrier zone without incident. Ahead of him stood two massive black stones, like a pair of crouching black tigers guarding a gate—majestic and imposing.

Qin Sang had a deep impression of these two stones. Seeing them meant the danger was mostly behind him and he could begin collecting Elemental Star Stones again.

Lifting his head, he saw that the pitch-black sky above, where not even fingers could be seen, was dotted with over a dozen glowing points. Most of the Elemental Star Stones had already fused with the surrounding barriers, leaving very few that could actually be collected.

I’ll go a bit further ahead, Qin Sang thought, and sped up as he darted toward the black stones.

Just as he was about to pass between the two black-tiger-like stones, a sudden sense of dread gripped his heart. The next instant, a violent gust of wind howled down from above.

Qin Sang's expression changed drastically. He snapped his head up and saw a massive stone stele plummeting from the top of the left black stone!

The stele descended from the heavens with the weight of a thousand mountains, coming down with unstoppable force.

It was square and imposing, engraved with the characters "Mountain-Suppressing Stele". It radiated a dense, dark yellow aura that felt ancient and heavy. Though it looked clumsy, its speed was terrifyingly swift.

In the blink of an eye, Qin Sang's figure was swallowed by the dark yellow aura. His entire vision was filled with the descending stele.

Before the stele even landed, its crushing aura had already locked tightly onto Qin Sang.

He was instantly suppressed by an overwhelming force and slammed to the ground, his feet smashing two deep pits into the earth.

His eyes widened in shock as his entire body crackled with bone-deep pressure. He trembled violently, unable to move. He could barely maintain a standing posture, nearly being flattened entirely under the crushing force of the stele.

A talisman astra!

Qin Sang screamed internally. Only a talisman astra could wield such terrifying power.

The dark yellow qi of the stele had obscured his vision, making it impossible to see the attacker’s face. But judging by the circumstances, it was almost certainly the Tianxing Alliance cultivator he had encountered earlier.

Qin Sang hadn’t gone looking for trouble, yet the other party had come for him instead and it looked like he had known in advance that Qin Sang would pass through this area, lying in ambush with a talisman astra.

But back during their encounter, Granny Jing had helped conceal his aura—how had he been discovered?

Doubt arose in Qin Sang's mind, but there was no time to think. Fortunately, he had always acted with caution and had long prepared the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions as a protective measure.

Whoosh!

The Mountain-Suppressing Stele was now only inches away. Qin Sang could even make out the intricate engravings on its surface.

Crash!

Yin qi surged forth.

The Yan Luo Banner stretched long in the wind, instantly expanding into a towering ghost banner nearly twice the height of a person.

Ten banners pierced into the ground, forming an array.

In an instant, the space between the two black stones transformed into a ghostly domain, filled with sinister ghostly qi and the wails of the dead.

At the center of the banner array, yin qi surged violently as black ghostfire shot into the sky. The ghostfire was extraordinarily powerful, scattering the overwhelming dark yellow aura and gathering into a single, concentrated force that firmly resisted the Mountain-Suppressing Stele.

Boom!

The stele collided with the ghostfire.

The Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions merely trembled slightly but remained firmly rooted in place.

The stele hung suspended in mid-air, unable to descend even a little bit.

Qin Sang finally caught sight of his attacker.

Atop the black stone, a man clad in dark yellow battle armor stood at the edge, looking down from above. He wore a helmet of the same color, revealing only his facial features.

The Mountain-Suppressing Stele had been stopped.

A look of disbelief flickered in the eyes of the armored cultivator—he clearly hadn't expected his carefully prepared ambush, which had even cost him a talisman astra, to be blocked so easily.

"It’s you!"

Qin Sang gave a cold snort. He finally remembered who this man was.

He was a top cultivator sent by the Tianxing Alliance just a year ago. In under a year, he had earned great military merit, and many experts on the Small Cold Domain’s side had fallen to his hand.

The battle armor he wore wasn’t just for show, it was an entire set of artifacts. Each piece of the armor was intricately linked with the others in a mysterious manner, forming a connected network whose power far surpassed that of other top-grade artifacts.

Qin Sang didn’t know the man’s name. Whenever he and the others mentioned him, they simply referred to him as the Yellow Armored Man.

Qin Sang had never fought the Yellow Armored Man before, which was why he hadn’t recognized him earlier. But his impression of the man had always been strong; he was one of the few opponents Qin Sang feared the most.

Had they met outside, Qin Sang would have avoided him at all costs.

"So it was the famous Shadowless Sword. No wonder you stirred up such a ruckus and still managed to get out alive." The Yellow Armored Man sneered, a trace of mockery in his tone as he mentioned Qin Sang’s title.

Qin Sang suddenly understood, so the spatial storm had caused even greater chaos than he had imagined. It must have disrupted the barriers throughout the valley, drawing the Yellow Armored Man to this location.

Whatever reward the Tianxing Alliance had promised him, it likely wasn’t inferior to what Stargazing Island had offered.

Capturing Elemental Star Stones one by one using a Spirit-Sealing Bangle offered little future, especially in such a perilous place as this valley, where one’s hands were tied.

Ambushing and killing an opponent to seize their Elemental Star Stones was the fastest way. No wonder the Yellow Armored Man had been tempted.