Chapter 161 Encountering Highwaymen Again

Time simply slipped away as Lin Yanghao focused on crafting talismans, and in the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

During this period, Lin Yanghao successfully refined a little over thirty protective talismans, more than fifty divine strength talismans, and over sixty face-changing talismans.

In addition, driven by sheer curiosity, Lin Yanghao also crafted two divine suppression talismans.

It took him more than a hundred blank talisman papers just to finally complete those two divine suppression talismans.

Their extreme difficulty in refining was a clear indication of how extraordinary these divine suppression talismans truly were.

The frustrating part, however, was that Lin Yanghao had no idea what purpose these divine suppression talismans actually served.

......

By this time, Lin Yanghao had already left the cave behind and was on his way to Moyun Town, a remote border settlement situated in the Northern Domain.

Speaking of Moyun Town, it was a special place within the entire Spirit Realm—one that was governed neither by righteous cultivators nor by demonic practitioners.

Moyun Town also happened to lie right at the intersection of the Demon-Sealing Continent and the Northern Domain. In fact, Moyun Town was the sole passage in the entire Northern Domain that led to the Demon-Sealing Continent.

Traveling to the Demon-Sealing Continent by simply flying across was, of course, entirely out of the question. The distance was far too vast; unless one had reached the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, no one possessed enough spiritual power to sustain such an immensely long journey.

Consequently, traveling there by boat was the only viable option.

And Moyun Town was the only place equipped with ships heading toward the Demon-Sealing Continent.

Another unique feature of Moyun Town was its unruly mix of various characters, with righteous cultivators and demonic practitioners living side by side.

Gradually, Moyun Town had transformed into a bustling trading hub for both cultivators and demons.

Moyun Town was actually quite a distance away from Lin Yanghao's current location, requiring a full half-month of hard travel to reach.

Zeng Quan had been abducted nearly a month and a half ago. After making a rough calculation, Lin Yanghao was certain that they could not have reached the Demon-Sealing Continent just yet.

The journey from the Thousand Saints Swamp to Moyun Town took at least twenty days, and the voyage from Moyun Town to the Demon-Sealing Continent required a month or more.

Therefore, Lin Yanghao deduced that they had not yet brought Zeng Quan to the Demon-Sealing Continent.

All Lin Yanghao could do now was hope that everything was still in time.

If Zeng Quan were truly taken all the way back to the Demon-Sealing Continent, things would become unimaginably troublesome.

***

Lin Yanghao walked on, slowly distancing himself.

A few hours later, while traversing the mountain paths, Lin Yanghao suddenly sensed a wave of intense danger washing over him.

It had been a very long time since he last experienced this particular sensation.

Hence, Lin Yanghao grew exceptionally cautious, remaining constantly alert to the slightest rustle in the surrounding wind and grass.

He dared not relax his guard for even a single second.

His intuition had never steered him wrong before.

Who said only women possessed a sixth sense? Men had one too.

He didn't care about others, but he certainly trusted his own.

"Hey brat, hand over all your valuables right now! Don't make me use force; surrender them obediently and I might just spare your life," shouted an arrogant voice, accompanied by a sharp intent to kill.

"In your dreams. I advise you to step out of my way, or you'll regret it before you even know what hit you," Lin Yanghao retorted. He knew this must be another bandit making a living through robbery, much like Lan Hui.

The killing intent radiating from this person could only have been forged by taking the lives of countless cultivators.

It would be fine if this fellow minded his own business, but since he dared to provoke him, Lin Yanghao wouldn't mind doing the world a favor by eliminating the pest.

Consider it doing a good deed.

He could just use this fellow to test the prowess of his newly crafted talismans.

An idea quickly formed in Lin Yanghao's mind—it was the perfect opportunity to try out the true power of the talismans he had just refined.

Being the first to perish beneath talismans freshly brewed by his own hands should be considered an honor for this wretch.

"Lan Hui made me quite a tidy sum last time. My spiritual stones have been running rather low lately anyway, so this guy is arriving just in time to replenish what I've spent," Lin Yanghao mused to himself.

"Impertinent punk, how dare you speak so brazenly! Watch how your granddaddy teaches you a lesson today and shows you the vastness of the heavens and earth!" Clearly provoked, the figure revealed himself in the blink of an eye.

The man called himself Ji Changhen, a cultivator at the Soul Formation Stage who made his living through plunder.

Realizing his opponent was a Soul Formation Stage cultivator, Lin Yanghao knew that while victory wasn't guaranteed, it wouldn't be easy for the adversary to take advantage of him either.

After all, the two of them were separated by two entire major realms.

***

If the opponent had merely been at the Nascent Soul Stage, he probably would have been thoroughly beaten to a pulp by Lin Yanghao.

"Humph, whether I'm just boasting or not is something you'll only know after trying," Lin Yanghao sneered coldly. He immediately slapped a protective talisman and a divine strength talisman onto himself, empowering his body.

Yet, this was not enough. Lin Yanghao then activated the Divine Incarnation Art, driving his cultivation steadily upward until it finally stopped at the early Nascent Soul Stage.

"Brat, even if you've reached the Nascent Soul Stage, you're still no match for me. Today, I'll let you experience just how much stronger the Soul Formation Stage is compared to the Nascent Soul Stage!" Ji Changhen cast a look of disdain at Lin Yanghao before cycling his own cultivation technique.

He hadn't taken Lin Yanghao seriously at all. In his eyes, Lin Yanghao was nothing more than a clown performing acrobatics. Refusing to unleash his full strength, he merely intended to toy with Lin Yanghao for a bit.

"I'll say it again: whether I'm your match or not is something you can only find out by trying." Without waiting for his opponent to react, Lin Yanghao lunged forward to attack, granting him no chance to catch his breath.

Before Ji Changhen could fully respond, Lin Yanghao struck him heavily with a palm attack, catching him entirely off guard and leaving him slightly dazed.

"Soul Formation cultivators really are built differently; he didn't suffer much at all even after taking a direct palm strike from me," Lin Yanghao thought in quiet astonishment.

"Brat, you don't play by the rules! You actually ambushed me while I was lowering my guard. Still, it's nothing more than cheap parlor tricks. I won't be careless anymore!" Though Ji Changhen spoke with bravado, a tumultuous storm was already raging within his heart.

His mind refused to settle; that single palm strike from Lin Yanghao just moments ago possessed a might comparable to the Soul Formation Stage.

No longer daring to underestimate Lin Yanghao, Ji Changhen cast aside his previous arrogant attitude and began to treat the battle with utmost seriousness.

As it turned out, Ji Changhen's cultivation technique possessed a unique trait: it could automatically generate a defensive barrier the moment a fight began.

It was precisely because of this barrier that Lin Yanghao's previous sneak attack had ultimately missed its mark.

"Thank goodness for the protective barrier, or else that hit would have really hurt," Ji Changhen thought with a profound sense of relief.

"Kid, I didn't expect your strength to be this formidable. Truly, the younger generation is to be feared." With that, Ji Changhen also unleashed a palm strike toward Lin Yanghao, though he wasn't nearly as fortunate—Lin Yanghao gracefully sidestepped and dodged it with ease.

"The Soul Formation Stage is nothing special after all." After trading a few blows, Lin Yanghao was already confident in his ability to secure a victory.

"How about this? Our strengths are evenly matched, so let's just stop fighting. Continuing this won't do either of us any good. I'll let you walk away—how does that sound?" Ji Changhen had realized by now that he likely couldn't defeat this brat. Wouldn't it be utterly humiliating if he ended up losing?