Li Ruohuan and Wang Juetian, hidden in the dark, were equally shocked. Although the short, middle-aged man had only unleashed one strike, its power had reached the peak of a Third Tribulation Nascent Soul. Yet, he was still instantly killed.
If he had attacked the two of them, the outcome would have been no different.
A cultivator at the Second Tribulation Nascent Soul realm exhibiting power comparable to a Fourth Tribulation Nascent Soul peak was a prodigy. Both of them, without exception, thought of one person, a monstrous cultivator for whom the Black Sand Cave Heaven had even issued a high bounty.
Only that person could possess such ability.
Zhang Fan!
Wang Juetian, in his heart, had already cursed Li Ruohuan and his entire family. His own son was useless, and if he was crippled, he was crippled. Why must he incite him to seek revenge?
This was not revenge; it was simply courting death!
However, just as they were preparing to retreat, a voice chilled them to the bone, sending a shiver from their soles to the crown of their heads.
"You two, you've been waiting for so long, aren't you going to come out and meet me?"
Zhang Fan threw a punch at the air. The powerful fist force stirred up waves of energy that rippled outwards. Li Ruohuan and Wang Juetian, who were concealed in the dark, were forced to reveal themselves.
"Fellow Daoist, it's all a misunderstanding!" Li Ruohuan quickly explained. Zhang Fan, however, acted as if he hadn't heard a word and walked towards them step by step.
Wang Juetian's eyes turned sinister. He glanced at Luo Xiaoxiao in the distance, gritted his teeth, and suddenly darted out, charging directly at Luo Xiaoxiao.
They had long heard rumors about Zhang Fan. This person dared to kill even an elder of the Black Sand Cave Heaven, let alone them.
Zhang Fan was not foolish. Their purpose for staking out here was too obvious. Given the young man's temperament, how could he let them go?
Therefore, in Wang Juetian's view, his only hope of survival was the little girl.
As a cultivator at the peak of the Third Tribulation Nascent Soul, Wang Juetian's speed was indeed astonishing. He covered hundreds of meters in an instant.
However, when he was less than a meter away from Luo Xiaoxiao and had just extended his hand, he abruptly stopped. His eyes widened, filled with unwillingness.
He slowly lowered his head, only to see a fist clad in a golden glove piercing through his chest from behind. The palm was open, and his Nascent Soul had been dug out.
Li Ruohuan, witnessing this scene from afar, turned deathly pale. No wonder even the withered sword elder of the Black Sand Cave Heaven could not do anything to Zhang Fan. This person's strength was too formidable.
Moreover, he was decisive and ruthless, showing no hesitation.
Li Ruohuan activated his movement technique and desperately fled towards Wuning City, shouting as he ran, "He is Zhang Fan! The Black Sand Cave Heaven has issued a bounty. Killing him will earn fifty million spirit crystals..."
Many cultivators in Wuning City who were unaware of the situation finally understood upon hearing Li Ruohuan's shouts. It turned out that the young man was the Zhang Fan who had a bounty on his head from the Black Sand Cave Heaven.
No wonder this person, at the Second Tribulation Nascent Soul realm, could so easily obliterate a cultivator at the peak of the Third Tribulation Nascent Soul.
Even ordinary monstrous cultivators who had cultivated golden Nascent Souls could not achieve this.
However, regarding Li Ruohuan's shouts, the cultivators of Wuning City merely listened. Even though the bounty was tempting, who had the strength to claim it?
"We die together!"
As a figure rapidly approached, Li Ruohuan knew he had no hope of escape. The vast spiritual energy within his Nascent Soul gathered as he prepared to self-detonate.
"Suppress!"
Zhang Fan unleashed his Disintegration Domain, and boundless restraining force descended upon Li Ruohuan. He instantly felt his Nascent Soul being heavily suppressed, unable to absorb the energy to self-detonate.
Zhang Fan, wearing the Golden Radiance Gauntlets, punched and blew apart Li Ruohuan's head, then dug out his Nascent Soul.
Zhang Fan sealed the spiritual energy of the three Nascent Souls, erased their consciousness, and placed them into his spatial dimension.
After completing all this, he glanced in the direction of Wuning City and then quickly left with Luo Xiaoxiao.
At this moment, Wuning City was already in an uproar. Zhang Fan, whom everyone had been searching for, had actually appeared in their city.
The news of Zhang Fan appearing in Wuning City and consecutively killing three Third Tribulation Nascent Soul cultivators spread like a storm across the Boundary Heart Continent.
On the Boundary Heart Continent, all assassins interested in the bounty converged towards the Eastern Observation Region.
...
After flying tens of thousands of miles with Luo Xiaoxiao, Zhang Fan entered an unknown mountain range.
"Master, what kind of force is the Black Sand Cave Heaven, and why do they want to assassinate you?" Luo Xiaoxiao's eyes were filled with confusion. Her master was truly too mysterious.
"Black Sand Cave Heaven... it should be considered one of the top forces on this Boundary Heart Continent," Zhang Fan said with a smile. "They are hunting me because I eliminated one of their elders."
Even though Luo Xiaoxiao knew nothing about forces, being called one of the top forces on the Boundary Heart Continent meant that the Black Sand Cave Heaven must be terrifyingly strong.
Even so, her master dared to kill an elder of theirs. It had to be said, her master was truly audacious.
"These are minor matters. Master will handle them," Zhang Fan said, patting Luo Xiaoxiao's small head. "You've been my disciple for some time now. In the coming days, I will teach you cultivation and guide you into the path."
"Mhm, mhm." Hearing Zhang Fan's words, Luo Xiaoxiao nodded repeatedly.
In the following days, Zhang Fan and Luo Xiaoxiao engaged in arduous cultivation within the deep mountains. Regardless of the storms brewing outside, it was of no concern to them.
Zhang Fan first refined a batch of Purifying Pills using the Purifying Green Fruit gifted by Shangguan Jing, to cleanse her marrow and strengthen her physique.
Simultaneously, Zhang Fan found a suitable cultivation technique for practicing the path of darkness in his mind and passed it on to Luo Xiaoxiao.
Those with innate divine bodies already possessed unparalleled talent in cultivation. Unlike Zhang Fan, who cultivated divine body techniques post-natally, those with innate divine bodies did not need to rely on time to hone their foundations. As long as they had sufficient cultivation resources, they would encounter no bottlenecks in the early and middle stages of cultivation.
After explaining some cultivation common sense and clarifying her doubts, with the aid of the Earth Heart Saliva Zhang Fan had purchased, Luo Xiaoxiao broke through to the peak of Qi Refining and entered the Foundation Establishment stage in less than a month.
Seeing that Luo Xiaoxiao's cultivation was on the right track, Zhang Fan set up concealment formations around them and then sat cross-legged, quietly triggering the third Nascent Soul tribulation.
The third Nascent Soul tribulation was still Heavenly Immortal Wind, but its power was on an entirely different level compared to the second. However, Zhang Fan's Nascent Soul was powerful, and it remained as stable as a rock against the Heavenly Immortal Wind, unaffected by its gusts.
With each Nascent Soul tribulation he passed, Zhang Fan's Nascent Soul grew stronger. After the tribulation ended, he retrieved the three Nascent Souls from his spatial dimension.
At this moment, the consciousness of these three Third Tribulation Nascent Souls had been erased by Zhang Fan. All that remained was their immense spiritual energy.
Zhang Fan placed the three Nascent Souls before him and unleashed his Dark Devouring divine ability. The pure spiritual energy within the Nascent Souls was continuously absorbed into Zhang Fan's body, and his aura continuously climbed.
When the spiritual energy within the three Nascent Souls was completely depleted, Zhang Fan finally stopped.
He frowned slightly. Although all three Third Tribulation Nascent Souls were of black Nascent Soul quality, two of them had reached the peak of the Third Tribulation Nascent Soul, containing incredibly dense spiritual energy.
For an ordinary Third Tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator, one Nascent Soul might be enough to help them break through a minor level.
However, Zhang Fan had completely absorbed and refined the spiritual energy of the three Nascent Souls, and he had only managed to barely reach the mid-stage from the early stage of the Third Tribulation Nascent Soul.
Zhang Fan shook his head. After all, he intended to cultivate all the way to the peak of the Third Tribulation Nascent Soul in one go this time.
...