Void Cultivation

Chapter 342: Chapter 341- A Scam!(3)

"Fuck!"

The middle-aged man cursed inwardly.

Without the slightest hesitation, he released the young girl from his grasp and tossed her back toward the magic ship.

The unconscious disciple tumbled through the air before landing safely upon the deck.

The moment he let go of her, the middle-aged man’s figure shot into the distance.

His body transformed into a streak of light as he fled across the sky.

As a peak Spirit Core Formation expert, there were very few people capable of catching up to him.

Unfortunately for him, the middle-aged woman behind him was one of those people.

Not only was she also at the peak of the Spirit Core Formation Realm, but she had already reached the threshold of the next realm.

She was only a single step away from entering the Nascent Soul Transformation Realm.

That seemingly insignificant step was all that separated mortals from legends.

Seeing her unconscious disciple being thrown back toward the ship, the woman’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

At first, she had refrained from acting rashly.

Although she was furious upon seeing her disciple being held by the throat, she remained cautious.

The world of cultivators was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

Just because someone’s cultivation appeared similar to hers did not mean they possessed the same combat strength.

Thus, she had restrained her anger and patiently observed.

Yet after seeing the man attempt to flee, her suspicions immediately lessened.

Most importantly, his speed was noticeably slower than what one would expect from a peak Spirit Core Formation expert.

A thoughtful expression flashed across her eyes.

’Injured?’

That was the first conclusion she reached.

Then her gaze landed on the decaying flesh covering his body.

The bursting boils.

The corroded skin.

The dense aura of death surrounding him.

Instantly, several possibilities surfaced in her mind.

Regardless of the reason, she knew one thing.

This man was not in his best condition.

"Do you think Sky Mist City is a place where you can come and go as you please?"

Her cold voice echoed throughout the heavens.

Although she spoke calmly, her words seemed to resound from every direction simultaneously.

The surrounding spirit energy trembled.

The sea below churned violently.

With a single step, her figure vanished.

The next moment, she appeared above the magic ship.

Her expression softened slightly as she looked at her disciple.

Raising a finger, she gently touched the girl’s forehead.

Immediately, intense spatial fluctuations spread outward.

The surrounding space twisted.

Then both the unconscious disciple and the magic ship disappeared without a trace.

Only after ensuring her disciple’s safety did she shift her attention back toward the fleeing man.

Her expression became cold once more.

"Where is Sky Mist City’s honored guest going?"

A mocking smile appeared on her lips.

"You have yet to answer for your crimes."

The moment her words fell, space rippled around her body.

An instant later, she appeared beside the escaping middle-aged man.

The distance of several kilometers had been crossed as though it did not exist.

The middle-aged man’s pupils contracted.

’So fast!’

Without hesitation, he struck.

Opening his mouth, he exhaled a dense stream of black fog.

The fog surged outward like a living tide.

Within moments, it expanded across hundreds of meters.

The sky darkened.

The smell of decay filled the air.

Soon, grotesque shapes began to emerge from within the fog.

One hand.

Ten hands.

Hundreds of hands.

They stretched out from the darkness like the limbs of drowning ghosts.

Their fingers twisted unnaturally as they clawed toward the middle-aged woman.

The sight alone was enough to send chills down one’s spine.

Yet the woman merely stared at the approaching hands with indifference.

There was not even the slightest fluctuation in her expression.

Then—

Snap.

She snapped her fingers.

A fierce gale erupted around her body.

The powerful wind swept outward in all directions.

Although it could not completely disperse the black fog, it managed to force the grotesque hands away from her.

At the same time, a jade-blue token appeared in the air before her.

The token spun slowly.

Ancient runes glimmered across its surface.

Without hesitation, the woman reached out and pinched its tip.

Crack!

The jade token shattered instantly.

Fragments scattered into the wind.

However, hidden within the token was a small silver coin.

The coin floated quietly before her.

Engraved upon one side was a perfect image of the middle-aged woman herself.

Her face was expressionless.

Her eyes calm.

The moment the middle-aged man saw the coin, his expression changed.

A trace of vigilance appeared in his eyes.

He had seen techniques like this before.

The cultivators of Sky Mist City’s Second Sequence were notoriously strange.

Unlike conventional cultivators who focused solely on cultivation techniques and divine abilities, the Second Sequence specialized in peculiar methods.

They utilized countless magical artifacts.

Strange treasures.

Cursed objects.

Ancient relics.

Many of their methods were difficult to understand and even harder to defend against.

As a result, he had expected the woman to unleash a barrage of powerful artifacts.

Yet to his surprise, she had only produced a single coin.

That alone was enough to make his heart sink.

Because experienced cultivators understood one truth.

The simpler an artifact appeared, the more terrifying it often was.

Something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

His eyes narrowed.

Normally, one side of such an artifact would contain the user’s image.

The true magical effect would be engraved on the reverse side.

Yet the moment he examined the coin more carefully, his expression stiffened.

The image began to move.

The engraved woman suddenly changed.

A steel dirk appeared in the image.

Then, before his eyes, the miniature version of the woman was stabbed through the chest by the dirk.

The scene was eerily realistic.

Almost as though it depicted a future event.

An inexplicable chill ran down his spine.

Danger.

For the first time since arriving at Sky Mist City, he felt genuine danger.

’Something is definitely wrong with that artifact!’

The middle-aged man’s instincts screamed at him to retreat.

Immediately, he abandoned all thoughts of fighting and prepared to flee.

However, before he could move—

The coin rotated.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

The engraved image of the dirk turned.

And pointed directly at him.

At the same moment, a steel dirk silently materialized above the woman’s head.

It hovered there motionlessly.

Neither attacking nor moving.

Yet the instant the coin pointed toward him, every hair on the middle-aged man’s body stood on end.

An overwhelming sense of death descended upon him.