A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 81 The Five Villains of the Liu Family

Huang Song's face was ashen, blood constantly spilling from the corner of his mouth. He desperately fled while frequently looking back at the two figures relentlessly pursuing him, his eyes filled with anxiety and despair.

"We're almost at Lingbang Island. Island Master Luo's strength has reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, and he has the help of an array. Hopefully, he can make a move to force the two of them back."

Huang Song silently chanted in his heart, his will to survive sustaining him. He did not hesitate to consume his essence and blood to continuously activate the secret technique. His spiritual light was dim, but he still gritted his teeth and rushed towards the direction of Lingbang Island.

He was furious. He never expected that the five seemingly unrelated cultivators who had taken refuge in the formation to avoid the heavenly wind were actually the group of Intercepting Cultivators who had been lying dormant for many years! This instantly reminded him of the events of the past ten years.

Over the years, the goods of the Six-Connecting Hall have been robbed twice. Each time, the investigation has yielded no results. The group of interceptors seemed to have vanished into thin air, only to reappear suddenly when everyone relaxed their vigilance. What's even stranger is that they could always accurately pinpoint the transport personnel and routes.

Several hours after leaving Lingbang Island, the group was ambushed while flying over a reef. He managed to break through with all his might, and now his only hope rests on the nearby Island Master Luo.

"Fellow Daoist Luo, save me!" Huang Song's cry for help barely reached the Lingbang Island formation.

Luo Ming was meditating cross-legged in his cave when he suddenly sensed intense fluctuations of magical power coming from outside the formation. He frowned and his figure flashed out of the cave like a ghost.

Huang Song, who had just left half a day ago, was now disheveled and weak. The circular magic weapon he controlled was dim and obviously severely damaged. Two dark figures were closing in on him step by step.

"Is it you?" Luo Ming's expression darkened slightly. He recognized the two pursuers at a glance as the cultivators who had left with Huang Song half a day ago.

Judging from their posture, they clearly intend to rob the Six-Linked Palace of its valuables.

He thought to himself: "Your cultivators are a bit unprofessional; you managed to let the target escape."

Right now, all he wanted was to stay here and focus on his cultivation, hoping to break through to the Core Formation stage before venturing into the outer seas to hunt monsters and increase his strength. He had no desire to cause any trouble. But now that Huang Song had already fled to his doorstep, it was difficult for him to remain uninvolved.

Upon seeing Luo Ming appear, Huang Song was overjoyed and immediately shouted, "These men are the five villains of the Liu family, wanted by Kui Xing Island, who have committed numerous evils! If you can capture them, not only will you receive a hefty reward from Kui Xing Island, but my Six-Linked Palace will also reward you handsomely!"

"The Five Fiends of the Liu Family?" Luo Ming frowned, his gaze towards the two men becoming more serious.

Two years ago, when he went to Kuixing Island, he saw the wanted list. Not all of these people were surnamed Liu. They were named after their leader, who was surnamed Liu. They were elusive and targeted merchant alliances in the nearby sea area. Liuliandian was just one of their many victims.

Rumor has it that the Six-Linked Palace once sent a Core Formation stage guest elder to pursue him, but he was ambushed by the enemy's pre-set formation. If that person hadn't used his essence blood to escape with a secret technique, he would probably have been killed by several Foundation Establishment cultivators just as he advanced to Core Formation. This incident caused quite a stir in the surrounding sea areas.

Among the two pursuers, a short, stout cultivator sneered, "Island Master Luo, your late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation is hard-earned. Don't meddle in things that aren't your business. This is none of your concern."

Although the two of them had chased the enemy to this point, they dared not launch a direct attack due to the formation of Lingbang Island. They could only hope that the other three would arrive to surround them, at which point even if Luo Ming wanted to intervene, he would be powerless.

The atmosphere outside the formation immediately became heavy. Huang Song's eyes darted around as he frantically tried to figure out how to get this person to protect him.

Just then, three figures rushed over from afar; they were the other three members of the Liu family's Five Fiends. The burly man in the lead exuded an aura that revealed him to be a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator, whose magical power far surpassed that of the other four.

"What should we do?" Huang Song's face was ashen. He knew that the five villains of the Liu family were skilled in combined attacks. With the support of the formation, they could severely injure even ordinary early-stage Core Formation cultivators. Now that the five of them were gathered together, Luo Ming was likely in grave danger.

After the burly man arrived, he cursed the other two as trash, then directly summoned a black short blade and slashed at Huang Song outside Luoming Cave.

Upon seeing this, Huang Song hurriedly summoned his magical artifact for defense, but he had already exhausted his magical power and could not possibly withstand the opponent's full-force attack. His artifact was cut in two.

"This person acts decisively and efficiently, worthy of being the leader of the Liu family's Five Fiends. But this magical weapon..." Luo Ming was shocked when he saw the power of the black short blade.

This short blade looks very ordinary, but it is unexpectedly sharp. It cut a top-level magic weapon in two. Is the material special?

Luo Ming's gaze swept over one of the five people, and suddenly his eyes narrowed. It was probably because that person had exhausted a lot of magic power, causing the disguise technique to fail, and now his true face was revealed. It turned out to be the shop owner he had seen when he bought the demon soul at the secret shop.

He only went to that secret shop once; afterwards, he bought pills and monster materials from the Six-Linked Palace.

"So that's how it is. No wonder the Six-Linked Palace couldn't find you all these years; you were hiding right under their noses. Is this what they call 'the darkest place is under the lamp'?"

The man clearly knew he had exposed his identity, but he didn't seem to care. He stared at Luo Ming and said, "It seems that Island Master Luo has already recognized me. This is not good."

In his view, it would be a good opportunity to get rid of Luo Ming as well, without much trouble.

Upon seeing this, the burly man revealed a cruel look. "It seems Fellow Daoist Luo isn't so lucky. I was originally going to let you go, but sometimes knowing too much isn't a good thing."

Luo Ming raised an eyebrow, knowing that the other party wanted to eliminate him as well. He quickly activated his magic seals, and the array in front of him instantly changed, producing a thick fog that obscured his figure.

He had set up several formations outside the cave. Naturally, he would not confront his opponents head-on. He only hoped to use the formations to restrain them and then defeat them one by one.

"Hmph! You think you'll be safe just because you've shrunk into the formation?" The burly man sneered disdainfully. In his opinion, such an ordinary formation could be broken in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The opponent unleashed a short-bladed magical weapon, slashing directly at the protective array. The defensive array that Luo Ming had set up outside began to flicker with spiritual light under its attack, appearing quite easy to break.

"Attack together, finish this man off quickly." The burly man ordered his men. He noticed that Luo Ming did not seem flustered and was afraid that he might escape under the cover of the formation.

Under the combined attack of the five people's magical artifacts, the outer shield was broken with just one strike, which made the five people somewhat doubtful. Was it that easy?

Just as the five were somewhat surprised that Luo Ming's formation was so easily defeated, the dense fog that had been accumulating inside suddenly erupted, engulfing them before they could even react.

Luo Ming stood at the center of the formation and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everyone had entered the illusion array. He looked at the thousand-year-old spirit clam beside him—it had finally come in handy today since he had subdued the spirit beast.

The fog outside was created by him using the illusion array and the supernatural power of the thousand-year-old spirit clam. Although it did not reach the powerful function of a high-level forbidden array, it was more than enough to deal with a few Foundation Establishment cultivators.

At first, everyone thought it was just ordinary water mist in the thick fog, but their divine senses were blocked everywhere. They wanted to fly away immediately, but they found that the formation that had been broken had now closed up behind them.

They were all trapped inside.

As he gradually separated the five people using the illusion array, Luo Ming summoned his four spirit beasts and calmly instructed, "You four go play with those four."