Chapter 116.1: Dao Shi’er Surrounded; Four Thousand Cauldrons Stage Experts! (I)

Hmm? There’s a northern barbarian squad eight li to the northeast. There are four of them in total. Three are at the Divine Strength Realm and—wait, one is only at the Organ Refinement Stage? That doesn’t make sense. Based on their habits, they won’t bring deadweight like that.

No… he’s hiding his aura. That “Organ Refinement” martial artist is probably a Divine Strength expert in disguise. We’d better not mess with them.

There’s also another squad to the southwest. One of them is ranked ninety-ninth on the Divine Strength Rankings. Ninety-ninth? Is it a coincidence? Compared to me at rank sixty-first, that’s far too low.

But who can say for sure whether there isn’t someone stronger hiding among them? Are they trying to use a low-rank martial artist to make me lower my guard?

Lu Changsheng shook his head. He remained standing where he was and activated his Wind Sense Intent to survey everything within several li. The northern barbarians had become cunning. They spared no effort, even resorting to disguises and concealment, all for the sake of drawing out Dao Shi’er.

Lu Changsheng had no intention of falling for their schemes, but those walking by the river would inevitably get their shoes wet.

One day, he would certainly encounter a formidable northern barbarian expert, but if he could keep postponing that day, then it’d be his victory.

Let me take a look at this squad… Hmm, I don’t recognize any of them. They’re all at the Divine Strength Realm, but none of them seem to be from the Divine Strength Rankings. Still, no harm in watching a little longer. I’ll tail them and see how things develop.

Lu Changsheng had come up with a modus operandi. Upon choosing his target, he would follow them from afar. Since he could observe them from several li away, he could trail them from afar without being detected.

As long as he followed them long enough, they would eventually reveal a flaw, regardless of how good their disguises were. If he couldn’t find any irregularity after several hours of observation, he’d conclude that there was no problem with them and make his move.

This modus operandi couldn’t guarantee his safety, but he could still ensure a certain level of safety for himself.

Mmhm. I have followed them for four hours. They’ve made a move three times, but nothing seemed unusual. I guess they really are just ordinary Divine Strength martial artists. I act now!

Lu Changsheng decisively rushed forward at full speed. Someone among the squad sensed him, and their face changed drastically.

“It’s Dao Shi’er! He specializes in hunting weaker squads. He’s coming for us! Run!”

“That damned Dao Shi’er is like a curse. He shows up out of nowhere to destroy a squad. Seems like it’s our turn to get destroyed.”

“We were already being careful by only making a move once every three days, but we still ran into Dao Shi’er! Why?!”

Just then, the world seemed to darken. The boundless grasslands around them seemed to transform into an endless starry sky. The Divine Strength martial artists immediately understood what they were facing.

“That’s the Starry Sky Waterfall Intent… We’re trapped.”

“Dao Shi’er, you really are shameless! You only pick on the weak squads! If you’ve got the guts, go after someone else! There are plenty of teams hunting you down out there!”

“Yeah! You’re nothing but a coward. You don’t dare to face real experts; you only know how to bully the weak!”

Knowing they couldn’t escape, the three of them simply cursed out loud.

Lu Changsheng couldn’t care less. A coward? He had already killed hundreds or even thousands of Divine Strength martial artists, so how could such words still affect him? As for challenging the strong, only a fool would do that.

Was he supposed to go straight to Tian Xin? That’d be foolish and suicidal. Lu Changsheng was neither foolish nor suicidal. He was a hunter, and a hunter just had to keep hunting prey.

CLANG!

Lu Changsheng drew his saber, and a streak of crimson saber light tore through the air. The saber light then split into three and pierced the three northern barbarians.

Splurt!

The three northern barbarians let out miserable screams as they were sliced cleanly in half.

THUD!

The corpses fell to the ground. Lu Changsheng stepped forward and severed their heads with practiced ease.

Hm? Looks like I’ve been found, Lu Changsheng thought. Several li away, a northern barbarian squad seemed to have sensed the disturbance and was now rushing toward him at full speed.

He didn’t know how they had sensed what happened here, but perhaps some of them had an extraordinary way to sense such subtle changes. More importantly, there was a Divine Strength Rankings expert among that squad.

Lu Changsheng had no intention of staying behind to clash head-on with such an opponent.

I’m done for today. Lu Changsheng decided. He carried the heads and made his way to Beiling City. Not long after Lu Changsheng’s departure, a squad arrived and saw the three headless corpses on the ground.

“All of them were killed with a single saber strike. The attacker was fast, precise, and ruthless. These wounds and the aura we sensed earlier… There’s no mistaking it! The attacker must be that Dao Shi’er of the Da Yu Dynasty,” said one of them upon examining the corpses’ cause of death.

“So it’s Dao Shi’er again… we’re too late.”

“He comes and goes like a ghost. He always slips past all our squads by the narrowest margin. How does he keep pulling that off?”

“We were just a little slower. If we just kill Dao Shi’er, we won’t have to fight on the Northern Region Battlefield for many years, thanks to the massive bounty on his head.”

They felt regretful. By now, Dao Shi’er had stirred up both hatred and resentment from the northern barbarians. He also had the highest bounty throughout history on his head. Even Song Wuqing’s bounty paled in comparison to his.

For many northern barbarian powerhouses, killing Dao Shi’er and claiming that reward meant several years of freedom from the brutal fighting on the Northern Region Battlefield.

The massiveness of the bounty was enough to make anyone’s scalp tingle.

Unfortunately for them, Dao Shi’er remained elusive. Many people claimed they had almost tracked him down and that they had been just one step away, but none of them had ever taken that final step to reach him.

“Dao Shi’er isn’t that easy to catch. I think he has a special way to sense us even from afar.”

“Forget it. If we can’t find Dao Shi’er, we’ll just hunt other martial artists instead.”

With that, the squad withdrew at once.

By then, Lu Changsheng was already outside Beiling City.

They didn’t follow me. Lu Changsheng finally let out a breath of relief and walked straight into Beiling City with three heads.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep