Let alone the gap in the quality of their cultivation techniques, their proficiency with techniques was far inferior to his.

Yang Linghu possessed exceptional talent for cultivating techniques. Though currently only at the second layer of Qi Gathering, he had already cultivated the Brute Force Art to the third realm. He had thoroughly mastered all its basic stances, and their power had surged immensely.

This was his hidden trump card, a secret known to no one but himself.

In the span of a few breaths, the three exchanged over a dozen moves. Zhang Chen and Liao Feng grew increasingly alarmed.

They had assumed their numerical advantage would allow them to suppress Yang Linghu right from the start. Unexpectedly, the man remained entirely unflustered, handling their attacks with effortless ease.

"What is going on with this guy? Where did he get such rich combat experience to handle all of this?"

The longer Zhang Chen fought, the more alarmed he became. A grim premonition took hold, his intuition warning him against dragging this battle out any further.

"Delay breeds complications. I need to end this quickly!"

With this thought in mind, the gaze Zhang Chen leveled at Liao Feng began to change.

"Keeping this man alive will only bring trouble. I might as well eliminate him today, lest my collusion with the wandering bandits be exposed."

Zhang Chen was a truly treacherous man. The moment he made his decision, he acted upon it.

He suddenly halted his steps, and in the blink of an eye, a scorching fireball condensed before his chest.

"Go!"

"Boom!"

The fireball whistled through the air, smashing into both Liao Feng and Yang Linghu before exploding with a deafening roar.

"Pfft-Agh!!"

Liao Feng was entirely focused on his fierce exchange with Yang Linghu. Caught completely off guard, his back took the brunt of the heavy blow, causing him to spew a mouthful of blood and cry out in agony.

Yang Linghu had not expected Zhang Chen to be so ruthless either, directly launching an indiscriminate attack with total disregard for Liao Feng.

Caught unprepared, the right side of his body was also struck by the explosive flames, leaving behind a nasty wound.

Seeing the sudden shift in the situation, Yang Linghu reacted with lightning speed. He immediately grabbed the heavily injured Liao Feng and dragged him forward as a shield.

"Boom!"

A second fireball shot toward them. Liao Feng, his mind still reeling, felt the blistering heat rushing straight at his face. His eyes snapped open, and absolute fury surged into his heart. He immediately began to curse.

"Zhang Chen, you beast! I'll f*ck your ancestors! You motherf-"

"Bang!"

The second fireball violently detonated, cutting off his enraged curses. The blast reduced the front of Liao Feng's body to a bloody, mangled mess, instantly knocking him unconscious.

The shockwave forced Yang Linghu several steps back. Feeling the considerable might behind the fire technique, he guessed that Zhang Chen was relying on some kind of hidden treasure.

"Tch, a stray dog dares to bark."

Zhang Chen curled his lip, completely dismissing Liao Feng. He raised his hands once more, conjuring another pair of fiery orbs.

His face was masked in cold indifference. The gaze he leveled at Yang Linghu was like looking at a dead man.

With the Treasure Jade on his person, even a third layer Qi Gathering cultivator might not be his match, let alone Yang Linghu.

"Run first."

Without a shred of hesitation, Yang Linghu tossed the unconscious Liao Feng aside, turned, and fled.

"Where are you going! Die for me!"

Two fireballs whistled through the air, but Yang Linghu was already prepared. He threw his body to the side, narrowly evading the attack.

Pushing his spiritual power to the absolute limit, he pumped his legs and sprinted wildly toward Baishi Town.

Naturally, Zhang Chen refused to let him escape and pursued closely from behind.

"Heh, run! Let's see how far your spiritual power can sustain you at that pace!"

Even without a Talisman, Zhang Chen still had the Treasure Jade to continuously replenish his spiritual power. The moment Yang Linghu couldn't run anymore, it would be his death!

Long after the two had disappeared into the distance, a trembling figure crept out from the woods behind them.

"B... Big Brother..."

The scar-faced bandit had witnessed everything. He stumbled forward and dropped beside Liao Feng.

"Urgh... ngh..."

Liao Feng's consciousness was slipping away; he could only let out faint groans.

Seeing his miserable state, the scar-faced bandit immediately broke into a sorrowful wail.

"Big Brother! My Big Brother!"

Unlike the effeminate man, he and Liao Feng shared a true brotherhood forged in life-or-death struggles.

Seeing Liao Feng suffer such a calamity filled his heart with unendurable grief.

"Big Brother, I will save you. It'll be fine! I'll definitely save you!"

He carefully hoisted Liao Feng onto his back, then limped away in the opposite direction of Zhang Chen and Yang Linghu.

On the other side, the pursuer and his prey had already covered a vast distance.

"He isn't as fast as before. It seems the Talisman boosting his speed has worn off."

Yang Linghu analyzed the situation as he ran. If that's the case, then all he has left is that strange treasure on his person.

He still wasn't entirely clear on the exact functions of Zhang Chen's treasure, but he could make some rough deductions.

Probing and amplifying the power of techniques-these two abilities had already been demonstrated.

"Knowing that my family's cultivation techniques are formidable, yet still chasing me down like this... that means he is confident in his spiritual power reserves. It must also have the ability to restore spiritual power."

Yang Linghu thought to himself, I can't just keep running like this. If my spiritual power runs dry by the end, I won't even have the capital left to fight for my life.

As he sprinted wildly, his eyes darted around, surveying his surroundings.

In that case, he needed a suitable battlefield.

This battlefield needed to provide adequate cover without being too open.

With this thought in mind, Yang Linghu intentionally steered away from the woodlands, angling his path toward a stretch of undulating terrain filled with hills and ravines.

As he ran, he carefully calculated his remaining spiritual power, ensuring he kept enough in reserve for battle.

Just as Yang Linghu began to consider whether he should force an immediate fight, a dense stone forest appeared in the distance.

His eyes lit up. Pivoting sharply, he charged straight toward it.

Yang Linghu plunged into the stone forest first, instantly concealing his aura and hiding himself.

Zhang Chen arrived moments later. Finding no trace of his quarry, he brought out his Treasure Jade, preparing to probe the area.

"Swish!"

In that split second, Yang Linghu violently lunged out, his strike aimed squarely at the treasure clutched in Zhang Chen's hand.

"Thud!"

Yang Linghu felt as though his fist had slammed into a wall of copper and iron. A faint green barrier had materialized, completely enveloping Zhang Chen.

"Hmph, you think you can ambush this young master?"

Zhang Chen sneered coldly. Whirling around, he unleashed a ruthless barrage of attacks upon Yang Linghu.

After forcefully weathering three explosive fireballs, Yang Linghu finally leveraged the dense cluster of stone pillars to shake off Zhang Chen.

"These blasted pillars are truly a nuisance!"

With his fireballs repeatedly blocked by the stone pillars, Zhang Chen lost his patience.

Facing the direction where Yang Linghu had vanished, he conjured a half-man-tall pillar of fire and viciously smashed it down.

"Boom!"

A deafening explosion ripped through the air, sending dust billowing and jagged rubble spraying in all directions.

Yang Linghu seized the chance to hurl several massive boulders directly at Zhang Chen, while flattening his own body behind one of the rocks.

The instant Zhang Chen raised his hand to blast the boulders apart, he seized the precious opening.

Brute Force Art, third realm! Spiritual power pushed to the absolute limit!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

In a flash, Yang Linghu threw three devastating, consecutive punches, slamming heavily against the green barrier.

The sheer concussive force radiating from his fists shattered every stone pillar within three zhang, a testament to their raw destructive might.

Zhang Chen flinched at the sight. His instincts screamed at him to retreat, but remembering the protection of his Treasure Jade, he arrested his steps.

"The Treasure Jade's protection cannot be broken even by a third layer Qi Gathering cultivator. What could this Yang family kid possibly do to me?" he thought to himself.

But in the very next moment, as Yang Linghu's fourth punch crashed down, a web of cracks bloomed across the barrier!

"Crack!"

Every hair on Zhang Chen's body stood on end. Panic seizing his heart, he hastily scrambled backward.

But unfortunately, had he retreated a moment earlier, he might have successfully widened the gap.

Now, with four punches thrown, Yang Linghu's momentum was fully cemented. The fierce, overbearing pressure of his strikes pulled at Zhang Chen, rendering him unable to flee, forcing him into desperate close-quarters combat.

When it came to fist and kick techniques, he was worlds apart from Yang Linghu. After a mere handful of exchanges, he found himself forced into a corner.

Yang Linghu pressed his advantage, letting his fists rain down without a single pause.

Finally, with a powerful knee strike, he violently tore through the barrier's remaining defenses.

Without hesitating, he pulled back his fist, aiming a blow directly at Zhang Chen's head.

Buzz-

But right at that moment, Yang Linghu was hit by a sudden, intense wave of dizziness, his body losing its balance.

Zhang Chen instantly seized the opening to launch a counterattack, blasting Yang Linghu through the air with a flurry of fireballs.