The young man led Xiao Fei to the shady side of the desolate mountain, where thorny bushes grew thick, making passage impossible.
However, for a cultivator, no difficulty was insurmountable.
The young man flew ahead, leading the way above the thorny thicket, stopping only before a pile of rubble.
"The entrance to the mine has been buried by this pile of rocks. We need to use a遁术 (dùn shù - escape technique) to burrow in from here."
"I came too hastily this time and forgot to remind Daoist friend to prepare a 遁地符 (dùn dì fú - earth burrowing talisman). I wonder if Daoist Xiao has one on you?"
Hearing this, Xiao Fei could only shake his head.
"I apologize, but I have never made it a habit to carry earth burrowing talismans."
"No matter, I happen to have one with me. I shall give you one."
As the young man spoke, he took out two talismans from his embrace and gave one to Xiao Fei.
"Thank you, Daoist friend."
"You are too kind, Daoist friend. Just follow me."
As they spoke, the two activated their talismans and burrowed into the pile of rocks.
This abandoned mine was located very deep underground. After burrowing downwards for a long time, the two appeared in a pitch-black cave.
It was so dark that one could not see their hand in front of their face, but for cultivators with divine sense, this posed no difficulty.
Their divine sense extended deep into the cave, revealing it to be like an underground labyrinth, with countless interwoven branches.
"Daoist Xiao, this is that abandoned mine. The two ore pieces I found earlier were here. As for whether you can find Jianmu ore in the future, it will depend entirely on your luck."
Xiao Fei's divine sense searched the various ore walls but found no trace of Jianmu.
"Could Daoist friend take me to the place where you found the ore to have a look?"
The young man hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
"Daoist friend, please follow me this way."
The young man led Xiao Fei into a branch of the mine. The path ahead grew increasingly narrow, finally reaching the end of this tunnel.
"Alright, this is as far as we go."
The young man stopped, turned to face Xiao Fei, and revealed a sinister smile.
At that moment, a pair of massive hammers suddenly appeared in Xiao Fei's hand. Without a word, he charged at the young man and swung a hammer down.
"Boom!"
With a deafening roar, rubble flew everywhere. The young man's figure turned into an illusion and dissipated under his hammer.
Simultaneously, many stone figures emerged from the surrounding rock walls, converging to attack Xiao Fei.
"Hahaha... Daoist Xiao, this place has excellent feng shui, perfect for your burial ground."
The young man's voice echoed from all directions, laced with triumph.
"Who exactly are you? What is your purpose?"
"Of course, I've taken a liking to your wealth. Once I kill you, all your possessions will be mine."
"And your beautiful wife will also be well looked after by someone else."
"Rest assured on your journey!"
These stone figures that emerged from the rock walls were all at the Nascent Soul stage in strength.
Xiao Fei swung his great hammers continuously. With one strike, a stone figure was smashed into pieces.
With another strike, the heads of two stone figures burst.
"Boom boom boom..."
The sounds of explosions continued as stone figures were smashed to smithereens under Xiao Fei's hammers.
However, these stone figures seemed endless. The shattered fragments that fell to the ground would quickly reassemble into new stone figures, continuing to charge at him.
"Hahaha..."
"The stone figures in my grand formation are inexhaustible. We can kill them slowly. I have plenty of patience to wait here for ten days or half a month."
The young man's voice continued to echo, but his figure remained unseen.
His plan was ingenious: by simply using the stone figures to wear Xiao Fei down, he wouldn't have to lift a finger. When Xiao Fei's spiritual power was depleted, it would be easy for him to strike and kill him.
Xiao Fei swept his great hammers, smashing over a dozen approaching stone figures into pieces.
At the same time, he flicked his hand, and dozens of identical puppets appeared around him.
Upon their appearance, these puppets also unleashed their magical treasures and engaged the stone figures in battle. For the moment, neither side had the upper hand.
Xiao Fei could finally calm himself and observe the grand formation that trapped him.
The core of this formation was buried deep within the rock walls. As long as the formation remained unbroken, these stone figures would be generated endlessly.
To forcibly break the formation, one would first need to smash open the rock walls with great hammers to find the formation cores and destroy them.
Xiao Fei then sat down cross-legged, took a sip of his millennia-old spiritual wine, and began to circulate his Law of Gathering and Dispersion.
As the Law of Gathering and Dispersion circulated, a domain of laws gradually formed around him, continuously expanding outwards.
As the domain spread, some stone figures were enveloped by the Law of Gathering and Dispersion.
Under the influence of the law, these stone figures collapsed one after another, scattering into a pile of rubble, unable to reform into stone figures again.
"You... what law is this?"
The young cultivator's voice, filled with shock, transmitted over. Simultaneously, he unleashed his own laws, attempting to counter Xiao Fei's.
However, his laws were utterly incapable of withstanding Xiao Fei's Law of Gathering and Dispersion.
His domain had barely taken shape before it was instantly annihilated.
With the vast amount of Enlightenment Spring Water in Xiao Fei's spatial dimension, his comprehension of laws had advanced by leaps and bounds over the past century.
The laws of ordinary Soul Transformation cultivators were no match for him.
Xiao Fei's law domain continued to expand outwards. Dead matter like rock walls could not impede the penetration of his laws.
His law domain covered the entire formation. Wherever his laws reached, all the stone figures shattered, their fragments scattering across the ground.
At this point, he had discovered the twelve formation cores within the range of his laws.
With a thought, twelve treasures flew out from the formation cores and landed in Xiao Fei's hands, which he then stored in his storage bag.
The grand formation was broken. The young man, who had been hidden within the formation, revealed himself, but he was already suppressed by Xiao Fei's domain and unable to move.
"Now, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Xiao Fei grabbed the young man's neck with a large hand.
"Daoist friend, spare my life! I was merely momentarily deluded!"
This young man was quite afraid of death. The moment he was exposed, he immediately surrendered and begged Xiao Fei for mercy.
"It seems you won't tell the truth unless I show you some consequences."
As Xiao Fei spoke, he exerted force with one hand and barbarically tore off one of the young man's arms.
"Ah!"
Xiao Fei did not stop there. He then tore off the young man's other arm and a leg.
"This is just the beginning. I have many more methods for tormenting the soul that I haven't used yet."
"Daoist Xiao, I'll talk! I'll talk! It was all..."
The young man ultimately couldn't bear Xiao Fei's torment and was about to confess.
However, just as he was about to reveal the truth, he let out a scream and then ceased to breathe.
Xiao Fei checked with his divine sense; the man was thoroughly dead.
This was not a place to linger. Xiao Fei immediately collected the young man's corpse into his spatial dimension and used his earth burrowing technique to escape.
However, the moment he reappeared amidst a patch of thorny bushes, a flying sword descended upon him from above.
Good heavens!
They wouldn't even let him catch his breath.
A bronze bowl immediately materialized in front of Xiao Fei.
"Boom!" With a loud sound, the bronze bowl blocked the attack for Xiao Fei, but it was also sent tumbling away by the flying sword.
Xiao Fei instantly teleported hundreds of feet away, finally having the opportunity to assess his attacker.
It was a late-stage Soul Transformation expert, wearing a black ghost mask that concealed his divine sense and aura.
"Who are you people? Why are you attacking me?"
The masked man continued to control his flying sword, slashing at Xiao Fei with fierce and merciless intent.
Xiao Fei continued to defend against the flying sword with the bronze bowl.
However, in his hand, a red short sword, barely three inches long, appeared and shot out.
The sword moved like a shooting star, piercing towards the masked man.
A ring of law domain immediately formed around the masked man, attempting to defend against the red short sword.
Unexpectedly, his laws were far inferior to Xiao Fei's, who was only at the early stage of Soul Transformation. Furthermore, the petals of the "Zhu Yan Bai Gu" flower itself carried the power of laws.
His law defense was pierced by the short sword, and his body was impaled.
The moment he was pierced by the red short sword, the masked man felt a heavy blow to his soul, and his body rapidly weakened.
He made a decisive move, not even bothering to recall the flying sword engaged in combat with Xiao Fei, and turned to flee into the distance.
Xiao Fei was unhurried. He took out the Demon Dragon Bow, drew it, and nocked an arrow.
"Whoosh!"
An arrow shot out, striking the masked man squarely in the back.
"Boom!"
The masked man's body exploded into countless fragments, dying in a bloody mess.