Above the ruins of the Xia Manor.

  The Xuan Dan Sect disciples flew through the air one after another.

  Because Xia Li's divine thought probe just now had carried hostility—that was practically a declaration of war.

  The first Xuan Dan Sect disciple to arrive, upon seeing Xia Li's face, immediately and joyfully informed the other approaching fellow disciples.

  They'd discovered their target, Xia Li. They should prepare for combat in advance.

  In response, Xia Li didn't block them.

  To be precise, after the Heaven Chip's analysis and calculations, it determined blocking was unnecessary—it would reduce the efficiency of completely annihilating the enemy.

  After a brief wait...

  The first three Foundation Establishment disciples charged directly with swords drawn. Though Xuan Dan Sect specialized in pills, its disciples' combat prowess was not lacking.

  Sensing the commotion, quite a few rogue cultivators had gathered to watch the spectacle.

  Many rogue cultivators naturally recognized Xia Li. Strictly speaking, Xia Li had done them a favor—the Surging Qi Pills were cheap and effective. Unfortunately, they'd been seized by Xuan Dan Sect.

  Xuan Dan Sect had directly claimed the Surging Qi Pill formula was stolen from them, forbidding other forces from refining it, threatening death to any who disobeyed.

  "It's Pill Master Xia. Why did he come back?"

  "Unwise. Has anger clouded his judgment?"

  "Pity—another defiant young talent is about to fall."

  For the rogue cultivators, scenes like this were all too common. The great sects that dominated territories had grown accustomed to tyranny; such events played out daily in the cultivation world.

  But just as the three Foundation Establishment disciples' swords were about to pierce Xia Li from different angles, an invisible barrier stopped them. The sword tips halted beside Xia Li, unable to advance an inch further.

  Then...

  Xia Li raised his right prosthetic arm.

  Shotgun module, fire, Gale Bullet!

  A dense burst of compressed air blasted from Xia Li's palm. The disciple struck by Xia Li's attack instantly exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

  This sight made the rogue cultivators involuntarily swallow hard...

  But it wasn't over!

  Xia Li swung his arm—both to reload and to attack. His arm struck another Foundation Establishment disciple's head, and that disciple's skull was knocked clean off his body, flying away like a meteor.

  The last remaining Foundation Establishment disciple showed a look of terror and tried to retreat and flee, but Xia Li's hand was faster.

  Already gripping his head!

  Cold, hard...

  Nothing like flesh and blood.

  Then...

  Lightning burst from Xia Li's hand. The disciple immediately convulsed while emitting suppressed, strange cries. After his body went completely limp, Xia Li tossed him aside like garbage.

  "Insolent wretch!"

  Suddenly, a massive fireball hurtled toward Xia Li. A Golden Core disciple had arrived, though sadly he hadn't managed to save his pitiful junior brother from Xia Li's grasp.

  The fierce flames were Dan Fire—also that disciple's divine ability. After the fireball landed and exploded, it didn't extinguish but rapidly spread, forming a sea of flames.

  In Wind Crane City, Foundation Establishment represented the pinnacle of combat power. Golden Core cultivators were called True Masters—great cultivators that many would never see in their entire lives.

  Now that a Golden Core had acted, the rogue cultivators could only feel awe and fear, retreating lest they be caught by the Dan Fire.

  But one rogue cultivator who stood too close caught fire anyway. After being engulfed, he could only kneel in agony and kowtow to the Golden Core cultivator.

  "Spare me, True Master, spare me... I'm innocent, I... I..."

  "Spare me..."

  That poor rogue cultivator's cries for mercy quickly faded to nothing as his entire body rapidly charred in the flames.

  "Hmph! When we superior cultivators duel, is it something you ants can watch? Begone at once!"

  The Golden Core disciple felt no guilt whatsoever for his indiscriminate killing. Instead, he felt a hidden pride in his heart—this was precisely what motivated him to keep growing stronger.

  But then...

  At the center of the flame domain, heavily shrouded in raging fire, a figure suddenly moved.

  A beam of brilliant light pierced the sky, resembling both sword light and starlight.

  That Golden Core disciple now had only his lower half still floating in the air. His upper half had mysteriously vanished.

  The remaining corpse quickly fell to the ground with a "splat," like a heap of rotten meat hitting earth.

  All the watching rogue cultivators felt their hair stand on end.

  Golden Core—in their eyes, invincible. A noble Golden Core master from a great sect, killed in one strike by some unknown means.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Instant kill of a Golden Core!!

  "Xia... Pill Master Xia, he..."

  "If he can instantly kill Golden Core, he could wound Nascent Soul. Heavens..."

  "What technique was that?"

  The rogue cultivators couldn't understand, nor could they possibly understand.

  That was Xia Li's sniper rifle—the large sniper called Star Gleam. Xia Li had preloaded it with a Spirit-Breaker Bullet.

  One could only say the Spirit-Tech sniper lived up to its name—one shot, one kill!

  The other Foundation Establishment and Golden Core disciples of Xuan Dan Sect were still en route. Xia Li walked out of the fire, the roaring flames not touching him at all. After leaving the flame domain, he simply raised his right arm high.

  Then...

  Snapped his fingers.

  A series of thunderous explosions suddenly resounded near the battlefield.

  The phase ring had directly teleported plasma grenades in front of the Xuan Dan Sect disciples, detonating them the instant they appeared.

  Within a thousand-meter radius.

  Those spectating Qi Refining disciples of Xuan Dan Sect who had been looking for opportunities to act all died horrible deaths. Two Foundation Establishment disciples who had arrived earlier but hadn't dared act rashly were also injured by the explosions.

  The Heaven Chip calculated that one plasma grenade wasn't enough, so it projected shockwave grenades above their heads, creating a thunderstorm that finished off those two Foundation Establishment disciples.

  The phase ring...

  Was both a storage tool and a weapon. The phase ring's range of influence was a minefield, a bombing zone. Xia Li could drop a grenade beside an opponent and detonate it at any time.

  With this, over half of Xuan Dan Sect's disciples stationed in Wind Crane City were dead or wounded.

  But Xia Li had no intention of stopping.

  The remaining Xuan Dan Sect disciples had actually gone into hiding. Even the two remaining Golden Core disciples had hidden themselves.

  But could they really hide?

  Liked to hide?

  Xia Li aimed the Star Gleam sniper rifle directly at a location.

  【Phase Bullet generating at full power...】

  【Ten, nine, eight, seven...】

  Once locked by the Heaven Chip, unless the target fled the lock range or used technology specifically countering the Heaven Chip, they would remain perpetually tracked.

  Walls became transparent in Xia Li's vision. The target was over three thousand meters away, nearly on the other side of the city. But so what?

  【Three, two, one】

  【Loading complete】

  Then, a spatial fluctuation violently erupted before the muzzle. The bullet passed through the void, appearing directly behind that Golden Core disciple and instantly exploding his skull.

  Three Golden Core cultivators—two now dead.

  The last remaining Golden Core sensed that one of his junior brothers had been killed by spatial means. Where would he dare continue hiding?

  He immediately burst out, flying from the city alley at the fastest speed of his life to appear before Xia Li, directly throwing a pitch-black pill at him.

  A cloud of poison mist spread.

  But Xia Li didn't even blink. His eyes had the Sky-Eye Retina for protection; purifiers had been implanted in his nasal passages and trachea.

  After throwing the poison pill, the Golden Core disciple confidently tried to press his advantage, piercing through the poison mist with his sword aimed at Xia Li's forehead.

  No words.

  Xia Li simply clenched his fist and punched toward the sword tip.

  The next moment—sword shattered!

  The Martial Arm: Steel Breaker was extremely hard, having reached the level of a magical artifact.

  To outsiders, this looked like shattering a spirit artifact barehanded.

  The broken sword fragments pierced back into the Golden Core disciple's body, and then the punch's momentum continued, striking his head directly.

  No sound, not even a scream, not even blood mist.

  His head had simply vanished.

  This was the Steel Breaker's built-in technique, Crashing Star. The instantaneous power it unleashed was enough to create a momentary vacuum, vaporizing anything caught in it.

  With this, all three of Xuan Dan Sect's Golden Core disciples had perished.

  But the killing continued, because not all locked targets had disappeared.

  Xia Li was merciful, but the Heaven Chip showed no mercy.

  Xia Li would feel uncomfortable facing brutal, bloody slaughter, but the Heaven Chip would not.

  Xia Li's command was to annihilate all enemies.

  So the Heaven Chip would coldly execute until the last one fell.

  【Remaining targets: five Foundation Establishment, twelve Qi Refining.】

  【Positions continuously locked】

  【Highest priority targets eliminated】

  【Continuing to eliminate remaining targets】