Chapter Fifty-Two: Commanded to Kill Three

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“They’ve finally made a move.” Zhou Changwang’s expression shifted slightly. Such a commotion clearly meant many people were involved.

“What’s going on?”
“This is bad, someone’s attacking the market!”

At that moment, someone shouted loudly.

Immediately, the entire outer district erupted in chaos.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Deafening roars shook the air, so close it seemed they were right outside the window. Someone was violently shattering the protective formations of the houses in the outer district, triggering the alarms built into them and unleashing blaring warning sounds.

Normally, any attack on a house’s protective formation would incite the surrounding cultivators to band together and fight back. But now, one after another, the sounds of shattered formations echoed without pause.

“It’s the raiders! All the raiders are out—they’re killing people openly! Run for your lives…”

A frantic voice cried out, accompanied by the agonized screams of the dying, throwing the entire outer market into even greater turmoil.

Zhou Changwang’s heart pounded wildly as he grew tense all over. One hand clutched a stack of talismans, the other gripped his sword tightly, while his magical flying sword hung at his waist, ready to be summoned at a moment’s thought.

He moved to the window and peered outside.

In the distance, the direction of the market blazed with dazzling light, bright as day, flaring on and off, each pulse accompanied by deep thunderous blasts.

Close by, people were running everywhere—some fleeing in panic, others giving chase, hunting their prey. Whenever a house with closed doors was spotted, attackers unleashed spells, breaking through the protective formation before storming inside to kill.

Chaos, carnage—

Zhou Changwang had never realized how many people lived around him. In the confusion, even neighbors who had always been mild and friendly could suddenly turn violent, transforming into marauding thieves.

Zhou Changwang saw it with his own eyes: two people fleeing together, one suddenly turning and killing the other to steal their possessions.

Boom!

Suddenly, Zhou Changwang saw the house across the street—Qian Xiaoyue’s house—under attack.

In the next instant, the door was blasted open.

Two or three cultivators rushed inside.

“What should I do? They’ve broken into my house!” Qian Xiaoyue’s panicked voice called out—her house was so close, and the commotion so loud, she couldn’t help but hear it.

“What do you have in your room?” Zhou Changwang asked hurriedly.

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“Just some materials and talisman papers, worth maybe a dozen low-grade spirit stones,” Qian Xiaoyue replied, not showing much distress over the loss.

Cultivators usually kept their most valuable items on their person, trusting no one else. Just like Zhang Fenghua and Wang Chang from before.

“Then get ready to fight. If they find nothing in your room, they’ll definitely come for mine next.” Zhou Changwang spoke in a low voice, quickly beginning to cast spells.

Spiritual power surged through him as he rapidly formed runic structures with his hands.

One breath, two breaths—barely two breaths had passed before his spell was complete.

In the next moment, a shield of spiritual light enveloped him—a body-protection spell.

Then he cast a lightness spell, and under its effect he felt as light as a swallow. With a small leap, he could cover several yards effortlessly.

On the other side, Qian Xiaoyue also began casting defensive spells, though her speed was noticeably slower than Zhou Changwang’s. Only after he’d finished both spells did her own take full form—a fire-type defense spell, Fire Veil.

As expected, those cultivators soon ransacked Qian Xiaoyue’s house, then headed straight for Zhou Changwang’s.

“Fellow Daoists, this is my residence. Please do not disturb,” Zhou Changwang called out calmly as the three approached.

They paused briefly.

All three were at the third level of Qi Refinement—no weaklings for the outer district, but wary of crossing someone truly formidable. They were here to loot, not to fight a dangerous battle.

“No need to worry, I know who lives here—a spirit farmer with little strength,” one of them snickered.

Relaxed by this, the three wasted no time, one of them immediately hurling a talisman.

Boom!

An ice arrow formed in an instant, smashing into the door.

The defensive formation over the door broke apart with a deafening crash.

But on this chaotic night, such alarms were all too common, lost in the cacophony of destruction.

“Go!” Zhou Changwang struck at that very moment.

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The moment his identity was revealed, Zhou Changwang knew there would be no peaceful resolution.

Sure enough, as one of them triggered an ice arrow talisman and blasted his door, he instantly activated the stack of talismans in his hand.

These were fireball talismans, which he had painstakingly crafted during his recent secluded cultivation—a sign he’d finally mastered the basics of talisman-crafting.

A flurry of fireball talismans ignited at once.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen fireballs shot forth like a storm of meteors toward the attackers.

With a thought, Zhou Changwang snapped his fingers.

A sharp metallic whistle—he unleashed his Geng Metal Finger attack.

The three cultivators had just rushed forward, but were suddenly confronted by the barrage of fireballs. Though startled, they didn’t panic; with defensive talismans of their own, they could withstand fireballs and pressed on.

Boom!

One man’s protective aura suddenly shuddered and shattered. Blood spattered from the top of his head.

Without pausing, Zhou Changwang unleashed a second Geng Metal Finger, and then a third.

Swish! Swish!

Two more metallic rays struck, piercing the heads of the other two cultivators.

The silent Geng Metal Finger had become a harbinger of death. Even though both had defensive barriers, and after seeing their companion fall tried to activate escape talismans, how could they be faster than this lightning-quick attack?

Twin flashes shattered their shields and punched clean through their skulls.

In the span of a breath, the three cultivators—so aggressive moments before—were struck down, one after another.

Beside him, Qian Xiaoyue had just finished casting her object-control spell and was preparing to send her flying daggers into battle. Now, seeing the scene before her, she stared at Zhou Changwang in utter disbelief.

This—this was too fast, too terrifying!

First a flurry of fireball talismans to distract, then, one after another, a deadly finger strike for each—three Qi Refinement level three cultivators dispatched instantly.

Clean, decisive, unimaginably swift.