With Old Man Longsword's cooperation, it still took Hongfu quite some effort to unravel the illusion. The steep cliffs vanished, revealing a path leading into the mountain forest before their eyes.
"There really is a path up the mountain here," Hongfu said.
Old Man Longsword was even more impatient. "Quick, let's go up and take a look!"
For something to be hidden with such painstaking effort, there had to be an extraordinary treasure concealed within.
Unable to restrain himself, Old Man Longsword unexpectedly dashed forward first.
Hongfu found it a bit strange that Old Man Longsword was in such a rush, but she didn't have time to dwell on it and could only quickly follow him.
Old Man Longsword moved at a rapid pace, his mind and eyes entirely focused on the great treasure hidden deep in the mountain forest, completely oblivious to the strangeness of the mountain path beneath his feet.
Hongfu followed closely behind, her brows slightly furrowed. She felt that this sudden mountain path was far too quiet—so quiet that even the chirping of insects and birds had vanished without a trace. A faint, oppressive aura was slowly enveloping them, carried by the wind flowing through the mountain forest.
The two had only advanced a few dozen steps when the originally solid dirt beneath their feet suddenly emitted a bizarre azure glow. Immediately after, the ground began to tremble violently. Loose rocks tumbled down from the mountain walls on both sides, and the surrounding trees seemed to come alive. Their trunks twisted and stretched madly, while dense clusters of branches, armed with sharp wooden thorns, lashed out at the pair.
"It's a formation!" Hongfu exclaimed in alarm.
She leaped into the air, her sleeves fluttering as a crimson whip materialized in her grasp. She lashed out several red blades of light, severing the thick branches striking at her. However, the moment those branches were cut down, new ones instantly sprouted in their place, growing even denser. There was simply no end to them.
Old Man Longsword's expression drastically changed as well, all his previous eagerness vanishing. He drew the sword concealed within his umbrella, weaving layers of sword flourishes to block the branches closing in on him. But the power of the formation was far from as simple as he had imagined.
The ground beneath their feet suddenly split open into several deep fissures, and a ghastly white, freezing mist surged out from within. Wherever it passed, the vegetation instantly froze into solid ice. Even the air became bone-chillingly cold; the slightest contact would send frost piercing into their meridians.
"This is a trapping and killing formation, and a high-tier one at that! We've fallen into a trap!" Old Man Longsword said sternly, cold sweat seeping from his forehead. Relying on his profound cultivation, he continuously unleashed fierce waves of sword qi, attempting to shatter the formation's barrier.
Hongfu dared not be careless either. She channeled all her cultivation, surrounded by a faint halo of light that blocked all the incoming cold and branch attacks. But the formation's power was only growing stronger. Suddenly, countless sharp wind blades rained down from the sky, mixed with icicles, overwhelming them from all directions.
The two stood back-to-back, fending off the onslaught. Their spiritual energy was depleting rapidly, and beads of sweat covered their foreheads. Their breathing grew increasingly heavy, and their clothes were already soaked with sweat. Their arms had been slashed open in several places by the wind blades, blood seeping out, but they had absolutely no time to tend to their wounds.
Old Man Longsword's swordsmanship gradually grew sluggish, and the circulation of his spiritual energy became increasingly difficult. He gritted his teeth and roared, "Who in the world set up this formation? How could it be so vicious!"
Hongfu's face was pale, her lower lip bitten tightly as she put everything she had into maintaining her defenses. She cursed inwardly; the illusion from earlier had been suspicious to begin with. Looking at it now, from the moment they unraveled it, they had already stepped straight into someone else's trap.
Just as the two had exhausted more than half of their spiritual energy, struggling to cope and revealing a slight flaw in their defenses, the sound of wind being pierced suddenly rang out from the dense forest behind them.
From the shadows of the thick forest, a figure clad in green slipped out as silently as a ghost.
The young man had a handsome face, but his eyes were as cold as ice.
He held a black spear in his hand, its shaft gleaming with a dark, chilling light. Taking advantage of the brief moment Hongfu and Old Man Longsword were distracted by the formation's crisis, his figure flashed.
Old Man Longsword instinctively sensed the danger, but the perilous green figure had already arrived behind him. The spear tip, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, thrust straight toward the vital spot at his back.
It was already too late to dodge.
Old Man Longsword didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. A flash of ruthlessness and resolution crossed his eyes as he violently reached back, locking his grip onto Hongfu's arm, and viciously yanked her behind him.
Caught completely off guard, Hongfu was pulled directly between Old Man Longsword and the black spear.
In an instant, blood splattered.
The icy spear tip plunged viciously into Hongfu's chest. Blood instantly sprayed out, splashing onto Old Man Longsword's sleeve.
As excruciating pain washed over her, the massive impact sent Hongfu stumbling to her knees. She looked up at Old Man Longsword, her eyes filled with nothing but monstrous hatred.
"Old Man Longsword, you—"
But the old man didn't even wait for her to finish. Using her as a shield, his figure shot out of the formation like a startled swan. He didn't even glance back at her, solely focused on his panicked escape.
The green-clad youth's frigid gaze swept over Hongfu, who had been used as a meat shield, before landing on the fleeing Old Man Longsword. A completely humorless sneer curled the corners of his lips.
With a twist of the black spear, he pulled it out of Hongfu's chest, beads of blood dripping down its shaft.
The wound on Hongfu's chest bled profusely, her soul suddenly torn apart. She collapsed to the ground, her eyes wide open in indignation as she lost all signs of life.
And the final scene she witnessed before her eyes was the young man chasing after the old man like a wisp of green smoke, his figure vanishing without a trace.
Old Man Longsword sprinted frantically through the forest.
He had already sustained injuries the moment he stepped into the formation trap, and the subsequent sneak attack by the young man had left him terrified to his very core.
He never expected that he would one day be reduced to such a wretched state. Once he broke through to the next realm and attained a higher cultivation base in the future, he would definitely return to exact his revenge!
But for now, he only had one thought in his mind: flee.
Old Man Longsword ran blindly in panic when his foot suddenly sank.
He looked down, only to see the seemingly solid dirt collapse in an instant, churning into a pitch-black, viscous mire. A putrid stench assaulted his face.
"A trap! You calculated from the start that I would flee in this direction!"
Filled with shock and fury, he used the last sliver of his spiritual energy to try and launch himself into the air, but it was already too late.
From above the treetops, the green figure tore through the air.
The black spear, like a deadly, spectral light, pierced viciously through his back with a sickening squelch, pinning him entirely to a rough tree trunk. Blood instantly sprayed outward.
"Cough, cough... You treacherous brat..." Old Man Longsword spat out mouthfuls of blood. "No—I refuse to accept this! I have cultivated bitterly for hundreds of years. I was just a little bit away... just a little bit away from breaking through and stepping onto the path of immortality! How could I... how could I die at the hands of a brat like you!"
The green-clad youth slowly walked out from the shadows. Gripping the spear's handle with one hand, he gave his wrist a slight twist, viciously grinding the spearhead inside the old man's body.
"So noisy."
Before his voice even faded, a crisp crack rang out.
The old man's head rolled off in response, splashing into the black mire below. His eyes were wide open, dying with a remaining grievance.
The scent of blood permeated the wind, and silence finally returned to the dense forest.
And right at this moment, he sensed a loosening in the hidden guardian formation. He abruptly looked up toward the mountain peak, and his figure vanished from the spot like a phantom.
