"So, do you admit defeat now?" Ian Song looked at the veiled girl, his face full of smugness.
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, the veiled girl struck again. Five fresh flowers appeared out of thin air and instantly exploded, transforming into a shower of pink petals.
A strange fragrance filled the air. Just breathing it made Ian Song's head spin, and even his body started to feel sluggish.
"Damn, this flower scent actually causes dizziness and sluggishness!"
Startled, Ian Song fully activated the Wind God Art, turning into a blur as he dashed out of the petal encirclement. Circulating his inner qi through his whole body, he finally dispelled the dizziness and sluggishness.
"You—what movement technique did you just use?"
Staring at Ian Song standing in the corner of the room, the veiled girl asked in utter shock. The speed Ian had just unleashed had already surpassed her fastest, and she was late Core Formation, while he was only late Divine Sea—a whole major realm apart.
Ian Song, however, didn't feel particularly proud about it.
The Wind God Art was actually an immortal-grade technique. Powered by immortal yuan force, it could traverse a thousand li in an instant—faster than teleportation. Unfortunately, that damn System had sealed his cultivation and primordial spirit, leaving him restricted at every turn.
Using inner qi to activate the Wind God Art is only passable, but compared to the movement techniques of this world, it's still many times superior.
"I have an idea," Ian Song said to the veiled girl.
"What idea?" the veiled girl asked instinctively.
"Let's kill that Sigilforge assassin coming for me!" Ian said seriously.
The veiled girl sneered, "Are you dreaming? Even with my strength as a late Core Formation expert, I can barely protect myself against a Sigilforge assassin. As for you, just late Divine Sea—a single breath or finger from them could kill you a million times!"
"How about we make a bet?" Ian Song blinked, clearly planning to set a trap for her.
"What do you want to bet on?"
"I bet I can help you kill the Sigilforge assassin, but only if you follow my plan!" Ian continued.
"No bet!" the veiled girl refused outright.
"Afraid to bet? Scared you'll lose?"
"Because you're just dreaming!" The veiled girl didn't bother to hide her mocking tone.
"You don't believe me? I can prove it!" Ian Song smiled mysteriously.
"How will you prove it?" The veiled girl was piqued by curiosity.
"I'll defeat you within half an incense stick."
The veiled girl gave a crisp laugh, then glared coldly at him: "Enough, stop stalling. Hurry up and leave Maplecloud City with me!"
"Since you don't believe me, I'll just have to show you!"
As he spoke, Ian Song stomped his right foot on the ground. Instantly, the veiled girl found herself standing on a lush green grassland.
"What's going on?" The veiled girl was astonished, but quickly guessed she'd fallen into a formation. She grew even more surprised—he actually knew formations.
But given his cultivation and age, he shouldn't be able to set up anything powerful—at most, just an illusion formation.
Thinking this, she closed her eyes and released her spiritual sense.
To her amazement, even under spiritual sense probing, all she could see was the endless green grassland.
"Looks like this guy's skill with illusion formations isn't shallow, but an illusion is still an illusion. Even if it hides from my eyes and spiritual sense, breaking it is still child's play!"
With a low cry, the veiled girl raised her hand and struck out dozens of palms in succession, stacking them together before unleashing their full force. The combined power could seriously injure a late Core Formation expert.
Shockwaves rolled and explosions rang out.
But when the attack subsided, the veiled girl found herself still standing on the grassland.
"Stop wasting your energy. Not just you—even if a Sigilforge expert came, they wouldn't be able to break my formation!"
At that moment, a voice came from the sky. The veiled girl looked up and saw Ian Song standing mid-air, smiling down at her.
Immediately, she gnashed her teeth in anger and retorted, "It's just an illusion formation. It might trap me for a while, but it can't harm me in the least!"
"Who said mine is an illusion formation?" Ian sneered, then formed a hand seal. The veiled girl was stunned to find the air around her suddenly thickening, as if she’d fallen into a swamp—her whole body lost strength, and an immense pressure appeared from nowhere, making it extremely hard even to move a hand or foot.
"Tell me, if I attacked you now, could you block it?" Ian descended from the air, landing a few meters away, his gaze playful.
"You? You can't even break through my body-protecting qi!"
The veiled girl remained disdainful, though inwardly she was utterly shocked.
"Is that so?"
Suddenly, a simple cyan short sword appeared in Ian Song's hand.
As the sword appeared, the veiled girl instinctively sensed a tremendous danger emanating from it.
"This sword is called the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword. With it, I can easily pierce your protective qi!" Ian Song smiled and stepped forward; with each step, the air grew thicker and the pressure stronger, until the veiled girl could barely move.
"Pfft!"
In the next moment, Ian Song gently thrust the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword forward, easily piercing several inches into the veiled girl's thick pink body-protecting qi.
"Now do you believe me?" Ian Song asked again.
"Where did you get such a divine weapon?" The veiled girl stared at Ian Song, her gaze at the sword filled with barely concealed heat.
The division of weapons in this world is very simple.
Ordinary weapons are called mundane weapons; those with special divine effects are called divine weapons.
Cultivators' weapons are called immortal weapons; those used for spell arts are called sigil weapons; those used for divine path cultivation are called sacred weapons.
"That's not something you need to know!"
Ian Song casually put away the Azure Flood-Dragon Sword, then snapped his fingers: "Now you should believe that together we can kill a Sigilforge expert!"
As Ian snapped his fingers, the veiled girl found herself back in the inn room, the air restored to normal and the pressure vanished.
In truth, with Ian Song's formation mastery, he could easily trap and kill a Sigilforge expert even without the veiled girl's help, but he didn't want to reveal his true strength too soon.
Hearing this, the veiled girl seriously considered it. With his unfathomable formation skill and her ability to ambush, it might actually be possible to kill a Sigilforge expert.
The thought excited her, so she nodded: "Fine, then this fairy will reluctantly cooperate with you once!"
Hearing this, Ian Song smiled.
Time slowly passed, and finally, the Zhu Family's experts arrived. There were three in total: the leader was a Sigilforge expert, the other two were late Core Formation martial artists, both on par with the veiled girl's cultivation.