There were many experts present, but none made a move immediately. They were all waiting—only when Ian Song revealed all his trump cards would it be the best time to strike.
Old Man Tanner was still fighting fiercely with the black-robed youth. Surprisingly, although the youth was at a disadvantage at first, he gradually managed to fight Old Man Tanner to a draw.
On the other side, the late Soul-Split expert from the Fourth Prince Residence fought alone against three mid-stage Soul-Split opponents, forcing them to retreat step by step. It seemed only a matter of time before he defeated all three.
As for the other three late Soul-Split experts, when they worked together, the more than fifty early Soul-Split attackers couldn't break through their defenses at all.
Thus, the battle fell into a brief stalemate.
"Boss, when are we going to make our move?"
On the Heaven's Dao Alliance side, Victor Zhong couldn't hold back and asked impatiently.
Lewis Liu shook his head. "It's not time yet. If we act too early, we might go through all this trouble and still get nothing for our seven brothers."
As a late Soul-Split expert, he could easily sense the powerful auras gathering all around.
Time ticked by slowly.
Ah!
A miserable scream rang out; it was the mid Soul-Split expert who played the black-face. He had his arm broken by the late Soul-Split expert from the Fourth Prince Residence.
As the late Soul-Split expert from the Fourth Prince Residence pressed the attack, the black-face expert quickly had his head smashed, his Nascent Soul shot skyward in a stream of light, fleeing in panic and misery.
Even with three working together, they couldn't defeat him; now only two were left.
So the two mid Soul-Split experts were already thinking of retreat.
Taking advantage of the chaos as the black-face was killed, the two transformed into streaks of light and fled.
The freed late Soul-Split expert immediately joined Old Man Tanner's battle. The black-robed youth, who had just managed to fight Old Man Tanner to a draw, was now forced to take a beating from both of them.
Kill!
With a shout, the black-robed youth swept his black spear, unleashing a flurry of starry light to block Old Man Tanner and his ally's attacks. Then he turned into a streak of black light and fled.
At this, the early Soul-Split experts couldn't sit still either. They quickly put away their artifacts and fled in all directions.
Seeing this, the hidden experts all around cursed them as useless.
On the hill, the black-robed youth landed before Fletcher Toba, dropping to one knee. "Divine Son, I failed to take Ian Song's head. Please punish me!"
"Get up. I never expected you to actually kill him anyway." Fletcher Toba waved his hand, signaling him to rise.
The carriage rolled on.
The hidden experts were all very patient; even as night fell, none made another move.
At the foot of a small hill, Ian Song stepped out of the carriage.
Soon, a crackling campfire was burning. Old Man Tanner, who'd gone hunting, returned with two wild chickens and a rabbit.
Ian Song personally skinned and gutted the rabbit, washed it clean, and skewered it on a branch. He did the same with the two chickens, plucking and cleaning them before putting them on branches too.
Then he set them over the campfire to roast.
Before long, the aroma of roasting meat drifted from the campfire, spreading in all directions.
The hidden experts lurking in the darkness all looked a little gloomy. Secretly, they grumbled, “It’s already come to this, and that kid still has the mood to roast meat?”
After a while, the chicken and rabbit were nearly done. Ian Song took out some seasoning and rubbed it on the meat. Instantly, an even richer aroma wafted out.
The moment they smelled the aroma, Raina Quinn, Old Man Tanner, and the four late Soul-Split retainers all couldn’t help but stare hungrily at the roast chicken and rabbit.
After a while, Ian Song tossed one chicken and two rabbits to the six of them. "Half a chicken each."
He himself grabbed a roast chicken and started eating.
Seeing this, Victor Zhang from Heaven's Dao Alliance couldn’t help but grumble, "Damn it, we’re out here eating cold wind at night, and that kid gets to feast on roast chicken. I wish I could rush out and rob him!"
Lewis Liu said, "Enough, stop whining. When this is all over, I’ll take you to Immortal Cloud Pavilion for a real feast!" He’d already sensed that besides Ian Song’s group, there were six other factions tailing them. One of those auras felt very familiar—probably the one-armed founder of Heroes’ Tower and his five sworn sons.
As for the other five groups, their backgrounds remained a mystery.
Everyone was here for Ian Song, but they were all wary of each other. No one wanted to make the first move and end up doing someone else’s dirty work.
"Young Master’s roast meat is really delicious!" Raina Quinn praised.
Old Man Tanner and the others nodded in deep agreement. None of them expected Ian Song to have such cooking skills.
"I love good food, so of course I had to learn to cook!" Ian Song laughed, then pulled out a few bottles of wine and shared them around.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Ian Song suddenly stood up and called out loudly, "All of you have been tailing me for a while now. It’s been tough, hasn’t it? Why not come out and have a chat?"
"Damn, this kid’s got guts!" Victor Zhang cursed again.
"Father, what does that guy mean?" one of the one-armed founder’s sworn sons asked.
After waiting a while and getting no response, Ian Song sneered, "So you’re all just a bunch of gutless rats? Not even one of you dares come out and face me?"
"Don’t get cocky, kid. I’ll take you on!"
A shadow flickered, and not far away appeared an old man so hideously ugly it was shocking. Right behind him, five more figures emerged—every one of them a late Soul-Split expert.
"Are you the Ugly Daoist?"
The moment Old Man Tanner saw the hideous elder, his face showed shock, and the other four retainers looked equally grim.
"I didn’t expect that after a thousand years in hiding, there are still people who remember me!" Ugly Daoist swept his gaze over Ian Song and the others, speaking arrogantly.
"Old Man Tanner, just how infamous is this Ugly Daoist?" Ian Song asked curiously.
"Kid, how dare you disrespect our big brother?" One of the old men standing behind Ugly Daoist shouted angrily.
Ian Song replied indifferently, "Then tell me, why should I respect him? You people are all here to attack me. Why should I show respect to anyone who wants to beat me up? Should I really act like those old-timers and bow down to you?"
"You...!" The man was left speechless by Ian Song’s retort.
Old Man Tanner quickly used sound transmission to introduce Ugly Daoist’s background.
Ugly Daoist was a rogue cultivator, said to have been born hideously ugly and abandoned by his parents as a monster. Luckily, a wandering cultivator took him in, saved his life, and accepted him as a disciple.
But even though he was rescued, his master never truly cared for him, only teaching him the most basic cultivation techniques. Meanwhile, his master carefully nurtured his other two disciples, leaving Ugly Daoist feeling resentful.
To make matters worse, the other two senior disciples bullied him constantly. Over time, Ugly Daoist became twisted inside. Later, he stumbled upon the estate of a powerful rogue cultivator and inherited their legacy.
After mastering those techniques, he sought out his master and senior brothers—and killed them all.
After he finished cultivating, he tracked down his master and senior brothers—and killed them.
Then he found his birth parents, and even though they were already old and weak, he killed them too.
After that, he wandered the world. Because of his ugly appearance, no one dared look down on him.
Anyone weaker than him, he killed outright. Anyone stronger, he’d plot and scheme until they met a miserable end.
Gradually, Ugly Daoist made a name for himself among rogue cultivators. Eventually, no one dared to mock his looks.
A thousand years ago, Ugly Daoist had already reached late Soul-Split, but after being mocked by a major sect for his appearance, he killed the offender. Then the sect’s late Soul-Split experts hunted him down, forcing him to vanish for a millennium. No one expected him to reappear here, after all this time.