"Bang bang bang…"
The wind blades crashed against the light barrier, creating loud noises and a shower of sparks, but ultimately failed to break through the defense.
Fang Hong's expression froze, and he secretly marveled, thinking that this White-robed Young Man must be from a wealthy family. Not only did he have a Storage Pouch, but also a high-grade Spiritual Artifact. That black shield was indeed a high-grade Spiritual Artifact, and it was no weaker than his white cloud shield.
"Thanks to Fellow Daoist Li's high-grade Spiritual Artifact!" Li Tao thanked the White-robed Young Man, the fear on her Face gradually receding.
"It's nothing. Since we are teammates, we should naturally cooperate with each other. Fang Hong's magical power has greatly diminished. Let's quickly kill him and divide his identity token!" the White-robed Young Man said with a confident smile.
"Good!" The two women's confidence also greatly increased.
Just as the three were about to make another move, Fang Hong's eyes suddenly narrowed. He quickly took out another talisman from his Storage Pouch and unhesitatingly slapped it onto himself.
In an instant, a strange light bloomed around him, containing vast magical power that drilled into Fang Hong's meridians.
In just a blink of an eye, Fang Hong's total magical power instantly recovered by more than half!
"What! An Intermediate talisman, a Marvelous Spirit talisman! He actually has an Intermediate talisman!" The White-robed Young Man's eyes instantly widened when he saw this, and he couldn't help but exclaim.
He had just boasted that Fang Hong's magical power was insufficient, but in a flash, Fang Hong had recovered his magical power with an Intermediate Marvelous Spirit talisman…
The Li sisters were equally astonished.
"The three of you, you've picked the wrong opponent. It's time for you to go on your way!" Fang Hong revealed a cold smile.
He no longer held back his strength, quickly taking out ten Intermediate Ice Spike Talismans from his Storage Pouch, throwing them into the air, and frantically injecting magical power into them.
"Ten, ten Intermediate talismans! How is this possible?!" Li Tao shrieked, her pretty Face instantly turning pale, her eyes filled with terror. Her younger sister, Li Yao, was so scared her legs trembled.
The White-robed Young Man was incredibly shocked when he saw this. He had never imagined that Fang Hong would have so many Intermediate talismans!
An Intermediate talisman cost at least two hundred Spirit Stones; ten would be two thousand. What was Fang Hong's background to be so rich?
At this critical moment of life and death, the White-robed Young Man no longer cared about his Face. Preserving his life was the most important thing, so he turned and ran…
"It's too late to run now…" Fang Hong said coldly, his voice low and icy.
As his words fell, the ten Ice Spike Talismans immediately erupted!
In the sky, dazzling ice-blue lights instantly appeared, and sharp ice spikes rained down from above, densely packed, fiercely landing on the heads of the three.
The Li sisters' Faces grew even paler. In this critical situation, they couldn't care about much else and quickly joined forces to activate the Golden Bell Technique.
A layer of golden light emerged around their bodies, forming a sturdy golden bell that protected them.
However, with their combined magical power, they simply couldn't withstand the power of ten Intermediate talismans.
The ice spikes continuously crashed against the golden bell, making loud "bang bang bang" sounds. Each impact made the golden bell tremble violently, and its light became increasingly dim.
In less than a moment, with a crisp "crack" sound, their Golden Bell Technique finally shattered.
The Li sisters let out tragic screams, their voices filled with despair and pain. Under the merciless piercing of the ice spikes, the two sisters were instantly buried within the ice spikes!
The White-robed Young Man, with his high-grade Spiritual Artifact to block, was in a slightly better situation.
The black shield in his hand glowed brightly, forming a thick light barrier that temporarily blocked the attack of the ice spikes.
But the power of the ice spikes was simply too great. Under the continuous impact of the ice spikes, cracks began to appear in the light barrier.
The White-robed Young Man desperately resisted, but in the end, he still couldn't block the attack of the ice spikes. The light barrier shattered, and the ice spikes mercilessly pierced his body.
The White-robed Young Man let out a scream, his body slowly falling, impaled to death by the ice spikes!
The scene returned to calm. The ice spikes on the ground turned into wisps of spiritual energy and dissipated into the air, leaving only three corpses lying quietly there…
Fang Hong didn't waste time. He quickly walked to the three corpses and began to meticulously search them.
First, he found the White-robed Young Man's Storage Pouch on him. Opening it, he found many spirit stones, several Intermediate Spiritual Artifacts, and some miscellaneous items.
Next, he found the Li sisters' valuables on them and put them all into his own Storage Pouch.
After doing all this, Fang Hong fed all the corpses to his demon gourd, refining them into Spirit Pills.
Afterward, Fang Hong quickly walked into the tree hole.
The light inside the hole was dim. In the center of the tree hole, a treasure chest was still placed.
Fang Hong's heart beat a little faster. He walked forward and carefully opened the treasure chest.
The treasure chest slowly opened, revealing a gourd of Medicinal Pills, about thirty pills in total.
The gourd was engraved with the words "Hidden Reward, Gathering Yuan Pill."
Fang Hong's Face lit up with joy. This time, it was a Medicinal Pill reward, which was quite good.
The Gathering Yuan Pill was a very useful Medicinal Pill for Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators, capable of enhancing cultivation.
For Fang Hong, this was undoubtedly an unexpected surprise.
If he could obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, combined with this gourd of Medicinal Pills, his success rate for Foundation Establishment would greatly increase.
Fang Hong put away the Medicinal Pills and left the tree hole. He found a stable spot next to a large tree nearby, sat down, and began to transfer the identity tokens of the Li sisters and the White-robed Young Man.
He held the identity token in his hand and injected a trace of magical power. The kill points on the identity token began to rapidly jump, gradually transferring to his own identity token…
A moment later, the identity token in Fang Hong's hand glowed brightly, and his ranking soared again.
Finally, his ranking was fixed at "First Place"!
Fang Hong looked at the ranking on the identity token, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes, and he let out a long breath.
The Foundation Establishment Pill was secured!
…
One day later, the seven-day Ascension Gathering officially ended.
Everyone returned to the entrance of the Nanyang Ancient Forest, and Fang Hong also stood among the crowd.
He looked around and couldn't help but be secretly astonished. Of the more than two thousand people who participated in the gathering, only about a thousand remained. Those who were absent, he didn't know if they withdrew midway or were buried in the forest…
After a while, the Elders of the three sects appeared again.
The three Elders landed in front of the crowd. The Black-Robed Elder from the Taiyi Sect scanned Everyone, took a few steps forward, and said loudly, "This year's Ascension Gathering has come to an end. Those ranked 150th and above, please step aside."
As the Black-Robed Elder's words fell, the crowd slowly flowed. Those not within the top 150 shook their heads and sighed, their Faces filled with disappointment, and reluctantly moved aside.
This opportunity to join a sect had slipped away from them…
Soon, the 150 Loose Cultivators who passed the assessment were finally filtered out. Fang Hong looked at these people; they were all at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, with only a dozen or so at the twelfth level of Qi Refining.
"Congratulations to you all for passing the Ascension Gathering's assessment. You may now join a sect for cultivation. Next, the top ten Disciples, please step forward," the Black-Robed Elder continued to instruct.
The top ten Disciples walked out of the crowd, their steps light and confident. Fang Hong also passed through the crowd and came before the three Elders…