Chapter 68

(Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, so I'm wishing everyone a happy new year in advance. Everyone, have a happy new year.)

In the following time, Ding Qi temporarily put aside his various confusions and played around with the wolf king beside him. Soon after, he activated the Wind Riding Technique and returned to Qixia Town.

However, just as Ding Qi was halfway through his journey, gently descending from a large tree and gliding towards another tree ahead, he suddenly frowned as if he had noticed something.

Next, Ding Qi landed on the ground and actually stopped walking.

Then, he squinted his eyes and looked towards a dense forest to his left. There, he faintly heard the sound of swords clashing, and it seemed that the sound was getting closer.

Listening to the faint sound of clashing swords, Ding Qi's face showed a look of interest as he tried to figure out what was happening.

As the sound of clashing swords grew closer and was about to reach his current position, Ding Qi suddenly leaped up, tapping a few times on a nearby tall ancient tree. Soon, he stood on a branch about ten zhang above the ground.

Standing on the ancient tree, Ding Qi looked down in the direction of the sound. Soon, he understood what the clashing swords he had heard were all about.

Not far away, three people were continuously fighting.

More accurately, two of them were chasing and attacking an old man with a white beard. If Ding Qi had been at the scene four years ago when several elders of the Qingyun Sect misjudged that their precious herbs had been stolen by a gang, he would have recognized that this white-bearded old man was one of those elders.

Seeing the three people fighting, Ding Qi couldn't help but frown slightly.

Ding Qi could already see that the white-bearded old man below was clearly much more skilled than the two people chasing him. However, for some reason, whenever the old man had the chance to kill the two pursuers with his sword, his movements would always slow down by half a beat, missing the opportunity to kill them.

As a result, this highly skilled old man was not only unable to kill the two people but was also being forced to retreat, being chased by them.

At the beginning, the two people seemed to be quite wary of the white-bearded old man. However, as the old man frequently missed his chances in front of them, their courage grew.

By now, they even showed a fighting style of attacking without defending, willing to exchange injuries with the white-bearded old man.

...

"This old Yuan, after being hit by the sect leader's two Yin Transformation Palms, still has the palm force lingering in his body and cannot use his true strength to a large extent. It seems that this time, it's really our turn to make a great contribution to our Tianquan Sect," one of the men, a horse-faced man, said happily as he saw the white-bearded old man retreating continuously after they started exchanging injuries.

The other cold-faced middle-aged man, after forcing the white-bearded old man back with a fierce slash, smiled faintly and said, "Speaking of which, this is truly our good fortune. When this old Yuan fled, only the two of us were sent to chase him in this direction. This credit will ultimately fall into our hands."

"However... be careful. There might still be some hidden moves left in this old Yuan. Although he was hit by the sect leader's two Yin Transformation Palms, he is still an elder of the Qingyun Sect. We can't afford to make a mistake this time," the man warned after the two of them forced the white-bearded old man back again.

The horse-faced man chuckled and nodded, saying, "Brother Zhao, rest assured, I will be careful."

...

Although the cold-faced middle-aged man had given a warning, the faint smiles on their faces clearly showed that they were already confident of victory. They were also extremely excited about the great credit they would receive today.

In fact, it was no wonder they were so excited.

Although these two had some status in the Tianquan Sect, they were merely minor leaders. The position of an elder in a major sect, second only to the sect leader, was something they could only aspire to but never reach.

And now, they were chasing an elder of the Qingyun Sect.

When this injured elder of the Qingyun Sect, surnamed Yuan, escaped, the Tianquan Sect mobilized a large number of people to pursue him. These two were part of one of the teams.

At the time, they didn't have much hope. The direction they were assigned to search had a very slim chance of finding the old man. However, what they didn't expect was that the old man's true escape direction was indeed the direction they were now pursuing.

If they could kill or even capture this high-ranking elder of the opposing sect, it would undoubtedly be a great contribution to their entire sect. Their status within the sect would also rise significantly.

This kind of situation, where a high-ranking member of an opposing sect was severely injured and they were lucky enough to catch up, might never happen again in their lifetimes.

Listening to the conversation below, Ding Qi finally understood why the white-bearded old man, who was clearly much more skilled, was being chased and looked so desperate.

The white-bearded old man had already been severely injured.

However, when he heard that the white-bearded old man was actually an elder of the Qingyun Sect, Ding Qi's expression changed, and his eyes narrowed.

Especially when, in a moment of dodging an attack, Ding Qi inadvertently saw a black iron waistplate with the word "Sect Leader" hanging from the old man's body, his expression became even more mysterious.

Ding Qi stroked his chin, looking thoughtful, as if considering something.

Then, he picked up two needle-like leaves that had fallen on the tree branch and coldly watched the horse-faced man and the cold-faced middle-aged man.

At this point, the white-bearded old man, after continuously blocking the attacks of the two, swayed slightly on his feet, showing signs of instability. It seemed that the old man couldn't hold on much longer.

Seeing this, Ding Qi squinted his eyes. The two needle-like leaves, infused with the Great Strength Technique, instantly shot out from his hand towards the two Tianquan Sect leaders.

Next, their right hands holding the swords were silently pierced.

This time, for some unknown reason, Ding Qi, who never meddled in other people's affairs, actually took action.