"Brother Rock!"

Right as the three men were looking on with stunned expressions, an elated voice suddenly rang out.

The little girl had already clambered up from the ground, and she immediately threw her arms around the imposing young man who had just emerged from the massive rock.

Given her short stature, the little girl's head only reached the young man's waist, and her delicate little arms were wrapped tightly around one of the young man's legs. Most of her body was concealed behind the young man, and she was looking up at him with her large, watery eyes.

The three men faltered slightly upon hearing this, then exchanged a bewildered glance before turning their attention back to the young man, only to find that he was displaying no reaction whatsoever to the little girl's voice, and he was still staring blankly at the three of them, much to their confusion.

A sense of unease welled up in the little girl's heart upon seeing this, and she frantically tugged on the young man's leg as she sobbed, "Brother Rock, I've finally found you! Those bad people are trying to capture Le'er! You have to help me beat them, Brother Rock!"

This time, the young man seemed to have heard the little girl, and he lowered his head slightly.

The little girl looked into the young man's eyes, only to find that they were still completely blank and vacant, and her heart sank even further.

In contrast, this was a very encouraging sight for the three men.

They had already released their spiritual sense over the young man, only to find that there were no signs of magic power in his body whatsoever. There were only two possible explanations for this, the first of which was that the young man really was just a mortal who possessed no cultivation base at all, and the second possibility was that he was using a special secret technique or magic tool to conceal his magic power.

The strange circumstances leading up to the young man's emergence and the fact that the little girl was calling out to him for help made the three feel as if the latter possibility were more plausible, and there was a good chance that the man was perhaps also a demon.

The daoist priest rested his horsetail whisk on his arm as his gaze roamed back and forth between the young man and the little girl, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

At this point, the long-faced man had already lowered his right hand, and he had also taken a step backward to rejoin his two companions. At the same time, an object had fallen into his left hand, which was concealed up his sleeve, and he was still staring intently at the little girl.

The burly man gave his two companions a meaningful look, then declared, "May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist? I am Yan Cheng of the Blood Sword Sect, and I'm working with these two fellow daoists to capture this demonic fox. If this has nothing to do with you, then please be on your way."

The little girl was very alarmed to hear this, and she looked up at the young man with an imploring expression.

The young man slowly raised his head to face the burly man with a wooden expression, and he remained completely silent.

A hint of anger flashed through the burly man's eyes upon seeing this, but he suppressed it before repeating what he had just said, raising his voice a little on this occasion.

The little girl opened her mouth slightly, but didn't say anything. However, her palms were sweating profusely as she continued to hold tightly onto the leg of the young man's pants with her little hands.

The young man continued to offer no response.

The long-faced young man turned slightly to the side, then transmitted his voice to his companions as he said, "There appears to be something wrong with him. As opposed to wasting time here, why don't we..."

"In this area, the only people who would remain so calm after hearing the name of the Blood Sword Sect have to be complete idiots or unfathomably powerful. In any case, he's displaying an intention to protect that demon, so no one can say anything even if we kill him. Of course, the final decision is up to you, Fellow Daoist Yan," the daoist priest replied through voice transmission as his eyes narrowed slightly.

The burly man nodded in response, and a cold look appeared in his eyes as he tightened his grip around his podao. "Why do you not speak, Fellow Daoist? Are you looking down on us?"

His voice was like rumbling thunder, echoing incessantly across the barren plains, causing the nearby air to buzz incessantly.

A fearful look appeared on the little girl's face upon hearing this, and she reflexively let go of the young man's legs before tightening her grip on her pellet drum.

The young man continued to display no reaction, and it was as if he were deaf.

"Fine. If you insist on siding with the demonic girl, then we'll just have to take you down along with her!"

A fierce gleam flashed through the burly man's eyes, and his podao suddenly began to glow with blinding white light. At the same time, he raised his other hand, and a burst of black light shot forth in a flash, rising up into the air before descending as a huge black net.

The little girl was greatly alarmed by this, and she hurriedly tried to scurry away, but she was too close and it was already too late for her to get away.

The huge net descended like a dark cloud before rapidly closing in from all directions, encompassing the young man within it as well. At the same time, a flash of light emerged within the net, and a gleaming silver hook appeared on every single knot of the net, looking extremely sharp and menacing.

The little girl screamed as she opened her mouth to release a cloud of blood mist onto the pellet drum while turning it vigorously at the same time.

The sound of the pellet drum rang out, and azure light flashed over the little girl before her body abruptly disintegrated, transforming into a piece of dead wood.

The little girl then re-emerged out of thin air over 100 feet away before falling onto the ground. Around a dozen wounds had been inflicted onto her arms and legs from the hooked spikes on the black net, causing her to bleed profusely.

She rolled over before struggling laboriously to her feet, but she only managed to take a single step before she slumped feebly onto the ground again. Her face was deathly pale, and she was gasping for air.

At this point, the little girl was clearly a spent force, and the burly man didn't even bother to pay any attention to her. Instead, he made a hand seal with one hand, and the black net around the young man abruptly tightened.

At the same time, the daoist priest sprang up into the air, releasing around a dozen translucent flying needles with a flick of his wrist, and the needles shot forth like lightning toward various vital regions all over the young man's body.

"Look out!"

The little girl was unable to get up, so all she could do was yell frantically in the young man's direction.

A string of metallic clangs rang out, and as soon as the azure flying needles struck the young man's body, all of them were repelled away as if they had struck a rock.

"How is that possible?" the daoist priest exclaimed as he descended lightly onto the ground.

Even if the young man's body were actually made of stone, those flying arrows should've been able to easily pierce through him.

All of a sudden, a streak of golden light flew past the daoist priest before striking the young man's throat with vicious power.

"Hehe, what a fool! No one's ever taken a Golden Wasp Spike of mine and..." The long-faced man was slowly lowering his raised arm with a cruel smile on his face, but before he had a chance to finish what he was saying, the golden spike that had struck the young man's throat abruptly exploded into specks of golden light.

"Impossible!"

The long-faced man was left looking as if he had seen a ghost, and the burly man was also completely incredulous to see this.

The sharp hooks on the black net were capable of tearing through metal with ease, but they were unable to leave even the slightest scratch on the young man's body.

Right as the three men were looking on with disbelief in their eyes, the young man finally reacted to the string of attacks that had just been directed at him.

He slowly lowered his head to look at the net that was clinging to his body, and he seemed to find it a little cumbersome. He grabbed onto the net with both hands, and bursts of spiritual light erupted from its surface before it was torn apart with ease as if it were made from paper.

The two halves of the net gently drifted down onto the ground, and both the long-faced man and the daoist priest were so shocked to see this that their eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets.

Not far away, the little girl was also looking on with astonishment in her eyes, temporarily forgetting the excruciating pain that she was in.

"How dare you destroy my magic tool!" the burly man roared with fury, greatly anguished by the loss of the black net.

The black net was a powerful magic tool that he had borrowed from a good friend in the sect at a hefty price, so it was only natural that he was so furious to see it destroyed here.

The burly man gritted his teeth as he glowered at the young man with a livid expression, and he extended the index finger and middle finger of his right hand, upon which a purple talisman appeared between her fingertips out of thin air. He tossed the talisman forward as he chanted an incantation, and the talisman immediately flew through the air, arriving directly above the young man's head.

Immediately thereafter, the talisman exploded to form a dense black cloud.

The sound of rumbling thunderclaps rang out as light flashed within the black cloud, and a bolt of silver lightning that was thick as a bowl came crashing down.

The bolt of lightning struck the young man's body with a resounding boom, and countless arcs of lightning sprang forth in all directions, bombarding the ground around him to create a series of charred black craters. 

The little girl closed her eyes in fear amid the rumbling thunderclaps, and somehow, she was able to muster up the strength to shift herself back slightly by pushing off against the ground with her hands, allowing her to just barely avoid being struck by the stray arcs of lightning by the tightest of margins.

She opened her eyes with lingering fear in her heart, and her mouth immediately sprang open in shock once again at the sight that she was greeted by.

The young man was standing in silence with countless black charred craters around him, but there was not even so much as a single scratch on his body.

The burly man was very alarmed to see this, but he didn't skip a beat as he continued to make hand seals while quickly chanting an incantation.

"Seal!"

Another bolt of silver lightning came crashing down above, but during its descent, it suddenly transformed into a series of intertwining lightning chains that wrapped themselves around the young man's body at an incredible speed, binding him firmly into place.

"What are you waiting for, fellow daoists?" the burly man roared as he raised his podao, and a layer of red light immediately appeared over its surface, following which he sprang forward with the tip of his podao aimed directly at the young man's face.

The long-faced man was initially also shocked by the fact that the young man was completely unharmed by the lightning, but he was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately made a hand seal before vanishing on the spot as a gentle breeze.

In the next instant, a gust of fierce wind was swept up beside the young man, and the long-faced man emerged out of thin air with a black metal ruler in his hand. There were several flashing white runes on the ruler's surface, and it was swung viciously toward the young man's shoulder, accompanied by a gust of ferocious wind.

Meanwhile, the daoist priest was looking on with a cautious expression, and instead of rushing forward like his two companions, he retreated a couple of steps before waving a hand through the air. A ball of crimson light flew out of his sleeve, then circled around in the air at an incredible speed before hurtling silently toward the back of the young man's head.

Even though the three of them had all unleashed their attacks at different times, their teamwork was flawless, and it was clear that this wasn't their first time working together.

The young man's eyes remained as vacant as ever, and he continued to remain completely still on the spot, seemingly unable to even detect the attacks that were being directed at him.

An elated look appeared in the burly man's eyes upon seeing this, and he injected even more power into his podao.

However, in the next instant, he suddenly felt something constrict around his wrist. As it turned out, he had been caught by the wrist by a large hand that felt as if it were made from steel, and not only was he unable to thrust his podao even an inch further, his entire body was also stopped cold in its tracks.

The young man had reached out to catch the burly man's podao-wielding arm by the wrist, and he had done so at such an unfathomable speed that no one was able to see his movements.

The burly man pulled back his arm with all his might, but it was completely locked into place, and it was as if he had been caught by an immovable mountain. His heart immediately sank upon seeing this, but a cruel smile then suddenly appeared on his face.

In the next instant, the long-faced man's metal ruler and the ball of crimson light unleashed by the daoist priest struck the young man's shoulder and the back of his head, respectively. Both blows landed almost at the exact same time, and piercing black light erupted from the metal ruler, while the ball of crimson light exploded into a large cloud of dense blood mist that encompassed the young man's entire head within it, giving off a nauseating stench.

The long-faced man burst into triumphant laughter upon seeing this, but in the next instant, he felt a rush of heat travel through his hand, and a burst of inexplicably immense power erupted out of the young man's body, traveling directly into his body along the metal ruler.

"No!"

A horrified expression appeared in the long-faced man's eyes, and he was involuntarily sent flying into the distance. A string of gruesome cracks rang out as he tumbled down onto the ground like a ragdoll, and countless bones had been shattered in his body.

Blood was also gushing incessantly out of his mouth along with fragments of internal organs, and by the time he drew to a rest, his entire body resembled a tattered rucksack that was riddled with holes, and he was as dead as dead could be.

"Impossible! How... Argh!"

The burly man was astonished to see this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the hand that was locked around his wrist suddenly moved ever so slightly. Immediately thereafter, a burst of strange tremors rang through his body, instantly shattering every single one of his bones. The pain was so excruciating that it was like having his skin and flesh torn away by 1,000 cuts, and he couldn't help but let loose a bloodcurdling howl.

In the next instant, his body was sent flying involuntarily into the air, having been hurled viciously toward a large rock nearby.

Another bloodcurdling scream rang out as the burly man's body exploded into a pile of mincemeat against the huge rock.

All of this had taken place in the blink of an eye, and the daoist priest was horrified to see this.

He immediately turned around and frantically slapped five or six talismans of different colors onto his own body while fleeing with all his might.

However, he was only able to take a few steps before the air abruptly constricted around him, and the several types of protective spiritual light radiating from his body were snuffed out in a flash. Immediately thereafter, his entire body exploded into scraps of blood and flesh that came raining down from the sky, as if it had just been crushed by an invisible giant hand.

Meanwhile, the young man swallowed the cloud of dense black mist around his head, revealing his wooden features once again.