Chu Li vanished from where he stood and managed to avoid getting surrounded by the ten elderly men. A moment later, he appeared behind them and continuously swung his hands at lightning speed.

　　 Due to the Light Blade’s extraordinary speed, the elderly men could not dodge Chu Li’s attacks at such close proximity. Instead, they could only try their best to avoid getting hit on their vital points.

　　 However, Chu Li kept launching two blades to attack one person at a time, and both of his blades would reach the person almost at the same moment. With the help of the Nature Restoration Manifestation and the Omniscient Mirror, he was able to predict their movements and how they would dodge his attacks. Thus, they would not be able to avoid the second blade even if they had managed to avoid the first blade. If they wished to dodge the second blade, then they would have to get hit by the first one. The elderly men were only left with these two options because of the Light Blade’s speed as well as the close proximity between them and Chu Li.

　　 “Tsh, tsh, tsh, tsh…” Chu Li moved around at a ghostly speed while he shot out energy blades from different directions. His energy blades seemed to glow like actual blades and were remarkably swift and fierce.

　　 Four out of the ten elderly men collapsed to the ground in an instant, and the remaining six came together to form a sword array. The blade light from their swords joined with one another, forming a wall of light around them like a protective barrier so that their opponent had no way to attack them.

　　 Chu Li looked at them with a frown as he could not think of a way to deal with their sword array just yet.

　　 Sun Yucheng sighed in relief and smiled.

　　 Elder Su and Elder Ren knitted their brows together.

　　 Then, Elder Su shouted anxiously, “Young Zhao, don’t force your way in!”

　　 Based on his rich experience, he could tell that these six old fellows had set up a trap and intended to tempt Chu Li to force his way into their midst. Indeed, Chu Li could easily manage to do so with his martial arts skills, but once he entered their trap, they would certainly use a lethal tactic against him.

　　 Chu Li nodded. “Understood.”

　　 As the six elderly men charged toward Chu Li with swift and light steps. Their blade light remained connected in a circle around them even when they glided into the air. Chu Li could not find any weak point in their sword array and hence, he was forced to retreat.

　　 The elderly men could not catch up to Chu Li as they were not moving at a fast speed. Nonetheless, they would not stop pursuing him.

　　 “Elder Ren, let’s join in the fight!” Elder Su said.

　　 Elder Ren nodded.

　　 Both of them launched their fists to attack the sword array from a distance but the blade light from the swords kept cutting through their fist forces in a continuous whooshing sound.

　　 Nonetheless, their fist forces had caused the six elderly men to slow down for a moment, so Chu Li was no longer forced to move backward.

　　 In the meantime, Chu Li had been racking his brains to come up with a countermeasure against their sword array.

　　 Suddenly, he launched two energy blades to assist Elder Su and Elder Ren.

　　 “Ding…” One of the swords slipped from its position for a moment and exposed a weak point.

　　 As Chu Li had already caught on to this weak point in their sword array, those two blades from him had managed to hit them right on this spot. This caused their flawless sword array to stumble and slow down slightly.

　　 “Tsh, tsh, tsh, tsh!” As Chu Li kept flicking his wrists rapidly, his energy blades shot toward them at lightning speed.

　　 With that, the sword array slowed down even more, and the six elderly men’s expressions turned grave.

　　 They were all high officials of Mysterious Pavilion who rarely ever came out of seclusion. These elderly men had been living in the mountains to adhere to the unspoken rule that centenarian masters should not move around in the martial arts world. This time, Mysterious Pavilion had invited them to come out of seclusion to deal with a prince from the Li Dynasty.

　　 Initially, they had thought that this would be an easy task since the ten of them were all centenarian masters. However, they had never expected to encounter this troublesome young fellow in front of them. Indeed, they were very unlucky to have run into such an exceptional genius at cultivation.

　　 These elderly men were so well-coordinated because they had been working together for more than a hundred years, and that was why their sword array contained such formidable power. Nonetheless, seeing as they were unable to overpower this young fellow, the elderly men were filled with rage and envy while their thoughts spun rapidly. Their killing intent toward Chu Li grew stronger as they wished they could stab him to death right away.

　　 However, they had been rendered powerless by him in reality. So, there was no way they could harm him no matter how strong their killing intent grew.

　　 The elderly men exchanged glances among themselves and instantly knew what was on each other’s minds. With that, their bodies shrank abruptly.

　　 “Bang!” An invisible force spread out unexpectedly. While the elderly men looked as though they had shrunk in size, their blade light had shone brighter all of a sudden. Thus, their lagging sword array immediately recovered its original speed and became more powerful than before as it transformed into a streak of light that shot toward Chu Li and wrapped itself around him.

　　 Elder Su and Elder Ren became extremely anxious as they had been worried that Chu Li would fall into this situation. The moment those six old fellows managed to surround him within their sword array, they would unleash the full power. Zhao Dahe would not be able to withstand such an attack no matter how skillful he was.

　　 However, when Chu Li came face-to-face with their blade light, he suddenly launched two-finger forces.

　　 Instantly, the violent blade light slowed down.

　　 Chu Li had used the Petrifying Finger.

　　 “Tsh, tsh, tsh, tsh!” Four streaks of light shot out from his hands.

　　 Two elderly men collapsed to the ground while they clutched their throats. Thus, he managed to break through their sword array.

　　 “Argh…” The other four elderly men screamed angrily while they slashed their swords at him wildly. Even then, the blade light from their swords moved in unison and came at Chu Li from all directions in a furious storm of attacks as though they were trying to cut him into pieces.

　　 Chu Li vanished from his spot at once before he threw out two more energy blades.

　　 “Ding, ding…” His opponents’ blade light slowed down again while a clear ringing sound echoed.

　　 Taking advantage of this situation, Elder Su and Elder Ren launched another round of fist force as well.

　　 Chu Li caught on to that brief moment of weakness in the elderly men’s sword attack and shot out more flying blades at them. With the help of the Nature Restoration Manifestation and the Omniscient Mirror, he had managed to hit one of his opponents.

　　 When the remaining three elderly men saw that the situation was taking a bad turn, they immediately turned around to escape, leaving behind three clouds of smoke in their wake.

　　 Chu Li scoffed lightly and vanished from his spot before he reappeared in front of an elderly man. He quickly defeated the man by launching a flying blade and a Petrifying Finger at the same time. Then, he vanished again in a flash and appeared behind another elderly man.

　　 The remaining three elderly men might have been able to survive a little longer if they had come together to form another sword array. Yet seeing as they had decided to move separately instead, none of the elderly men were capable of going up against Chu Li even if they activated their secret skills. Thus, one by one, they were defeated and killed by the Light Blade.

　　 Elder Su and Elder Ren stared at Chu Li in amazement.

　　 All ten of these martial arts masters were a hundred to two hundred years old, so they were the most difficult people to kill. However, these elderly men had appeared to be completely powerless before Chu Li that they could not even handle an attack from him. This Zhao Dahe was too terrifying. It was no wonder that he had managed to kill an Altar Leader of the Holy Church of Light.

　　 Such a formidable martial arts master would have a bright future ahead of him. Moreover, he would certainly hold a high position in the Holy Church of Light later on.

　　 When Chu Li returned to Sun Yucheng’s side, he turned his head to give a fist salute in the direction of Ascending Dragon Mountain.

　　 A white cloud rose above the deeper parts of the bamboo forest as the palace leader of Vast Cold Palace, Xu Miaozhu, appeared on top of a bamboo tree and gave him a slight nod. Then, as another white cloud rose into the air, she disappeared back into the bamboo forest.

　　 “It seems like this palace leader is a kind and generous person despite her cold demeanor,” Sun Yucheng said while he chuckled.

　　 Chu Li glanced at him and sighed as he replied, “Young Master, we might not be able to enter the bamboo cottages anymore if we return in the future.”

　　 “Hmm?” Taken aback, Sun Yucheng looked rather anxious.

　　Chu Li said, “The Heavenly King Palm technique could be considered as repayment for saving her disciples’ lives, so she most likely won’t make an exception and allow us to enter Vast Cold Palace again after this.”

　　 “Well then, we shouldn’t have left the mountain!” Sun Yucheng shook his head in annoyance.

　　 He should have seized this rare opportunity to stay at one of their bamboo cottages for a while. After all, familiarity would breed fondness, so it would be much easier for him to make Liu Di fall for him when he was staying close to her. Sun Yucheng was confident that he would be capable of winning her favor with his distinguished and elegant personality.

　　 Chu Li chuckled.

　　 Elder Su said, “Young Master, we can’t delay our journey any longer. We have to hurry up and leave!”

　　 “Alright then, let’s go!” Sun Yucheng replied with a huff.

　　The four of them performed their body movement techniques and charged away immediately without paying further attention to the ten elderly men lying on the ground. In fact, they had not even bothered to check if these men were really dead.

　　 However, Chu Li knew that his opponents were already dead. This time, Mysterious Pavilion had indeed suffered great losses. Nonetheless, he was not planning to attack them just yet as he wanted to cultivate the Heavenly King Palm first.

　　 Chu Li’s combat capabilities would increase immensely once he succeeded in cultivating the Heavenly King Palm. With that, he would have a higher chance of defeating Mysterious Pavilion.

　　 Although Mysterious Pavilion had suffered great losses, they were still a strong institution of this country. This meant that they should have a deep-seated influence here. There might even be some super master guarding and defending them, so the more Chu Li enhanced his combat capabilities, the more confident he would be when going up against them.

　　His mind was completely consumed by the Heavenly King Palm as Chu Li focused all his attention on this technique to experience the profound mysteries within it.

　　 While this palm technique appeared simple, it could be quite a challenging martial art to cultivate. Chu Li needed to first grasp the inner state of the palm technique, which required him to understand how to utilize his inner energy as well as how to make it compatible with his spiritual force. These aspects were subtle yet profound, so it could be extraordinarily hard to grasp this palm technique’s inner state.