Becoming an immortal against the will of heaven

Just as the purple-robed elder and the gaunt man's fingers touched the bronze bell, two streaks of cyan lightning suddenly erupted from its surface, surging through their fingers and directly into their bodies.

These two streaks of lightning were extremely powerful. After entering their bodies, they traveled along their meridians, threatening to rush towards their dantian.

The dantian is the foundation of a cultivator's practice, the most important area. Once damaged, the consequences range from a decline in cultivation to exploding and dying.

Therefore, upon realizing that the strange lightning was about to rush towards their dantian, the purple-robed elder and the gaunt man were greatly alarmed. Without any hesitation, they waved their palms and severed the meridians leading to the dantian.

With the meridians shattered, the path to the dantian was blocked. After wandering around for a bit, the two streaks of strange lightning emitted two 'hissing' sounds before disappearing without a trace.

But at that moment, both of them felt a sweetness in their throats and simultaneously spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, without further hesitation, they hurriedly withdrew their hands from the bronze bell.

Although they had protected their dantian by severing their meridians, this also caused them significant injuries, resulting in the loss of at least several decades of cultivation.

In fact, they were considered lucky, because the prototype of that bronze bell was Fang Zhu Zhenren's 'Six Shang Hui Jiao Bell,' a Xuan-grade, top-quality magic treasure.

Although this was not the original but merely a replica made by Chen Tian, the power it contained was still immense!

These two men were only at the Spiritual Gathering and Qi Activation stages; how could they possibly resist it?

If they hadn't been decisive enough to sever their meridians in time, they would have already died and vanished from the world.

Even so, they were still filled with lingering fear and dared not stay here any longer. Taking the magic treasures they had plundered from the upper level, they turned to flee.

But just as they turned around, they were surprised to find Chen Tian had appeared here at some point and was blocking the door of the iron shop.

To be honest, the purple-robed elder and the gaunt man were extremely frightened and just wanted to escape as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Chen Tian was standing right at the door, leaving them with no way out.

As a result, they couldn't leave, nor could they stay. They had no choice but to awkwardly stand in the center of the room, carrying the two bags.

After an unknown amount of time, a dark cloud suddenly drifted over from the sky, obscuring the bright moon.

It was only then that Chen Tian sighed softly, turned his head, and said to them, "A total of one thousand eight hundred taels. Hand it over."

Upon hearing Chen Tian's words, the purple-robed elder and the gaunt man were stunned. They looked at each other, and then they both asked Chen Tian, "Hand over what?"

"Silver, of course!" Chen Tian smiled slightly and said, "I am an ironmonger. As long as you can afford it, you can take these broken copper and rotten iron however you like."

"This…"

The two men became depressed after hearing this. They were both cultivators, and in addition, they had left in a hurry, so naturally they didn't carry any money with them. How could they possibly come up with one thousand eight hundred taels?

"What? Could it be that you don't have any money?" Seeing their hesitant appearances, Chen Tian couldn't help but frown.

From beginning to end, Chen Tian's tone was very calm, without any fluctuation.

However, after it reached the ears of the purple-robed elder and the gaunt man, it suddenly turned into an invisible mountain, pressing down on them so hard that they couldn't breathe.

They became even more certain that the man in front of them had unfathomable strength.

"Senior, please don't be angry. I am the leader of the Wind Tiger Gang. As long as I give an order, someone will definitely send the money over tomorrow," the gaunt man said, cold sweat profusely breaking out on his face.

For a moment, he sensed the approaching footsteps of death.

After hearing his words, a smile appeared on Chen Tian's originally indifferent face, and he nodded, "Very good, then have your subordinates send the money over quickly, otherwise, I will make sure you never leave this room."

Although the voice was soft, it was a threat.

"Yes, yes, this junior will send a signal to have someone send the money over."

The gaunt man was extremely frightened and immediately took out a firework tube from his body, walked to the window, and pulled the fuse. Immediately, a red firework shot out from the firework tube and bloomed in the ten-thousand-foot-high night sky.

"Senior, please wait a moment. It is expected that someone will send the money over tomorrow morning," the gaunt man said respectfully after retracting the firework tube.

After hearing this, Chen Tian nodded lightly, then walked to the side and continued to gaze at the moon in the sky.

But not long after, some scattered footsteps suddenly came from near the iron shop. It turned out that the villagers of Vegetable Basket Village had been awakened by the sound of the firework just now and had gathered around.

"Brother Chen, what happened?"

The leader was Erwa's father. After noticing the unusual situation on Chen Tian's side, he rushed over as soon as possible.

Chen Tian glanced at him, as if thinking of something, and smiled strangely: "It's nothing, it's just that two thieves broke into my house."

"Damn, who ate the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard, daring to come to my brother's house to steal something? Fellow villagers, follow me in and beat the thieves!"

Erwa's father seemed very angry. With a wave of his hand, he led the villagers of Vegetable Basket Village into the iron shop and pinned the two men to the ground, fiercely punching and kicking them.

Logically speaking, the purple-robed elder and the gaunt man were both cultivators. If they really wanted to resist, the villagers here would have died ten times over.

However, due to Chen Tian's presence, they did not dare to resist in any way and had no choice but to obediently accept a round of beatings from the angry villagers.

Before long, bruises covered the two men's noses and eyes, and they screamed repeatedly.

Two cultivators were actually beaten by a group of unarmed mortals. If this matter were to spread, it would definitely shock countless people.

Chen Tian did not participate, but instead stood by and quietly watched all of this, his mind racing, as if he had gained some insight.

And above his head, beneath the moon, the red thread that had initially formed grew stronger by a fraction.

At the same time, a terrifying aura gathered from all around!