Assassination Attempt

Lin Sheng was the one who had arrived, having pursued them relentlessly.

"Kid, are you out of your mind? You refuse the path to paradise, only to crash headfirst into the gates of hell..."

Ma Qiang and Liu Jie, having recovered from their shock, exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

Ma Qiang, in particular, looked extremely excited as he watched Lin Sheng approach slowly.

"A good-for-nothing who hasn't even reached the Body Tempering realm. Today, I'll show you what happens when you mess with Ma Qiang."

As he spoke, he took the iron spear from his back and glanced at Liu Jie beside him.

"Brother Liu, leave this kid to me. Let me have some fun."

"Naturally."

Liu Jie nodded, seeing no reason to refuse. He stuck his steel saber into the ground and began to idly play with a smooth river stone in his hand.

He didn't know how this kid ended up here, but an ordinary person who wasn't even a martial artist would certainly be no match for Ma Qiang, who had already entered the Body Tempering realm.

However, just in case, he decided to provide backup from the side. If anything unexpected happened, he wouldn't hesitate to intervene to prevent any mishaps.

Ma Qiang, a sinister grin plastered on his face, walked towards Lin Sheng with his iron spear, muttering as he went.

"Kid, who gave you the guts to come here yourself? Don't tell me you still think it's like before. The me now is already..."

However, before he could finish, he saw Lin Sheng raise the iron spear in his hand and throw it.

With a sharp whistling sound, the rough spearhead rapidly grew larger in his vision.

Before Ma Qiang could react, a clear thwack of metal piercing flesh rang out, followed by a tidal wave of intense pain from his abdomen.

"Ah!!"

Ma Qiang cried out in agony. The spear's powerful momentum pierced through his abdomen, sending his body backward and impaling him against the trunk of an ancient tree.

"Too much talking."

Lin Sheng glanced coldly at Ma Qiang, whose face was contorted in pain, and turned to walk towards Liu Jie.

"This..."

It wasn't until Ma Qiang let out another pained roar that Liu Jie, who had been observing from the sidelines, finally reacted.

It wasn't entirely his fault; the entire incident had happened too suddenly.

He had expected that even if Ma Qiang couldn't defeat this kid, they would at least engage in a prolonged struggle.

He never imagined that in the blink of an eye, Ma Qiang would be so severely injured. In this environment, such a grave injury meant certain death.

Thinking of Ma Long's formidable strength and ruthless methods, he knew he would face severe punishment for failing to protect his younger brother upon their return.

"Kid, you're asking for death!!"

His anger surged, and without any hesitation, he flipped his wrist, sending the river stone hurtling towards Lin Sheng.

At this point, his only option was to bring back this kid's head, hoping it would be enough to account for the situation.

His body moved like an arrow, and brandishing his steel saber, he charged towards Lin Sheng.

Facing the whistling river stone, Lin Sheng simply clapped his hands, swatting it into dust as if it were a fly.

Then, bending his knees slightly, he shot forward like a cannonball, directly meeting Liu Jie.

"Foolishness."

Seeing the opponent's empty hands, attempting to confront his steel saber head-on, Liu Jie sneered inwardly.

He gathered all his strength, and as the steel saber descended, it cut through the air with a whistling sound. He was determined to chop off the opponent's hands.

He had already planned it out: he wouldn't let the opponent die easily. He would chop off each of his limbs one by one before finally taking his head.

However, thoughts are often more pleasant than reality.

The steel saber, gleaming with a chilling light, collided with the rough fists.

There was no bloody scene of flesh and bone flying as he had imagined.

Instead, those bare palms directly gripped the steel saber.

"How is this possible!?"

Liu Jie's eyes widened, as if he had witnessed something utterly impossible.

While his steel saber wasn't a divine weapon, it wasn't something an ordinary person could block, let alone with bare hands.

Even if he had cultivated the Raging Bull Fist to minor completion, under his full-powered strike, those hands would surely be lost.

"Unless..."

Liu Jie's expression changed as he suddenly exclaimed, realizing something.

"Your Raging Bull Fist has reached great completion!!"

"You're a Muscle Forging martial artist!!"

"This is impossible, it's just impossible..."

Before Lin Sheng could reply, Liu Jie frantically shook his head, his face flushing red, desperately channeling all his strength to pull the steel saber free.

Creak... creak... creak...

However, no matter how he struggled, the steel knife remained completely still, as if it were welded to his palm.

"Is that all you've got?"

Feeling the slight pain in his palm, Lin Sheng shook his head slightly, then suddenly exerted force.

With a crisp clang, the steel knife was actually snapped in half by him.

"Die!!"

Liu Jie had already recovered from his shock. Seeing the steel knife break, he didn't hesitate, let go, and shot a white object from his chest.

It then exploded, scattering a large amount of white powder. It turned out to be a small cloth bag filled with lime powder.

And that wasn't all. Liu Jie didn't choose to retreat; instead, he pulled out two more throwing darts and shot them into the white mist.

At this moment, Lin Sheng's figure had already burst out of the white mist. He swung his arm, swatting one dart away, while the other landed on his shoulder.

Seeing this, Liu Jie was not surprised but delighted. A cold smile appeared on his face as he quickly retreated.

The throwing dart was his hidden trump card, coated with a potent poison. As long as it broke the skin, the poison would enter the blood, and the opponent would quickly suffocate.

However, the poisoning symptoms he had imagined—the opponent struggling in pain, collapsing, and having difficulty breathing—did not appear. Instead, Lin Sheng was rapidly closing in on him.

"You're asking for death. The more you circulate your Blood Essence, the faster the poison will take effect. You won't even know how you died."

He retreated rapidly, certain that Lin Sheng wouldn't last a few more breaths before the poison took hold. He wouldn't give the man a chance for a mutual kill.

Clearly confident in his poison, which he had acquired at a high price, he believed even a Muscle Forging martial artist wouldn't escape death.

After a few more breaths, Liu Jie was astonished to find that Lin Sheng still showed no signs of poisoning and was, in fact, getting closer.

"What's going on? Why isn't the poison working?"

Liu Jie was filled with confusion, but he didn't have much time to ponder. A dull thud echoed from behind him.

Lin Sheng's calf suddenly bulged by a circumference, smashing the ground with a single stomp. His speed instantly skyrocketed, and he shot forward several meters.

Liu Jie instinctively looked back, only to see a black boot already close by. It landed on his back.

With the crackling sound of bones breaking, Liu Jie was sent flying backward as if hit by a speeding carriage, crashing into a nearby patch of weeds.

At this moment, Liu Jie felt as if his entire body had fallen apart. He struggled to get up but couldn't.

Watching Lin Sheng slowly approach him, he widened his eyes, wanting to say something, but instead, he let out a loud gasp and vomited a large amount of black blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs.

Then, as if all his strength had been drained, he collapsed powerlessly to the ground, his eyes wide open in death, unseeing.

Lin Sheng walked over and began searching Liu Jie's body.

He found several throwing darts, a money pouch, and some miscellaneous items, along with a thin booklet.

This made Lin Sheng's heart leap with joy.

Could this be another cultivation technique manual?

The thought flashed through his mind, but he didn't rush to examine it.