"Talisman Scripture"!

"Who goes there? What nerve!"

Lei Nuo stared coldly at the black-clad swordsman who had appeared before him. A cruel smile spread across his face as he said, "Bandits these days actually dare to rob the Lei Family? Watch me, Lei Nuo, chop you up and feed you to the wild horses!"

With a cry of "Hyah!" Lei Nuo charged straight out.

"Thunderclap Light!"

In his right hand, a roiling ball of light suddenly appeared, rippling with intense yuan-power fluctuations.

Thunderclap Light, a Fourth-grade Martial Art, was displayed with effortless ease in the hands of Lei Nuo, who was at the early Heavenly Yuan Stage.

"That guy... Is there any need to use Thunderclap Light against a mere bandit?"

Lei Ying sat astride his wild horse, watching Lei Nuo unleash Thunderclap Light. He could not help shaking his head, though he understood how the other man felt.

Ironwood Manor had been lost, and Lin Xiao had beaten them so badly on his own that they could only flee. That frustration and fury truly made it hard to stay calm.

After thinking for a moment, Lei Ying only reminded him, "Make it quick. We still have to go back and report what happened at Ironwood Manor."

"Don't worry. My Thunderclap Light isn't just for show. Even if Lin Xiao came, he'd have to stand there obediently and take it!"

Lei Nuo smiled cruelly. Then, with his right palm, he hurled the tumbling, leaping ball of lightning at the black-clad swordsman.

Immediately after, he rushed forward as well.

Clearly, he did not want Thunderclap Light to kill the black-clad swordsman outright. He wanted to torture him savagely to vent his emotions!

"Looks like I wasn't wrong to ambush you."

Lin Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. The Green Lotus Sword resting in its scabbard was now held before him.

He looked at the incoming Thunderclap Light and smiled contemptuously.

"Green Lotus Drawing Sword Style!"

The sharp blade rang as it left the scabbard, and azure sword light bloomed in an instant.

Countless strands of sword qi raged wildly in every direction!

"How is that possible!?"

Lei Nuo, who was only one step away from Lin Chen, saw his Fourth-grade Martial Art, Thunderclap Light, split apart by the sword qi in the blink of an eye. His eyes went wide in disbelief.

That was Thunderclap Light. Even if he himself tried to withstand it, it would never be this easy.

And he certainly could not have carried out such a clean, decisive attack!

"Lei Nuo!"

At that moment, Lei Ying, mounted on his wild horse, witnessed one of the most terrifying sights of his life. He could not help raising his hand and crying out in shock.

All he could see was that Lei Nuo, who had been whole just a moment ago, now had a deep bloody line across him in an instant.

From top to bottom, he had been split in two.

"What's wrong?"

Only after Lei Nuo asked this instinctively did he react. A surge of violent pain welled up within him.

He lowered his head to look at his own body and saw that a deep bloody line had appeared there.

Extremely sharp sword qi began to burst out from within the bloody mark.

Immediately after, Lei Nuo split into two halves and collapsed into a pool of blood.

Even in death, he did not understand how he had been struck.

And so quickly, killed with a single sword strike!

"Who... who exactly are you!?"

When Lei Ying saw Lei Nuo's miserable death, his face instantly went deathly pale with fright.

They were both at the early Heavenly Yuan Stage, yet this black-clad swordsman had killed Lei Nuo instantly with just one sword strike. Did that not mean he would meet the same fate next!?

The moment he thought of this, he no longer dared to regard the other man as some simple bandit.

This was definitely a Heavenly Yuan Stage expert, and an extremely powerful late Heavenly Yuan Stage one at that!

Lei Ying knew very well that even the Lei Family's patriarch, Lei Bao, who was at the late Heavenly Yuan Stage, could not possibly possess such formidable strength.

"Take this!"

Lei Ying immediately activated Thunderclap Light and blasted it toward Lin Chen.

Then he rode his wild horse and fled into the forest.

With Lei Nuo's miserable death as a lesson right before his eyes, how could he dare fight him?

All Lei Ying could think of now was escaping into the dense forest. With the wild horse's speed, the black-clad swordsman behind him definitely would not be able to catch up.

Lin Chen once again cleaved Thunderclap Light apart with a single sword strike. He stared coldly at Lei Ying's fleeing back and sneered.

"If I let you get away, wouldn't that be rather embarrassing?"

As he raised his hand, the Green Lotus Sword in his grasp was already wrapped in a deep-blue, chilling yin energy, and it shot fiercely toward Lei Ying's back.

The reason he had been able to instantly kill Lei Nuo just now was mainly because the instant-kill power of the Green Lotus Drawing Sword Style was simply too strong. It had directly cut down Thunderclap Light, and the remaining sword qi had then split Lei Nuo, who had yet to realize the danger, cleanly in half.

If Lei Ying had been able to fight him with everything he had, he might have lasted for a while.

But now? There was only one outcome.

Death!

The Green Lotus Sword plunged straight into Lei Ying's body as he sat on horseback. The bone-piercing cold froze both him and the wild horse into ice sculptures in an instant.

Then, under the overwhelmingly powerful slaughtering force of the sword qi, the ice sculptures shattered at once.

"Done!"

With a thought, Lin Chen recalled the Green Lotus Sword.

He activated the Innate Yin Sha Qi within his body, directly turning the corpses on the ground into blocks of ice before annihilating them.

After dealing with the situation at the scene, he finally had the Fire Python Tiger carry him toward Ironwood Manor again.

"Ding! Congratulations, host, for successfully intercepting and killing the two early Heavenly Yuan Stage experts, Lei Nuo and Lei Ying. You may receive one sign-in opportunity. Begin sign-in?"

Still riding on the Fire Python Tiger's back, Lin Chen heard the system prompt, and delight appeared on his face.

Sure enough, his decision to intercept and kill them this time had been well worth it!

"Sign in!"

"Ding! Signing in. Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received the sign-in reward—Talisman Scripture!"

Lin Chen was somewhat surprised. This so-called Talisman Scripture—could it be related to the path of talisman masters?

The martial path had given rise to many offshoots and side branches.

And talisman masters were one of them.

Based on Lin Chen's limited understanding of talisman masters, compared with simply using Yuan Power, talisman masters also needed to employ Spiritual Power.

This meant that talisman masters had to cultivate both Yuan Power and Spiritual Power in order to condense special runes.

Because these special runes each had different structures, the abilities and effects they possessed also differed.

Compared with ordinary martial artists, who could only use Yuan Power, talisman masters could, on that foundation, employ profound and powerful Spiritual Power to manipulate objects, or turn Spiritual Power into substance to attack enemies.

Together with powerful Spiritual Secret Skills, the strength of a talisman master would be greater than that of an ordinary martial artist in the same realm!

Just as the martial path had classifications such as the Body Tempering Stage, Earthly Yuan Stage, Heavenly Yuan Stage, and so on, talisman masters also had corresponding rank divisions.

Generally speaking, talisman masters were divided into four seals, as well as Spirit Talisman Masters beyond the four seals.

The minimum cultivation requirement for a One-Seal Talisman Master was the Earthly Yuan Stage. Being able to reach the level of a Two-Seal Symbol Master was already enough to become an honored guest whom the major forces of a large city had to treat with respect, which was more than enough to show just how valuable they were.

As for the specific cultivation of talisman masters, there was none of that in Qingyang Town at all. It could only be found in Yan City.

If an ordinary person wanted to become a talisman master, they could only head to Yan City and seek instruction from a talisman master. But without talent in Spiritual Power, how could they possibly be accepted so easily as a disciple by a talisman master?

Lin Chen lowered his head and looked at the Talisman Scripture in his hands, its pages densely covered with all sorts of golden runes, and delight appeared on his face.

In that case, didn't that mean he could cultivate Spiritual Power ahead of time and have a chance to become a talisman master?!