The instant he stepped into the energy entrance, a violent sense of spatial distortion hit him, several times fiercer than during the qualifying trials. Light and shadow flickered chaotically before his eyes, while the hurried breaths and air-splitting sounds of countless examinees rang in his ears.
When his feet touched solid ground again, Lin Feng found himself in an unfamiliar environment. The air was thick with the pungent smell of earth and a faint sulfurous stench. Beneath his feet lay dark red, cracked, hardened ground; in the distance stretched crimson mountain ranges, as though they had been steeped in blood, while the sky was an oppressive dusky yellow.
"Random teleportation..." Lin Feng understood at once. The Myriad Phenomena Battlefield was incomparably vast. Once tens of thousands of examinees were thrown into it, they were immediately scattered apart.
Without the slightest hesitation, his spiritual power spread outward like a tide. Suppressed by the battlefield's special force field, his sensing range had been compressed to around a hundred meters, but that was enough.
[Entered Myriad Phenomena Battlefield (Crimson Rock Region). Detected faint fire poison and Chaotic Spiritual Energy in the environment. A cultivation technique must be circulated to resist them.] [Warning: Multiple hostile Life Energy reactions detected. Remain vigilant.]
System notifications sounded one after another. Lin Feng immediately circulated the Thunder Foundation Establishment Chapter. A faint violet glow spread over his body, blocking out the unpleasant fire poison and Chaotic Spiritual Energy as pure Thunder Spiritual Energy was slowly absorbed.
He chose a direction and pushed the Thunder Flash movement technique to its limit. Like a streak of lightning skimming the ground, he swiftly moved away from the teleportation point. In a place like this, staying where he was was the stupidest thing he could do.
After traveling only a few miles, fierce sounds of battle and the roars of a demonic beast came from a field of jagged rocks ahead.
Lin Feng concealed his aura and quietly approached. He saw three examinees from different cities joining forces to besiege a massive demonic beast. It resembled a lizard, but its entire body was covered in crimson scales, and it spewed blazing flames from its mouth—a Fire Scale Lizard! Its aura was formidable, comparable to a Late Stage Martial Artist. Although the three examinees were Early and Mid Stage Martial Artists themselves, they were being beaten back step by step, teetering on the brink of disaster.
Lin Feng swept his gaze over them without any intention of intervening. Under the provincial examination rules, the fastest way to earn points was to defeat other examinees. Those three posed no threat to him, and he had no interest in the Fire Scale Lizard's points either.
Just as he was preparing to go around them, his spiritual power suddenly caught an extremely concealed aura filled with brutality and killing intent rapidly closing in from his rear flank! Its target was unmistakably him!
"Here he comes!" Lin Feng's gaze turned cold as he spun around.
A blood-red figure shot out from behind a huge boulder like a cannonball, moving at an astonishing speed! The man was tall and powerfully built, his face savage, his eyes crimson as blood. His right hand wore a metal gauntlet covered in spikes, with bloody qi coiling around it and carrying a nauseating, fishy wind!
"Blood Hand Tu Gang!" Lin Feng instantly identified the newcomer! The vicious criminal from Jiangbei Province mentioned in Chen Wu's intelligence!
"Brat! Die for me!" A cruel, bloodthirsty grin covered Tu Gang's face. He wasted no words as his gauntleted right fist suddenly blasted out! The fist wind tore through the air with a shriek like ghosts wailing, and a solidified blood-colored fist imprint, almost tangible, swept over Lin Feng. It carried corrosive force and a fierce mental impact!
The power of this punch far surpassed that of an ordinary Late Stage Martial Artist! The brutality and slaughtering will contained within that blood-colored energy were enough to make anyone lacking resolve lose courage before even fighting!
"Good!"
Not only was Lin Feng unafraid, his battle intent surged like boiling water! He needed a whetstone to test the results of these ten days of bitter cultivation, and... to adapt to this battlefield of life-and-death combat!
He neither dodged nor retreated. Thunder True Qi erupted within him, and the force technique of the second level of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade was driven to its absolute limit! The dark violet Thunder Gang around his right fist was no longer faintly visible—it fully condensed into shape, like a thin thunder gauntlet wrapping his fist as he fearlessly met the blood-colored fist imprint head-on!
Thunderclap Break Gang!
BOOM—!!
The dark violet thunder fist collided viciously with the blood-colored fist imprint! A terrifying blast erupted, far louder than any of their previous exchanges! Red and violet energy frantically collided, annihilated, and exploded! A powerful shockwave spread outward in a ring, scraping three feet of earth from the surrounding ground! The three examinees battling the Fire Scale Lizard, along with the beast itself, were all thrown into the air by the blast and stared over in horror!
Within the chaotic energy currents, Lin Feng's body swayed slightly, and the ground beneath his feet cracked, but he did not take a single step back! Lightning flickered around his fist, shattering and purifying every last trace of invading blood-colored energy!
Tu Gang, however, let out a muffled grunt and staggered three steps back. Each step left a deep footprint in the ground! The bloody glow around his right arm flickered wildly, and several fine charred cracks had even appeared on his metal gauntlet!
The savage grin on his face instantly froze, replaced by intense shock and a trace of horror!
"How is this possible?! You're only a Mid Stage Martial Artist! How can your true qi be so condensed?! This power of thunder..." Tu Gang stared fixedly at the dark violet Thunder Gang still lingering around Lin Feng's fist, his eyes full of disbelief. His Blood Fiend True Qi was incomparably tyrannical, capable of breaking all kinds of protective true qi and even corroding the mind. Yet at the instant of their collision, he had felt as though his true qi had struck an unshakable wall of thunder, only to be devoured by that supremely yang and unyielding thunderous power!
"Is that all you've got?" Lin Feng shook his wrist, his tone icy and openly mocking. "This is the trash the Zhang Family hired?"
"You're courting death!" Tu Gang was utterly enraged. His eyes turned crimson as blood, and bloody qi exploded from his body like a layer of burning blood flames! Blood Fiend Soul Burn!
He was actually burning part of his blood qi and soul power to forcibly raise his strength! His aura instantly soared, approaching the Peak Martial Artist realm without limit! With a furious roar, he threw both fists forward. Countless blood-colored fist shadows crashed down like a torrential storm, accompanied by piercing ghostly howls, completely drowning Lin Feng! Their might was more than twice as great as before!
Facing this desperate offensive, Lin Feng's gaze grew solemn, yet he remained calm. The Thunder Foundation Establishment Chapter circulated to its limit. Lightning flared around his body as he pushed Thunder Flash to a masterful level, weaving through the blood-colored fist shadows like a phantom and narrowly evading fatal attacks time and again.
At the same time, he repeatedly pointed with two fingers. Electric Light Finger fused with the True Meaning of Thunder, and condensed violet finger-arrows shot forth like darting thunder serpents, accurately striking the weak points in Tu Gang's assault and continuously weakening and disrupting his rhythm.
Bang! Bang! Boom!
The two figures collided and crossed at high speed over the crimson earth. Lightning and blood flames exploded without cease, reducing the surrounding terrain to a complete mess. The three examinees and the Fire Scale Lizard had long since been scared out of their wits, scrambling and crawling away into the distance.
The longer Tu Gang fought, the more alarmed he became! He had already used a secret technique, causing his strength to soar. He had thought he could quickly take down his opponent, but this brat was like a slick loach that could not be grasped. His movement technique was bizarre and unfathomable, while those thunder finger-arrows were vicious and tricky, constantly draining his strength. What made him even more stifled was that Lin Feng's Thunder True Qi seemed to naturally restrain his Blood Fiend True Qi. Every collision made his blood qi churn and his soul power burn!
"I can't drag this out any longer!" A flash of ruthlessness and urgency crossed Tu Gang's eyes. The secret technique had limited duration, and its backlash was enormous!
He suddenly feinted, forcing Lin Feng back half a step. Then he drew his right fist back to his waist as all the blood qi and soul power in his body frantically gathered into the gauntlet. The gauntlet became like a red-hot branding iron, radiating a destructive fluctuation that made hearts tremble!
"To die beneath my Blood Slaughter Soul Annihilation is your honor!" Tu Gang's face twisted as he let out a final roar. The punch containing all the power of his life shot toward Lin Feng like a blood-colored meteor!
This punch locked down every possible path of retreat. Lin Feng could only take it head-on!
Lin Feng's pupils contracted as he sensed a deadly threat! Yet not only was there no fear in his eyes, a trace of resolve flashed through them!
"Now!"
He stopped dodging and no longer used Electric Light Finger to interfere. Within his body, the blood qi and true qi that had long been pressing against a barrier suddenly boiled under the pressure of life and death! The circulation speed of the Thunder Foundation Establishment Chapter broke past a certain limit!
Facing that blood-colored meteor, he threw out a punch as well! But this fist was no longer dark violet. It became incomparably pure and dazzling, as if countless tiny bolts of lightning had been compressed and condensed together! Even the space around his fist distorted slightly!
He poured all his power, all his comprehension, and all his will into this punch!
Break!
The brilliant lightning and terrifying blood-colored meteor collided like two comets!
BOOM—!!!!!
An unprecedented explosion erupted! A massive sphere of energy mixed with thunder and blood rose into the sky, illuminating even the gloomy heavens in a miserable white! The ground was blasted open into an enormous crater more than twenty meters wide!
The energy storm slowly dispersed.
At the edge of the crater, Lin Feng knelt on one knee. A thread of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, while the flesh of his right fist was torn open and charred black, trembling faintly. Yet the aura around him rose sharply to an entirely new height, like a blazing sun breaking through clouds and mist! More majestic, more fierce!
[Realm breakthrough: Martial Artist (Late Stage)!] [Strength: 1258kg!] [Agility: 58m/s!] [Spiritual Power: 41] [Nine Heavens Thunder Blade Second Level Mastery: 25%!]
On the other side of the crater, Tu Gang remained frozen in the posture of throwing his punch. The blood flames around him had long since extinguished. His eyes were vacant, filled with utter terror and disbelief.
A charred black crack began at his gauntlet and rapidly spread across his entire body.
Crack... Pfft...
His entire body shattered inch by inch like a dried sand sculpture, finally turning into a pile of charred remains that scattered into nothingness when the battlefield breeze blew.
Lin Feng slowly straightened up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth as he felt the Thunder True Qi inside him surge like great rivers and seas, along with his explosively increased strength.
His icy gaze swept over the place where Tu Gang had vanished before turning toward the deeper reaches of the battlefield.
"The first."
"Who will be next?"
Before you continue