At the third watch of the night, darkness was thick as spilled ink. Even the stars and moon had hidden their traces, as though drawing the perfect curtain over the dark deed about to unfold.
The Lin Family residence, after the clamor of the daytime Family Test, had now sunk into deep slumber. Only a scattering of courtyards still showed faint lamplight, like weary eyes in the darkness.
One of them was Leopard Garden, where the badly wounded, shocked, and enraged Lin Bao resided.
Leopard Garden's atmosphere was utterly different from a few days ago. Though it remained brightly lit, the air was thick with suppression, tension, and even a trace of panic.
During the daytime test, Lin Bao had not only suffered a crushing defeat at Lin Chen's hands, but his right arm had also been completely crippled. Even his old injuries had fully relapsed. He had lost both the lady and the troops, his face thoroughly disgraced, becoming the laughingstock of the entire Lin Family!
One could imagine that Lin Bao was now in a state of fury, despair, and extreme weakness!
As for the followers and guards who usually strutted about in arrogance, after witnessing Lin Chen's ruthless and bizarre methods, they had long since lost their former swagger. Each was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring; even while standing guard, they were absent-minded and full of fear.
This was precisely the best opportunity Lin Chen had been waiting for!
A shadow deeper than the night itself slipped silently into Leopard Garden once more, like a ghost.
Lin Chen's movement technique was even more elusive and swifter than before! His cultivation at the Body Tempering Realm Sixth Layer Peak had brought his control over his own strength and aura to an inconceivable level! Added to that, although he had yet to fully comprehend that mysterious Beast Hide Book, the Myriad Dao Furnace's "simulation and deduction" seemed to have imbued his movement technique with an indescribably profound charm.
Like an elf of the night, he easily evaded the distracted open and hidden sentries. Even the warning formation that he had previously needed to destroy with utmost care—perhaps not yet repaired after he had damaged it, or perhaps only imperfectly restored—was crossed through a "gap" he found using his keen perception of energy flow. He passed through without alerting anyone!
This time, his target was no longer the medicinal garden, but the main bedroom tower in the deepest part of Leopard Garden, where the guards were relatively more stringent!
What he sought was not merely whatever resources remained, but Lin Bao himself!
He was going to settle this grudge once and for all!
Inside the tower, the lights were blazing.
Faintly, Lin Bao's hoarse, distorted roars of pain and rage could be heard from within, along with the crisp sounds of porcelain shattering.
"Trash! You're all trash! You couldn't even keep watch over a piece of garbage whose potential had been exhausted! You let him steal my Crimson Sun Grass! He ruined my hand! Ahhh! I'll kill him! I'll definitely kill him!!"
"Brother Leopard, calm your anger! Brother Leopard, please calm down! Your injuries are what matter most right now! The Great Elder has already given his orders. He'll definitely find a way to kill that little beast! Just recover in peace!" The skinny monkey-like follower's voice carried a sobbing note. Clearly, he had been made the target of Lin Bao's rage and had taken quite a beating.
"Recover? My hand is crippled! How am I supposed to recover?! I'll be a cripple for the rest of my life! It's all because of Lin Chen! That damned little bastard is the one who did this! Cough, cough, cough..." The more Lin Bao spoke, the more agitated he became, and he began coughing violently again. His voice was filled with endless despair and venom.
Lin Chen lurked in the shadows outside the tower, hearing every word clearly. A cold curve lifted at the corner of his lips.
A cripple? You'll soon learn what a real cripple is!
He did not hesitate any longer. Like a gecko, he silently climbed onto the outer corridor of the tower's second floor. The windows here were likewise tightly shut, but to the current Lin Chen, they might as well not have existed.
The same old trick! The Myriad Dao Furnace's power circulated with exquisite precision!
Without a sound, the window latch was melted apart, and the window was gently pushed open a crack.
Like a civet cat, Lin Chen silently slipped into the room.
This seemed to be a study. It was elegantly furnished, with all manner of books lining the shelves. The air carried a faint scent of ink and sandalwood.
Lin Chen did not linger. He could clearly hear that Lin Bao's roars and his follower's attempts at consolation were coming from the bedroom next door.
His feet touched down lightly, as though he were walking on clouds. Without making the slightest sound, he quietly arrived outside the bedroom door.
The door was ajar.
Through the gap, Lin Chen clearly saw the scene within.
The bedroom was a complete mess. Broken porcelain shards and overturned medicine bowls littered the floor. Lin Bao's hair was disheveled, his face white as paper as he half reclined on the bed. One arm hung in thick bandages, while his other intact hand clenched the bedsheets so tightly in rage that his knuckles had turned white. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with madness and despair, like an injured wild beast trapped in a cage.
The skinny monkey-like follower knelt beside the bed, trembling so hard that he scarcely dared breathe.
"Get out! All of you, get out!!" Lin Bao suddenly erupted again. He grabbed a jade pillow from beside the bed and hurled it viciously at the skinny follower. "Leave me alone! Get out!"
"Yes... yes! Brother Leopard, calm your anger! I'll get out right away!" As though granted a pardon, the skinny follower scrambled and rolled out of the bedroom, forgetting even to close the door in his panic.
An opportunity!
A cold glint flashed in Lin Chen's eyes!
At the instant the skinny follower fled, and Lin Bao, temporarily drained after venting his rage, panted violently!
Lin Chen moved!
His body shot forth like an arrow released from the bow! Yet he made no sound at all! In an instant, he passed through the half-open door and appeared before Lin Bao's bed!
"Who?!" Lin Bao was jolted in alarm! He abruptly looked up!
When he saw that cold, unfamiliar face beneath the dim lamplight, his pupils suddenly contracted! An ultimate terror swept over his entire body like icy water!
"Lin... Lin Chen?! You... why are you here?!" His voice was hoarse, filled with incredulous horror!
He had never dreamed that this person, whose flesh he wished to eat and whose skin he wished to sleep upon, would dare... would dare sneak into his bedroom in the dead of night?!
"I came... to collect some interest." Lin Chen's voice was icy, devoid of any emotion.
He gave Lin Bao no chance to react!
His right hand shot out like lightning! It clamped directly around Lin Bao's throat, choking off every word he had left!
"Urgh... urgh..." Lin Bao felt an irresistible force descend upon him! Breathing instantly became difficult! He tried to struggle, but his right hand was crippled, while his left was pinned down tightly by Lin Chen! Moreover, he was already injured, his strength greatly reduced! Before Lin Chen at the Body Tempering Realm Sixth Layer Peak, he was simply a lamb awaiting slaughter! Completely incapable of resistance!
Fear! Boundless fear instantly engulfed him! He could clearly see the undisguised... killing intent in Lin Chen's cold eyes!
He's going to kill me! He really is going to kill me!
At that moment, Lin Bao was truly terrified! He regretted it! He regretted ever provoking this baleful star!
"Spare... spare me..." He forced a few words out of his throat with great difficulty, his eyes full of pleading.
Lin Chen's gaze remained cold and unmoved.
Spare him?
During the past three years, when Lin Chen had been bullied and suffered every scornful gaze, who had ever spared him?
When Lin Bao had repeatedly brought people to humiliate him, even trying to put him to death, had he ever considered sparing Lin Chen's life?
Repay resentment with virtue? Then what would repay virtue?!
Lin Chen had never considered himself a saint!
A grievance for a grievance! A debt for a debt! That was his rule of conduct!
But... killing Lin Bao outright seemed too easy on him.
And killing the Great Elder's direct grandson within the Lin Family would cause too much of a commotion, bringing far too much trouble afterward.
A cruel light flashed through Lin Chen's eyes.
Death was too easy.
Sometimes, living... was more painful than dying!
The hand around Lin Bao's throat loosened slightly, allowing him to barely breathe, but Lin Chen still held him firmly under control.
Then, his other hand slowly moved toward Lin Bao's... Dantian Sea of Qi!
"No... don't..." Lin Bao seemed to realize what Lin Chen intended to do. His eyes instantly filled with ultimate terror and despair! He struggled madly, but it was all futile!
Destroy his dantian!
For a martial artist, this was even crueler than killing him! It meant he would completely become a cripple, inferior even to an ordinary person! He would never again have a chance to rise!
"Lin Chen! How dare you?! My grandfather won't let you go!!" Lin Bao roared with every ounce of his strength, trying to threaten Lin Chen with the Great Elder's name.
"Too noisy!" Lin Chen's eyes turned cold, and his hand tightened slightly!
Crack!
A faint sound of bone breaking rang out! Lin Bao's throat bone was crushed directly! His scream stopped abruptly! His eyes widened, and only hoarse choking sounds came from his mouth. He could no longer make a single sound! He could only watch helplessly as that cold palm pressed toward the dantian upon which his life depended!
"Myriad Dao Furnace... melt!"
Lin Chen gave a low shout in his heart!
This time, he was no longer absorbing energy, but... destroying it!
An extremely hidden yet incomparably domineering force of refinement instantly seeped into Lin Bao's Dantian Sea of Qi like maggots clinging to bone!
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!!!
Lin Bao felt as though his dantian had been thrown into an invisible meat grinder! The liquid true qi that had once been fairly abundant—though muddled by his injuries—seemed to encounter its nemesis. It was instantly crushed, broken down, and dispersed!
The meridian barriers forming his Dantian Sea of Qi were eroded by that tyrannical power as though drenched in sulfuric acid, rapidly shrinking, withering, and collapsing!
"Urgh... urgh..." Lin Bao's body convulsed violently, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets! The ultimate pain and despair of having his dantian destroyed and all cultivation lost made him wish he could die at once!
Only a few breaths passed!
Lin Bao's once fairly full Dantian Sea of Qi had completely become a dead, silent ruin! It could no longer contain even the slightest trace of true qi!
Completely... crippled!
Lin Chen slowly withdrew his hand. Looking at Lin Bao sprawled limply on the bed like mud, his eyes hollow and lifeless, with only silent choking sounds remaining, there was not the slightest pity in his gaze—only cold indifference.
From this day onward, Lin Bao would completely become a cripple! A cripple inferior even to an ordinary healthy person! He would live forever in the pain and despair of losing his cultivation! This, perhaps, would make him understand far better than simply killing him... what it meant to wish for death but be unable to die!
After settling things with Lin Bao, Lin Chen did not leave immediately.
His gaze swept over the luxurious bedroom once again.
When he had searched the nanmu chest earlier, he seemed to have overlooked some details.
He walked over to the large rosewood wardrobe and opened it. Inside hung all kinds of silks and brocades, along with neatly folded clothes.
Lin Chen casually rummaged through them, but found nothing unusual.
He then went to the bed and carefully examined the bedding. He lifted the pillow and felt around the hidden layer beneath the bed boards, yet still found nothing.
Could it be... Lin Bao had really kept all his valuable things in that nanmu chest?
Lin Chen frowned slightly, feeling that something was not quite right. With Lin Bao's suspicious and cautious—or rather, selfish and greedy—nature, he should have left himself some backup, shouldn't he?
His gaze fell once more upon the nanmu chest he had already emptied.
Wait!
The bottom of the chest!
Lin Chen's heart stirred! He quickly stepped forward!
He reached out and carefully tapped the bottom of the chest!
Knock, knock, knock!
Sure enough! One section sounded distinctly different from the others! It was duller!
There was a hidden compartment!
A sharp glint flashed through Lin Chen's eyes! He immediately activated the furnace's power!
Without a sound, the wooden board at the bottom of the chest that served as camouflage was melted open, revealing a small hidden compartment beneath it!
There was only one item inside the compartment—a palm-sized Storage Ring carved from some unknown warm jade, covered in intricate formation patterns and emitting intense spatial fluctuations?!
"A Storage Ring?!" Lin Chen's pupils abruptly contracted!
This was a spatial treasure countless times more advanced than a storage pouch! Not only did it have far more space, but it was also more concealed and secure! Usually, only experts at the Foundation Establishment Realm or above, or core disciples born into wealthy and powerful clans, were qualified to possess one!
Lin Bao actually had a Storage Ring hidden away?!
Lin Chen's heart began pounding violently once more!
It seemed that the true treasures Lin Bao had kept at the very bottom of the chest were inside this ring!
Without hesitation, he picked up the Storage Ring! It felt warm and smooth in his hand, with Lin Bao's spiritual imprint still lingering on it.
But even this could not stump the Myriad Dao Furnace!
"Melt!"
Sizzle...
That spiritual imprint representing ownership was erased in an instant by the furnace's power, as easily as a sheet of thin paper!
Lin Chen immediately extended his Spiritual Power into it!
The next moment!
Even with his current state of mind, he could not help but suck in a cold breath!
The space inside the Storage Ring was more than a dozen cubic meters! It was over ten times larger than the storage pouch he had seized!
And the contents stored inside left him utterly dumbfounded!
Mid-grade Spirit Stones! They were piled up like mountains! There were at least a thousand of them! There were even more than ten High-grade Spirit Stones emitting even more terrifying energy fluctuations!
All kinds of high-grade pills! They dazzled the eye! Several bottles contained second-grade and even third-grade treasures! Things he had never even heard of before!
There were also several artifacts shining with intense spiritual light, clearly of no low rank! A sharp blue longsword! An ancient little shield! There was even a wing-like object that appeared to be a flying artifact!
Besides that, there were great quantities of rare ores, demonic beast materials, and... more than ten Cultivation Technique and Martial Skill Manuals that exuded an ancient aura! Several had even reached Mysterious Tier Low-grade!
"My heavens..." Lin Chen was completely stunned by this astonishing fortune!
This... this was practically emptying the Great Elder of the Lin Family's private treasury, wasn't it?!
Just how much wealth had Lin Bao scraped from the people?!
No wonder he had placed those Low-grade Spirit Stones and ordinary pills in the chest outside. The true treasures had all been hidden in this ring!
He had struck it rich! This time, he was truly rich enough to rival a nation!
Lin Chen trembled with excitement! With these resources, forget merely reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm! Even striving for higher realms, he would have ample confidence!
Without the slightest politeness, he put the Storage Ring on his own hand, concealing it perfectly.
Then he glanced once more at Lin Bao, sprawled on the bed like a dead dog. A mocking light flashed through his eyes.
Thank you for your "generous gift"!
After finishing all this, Lin Chen did not linger any longer.
He carefully cleaned up the scene, erasing every trace he might have left behind. Then, like a ghost once more, he silently departed through the rear window.
Not long after he left.
The skinny monkey-like follower, perhaps worried that something had happened to Lin Bao, or perhaps simply unable to rest easy, finally gathered his courage and sneaked back to the bedroom door.
When he saw the bedroom in complete disarray and Lin Bao sprawled on the bed like a dead dog, unable to speak and with his dantian destroyed, he was scared out of his wits! He let out an earth-shaking scream!
"Ahhh!!! Brother Leopard! Brother Leopard, what happened to you?! Someone! Quickly, someone! Something's happened!!!"
The shrill scream instantly tore through the tranquility of Leopard Garden and the entire Lin Family residence!
Before you continue