An Unexpected Helper, the Su Family Caravan

The moment this thought arose, Lin Chen's heart gave a slight thump!

If it was Su Qingyao...

He imagined that girl who had once been pure and ethereal, yet might now have become even more pragmatic and cold, dying miserably beneath the claws of a demonic beast. Yet he felt none of the satisfaction he had expected? Instead, there was an incredibly faint trace of reluctance—even he himself could neither explain nor understand it?

Perhaps the hazy feelings of youth had not yet completely faded away?

Perhaps deep in his bones, there still remained a shred of the bottom line that belonged to a "human"? He did not wish to see someone he had once known—even an enemy—meet such a tragic end?

Or perhaps he simply felt that letting Su Qingyao die in the mouth of a demonic beast was letting her off too easily? He would rather one day personally grind both her and the entire Su Family beneath his feet, making them pay the price for their choice back then?

All sorts of tangled thoughts flashed through Lin Chen's mind like sparks from flint!

And in that brief instant of hesitation!

The Scaled Earth Dragon Beast's enormous steel-like tail had already lashed viciously toward the carriage with a howl that tore through the air!

"NO!!!" The bearded man's eyes nearly split apart as he let out a desperate roar!

The remaining guards all turned ashen-faced as well!

It was over! Everything was over!

However!

At that critical moment!

A black shadow, ghostlike in its movements, suddenly shot out from the nearby forest!

Its speed was so fast it had reached the extreme! It was practically teleportation!

At the very instant that steel tail was about to strike the carriage!

A hand that did not appear particularly thick, yet contained terrifying strength, clamped down like an iron pincer on that enormous tail thicker than a man's waist!!!

"Hmm?!"

The Scaled Earth Dragon Beast clearly had not expected someone to suddenly appear—and to dare receive its full-force strike head-on! The tremendous force transmitted through its tail, causing it to abruptly halt!

And the black shadow gripping its tail was none other than Lin Chen!

At the final moment, he had ultimately acted!

Perhaps it was because of that trace of reluctance, perhaps because of some complicated emotion stirred by the Su Family Emblem, or perhaps simply because he wanted to test just how strong he had become!

Taking the full-force blow of a Seventh-tier Demonic Beast head-on! There could be no better test than this!

"Get the hell out of here!!!" Cold light burst from Lin Chen's eyes! The vast true qi of the Body Tempering Realm Seventh Layer Late Stage erupted through his arm like an exploding volcano, pouring forth without restraint!

At the same time! He drew upon a trace of the heavy power of the earth element! As well as a barely perceptible tremor of force from the Myriad Dao Furnace!

BOOM!!!!

An unimaginable, terrifying force suddenly erupted along the Scaled Earth Dragon Beast's tail!

CRACK!!!

The crisp sound of bones breaking rang out clearly!

The Scaled Earth Dragon Beast felt as though an irresistible force had directly shattered its tailbone! Agonizing pain instantly flooded its entire body!

"ROAR!!!"

It let out a shriek of unbearable pain! Its enormous body, as though struck head-on by a siege ram, was actually flung uncontrollably through the air by Lin Chen's seemingly casual toss! With a thunderous crash, it broke several large trees before falling miserably to the ground!

Silence!

The entire scene once again fell into deathly silence!

Whether it was the two Scaled Earth Dragon Beasts that had been about to continue their assault, the Su Family guards who had fought drenched in blood and long since fallen into despair, or the bearded man whose eyes were bloodshot...

Everyone stared dumbfounded at this unbelievable sight!

At the black-clad youth who had suddenly appeared and sent a Seventh-tier Scaled Earth Dragon Beast flying with a single move?!

Where... where had this fierce monster come from?!

What... what had he done?!

He caught a Seventh-tier Demonic Beast's tail with his bare hands?! Then flung it away?! He had even shattered its tailbone?!

Was... was that strength something a human could possess?!

Even an expert at the peak of the ninth layer of the Body Tempering Realm probably could not do that, right?!

Could he... could he be some senior expert of the Foundation Establishment Realm?!

The bearded man and the surviving guards instantly burst with incomparable delight and excitement, as though they had grasped a lifesaving straw!

"Thank you, Senior, for saving us!!" the bearded man hurriedly shouted, his voice filled with reverence and gratitude!

As for the two Scaled Earth Dragon Beasts that had been so ferocious moments ago, they now looked as though they had seen a ghost! Their scales stood on end in terror, and their gazes at Lin Chen were filled with fear! Though their intelligence was limited, they could still clearly sense the terrifying Aura emanating from this seemingly unremarkable human youth—an Aura that made their very souls tremble!

Run! They had to run at once!

The two earth dragon beasts exchanged a glance. Without the slightest hesitation, they immediately abandoned their attack, turned, and tried to burrow into the nearby forest!

"Trying to run?" Lin Chen's icy voice rang out, like the judgment of death!

Since he had already made his move, there was naturally no reason to let the tiger return to the mountains!

These three Seventh-tier Demonic Beasts were all "cultivation resources" in his eyes!

"Phantom Step!"

Lin Chen's figure flickered! In an instant, his entire body transformed into a blurred afterimage! His speed was pushed to the absolute limit! As though he had teleported, he appeared directly before one of the Earth Dragon Beasts that was preparing to flee!

The Earth Dragon Beast was horrified! It abruptly opened its huge fanged maw, and a khaki energy beam brimming with corrosive aura shot toward Lin Chen! This was its innate ability—Earth Dragon Breath!

However!

Lin Chen's figure moved like a ghost, evading the breath at an utterly unnatural angle by the narrowest of margins!

At the same time!

The fingers of his right hand came together once more like a sword!

A finger beam of true qi, condensed to the utmost limit, glittering with brilliant golden light and even carrying a trace of dark aura, flashed like lightning tearing through the void! Though launched later, it arrived first!

Pfft!!!

It pierced straight through the Scaled Earth Dragon Beast's relatively vulnerable throat!!!

"Roar..." The Earth Dragon Beast's roar came to an abrupt halt. Its enormous head drooped helplessly, and it crashed to the ground!

Instant kill!

Another one-move instant kill!

The other Earth Dragon Beast was so terrified that its soul nearly fled its body! It frantically clawed at the ground with all four limbs, trying to escape this dreadful god of slaughter even faster!

But!

What greeted it was Lin Chen's ghostlike figure, close on its heels! And a massive palm imprint wreathed in dense khaki light, as if it could smash mountains to pieces!

"Surging Wave Palm! Seven Waves!"

This time, Lin Chen held nothing back! The true qi within him erupted without reservation!

Layer upon layer of palm imprints instantly stacked into seven waves! They became a terrifying giant palm that seemed capable of shattering space itself, slamming viciously into the Scaled Earth Dragon Beast's relatively soft abdomen!

Bang!!!!!!

A terrifying boom exploded like a thunderclap!

The Seventh-tier Demonic Beast's hard scales, which it had always taken pride in, were like paper before this Seven Waves Surging Wave Palm containing Lin Chen's full strength! They shattered in an instant!

The terrifying palm force burst into its body like a flash flood, instantly pulverizing its internal organs into mush!

"Puh!!!"

The Scaled Earth Dragon Beast did not even have time to scream before vomiting a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of organs! Its enormous body seemed to have been flattened by an invisible giant hammer! It slammed heavily onto the ground, utterly devoid of life!

Clean and decisive! Destructive as rotten wood!

As for the Earth Dragon Beast Lin Chen had flung away at the very beginning, its tailbone broken, it had yet to recover from the excruciating pain when it watched its two companions get effortlessly slaughtered by that terrifying human youth in the blink of an eye, in a manner almost akin to a massacre!

How could it still harbor even the slightest thought of resistance? Enduring the agony, it dragged its broken tail behind it, let out a mournful cry, and fled desperately into the depths of the forest!

Lin Chen glanced at the fleeing Demonic Beast but did not pursue it.

Do not chase a desperate foe. Besides, leaving one alive to "spread the news" might draw in even stronger "prey."

He slowly withdrew his hand and calmed the slightly roiling blood and qi within his body.

Using powerful martial techniques in succession had also drained him considerably.

Then he turned around, his gaze calm as he looked at the Su Family guards, who remained frozen in extreme shock and stupor, as well as the trembling carriage.

The air fell into an eerie silence once again.

Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves and fell upon his black robes, stained with traces of Demonic Beast blood. It cast his somewhat slender figure in the image of an asura who had emerged from hell—mysterious, powerful, and dangerous!

Gulp...

Someone swallowed with difficulty, breaking the suffocating silence.

The bearded man was the first to recover! He hastily threw down the great saber in his hand, strode quickly before Lin Chen, and with a thud, dropped to one knee! His expression was agitated, his tone filled with incomparable reverence and gratitude:

"This junior is Su Lie! Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives! Had Senior not intervened in time, we would likely all have been buried in the beasts' jaws today! The Su Family, from top to bottom, shall never forget such immense kindness!"

The surviving guards behind him also came back to their senses. They hurriedly followed suit and knelt, shouting in unison, "Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives!"

Their gazes toward Lin Chen were full of fervent worship and awe!

In their eyes, anyone capable of slaughtering three Seventh-tier Demonic Beasts so effortlessly—although one had been the Wolf King killed in a desperate final counterattack, which they did not know, Lin Chen's easy dispatch of two Sixth-tier wolves and three Seventh-tier Earth Dragon Beasts was a fact—must possess unfathomable strength! At the very least, he was in the middle or late stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm! He might even be a legendary existence at an even higher level!

Senior?

Hearing that form of address, the corner of Lin Chen's mouth could not help twitching. Did he look that old?

Still, he did not explain.

Maintaining an air of mystery was sometimes an effective form of self-protection.

He merely swept his gaze indifferently over the kneeling crowd, his voice calm and unruffled. "It was nothing more than a small effort. No need for such ceremony. Rise."

Though his voice was young, it carried an indifference and authority utterly at odds with his age, leaving no one daring to defy him in the slightest.

"Yes! Many thanks, Senior!" Su Lie and the others hurriedly rose to their feet, yet they still kept their heads respectfully lowered, not daring to meet Lin Chen's eyes.

"You are people of the Su Family? Why have you ventured so deep into a place as dangerous as the Green Peak Mountain Range?" Lin Chen knowingly asked, his tone indifferent.

A trace of bitterness and helplessness appeared on Su Lie's face as he respectfully replied, "In answer to Senior, we are a merchant caravan of the Su Family. By the family head's order, we entered the depths of the mountain range to gather a spiritual medicine called the 'Purple Cloud Mushroom.' This medicine is crucial to our young lady's cultivation. Who would have thought... sigh, we went in too deep and accidentally trespassed into the territory of these Scaled Earth Dragon Beasts, and that was why... why we suffered this calamity. If not for Senior..."

Having said this, he once again gave Lin Chen a deep bow.

Purple Cloud Mushroom? Young lady?

Lin Chen's heart stirred, and his gaze turned once more toward the carriage with its curtains tightly drawn.

Could Su Qingyao truly be inside? And did she need some special spiritual medicine to aid her cultivation?

Just then, a slender, fair little hand, like jade carved to perfection, gently lifted one corner of the carriage curtain.

A peerlessly beautiful face appeared in Lin Chen's sight—delicate enough to charm in joy or anger, yet carrying a sickly pallor and the lingering fright of one who had just escaped disaster.

The girl's gaze fell upon Lin Chen, carrying a hint of curiosity, a hint of gratitude, and a faint, barely perceptible scrutiny.

Their eyes met.

Lin Chen's heart once again uncontrollably... paused for a beat.

Not because he was dazzled by her beauty, nor because old feelings had flared anew.

It was because he knew this face before him!

But it was not the Su Qingyao he had imagined!

It was... another face, both familiar and somewhat unfamiliar!

This face was likewise peerlessly beautiful, perhaps even more so than Su Qingyao's! Her brows held an innate sweetness and liveliness, though her fright and frailty now made her appear especially pitiful.

More importantly!

This face was clearly that of the little girl from three years ago—the one who, back when he was still a "genius," had followed him around all day like a little tail, sweetly calling him "Brother Lin Chen"...

That little girl from a collateral branch of the Su Family: Su Ling'er?!

Why was she here?! And how had she become the "young lady" the Su Family's merchant caravan was protecting with their lives?!

Time seemed to freeze at that very moment.

Lin Chen's gaze locked firmly onto that peerlessly beautiful face peeking out from behind the carriage curtain, both familiar and yet somewhat strange, while an upheaval fiercer than when he had hunted that eighth-rank demon beast surged through his heart!

Su Ling'er?!

It was actually her?!

That little girl from three years ago, with two horn-shaped braids and a little pink dress, who had always gazed at him with worship in her clear, lively eyes and softly called him "Brother Lin Chen"?!

That little girl from a collateral branch of the Su Family who, when he had been a genius surrounded by adoration, had been the only one to grow close to and depend on him not because of his status, but simply because of who he was?!

Why was she here?!

And judging by this display, by the way Su Lie and the others had been ready to protect her to the death, she no longer seemed to be that unnoticed orphan girl from a collateral branch, but had become an immensely important "young lady" of the Su Family?!

What exactly had happened over these past three years?!

Countless questions and shocks instantly flooded Lin Chen's mind, leaving him momentarily dazed.

Inside the carriage, Su Ling'er was also abruptly stunned when she clearly saw Lin Chen's face—slightly weathered by travel, yet still handsome and refined!