The river washed over the massive, icy corpse of the cold water crocodile, as though the earth-shattering slaughter that had erupted moments ago had been nothing more than an illusion.
Silence.
A suffocating deathly silence blanketed the riverbank, broken only by the monotonous echo of flowing water.
Su Lie stood frozen in place, his cloudy eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. His mouth hung slightly open, yet no sound came out. He looked at the seemingly slender figure by the riverbank as if he were gazing up at an insurmountable mountain—or rather, a volcano that could erupt at any moment.
Eighth Layer... no, that aura had absolutely surpassed the Body Tempering Eighth Layer Mid-stage! It might even... He dared not think any further.
How could such a small place as Qingyang Town produce such a terrifying existence? This "senior," no, this lord... Who exactly was he? Why had he appeared here? And why had he helped them? Questions tangled around Su Lie's heart like a mass of hemp, but what he felt even more deeply was reverence and fear that seeped into his bones.
The guards were even more silent than cicadas in winter. Their faces were deathly pale, and the hands gripping their weapons trembled slightly. They did not even dare breathe too loudly. They no longer dared look up at Lin Chen, only lowering their heads. Yet whenever the corners of their eyes caught sight of that enormous crocodile corpse, a chill ran through their hearts.
If that finger strike had landed on them...
Inside the carriage, Su Ling'er tightly covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out. Through a gap in the curtain, she could see only Lin Chen's back, yet that back seemed to contain power capable of swallowing heaven and earth. The aura that had suddenly erupted and then swiftly withdrawn even seemed to halt the cold energy churning within her body. Powerful, indifferent, mysterious... This youth, only a few years older than her, instantly became incomparably unfamiliar and towering in her heart.
Lin Chen seemed wholly unaware of the shock behind him.
He stood by the riverbank, his calm gaze resting on the cold water crocodile's corpse. There was not the slightest excitement in his deep eyes after killing a powerful foe, only an almost indifferent scrutiny.
He slowly raised a hand and pointed into the air at the enormous corpse.
No one saw any light, nor did they hear any sound.
But in the very next instant, the cold water crocodile's corpse began to... shrivel and dissolve at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Its hard scales lost their luster and turned gray and dull. Its massive flesh and blood seemed to be drawn away by an invisible force, rapidly withering. Even its stark white bones appeared to be broken down by some power, turning into tiny, imperceptible specks of dust that melted into the river or scattered into the air.
Only a dozen or so breaths passed from beginning to end.
That Body Tempering Eighth Layer Peak demonic beast, which had been so ferocious moments ago and could have annihilated the entire caravan, simply... vanished into thin air!
Only the bloodstains gradually spreading across the river's surface, growing fainter and fainter, proved that it had once existed.
This scene was even stranger and more hair-raising than the earlier instant kill with a single finger!
Su Lie swallowed with difficulty, fine cold sweat beading across his forehead. He could understand a powerful martial artist killing a demonic beast in one blow, but a method that made a demonic beast's corpse disappear from thin air... He had never heard of such a thing! This had already surpassed his understanding of martial power!
He finally understood that this lord was likely an existence they could not possibly fathom.
"Let's go."
Lin Chen withdrew his finger and turned around, his tone calm, as though he had merely done something insignificant. The suffocating pressure also receded like the tide, becoming restrained once more. Yet the intangible sense of distance around him grew even stronger.
"Y-Yes! My lord!" Su Lie jolted awake and hurriedly bowed, his tone incomparably respectful, without a trace of his earlier familiarity.
Daring not show the slightest negligence, he immediately called out to the still-dazed guards, "Quick! Cross the river! Pull yourselves together!"
This river crossing had an entirely different atmosphere from before.
The river water was still icy to the bone, and the yin cold power still gnawed away at their true qi. Yet everyone gritted their teeth, endured their discomfort, and moved swiftly and cautiously, afraid that even the slightest unnecessary sound might disturb the "lord" walking at the rear.
They did not even dare look back. They merely lowered their heads and hurried onward, their footsteps becoming much heavier.
With Su Lie personally leading it, the carriage also crossed the deepest part of the river as steadily as possible. Su Ling'er's body still trembled faintly from the cold within the carriage, but her gaze occasionally drifted through the gap in the curtain toward the silent figure at the back of the group, her eyes unfathomably complicated.
At last, the group reached the opposite bank without incident.
After leaving the icy river, everyone felt as though they had walked through the gates of hell. Many of their legs shook, not merely because of the cold and the exhaustion of their true qi, but because of the harrowing upheaval just now and the immense pressure Lin Chen had brought.
"My lord, we... we've reached the other bank." Su Lie walked up to Lin Chen, lowering his posture even further as he carefully reported, "There should be a sheltered mountain hollow not far ahead. Should we... rest for a while?" Seeing Lin Chen's expression remain indifferent, he hurriedly added, "Mainly because... the young miss..."
Lin Chen's gaze swept over the carriage without seeming to linger. He merely gave a faint hum.
Having received permission, Su Lie felt as though he had been granted a pardon. He quickly directed everyone to find a relatively dry rock hollow that could block the wind, preparing to rest briefly and recover their depleted true qi and strength.
The guards silently lit a small campfire and took out dry rations and waterskins, but few had any appetite. They merely sat around the fire and spoke in low voices, their gazes occasionally darting toward Lin Chen, who sat alone on a rock with his eyes closed, regulating his breath.
Su Lie hesitated, but ultimately did not step forward to disturb him. He knew that any words of gratitude would seem pale and powerless now, and might even provoke the other party's displeasure. This lord's thoughts were simply beyond his ability to fathom. The only thing he could do was cooperate as much as possible and pray that they would safely reach Yin Wind Ravine.
Beside the carriage, Su Ling'er was helped down by a female attendant. Her little face was still pale, and even her lips had turned somewhat purple. Clearly, the Cold Water River had caused the cold energy in her body to flare up even more severely. She accepted the hot water bag handed to her by the attendant, but did not immediately use it to warm herself. Instead, she stared blankly at Lin Chen's back in the distance.
Lin Chen truly was regulating his breath, but more than that, he was sorting through the battle and gains from earlier.
Refining that cold water crocodile had brought him even greater benefits than he had expected. Not only had the pure energy of its flesh and blood, along with the energy of its demonic core, further stabilized his Body Tempering Eighth Layer Mid-stage cultivation, with faint signs of breaking through into the later stage, but more importantly, he had extracted an extremely pure fragment of Water Yin Cold Dao Rhyme from the creature's origin!
Although this strand of Dao Rhyme was weak, it had strengthened the origin of the Myriad Dao Furnace slightly and given him a vague comprehension of water-attributed and ice-attributed power. Though he could not directly use this understanding for now, it would bring immeasurable benefits when refining higher-level powers of the same attribute in the future, or deducing related cultivation techniques.
As for exposing his strength... Lin Chen did not care much.
This was deep within Luofeng Gorge, where few people ever ventured. Unless the Su Family members were fools, they would not dare casually reveal information about him. Even if they did, by the time they left the gorge, he would likely have long since flown far away.
What concerned him more was Su Ling'er's condition.
The yin cold power of the Cold Water River had clearly resonated with the "strange illness" inside her body, worsening her suffering. Did that mean her illness was related to some kind of yin cold power? Perhaps even... to the environment deep within Luofeng Gorge?
That purple cloud mushroom was said to grow in Yin Wind Ravine, where yin energy was exceptionally dense... Could it truly suppress the cold energy within her body?
Lin Chen opened his eyes, his deep gaze turning toward the deeper reaches of the gorge. The fog was thicker there, and even the wind seemed to carry a mournful wail, faintly exuding an ominous air.
The road ahead seemed even more perilous.
Yet he did not retreat. Instead, a faint trace of anticipation rose within him.
The more dangerous a place was, the greater the opportunities that often accompanied it.
Whether it was the possibly existing purple cloud mushroom or the powerful demonic beasts that might be hidden deeper within, to him, who possessed the Myriad Dao Furnace, they were all... nourishment!
Before you continue