Mighty Lion's Wrath

As the words "Jungle Strangler Battle," filled with the scent of blood and death, became reality, ruthlessly harvesting one life after another like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, a complete and utter one-sided slaughter began to unfold in this deep, dark valley!

The "Heavenly Martial Society," an elite team from the outer court that had been so imposing and arrogant not long ago, considering themselves "Mighty Lions," had now completely devolved into lambs awaiting slaughter, dominated by endless fear and despair!

Their pride in their powerful cultivation, far surpassing their peers, and their profound Profound Grade martial arts, enough to make any opponent tremble, appeared so pale and ridiculous in the face of Lin Xiao's "dimensional-crushing" modern special warfare tactics and Yellow Class Nine's terrifying execution, honed to be as natural as an extension of their limbs!

They couldn't even touch the enemy's clothes before being ruthlessly stripped of all power to resist by poisoned blades attacking from all directions and inescapable deadly traps!

"Ah--! My hand! My hand is broken!" "Help! Someone save me! I don't want to die!" "Demons! They... they aren't human at all! They're a group of demons crawling out of hell!"

Piercing screams filled with endless terror and desperate wails rose one after another, becoming the sole dirge in this human purgatory.

In the time it took for a single stick of incense to burn, over forty members of the sixty-strong elite "Heavenly Martial Society" team were either dead or wounded, completely losing their ability to fight!

The remaining less than twenty members, who had luckily survived, had already had their courage shattered by the nightmarish bloody scene before them!

They no longer possessed any of the pride and dignity of "Heaven Class geniuses." Like a group of startled rabbits, they huddled back-to-back around their only hope—Wu Tianxiong—trembling, their eyes fixed on the imposing figure who hadn't moved an inch from beginning to end, filled with endless fear and pleading!

"Hoo..." "Hoo..."

Wu Tianxiong was panting.

His broad, iron-plate-like chest heaved violently.

His sharp, hawk-like eyes were completely filled with a terrifying blood-red hue!

He looked at his subordinates, who were usually so arrogant and self-important, now huddled at his feet like pigs and dogs awaiting slaughter, whimpering pathetically.

He then raised his head and glanced at the deep, deathly silent dark forest, which seemed to hide countless terrifying demons eager to devour them.

An unprecedented, extreme humiliation and rage, almost enough to ignite his entire being, erupted from the deepest part of his soul like the most violent volcano!

He, Wu Tianxiong!

The legitimate eldest son of the "Marquis Zhenbei" manor in the Royal City!

The universally acknowledged "Number One Outer Court" disciple of Cloud Creek Academy!

Since stepping onto the path of martial arts, he had experienced no less than a thousand battles! The number of "geniuses" who had died by his hands was even more countless!

He had long been accustomed to crushing and destroying everything before him with a condescending attitude, like a god looking down on ants!

When had he ever been so disheveled as he was today?!

When had he ever been forced into such a humiliating situation by such despicable "playful" means?!

Unforgivable!

Absolutely! Unforgivable!

"Lin! Xiao!"

Wu Tianxiong suddenly threw his head back and let out a mad roar filled with endless killing intent, unlike any human sound!

"I don't care what your background is!"

"I don't care what schemes and tricks you've played!"

"Today, I will make you and your damned, sewer-dwelling maggots die here completely!"

"Turn to ashes!!!"

"Boom—"

The moment his last word, "ashes," fell.

A brilliant golden light, ten times more terrifying, more domineering, and hotter than when he had previously punched apart the [Miasma Swamp], erupted from his sturdy, iron-tower-like body, as if a true sun had descended upon the mortal world!

"Profound Grade Upper Tier Art—[Great Sun Burning Heaven Art]!"

"Ultimate Skill—Golden Crow Patrols the Heavens!!!"

Accompanied by Wu Tianxiong's furious roar filled with endless destructive will, the brilliant golden light, capable of instantly illuminating the night into day, rapidly condensed and compressed above his head, finally transforming into a lifelike, three-legged golden crow over thirty feet tall, composed entirely of the purest, most potent Yang and rigid golden spiritual energy!

"Caw—"

A high-pitched, resounding cry filled with the majesty of an emperor echoed from the three-legged golden crow!

Then, under the horrified gazes of everyone present, the terrifying existence, like the Sun God Bird descending from mythology, suddenly spread its massive wings, capable of obscuring the sky, and then, carrying a terrifying heat capable of completely burning, evaporating, and turning everything in its path into nothingness, transformed into a golden wave of death that swept out in all directions!

"Rumble rumble rumble—"

The heavens trembled!

The earth moaned!

The deep forest, which the members of Yellow Class Nine had regarded as their best shelter, couldn't even last a single breath before this destructive golden shockwave, a "map-clearing indiscriminate attack," withered, blackened, and was finally ignited at a terrifyingly visible speed, turning into a blazing sea of gold!

"Ah—!" "Run! This... this is not a power that humans can resist!" "Chief Instructor! Save us!"

For a moment, piercing screams filled with endless terror erupted from the sea of fire, which had instantly become a human purgatory!

The members of the "Fangs" and "Ghost Shadow" squads, who had been lurking in the shadows like elite hunters, reaping enemy lives, tasted the fear of "death" for the first time at this moment!

Their proud, elusive footwork, their stealth techniques capable of evading even gods and ghosts, appeared so laughable and powerless before this absolute power capable of burning all things!

They were like pathetic maggots, ruthlessly "blasted" out of their dark nests, only able to flee frantically from the sea of fire capable of melting steel, their clothes tattered, their bodies blackened, utterly miserable!

However, what greeted them was not a safe shore.

But...

"Hahaha! A bunch of damned rats! Where do you think you can run now!"

Zhao Wuji, who was already filled with boundless rage due to his companions' tragic deaths, along with the remaining dozen or so members of the "Heavenly Martial Society," instantly revealed expressions of endless cruelty and glee at this sight!

Without a second thought, they channeled the spiritual energy that had long been thirsting within them, transforming it into deadly attacks filled with the aura of death and destruction. Like a storm of pear blossoms, they rained down upon the members of Yellow Class Nine who had just escaped the sea of fire!

"Blazing Sun Saber Technique!" "Gale Sword Art!" "..."

For a time, saber light and sword shadows, spiritual energy crisscrossed!

A bloody counterattack, where the roles of "hunter" and "prey" were instantly reversed, officially began!

"Damn it!"

Lin Xiao, hiding in a recess of the mountain wall, finally saw his usually calm face turn incredibly grim for the first time!

He had underestimated it!

He had ultimately underestimated the true terror of Wu Tianxiong, the man known as the "Number One of the Outer Court"!

He had calculated everything, anticipating that the opponent would lose his mind in anger, but he hadn't anticipated that the opponent would be so insane as to unleash such a suicidal attack that indiscriminately targeted friend and foe alike, capable of leveling everything within hundreds of feet!

This was no longer martial arts!

This was clearly war!

"Shi Lei!"

At this critical juncture, Lin Xiao no longer hesitated. His roar, filled with endless anxiety and killing intent, exploded like rolling thunder in the ears of all the Yellow Class Nine members!

"Hold the line for me!"

"At all costs!"

"Buy time for 'Fangs' and 'Ghost Shadow' to retreat!!!"

"Roar--"

Shi Lei, who had been standing ready on the other side of the slope, heard the command and his honest eyes were instantly filled with a blood-red hue of fearless defiance!

He roared, fiercely brandishing the tower shield, already stained red with blood, in front of him. Then, like a thoroughly enraged ancient barbarian bull, he, along with the four "Sharp Shield" squad members behind him, whose eyes were also blood-red, charged headfirst into the deadly barrage of dozens of attacks!

"King Kong Barrier!"

The five of them roared in unison, a sound that could shatter the heavens!

On the charge, they had once again formed a mobile iron shield wall!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A series of deafening explosions, dense enough to shatter eardrums, erupted against the seemingly not-so-thick shield wall!

Saber light, sword shadows, fist winds, palm strikes...

The terrifying attacks, capable of easily pulverizing a thousand-pound boulder into dust, rained down like a storm upon the advancing iron barrier!

"Pfft—"

Shi Lei bore the brunt of it, the first to spit out a mouthful of bright red blood!

He felt as if he wasn't being attacked by a dozen people, but by an awakened ancient dragon fiercely lashing out with its tail against his chest!

The overwhelming, irresistible force made his bones, already tempered by Earth Core Body Tempering Milk to be harder than steel, creak in protest under the unbearable strain!

The four members behind him were even more miserable!

Their bodies were already bleeding from all seven orifices, drenched in blood, from the violent energy that seeped through the gaps in the shields!

Yet, they gritted their teeth and held their shields firmly in place like nails!

They didn't retreat even half a step!

Because they knew that behind them were their unarmed companions, responsible for assassination.

If they retreated!

The entire Yellow Class Nine would be finished!

"A bunch of idiots who don't know their place!"

Zhao Wuji sneered with extreme disdain as he watched the five bloody figures advancing fearlessly under their saturation attack.

"Since you all want to die so badly!"

"Then I shall grant your wish!"

He roared, channeling the spiritual energy within him, which had been pushed to its limit, into the Profound Grade Lower Tier Blazing Sun Saber in his hand.

"Blazing Sun Saber Technique, Final Art—"

"Red Earth Miles!"

"Buzz—"

An ear-splitting saber cry rang out!

Zhao Wuji's battle saber, which had seemed normal moments before, was instantly enveloped in an extremely dazzling, crimson saber aura!

From a distance, it looked like a blade of judgment forged from the True Sun Fire!

He intended to use this strongest attack to cleave these five damned "stumbling blocks" and their "turtle shells" in two with a single blow!

However, just as he was about to unleash this killing strike, a faint sigh, filled with boundless coldness and chilling killing intent, sounded in his ear without any warning.

"Your opponent..."

"Is me."

"What?!"

Zhao Wuji's pupils constricted sharply. An unprecedented sense of crisis, so immense it could freeze his very soul, instantly enveloped his entire body!

Without thinking, he tried to abandon his attack and turn to block!

But it was too late!

A hand, seemingly fair and slender, yet as hard as ten-thousand-year-old profound iron, had, at some unknown point, silently and ghost-like, pressed onto his chest!

"One Finger Annihilation, modified..."

"Heaven-Turning Seal!"

"Boom—"

An extremely muffled, yet terrifying explosion, powerful enough to instantly collapse mountains, erupted on Zhao Wuji's chest!

"Pfft—"

Zhao Wuji didn't even have time to let out a proper scream.

His face, still etched with cruelty and disdain, froze instantly.

Then, his body, like a tattered sack hit head-on by a speeding siege beast, was sent flying backward at a speed several times faster than when he arrived!

He vomited blood mid-air, his fate unknown!

It was only then that the slender figure, who had appeared before Shi Lei and the others at some point, slowly raised its head, revealing a young face smudged with a bit of smoke and dust, but with eyes as bright as the eternal, unsetting brilliant imperial stars in the highest heavens!

It was Lin Xiao!

He had finally made his move!

"Chief Instructor!"

Looking at the familiar back that had descended before them like a god, Shi Lei, who had already reached his limit, and the four severely wounded members behind him, their eyes blurred by blood, instantly welled up with tears.

They knew.

From this moment on.

The initiative in this war would return to their hands!

"Well done."

Lin Xiao didn't turn around, merely uttering these four words calmly.

"Next..."

"Leave it to me."

With that, he slowly turned, his seemingly not-so-tall back completely shielding all his companions, and calmly faced the remaining dozen or so members of the Heavenly Martial Society, who were already terrified to their core and pale-faced from his thunderous strike.

And...

That terrifying figure, like an undefeated war god resurrected from myth, slowly emerging from the raging sea of golden flames!

Wu Tianxiong!

"You've finally decided to show yourself."

Wu Tianxiong's face was devoid of any expression.

He calmly gazed at the culprit who had utterly disgraced him today.

His sharp, hawk-like eyes held no trace of anger, only a pure, cold, emotionless, extreme killing intent!

"I have to admit."

"You are the most interesting 'prey' I, Wu Tianxiong, have encountered since my debut."

"It's a pity..."

He slowly shook his head, his tone filled with the ruthlessness and indifference of a god pronouncing a mortal's death sentence.

"The game ends here."

"Boom—"

The moment his words fell.

A golden aura, ten times more terrifying and condensed than when he had previously unleashed "Golden Crow Patrols the Heavens," erupted from his body like the most violent volcano, soaring into the sky!

Body Refinement Ninth Level!

No!

It's just one step away from truly entering the Spirit Movement Realm...

Half-step Spirit Movement!

Under this terrifying pressure that could change the color of the heavens and earth, the entire valley trembled violently!

It was as if even this space could not withstand the supreme power that was about to transcend the mortal realm!

However, facing this absolute power that could fill any Body Refinement Realm cultivator with despair, Lin Xiao's face showed not the slightest hint of fear.

A brilliant smile filled with boundless madness slowly curved the corners of his lips!

He slowly raised his right hand and gently beckoned at the undefeated war god before him, who was like a humanoid sun.

"Are you done with your nonsense?"

"I'm done..."

"Then come and accept your death!"