Wang Teng

At this critical juncture, a cool, clear voice rang out, carrying an unquestionable authority:

"Patriarch Wang, there are rules for the arena. This is a contest between juniors—elders interfering isn't appropriate, is it?"

Before the words had even faded, a razor-sharp cyan finger force arrived first despite being launched later, striking the side of that overwhelming surge of power with pinpoint accuracy.

With a soft "pop," the enormous palm-shaped phantom, powerful enough to blast Lin Feng into pulp, quietly disintegrated like a bubble and vanished into thin air.

A middle-aged man dressed in the Northern Garrison Command's Flying Fish Robe, his face stern and cold, had appeared at the edge of the arena at some unknown point. He stood with his hands behind his back, calmly watching Wang Xiong.

It was the Northern Commander, Lord Shen.

Wang Xiong's chest heaved violently. He glared at Shen Mo and forced the words through clenched teeth. "Lord Shen! This brat is vicious and ruthless, and he tried to kill my son. You're going to stop me?"

Shen Mo said indifferently, "Fists and feet have no eyes in the arena.

"Your son's attacks just now were all fatal. When did he ever show mercy?

"Since rules have been set, they must be followed. I'll protect this man."

"You!" Wang Xiong was enraged beyond measure. His robes stirred without any wind, and his terrifying aura pressed down like something tangible, instantly making everyone below the platform feel suffocated.

The Northern Garrison Command represented the imperial court, and Shen Mo's strength was unfathomably deep. Although the Wang Family wielded immense power, it still didn't dare openly fall out with the Northern Commander.

After several tense breaths, Wang Xiong forcibly suppressed his towering fury and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Fine! I'll let it go for Lord Shen's sake!

"But if this brat dares try to kill Tianlong again, my Wang Family will fight him to the death! Even you, Lord Shen, can't protect him every time!"

The threat was naked and direct, echoing over the silent martial arena.

The crisis seemed to have been temporarily resolved by Shen Mo's intervention, but everyone could sense the Wang Family's fury, erupting like a volcano.

However, Lin Feng acted as though he hadn't heard Wang Xiong's murderous threat at all.

The instant the Northern Commander intercepted the attack and the force dissipated,

his right palm, which had paused for only that brief instant, slammed down again without the slightest hesitation or restraint, carrying the remaining overbearing power of Dragon-Elephant Prison-Suppressing Strength!

"Pfft!"

The muffled sound was not that of metal striking stone, but the ghastly noise of flesh and bone being crushed.

Under countless horrified gazes, Wang Tianlong's head instantly burst apart like an overripe watermelon!

The last traces of terror, venom, and a sliver of incredulous unwillingness in his eyes froze completely in an instant, all light vanishing from them.

Red and white matter sprayed out, staining the arena floor.

His body convulsed violently once, then fell utterly silent, collapsing limply where it stood.

Killed Late Seventh-Rank Martial Artist Wang Tianlong. Obtained 100 Slaughter Points!

The system's cold notification rang in Lin Feng's mind right on schedule, confirming this "harvest."

Lin Feng slowly withdrew his palm, his posture steady, as though he had merely done something insignificant.

He did not even glance at the corpse beneath his feet that had just lost its life. He simply turned around,

facing Wang Xiong on the spectator stand, whose eyes had bulged with rage and who was almost completely crazed.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, he slowly raised his right hand toward Wang Xiong and, with astonishing abruptness and provocation, raised his middle finger!

A deathly silence!

Not even the sound of a needle dropping!

No one had expected that after the Northern Commander had stepped in to mediate and the Wang Family's patriarch had personally issued a death threat,

Lin Feng would not only refuse to rein himself in, but would instead strike to kill in an even more decisive and swift manner!

This was not merely a slap in the Wang Family's face. He had also trampled Wang Xiong's dignity as patriarch and his fury as a father beneath his feet, grinding them mercilessly to pieces!

That raised middle finger pushed this contempt and provocation to its absolute extreme!

"Ah—! You little beast! I'll tear you limb from limb and grind your bones to dust!!"

Wang Xiong had gone completely mad. His eyes were blood-red, his beard and hair stood on end, and his berserk aura surged skyward like beacon smoke, churning the winds and clouds.

The entire arena hummed beneath his terrifying aura, as though it might collapse the next moment.

His figure shifted, and he was about to disregard everything and pounce down, personally tearing Lin Feng to pieces!

Shen Mo's brows drew slightly together. His body seemed not to move, yet he had already stepped forward another half-step.

An even stronger, colder, invisible force descended like a net cast from heaven and earth, instantly locking Wang Xiong firmly in place. His voice remained calm, but carried an irresistible power.

"Patriarch Wang, calm yourself. Do not bring ruin upon yourself."

Wang Xiong's body shook violently, and his forward momentum was forcibly halted.

He clenched his fists tightly. His fingernails had long since sunk deep into his palms, and blood dripped steadily through his fingers, staining his robes red.

He glared at Lin Feng with venom so extreme that he seemed to wish he could eat his flesh and sleep on his skin. Clearly, he was looking at a dead man.

But Shen Mo's unfathomably deep strength and the backing of the Northern Garrison Command were like a basin of ice water poured over his head, suppressing his boiling killing intent with the last remnants of his reason.

In the end, he did not dare attack again in Shen Mo's presence.

"Good! Good! Good!" Wang Xiong said the word three times, each one seeming to be forced up from the depths of his throat, filled with bone-deep hatred and killing intent almost condensed into reality. "Lin Feng! You're very good! You're very good indeed!!"

He suddenly turned toward Shen Mo and rasped, "Lord Shen! This brat is lawless. He killed my beloved son in front of everyone. This hatred is irreconcilable!

"By the rules, life and death in the arena are left to fate. I accept that! But my Wang Family still has other descendants! I demand that the martial contest continue! Today, there must be a life-or-death result!"

Hearing this, Lin Feng's expression remained calm, as though he had not been the one who had just killed someone.

Facing Wang Xiong's man-eating gaze and Shen Mo's attention, he merely said calmly, "Come at me. No matter how many you send, I'll kill them all!"

Wang Xiong practically squeezed the words out of his throat, every one carrying blood-soaked hatred.

"Next, my Wang Family's eldest legitimate son, Wang Teng, will fight you!

"By the rules, on this arena, he'll take your dog life!"

At the mention of the name "Wang Teng," Wang Xiong's nearly uncontrolled emotions seemed to find a focus and stabilized somewhat, but the venom in his eyes grew even thicker.

He stared at Lin Feng and spoke each word as though pronouncing a curse.

"You little beast, don't think that a bit of fortuitous luck and some third-rate martial arts are enough to turn the heavens upside down!

"Teng'er is first on the Great Qian Dynasty's Yellow Ranking, the strongest of this generation among Seventh-Rank Martial Artists, without exception! Killing you will be like slaughtering a dog or pig!"

"First on the Yellow Ranking?!" A much greater uproar erupted below the platform, the waves of sound nearly overturning the martial arena.

"It's Young Master Wang Teng! He actually returned from the provincial capital?"

"It's over. Lin Feng is completely finished!

"First on the Yellow Ranking—that's the supreme genius ranked at the very top among all Seventh-Rank Martial Artists in the entire Great Qian Dynasty! His strength far surpasses Wang Tianlong's!"

"Far surpasses him? That's an understatement! I heard Young Master Wang Teng reached the peak of the Seventh Rank long ago, with one foot already across the threshold of the Sixth Rank. He even once fought a true Sixth-Rank Martial Artist without losing!

"He's publicly acknowledged as the heaven's favorite with the greatest hope of entering the realm of mid-three-rank grandmasters within the next five years!"

"Lin Feng was lucky enough to kill Wang Tianlong. Against Young Master Wang Teng, he has absolutely no chance of survival!"

The discussions surged like a tide, filled with awe toward Wang Teng and certainty about Lin Feng's fate.

On the arena, the instant Lin Feng heard the words "Wang Teng," his eyes suddenly turned icy.

A biting killing intent rose from the depths of his heart, ten times stronger than when he had faced Wang Tianlong!

Wang Teng?

So it was him!

Fragments of memory surged forth like a tide—his inexplicable assassination by the Fierce Tiger Gang.

The secret harm and obstruction he had suffered at the hands of his colleagues in the Northern Garrison Command, along with the inexplicable siege of Black Wind Stockade, all bore traces of the Wang Family's hand behind the scenes...

The mastermind behind everything pointed straight to that lofty young master of the Wang Family, Wang Teng!

In particular, there was the time his servant had forcibly barged into that dilapidated residence of his, acting arrogant and condescending as he announced, as though bestowing charity:

"Our young master has taken a fancy to Lin Wan and wants to take her as his concubine. The auspicious day is set for a month from now. When the time comes, obediently wash and dress her and send her to the Wang Residence. You won't be short of benefits!"

That hideous face and the despairing, terrified look in his younger sister Lin Wan's eyes at the time were things Lin Feng would never forget for the rest of his life!

New hatred and old grievances intertwined in an instant, transforming into towering flames of fury and an unshakable resolve to kill, surging through his chest!

Lin Feng met Wang Xiong's venomous yet confident gaze, as if he had already seen Lin Feng being tortured to death by Wang Teng. He spoke coldly, his voice not loud, yet clear enough to carry across the entire arena.

"First on the Yellow Ranking? Excellent! I'd like to see how many moves this so-called number one can withstand from me."

"How arrogant and ignorant!" Before Wang Xiong could retort, the Li Family's patriarch, who had remained on the sidelines in the spectator stand, sneered first, his tone filled with disdain.

"A frog at the bottom of a well dares presume to discuss the height of the heavens?

"How could someone like you, a mere lucky opportunist, fathom Young Master Wang Teng's ability, which reaches through heaven and earth?"

On the other side, the Nalan Family's patriarch stroked his beard and slowly shook his head, his tone filled with undisguised mockery and contempt. "Young man, you don't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth!

"You think that just because you luckily defeated Wang Tianlong, you can regard everyone with contempt and provoke a true hidden dragon?

"The moment Young Master Wang Teng arrives, it will be the day of your death! Treasure this last bit of time in which you can still draw breath."

The patriarchs of the Three Great Families spoke almost simultaneously, their words dripping with ridicule and contempt.

Their certainty and confidence showed just how powerful Wang Teng was. An invisible pressure descended upon Lin Feng like a mountain.

Everyone held their breath and focused their attention, waiting for Wang Teng to appear and anticipating a one-sided, crushing battle between an immortal god and a mortal.

Facing the pressure brought by the three great family heads together and their overwhelming mockery,

Lin Feng's expression did not change in the slightest. His eyes remained cold as iron, and he merely spat out four words, clear and forceful:

"Enough pointless chatter."

His gaze flashed like lightning as it swept across everyone on the spectator stand, finally locking once more onto Wang Xiong's iron-blue face. His voice suddenly rose and rang across the entire arena:

"Tell that dog Wang Teng to come claim his death!"