Black Rock City's towering gray-black walls came into view, but the weary party and their mounts did not slow.
Lin Feng walked at the very front, carrying the Black Tiger Demon's head in his hand. Viscous demonic blood still dripped from it, leaving intermittent dark-red trails on the ground.
Behind him, the soldiers of the Northern Garrison Command looked exhausted, but their eyes were exceptionally bright. As they gazed at that straight-backed figure ahead, their eyes brimmed with awe.
They traveled unhindered, making straight for the Northern Garrison Command's office in the north of the city.
Before the imposing black-lacquered gates, two guards standing with hands on their sabers blocked their path.
Their gazes swept over the sinister tiger head in Lin Feng's hand. Their pupils contracted slightly, but what showed more clearly was a kind of formulaic arrogance.
"Stop! This is an important post of the Northern Garrison Command. Idle outsiders..." the tall, burly guard on the left barked impatiently.
Lin Feng did not slow. He cut him off directly.
"I'm Lin Feng, a Qianhu of the Northern Garrison Command. I was ordered to wipe out Black Wind Stockade. I have now beheaded its bandit leader, Cao Meng, and returned to report my mission."
"A Qianhu?" The burly guard looked Lin Feng up and down. Seeing him travel-stained and dressed plainly, he immediately revealed undisguised disdain. "You? A Qianhu? I've served at the Northern Garrison Command for five years. How come I've never seen a Qianhu like you?
"You hacked off some wild beast's head from who knows where and dare pass it off as a military achievement, swaggering into the Northern Garrison Command to swindle people? I think you're tired of living!"
The shorter guard on the right also snickered. "Exactly. The bandit leader Cao Meng of Black Wind Stockade is infamous. How could you possibly have killed him?
"If you know what's good for you, get lost now. Otherwise, don't blame us for showing no mercy with our blades!"
Lin Feng's gaze was indifferent as he looked at the two guards' faces, written all over with contempt and mockery.
He did not grow angry. He merely raised his left hand slowly.
A black-iron badge engraved with elaborate cloud patterns and the words "Lin Feng, Qianhu of the Northern Garrison Command" appeared. In the slightly dim light, it gleamed with a cold, eerie radiance.
At the same time, a palm intent as solid as a mountain and as sharp as a blade flashed and vanished. Like invisible needles, it swept across the two guards' souls.
The laughter abruptly stopped.
The expressions on the two guards' faces instantly froze, changing from extreme disdain to utter terror.
The badge could not be faked. That aura that made their souls tremble could not be faked either!
This was genuine palm intent! Only a genius whose cultivation had reached a certain level could comprehend such palm intent!
"P-Palm... palm intent..." The burly guard's voice trembled. His legs went weak, and he nearly fell to his knees. "Y-You really are Lord Lin? I was blind! I deserve to die!
"Please spare my life, Lord Qianhu! Spare my life!"
He kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic. The other guard had long since gone deathly pale and followed him in frantically begging for mercy.
"The gates of the Northern Garrison Command are not to be defiled by fools." Lin Feng's tone was calm, revealing neither joy nor anger.
Before his words had even faded, his right hand remained still, holding the tiger head, while his left hand formed a sword with two fingers and casually pointed and swept forward.
Two razor-sharp streams of force, imperceptible to the eye, tore through the air.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
The guards' pleas abruptly ceased. A tiny blood hole appeared in each of their brows, and the terror and disbelief in their eyes froze there forever.
Their bodies swayed before toppling straight backward with two dull thuds.
Lin Feng did not even glance at the corpses. Carrying the dripping tiger head, he crossed the threshold and walked straight inside.
Everyone from the command whom he encountered along the way changed color at the sight of the tiger head in his hand and the bloody killing aura that had yet to fully dissipate. They lowered their heads and stepped aside.
After passing through several courtyards, he arrived outside the main hall.
Inside, Shen Mo, the Northern Commander, sat upright in the seat of honor, with guest seats below.
Seated there were the heads of the Three Great Families, led by Wang Xiong: Wang Xiong, Li Wanshan, and Nalan Qing.
They were clearly discussing an important matter.
Lin Feng stepped into the hall, his footsteps unusually clear in the silence.
All at once, every gaze focused on him, especially on the conspicuous Black Tiger head in his hand.
Wang Xiong spoke first, his voice loud and carrying undisguised mockery.
"Well, if it isn't our Northern Garrison Command's newly risen young genius, Lord Lin? How many days has it been since you left? Why have you come running back with your tail between your legs?
"Could it be that the bandits of Black Wind Stockade were too fierce and frightened our Lord Lin witless, leaving him no time to complete his mission before he hurried back to cry to Lord Shen?"
Li Wanshan stroked his beard and chimed in with a strange, sarcastic tone.
"Brother Wang, that isn't necessarily so. Perhaps Lord Lin knew he was no match and wisely chose to preserve himself?
"Young people should know their limits. That's a good thing, isn't it? It's certainly better than losing your life in some remote, desolate wilderness."
Nalan Qing did not mock him directly, but the faint, almost imperceptible sneer at the corner of his mouth had already made his attitude clear.
Shen Mo, seated above them, frowned slightly but did not immediately tell them to stop. He merely looked at Lin Feng.
Lin Feng acted as though he had not heard their cold sarcasm. He walked straight to the center of the hall and casually tossed the Black Tiger Demon's head onto the floor. It landed with a dull thud, and demonic blood spread across the carpet in a filthy stain.
He raised his head and looked calmly at Shen Mo, his voice clear.
"Reporting to the Northern Commander, Cao Meng, the leader of Black Wind Stockade, has been slain by me. This is his head."
The instant he said this, the hall fell dead silent.
Then Wang Xiong burst into even louder laughter, as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.
"Hahahaha! You say you killed Cao Meng? You? Lin Feng, do you know that Cao Meng is..."
He paused, considering certain secrets, and did not directly reveal the demon's true form.
"He is a vicious man capable of fighting and killing a Sixth Rank Perfection expert! You're merely a junior who has just entered the Seventh Rank. What could you possibly use to kill him? This old tiger head you picked up from some mountain ditch?"
Li Wanshan also shook his head with a laugh.
"Lord Lin, it's understandable for young people to compete and be eager to prove themselves, but falsely reporting military merit is a serious crime.
"Could it be that you think we—and Lord Shen—are all blind?"
Nalan Qing finally spoke, his tone carrying a lofty, condescending scrutiny. "Nephew Lin, if you truly suffered a defeat, you need only be honest. Why use such methods and make yourself a laughingstock?"
The heads of the Three Great Families traded words, doing everything they could to belittle and question him. They simply could not believe Lin Feng had completed such a difficult mission.
They were convinced that Lin Feng had picked up a tiger head and returned to claim false credit—or at most had gotten lucky and killed a demon beast that had nothing to do with Cao Meng.
The hall was filled with disdain and doubt toward Lin Feng.
Facing mockery from all sides as though he had become the target of a thousand accusations, Lin Feng's expression remained unchanged. He merely looked lightly at Wang Xiong and the others, as though they were a few noisy cicadas of summer.
"Cao Meng was the creature this transformed into." He pointed at the Black Tiger head on the floor, his tone certain.
At this, Wang Xiong seemed to have seized an even greater handle and sneered.
"It gets more outrageous with every word! Cao Meng was a human martial artist. How could he be some tiger demon? Lin Feng, at least make your lies sound convincing!"
"Is that so?" The corner of Lin Feng's mouth seemed to curl into the faintest arc, carrying a chill.
He reached out, appearing ready to offer further proof—perhaps by taking other evidence from his storage pouch, perhaps by...
His hand stopped in midair, the movement halting slightly.
That brief pause sent everyone's curiosity, doubt, and mockery soaring to its peak.
Wang Xiong, Li Wanshan, and Nalan Qing stared fixedly at Lin Feng's hand, the ridicule on their faces growing even stronger.
"Go on, keep making things up. Let's see what ridiculous thing you can produce!"
Shen Mo's gaze also held scrutiny and confusion.
The entire main hall was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The air seemed to have frozen.
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