Everyone froze when they saw that the man charging out was Lin Shuguang.
They had probably considered every possibility except that Lin Shuguang would be the one to step forward at a time like this.
Had he gone mad?
The fat man was dumbfounded!
The man with the dagger was dumbfounded!
Wei Sheng was dumbfounded too! But he was their captain, after all, and quickly recovered. He turned to the others and shouted, "Get the target out of here! I'll help him!"
"Captain!"
The fat man and the others' expressions shifted as they pointed toward Lin Shuguang and cried out in shock, "Look!"
Wei Sheng turned to look, and a moment later, he was utterly stunned.
He had never seen such a ferocious saber technique. It was like a surging sea of raging fire and thunder.
It swallowed the sunlight!
It swallowed the air!
It swallowed everything!
A murderous aura of clashing steel and charging cavalry rushed straight into his head.
"He!"
That was the only word Wei Sheng managed to utter.
In the distance, Lin Shuguang's saber had already struck Wuming's long saber.
At that moment, time itself seemed to freeze.
Lin Shuguang hung in midair, his eyes filled with cold menace as he brought his saber cleaving down.
Wuming roared savagely and raised his saber to block.
The sight etched itself deep into everyone's minds.
The next second.
Clang!
Sparks erupted, scattering like stars across the sky!
A gale howled, sending sand and stones flying!
Everyone watched with their hearts pounding in fear.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Countless web-like cracks instantly appeared in the flagstones beneath Wuming's feet, rapidly spreading outward.
"This strength!"
Before he could react.
Boom!
Lin Shuguang's strike sent him flying, hurtling backward.
The sight left everyone dumbstruck.
"Am I seeing things?"
"Wuming was actually driven back by a single strike?"
"That strike was too powerful!"
"Who is he? Since when did Huai City have a saber expert like him?!"
"He shouldn't be an unknown! Lin Shuguang must be a false name!!!"
All their bewildered questions made Lin Shuguang's figure seem like a god, branding itself deep into their hearts.
Almost instantly.
The moment Lin Shuguang landed, he unleashed his strength, blasting the flagstones beneath his feet into chunks that scattered in every direction.
Like a cannonball, he hurtled toward Wuming again with another cleaving strike.
This strike was just as incomparably savage!
Wuming's pupils contracted at the sight. A freezing chill that seemed to come from the depths of the underworld erupted from his heart like a nuclear explosion.
As he watched Lin Shuguang's saber thunder toward him, he felt fear for his life for the first time.
Impossible!
I can't die!
"You're the one who should die!"
Wuming roared, the blood and qi throughout his body boiling as he attempted a desperate counterattack.
Yet no matter how hard he fought, Lin Shuguang's expression did not change at all.
Boom!
The saber light in midair suddenly exploded, and the surging strength within Lin Shuguang poured out like a flood.
At that moment, the level-five Star Prison Gale Slash displayed its power to the fullest.
Below the rank of Martial Artist, he could be called invincible!
"I won't-" Wuming's eyes bulged as he unleashed every last bit of his strength to fight back.
But his roar cut off abruptly.
Still gripping his saber with both hands in a posture of counterattack, he stood motionless like a statue.
His eyes were filled with terror.
If that had been the first time in his life he had felt death's shadow, then this was the first time in his life he regretted meeting Lin Shuguang.
Swish!
Lin Shuguang landed and put away his saber.
He turned and walked calmly toward Wei Sheng and the others.
He did not even glance at the figure standing rigid behind him.
With a thud, that head, its face filled with unwillingness and terror, tumbled to the ground.
A great cloud of bloody mist shot into the sky.
Wuming, who had weighed on Wei Sheng and the others' hearts like a mountain... had died, just like that!
Everything suddenly fell silent, without the slightest sound.
Everyone stared as though petrified at Lin Shuguang and the headless corpse behind him, blood gushing skyward.
It was over already?
That was Wuming!
Wuming, who killed without batting an eye!
Wuming, whose single strike even Little Gun God could not withstand!
Such a terrifying figure, who had driven everyone present to despair, had died... within a mere ten seconds of Lin Shuguang's appearance!
Gulp-
The fat man swallowed, trembling with fear as he watched Lin Shuguang approach one step at a time.
At last, he connected Lin Shuguang with the formidable man he had briefly glimpsed slaughtering everyone in his path.
So it was him!
But the thought of his earlier mockery immediately made his legs go weak.
I was actually mocking an expert?! I'm the one who's fucking insane!
He was not the only one. The self-important man with the dagger was stunned too. As Lin Shuguang approached, he took a fearful step backward.
Everyone looked at Lin Shuguang as though he were a demon god from the depths of hell, fear rising unbidden in their hearts.
Ignoring their reactions, Lin Shuguang said calmly, "It's dealt with."
For a while, none of them had recovered, including Wei Sheng, who prided himself on being a veteran of countless battles.
Instead, it was Li Yihai, the little old man, who smiled warmly and said, "Thank you for your help, young friend. May I ask your name?"
Lin Shuguang glanced at the little old man in mild surprise. After everything that had happened, he could still speak so smoothly.
The thought flashed through his mind, and he answered succinctly, "Lin Shuguang."
Li Yihai nodded earnestly. "I'll remember that."
Lin Shuguang glanced at him again at those words. What does this little old man mean... why remember my name? I just want to know whether you can whisper in the right ear and get me a Martial Artist Cultivation Method!
By then, Wei Sheng had recovered. "Let's get moving, in case there are more ambushes."
As he spoke, he looked at Lin Shuguang, as though seeking his opinion.
Lin Shuguang nodded.
Wei Sheng breathed a sigh of relief.
The group set off again.
Only this time, Lin Shuguang had gone from being an unnoticed member of the group to its pillar of support.
Ten minutes after Lin Shuguang and the others left.
A middle-aged man appeared silently. The sight of Wuming's headless corpse shocked him on the spot. "Dead? How could this be?! Could a Martial Artist have done this?!"
After countless hardships, Li Yihai was finally delivered to the Jin Family before noon.
Unaware of what had really happened, the Jin Family did not ask Lin Shuguang to stay. They simply paid the group and dismissed them.
As promised, the payment increased to two hundred thousand because fighting had occurred.
But it was only two hundred thousand.
So many people had risked their lives and shed their blood, only to receive a paltry two hundred thousand in the end.
Laughable as it sounded, this was life on the knife's edge along the martial path.
Until one became a Martial Artist, one remained an ant!
"S-Senior Lin, do you have time at noon?"
To Lin Shuguang's surprise, Wei Sheng and the others from the Quicksand Hunting Group came to him. They said they wanted to apologize for their behavior that morning and even offered to give Lin Shuguang all their pay.
But Lin Shuguang refused.
"Why give me the money you risked your lives to earn? Those are two separate matters."
The more Lin Shuguang said this, the more ashamed the fat man felt.
If Lin Shuguang had not been on this mission, he really would have lost his life to the King of Hell.
"I was blind this morning! You saved my life too. Whatever you need, even if it means climbing a mountain of blades or plunging into a sea of fire, just give the word. I, Lei Pangzi, won't so much as furrow my brow!"
Seeing this, the others also declared that all Lin Shuguang had to do was say the word.
Hearing this, Lin Shuguang dispensed with modesty and pleasantries. "I don't need you to climb mountains of blades or plunge into seas of fire. I just have a question. Can any of you get hold of a Martial Artist Cultivation Method?"
"..."
Before you continue