A Psychokinetic Master!
Those four words exploded in Lin Feng's mind.
No wonder!
No wonder his footwork was so bizarre, and he could interfere with Lin Feng's perception!
It turned out he wasn't using some strange footwork at all. He had an even more mysterious ability.
A Psychokinetic Master!
Psychokinetic Masters focused exclusively on mental power. They could control objects with Psychic Power and kill without leaving a trace.
At the same level, a Psychokinetic Master could easily crush three to five Martial Artists.
That was because their attacks were mental assaults, something Martial Artists had no way to defend against!
At that moment, as Uncle Fu pointed a finger at him, Lin Feng felt an invisible force pressing in from all directions.
It was as if a mountain had been dropped on him. His bones groaned under the strain, and his legs buckled. He nearly fell to his knees on the spot.
Even more terrifying was the sharp pain stabbing into his mind.
It was as if countless steel needles were frantically churning through his brain.
His consciousness began to blur, and the scene before his eyes twisted and overlapped.
"Give up resisting."
Uncle Fu's voice echoed through his mind like a curse.
"Inside my Psychic Field, you're a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Your will and your body will both be mine to command."
Lin Feng clenched his teeth until he drew blood. A metallic sweetness spread through his mouth.
The intense pain helped him cling to a sliver of awareness.
He couldn't kneel!
If he did, his will would completely collapse, and he'd become the other man's puppet.
"System!"
Lin Feng roared inwardly.
"I want to spend points!"
The system was his only hope!
If his opponent was using mental attacks, then Lin Feng would fight back with mental power!
[Host: Lin Feng]
[Spirit: 10]
[Realm: Fourth-Stage Martial Artist (0/400)]
[Technique: Basic Body Tempering Art (10/10)]
[Martial Techniques: Mountain-Breaking Slash (1/1000), Lost Trace Step (1/2000)]
[Talent: Steel of the Blade (134/500)]
[Martial Path Points: 750]
Seven hundred and fifty Martial Path Points.
Lin Feng's mind raced.
His Spirit was currently at 10, which was an ordinary person's level.
Ten points were useless against a Psychokinetic Master.
Spend them! Spend every last point!
"One hundred points. Put them into Spirit!"
Bzzz—
A warm current poured into his brain. His consciousness, which had been tossed into chaos, steadied at once.
The needle-like stabbing pain eased considerably.
[Spirit: 110]
[Martial Path Points: 650]
Uncle Fu frowned slightly.
He could feel it. His prey's Mental Barrier had suddenly grown stronger.
"Interesting."
Uncle Fu increased his Psychic Power output, and an even more crushing mental pressure came pouring down.
Lin Feng had barely caught his breath when the force pressed his knees down again.
Not enough! Nowhere near enough!
"Six hundred and fifty points. All in!"
A second warm current flooded into him, ten times more intense than the first.
Something in Lin Feng's mind was opening.
A door that had never been opened before.
Beyond it lay a whole new world of perception.
[Congratulations, Host. Your mental power has surpassed 500. You have awakened Psychic Power and become a First-Rank Psychokinetic Master!]
[Spirit: First-Rank Psychokinetic Master (260/1000)]
[Martial Path Points: 0]
System prompts flashed one after another, but Lin Feng had no time to look.
His perception had been transformed beyond recognition.
He could "see" it.
Countless invisible threads of Psychic Power extended from Uncle Fu's fingertips, weaving into a massive net that enclosed Lin Feng.
This was the Psychic Field.
Lin Feng jerked his head up.
The force bearing down on him suddenly felt lighter.
It wasn't because Uncle Fu had let up. Lin Feng's perception had changed.
In his mental awareness, the great net woven from Psychic Power was no more than a thin membrane.
It was full of flaws, riddled with gaps.
Uncle Fu's fingers trembled slightly.
His expression finally changed.
"You!"
Uncle Fu had barely uttered a word before he fell silent.
He had sensed it.
The mental fluctuations bursting from his prey were stronger than his own.
Not just a little stronger. Much stronger.
Impossible.
Uncle Fu had lived most of his life and never seen anything like it.
How could someone break through in the middle of a fight and become a Psychokinetic Master, with mental power somehow surpassing that of a master who had cultivated for over a decade?
But he was an old hand, and he reacted swiftly.
Almost the instant he sensed something was wrong, Uncle Fu retreated three steps and flipped his hand. Three Flying Daggers shot from his sleeve.
The three daggers hovered in the air, wrapped in Psychic Power, their tips all aimed at Lin Feng.
"Psychic Flying Daggers!"
Lin Feng recognized the move.
A classic combat method for Psychokinetic Masters: using Psychic Power to control weapons and attack from a distance.
The three Flying Daggers' speed, angle, and force were all controlled by mental power.
They were impossible to guard against and impossible to evade.
Whoosh!
The first Flying Dagger shot out, aimed straight at Lin Feng's throat.
Fast.
Faster than fast.
But in Lin Feng's mental perception, the Psychic Power wrapped around the dagger was perfectly clear.
He did something audacious beyond belief.
He didn't dodge.
He slammed his mental power straight into it.
The Flying Dagger stopped half a foot from his face.
Its metal body vibrated violently in midair, humming.
The tip pointed at Lin Feng's throat, but it couldn't advance another inch.
Two forces of Psychic Power clashed over the dagger.
Uncle Fu's Psychic Power enveloped it from the outside, shoving forward with all its might.
Lin Feng's Psychic Power seeped in from within and held it fast.
This contest required no fancy tricks. It came down to whose mental power was greater.
And Lin Feng had just raised his mental power to the level of a First-Rank Psychokinetic Master.
"Shatter."
Lin Feng spat out the word.
His Psychic Power surged, crushing the mental imprint Uncle Fu had left on the Flying Dagger.
Control of the dagger changed hands in an instant.
Uncle Fu's expression changed drastically.
"The second! The third!"
He gritted his teeth and sent the remaining two daggers slashing in at once.
One went for Lin Feng's ribs, the other for the back of his head.
Years of combat experience let him pull off a precise combination even from a disadvantage.
But it was useless.
Lin Feng spread out his Psychic Power, covering a range far greater than Uncle Fu's Psychic Field.
The instant the two daggers entered, Lin Feng's Psychic Power wrapped around them.
Uncle Fu fought desperately to wrest control back.
Lin Feng's Psychic Power crushed straight through.
Pfft!
Uncle Fu grunted. Two streams of blood ran from his nostrils.
His mental power had been forcibly scattered. The backlash struck his mental domain, and he staggered back several steps.
All three Flying Daggers hovered in front of Lin Feng.
Their tips turned as one, aimed at Uncle Fu.
The air fell silent for two seconds.
Uncle Fu wiped away the blood from his nose and stared at Lin Feng, his chest heaving.
"A First-Rank Psychokinetic Master? How can you possibly be a First-Rank Psychokinetic Master?"
Lin Feng didn't answer.
He didn't want to, and there was no need to explain himself to a dead man.
The three Flying Daggers shot forward, driven by his Psychic Power.
They flew in a straight line, one behind the other, straight at Uncle Fu.
In the face of overwhelming power, every technique was superfluous.
Uncle Fu mustered all his strength and raised a Mental Barrier.
The first Flying Dagger struck it.
The barrier cracked.
The second and third daggers pierced Uncle Fu's chest.
Blood gushed from the wounds. Uncle Fu lowered his head and looked at the short blade buried in his chest. His lips moved a few times.
"I cultivated Psychic Power for more than ten years, only to lose to some kid?"
His body slowly toppled, his eyes full of resentment and confusion.
To the very end, he couldn't understand it.
Lin Feng let out a long breath, and his legs gave way. He nearly sat down on the ground.
He wasn't injured. He'd simply used up too much energy.
He had just awakened his Psychic Power and poured it all out at once. His head was buzzing, and his temples throbbed.
But he couldn't rest yet.
"N-no... don't kill me!"
In the corner, Young Master Zhao scrambled backward.
He had watched with his own eyes as Uncle Fu's own Flying Daggers pierced his chest.
Uncle Fu, one of the Zhao Family's strongest covert guards, was dead just like that.
And the person who had killed him was walking toward Young Master Zhao.
Young Master Zhao's back hit the wall. He had nowhere left to retreat.
"I'm a direct descendant of the Zhao Family! Do you know the Zhao Family? The Zhao Family's influence in Qing Prefecture—"
"The Zhao Family, huh?" Lin Feng walked up to him and crouched down.
Young Master Zhao nodded frantically. "Yes! The Zhao Family! The Zhao Family of Qing Prefecture! Let me go, and the Zhao Family can give you anything you want—weapons, Elixirs, Martial Techniques, anything!"
"Those weren't the words you used when you told him to kill me just now."
Young Master Zhao's face was as white as paper.
"That was... That was Uncle Fu acting on his own! It had nothing to do with me!"
Lin Feng shook his head.
He wasn't a bloodthirsty person, but he wasn't a fool either.
Young Master Zhao already knew that he had killed a Psychic Master. He also knew that Lin Feng himself was a Psychic Master.
If that information got out, it would bring endless trouble.
"I'll kowtow to you! I'll kowtow, all right?!"
Young Master Zhao actually fell to his knees, banging his forehead against the ground again and again.
Lin Feng watched him, quickly turning things over in his mind.
If a direct descendant of the Zhao Family died in the ruins at the front line, how would the Zhao Family investigate?
Would they trace it back to him?
No.
Not if he left no trace.
Lin Feng took a deep breath and reached out.
Young Master Zhao thought Lin Feng was going to help him up and hurriedly reached out to grab his hand.
A burst of psychic power slammed straight into his mind.
Young Master Zhao's body suddenly stiffened. His eyes flew wide, his pupils unfocused.
The next second, he silently crumpled to the ground. He never breathed again.
Psychic Strangling.
No external wounds. No bloodstains.
When they investigated his death, they would at most conclude that it was a backlash from his psychic power, or that his heart had stopped from excessive fear.
Lin Feng stood up and looked around.
This abandoned outpost was already a battered structure left behind by the war.
Cracks ran all over the walls, and large sections of the ceiling showed signs of collapse.
He needed to create an "accident."
Uncle Fu had wounds from Flying Daggers. That was the biggest giveaway.
Lin Feng pulled out the Flying Daggers, wiped them clean on Uncle Fu's clothes, then slipped them back into his sleeve.
Then he dragged Uncle Fu's body to the corner and arranged it as if he had been crushed by falling debris.
Next came the crucial step.
He channeled his blood and qi into his fist, aimed at the weakest crack in the load-bearing wall, and slammed his fist into it.
"Boom—"
The crack widened rapidly, and rubble tumbled down.
Not enough.
A second punch.
"Boom!"
The load-bearing wall broke apart completely. Half the ceiling came crashing down with it, burying most of Uncle Fu's body.
As for Young Master Zhao's body, Lin Feng dragged it to another corner and covered its upper half with rubble.
Lin Feng backed toward the doorway and inspected the scene one last time.
Two bodies, buried beneath the collapsed building.
Rubble concealed the wounds, and with all the dust and dirt in the ruins, no one would notice anything amiss anytime soon.
Even if they did, their first thought would be that they had been crushed when the Rift collapsed.
Accidents like this happened almost every day on the front line.
No one would suspect anything.
Lin Feng nodded, turned, and left.
He didn't go out through the main entrance.
He climbed through a gap blasted open in the rear of the outpost and, under cover of night, hurried through the ruins.
After awakening his Psychic Power, his range of perception had expanded considerably.
Everything happening within a hundred meters was under his control.
He sensed two patrols approaching and hid behind a pile of scrap metal until they had gone by.
A quarter of an hour later, Lin Feng returned to the Sixth Defense Line's barracks.
The Base Camp was quiet. Most of the soldiers had already turned in.
Only a few sentries on night duty were still walking around.
Lin Feng slipped into his tent through a side passage and lay down on his camp bed.
Exhaustion washed over him like a rising tide.
Tonight had taken far too much out of him.
First, he'd followed Young Master Zhao. Then he'd gone head-to-head with Uncle Fu, a Psychic Master.
His psychic power was nearly drained, and his head felt like it was about to split open.
But Lin Feng didn't go straight to sleep.
He closed his eyes and opened the System Panel.
[Host: Lin Feng] [Psychic: First-Rank Psychokinetic Master (260/1000)] [Realm: Martial Artist, Fourth Stage (0/400)] [Art: Basic Body Tempering Art (10/10)] [Martial Techniques: Mountain-Breaking Slash (1/1000), Lost Trace Step (1/2000)] [Talent: Steel of the Blade (134/500)] [Martial Path Points: 0]
His Martial Path Points had been wiped out.
He'd poured all 750 points into his psychic power. In return, he'd gotten to keep his life and become a Psychic Master.
Was it worth it?
Yes.
He'd nearly lost his life. What was there to say about whether it was worth it?
Lin Feng rolled over, but his thoughts still wouldn't settle.
He was a Psychic Master now.
He absolutely couldn't let anyone find out.
At least until he was strong enough to protect himself, he couldn't let anyone know.
Psychic Masters were far too rare in the world of Martial Artists. If he was exposed, the major powers would either scramble to recruit him or see him as a threat and wipe him out.
He wanted no part of either.
He'd keep this as a trump card and reveal it only when the moment called for it.
With that thought, Lin Feng finally closed his eyes.
Early the next morning, the assembly horn jolted Lin Feng awake.
He got up, rubbing his temples. His psychic power had recovered a little, but his head still felt heavy.
He stepped out of the tent, and the sunlight made him squint.
As they lined up, the veteran beside him nudged him with an elbow.
"Did you hear? A Private Rift collapsed last night, crushing two people."
Lin Feng's heart skipped, but his face remained perfectly still.
"Who were they?"
"Not sure. Apparently they weren't from our Defense Line. Someone said they were outsiders, and one of them had a follower with him. Who knows why they went to that crumbling dump in the middle of the night. They got caught in the collapse and were buried alive."
The veteran clicked his tongue. "Rich people come to the front line looking for thrills, then end up getting more than they bargained for. That was thrilling enough for them, wasn't it?"
Lin Feng grunted and didn't ask anything else.
It seemed no one had noticed anything suspicious at the scene.
But he had a vague feeling that things wouldn't end so easily.
A direct descendant of the Zhao Family had died on the front line.
Whatever the cause of death, the Zhao Family would send people to investigate.
When that happened...
"Everyone, attention!"
A booming shout from up front interrupted Lin Feng's thoughts.
A burly man stood there, his voice loud enough to blow the tents away.
"Orders just came down from above! The Sixth Defense Line is entering Level Two Combat Readiness effective immediately! All leave is canceled. Everyone is to remain on standby!"
The ranks stirred.
"Level Two Combat Readiness? What happened?"
The burly man wore a troubled expression. "A report just came in from a front-line scout. A Beast Tide from the Northern Wasteland will reach the Sixth Defense Line within three days."
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