Lin Feng walked at the front, keeping a steady pace.
More than twenty people followed behind him. Those who could walk supported those who couldn't, limping along together.
The burly man at Martial Master Rank 2 was called Old Zhang. He was the leader of a private Martial Artist group nearby.
They had accidentally wandered into this nested Rift two days ago. The moment they entered, C-Rank Exotic Beasts had surrounded them. Four people had died since.
"Brother, what's your story, anyway?" Old Zhang walked beside Lin Feng with a blade in one hand, his mouth never stopping.
"The Sixth Defense Line."
"The Sixth Defense Line? You with the military?"
"Sergeant Major."
"A Sergeant Major with strength like that?" Old Zhang looked doubtful. "That slash of yours just now had the power of a Martial Ancestor, at the very least..."
"You talk too much."
Old Zhang immediately shut his mouth.
Heavy footsteps echoed from around the bend ahead.
Three Dark-Scaled Giant Lizards blocked the middle of the passage. All six of their dark-red, vertical pupils turned toward them at once.
Someone behind Lin Feng sucked in a sharp breath.
Without even looking back, Lin Feng raised his blade and strode forward.
The first giant lizard opened its mouth and spat a stream of acid.
Lin Feng sidestepped it, pushed off the ground, and shot along the rock wall.
Mountain Splitter came down from above.
A crack split the giant lizard's skull, and dark green brain matter spilled out.
Before it could hit the ground, Lin Feng had already turned to face the second one. He swept his blade across, and Gale Wind tore through the air with its penetrating force.
The second lizard's front legs were severed at the roots. It pitched forward as it lost its balance, and Lin Feng followed up with a stab through its throat.
The third tried to run.
It turned around, scrabbled at the ground with all four legs, and bolted for the depths of the passage.
Lin Feng didn't chase it.
He thrust Mountain Splitter forward, sending Gale Wind flying from the blade. It ripped along the floor of the passage.
Twenty meters away, the Gale Wind caught up with the giant lizard. A golden line split it in two, from tail to head.
The two halves toppled in opposite directions and crashed against the rock walls.
[You killed C-Rank Exotic Beasts: Dark-Scaled Giant Lizard ×3. Gained Martial Path Points ×1500]
[Steel of the Blade: 288/500]
"Move."
Lin Feng shook the blood from his blade and continued forward.
The group behind him was utterly silent.
They were even holding back their groans.
It wasn't that they didn't want to make a sound. They were terrified.
Walking behind Lin Feng, Old Zhang's mouth twitched twice. He couldn't get a single word out.
He'd fought for more than a decade, but for the first time, he felt like all those years of training had been a lie.
They pressed on.
The passage widened, and a much larger cavern appeared ahead.
A mass of Exotic Beasts lay sprawled inside.
There were more than just Dark-Scaled Giant Lizards. Two much larger creatures were among them—the Blazing Horned Rhinos, high C-Rank beasts, whose horns gleamed with a metallic, crimson sheen.
Along with the seven or eight Dark-Scaled Giant Lizards scattered around them.
Ten C-Rank Exotic Beasts.
Old Zhang's face turned green.
"Brother, how about we go around—"
Lin Feng had already charged in.
Lost Trace Step erupted at full power, and three afterimages scattered across the cavern.
The Blazing Horned Rhino attacked first, lowering its head and charging. The ground cracked beneath its hooves, sending gravel flying.
Lin Feng didn't dodge.
He charged straight at it, raising Mountain Splitter high overhead.
Mountain-Breaking Slash.
Golden Gale Wind, charged to its full force, slammed head-on into the rhino's crown.
Boom!
The crimson horn atop its head—the one it had been so proud of—split down the middle under the Gale Wind.
The Gale Wind pierced the horn and continued downward, cleaving through the rhino's skull.
Its massive body carried forward another five or six meters before crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom, kicking up a cloud of dust.
[You killed C-Rank Exotic Beast: Blazing Horned Rhino ×1. Gained Martial Path Points ×800]
[Steel of the Blade: 289/500]
The second rhino was enraged by its companion's gruesome death. It pawed at the earth with all four hooves, then charged with full force.
This time, Lin Feng changed his approach.
He shifted direction with Lost Trace Step and moved to the right. The moment the rhino rushed past, he pressed himself against its flank.
Mountain Splitter dragged across its belly armor.
With the penetrating force behind it, the thick armor split open in a half-meter-long gash. Its entrails spilled out in a heap.
The rhino let out a bellow, its legs buckled, and it toppled onto its side.
Lin Feng leaped onto its back and plunged his blade into the back of its neck.
[You killed C-Rank Exotic Beast: Blazing Horned Rhino ×1. Gained Martial Path Points ×800]
[Steel of the Blade: 290/500]
The remaining seven or eight Dark-Scaled Giant Lizards saw both rhinos dead and instinctively began to retreat.
There was no way Lin Feng would let them escape.
He sprang off the rhino's corpse and swept his blade sideways in midair.
Gale Wind covered the entire front half of the cavern.
The lizards hadn't taken three steps before the Gale Wind caught up with them.
Its penetrating force pierced every target without exception.
Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft—
A series of muffled thuds.
One after another, the seven or eight giant lizards' corpses slammed into the ground.
[You killed C-Rank Exotic Beasts: Dark-Scaled Giant Lizard ×8. Gained Martial Path Points ×4000]
[Steel of the Blade: 298/500]
Lin Feng landed amid the carnage.
He exhaled and glanced at the System Panel.
[Current Martial Path Points: 10700]
Adding the 872 he'd saved earlier brought him to more than ten thousand points.
Nice.
Just then, a faint voice came from behind him.
"L-Lin..."
Lin Feng turned around.
At the very back of the group, two people were supporting Li Ming. He raised his blood-smeared face.
"It's me."
Li Ming's lips trembled twice, and his eyes suddenly reddened.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but all that came from his throat was a rasping wheeze.
Lin Feng walked over, crouched down, and examined his injuries.
His left arm had been bitten, the wound deep and already inflamed.
A lizard's claws had left a gash on his right leg, and blood had soaked through his trouser leg.
But none of the injuries had hit anything vital.
He'd survive.
"You're a Martial Disciple Rank 5. What the hell were you doing in a C-Rank Rift?"
Li Ming's lower lip trembled, his tears streaking through the blood on his face.
"I... I didn't know there was another layer inside. I came in looking for a Magic Core, and when I reached the fifth level, I saw that opening. I got curious, so..."
"Curiosity killed the cat. You nearly got yourself killed too."
Lin Feng took the Energy Recovery Pill Chen Lie had given him from his pocket and pushed it into Li Ming's mouth.
"Eat it. Can you walk?"
Li Ming chewed a couple of times. Warmth spread through his limbs, and some color finally returned to his face.
"I can."
Lin Feng stood and glanced over the group.
"How many Exotic Beasts are left up ahead?"
Old Zhang came over and licked his cracked lips.
"When we came in, we ran into about thirty. You just killed..." He counted on his fingers. "Seventeen. There should be fifteen to twenty left, scattered in a few caverns along the way to the exit."
Lin Feng swung Mountain Splitter onto his shoulder.
"Then let's move. My blood's up."
He turned and strode toward the exit.
Old Zhang and the others hurried after him.
Supported by two people, Li Ming limped along in the middle of the group.
As he watched that blood-soaked figure striding ahead, his nose stung fiercely.
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