Zhao Wannian.
The head of the Zhao Family, a first-stage Martial King.
The ceiling above the treasury crumbled into powder the instant he landed, and the rock layers were blasted away by the shockwave of a Martial King's blood and qi.
Rubble and dust filled the air, while the basement lights flickered on and off.
Lin Feng's hair was blown back by the gale.
This oppressive force was more terrifying than any enemy he had ever faced.
The gap between a Martial Ancestor and a Martial King was far too great to be summed up as a single minor level.
Zhao Wannian stood on the edge of the collapsed opening. His graying hair hung loose, and his bloodshot old eyes swept over the bodies of the Zhao Family martial artists littering the ground and the treasury, now more than half emptied.
"You."
The word was forced through his clenched teeth.
There was no second word.
Zhao Wannian attacked at once.
Martial King Gale Qi gathered into a colossal hand that blotted out the sky, slamming down from above.
The giant hand was three meters wide, its Gale Qi condensed into solid form. Vein-like patterns could even be seen pulsing across its surface.
The air shrieked as it was crushed, and the basement floor had already begun to crack before the hand even landed.
Lin Feng drew his blade.
The System Panel flickered at the edge of his vision.
[Steel of the Blade: 500/500, ultimate effect activated—Blade Critical Strike!]
The Dark Gold Spirit Patterns on Mountain Splitter all lit up. A golden halo enveloped the entire blade, and its ringing hum filled the basement.
Lin Feng didn't retreat.
He took a step forward.
Mountain-Breaking Slash.
Mountain Splitter swept upward from below.
A golden Gale Wind ripped from the blade. The instant it left the steel, it swelled several times over, carrying Armor Piercing and critical-hit effects as it collided head-on with Zhao Wannian's Martial King Gale Qi giant hand.
Boom—!
The entire basement trembled.
The ground exploded, and rubble flew everywhere.
The golden Gale Wind tore through the giant hand.
It didn't shatter it. It sliced it apart.
The Gale Qi giant hand split down the middle, and its remaining energy scattered to either side, blasting huge craters into both walls.
The Gale Wind's momentum hadn't waned.
The golden, crescent-shaped blade arc shot straight toward Zhao Wannian's face.
Zhao Wannian's pupils contracted violently in that instant.
He crossed his arms over his chest, and the blood and qi of a Martial King condensed into a crimson shield across his body.
Too late.
The blade arc struck his arms. The crimson shield shattered, and he was sent flying, smashing back-first into the rock wall at the rear of the basement.
A huge section of the wall collapsed, burying half his body in rubble.
Zhao Wannian struggled out from the debris and looked down at his chest.
A bloody gash.
It ran diagonally from his left shoulder to his right ribs, deep enough to expose bone. Blood gushed out in torrents.
His face was written with disbelief.
"You... are you a Martial Ancestor?"
Zhao Wannian's voice cracked.
Could a Martial Ancestor unleash an attack with that kind of power?
Impossible.
The force behind that slash had been even fiercer than his own full-strength strike.
That wasn't the kind of power a Martial Ancestor should be able to wield.
"What the hell are you?" Zhao Wannian climbed out of the rock wall, clutching his wound and taking two steps back.
Lin Feng rested Mountain Splitter on his shoulder and tilted his head.
"I have no obligation to explain myself to a dead man."
Zhao Wannian ground his back teeth and tore a dark red suit of armor from beneath his robes.
Its surface was covered in densely packed Spirit Patterns. It had been forged from a blend of red copper and some rare ore, and it radiated a heavy wave of energy.
A-Rank Red Copper Inner Armor.
One of the Zhao Family's trump cards for protecting their clan.
With this thing on, even a full-strength Martial King attack would lose much of its force.
As Zhao Wannian pulled on the inner armor, he suddenly formed a seal with both hands and spat out a mouthful of blood essence.
The blood essence turned into a crimson mist in midair, which he inhaled.
He was burning his blood essence.
His aura surged within two short seconds. His formerly pale face flushed red, and veins bulged from his temples down to his neck.
"Zhao Family's killing move—Ten Thousand Jun Smash!"
Zhao Wannian became a streak of crimson light and hurtled toward Lin Feng.
He was at least twice as fast.
His strength had doubled too.
Lin Feng sneered.
Defensive armor?
Sorry, but I have Armor Piercing.
Psychic Power surged from between his brows. At the same instant Zhao Wannian charged, twelve B-Rank Psychic Flying Daggers, Dark Blade, shot out from the cloth bundle.
Twelve black bolts of lightning converged from twelve blind spots.
Zhao Wannian was thrown into disarray.
His head-on charge was interrupted, and he had to divert his attention to deflecting the Flying Daggers.
He slapped one away.
Then another.
The third lodged in a gap in the armor over his thigh.
The fourth grazed his neck, shaving off a layer of skin.
"Psychic Master?"
Zhao Wannian's voice went shrill.
"Who the hell are you?!"
Lin Feng didn't answer.
Lost Trace Step surged to its full potential.
Three afterimages split apart, each carrying the feel of a solid body as they closed in on Zhao Wannian from the left, right, and front.
Zhao Wannian smashed the one in front of him with a punch, then turned and slapped away the one on his right.
But he couldn't find the real one.
The real one was directly above him.
Lin Feng pushed off from the opening in the ceiling and dropped down, holding Mountain Splitter in a reverse grip and aiming for the top of Zhao Wannian's head.
He poured all his blood and qi into the blade.
Armor Piercing stacked on itself.
Blade Critical Strike stacked on itself.
The Spirit Patterns on the A-Rank War Blade flashed wildly.
Zhao Wannian jerked his head up. Every Spirit Pattern on the Red Copper Inner Armor lit up as he desperately unleashed its defensive field.
It was useless.
The instant Mountain Splitter came down, all the Spirit Patterns on the Red Copper Inner Armor shattered.
The defensive field of the A-Rank armor was cleaved through in a single slash.
The blade cut into the top of Zhao Wannian's head and continued straight down.
Zhao Wannian's body split in two along the blade's path.
The Red Copper Inner Armor shattered into metal fragments that clattered across the ground.
Blood sprayed three meters into the air.
Zhao Wannian, head of the Zhao Family and a first-stage Martial King, died on the spot.
The basement fell silent.
Lin Feng landed and shook the blood from his blade.
"The Zhao Family ends here."
Before you continue