Blade's Framework Achieved

The Rift entrance was narrow; after two steps inside, the light sank.

Not a gradual dimming—a sudden plunge.

Daylight still lingered outside, but inside, it was gone entirely, leaving only a few dark red specks suspended on the rock walls, motionless, glowing intermittently—impossible to tell if they were reflections off the stone or the eyes of something.

Lin Feng followed the team in. The moment his right foot landed, a line of text quietly popped up at the edge of the System Panel.

[Talent: Steel of the Blade, Current Stacks: 0/500, Activation Condition—Kill with a Blade]

He glanced down at the blade, casually drew it from the sheath, gripped it firmly, and walked toward the nearest red glow.

He didn't wait long.

A pack of Blood Claw Wolves burst from the crevices in the side wall—seven of them, F-Class, Martial Disciple Rank 4. They charged in with howls, their formation a complete mess.

Lin Feng didn't let them swarm him. He charged straight into the pack.

First strike, throat.

Second strike, throat.

Seven strikes in a row, all in the same spot. His blade speed was so fast that the last few wolves didn't even see where his hand was before they fell.

[Killed F-Class Exotic Beast: Blood Claw Wolf ×7, obtained Martial Path Points ×7]

[Steel of the Blade 7/500]

The system notification chimed seven times in succession. Lin Feng held the blade, the fatigue in his hands vanishing instantly. At this moment, he had only one goal—stack the Steel!

"Damn, the density at the entrance is this high?"

Wang Tie hefted his blade, stepped over a wolf carcass, moved forward two paces, peered deeper, then retreated. "Something's off."

"The F-Class report said this area was cleared once." Lin Feng didn't respond, instead sweeping his gaze to the side.

Liu Gang and Zhou Yuan stood to his left-rear and right-rear, not clustered together—one on each side, appearing to guard the flanks. But the spacing, the angle, had Lin Feng pinned right in the center.

Trained positioning. Not a coincidence.

Lin Feng said nothing, memorized the formation, and continued pushing forward.

The team moved deeper. The rock walls narrowed, water began dripping from above, and the stench grew thicker, mixed with a burnt sulfur smell wafting up from the depths—the further in, the stronger it became.

The second wave came faster. Two Iron Back Bears, mixed with a batch of Poison Claw Lizards, charged from the front and left simultaneously.

Wang Tie took the Iron Back Bears head-on. His shoulder took a claw strike, tearing a gash in his Combat Suit. He grunted in pain, cursed, swept his blade low, and the edge scraped along the bear's leg bone. The bear's leg buckled, dropping it to half-kneel. He pressed forward for the finishing blow while Li Ming stabbed desperately into the bear's back from the side.

Lin Feng faced the Poison Claw Lizards—six of them, spreading into a semicircle around him.

He didn't retreat. He swept his blade horizontally, driving back the three in front, kicked one sideways to flip it over, finished it, then reversed his grip to block the one circling behind—continuous motion, the stacks climbing.

[Killed F-Class Exotic Beast: Poison Claw Lizard ×6, obtained Martial Path Points ×6]

[Steel of the Blade 13/500]

The others only saw him fighting smoothly; no one knew the power growing on his blade.

They pushed further in. The path took a turn, the rock walls closing in, the passage narrowing. Around the bend, a wall of flesh blocked them.

An Iron Spine Python, Martial Disciple Rank 9.

Its body was covered in iron armor, the thickest part twice the width of a man's waist. It coiled there, blocking the entire path, its tail lazily sweeping the ground. When it scraped the rock wall, it produced a dull metallic clang.

Wang Tie took half a step back. "Top-tier F-Class. This thing's armor is too thick. A normal blade will just leave white marks."

He wasn't wrong.

The Iron Spine Python's armor scales could only be broken by a full-force strike from a Martial Artist Rank 1. For Martial Disciples to hack at it, the blade would chip before the python's hide gave way.

Lin Feng didn't stop. He gripped his war blade and charged in.

A full-power strike—the blade pierced straight through the Iron Spine Python's body, trailing a stream of black blood.

The python, in pain, slammed the ground hard, rattling the soles of everyone's feet.

But it couldn't break free from the blade.

Lin Feng didn't hesitate. He pulled the blade out and swung at the python's neck. With a pfft, the snake's head hit the ground.

[Killed F-Class Exotic Beast: Iron Spine Python ×1, obtained Martial Path Points ×3]

[Steel of the Blade 14/500]

Wang Tie stood there, stunned for two seconds, saying nothing.

As expected of a Martial Artist—two strikes to take down a top-tier F-Class Exotic Beast.

Lin Feng didn't utter a word. He stepped around the python's body and kept pushing forward.

As they rounded the second rock wall, Li Ming let out a grunt. His right arm had been hit by a Poison Mist Spider's spray from the grass beside him. The venom landed on his skin, burning it. He sucked in a sharp breath, clenched his jaw, didn't stop his blade—drove it up through the spider's lower jaw into its abdomen, twisted, pinned the creature to the ground, then freed a hand to wipe the liquid off his arm.

"You alright?" Lin Feng glanced at him.

"I can fight."

Hearing that, Lin Feng asked no further. Stacking layers was the top priority.

Along the way, Lin Feng didn't rest for a moment, and the layers of Steel of the Blade climbed rapidly.

Soon, the entrance to the third floor appeared before the group.

The ground of the third floor was littered with patches of Exotic Beast corpses, but they weren't killed by people.

The broken ends of the bones were all crushed downward—marks left by weight rolling over them. Claw prints sank into the dirt, three times larger than an Iron Spine Python's paw, with distinct knuckle indentations pressing half a finger deep.

Lin Feng crouched down and pressed a hand to the ground.

The residual warmth was still there; they'd left at most a quarter of an hour ago.

He straightened up and looked deeper into the darkness.

Nothing was visible in the black, but that low-frequency vibration had already spread from the ground to the soles of his feet, pulsing through the soles of his shoes, one beat after another, unhurried, drawing closer.

"Something big," Wang Tie said in a low voice. "Not on the record."

"Fall back?" Li Ming asked.

Before Lin Feng could speak, Liu Gang cut in first: "How big can something be in an F-Class Rift? No need to make a fuss. Someone should scout ahead first, so we don't find out how deep the water is when we're already in it."

Zhou Yuan chimed in, "Right, scout it out clearly before pushing forward. That's the safe play."

The words sounded reasonable.

Wang Tie was about to object when Lin Feng had already stepped forward, patting Wang Tie on the shoulder as he passed, signaling for him and Li Ming to stay put.

Liu Gang and Zhou Yuan exchanged a glance. The two of them didn't follow, staying where they were.

Lin Feng turned past the rock wall. Five steps in—no Exotic Beasts, no sound. An unnatural silence.

Normally, it wouldn't be this quiet here.

He gripped the hilt of his blade, the sword still sheathed, and stood still for two seconds.

A tearing sound exploded from directly behind him. The blade edge sliced along his ribs toward the back of his heart—low angle, fast speed, a Martial Disciple Rank 9's full force, no wasted motion.

But Lin Feng had already shifted his body.

It wasn't pre-judgment; it was the speed gap between a Martial Artist and a Martial Disciple.

The blade cut through the outer layer of his clothes but didn't touch the skin beneath. At the same time, he reversed his grip on the blade and stabbed backward, piercing through Liu Gang's sword arm. Bones cracked, and the sword clattered to the ground.

Lin Feng looked down and glanced at the system.

Steel of the Blade 49/500, 1 kill remaining to activate 50-layer effect

He lifted his head, looking at Liu Gang's bleeding arm.

"One more strike."

At this point, Lin Feng couldn't care less—maybe killing a person could stack the layers too.

Before Liu Gang could understand what that meant, the blade had already fallen.

Steel of the Blade 50/500! Attack speed increased by 100%, armor-breaking effect activated!

As Liu Gang's head hit the ground, the system's voice exploded in Lin Feng's mind.

The blade in Lin Feng's hand instantly felt exceptionally smooth.

He turned around, the tip of the sword pointing at Zhou Yuan.

"Your turn."