The entrance to the Rift was narrow. After two steps inside, the light sank away.
It didn't gradually dim. It plunged into darkness.
There was still sunlight outside, but inside, it was gone. Only a few dim red points hung motionless on the rock walls, flickering now and then. It was impossible to tell whether they were reflections off the rocks or the eyes of something.
Lin Feng followed the group in. The moment his right foot hit the ground, a line quietly appeared in the corner of the System Panel.
[Talent: Steel of the Blade, Current Stacks: 0/500, Activation Condition—Kill While Wielding a Blade]
He glanced down at the blade, drew it from its sheath, gripped it firmly, and headed toward the nearest red point.
It didn't take long.
A pack of Blood Claw Wolves burst from a crack in the side wall. There were seven of them, all F-Class, at Martial Disciple Rank 4. They charged in a chaotic jumble, howling as they came.
Before they could surround him, Lin Feng charged straight into the pack.
First strike: the throat.
Second strike: the throat again.
Seven consecutive strikes, all to the same spot. His blade moved so fast that the last few wolves didn't even see where his hand was before they fell.
[Defeated F-Class Exotic Beasts: Blood Claw Wolf ×7, Gained Martial Path Points ×7]
[Steel of the Blade 7/500]
The system chimed seven times in succession. The fatigue in Lin Feng's hand vanished instantly. Now, he had only one goal: build his stacks!
"Damn, the density at the entrance is this high?"
Wang Tie carried his blade over a wolf carcass and stepped forward a couple of paces. He peered into the depths, then backed away. "Something's not right."
"The F-Class records say this place was cleared once." Lin Feng didn't respond. He glanced to the side.
Liu Gang and Zhou Yuan stood behind him to the left and right. They weren't grouped together; one stood on each side, apparently guarding the flanks. But the distance between them, and the angle they'd taken, had Lin Feng trapped right in the middle.
That was a practiced formation, not a coincidence.
Lin Feng said nothing. He memorized their positions and continued forward.
The group pressed on. The rock walls grew narrower, water began dripping from overhead, and the stench intensified, mingling with the scorched reek of sulfur. It wafted up from the depths, growing stronger the farther in they went.
The second wave came sooner. Two Iron Back Bears charged from the front while a pack of Poison Claw Lizards rushed in from the left.
Wang Tie took on the Iron Back Bears head-on. A claw raked his shoulder, tearing a gash in his Combat Suit. He grimaced in pain and swore, then swept his blade down along a bear's leg bone. The bear's leg buckled, and it dropped halfway to its knees. Wang Tie pressed in to finish it off while Li Ming stabbed desperately at its back.
Lin Feng faced the Poison Claw Lizards. Six of them spread out to encircle him in a semicircle.
He didn't retreat. He swept his blade sideways, driving off the three in front, then kicked one over and finished it with a follow-up strike. He turned and blocked the one trying to circle behind him. His movements flowed without pause, and his stacks climbed.
[Defeated F-Class Exotic Beasts: Poison Claw Lizard ×6, Gained Martial Path Points ×6]
[Steel of the Blade 13/500]
Everyone around him only knew that he was fighting smoothly. No one knew that the power in his blade was growing.
After they'd gone farther in, the passage curved and the rock walls drew inward, narrowing the way. As they rounded the bend, a wall of flesh blocked their path.
An Iron Spine Python, at Martial Disciple Rank 9.
Its body was covered in iron scales. At its thickest, it was twice the width of a man's waist. It was coiled across the passage, blocking the entire way. Its tail swept lazily over the ground, striking the rock wall with a dull metallic clang.
Wang Tie took half a step back. "Top of F-Class. Its armor's too thick. An ordinary blade would only leave a white mark."
He wasn't wrong.
The Iron Spine Python's scales could only be broken by a full-force strike from a Martial Artist at Rank 1. If someone at the Martial Disciple level tried to hack through them, their blade would chip before the python's hide gave way.
Lin Feng didn't stop. He charged in with his blade in hand.
His full-force slash cut through the Iron Spine Python's body, spraying black blood.
The python shrieked in pain and slammed against the ground, the impact numbing the soles of Lin Feng's feet.
But it couldn't shake the blade loose.
Without hesitation, Lin Feng pulled out his blade and chopped at the snake's neck. With a wet squelch, its head fell to the ground.
[Defeated F-Class Exotic Beast: Iron Spine Python ×1, Gained Martial Path Points ×3]
[Steel of the Blade 14/500]
Wang Tie stood there, frozen for two seconds. He said nothing.
As expected of a Martial Artist. Two strikes had taken down a top-tier F-Class Exotic Beast.
Lin Feng didn't say a word. He went around the python's body and kept moving.
As they rounded a second rock wall, Li Ming grunted. A Poison Mist Spider hiding in the grass beside him had sprayed his right arm. The venom hit his skin and burned. He sucked in a sharp breath, gritted his teeth, and kept swinging his blade. He drove it into the spider's abdomen from beneath its jaw and twisted, pinning the creature to the ground. Only then did he have a free hand to wipe the liquid from his arm.
"Are you okay?" Lin Feng glanced at him.
"I can still fight."
Hearing that, Lin Feng didn't ask any more questions. Building his stacks was the top priority.
Lin Feng didn't take a single break along the way, and the stacks of Steel of the Blade climbed rapidly.
Soon, the entrance to the third level appeared before them.
The ground on the third level was littered with Exotic Beast carcasses, but they hadn't been killed by people.
The broken edges of their bones were all bent downward, as if crushed under immense weight. Claw marks sank into the earth, three times larger than the Iron Spine Python's footprints, each knuckle sharply defined. They'd pressed half a finger deep into the soil.
Lin Feng crouched and touched one.
It was still warm. Whatever had passed through here had gone by less than fifteen minutes ago.
He stood and looked into the depths.
Nothing was visible in the darkness, but a low-frequency tremor had already spread from the ground to the soles of his feet. It pulsed through his shoes, steady and unhurried, coming closer.
"Something big," Wang Tie said in a low voice. "It's not in the records."
"Should we pull back?" Li Ming asked.
Before Lin Feng could answer, Liu Gang spoke first. "How big could something in an F-Class Rift be? No need to make a fuss. We should send someone ahead to scout, so we know what we're dealing with before we get right up to it."
Zhou Yuan chimed in. "Right. Better to check things out first. Safer that way."
It sounded reasonable.
Wang Tie was about to object, but Lin Feng had already started walking. He even patted Wang Tie on the shoulder, signaling for him and Li Ming to stay put.
Liu Gang and Zhou Yuan exchanged a glance. Neither followed; they stayed behind and waited.
Lin Feng rounded the rock wall. Five steps in, there were no Exotic Beasts, no sounds—an unnatural silence.
This place shouldn't have been so quiet.
He gripped the hilt, leaving the blade sheathed, and waited two seconds.
A whoosh exploded from directly behind him. A blade slashed toward his back, skimming his ribs. The angle was low, the strike fast—Martial Disciple Rank 9 strength, without a word of warning.
But Lin Feng had already shifted aside.
It wasn't that he'd predicted the attack. It was the overwhelming speed advantage of a Martial Artist over a Martial Disciple.
The blade cut through the outer layer of his clothes but missed his flesh. At the same moment, he thrust his blade backward, piercing Liu Gang's sword arm. Bone cracked, and Liu Gang's blade clattered to the ground.
Lin Feng lowered his gaze and glanced at the system.
[Steel of the Blade 49/500, 1 More Kill Until the 50-Stack Effect Activates]
He raised his head and looked at Liu Gang's bleeding arm.
"One more strike."
Lin Feng couldn't worry about anything else now. Maybe killing a person could build stacks too.
Liu Gang hadn't understood what he meant when Lin Feng's blade came down.
[Steel of the Blade 50/500! Attack Speed Increased by 100%, Armor-Piercing Effect Activated!]
As Liu Gang's head fell, the system's voice rang through Lin Feng's mind.
The blade in Lin Feng's hand suddenly moved with exceptional ease.
He turned around, the tip of his blade pointed at Zhou Yuan.
"Your turn!"
Before you continue