Old Grudges, Today Must Be Avenged!

The air in the courtyard seemed to retain the lingering ripples of the spiritual energy outburst; the surrounding grass and trees bowed low, as if paying homage to this newly born king.

Lin Yuan reclined back into the rattan chair, but this time, his originally lazy and languid posture had vanished entirely.

The complaints and grumbling from just a moment ago had already dissipated into thin air.

As a "native" who had been struggling and clawing his way through this world for twenty-two years, he knew better than anyone what that one second of transformation... truly signified.

It was synonymous with being invincible among one's peers.

"A peak high-level Wargod-level Spirit Reader..."

Lin Yuan raised his hand, staring at the delicate lines on his palm, the corners of his mouth curling upward uncontrollably as he let out a meaningful "tsk-tsk" sound.

Previously, as a pure martial artist, even though his physical fitness had reached the high-level Wargod stage, he still had to be cautious when facing monsters of the same rank, and could only flee in a sorry state when encountering king-level monsters.

But now, it was different.

The bizarre methods of a Spirit Reader, combined with his formidable martial artist physique—this was not a simple case of "1+1=2."

As he was now, even without wearing the Black God Suit, he had the confidence to walk sideways across the Earth.

Aside from those two freaks, Hong and Thunder God, and those few king-level monsters hiding in the deep sea, who could do anything to him?

"I thought I'd just be a pure martial brute for the rest of my life, but who would have thought..."

Lin Yuan shook his head with a smile, a trace of self-mockery flashing in his eyes.

One second he was thinking about how to cling to Luo Feng's thigh and find a comfortable way to slack off, and the next, the system had shoved the meal right into his mouth—and it was the kind of full-course banquet one couldn't refuse.

With this level of strength, if he were still content to be a salted fish waiting for death, he would be doing a great disservice to his status as a transmigrator.

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan moved his mind.

Hum!

A silver-blue stream of light appeared out of thin air, hovering before him.

It was a strangely shaped spiritual weapon—

[Arc Wheel].

It was not as bulky as Luo Feng's Soaring Shuttle, but consisted of nine silver blades, each as thin as a cicada's wing and shaped like a half-moon.

They were separated from each other yet tightly connected by an invisible magnetic field, rotating slowly in the air, slicing through the atmosphere and emitting a chilling, low hum.

Each blade was engraved with complex and mysterious secret patterns, faintly exuding a cold, murderous intent from the depths of the universe.

A Tier 3 spiritual weapon!

On this Earth, where even Tier 2 force weapons were treated as treasures, this [Arc Wheel] would be enough to make the world's inspector-level powerhouses fight to the death if it were ever revealed.

Lin Yuan reached out a finger, gently touching the cold edge, his eyes shimmering with light.

With the system and this level of strength, the fire in his heart seemed to have been reignited.

It was just that...

This sudden surge of power left him feeling somewhat bewildered for a moment.

Accustomed to being "steady" and "low-key," what should he do next?

Just as his thoughts were flying and he couldn't find a clear goal—

Hum!

A familiar buzzing sound echoed from the depths of his mind.

The pale blue crystal screen appeared before his eyes once more, lines of scarlet text dripping down like fresh blood, instantly seizing all of Lin Yuan's attention.

[Mission: Kill the high-level lord-level monster—Black Scale Beast!]

[Mission Reward: Force weapon · Shadow Devourer, secret technique · Shadow Kill.]

[System Comment: The enemy from when you were still weak remains at large. You are now strong enough. It is time—to settle everything!]

Seeing the words "Black Scale Beast," the smile on Lin Yuan's face froze instantly.

The surrounding air seemed to drop by several degrees.

"Black Scale... Beast?"

Lin Yuan whispered, his voice hoarse, as if squeezed out from between his teeth. His gaze turned somewhat dazed, and his thoughts were instantly pulled back several years.

At that time, he was only a low-level War General, full of spirit, having joined an elite martial artist squad called "Hunting Wind."

The captain was generous, his teammates were kind, and they had fought side-by-side in the wilderness, sharing life and death.

Until that day, deep within the Black Rock Mountain Range.

That beast, covered in pitch-black scales like a demon from hell—the Black Scale Beast—appeared without warning.

It was a massacre.

A massacre without any suspense.

To cover the team's retreat, the captain had half his body bitten off by that beast; the vice-captain, who had always taken the best care of him, was crushed into pulp by a single claw...

In the end, only Lin Yuan, relying on his extraordinary neural reaction speed and a little bit of luck, crawled out from the pile of corpses, covered in blood.

That was the deepest nightmare he had experienced since transmigrating!

It was also the obsession that later drove him to break through to the rank of War God.

Even after he became a War God, and eventually a high-level War God, he had never once considered seeking revenge.

Because he had checked the records: that Black Scale Beast was no ordinary high-level lord. It possessed a mutated bloodline, its defensive capabilities rivaling those of a quasi-king-level monster, and it commanded a horde numbering in the thousands.

To kill it single-handedly? That would be suicide.

Ask for help? Request the aid of Hong or Thunder God? He didn't have that kind of standing.

Ask other council members? That would mean owing a massive favor, and success wouldn't even be guaranteed.

Therefore, he chose to temporarily forget, telling himself that all monsters would eventually die anyway.

"Settling all accounts, is it..."

Lin Yuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, the confusion had vanished completely, replaced by a chilling, bone-deep murderous intent.

"That's right, I am much stronger now."

He would swing his blade to thoroughly eradicate the shadows of his weak past.

Besides, with such tempting rewards on the line, why not?

Lin Yuan slowly stood up, and as he moved, a layer of liquid-like black substance instantly covered his entire body.

Only a pair of cold eyes remained exposed—this was the Black God Suit!

"Even if it were a king-level monster, I could shatter its teeth now!"

Whoosh!

Nine silver blades instantly converged beneath his feet, forming a perfect disc.

Lin Yuan stepped onto it, and his entire figure transformed into a streak of black lightning, soaring into the sky!

BOOM!!!

The terrifying speed instantly tore through the air, detonating a white sonic boom cloud above Jiangnan Base City.

Under the horrified gazes of countless passersby...

That meteor did not linger in the city, but instead charged with unstoppable momentum straight toward the depths of the wilderness—the forbidden zone known as the "Black Rock Mountain Range."

The Black Rock Mountain Range lay thousands of miles away from Jiangnan Base City.

The terrain here was treacherous, filled with jagged rocks and shrouded year-round in a layer of grey mist.

At this moment, dusk was approaching.

The setting sun, red as blood, dyed the rolling mountain range a dark crimson, exuding an indescribable sense of oppression and eeriness.

"Roar—"

"Awoo—"

As night began to fall, the mountain range, which had been silent all day, began to awaken. The echoes of beast roars reverberated through the valleys—the clarion call for the monsters' revelry.

Between the pitch-black rock crevices, ghastly white bones could be seen everywhere.

Some were human, others belonged to monsters. Shattered alloy blades and rusted combat vests lay half-buried in the soil, silently testifying to the cruelty of this place.

This was a forbidden zone for humanity, a paradise for monsters.

Rumble—

The already gloomy sky suddenly churned with rolling dark clouds, and muffled thunder rumbled deep within them, as if even the heavens sensed the impending slaughter.

Crack!

A blinding bolt of lightning tore across the sky, momentarily illuminating the dim mountain peak.

In that fleeting flash of light, a figure clad in black combat armor appeared silently atop an isolated peak, like a ghost.

Lin Yuan gripped a long blade wreathed in electric arcs, his aura surging with immense power.

Below him lay the outer defensive line of the Black Scale Beast: thousands of Iron-Haired Boars, One-Horned Boars, and dozens of beast-general-level monsters interspersed among them.

"Roar!"

A low-level lord-rank Bloodthirsty Tank spotted the human in the air and let out an angry roar, attempting to summon its subordinates to launch an attack.

However, the moment its roar left its throat—

Pfft!

A streak of silver light, nearly impossible to track with the naked eye, flashed by.

The massive, tank-sized lord-rank monster's giant head instantly burst open like a watermelon, spraying red and white gore across the ground.

No screams, no struggle.

An instant kill!

This scene caused the previously restless beast horde to fall into a momentary, deathly silence.

Following that came destruction.

Lin Yuan remained expressionless, his right hand gripping the empty air.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Arc Wheel hovering at his side instantly disintegrated, transforming into nine streams of lethal light that plunged into the beast horde below with a shrill, piercing whistle.

This was a one-sided slaughter.

Those Beast General-level monsters that usually struck terror into the hearts of warrior squads were as fragile as tofu before the Arc Wheel.

Wherever the silver light passed, limbs flew and blood mist filled the air.

Lin Yuan did not even need to use the long blade in his hand; merely by controlling the weapon with his spiritual telekinesis, he plowed a bloody path through the horde as if harvesting Maze.

He walked through the air step by step, closing in on the deepest part of the mountain range.

With every step he took, dozens of monsters fell into pools of blood.

As time passed, the originally dark brown rocky ground had been dyed a glaring crimson. A thick, nauseating stench of blood rose toward the sky.

Finally, Lin Yuan stopped.

A hundred meters ahead of him lay a massive, pitch-black cave. Not a blade of grass grew around the entrance, which was littered with countless giant skeletons.

A suffocating, tyrannical aura slowly spilled out from the depths of the cavern.

Two crimson eyes, each the size of a lantern, ignited in the darkness, staring fixedly at Lin Yuan outside the cave.

It was the fury of a monarch whose majesty had been provoked.

Lin Yuan stood in the pool of blood, letting the gale whip his black hair.

A long blade shimmering with brilliant blue light appeared in his hand; the tip pointed diagonally at the ground, and blood dripped slowly down the length of the steel.

He looked into those familiar crimson eyes, a cold, extreme arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Old friend, long time no see."

"Today... I have come to slaughter your entire family."