After his encounter with Lin Yun, Lin Yiqing had gone to the underground market several more times and picked up quite a few martial arts techniques. The Second Grade Martial Art, Wood Sword Art, was one of them.
It drew on the wood element's ceaseless vitality. Once mastered, it could condense over a dozen Wood Sword Shadows, which worked in tandem with the blade to unleash unmatched attacks.
He decapitated the man with the rooster-comb hairstyle with a single sword strike. The other two couldn't help but stare in shock.
The rooster-combed man had been a powerful Body Tempering Realm expert at the eighth level. Even among their own ranks, he had been one of the top fighters.
Sadly, he had now died at the hands of a boy barely into adulthood. The world was truly unpredictable.
Having witnessed the scene with their own eyes, the dull-witted man and the one holding the longbow were both stricken with terror. They couldn't help wanting to retreat.
But then the dull-witted man seemed to think of something. A murderous glint flashed in his eyes, and he turned to shout at the archer, "We have to kill him! If we go back like this, Second Master will never let us off!"
At his words, the archer's look of fear twisted into a savage grimace. The dull-witted man also attacked Lin Yiqing even more fiercely, his great blade slashing at him.
"Second Grade Martial Art, Steel-Breaking Slash!"
A faint white glow gathered over the great blade in the dull-witted man's hands. He leaped into the air and swung with all his might, chopping at Lin Yiqing.
"Second Grade Martial Art, Gale Arrow!"
At the same time, the archer in the distant woods unleashed his martial art. An arrow wreathed in white light shot toward Lin Yiqing.
Lin Yiqing gritted his teeth, a cold gleam appearing in his eyes. The short sword in his hand shone green once more as he swept it forward with several sword shadows.
"Wood Sword Art, break through!"
Boom!
The three attacks collided violently. In an instant, dust billowed everywhere, and the immense force split the earth beneath Lin Yiqing's feet with crack after crack.
Pfft!
Blood surged up Lin Yiqing's throat, but he forcibly swallowed it back down. The fierce glint in his eyes grew even stronger.
It felt as though blazing flames were burning inside his organs, filling him with pain. But it also roused every last trace of his ferocity.
Before the dull-witted man could react, Lin Yiqing took advantage of the concealing dust and darted forward in a strange, abrupt movement.
"First-Grade Martial Art, Roaming Body Steps!"
The Refined Iron Sword in his hand shimmered with a faint green light. Then he thrust it out in a sudden strike, piercing straight through the dull-witted man's throat.
Squelch!
As he yanked out the sword, a great spray of blood splattered across Lin Yiqing. At that moment, covered in blood and brimming with killing intent, he looked like a demon god who had emerged from hell.
"You... you killed them both?"
The archer stared at the scene in terror. Three men had ambushed one person, yet two of them had been killed instead. He could hardly accept what he was seeing. It was a nightmare.
Only now did he realize he had kicked an iron plate.
When he saw Lin Yiqing turn his gaze toward him, he stumbled back two steps in fright, then spun around and ran. That boy had scared him half to death.
Seeing him flee, Lin Yiqing stamped his right foot against the ground and shot forward like a leopard. In just a few breaths, he had cut the man off.
"Master Lin, please spare me! I was blind to your greatness and foolish enough to provoke you!"
The archer let his bow and arrows fall to the ground, then hurriedly dropped to his knees before Lin Yiqing and kowtowed without stopping, begging for mercy.
A dark gleam passed through Lin Yiqing's eyes. He rested his short sword against the man's shoulder and asked, "Tell me who you are and what you came here for!"
"This humble one is Bai San, a member of the Blade God Gang in Qingyang Town. A few days ago, Second Master of the Lin Family sent someone to find our gang leader, saying he wanted you killed to vent his anger. That's why the gang sent the three of us to find you. Please spare my life, Master Lin! I was only following orders. I had no choice!"
Bai San trembled as he spoke, seeing Lin Yiqing's sword at his neck.
"Good thing I left when I did. Otherwise, Lin Mang would have gotten me killed."
Lin Yiqing felt a lingering fear. If he had left any later, he might have run into Lin Mang, that Heaven Origin Realm expert.
"What powerful fighters does your gang have? What's your leader's cultivation?"
The Blade God Gang's leader had been able to work under Lin Mang, so his cultivation was probably at least the Earth Origin Realm. With that in mind, Lin Yiqing asked about the gang.
"Our leader, Master He Jun, is a mid-stage Earth Origin Realm expert. We also have a deputy leader, Master He Ying, who is an early-stage Heaven Origin Realm expert. There are two more protectors, both at the ninth level of the Body Tempering Realm. Most of the rest of the gang are at the sixth or seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm."
Perhaps because he saw that Lin Yiqing no longer seemed intent on attacking, Bai San gradually relaxed. Then he looked at him cautiously and answered.
"Hmm!"
When he had finished, Lin Yiqing thrust his sword through the man's throat. He sheathed it and said coldly, "I never agreed to spare you. If you dare come to kill someone, you'd better be ready to be killed!"
After dealing with the bodies and covering their tracks, Lin Yiqing could no longer hold it in. He began to vomit.
"Ugh!"
The three corpses before him had shaken him to the core. How could he have experienced anything like this in the comfortable life he'd had before?
Lin Yiqing felt as though he was about to throw up bile. His mind went blank, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.
"Those who kill will be killed in turn. I was only protecting myself. None of this was my fault."
After a while, Lin Yiqing tried to comfort himself.
"Looks like this so-called Blade God Gang is nothing but a rabble. Still, He Jun and He Ying are troublesome with their Earth Origin Realm cultivation."
Then Lin Yiqing thought of the Blade God Gang the three men belonged to, and his mood grew heavy. Unless he settled this matter once and for all, he feared he wouldn't know peace for some time.
Moonlight flowed like water. Lin Yiqing sat cross-legged on his bed with his eyes closed. Threads of Origin Power swirled around him, then followed his breath into his body, nourishing his flesh, blood, sinews, and bones.
After the brutal battle that day, Lin Yiqing had broken through to the eighth level of the Body Tempering Realm. But what he'd learned about Lin Mang and the Blade God Gang hung over him like a sword above his head, forcing him to work even harder.
After meditating for a while, Lin Yiqing took a square wooden box from his Universe Bag and gently opened it. Inside was the last Azure Glaze Fruit he had.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Yiqing popped it into his mouth. A chill began in his throat and spread downward.
The potent medicinal power coursed through his body, and he began to feel an itch in several places. He knew the medicine was repairing his injured body.
The battle that day might have seemed easy for him, but he had still suffered quite a few minor injuries. He might not notice them ordinarily, but left to accumulate over time, they could lead to lasting problems.
The pure medicinal power flowed like water, repairing his minor injuries and tempering his bones and organs. At the same time, it transformed into threads of Origin Power and merged into the Origin Power Seed.
The Origin Power Seed flowed ceaselessly through his meridians. But when it passed through his dantian, an invisible barrier stopped it from entering.
Lin Yiqing wasn't in a hurry. He had only just reached the eighth level of the Body Tempering Realm. He was sure that after some more time spent cultivating, he would break through to the ninth level and let the Origin Power Seed take root in his dantian.
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