"You little rat, I finally caught you! Take him down!"
He Jun stared at Lin Yiqing in the middle of the scene. First he froze, then delight appeared on his face. He waved his hand, and several gang members immediately charged forward, intending to capture Lin Yiqing.
"Bang!"
The men had barely rushed forward when Lin Yiqing swept his leg across. Before they could even get close, he sent them all flying, and they crashed to the ground in a heap.
Among them were even some of the gang's main fighters, who had reached the ninth level of the Body Tempering Realm.
"You bastards!"
The delight vanished from He Jun's face, replaced by a dark scowl. He hadn't expected his men to fail to last even one move against their opponent!
This was completely at odds with the intelligence. The report had clearly said Lin Yiqing was at the seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm. At this point, He Jun would even believe it if someone said Lin Yiqing was in the Early Earth Origin Realm.
"Second Brother, go. You must take him down, dead or alive!"
Thinking this, He Jun turned to the man standing beside him and gave the order.
He hadn't expected his opponent to be so troublesome. But since he had already accepted the Second Master of the Lin Family's payment, he naturally had to see the job through.
He Ying was a little thinner than He Jun, but the enormous Nine-Ring Blade strapped to his back made it clear he was not someone to trifle with.
In the vast Qingyang Town, several major forces were deeply entrenched. The Blade God Gang had reached its present heights in no small part thanks to the brothers' strength, and He Ying in particular was notorious for his bloodthirsty brutality.
At He Jun's words, He Ying slowly walked out from behind him. Without saying a word, he stomped on the ground and shot forward. The moment he reached Lin Yiqing, he drew his Nine-Ring Blade and savagely brought it down on him!
"Die!"
A glint flashed in Lin Yiqing's eyes. The instant He Ying closed in, he had already grasped his movements. He Ying looked swift and unstoppable, but to Lin Yiqing, his speed was nothing special.
The calm Yuan Power in his body erupted in an instant. A frigid white light covered his skin, and a rich glow of Yuan Power shimmered around him. He was at the Late Earth Yuan Stage, and his body had also been tempered by Greater Yin Qi. To be honest, he had no idea just how strong he was now.
But he knew that Earth Origin Realm fighters like He Ying were nothing but trash.
He suddenly spun and kicked out. His immense strength was like that of an ancient divine beast propping up the heavens. With a single kick, he blew He Jun apart!
"Bang!"
Blood sprayed in all directions, staining the ground crimson. Before the Blade God Gang members nearby could react, He Ying had become a mangled corpse, his body reduced to just its upper half.
"Ah! M-monster!"
"R-run! The deputy chief is dead!"
In an instant, the Blade God Gang scattered like birds and beasts. Everyone fled for their lives, as though they would drop dead if they were even a moment too slow.
As for He Jun, the sight of his brother's death filled his eyes with terror. He Ying, an Earth Origin Realm fighter, had been blown apart with one kick. He was so scared that his heart and gallbladder nearly burst.
With strength like this, he would even believe it if someone said Lin Yiqing was in the Late Heaven Origin Realm. How could it be so different from the intelligence?!
This was no little child for them to knead and shape as they pleased. He was a monster wearing a child's skin!
"Run! Running is my only chance of survival!"
He had no doubt that Lin Yiqing could kill him, a mid-stage Earth Origin Realm fighter, with just one move!
Seeing He Jun flee, Lin Yiqing kicked the Nine-Ring Blade on the ground, sending it flying at him. With He Ying dead and He Jun scared out of his wits, it seemed the Blade God Gang would be wiped off the map today!
"Whoosh!"
Propelled by tremendous force, the Nine-Ring Blade tore through the air with a succession of explosive booms. He Jun felt a bone-chilling killing intent envelop him completely.
At the instant the flying blade was about to pierce him, he forcibly twisted his body, shifting himself a little to the side. The blade only managed to sever his right arm.
"Ugh!"
He Jun clenched his teeth, his face turning red from the strain, but he didn't dare let up for even a moment. He could only keep running headlong toward the exit.
"Buzz!"
Suddenly, he felt as though he had taken a heavy blow to the head. The world spun around him, and his entire body went limp and crumpled to the ground, as if his bones had been pulled out.
"I'm curious. What did Lin Mang offer you that made you hunt me down for days on end?"
A clear voice rang out. It was youthful, yet filled with a bone-chilling coldness. This was the first thing Lin Yiqing had said since the two of them had met.
"Young Master Lin, you're a flying dragon in the heavens, while we're just mud-covered peasants wallowing in the mire. We wouldn't dare speak of some great reward. We were just living off someone else's scraps and doing their bidding."
After a moment, He Jun panted heavily and struggled to sit up. He gave a bitter smile and said, "It'd be embarrassing to admit, but all I got was some low-grade spirit herbs and a few hundred Yang Yuan Stones. After all, the information we received said you were only a Body Tempering Realm cultivator. If Young Master Lin Hong hadn't given us a death order, we wouldn't have kept targeting you."
Hearing this, Lin Yiqing understood. The Lin Family might not rank first among the powers within a few hundred li of Qingyang Town, but it was still one of the top forces. Ordering around a third-rate gang like this was easy enough.
"Get lost."
Seeing the Blade God Gang members scattering in all directions, Deputy Chief He Ying dead, and He Jun with one arm severed and his cultivation ruined, Lin Yiqing couldn't be bothered to make another move. He simply spoke in a cool voice.
He Jun could only offer a bitter smile. He tore off some clothing and wrapped it around his severed arm, then bowed and headed toward the deeper buildings.
"Whoosh!"
Just then, a silver-white spear shot through the air. In the blink of an eye, it pierced He Jun's body and pinned him to the spot.
"Dear Nephew Yiqing, your Second Uncle will teach you a lesson: when pulling out the grass, you must remove the roots!"
At those words, Lin Yiqing's pupils contracted. Yuan Power surged through his body, and he tensed like a leopard, fixing his gaze on the figures approaching from not far away.
"Lin Mang, Lin Hong, and Lin Yun..."
Lin Mang's appearance was entirely within Lin Yiqing's expectations, but Lin Yun's presence here was unexpected.
"Cousin Yiqing, d-did you break through to the Earth Origin Realm?"
Looking at the devastation around him, Lin Yun seemed to have thought of some earth-shattering possibility. Trembling, he asked in a voice full of shock.
"How is that possible! This kid was only at the seventh level of Body Tempering a while ago. How could he have broken through to the Earth Origin Realm? Someone must be helping him!"
Lin Hong stared at Lin Yiqing with bloodshot eyes and a twisted expression as he shouted.
He hated Lin Yiqing to the core. He had been the Lin Family's lofty, heaven-blessed prodigy, yet some obscure branch-family brat had knocked him from his pedestal. Whenever he remembered the way everyone had looked at him that day, the poison fire of hatred tormented his proud heart day and night.
"It seems that martial art is even more extraordinary than I imagined. It actually turned you into an Earth Origin Realm cultivator in such a short time. Truly frightening! Even Lin Langtian, the peerless prodigy of the Lin Main Family, broke through at about your age. But you have to remember, he's a prodigy of the main family. Across the entire Great Yan Dynasty, he ranks among the very best."
Lin Mang forcibly suppressed the urge to charge forward and seize it. Worried that Lin Yiqing might make a desperate last stand, he couldn't help praising him.
He suspected Lin Yiqing had come by an even greater stroke of fortune. An ordinary third-rate cultivation method shouldn't be able to produce such a young Earth Origin Realm expert—unless Lin Yiqing really was a peerless prodigy, one seen only once in a hundred years!
But he didn't believe that was the case!
Before you continue