Mountain Moving, Sea Overturning

Lin Hao smiled. "Didn't you already know?"

The Misty Cloud Sect was a towering presence in the Jia Ma Empire.

Even court officials did not dare casually prosecute disciples of the Misty Cloud Sect, much less ordinary clans and factions.

Thus, after descending the mountain to gain experience, Lin Hao had not concealed his identity and wore robes that represented his status.

The hand holding Lin Hao's sword trembled lightly, shaking the blood from its blade. He said sternly, "I don't care who you are. Leave at once, and I'll let bygones be bygones!"

Among the four people of unknown origin, two looked hesitantly at the middle-aged man who had intended to rape Ya Fei.

"Tch..." The middle-aged man sneered disdainfully. "You think I was scared into growing up? This is a forest. As long as we kill you, then kill this woman, the sky is high and the land is far away. What can the Misty Cloud Sect do to me?"

"Boss, he's different from this woman. He's a disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect." One of the bandits tried to persuade the middle-aged man.

"What's there to fear..." The middle-aged man said confidently, "He's young. He may not have even condensed a Dou Qi Vortex yet. There are many of us, and we're all Dou Zhe. Are we afraid we can't kill him? Get him! Kill him and feed him to the magical beasts!"

The middle-aged man's words restored the confidence of the three bandits. Weapons in hand, they slowly approached Lin Hao.

The three bandits stepped steadily, faint cyan Dou Qi auras gradually emerging around them. Like gauze, the auras coiled around their bodies and rose and fell gently with their breathing.

Clearly, all three of them were Dou Zhe.

Their weapons were infused with Dou Qi, and their edges glinted with chilling cold light.

One of them swung his saber first. Cyan Dou Qi condensed into a narrow blade aura that shot toward Lin Hao's face with a piercing whistle.

"Watch out!" Ya Fei cried urgently.

Another gripped a short axe, Dou Qi flowing down his arm and into the axe. He slammed its blade heavily into the ground, sending shattered stones flying. Wrapped in Dou Qi, the stones shot toward Lin Hao like hidden weapons.

The third was agile. Dou Qi gathered beneath his feet, making his steps as light as Gui Mei. With a short dagger hidden in his sleeve, he silently circled toward Lin Hao's flank, using his companions' assault as cover and waiting for an opening.

Facing the attacks, Lin Hao did not move. His gaze only grew sharper.

The next second, two yellow rings suddenly lit up beneath his feet. As he flipped his right hand upward, a Talisman appeared in his palm.

In the next instant, his second Spirit Ring rose, and the Talisman in his hand turned dark blue.

"Second Soul Skill—Sea Overturning!"

"Go!"

With a sweep of Lin Hao's right hand, Immortal Points the Way flew out. The blue Talisman erupted with brilliant light.

In the blink of an eye, it formed a wave more than ten feet high.

Carrying immense force, the wave crashed fiercely toward the three bandits.

The first wave collided with the cyan blade aura, instantly shattering it. Without losing momentum, the wave slammed into the saber-wielding bandit and sent him flying. His saber fell to one side. He finally crashed heavily into a tree behind him, his Dou Qi aura instantly dimming as he passed out.

Before the other two bandits could react, the second wave had already formed. It was even more turbulent than the first, its crest glimmering with scattered Soul Power as it swept forward like a roaring beast.

The short-axe-wielding bandit hurriedly circulated all the Dou Qi in his body, forming a cyan Dou Qi barrier before him.

Yet the moment the barrier touched the wave, it was torn apart. The backlash of Dou Qi made him groan and spit blood, his body falling backward like a kite with a broken string.

The bandit who had circled around Lin Hao's side turned deathly pale and tried to flee, but the wave's aftershock swept over him. His legs gave out, and he fell heavily to the ground. The Dou Qi around him completely dissipated, leaving him unable to rise again.

"Urgh!"

The middle-aged man was dumbfounded. In one move—just one move—Lin Hao had rendered three of his men unable to fight, while another had died.

Lin Hao smiled. "Do you still have the numbers now?"

"A Dou Zhe!" The middle-aged man was stunned.

A moment ago, the middle-aged man had relied on his superior numbers and feared nothing.

Now, Lin Hao had already crippled four people, leaving only the middle-aged man.

A slap in the face!

Yet the middle-aged man was not enraged. Instead, he felt fear. Panic-stricken, he asked, "Who exactly are you? At such a young age, you're already a Dou Zhe!"

Not only was he a Dou Zhe, but judging from his strength, the middle-aged man felt that Lin Hao's cultivation was far higher than his own as a four-star Dou Zhe.

That was the true reason fear arose in the middle-aged man's heart.

Lin Hao stepped forward and picked up the saber on the ground. As he passed the bandits who had lost the ability to fight, he flicked his hand and slit their throats.

Before long, Lin Hao had killed all three bandits who could no longer fight.

Throughout the process, the middle-aged man did not dare make a rash move.

After finishing, Lin Hao asked the middle-aged man, "Do you have anything to say?"

"I dared to come kill her today because I had already prepared myself to die. If you want me to beg for mercy, dream on!" The middle-aged man was a man of spirit. Though he knew he was no match for Lin Hao, he refused to beg for mercy.

The instant his words fell, the pale cyan Dou Qi around the middle-aged man surged explosively. It was far denser than the Dou Qi of the three bandits, causing even the air around him to tremble faintly.

He kicked off the ground, shooting toward Lin Hao like an arrow released from a bow.

His right hand clenched into a fist as cyan Dou Qi madly gathered around it. Dazzling cyan light radiated from his fist, and a condensed Dou Qi fist shadow burst forth, carrying violent power as it shot straight toward Lin Hao's chest.

It was completely different from the ordinary Dou Qi attacks of the three bandits, its power far surpassing that of an ordinary Dou Zhe.

Lin Hao's gaze sharpened, and the first yellow Spirit Ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up.

"First Soul Skill—Mountain Moving!"

Clear goose-yellow light instantly enveloped his entire body.

As the light flowed, it formed a heavy, solid barrier around him, protecting him completely like a golden bell shield.

The Dou Qi fist shadow slammed hard into the barrier with a dull boom. The barrier shook violently, ripples spreading across its surface, yet it did not crack. The barrier steadily dispersed the fist shadow's power, which gradually vanished into the air.

The middle-aged man's pupils contracted sharply. The recoil forced him to stagger back two steps, and the Dou Qi around him grew slightly chaotic.

He knew his Soul Skill could not break through Lin Hao's defense.

A fierce glint flashed through his eyes as his gaze suddenly shifted to Ya Fei, who had yet to fully recover not far away. He abruptly turned, Dou Qi gathering around him again. The cyan light on his fist grew even more brilliant as he launched the same Soul Skill once more, sending the condensed Dou Qi fist shadow hurtling toward Ya Fei at astonishing speed.

"I may die, but you must die too!"

The middle-aged man wanted to kill Ya Fei.

At that moment, his back was completely exposed. This was a major taboo in battle between Dou Zhe.

Anyone with even a little common sense would not expose their back to an enemy.

Clearly, the middle-aged man had resolved to die and intended to drag Ya Fei down with him.

It was hard to imagine what kind of hatred could drive someone to such madness that he no longer cared for his own life.