Crushing a Second Realm, Ninth Layer Expert!

"Beat me, and my life, along with the twenty-million bounty, will be yours."

"Fail... and go down there to keep those brothers of yours who kept talking about 'misunderstandings' company."

Lin Ming's voice was not loud, yet every word was clear. It carried a metallic chill as it echoed through the silent camp, hammering against everyone's hearts.

Captain Zhou's face instantly turned livid, veins bulging across his forehead like twisted earthworms.

He glared at Lin Ming, fury nearly bursting from his eyes. Yet beneath it was even greater rage and humiliation at being utterly ignored and publicly slapped in the face.

He, Zhou Tianlang, leader of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group, a Second Realm, Ninth Layer expert, was a known figure in this Wilderness!

And today, some unknown brat still wet behind the ears had pointed a spear at his nose and uttered such outrageous words!

"Kid, you're too arrogant!" Zhou Tianlang squeezed the words through gritted teeth. The broad alloy greatsword in his hand rose sharply, crimson blood energy blazing over its surface like flames and making him resemble a ferocious god bathed in fire.

"Since you refuse a toast, don't blame me for being ruthless! Today, I'll use your blood to honor my brothers' spirits in heaven!"

He stopped wasting words. He stomped the ground, shooting forward like a cannonball, wrapped in violent blood energy and murderous ferocity as he charged straight at Lin Ming!

The greatsword rose high, its crimson flames surging as it transformed into a terrifying sword shadow capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, hacking down at Lin Ming's head!

It was his famous technique—Crimson Flame Mountain-Splitting Slash!

This furious strike was thirty percent stronger than when he had fought the Ironclad Rhino Chief during the day!

Before the blade even arrived, its scorching airwaves and crushing pressure had already swept over Lin Ming, sending the loose strands before his forehead flying and making his clothes flap violently.

The surrounding mercenaries hurriedly retreated, excitement and cruelty written across their faces. They believed that with their captain attacking at full strength, this brat who did not know his place would surely be cleaved in two! Their fourth brother and the others would be avenged!

Xia He could not help crying out. She instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes filled with worry.

Although she had guessed that the mercenaries had struck first, Lin Ming's decisive and ruthless retaliation, coupled with the terrifying pressure Zhou Tianlang now displayed, made her heart leap into her throat.

Yet faced with this thunderous strike, Lin Ming's gaze remained calm and undisturbed. There was even... a faint trace of indifference.

At the instant the greatsword was about to descend, he moved.

He stepped out with Dragon Roaming Step, sliding back half a step like a phantom and narrowly avoiding the sword's strongest point of impact. At the same time, the Silver Frost Spear in his hand moved.

There was no earthshaking momentum, no dazzling brilliance. Just a simple upward thrust.

Dark golden blood energy instantly flowed across the spear like water, carrying an indescribable heaviness and sharpness. The spear tip struck the side of the greatsword's spine with pinpoint precision, right at a node where its force was circulating.

CLANG!!!

A sharper, more piercing clash of metal erupted! Sparks scattered like fireworks!

Zhou Tianlang's expression changed drastically! His greatsword seemed not to have struck a spear tip, but a moving mountain!

An unimaginable rebound force, condensed to the extreme, traveled up the blade. His arm went numb, pain tore through his tiger's mouth, and he nearly lost his grip on the hilt!

Even the violent crimson blood energy on his sword collapsed upon contact with the dark golden spear light, more than half of it dissipating!

How is this possible?! Zhou Tianlang was horrified. How could his strength be so condensed and heavy? And that spear technique—it looks simple, yet it's terrifyingly precise, striking directly at the weakest point of my move!

Before he could think further, Lin Ming's second spear had already shot out like a venomous dragon leaving its lair! Dark golden light condensed at its tip into a cold star, carrying the sharp intent to pierce through space as it stabbed directly at his throat!

"So fast!" Zhou Tianlang's pupils constricted. Disregarding all dignity, he rolled across the ground in a miserable tumble, barely dodging the deadly thrust.

The spear tip scraped across his shoulder armor, throwing up a trail of sparks and leaving a deep gash in the finely forged steel plating!

Before he could get up, Lin Ming's third and fourth strikes came in an unbroken stream! The spear shadows moved like dragons—thrusting, sweeping, tapping, smashing!

He blended the weight of Mountain Splitter, the relentlessness of Wave Severing, and the sharpness of Heaven-Splitting from the Heaven-Splitting Three Forms into the most basic spear techniques, wielding them with effortless perfection!

Combined with his minute control and the ghostly movement of Dragon Roaming Step, he forced Zhou Tianlang, a Second Realm, Ninth Layer expert, back again and again. Zhou Tianlang was thrown into a frantic scramble, capable only of defending and utterly unable to retaliate!

"Captain!"

"This... how is this possible?!"

"That kid... he's so strong!"

The surrounding mercenaries stared in stunned disbelief. The excitement and cruelty on their faces had long vanished, leaving only unshakable horror.

The captain they had regarded as invincible was actually being suppressed by a young man who looked no older than eighteen or nineteen, beaten back with a single spear? This completely overturned everything they knew!

Xia He was stunned as well. Her beautiful eyes behind her glasses were wide open, her small mouth slightly parted. She knew Lin Ming was no ordinary person, but she had never imagined he was this strong! Even Zhou Tianlang was no match for him?

"Damn it!!"

Zhou Tianlang was both shocked and furious, but even more than that, he felt stifled. He possessed powerful blood energy and formidable combat techniques, yet Lin Ming's exquisite, swift, and vicious spearwork completely suppressed him, leaving him unable to use them at all.

Every time he tried to gather strength for a counterattack, Lin Ming's spear tip would appear with uncanny precision at a node in the flow of his blood energy or during the gap between his moves, forcing him to defend.

"Roar! Crimson Flame Raging Tide!"

Zhou Tianlang roared and stopped holding back. He crazily poured all his blood energy into his greatsword. Crimson flames surged several feet from the blade, transforming into a blazing sea of fire that swept toward Lin Ming! This was his ultimate trump card, a wide-range attack intended to overpower skill with brute force!

However, dark golden light flashed in Lin Ming's eyes. The Boiling War Blood passive of the Indestructible Asura Body had long been quietly triggered amid the fierce battle. Rather than retreat, he stepped forward into the sea of flames!

Dark golden blood energy instantly gathered and compressed around the Silver Frost Spear, forming an extremely condensed dark golden spear light barely three feet long!

Faint dragon and elephant phantoms appeared over the spear light, letting out low roars!

Heaven-Splitting Three Forms—Wave Severing! Divide the river!

HUM!!!

The dark golden spear light sliced through it like tofu!

A sound like cloth being torn rang out! The seemingly incomparably violent sea of crimson flames was forcibly ripped apart and divided by that condensed spear light!

The sea of flames collapsed with a roar, revealing Zhou Tianlang behind it, his face flushed red from the backlash of his blood energy and filled with terror!

"N-No..." Zhou Tianlang cried out. His strongest technique had actually been broken so easily?

An opening!

A cold glint flashed through Lin Ming's eyes. He passed through the gaps in the collapsing sea of flames like a phantom, the Silver Frost Spear turning into a deadly flash of cold light as it shot straight toward Zhou Tianlang's chest, left slightly exposed after using his ultimate move!

"Captain, watch out!!" a mercenary screamed.

Zhou Tianlang hastily raised his sword to block.

CLANG!!!

Another tremendous crash rang out! Zhou Tianlang was struck as if by a heavy blow and sent flying backward. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth as he smashed heavily onto the hood of an off-road vehicle behind him, denting even the thick steel plating!

He struggled to rise, only to feel piercing agony in his right arm. Looking down, he saw that the arm holding his sword was bent at a bizarre angle, white bone fragments piercing through the flesh!

The terrifying force of that strike had not only sent him flying—it had shattered his arm bone outright!

He had lost!

Completely lost!

And he had lost so miserably, so utterly without suspense!

The surrounding mercenaries turned deathly pale. Their gazes toward Lin Ming were now filled with undisguised terror. This young man was not the Second Realm, Third Layer trash from the intelligence report who had merely gotten lucky and killed someone! He was a monster! A god of slaughter!

Xia He covered her mouth as well. Looking at the young figure standing with spear in hand, his breathing steady as though he had merely done something insignificant, she was shaken beyond words. Just how strong is he...?

"Cough, cough..." Zhou Tianlang spat out several mouthfuls of clotted blood. He struggled to prop himself up with his left hand and looked at Lin Ming as he slowly approached. The rage and killing intent in his eyes had long disappeared, leaving only boundless fear and... pleading.

"Don't... don't kill me!" Zhou Tianlang's voice trembled from pain and terror.

"I... I surrender! I was wrong! I shouldn't have set my sights on you! Please, for the sake of how difficult cultivation is, spare my life! I... I can give you all my savings! And the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group—we'll listen to you from now on!"