"Seven Soul-Severing Forms—God-Slayer!" The fight had dragged on too long. Growing anxious, Li Qiang gritted his teeth and unleashed his hidden trump card!
This was a killing move he used only when his life was on the line. It took a tremendous toll, but its power was terrifying. He had once used it to gravely wound an enemy above his level!
Yet faced with the spear shadows filling the sky, the dark-gold light in Lin Ming's eyes blazed brighter. The Indestructible Asura Body's passive Boiling War Blood had long since been pushed to its limit by the fierce battle! Instead of retreating, he stepped straight into the oncoming attack!
Dark-gold blood energy compressed and condensed wildly along the Silver Frost Spear. The shaft gave a low hum, as though it could barely bear the strain! At its tip, a pinpoint of cold light flared, as if it would pierce the heavens and earth!
Heaven-Splitting Three Forms—the third form, Heaven-Splitting!
BZZZ!!!
A dark-gold Spear Radiance burst from the tip of the Silver Frost Spear. It was barely three feet long, condensed to the utmost, yet it seemed capable of shattering every law!
Space faintly warped in its path, giving off a chilling sound of tearing!
The dark-gold Spear Radiance slammed into the seven gray spear shadows!
RIP!
CRACK!
A faint but unmistakable sound of breaking rang out.
Li Qiang's pupils contracted. Reflected in his eyes was that dark-gold point of cold light, drawing ever closer as though it would pierce his very soul—and a spiderweb of cracks spreading rapidly across his own spearhead!
The dark-gold Spear Radiance paused for a fraction of a second, then punched clean through the cracked spearhead. It traveled up the shaft like a hot knife through butter and plunged into Li Qiang's right chest, which had opened slightly in his shock!
"AARGH!!!"
Li Qiang let out a shriek of utter despair and flew backward as though struck head-on by a battering ram!
A horrifying hole the size of a bowl had been blasted straight through his chest. Blood gushed out like a fountain!
The tip of the silver-gray spear in his hand had shattered. Cracks covered its shaft, leaving it all but ruined!
Li Qiang crashed to the ground dozens of meters away and rolled more than ten times before stopping. He struggled to rise, but the terrible wound in his chest and the life pouring out of him made it difficult to move even one finger.
He raised his head toward the young man approaching step by step with the Silver Frost Spear in hand. His eyes brimmed with terror, regret, and... disbelief.
He, Li Qiang, the "Soul-Severing Spear," a warrior at Tier Four, Second Level, had actually... lost? To a boy not yet twenty, whose origins he knew nothing about?
And it had been a crushing defeat. Even his ultimate move had been broken head-on and overwhelmed!
How was that possible?!
Lin Ming stopped before Li Qiang and pressed the tip of the Silver Frost Spear against his throat. The cold touch made Li Qiang shudder.
"W-wait!" Li Qiang forced the words out, his voice hoarse with fear of death.
"Don't... don't kill me! I... I was wrong! I failed to recognize someone stronger than me! The Water of Life... I don't want it anymore! I... I'll give you all my savings! I own several properties in East Forest... they're yours too! Spare me! I... I'll do anything you ask!"
He had caved completely, casting aside every shred of a master's dignity. All he wanted was to live.
Lin Ming watched him grovel. His brow furrowed slightly, as though he was... impatient.
"What a nuisance," Lin Ming said, his voice calm but edged with cold mockery. "Show some backbone. Don't embarrass yourself. Be like you were... just now."
He meant the way Li Qiang had looked when he first appeared: composed, confident, and looking down on them as though he controlled everything.
Li Qiang's face went deathly pale. His lips trembled as he tried to say something more.
But Lin Ming had no patience left to listen.
He gave his wrist a gentle push.
Pfft.
The tip of the Silver Frost Spear sank into Li Qiang's throat.
Li Qiang's body went rigid. The terror, pleading, and regret in his eyes froze, then faded.
Li Qiang, the "Soul-Severing Spear" and a renowned Tier Four expert of East Forest Base City, died there.
Even the wind across the Wilderness seemed to fall still. The thick stench of blood mingled with dust and death, weighing heavily on Xia He's heart.
She stood a dozen meters from the corpse, trembling beyond her control. It was not fear, but a nearly numbing shock and the weakness that came after surviving a deadly ordeal.
She had watched Li Qiang—the infamous "Soul-Severing Spear" whom countless people in East Forest Base City feared, a warrior at Tier Four, Second Level—fall beneath the spear of a young man named Lin Ming.
She had seen him go from calm confidence to shock and frustration, then to desperate pleas for mercy. And then... a spear had pierced his throat and ended his life.
It had all happened too quickly for her to react, yet every moment was etched into the depths of her soul.
He had killed someone above his level! He had crossed an entire major tier and slain a Tier Four expert head-on!
If word got out, it would shake all of East Forest Base City. It might even reach South River and make the Chen Household and those pulling the strings tremble!
Lin Ming slowly withdrew the Silver Frost Spear. A trail of dark-red blood slipped from its tip, fell onto the dry earth, and quickly soaked in.
He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the cold yet beautiful notification in his mind.
[Slain: Tier Four, Second Level warrior. Kill Points gained: 100,000. Bonus for killing across a major tier: 300,000 Kill Points! Total gained: 400,000 Kill Points.] [Current total Kill Points: 512,315]
Five hundred and twelve thousand, three hundred and fifteen points!
A fortune large enough to make anyone dizzy! He had earned it over three sleepless days of fighting through mountains of corpses and seas of blood! Those greedy hunters had "contributed" it with their lives—the price they had paid for coming after his!
The corners of Lin Ming's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly in a cold, satisfied smile. With these Kill Points, he could do far more. But now was not the time to allocate them.
He opened his eyes, glanced at the corpse in the distance, then at the few new, shallow wounds on his body—Li Qiang's final, desperate attack had still given him some trouble. Finally, he turned to Xia He, who stood motionless, her face pale.
"Let's go," Lin Ming said. The fierce battle and the drain on his blood energy had left a faint rasp in his voice, but his tone remained even.
"Just ahead is East Forest Base City's territory. They won't dare be so brazen there."
He meant the other pursuers who might still be watching from the shadows, or who might already be on their way after hearing the news.
To openly attack another human so close to a base city would cross a line. The hyenas lurking in the dark might keep their fangs hidden for a while.
Xia He snapped out of her daze. She looked at Lin Ming, then at the steel walls drawing ever closer, seemingly within reach. Hope rekindled in her eyes, and she nodded firmly.
She was about to step forward when she hesitated and looked at him again, her expression conflicted. "Lin Ming... thank you. Without you, I..."
"It was a transaction," Lin Ming cut in, taking no credit for what he had done. "You paid me, and I kept you safe. We're even."
His words were blunt, even cold, but Xia He heard in them a particular kind of reliability that put her at ease. At least he kept his promises.
"Mm." Xia He said no more. She took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and followed Lin Ming toward East Forest Base City. The ground beneath her feet was still barren, but hope lay ahead.
Yet the light of hope seemed always to come with a new shadow.
They had gone less than a hundred meters.
VROOM—!
A deep engine roar, accompanied by a sharp rush through the air, came from the direction of East Forest Base City.
Three luxurious hovercars swept across the wasteland like black lightning. Sleek and entirely black, each bore a gold emblem with the character "Gao." They stopped smoothly dozens of meters ahead of Lin Ming and Xia He, blocking their path.
The car doors slid open without a sound.
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