One Finger to Defeat the Enemy!

Shibao's fingers were less than three centimeters from the badge marked "81."

Her fingertips could already feel the fabric's rough texture, and the triumphant smile at the corner of her mouth was about to bloom.

At that critical instant-

The motionless body lying facedown on the ground, the one she had judged to be a "corpse," moved.

Without warning, without even a twitch of muscle, Lin Yan's eyes snapped open.

Those eyes held neither the fear of someone who had just brushed against death nor the panic of someone whose deception had been exposed. There was only a bottomless calm, so profound it sent a chill through her heart.

It was the indifference of someone who had seen through life and death and held every calculation in the palm of his hand.

"!"

Shibao's pupils shrank to pinpoints, and an icy chill shot from the soles of her feet straight to her scalp.

Her instincts as a professional assassin made her react within a tenth of a second. She abandoned the badge and lunged backward, her right hand already reaching for the pistol at her waist.

Just half a second!

Just give me half a second to draw!

At this range, I could blow this little fraud's head apart like a rotten watermelon!

But fast as she was, Lin Yan-the hunter who had been lying in wait-was faster!

"Too late."

Lin Yan's voice was soft, as though he were merely stating a fact.

Before he had even fully risen from the ground, the dantian embryo nestled in his sea of Qi abruptly reversed its rotation. Scalding true Qi surged like a river bursting its banks, flooding his uninjured left leg in an instant.

Rather than force his wounded right leg beyond its limits, he used the sole of his left foot as his only pivot, twisted sharply, and kicked off!

Bang!

A muffled boom erupted as the tremendous force of that single foot sent the humus beneath him spraying in all directions.

Carried by the twisting momentum of his waist and hips, Lin Yan shot forward like a dragon surging up from the ground.

True Qi forcibly blocked the nerves in his bleeding right leg. Though it could provide no propulsion, it acted like a steady rudder, holding his balance firm as he moved at high speed.

Shibao saw only a blur.

The young man who had been lying on the ground an instant earlier suddenly became an indistinct shadow.

Before she could even make out his movements, a fierce gust struck her face.

Ten meters vanished almost instantaneously!

No human could move that fast!

Monster!

That single word filled Shibao's mind. Terrified out of her wits, she fought with all her strength to raise her gun.

But it was already too late.

A long, powerful finger carrying an irresistible force had already tapped lightly against the inside of her gun hand's wrist.

Snap.

A crisp sound rang out, as though a switch had been struck.

Shibao's wrist went numb. A domineering, insidious current of Qi raced through her meridians, sweeping along her entire arm in an instant.

All strength drained from her right arm, and the pistol clattered onto the grass.

She wanted to scream, wanted to retreat, but found she could not take even a single step. That strange energy had locked every joint in her body, leaving her frozen like a puppet, with only her eyes still darting in terror.

"You..."

Shibao's voice had gone hoarse with sheer fear.

Lin Yan slowly straightened. Blood still seeped from the wound in his right leg, but he paid it no mind.

He looked down at the woman who had just tried to kill him. His eyes held neither anger nor smug triumph, only the detached scrutiny of someone examining an object.

"Why... you..."

Shibao could not understand. She had seen the bullet enter his thigh with her own eyes. With an injury like that, how could he still unleash such terrifying speed and power?

"It's a good gun. Unfortunately, its owner relies on it too much."

Lin Yan spoke calmly.

He had no interest in explaining how true Qi protected his body or how his muscles locked down the bleeding.

To him, this ambush and counterattack had been more of a test.

It had confirmed the dantian embryo's ability to warn him of danger, the practical applications of true Qi in combat, and the resilience of his heart on the path of the Dao.

He reached out and easily removed badge No. 80 from the clothing over Shibao's chest, which could no longer rise or fall with her rigid body.

It felt slightly cool in his hand.

His first point was secured.

Then he bent down and picked up the pistol from the ground, along with the finely crafted sniper rifle on Shibao's back and a box of ammunition.

"Are you... going to kill me?"

Shibao finally recovered a little of her voice, but it was filled with despair.

In the Hunter Exam, losers usually met only one end.

Lin Yan glanced at her and shook his head.

"Killing you would do me no good."

His targets had never been these ordinary examinees. Slaughter in itself meant nothing on his path toward the Dao. Had she not attacked first, he would not even have bothered to act.

"The energy sealing your acupoints will disperse on its own in an hour. That hour is the price you pay for the shot you fired."

With those indifferent words, Lin Yan spared her no further glance. He turned and dragged his injured leg step by step into the depths of the forest, his figure soon disappearing into the dim light and shadows.

Only Shibao remained.

Like a stone statue in the forest breeze, she felt the cold of having narrowly escaped death, along with endless terror.

She did not understand why he had spared her, but she knew all too well what kind of being she had just provoked.

That composure that let him calculate and deceive on the brink of death, even take a bullet and turn the tables; that gaze that treated life as worthless grass...

He was more terrifying than any fellow assassin she had ever encountered.

"No. 81... Lin Yan..."

She carved that name deep into her heart, filled with awe and dread.

After walking several hundred meters, he finally leaned against a large tree and let out a long, stale breath.

He glanced down at the wound in his thigh, his brow furrowing slightly.

Though he had protected his vital areas with true Qi, the bullet was still lodged in his flesh. The damage to his muscles and meridians was real, and that explosive burst of movement had only aggravated the injury.

"I have to deal with this quickly. Otherwise, the smell of blood will attract wild beasts-or even... him."

Lin Yan's gaze sharpened.

Without the slightest hesitation, he tore a corner from his clothing and bit down on it.

He sat cross-legged, with his palms, soles, and crown facing heaven.

He closed his eyes and looked inward.

Following the verses of the Qingjing Jing, his awareness sank into his body, and his agitated blood and Qi swiftly settled. Like a gentle stream, warm true Qi flowed under his precise guidance toward the wound in his thigh.

True Qi enveloped the deformed bullet. Under the control of his will, his muscle fibers slowly began to shift and contract.

Pop.

With a soft sound, his muscles forcibly squeezed out the bloodstained bullet, dropping it onto the grass.

Lin Yan gave a muffled grunt. His face went pale for an instant, then regained its color.

He quickly bandaged the wound with strips of cloth and sealed the surrounding blood vessels with true Qi, stopping the bleeding completely. His movement would still be impaired, but at least the injury would not worsen.

That move just now barely qualified as a rudimentary form of Shrinking Space to Inches, but it put too much strain on my body.

Lin Yan reviewed the fight in his mind.

It had not been a true Daoist technique, merely an explosive infusion of true Qi into his legs to achieve instantaneous acceleration. The strain on his meridians was immense. If he had not already reached Foundation Establishment and undergone a cleansing of his meridians, that single move might have crippled his legs.

"My cultivation is still insufficient, and this body-the precious raft that carries me across the sea of existence-isn't sturdy enough yet."

Feeling the slight emptiness in his dantian embryo after the battle, he found his desire for strength growing clearer.

After roughly half an hour of rest, most of the searing pain in his leg had subsided.

He stood and slung the sniper rifle onto his back. Though he was not skilled with firearms, its gunpowder and precision components might prove useful in his next plan.

"Adding the three points from my own badge, I now have four."

Lin Yan hefted badge No. 80 in his hand, calculating.

"If all I wanted was to pass, I could hunt down two more small fry and get the remaining two points. But..."

He knew perfectly well that Hisoka would not let him off so easily.

Lin Yan looked into the depths of the forest, his gaze growing unfathomably deep.

The true hellish challenge was only just beginning.

He was about to start hunting the monster named Hisoka.