Blood Peak City, the mission hall of the Fiend Castle.
Lin Yinuo's gaze passed over the poorly paid one-star missions and settled directly on the two-star and three-star sections scrolling across the top of the light screen. What he wanted was not merely to accumulate Inkstones, but to truly temper himself and make his name.
Soon, a scarlet three-star mission caught his attention:
[Three-star mission: Eliminate the Bloodblade Bandit Group] [Mission description: The Bloodblade Bandit Group occupies the Hurricane Canyon area southeast of Blood Peak City. Its leader, Blood Blade, possesses the strength of a Three-Star Fiend (a Midgod suspected of having comprehended an offensive profound mystery). He commands several dozen core members (all Lowgods) and over a hundred ordinary bandits (Saints). This bandit group is savage and bloodthirsty, having repeatedly plundered merchant caravans and attacked lone deities. Recently, they brutally slaughtered a small tribe.] [Mission requirements: Kill the leader, Blood Blade, and wipe out his core members.] [Mission reward: 2,000,000 Inkstones, Three-Star Fiend points (which can raise a Fiend's star rating), and half of the bandit group's accumulated wealth (estimated at over 5,000,000 Inkstones).] [Warning: The target is extremely dangerous. At least three well-coordinated Three-Star Fiends or one Four-Star Fiend are recommended for this mission. Upon acceptance, the Fiend Castle will provide a map of the bandit group's latest area of activity.]
The mission's background information also included recordings of several raids by the Bloodblade Bandit Group. The images were bloody; they were indeed savage.
* A leader with the strength of a Three-Star Fiend, a Midgod suspected of comprehending a profound mystery... just right for testing the limits of my current combat strength. Wiping out the bandit group will also bring in plenty of resources and quickly make my name!*
Without hesitation, he accepted the mission through his Fiend Medal. A notification of its acceptance lit up on the hall's light screen, immediately drawing a low stir.
"Someone accepted the Bloodblade Bandit Group mission! Alone!"
"Isn't that the newly promoted one-star Fiend, Lin Yinuo? Has he gone mad?"
"There are better ways to get yourself killed! Blood Blade is a vicious bastard who can survive a head-on fight with a Four-Star Fiend!"
Lin Yinuo paid no attention to the surrounding chatter and stares. After collecting the detailed map, he left the castle directly, without even bringing Baton and the other two—at this level of combat, they would only be burdens.
Hurricane Canyon had treacherous terrain, with terrifying gales blowing year-round that could tear through a Saint's shield. Its complex surroundings made it easy to defend and difficult to attack, a natural den for bandits.
Following the map, Lin Yinuo slipped silently into the depths of the canyon. The gales interfered with and limited his spiritual perception, but his sensitivity to spatial fluctuations remained keen, always allowing him to avoid patrolling bandits and hidden alarm formations in advance.
At last, outside a huge cave sheltered from the wind, he sensed a dense concentration of vicious auras. Several Lowgods with fierce auras guarded the entrance, while noise and energy fluctuations drifted faintly from within.
This is the place.
He did not choose to sneak inside, but walked straight toward the entrance. Since he wanted to make his name, he would do it openly, crushing them with overwhelming force!
"Halt! Who are you?" a Lowgod guard shouted harshly, his divine power surging.
Lin Yinuo did not stop walking. His answer was several silent, dark blade rays that followed devious trajectories—an improved version of Fire Condensation Finger, imbued with the "annihilation" essence of the Destruction Rule!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
The guards did not even have time to react before they dissolved into nothingness in stunned disbelief, leaving only a few divine sparks clattering to the ground.
The disturbance immediately alerted the bandits inside.
"Enemy attack!!"
Roars rang out from the cave, and dozens of figures exuding fierce divine might surged out like a tide. Leading them was a burly man nearly three meters tall, holding a door-sized greataxe wreathed in blood-colored currents. It was their leader, Blood Blade! Savage divine might at the God level radiated from him as he stared cruelly at the lone Lin Yinuo.
"Brat, you dare cause trouble on my turf? You must be tired of living!" Blood Blade's voice grated like metal, thick with killing intent. He could not discern Lin Yinuo's exact level, concealed as it was by the Soul Concealment Technique and spatial fluctuations, but the heart-stopping aura of destruction coming from him kept Blood Blade from being careless.
"Kill him!" Blood Blade waved his hand. Dozens of Lowgod core members behind him unleashed their divine power simultaneously, pouring attacks toward Lin Yinuo like a raging storm! Saber flashes, sword shadows, magic, innate divine abilities... they engulfed Lin Yinuo in an instant!
Facing a concentrated assault powerful enough to kill an ordinary Three-Star Fiend, Lin Yinuo's gaze remained calm. Rather than withstand it head-on, he shifted slightly, like willow fluff on the wind or a fish beneath the water, weaving and flickering through the gaps between countless attacks with not a moment to spare!
The "fluctuation" profound mystery of the Laws of Space-Void Ripple!
Every step landed on a node of spatial fluctuation, his figure shifting unpredictably. Those seemingly dense attacks were always avoided by a hairbreadth just before they struck him, as though every attack were deliberately swerving around him! At this sight, the pupils of every bandit, Blood Blade included, abruptly contracted!
"A spatial profound mystery?! No, there's also..." Blood Blade's expression finally changed.
The instant Lin Yinuo evaded every attack and appeared on the bandits' flank, he brought his hands loosely together, and an even more terrifying aura began to gather! He forcibly melded the "annihilation" essence of the Destruction Rule with the "fluctuation" profound mystery of the Laws of Space!
This was the result of his bold experiments during several days of secluded training, aided by [Law Comprehension Acceleration]!
He used spatial fluctuations as a framework to carry the power of destruction and annihilation! This gave the attack not only absolute destructive power, but also the elusiveness and speed of space!
"Annihilation·Spatial Tremor!"
Lin Yinuo gave a low shout and thrust both palms forward!
There was no earth-shaking explosion, nor any dazzling light. There was only an invisible, high-frequency shock wave of destruction that seemed to originate from space itself, spreading rapidly forward in a fan from his palms!
Wherever the shock wave passed, space warped and rippled violently like the surface of water! The Lowgod bandits caught within it had no power to resist, whether they raised divine power shields or relied on their formidable divine bodies! Their bodies, divine power, and even the weapons in their hands shattered inch by inch upon contact with the shock wave, like paper fed into a shredder. They broke apart, finally becoming the tiniest particles before being utterly annihilated!
Silent death!
In a single strike, more than thirty Lowgod core members vanished without a trace, together with the attacks they had unleashed! All that remained was a huge fan-shaped area, erased smooth as a mirror by an invisible force, along with divine sparks and interspatial rings scattered across the ground!
Silence!
Deathly silence!
The remaining Saint bandits were frightened out of their wits, without even the courage to flee.
The cruelty and savagery on Blood Blade's face vanished completely, replaced by boundless fear and horror! He had never seen an attack so bizarre, so overwhelming! This was absolutely not something an ordinary Midgod could accomplish!
"You... who exactly are you?!" Blood Blade's voice carried a trace of trembling.
Lin Yinuo did not answer, his icy gaze locking onto him. His figure merged into the spatial fluctuations again, appearing before Blood Blade in an instant. Once again, he thrust both palms forward, and the invisible spatial annihilation tremor descended!
"Blood Waves Soaring to the Heavens!" Terrified out of his mind, Blood Blade frantically burned his divine power. His greataxe erupted with blinding bloody light, concentrating the "Blood Element" profound mystery he had comprehended over his lifetime into a towering wave of blood as he tried to block the attack!
Yet before the "tremor" that fused destruction and space, that seemingly ferocious blood wave was like foam striking a reef. It could not hold out for even a moment before it was annihilated inch by inch, together with the greataxe!
"No-!" Blood Blade let out a desperate howl as his divine body rapidly broke apart and dissipated within the shock wave.
In the end, this infamously vicious Three-Star Fiend vanished into nothingness along with his ambitions, leaving only a Midgod divine spark and a few damaged objects.
With their leader slain, the remaining Saint bandits scattered, only to be wiped out by a few casual blade rays from Lin Yinuo.
From beginning to end, the battle lasted only a few dozen breaths. The core forces of the notorious Bloodblade Bandit Group had been utterly swept away by one man with crushing ease!
Lin Yinuo calmly collected all the spoils, including Blood Blade's Midgod divine spark and the wealth the bandit group had accumulated. Sensing that nearly half his magical and spiritual power had been consumed, he was quite satisfied with the strike's power.
The initial fusion of destruction and space is far more powerful than a single law. But the consumption is too great to use it routinely. It still needs further refinement.
He turned and was about to leave when he caught sight of several figures who had appeared above the canyon at some point. Their auras were powerful, and all were Midgods, evidently other Fiends from Blood Peak City drawn by the fluctuations of the battle.
As they looked at the battlefield below, flattened by invisible force, and at Lin Yinuo standing proudly alone, his aura deep and unfathomable, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
"Blood Blade... died just like that?"
"What was that attack just now? I couldn't even make sense of it!"
"Who is this man? The one-star Fiend Lin Yinuo? You must be joking!"
Lin Yinuo ignored their shock. His figure flashed, merged into the spatial fluctuations, and disappeared from Hurricane Canyon.
But the name "Lin Yinuo," and the story of how he had single-handedly wiped out the Bloodblade Bandit Group through bizarre and overwhelming means, seemed to take wing. Accompanied by eyewitness accounts, they spread rapidly through Blood Peak City's Fiend circles and even to higher levels.
Because of the chilling aura of destruction in his attacks, his elusive movements, and his suspected identity as a Dragonblood Warrior-someone had sensed a faint, concealed trace of draconic might during his battle-those fond of stirring up excitement gave him a nickname-
Dragonblood Asura!
Although his Fiend rating was not yet high, the name of Lin Yinuo, the "Dragonblood Asura," had begun to show its edge, starting to carve his own mark upon the land of Blood Peak City.
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