Lin Zhenshan walked lightly and quickly along the corridor in the backyard of the Lin residence.
Qingzhu Pavilion is located deep in the bamboo forest, with no other courtyards around. The nearest guards only pass by once every three incense sticks.
He stopped by the bamboo grove, extinguished his lantern, hid behind an old bamboo stalk, and looked towards the Qingzhu Pavilion.
The courtyard was quiet, with only a faint light shining from the window of the room.
Still recovering.
A cold smile crept onto Lin Zhenshan's lips.
Tang San, Tang San, blame yourself for meddling in other people's business. If you hadn't saved my brother, I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to kill you.
A faint gust of wind came from behind me.
Lin Zhenshan turned around and saw seven dark figures silently landing at the edge of the bamboo forest.
Leading the group was Yin Li. Among the six people behind him, two were Four-Star Dou Emperor with calm demeanor, while the four Dou Wang lowered their breathing.
Yin Li glanced in the direction of the Qingzhu Pavilion and said calmly, "Is he inside?"
"He's here," Lin Zhenshan said in a low voice, "He hasn't come out all night; he must be healing."
Yin Li nodded and waved behind him.
Two Four-Star Dou Emperor silently spread out, flanking Qingzhu Pavilion from the left and right.
The four Dou Wang each stood in a different position, their hands forming hand seals, and an invisible restriction silently spread out—this was the Soul-Locking Restriction unique to the Yellow Springs Pavilion, specifically designed to counter all kinds of escape techniques and methods of concealment.
Yin Li stood in front of the main entrance of the Qingzhu Pavilion, his hands behind his back, a blood-red aura emanating from his body.
He was about to say something polite—like " Tang San, come out and face your death"—when the door of the Qingzhu Pavilion opened first.
Squeak.
The wooden door opened inwards, and it was pitch black behind it; nothing could be seen.
The Zhu Huo has gone out.
Yin Li's pupils contracted slightly.
A night breeze swept through the bamboo grove, rustling the bamboo leaves. At the entrance of the Qingzhu Pavilion, a figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
Black robe, black hair, eyes like knives.
It was Xiao Yan.
His aura was calm and steady, his steps unhurried. He walked to the center of the courtyard, looked around, and glanced at the two Dou Emperor and four Dou Wang who were in position to surround him.
Finally, his gaze fell on Yin Li, and then swept over Lin Zhenshan, who was still not well hidden by the bamboo forest.
"They've arrived."
His tone was flat, as if he were saying the weather was nice tonight.
Yin Li watched the calm and profound aura emanating from him, the composure on his face gradually vanished.
This aura... it doesn't look like someone who's seriously injured at all.
It is even several levels deeper than that of an ordinary Five-Star Dou Emperor.
"You're not hurt?"
Xiao Yan did not answer the question, but instead slammed his spear into the ground. The spear shaft sank three inches into the ground, and a spiderweb-like crack appeared on the bluestone floor radiating outwards from the shaft.
A wisp of pale and blue flame rose from the gun, particularly striking in the night.
"Since you're here, why don't you all stay?"
His tone was calm, and his voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly to everyone's ears in the quiet night.
Lin Zhenshan's smile froze on his face, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.
Yin Li's eyes narrowed.
He practiced the Blood Hand Seal for over forty years, killed countless people, and had an almost instinctive intuition for danger.
The young man standing in the Qingzhu Pavilion at this moment did not give him the feeling of being Three-Star Dou Emperor as described in the intelligence, but rather as facing an opponent of the same level.
That kind of imposing, steady presence can't be faked.
"It seems Lin Zhenshan's intelligence was wrong." Yin Li stared into Xiao Yan's eyes. "You've surprised me."
Xiao Yan remained noncommittal.
"But it's okay."
Yin Li slowly raised his right palm, a thick, bloody light emanating from it.
"The feeling of killing a genius who is above your level is much better than the feeling of killing a piece of trash."
"It was an honor for Han Chi to die at your hands. It is an honor for you to die at my hands."
Xiao Yan slightly twirled the spear in his hand, leaving a dark red trail of flame in the night. "Enough with the nonsense."
Yin Li said no more, and the blood-red light in his palm suddenly intensified.
He took a step forward, and the bluestone slab beneath his feet shattered with a crash. A blood-red palm print shot out from the air, growing larger in the wind and instantly becoming three feet in size, rushing towards Xiao Yan's face with a bloody storm.
Blood Hand Seal.
This is Yin Li's signature move, unleashed by fusing his own blood essence with Soul Power.
The corrosive power contained within the palm print, once it touches the body, can completely erode the enemy's flesh and blood within a few breaths, leaving only a skeleton.
No fewer than twenty Dou Emperor died under this palm strike; the blood on the palm was built from countless lives.
Xiao Yan did not take the hit head-on.
He lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his body floated three feet to the side.
The Blood Hand Seal brushed past the hem of his clothes and slammed hard onto the stone table behind him.
The stone table silently turned into dust, the dust still hissing and corroding as it hit the ground, emitting a nauseating stench.
"Hide??"
Yin Li sneered, and his second palm strike followed immediately.
This palm strike was heavier and more powerful than the first one. The blood light had completely solidified, and the palm shadows covered the sky and earth, subtly blocking all possible escape routes for Xiao Yan.
But Xiao Yan had no intention of backing down.
His earlier dodge was merely a trial to gauge Yin Li's fighting style.
He wanted to witness firsthand the attack rhythm, the speed of his Dou Qi circulation, and the angle of his attacks as Seven-Star Dou Huang.
Facing the oncoming Blood Hand Seal, Xiao Yan gripped his spear, and Heavenly Flames spread upwards along the shaft.
The temperature in the courtyard suddenly soared, and the air was distorted and deformed by the intense heat.
A spear thrust out.
A spark ignites first at the tip of the spear, then the shaft moves like a dragon.
The flames condensed at the tip of the spear into a swirling vortex, colliding violently with the Blood Hand Seal.
The blood and flames were locked in a stalemate in the air for a moment, then the blood was shredded inch by inch by the flames, turning into foul-smelling red steam that drifted away.
Yin Li took a step back.
The aftershocks of the flames swept across his face, singeing a lock of his hair.
That flame was far more domineering than ordinary flames—not only was it extremely hot, but it also possessed a chill that penetrated deep into his bones, burning him while simultaneously seeping into his meridians.
At the same time, he sensed another scorching flame flowing upwards along his Dou Qi qi, rushing towards his dantian.
Two completely opposite flames? What kind of technique is this?
Cracks began to appear in the composed expression on his face.
" Heavenly Flames?" His voice changed slightly.
Xiao Yan didn't answer. He answered with his actions.
The spear swept horizontally, and a semi-circular blade of fire roared out.
The flame blade displayed a two-tone color scheme of pale white and emerald green, leaving a long trail of flame in mid-air that illuminated half of the Qingzhu Pavilion.
The temperature in the courtyard rose again, and the tips of the bamboo leaves began to curl and scorch.
Yin Li roared and unleashed a flurry of blows with both hands, a thick protective Dou Qi emanating from his body.
Three Blood Hand Seal collided with the flaming blade in succession, the aftershocks spreading outwards. The courtyard wall of the Qingzhu Pavilion was cracked, and the birds roosting in the bamboo forest took flight in fright, letting out mournful cries in the night sky.
"Attack together!" Yin Li.
The six men he brought were originally there to encircle and block the enemy; upon hearing the order, they moved simultaneously.
Two Four-Star Dou Emperor attacked from both sides.
The one on the left wields a snake-shaped longsword with a green tip, clearly coated with a potent poison.
On the right, he was bare-handed, with black metal knuckle dusters on both fists, and sharp armor-piercing spikes embedded in the edges of the knuckle dusters.
The four Dou Wang continued to maintain the restriction, but two of them freed up their hands to simultaneously unleash long-range soul attacks—a standard tactic of the Yellow Springs Pavilion assassins, combining physical attacks with soul interference to overwhelm their opponents.
Two chilling soul strikes arrived silently, aiming straight for Xiao Yan's brow.
Xiao Yan's lips curled up slightly.
Soul attack?
His Soul Division Martial Soul is the ancestor of soul attacks.
In terms of offense and defense at the soul level, let alone these few Dou Wang, even Yin Li, a Seven-Star Dou Huang, is no match for them.
Xiao Yan neither dodged nor evaded, allowing the two soul impacts to enter his sea of consciousness.
Almost at the same moment, Xiao Yan's Soul Ring flashed, and two chains appeared behind the two Dou Wang.
The two Dou Wang froze simultaneously, their souls suppressed by the Soul Division, unable to move. They groaned and collapsed to the ground.
The restrictive seal in his hand collapsed instantly, and a crack appeared in one corner of the Soul-Locking Restriction.
Yin Li's expression changed slightly.
His insight was far more astute than those of the other Dou Wang. Xiao Yan was simultaneously subjected to a combined physical attack and a soul shock, yet he not only emerged unscathed, but also rendered two Dou Wang powerless in a single exchange.
Even more strangely, the Soul Skill that Xiao Yan released seemed somewhat similar to that of that faction.
"Are you from the Hall of Souls?"
Faced with Yin Li's questioning, Xiao Yan naturally didn't perform well.
He never expected that his Soul Skill, Netherworld Lock, would be mistaken by Yin Li as a means of restraining the Hall of Souls's ability to collect souls.
But Yin Li was, after all, a veteran Dou Emperor who had experienced countless battles, and he quickly regained his composure after a brief moment of astonishment.
Taking advantage of the moment when Xiao Yan was dealing with the soul impact, he suddenly sprang up, unleashing both palms. The two Blood Hand Seal, under his full power, swelled to their maximum size, like two giant blood-red walls, trapping Xiao Yan in the middle from the front and back.
At the same time, the serpentine longsword on the left, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, silently pierced towards Xiao Yan's lower back.
The green light at the tip of the sword flashed across the night, carrying a sweet, metallic scent.
The iron fist on the right side slammed into Xiao Yan's temple with a whooshing sound, and the air itself exploded where the fist passed.
Three attacks, from three directions, arrived almost simultaneously.
This is a combined attack technique used by the assassins of the Yellow Springs Pavilion over many years; no fewer than five Dou Huang expert have died from this move.
Xiao Yan remained calm.
He leaned back slightly, his body almost touching the ground as he moved three feet to the Yin Li, just avoiding the direct impact of Yin Liqian's Blood Hand Seal.
Immediately afterwards, the spear thrust upwards, the tip precisely striking the opening in the Iron Fist Dou Emperor's wrist.
Clang.
Iron Fist Dou Emperor felt a numbness in his wrist, and his punch involuntarily deviated by three points.
The metal brass knuckles grazed past Xiao Yan's ear and chipped into the stone steps behind him, shattering the entire staircase and sending shards of stone flying everywhere.
Using the force of the impact, Xiao Yan twisted and flipped his body in mid-air, compressing both the Bone Spirit Cold Flame and the Green Lotus Core Flame into a tiny point at the tip of his spear. In that instant, the two diametrically opposed forces of cold and heat reached a delicate and extreme balance.
The spear tip trembled and struck the Iron Fist Dou Emperor precisely in the center of his chest.
At the same time, a jet-black Soul Ring flashed out from beneath Xiao Yan's feet once more.
Fifth Soul Skill: Cold Heart Lotus Explosion.
A lotus flower, interwoven with blue and white, bloomed at the tip of the spear, then exploded with a bang.
The Cold Heart Lotus Explosion is a powerful fusion of the raging earth fire of the Green Lotus Core Flame and the extreme freezing energy of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, compressed to its limit and released instantly.
The explosion produced not only physical impact and intense heat, but also a chilling sensation that penetrated to the very soul.
Iron Fist Dou Emperor's protective battle Dou Qi was like paper in front of the Immaculate Realm. The moment the spear tip broke through the defense, the flames had already invaded his meridians.
A hole the size of a bowl was blasted into his chest, but no blood flowed from the edge of the hole—the wound was instantly frozen by the extreme cold of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, and the blood congealed into ice.
But his body was being scorched by the Green Lotus Core Flame, his internal organs feeling as if they were being drenched by magma.
Caught between ice and fire, his meridians shattered. Iron Fist Dou Emperor didn't even have time to utter a complete scream before his body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
In a single exchange, two Dou Wang lost their fighting ability, and a Four-Star Dou Emperor died on the spot.
Yin Li's face darkened completely. His right palm trembled slightly, a lingering effect of the soul chill caused by the fiery lotus flower.
The explosion made his very soul tremble, and the blood-red light gathered in his palm dissipated slightly as a result.
He stood in a triangular formation with the remaining sword-wielding Dou Emperor and the two remaining Dou Wang, and a hint of solemnity finally appeared in his gaze as he looked at Xiao Yan.
This is not an injured Three-Star Dou Emperor.
This is a monster at its peak, whose actual combat power far exceeds its apparent cultivation level.
I underestimated you.
The blood-red light on Yin Li's right palm re-condensed, this time in a deeper color, almost turning dark black.
"But the more things are like this, the less we can let you leave alive."
Xiao Yan sheathed his spear, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground.
The stone bricks beneath his feet were already mottled from being scorched by blood and flames. His breathing was slightly more rapid than before, but his eyes remained calm as still water.
He didn't expend much Soul Power to kill one Dou Emperor and two Dou Wang.
Cold Heart Lotus Explosion is a single-target burst skill. Although it has a large coverage area, its actual consumption is limited. With the precise interference of his Soul Division, he used every bit of his Soul Power in the most necessary place.
However, Yin Li, this Seven-Star Dou Huang, hadn't used his full strength yet.