What Right Do You Have to Talk About Strength Before Me?

Zhang Qingyun and Su Qingqing knelt on the ground, feeling as though a ten-thousand-pound boulder were pressing down on them. They could not catch their breath or lift their heads, their bones creaking as though they might shatter at any moment.

The overwhelming pressure left them utterly incapable of resisting. Cold sweat immediately seeped out like rain, soaking their clothes.

Their hearts pounded wildly with terror.

Lin Changkong had not even made a move. He had simply used spiritual energy to force them to their knees—what kind of terrifying power was that?

When Lin Changkong had entered the Outer Sect, he had clearly still been in the Body Tempering Realm. It had only been a few days!

In Su Qingqing and Zhang Qingyun's eyes, no matter how rapidly Lin Changkong advanced, there was no way he could have entered the Qi Gathering Realm in such a short time.

Yet the power Lin Changkong displayed was clearly already at the Qi Gathering Realm, and it was absolutely not something below the Qi Gathering Fifth Level could achieve!

In just a few days, he had already reached such a powerful realm?!

Su Qingqing's body trembled as an indescribable disbelief and terror surged through her heart.

Back then, she had despised Lin Changkong for his poor aptitude, so she had turned around and thrown herself into Zhang Qingyun's arms. But now, the man she had been so proud of had been forced to kneel by Lin Changkong without him even lifting a hand.

Zhang Qingyun was equally horrified. He had originally believed that even if there were a gap between himself and Lin Changkong, it could not possibly be too great.

But it had only been a few days, and Lin Changkong had already reached this level.

How was he supposed to catch up now?

"Speak. What right do you have to talk about strength before me?"

Lin Changkong stared straight at Zhang Qingyun. Cold sweat dripped continuously from Zhang Qingyun's forehead, and his pressed-down body was nearly sprawled flat on the ground.

That sense of helplessness instantly shattered the last shred of confidence he had possessed into nothing.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I spoke too arrogantly. I was wrong, I was wrong..."

The next second, Zhang Qingyun apologized in a trembling voice.

Lin Changkong watched him coldly for several seconds, then shook his head.

"Too weak!"

With that, he turned and headed straight for the Outer Sect without looking back even once.

Zhou Yue and Hong Ye left with him as well, their voices drifting over from afar.

"Are those two idiots? Junior Brother Lin killed four Qi Gathering Seventh Level cultivators and two Qi Gathering Eighth Level cultivators today. Two mere Body Tempering Realm cultivators actually dared talk about strength in front of Junior Brother Lin?"

"I don't know, but they do seem pretty stupid. Let's hurry away. I heard low intelligence is contagious—we need to stay far from them."

When Su Qingqing and Zhang Qingyun heard their words, their minds boomed as though struck by lightning, and they froze stiffly on the ground.

He had killed four Qi Gathering Seventh Level cultivators and two Qi Gathering Eighth Level cultivators?

Just today!

Lin Changkong had actually become this powerful already?!

Zhang Qingyun's mind went blank. Only Hong Ye and Zhou Yue's voices kept echoing through his head. His gaze was dull, as though he had truly become an idiot.

Su Qingqing looked at Lin Changkong's departing back, opened her mouth, yet could not say a single word.

The Qi Gathering Seventh Level and Qi Gathering Eighth Level were already heights beyond reach in her and Zhang Qingyun's eyes—existences they had even regarded as lifelong goals.

Yet before Lin Changkong, they were now fit only to be cut down by him.

The gap... had already reached such a terrifying extent.

Thinking of what she had done to Lin Changkong before, thinking of how she had abandoned him and thrown herself into Zhang Qingyun's arms, Su Qingqing suddenly felt that she truly was an idiot.

"What kind of genius did I actually miss out on?!"

Su Qingqing collapsed limply on the ground like mud, watching Lin Changkong's retreating figure gradually grow distant before finally vanishing from her sight.

Unable to hold it in any longer, she burst into tears with a wail.

Outside Black Dragon Town, Flood Dragon Stronghold.

Several figures raced over beneath the last lingering rays of the setting sun.

At the front was a woman dressed in white, a silver moon embroidered on her chest. She was clearly from the Mystic Moon Sect.

Several others accompanied her. As they looked upon the corpses strewn across the ground, every one of them revealed astonishment.

"They're all from the Flood Dragon Gang. Not one was left alive—they're all dead!"

Someone cried out.

"How could this be? Didn't Senior Brother Xuan Ming and Senior Sister Xuan Ling rush over? How could they still let the Flood Dragon Gang be massacred? And the sun has already set, yet Senior Brother Xuan Ming and the others still haven't met up with us. What exactly happened?"

Another person continued, their tone already extremely grave.

The Flood Dragon Gang was actually a gang the Mystic Moon Sect secretly supported outside its territory, its purpose being to harass Heavenly Fire Sect's lands.

But they had never expected the Flood Dragon Gang to be wiped out in a single day!

Even the Outer Sect Disciples they had dispatched had vanished along with it.

"Senior Sister Xuan Yin, what do we do?"

The others all looked toward the leading woman, Xuan Yin.

Xuan Yin's face was ice-cold as she said, "Search the surrounding area. Report immediately if you find anything."

The group immediately scattered. Once Xuan Yin was left alone, her expression grew even colder.

It had actually been her idea to send Xuan Ling and Xuan Ming here. The reason she had done so was because she had received a message from the Heavenly Fire Sect Outer Sect early that morning.

The message said that Hong Ye, Zhou Yue, and Lin Changkong were coming to wipe out the Flood Dragon Gang. Naturally, the person who had informed her was Zhang Qingfeng.

Zhang Qingfeng and Xuan Yin had known each other since childhood; they were childhood sweethearts. But their paths later diverged—one entered the Heavenly Fire Sect, while the other entered the Mystic Moon Sect.

Yet the two still kept in frequent contact in secret. Taking advantage of the enmity between the Heavenly Fire Sect and the Mystic Moon Sect, they had stirred up many conflicts that resulted in the deaths of numerous fellow disciples, while they themselves reaped considerable benefits.

She had originally believed that this time would be like before, that they could eliminate Lin Changkong, Hong Ye, and the others. Yet she had waited all day without receiving any news from Xuan Ling or Xuan Ming, so she had brought people over to investigate.

"Ah—"

A scream suddenly rang out from a certain direction. Xuan Yin turned and hurried over, only to see a disciple stumbling backward in panic, their face deathly pale.

"What are you panicking for? What could possibly be so shocking?"

Xuan Yin rebuked them, deeply displeased. Then she walked over, but the moment she saw what lay on the ground, her expression changed at once.

Two heads lay on the ground. With one glance, she recognized them as Xuan Ling's and Xuan Ming's.

"How is that possible?!"

Xuan Yin's eyes trembled violently as those four words burst uncontrollably from her throat.

The other disciples quickly rushed over as well. When they saw the scene before them, all of them were aghast, their faces snow-white.

Xuan Ling and Xuan Ming were both at the Qi Gathering Eighth Level, ranked among the Mystic Moon Sect Outer Sect's top ten. Yet both of them had been beheaded!

And that was not all. Nearby lay the corpse of Zhao Heilong, the Flood Dragon Gang's leader, who had also been at the Qi Gathering Eighth Level.

In other words, three Qi Gathering Eighth Level cultivators had all died here.

But according to their intelligence, the strongest person Heavenly Fire Sect had sent was only Hong Ye, a Qi Gathering Eighth Level cultivator. How could one against three possibly win?!

"Heavens, what exactly happened here?!"

The Mystic Moon Sect disciples cried out, their mouths dry and their hearts trembling with fear.

Xuan Yin steadied herself and carefully examined the wounds. "They were all killed by blade qi. This blade qi was blazing and domineering, and there are burn marks all around. It is clearly an attribute of Heavenly Fire Sect's cultivation techniques.

"They... were all killed by people from the Heavenly Fire Sect!"

After voicing her judgment, Xuan Yin felt even more frightened and incredulous.

The Heavenly Fire Sect had clearly sent only three people. The strongest was at the Qi Gathering Eighth Level, one was at the Qi Gathering Seventh Level, and the last was below the Qi Gathering Seventh Level.

How had those three people managed to slaughter the entire Flood Dragon Gang, while also killing three Qi Gathering Eighth Level cultivators and four Qi Gathering Seventh Level cultivators?

Hong Ye seemed the most likely possibility, but Xuan Yin had fought Hong Ye before. Hong Ye absolutely could not possess such strength.

"So who was it?"

Xuan Yin furrowed her brows tightly, feeling as though her head were about to explode.