Chapter 5: Overwhelming
The mountain-crushing pressure that had pinned the four Black Tiger Gang members to the ground vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.
Lin Yuan exhaled a long breath. The steam rolling off his skin dissipated into the cold rain, as the ten-foot dome of absolute dryness collapsed, allowing the drizzling rain to fall upon the courtyard once more. Yet, strangely, not a single drop touched Lin Yuan’s robes; an invisible barrier of pure spiritual energy repelled the water inches from his skin.
With the terrifying pressure lifted, the three lackeys gasped greedily for air, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. They scrambled backward on their hands and knees, their eyes wide with horror.
Zhao Meng slowly pushed himself up from the ground, his limbs trembling uncontrollably. The rain washed the grime from his face, revealing a pallor usually reserved for corpses. He stared at the young man standing before him, feeling the distinct pulse of energy radiating from Lin Yuan’s body.
There was no mistaking it. Anyone who had managed to scrape their way past the 6th level of Qi Condensation was able perceive the density of heaven and earth spiritual energy.
To Zhao Meng, Lin Yuan was no longer a human. He was a blazing furnace. The spiritual energy of the world was actively bending around him, treating him as an expert.
"Foundation... Foundation Establishment," Zhao Meng stammered, his voice cracking, as his teeth chattered so violently he could barely form the words.
In the eyes of the cultivation world, a Qi Condensation practitioner was merely a mortal grasping at sparks. But a Foundation Establishment expert had swallowed the fire. They had fundamentally altered their life essence. Throughout the entire nation, whenever a Foundation Establishment expert walked the streets, even city lords would bow their heads.
How had this happened? Just a moment ago, this boy was a pathetic 3rd-level trash whose arm had shattered like dry rot!
"Illusion! It has to be a demonic illusion! Or a temporary forbidden art!" one of the lackeys shrieked, his mind entirely unable to process the reality before him. "He’s burning his life force! He’s going to die in a few breaths!"
The words acted as a desperate lifeline for Zhao Meng’s shattered ego. His fear rapidly curdled into denial. He was the peak of the outer city! He had crushed skulls with his bare hands! He refused to believe that the heavens would grant such a miraculous ascension to a dog.
"He’s right!" Zhao Meng roared, wiping off blood from his chin. "He is bluffing! Even if he used some demonic treasure, he doesn’t know how to wield that power! It’s still four against one! If we coordinate our attacks, we can overwhelm his defenses and drain him!"
The three lackeys gritted their teeth as they drew their weapons.
"Kill the trash! Take his fortune!" Zhao Meng bellowed.
Like a pack of wolves, the four men surged forward simultaneously.
They attacked from four different angles, aiming to blindside Lin Yuan. Two sabers slashed toward his legs to cripple him, while another aimed directly for his throat. Zhao Meng, roaring like a beast, leaped high into the air, his fists coated in a dense, lethal aura, aiming to crush Lin Yuan’s skull from above.
It was a perfectly coordinated net that had claimed the lives of countless outer-city cultivators.
But to Lin Yuan, standing at the peak of Foundation Establishment, they were moving through thick molasses.
He didn’t draw a weapon. He didn’t even use any martial art. He merely stepped forward, entirely peerless.
Lin Yuan effortlessly threw his right hand out. He didn’t dodge the incoming sabers, but simply flicked his fingers against the flat of the blades.
CLANG! CLANG!
The impact sounded like a grand temple bell being struck by a siege ram. The sheer force behind Lin Yuan’s casual flick sent a shockwave up the sabers, instantly shattering the them into dozens of fragments. The two lackeys screamed as the reverberation pulverized the bones in their hands and wrists, sending them spinning through the air like discarded ragdolls.
Without pausing, Lin Yuan sidestepped the third lackey’s thrust, grabbed the man by his collar, and casually hurled him into the wall of the courtyard. The wall cratered upon impact, leaving the lackey unconscious and embedded in the rubble.
Finally, Zhao Meng descended from above, his fists plunging downward with all the might of his cultivation.
Lin Yuan merely looked up. He raised a single, open palm.
BAM!
Zhao Meng’s devastating strike landed squarely on Lin Yuan’s palm. The earth beneath Lin Yuan’s feet cracked from the dispersed pressure, but Lin Yuan himself didn’t bend a single millimeter. His arm was an immovable pillar of heaven.
"Is this all the strength a mountain tiger possesses?" Lin Yuan asked, his voice cold, as it sent chills straight down Zhao Meng’s spine.
Before Zhao Meng could retreat, Lin Yuan rotated his wrist, catching Zhao Meng by the forearm. With a swift tug, Lin Yuan slammed his knee upward, connecting solidly with Zhao Meng’s chest.
The sickening crunch of a caving ribcage echoed over the rain. Zhao Meng’s eyes rolled back as a spring of blood erupted from his mouth. He was violently thrown backward, skidding through the mud and crashing near the stairs of the main hall, utterly defeated.
In the span of three breaths, Zhao Meng and his three lackeys had been completely dismantled by Lin Yuan.
Then,
CREAAAK.
The doors of the main hall groaned as they were pushed open.
Hearing the explosive commotions, the shouts, and the sounds, Bai Qingyue could no longer simply wait in the dark. Gripping the wheels of her wooden chair with her trembling hands, she had forced herself to the scene.
When she looked out, the sight stole the breath from her lungs.
The four thugs of the Black Tiger Gang were utterly defeated, and in the center of it all stood her husband.
Lin Yuan’s robes were fluttering in an unseen wind. His skin possessed a jade-like translucence, and his eyes burned with a profound, terrifying crimson light. The sheer majesty of his aura pressed down on the courtyard, forcing the very rain to bow around him.
He looked entirely peerless. An immortal sovereign standing amidst mortal filth.
He took it, Bai Qingyue deduced. He consumed the Supreme Nine-Heavens Phoenix Marrow Pill.
"Lin Yuan..." she whispered, her voice barely carrying over the rain.
Lin Yuan turned his head toward the door, his cold, immortal gaze softening instantly as it landed on his wife. He offered her a faint, reassuring smile.
But the battle was not entirely over.
Ten feet away, lying in the mud at the base of the stairs, Zhao Meng was drowning in his own blood. His ribs were shattered, and his cultivation base was collapsing. He knew with absolute certainty that he was a dead man. Lin Yuan was going to kill him.
Through his blood-soaked vision, Zhao Meng saw the beautiful, crippled woman sitting in her wheelchair at the doorway. He saw the way the peerless, terrifying Lin Yuan looked at her.
A twisted, venomous hatred ignited the very last drop of Zhao Meng’s life force. If he was going to die here, he was going to drag Lin Yuan into a lifetime of agonizing grief.
You love this mortal cripple?! Then watch her die!
Ignoring the agony of his shattered chest, Zhao Meng bit down on the tip of his tongue, forcefully burning his core blood essence. He pushed himself off the ground with terrifying speed, entirely bypassing Lin Yuan.
His right fist ignited with a terrifying, blood-red phantom.
"Blood-Burning Black Tiger Fist!"