Chapter 6: Death Gaze
The blood-red phantom of the tiger roared, fueled by the very last drops of Zhao Meng’s burning life essence. It was a desperate, suicidal strike. A dying beast bites the hardest, and Zhao Meng, knowing his life was forfeit, poured every ounce of his remaining cultivation into this single attack aimed straight at the helpless Bai Qingyue.
The distance between him and Bai Qingyue was a mere ten feet. At the terrifying speed of a blood-burning art, it was a gap closed in a fraction of a heartbeat.
Lin Yuan, standing a few paces away, narrowed his eyes. Even with his newly ascended Foundation Establishment cultivation, the physical distance and the sudden, explosive nature of Zhao Meng’s charge meant that physically intercepting the thug’s body would be half a breath too slow.
But a Foundation Establishment cultivator was no longer bound by the mere physical limitations of flesh and bone.
Without a trace of panic, Lin Yuan raised two fingers and swept them through the air in a horizontal arc.
"Form!" Lin Yuan commanded, and Instantly, the spiritual energy in the courtyard converged. A barrier of condensed qi materialized directly in front of Bai Qingyue’s wheelchair, taking the shape of hemispherical dome.
BOOM!
Zhao Meng’s Blood-Burning Black Tiger Fist slammed violently against the barrier. The impact sent a deafening shockwave rippling through the courtyard. Yet, the barrier did not even tremble, as the terrifying attack disintegrated upon impact.
The recoil of striking the barrier with his own shattered body was catastrophic. Zhao Meng let out a scream as his entire right arm warped and fractured into dozens of pieces. The force rebounded, sending him stumbling violently backward. He collapsed into the mud, coughing up blood, his life force flickering like a candle in a hurricane.
Behind the barrier, Bai Qingyue sat completely unharmed, her dark eyes wide with shock as she stared at the shield that had just saved her life.
Before Lin Yuan could even lower his hand, the familiar chime of his golden finger echoed in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Host has invested: Protect Dao Companion from life-threatening attack.] [Triggering critical multiplier... calculating...]
[Congratulations to the Host! You have triggered a 5,000x Return!]
[Calculating return path... Opting for Skill Generation!]
[Reward: Divine Eye Spell - Death Gaze!]
A flood of profound knowledge forcefully injected itself into Lin Yuan’s memory. It wasn’t just a physical item this time; it was a supreme magical spell, its execution methods burning themselves into his very soul until he had mastered it as easily as breathing.
Lin Yuan reviewed the information rapidly.
[Death Gaze]: A spell that directly targets the enemy’s Sea of Consciousness. By locking eyes with the target, the Host can instantly manifest a soul-severing lightning strike within the target’s mind. Can instantly kill anyone at or below the Host’s current cultivation realm. Bypasses all physical defense!
Woah! A spell! Death gaze, Lin Yuan thought.
In the Nine Provinces, acquiring a cultivation method was difficult, but acquiring a true spell—especially one that targeted the intangible soul—was near impossible. Usually, only legendary Nascent Soul monsters could directly attack another person’s Sea of Consciousness. To possess such a heaven-defying trump card at the Foundation Establishment realm meant he could instantly execute any enemy in his path without even lifting a finger!
Ten feet away, Zhao Meng slowly pushed himself up onto his knees. His face was a mask of malice. He was dying, his core entirely burnt out, but his hatred for the man who had ruined him refused to let him stay down.
"You... you can’t protect her forever, Lin Yuan..." Zhao Meng rasped, his voice bubbling with blood. He glared at Lin Yuan, his eyes bulging with fury. "The Black Tiger Gang... will rip you to pieces..."
Lin Yuan’s expression turned as cold as the deepest winter frost. The audacity of this mortal trash to threaten his wife right in front of him was an unforgivable sin.
"You dare look at me?" Lin Yuan said, his voice dropping to a terrifying zero.
Lin Yuan slowly turned his head, fully locking his profound gaze onto Zhao Meng’s eyes. He mentally activated his newly acquired spell.
Death Gaze.
In that exact fraction of a second, a Pitch-black lightning, crackling with an aura of absolute death and destruction, manifested within his pupils.
Zhao Meng’s entire body went rigidly stiff, as the black lightning instantly bypassed Zhao Meng’s body, striking directly into his Sea of Consciousness. With a soundless CRACK, the black lightning completely obliterated Zhao Meng’s soul, extinguishing his life spark in less than a blink of an eye.
Zhao Meng’s eyes instantly glossed over, turning a dull, lifeless grey. He swayed for a moment, like a puppet whose strings had been abruptly severed by a blade, before collapsing face-first into the mud.
He was dead. Instantly. Without a single mark on his physical body.
The three lackeys, who had just regained consciousness and dragged themselves out of the rubble, witnessed this horrifying scene. Their jaws dropped, and a profound terror seized their hearts.
Their boss, a peak 9th-level Qi Condensation cultivator, had just been killed by a mere look!
"A soul attack! He... he is a supreme demon!" one of the lackeys shrieked, his voice piercing the sound of the rain.
Their arrogance, their greed, their predatory nature—all of it vanished, replaced by the urge to survive. Trembling like leaves in a storm, the three burly men flipped onto their knees and began to kowtow towards Lin Yuan.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
They hit their foreheads against the courtyard, kowtowing.
"Immortal Lin! Please spare us!" the first lackey wailed. "We were blind! We were foolish! We only followed Zhao Meng’s orders!"
"We have elderly mothers and young children! Please, show mercy, Lord Immortal!" cried another.
Lin Yuan stood motionless, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes devoid of any pity. He didn’t even acknowledge their pathetic existence. In the cultivation world, cutting weeds without removing the roots only invited the spring breeze to blow life back into them. He had no intention of letting them walk away unharmed.
Seeing that Lin Yuan remained unmoved as an ice glacier, the lackeys shifted their gazes toward the doorway. They scrambled on their hands and knees, crawling toward the wheelchair.
"Fairy Bai! First Miss Bai!" they begged, kowtowing toward Bai Qingyue. "You are renowned for your kindness! Please, beg your husband to spare our dog lives! We will be your slaves! We will guard this courtyard with our lives!"
Bai Qingyue looked at the three sniveling thugs. These were the same men who, mere minutes ago, had mocked her as a plucked swan and eagerly awaited the chance to defile her once her husband was dead. Her beautiful face remained utterly impassive. She had experienced the highest peaks of the cultivation world and the lowest, darkest valleys of human nature. She knew better than to show mercy to vipers.
Before Bai Qingyue could speak a single word, Lin Yuan stepped forward, placing his body between the crawling thugs and his wife.
"Your filthy breath is polluting my wife’s air," Lin Yuan stated coldly.
The three lackeys froze, looking up at him in sheer terror.
"Killing you outright would be too light of a punishment, and I do not wish to dirty my courtyard with any more of your blood," Lin Yuan continued. "But leaving you whole is not an option."
Lin Yuan raised his right hand, his fingers glowing with intense light. He flicked his wrist three times in rapid succession.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Three concentrated needles of pure Foundation Establishment qi shot through the rain, striking the three lackeys directly in their dantians.
POP. POP. POP.
The sound was akin to tightly inflated bladders being violently ruptured. The three lackeys threw their heads back and unleashed agonizing screams. The pure spiritual qi they had spent decades cultivating leaked out of their bodies into the damp air, scattering to the winds.
Their meridians were utterly shredded. Their dantians were collapsed ruins.
"My... my cultivation!" one of them sobbed, clutching his stomach as he collapsed into the mud, instantly feeling the profound weakness of a normal mortal wash over him. "It’s gone! I’m a cripple!"
"Scram," Lin Yuan commanded, his voice echoing with spiritual pressure. "If I ever see your faces here again, I will not just take your cultivation. Now get out."
Sobbing, wailing, and clutching their ruined abdomens, the three lackeys didn’t dare hesitate for a single second. They scrambled over each other, crawling out of the courtyard gates and disappearing, leaving behind only the corpse of their former boss.
Silence finally returned to the courtyard, broken only by the steady rain.
Lin Yuan allowed the spiritual energy to fade from his fingertips. He turned around, stepping out of the mud and back onto the main hall. The cold, indifferent aura instantly melted away, replaced by the gentle warmth of a caring partner.
He looked down at Bai Qingyue. Her pale face was still flushed with a mixture of shock and awe, her dark eyes reflecting the unbelievable reality of the man standing before her.
Lin Yuan reached out, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He offered her a soft, genuine smile that seemed to outshine the gloomy weather.
"As long as this husband is here," Lin Yuan said softly, his voice carrying an unbreakable vow, "no one will harm you."