Chang Gong Xiaojing also spotted the group rushing up the hill. Realizing the Six-Legged Frog's death throes must have drawn them, she tensed at Lin Feng's reaction.
"Lin Feng? Do you... know them?"
Lin Feng's expression hardened. "Yes. They're from Absolute Sword Sect. And that one..." He nodded toward the lead figure. "That's Loong Tian'ao, their Young Master. Stay behind me. Let me handle this."
"Absolute Sword Sect! Loong Tian'ao!" Xiaojing's breath hitched. Her sect elders had warned her: Avoid them at all costs. Notorious for their brutality, Loong Tian'ao's reputation was particularly vile.
Lin Feng stepped in front of Xiaojing, eyes locked on the ascending group. His mind raced.
Meeting Loong Tian'ao here... of all places?
The young master now radiated the aura of Golden Core Layer 1. Three others followed: two at Foundation Establishment Layer 9, and a sharp-faced man at Golden Core Layer 3—stronger than Loong himself.
Hide?
The thought vanished instantly. They'd been seen. Fleeing wasn't an option, nor was it necessary. Two early Golden Cores and two Foundation cultivators? They weren't enough to make him run.
Within moments, the group halted ten meters away. Loong Tian'ao's eyes widened in shock.
"It's YOU!!"
Lin Feng realized then: They hadn't known it was him. Only drawn by the frog's demise.
"Tian'ao, you know this man?" asked the sharp-faced Golden Core Layer 3 cultivator, Zeng Chengwu.
"Know him?" Loong Tian'ao's voice dripped venom. "I'd recognize him if he turned to ash! Brother Zeng, this is the bastard who shattered my flying sword! The one who got Elder Wei's arm severed! And..." His gaze turned greedy. "The spirit spring from Giant Python Mountain... it's ON HIM!"
"What?!" Zeng Chengwu's pupils contracted, his stare boring into Lin Feng. "You're certain?"
"How could I mistake him?" Loong Tian'ao snarled. "He was barely Layer 2 Foundation Establishment back then! Now he's at the Great Perfection! Only the spirit spring could grant such monstrous speed!"
Wasted on trash like him, Loong seethed inwardly, fury mingling with envy. Lin Feng wasn't hiding his cultivation now.
"Then we kill him!" roared one Foundation Layer 9 disciple.
"Avenge Elder Wei!" the other echoed, murderous intent flaring.
Zeng Chengwu raised a hand, silencing them. He studied Lin Feng's unnervingly calm demeanor, then Xiaojing's tense figure. Both Foundation Establishment... yet no fear?
"Surrender the spirit spring willingly," he said, voice icy, "and I'll consider letting the girl behind you live."
A calculated threat. Offering Lin Feng his life would be unbelievable. This leverage... might work.
Lin Feng's lip curled slightly. "Save the theatrics. You just want confirmation the spring's here? Fine. It is."
Greed flashed in Zeng's eyes, quickly replaced by killing intent. "Good. Now die—"
"WAIT!" Loong Tian'ao cut in, eyes blazing. "Brother Zeng! Let me do it! I want to kill him!"
Zeng Chengwu paused, then smirked. "Very well. Make it quick. Others might hear."
Loong Tian'ao flicked his wrist. A golden flying sword materialized above him, shimmering fiercely—higher quality than the one Lin Feng had destroyed.
"Beg on your knees," Loong sneered at Lin Feng, "and I might grant you a quick death."
"Enough talk." Lin Feng's voice was flat. "Attack, or I will."
"You—!" Loong choked on his rage. How dare he pretend to be unafraid?! "Still dreaming of catching me off guard? Delusional! Witness the power of Golden Core!"
He thrust a sword seal forward. The golden blade shot forth like a comet!
Lin Feng didn't move.
His left hand activated the hexagonal Spirit Light Talisman.
His right hand flicked—a dark crimson fireball hurled toward the oncoming sword.
WHOOSH!
The golden blade pierced the fireball effortlessly, momentum unbroken, and slammed into the Spirit Light barrier before Lin Feng.
CLANG!
Sparks flew as the sword rebounded, instantly circling for another strike.
Loong Tian'ao sneered. Pathetic. A mere fireball? He controlled his sword, hammering relentlessly at the barrier.
"TIAN'AO! BEHIND YOU!"
Zeng Chengwu's roar cut through the air. He drew his own sword in panic!
Loong whirled.
The fireball his blade had scattered? The embers hadn't died. Instead, they'd merged into a blazing net, vast as a casting net, plunging toward him!
Startled but not panicked, Loong summoned a golden light barrier around himself.
Simultaneously, Zeng Chengwu's sword sliced upward, cleaving the molten net in two!
The Absolute Sword disciples grinned. Threat neutralized.
WHOOMF!
The severed halves didn't dissipate. They exploded outward, morphing into TWO separate fire nets, converging on Loong Tian'ao from both sides!
Loong's eyes widened. Impossible! Still, confidence flickered. My barrier will hold...
SSSSZZZZKKKKRRRTTTCHHH!!!
The molten nets struck his golden shield. Instantly, it buckled like thin ice, rippling violently!
"Wha—?!" Terror seized him. He channeled frantic torrents of Qi into the barrier talisman in his left hand. The shield stabilized slightly, but the cost was immense—his Qi drained like floodwater. Recognition dawned, chilling his blood.
"S—STRANGE FIRE!!" he shrieked. "BROTHER ZENG! HELP M—!"
"STRANGE FIRE?!" Zeng Chengwu gasped in disbelief. He lunged forward to intervene.
RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!!!!
A soul-shaking tiger's roar erupted from Lin Feng's direction. Zeng Chengwu snapped his head around.
Blinding white radiance erupted from Lin Feng's palm, coalescing mid-air into a spectral White Tiger—massive, ethereal, radiating primal fury. It screamed through the air, claws outstretched, aiming straight for Zeng Chengwu's heart!
Self-preservation obliterated all else. Zeng Chengwu abandoned Loong, hurling his sword at the phantom beast and erecting his own light barrier.
Fatal mistake.
The sword passed harmlessly through the tiger's form.
The barrier? The White Tiger phased straight through it.
Its claws plunged deep into Zeng Chengwu's chest.
As the spectral beast emerged behind him, its jaws held a faint, struggling human silhouette—Zeng Chengwu's soul.
A Golden Core Layer 3 cultivator, with an untrained, frail spirit? No match.
The White Tiger's jaws savagely clenched.
CRUNCH.
The soul-shadow shattered like glass.
The White Tiger dissipated into wisps of light.
Only then did Zeng Chengwu's body—eyes wide, utterly lifeless—crumple to the ground.