The battle had already reached its most violent stage.
Across the ruined streets of Dongtai Prefecture, figures moved through the smoke and dust like phantoms, every collision of true essence causing the surrounding buildings to tremble. Martial techniques erupted one after another, sword lights tore through the air, palms crashed against fists, and the thunderous sound of martial artists colliding could be heard from several streets away.
At the centre of the battlefield, the Su Family Ancestor was locked in a fierce battle with the leader of the Jade Sword Palace.
The two figures moved so quickly that ordinary martial artists could barely distinguish their movements.
One moment, the Su Family Ancestor was standing beneath the broken eaves of a building, the next, his body had already crossed dozens of metres, his palm striking towards the Jade Sword Palace Leader's chest. The latter's sword flashed, splitting the incoming palm force before his blade swept sideways towards the Su Family Ancestor's throat.
The Su Family Ancestor twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the sword, then retaliated with a fist that carried the weight of a mountain.
Boom!
The Jade Sword Palace Leader's sword shook violently as it collided with the fist.
Both figures were forced backwards.
The Su Family Ancestor's expression was solemn.
He was at the mid-stage Astral Gang Realm, and the Jade Sword Palace Leader was also at the same level. Their cultivation and combat strength were evenly matched, neither side possessing an overwhelming advantage.
But this balance had come at a terrible cost.
Because while the Su Family Ancestor was holding back the Jade Sword Palace Leader, the Su Family Patriarch had been forced to face both the Wei Family Ancestor and the Liu Family Ancestor alone.
And he was beginning to lose.
The Su Family Patriarch's robes were already torn, blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and his breathing had become heavier than before. His movements, once powerful and decisive, had begun to slow.
The Wei Family Ancestor noticed this immediately.
A grin slowly appeared on his face.
"What's wrong, Su?"
The Wei Family Ancestor stepped forward, lightning crackling around his body.
"Is this all the strength of the Su Family Patriarch?"
The Liu Family Ancestor laughed as he approached from the other side.
"Perhaps you should stop struggling. You already know how this will end."
The Su Family Patriarch wiped the blood from his mouth and stared at the two men coldly.
"Old dogs."
His voice was hoarse.
"Even if my Su Family falls today, I'll drag one of you into the grave with me."
"Still pretending to be fearless?"
The Wei Family Ancestor's smile widened.
Then his eyes became cold.
"You should have known this day would come."
The Su Family Patriarch's expression changed slightly.
The Wei Family Ancestor continued, his voice deliberately slow.
"Your wife understood it before you did."
For an instant, the Su Family Patriarch's pupils contracted.
The Wei Family Ancestor laughed.
"She died because she was too loyal to your family. You should have been able to save her, shouldn't you? Yet in the end, you couldn't even protect your own wife."
"Shut up."
The Su Family Patriarch's voice was low.
But the Wei Family Ancestor continued.
"You've spent your entire life protecting the Su Family, but when your wife needed you most, where were you?"
"Shut up!"
The Su Family Patriarch's aura erupted.
The Liu Family Ancestor immediately moved.
His palm descended like a mountain.
Boom!
The Su Family Patriarch raised both arms to block it, but the force behind the strike was immense. His feet sank into the ground, cracks spreading beneath him.
At that moment, the Wei Family Ancestor appeared before him.
The palm struck.
Bang!
The Su Family Patriarch's chest caved slightly beneath the impact as his body was blasted backwards like a cannonball.
He smashed through the wall of a nearby building.
Rumble!
The entire structure collapsed.
Dust surged into the sky.
The Wei Family Ancestor slowly lowered his palm.
"You still don't understand."
His expression contained a trace of cruel satisfaction.
"I didn't merely wait for your family to decline. I made certain that you would have no one left to rely upon."
The ruins shifted.
The Su Family Patriarch slowly pushed himself upright.
Blood dripped from his chin.
His chest rose and fell heavily.
The Wei Family Ancestor looked at him.
"Your wife was one of many obstacles to our plans, so we needed to... you know."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"So I sent her a little gift."
The Su Family Patriarch froze.
The surrounding noise seemed to disappear.
"What... did you say?"
"I said I sent your wife a little gift."
The Wei Family Ancestor chuckled.
"That gift killed her."
The Su Family Patriarch's eyes slowly became bloodshot.
The Wei Family Ancestor had expected anger.
He had not expected the terrifying silence that followed.
The next moment, the Su Family Patriarch vanished.
Boom!
The ground beneath him exploded.
His figure transformed into a streak of lightning as he crossed the distance between them.
The Wei Family Ancestor's pupils contracted.
"So fast!"
He barely managed to raise his arms.
The Su Family Patriarch's fist crashed into his chest.
Bang!
The Wei Family Ancestor was blasted backwards.
The Su Family Patriarch did not stop.
His body flashed again.
Lightning Steps!
His entire figure became surrounded by violent arcs of electricity as he appeared above the Wei Family Ancestor and descended with another fist.
The Wei Family Ancestor raised his palm.
Boom!
The collision sent a violent shockwave across the battlefield.
The Wei Family Ancestor's feet slid backwards, leaving two deep trenches in the ground.
The Su Family Patriarch's eyes were completely bloodshot.
"My wife..."
His voice trembled with killing intent.
"You killed my wife?"
The Wei Family Ancestor's expression finally became serious.
The Liu Family Ancestor's face also changed.
He immediately stepped forward.
"Don't lose yourself!"
His fist suddenly shot forward.
The martial fist carried terrifying force, compressing the air around it as it travelled towards the Su Family Patriarch's head.
The Su Family Patriarch twisted his body.
The fist passed beside his face.
He caught the Liu Family Ancestor's wrist with one hand, but the latter immediately rotated his body, using the force of the movement to escape before kicking towards the Su Family Patriarch's abdomen.
The Su Family Patriarch blocked with his arm.
Bang!
Both figures separated.
The Liu Family Ancestor's expression was grim.
The battle had changed.
The Su Family Patriarch, who had been steadily losing his strength, had suddenly become like a wounded beast.
And a wounded beast was often far more dangerous than one that was healthy.
---
On another part of the battlefield, Shen Bing had already joined Su Yang.
She moved through the battlefield with her hands forming seals, her robes fluttering as talismans flew from her sleeves.
"Thunderbolt Invocation!"
A talisman ignited.
Lightning descended from the sky.
Crack!
One of the opposing martial artists was struck before he could react.
Another charged towards Shen Bing, but she calmly threw another talisman.
"Bind."
Several golden lines erupted from the talisman, wrapping around the man's limbs and stopping him in mid-air.
Su Yang took advantage of the opening.
His fist smashed into the man's chest.
Bang!
The man flew backwards.
Su Yang's expression was solemn.
The techniques Shen Bing was using were completely unfamiliar to most of the people present.
They did not understand her hand seals, they did not understand her incantations, and they had never encountered talismans that could suddenly produce such strange effects.
That unfamiliarity had become a tremendous advantage.
Together, Shen Bing and Su Yang rapidly cleared their immediate surroundings.
Before long, only a handful of opponents remained.
Su Yang clenched several small explosive orbs in his palm.
These were the last ones he had.
He looked around cautiously.
"We're almost through."
Shen Bing nodded.
But before she could respond, a voice suddenly came from behind them.
"Those orbs?"
Su Yang's body stiffened.
The voice came again.
"You were the one who escaped with the letter."
His skin instantly crawled.
He slowly turned around.
A man stood behind him.
No.
He wasn't standing.
His feet were hovering several inches above the ground.
An Astral Gang expert.
A long scar extended from the man's jawline down towards his neck, giving his otherwise ordinary face a frightening appearance.
Su Yang's pupils contracted.
He recognised him.
This was one of the mysterious experts who had attacked them during their previous mission.
The man stared at the explosive orbs in Su Yang's hand.
"Answer me!"
His voice exploded like thunder.
An enormous pressure descended.
Boom!
Su Yang's knees buckled.
The ground beneath his feet cracked.
A moment later, his entire body was forced onto the ground.
"Argh!"
He gritted his teeth as blood vessels bulged across his forehead.
The Astral Gang expert looked down at him coldly.
"I thought a Xuan Gang expert would be enough."
His eyes narrowed.
"But the two of you still managed to escape."
His pressure increased.
"Two ants."
The ground beneath Su Yang cracked further.
He could barely breathe.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shen Bing.
She was also pinned beneath the terrifying pressure.
Her fingers struggled to move.
She was attempting to form a hand seal.
"Divine—"
Before she could finish the incantation, the Astral Gang expert casually raised his hand.
Pa!
A palm filled with Astral Gang struck Shen Bing.
Her body flew away.
She smashed into the battlefield like a meteor, the impact creating a huge crater.
"Shen Bing!"
Su Yang's eyes widened.
He desperately attempted to rise.
Qi-Blood erupted from his body.
True Essence surged through his meridians.
His muscles bulged as every ounce of strength he possessed was released.
But the pressure above him was simply too overwhelming.
He could not move.
The Astral Gang expert looked at him with contempt.
"I don't care what background you possess."
His gaze shifted towards Shen Bing's unconscious body.
"But a mere Object Control Realm Daoist shouldn't try any tricks before me."
Su Yang's heart sank.
No matter how strange her talismans were, there was an enormous gap between her and an Astral Gang expert.
Su Yang clenched his teeth.
Around him, members of the Su Family continued to fall.
One after another.
The battlefield had become a slaughterhouse.
The combined forces of the Wei Family, Liu Family and Jade Sword Palace possessed a numerical advantage, and the Su Family's warriors were gradually being overwhelmed.
Blood flowed through the streets.
Bodies littered the ground.
Su Yang's fingers dug into the earth.
He could only watch.
The Astral Gang expert slowly walked towards him.
"Since you don't wish to answer..."
He reached out his hand.
"I'll have to take you with me."
His palm stopped directly above Su Yang's forehead.
"Your potential is quite good."
A cold smile appeared on his face.
"Even if you refuse to speak, you'll still have your uses."
His palm descended.
But it never touched Su Yang.
A hand suddenly appeared around his neck.
The Astral Gang expert froze.
His eyes widened.
He didn't even see anyone approach.
His body was lifted from the ground.
One moment he had been standing over Su Yang.
The next, he was dangling in the air like a chick caught in the grasp of a predator.
"What..."
His pupils contracted.
A terrifying mental force suddenly invaded his consciousness.
He didn't even have time to resist.
Boom!
His soul shattered.
His eyes became empty.
His entire body went limp.
Lin Sheng stood behind him, one hand around his neck.
His expression was calm.
The Astral Gang expert's memories were rapidly searched by the terrifying mental strength.
Every memory, every encounter, every secret he possessed was exposed before Lin Sheng's consciousness.
Then his mind collapsed completely.
Lin Sheng released his hand.
The man's body fell to the ground like a discarded rag doll.
He was alive.
But his mind was already dead.
Lin Sheng glanced at him once before turning towards Su Yang.
"Are you alright?"
Su Yang was still staring blankly at the corpse.
"M-master?"
Lin Sheng crouched beside him and took out a healing pill.
"Eat this."
He placed it inside Su Yang's mouth.
The medicinal power immediately dissolved.
Warm energy flowed through Su Yang's damaged meridians, repairing his internal injuries and restoring his exhausted body.
Su Yang coughed several times before slowly sitting up.
"Bing'er..."
"She's alive."
Lin Sheng looked towards the crater.
"Her injuries aren't fatal."
Su Yang released a breath.
Only then did he realise something.
The battlefield had become strangely quiet.
He looked up.
His pupils contracted.
Across the battlefield, figures were collapsing.
The Wei Family warriors, Liu Family warriors and Jade Sword Palace disciples who had been fighting moments ago were now lying motionless on the ground.
Some had already been reduced to puddles of blood.
Others had collapsed with their bodies twisted unnaturally.
There had been no attack, only pressure.
Lin Sheng stood in the middle of the battlefield, his Qi-Blood spreading outward like an endless sea.
The terrifying force of his physique descended upon everything within its range.
The weaker martial artists had no ability to resist.
Their organs ruptured beneath the invisible pressure.
Their bones cracked.
Their blood vessels burst.
Even Xuan Gang experts struggled to remain standing.
The streets trembled beneath Lin Sheng's feet.
His gaze swept across the battlefield.
The once chaotic battlefield had become silent.
Su Yang stared at him.
The Su Family warriors stared at him.
Even the experts fighting in the distance had noticed the sudden change.
Lin Sheng's expression remained indifferent.
His eyes eventually settled upon the three great forces surrounding the Su Family.
A cold light flashed within his eyes.
The killing intent that had been concealed beneath his calm expression finally emerged.
"Enough."
His voice wasn't loud.
Yet it travelled throughout the battlefield.
The next instant, his Qi-Blood erupted.