Black Dragon Gate Headquarters.
Song Zhanlong’s brow was locked in a tight frown as he walked slowly along the corridor of the central courtyard, heading back to his bedchamber.
The New Martial Alliance, imitating the previous Martial Alliance by holding ranking tournaments, had indeed brought a massive amount of opportunities and resources. However, it had also flushed out several Internal Force Realm experts who had once been his old rivals back in Xingdao.
Among them, the Hundred Flowers Sect, the Dragon Ring Spear, and the Tyrant Blade Sect were all old adversaries who had once vied for supremacy against him in Xingdao.
The Hundred Flowers Sect, in particular, had been expanding ceaselessly of late, even encroaching upon his territory. It was simply...
Song Zhanlong felt stifled.
If not for the fact that none of the disciples in the sect are striving to improve, why would I be facing such a predicament now?!
In the courtyard, the bamboo tube of a water clock struck down rhythmically, emitting crisp, measured sounds.
A stream flowed around a bamboo grove. In a stone pavilion, two concubines with voluptuous figures, wearing only thin layers of gauze, were laughing and playing. As they chased each other, flashes of their spring scenery were exposed, igniting a nameless fire in Song Zhanlong’s heart.
Ever since he had seized this estate, no outsiders were permitted entry; only he could come and go as he pleased.
This was entirely because he had snatched a full dozen beautiful young women within the manor. On ordinary days, he forbade them from wearing many clothes, waiting only for when he felt the need to approach them to vent the pressure in his heart.
If a woman became pregnant, that would be best. Only then could he settle down here most quickly, continue his lineage, and expand the clan.
With a splash and a flip, Song Zhanlong vaulted over the corridor railing, walking straight toward the two young women. He stripped off his upper garment as he walked.
Suddenly, his expression shifted slightly. He looked to the right, his steps halting.
"Who!?"
Swish!
No one answered. Instead, the sound of fluttering fabric came from that direction; the other party was clearly fleeing rapidly.
"Thinking of running!?"
Song Zhanlong rushed to the wall in a few strides, tapped his toe, borrowed the force to leap up, and flipped over.
Just as he landed, he saw a black human figure not far ahead, sprinting wildly into the distance.
He sneered. The opponent was fast, but not so fast that he couldn't catch up.
His Black Dragon Claw was indeed not specialized for speed, but that was relative to other Internal Force Realm experts. Against a petty thief like this, his movement technique was more than sufficient!
His anger had already been rising, and to be peeped at right as he was preparing to vent his lust—in the inner manor he guarded most strictly, no less—was intolerable. His concubines barely wore clothes; if they were seen, he would suffer a massive loss!
Song Zhanlong stomped the ground immediately, chasing after the figure at high speed.
One in front, one behind; before long, they had chased for several hundred meters.
The distance between them was closing.
It wasn't until they reached an area of abandoned houses that the black shadow ahead finally stopped.
Standing in the alley between the houses, the cold wind blew through constantly, whistling and carrying faint, foul stenches.
Only now did the black shadow reveal his specific appearance.
Under the dim skylight, his upper body was wrapped in black cloth, covering his hair completely. On his face, he wore a wooden child’s terribly ill-fitting mask.
The mask was pale white, resembling the festive, round-bellied Fortune Doll seen during the New Year.
Bright red rouged cheeks, smiling crescent eyes, long black eyelashes—if seen during the day, it might have looked somewhat comical. But now, as the light faded in this gloomy, deserted alley, it exuded an inexplicable, chilling eeriness.
What caused the most discomfort was that the mask, being the wrong size, could only cover the upper half of his face. It looked bizarre, as if it had been forcefully and casually strapped on, crooked and askew, regardless of fit.
Song Zhanlong had realized by now that the opponent had lured him out intentionally.
"Interesting. Did you lure me out to ambush me? Come out, then. Where are your helpers?"
His expression was icy as he scanned both sides. The terrain here was narrow with many obstructions—the perfect place for an ambush.
"Before we start, I still want to confirm one thing." The white-masked man opposite him spoke. His voice was strange and piercing, clearly disguising his natural tone by pinching his throat.
"You are Song Zhanlong, correct?"
"Heh, amusing. You don't even know what I look like, yet you dare come looking for trouble?" Song Zhanlong laughed in anger.
"I—"
Clang!
Before he could finish his sentence, the cry of a sword rang out—the ear-piercing sound of a longsword unsheathing, cutting off his words.
In the next instant, his vision blurred. A silver iron sword appeared abruptly in front of his right eye, with only a finger's width of space remaining before the eyeball.
The iron sword was blocked by the white light of his Internal Force, but it still startled Song Zhanlong into a full-body shudder.
"What the hell is this speed!!?"
He wanted to roar and counterattack, but his right hand had only just begun its move—not even halfway executed—when the iron sword before his eyes vanished without a trace.
Immediately following, a massive crushing sensation of his Internal Force being pierced came simultaneously from behind him and to his side.
He hurriedly turned, unleashing a move—Black Dragon Explores Clouds—scattering heavy layers of claw shadows over a wide area.
But he was still slow.
Slow by more than a notch.
Before his attacking hand could fully extend, the sword was gone.
Left!? Right!?
Song Zhanlong turned urgently, trying to predict the movement in advance, but he couldn't see the figure clearly in his field of vision at all. He only felt the Internal Force barrier all over his body being frantically pierced, as if there were people everywhere, swords everywhere!
This speed!
Among the opponents he had fought in his life, Daoist Baohe was considered in the fastest tier, yet compared to this white-masked man before him, even Baohe was slower by more than a notch.
Too fast!!
Clang clang clang clang!!
In the alley.
Song Zhanlong’s entire body glowed with shimmering white light, while dense golden sparks constantly exploded around him.
Those were the specks of fire scattered by the violent collision of the iron sword and the Internal Force barrier.
Blocking and blocking, Song Zhanlong suddenly discovered a key point.
No Internal Force. This guy... could it be he isn't in the Internal Force Realm yet!?
He swept a wave of claw shadows to the side. Although he hit empty air, it at least restricted part of the opponent's space to strike.
But the moment this guess was born, in the next instant, Song Zhanlong felt something was wrong.
No, he should be in the Internal Force Realm, but hasn't reached the stage of extending it to his weapon yet! To be able to explode with this kind of speed, having just entered Internal Force! Where the hell did this freak come from!!?
He fought while retreating, attempting to leave the alley quickly.
There were too many obstacles here, unfavorable for his dodging. Several of his attacks had their power slashed by half by the walls; aside from smashing some broken masonry, they achieved nothing.
But he had barely retreated a dozen meters when the surrounding sword strikes suddenly stopped.
The abrupt silence left Song Zhanlong unadjusted, but then he suddenly sensed something wrong.
A hair-raising sensation of acute, fatal threat surged from directly behind him.
He whipped his head around, only to see that the white mask was already standing behind him, unbeknownst to him.
The opponent held the sword horizontally before him. In a trance, he saw the lips beneath the black cloth move slightly, as if saying something.
The next moment, silver light shone brilliantly.
In a split second, Song Zhanlong's eyes were completely filled and occupied by pure silver.
Fast!
Too fast!!
The speed in this moment was actually a large cut faster than before!
Song Zhanlong had never seen anyone who could be fast to such a degree.
One could see the weapon but not the man.
He had only heard of such experts in rumors, but now, he was truly witnessing one.
Chi!!!
Clang!!!
The iron sword snapped, flew apart, and shattered into over a dozen fragments, embedding themselves into the walls on both sides.
Song Zhanlong’s body, hit by the impact force brought by the immense speed, was knocked backward more than ten steps. He stepped into a mud pit and fell to one knee.
"Ah!!!"
He screamed, covering his face with his left hand. Threads of crimson blood slowly dripped down from between his fingers.
"Scram!! Get away!!"
The immense sense of crisis made him wave his right claw madly, consuming massive amounts of Internal Force to form claw shadows covering the front, preventing the enemy from pursuing again.
Just in that instant, his Internal Force barrier had actually been forcibly broken at a single point by brute force.
Originally, this point would only need half a second to patch up and recover, but the trouble was, the place that was broken was his eyes.
And the result was that his eyes were ruthlessly slashed by the precise fragments of the iron sword, cut into four pieces.
"Ah!!!" Song Zhanlong waved claw shadows around madly, but blinded in both eyes, he couldn't see at all that the person who injured him was standing more than ten meters away, holding a bare sword hilt, watching him quietly.
Silently, Lin Hui glanced toward the distant right, sensing an expert approaching rapidly. Only then did he turn and vanish instantly into the gloom.
The sky was getting dark, and the mist was coming; he needed to leave a little time to rush back.
Song Zhanlong could count himself lucky.
Thick skin is indeed hard to kill... Completely leaving the alley, Lin Hui was still replaying the exchange just now in his mind.
He had already used Featherweight Ascension, combined with the killing move of the Perfected Clear Wind Sword Technique. With a move that broke the sword, he barely managed to break a bit of the defense and slice Song Zhanlong’s eyes blind.
Is this the intensity of a Hard-Body expert in the Internal Force Realm?
Lin Hui had truly seen it this time. It was only because he had the additional Featherweight Ascension special effect boosting his speed by a massive margin, plus the speed bonuses from the Perfected Body Tempering of the Seven-Section Swift Sword and the Perfected Clear Wind Sword, that he succeeded. Otherwise, following the normal Clear Wind Sword Technique cultivated to the Internal Force Realm—even to the peak—he estimated he would be helpless against Song Zhanlong.
Lin Hui estimated that even if the Clear Wind Sword was trained to the peak, the Sixth Layer of Internal Force, its speed might not necessarily be faster than his current self.
Unfolding his movement technique at flying speed, he returned home in less than ten minutes.
In the small courtyard, Weiwei, Little Hu, and the others were feeding each other moves and practicing swords.
Ding Ning waited at the side, awaiting instructions.
Lin Hui changed his disguise, put the Clear River Sword back on, and instructed the three for a while before the sky turned dark.
Entering the house for dinner, they each returned to their rooms to rest.
Lin Hui reviewed the previous exchange. From the initial fruitless search for a Fatal Gate to the final precise strike, stabbing Song Zhanlong’s weakest point—the eyes.
He hadn't wasted any opportunity or time from start to finish.
In the end, my Internal Force consumption wasn't small either. Coupled with the fact that Song Zhanlong only has the eyes as a weak point... after blinding him, apart from forcefully grinding down his Internal Force until it's exhausted, I estimate I have no way to kill him in a short time.
My killing power is still too weak. If my Internal Force could extend to the sword tip... this time I definitely could have speed-killed him. It doesn't matter if I don't break his defense elsewhere, but for his eyes, just stabbing a few inches deeper would have ended his life.
Lin Hui sat cross-legged on the bed, gazing at the Jade Talisman swaying slightly by the window and the gigantic monstrous shadows swimming constantly outside. He summarized the areas for improvement from this battle in his heart.
As for the Seal, that required direct contact with the body to activate. As a final trump card, he didn't plan to expose it unless he was absolutely certain of killing the opponent.
A peaceful night.
Early the next morning.
Lin Hui left the house and went straight to the Black Dragon Gate headquarters.
Bang!
The massive black plaque was slashed down with a single sword strike, breaking into two pieces and smashing onto the ground, kicking up fine dust.
In front of the headquarters' main gate, the two guarding Black Dragon Gate disciples hadn't even reacted before seeing the plaque smashed and broken on the ground. Their faces changed drastically.
"You, you, you!!!"
The two stared at Lin Hui, recognizing the Clear Wind Temple active-wear Daoist robe on his body.