On the river surface.
Li Yuan looked at the approaching figure, his eyes first scanned left and right, and only after confirming there were no other ambushes, did he turn his gaze full of killing intent towards the newcomer.
He had never seen Lin Chen’s face.
Two years ago, Lin Chen was just a disciple at the Poyang County martial arts school, not worth paying attention to.
Later, when Lin Chen started contending with his own son Zhe for the Jiangnan Dao Martial Arts Academy model student, he finally remembered Lin Chen’s name, but it was just remembering a name.
It wasn’t until Lin Chen obtained the model student of Jiangnan Dao that he began to truly regard this junior seriously. But to his surprise, Lin Chen’s progress in martial arts cultivation soared as if on a rocket.
By that time, he had missed the opportunity to make a move.
Making peace was something Li Zhe never considered, because of his nature, he always paid back minor grievances.
He figured Lin Chen would be the same, since the Huo Family had ostensibly forced Lin Chen’s grandfather to death, but he didn’t believe Lin Chen was unaware that his Li Family was behind it.
Once Lin Chen truly matured, he would undoubtedly seek revenge on the Li Family.
Therefore, he had been contemplating how to eliminate Lin Chen, but he couldn’t come up with a good plan. After Lin Chen took first place on the Hidden Dragon List and Celestial List, the court’s regard for him reached an unprecedented level.
What Li Yuan didn’t anticipate was that before he could devise a perfect plan to get rid of Lin Chen, he learned that Lin Chen had entered the Li Fire Path and was trapped inside the Fire-Sealing Array, his fate unknown.
An instructor at the Martial Arts Academy, now a general in the Southern Garrison Army, accidentally let it slip, but while the speaker was unintentional, the listener was attentive. Li Yuan got the information he wanted.
With the Li Fire awakened, the interior of the array was a sea of flames; even a First-Grade Martial Artist couldn’t survive long in it, and Lin Chen had been inside for months, likely reduced to ashes.
He relayed Lin Chen’s death back home to Zhe-er, knowing Zhe’s nature, and anticipated he would target Lin Chen’s family, which he agreed with.
Without Lin Chen, the Lin Family were mere commoners, and nobody cared if a few commoners died.
Moreover, as Liang was at war with the Han and Zheng Kingdoms, they needed manpower. Even if there were suspicions, without concrete evidence, they wouldn’t thoroughly investigate the matter.
In truth, without Lin Chen, the Lin Family couldn’t compare in value to the Li Family, and he was confident how the authorities would choose.
As for Lin Chen’s contributions to Liang, Li Zhe scoffed at the idea they would investigate thoroughly. People cool towards the absent, much less the deceased.
Having Zhe-er eliminate Lin Chen’s family was to vent the frustration of being overshadowed by Lin Chen, so Zhe-er could clear his mind and advance faster in martial arts.
"I really didn’t expect that you could survive facing Li Fire."
Li Yuan looked at Lin Chen, speaking with a hint of regret, while Lin Chen sneered: "Not dead, disappointed you."
"What, are you trying to convince me to return to Liang all alone?"
"Why do you think I’m here to persuade you to return to Liang?"
Lin Chen laughed, a mocking glint in his eyes: "You’ve lived half your life, do you think I’m that naive, or are you that naive?"
"Not persuade me to return to Liang, perhaps you plan to capture me back?"
Li Yuan ignored Lin Chen’s ridicule, thinking Lin Chen meant to persuade him to return, unable to guess Lin Chen’s other purpose for appearing.
Capture me back?
Even if first on the Hidden Dragon List and Celestial List, that’s only impressive among the young; he’s unqualified before me.
"Not to capture you."
Lin Chen shook his head, eyelids drooping slightly, but in the next moment, he raised his gaze, unreservedly revealing the killing intent in his eyes: "I came to slay you."
"Slay me?"
Li Yuan paused for three breaths, unsure if truly shocked by Lin Chen’s words or purposefully, before bursting into laughter: "Lin Chen, I think your recent flattery has gone to your head. You think you can slay me, what a colossal joke. Your teacher couldn’t do it, you surely can’t."
"If not for Ge Hongyi’s interference, all you’d see in the camp would be your teacher’s corpse."
Hearing Li Yuan mention his teacher, Lin Chen’s eyes narrowed, and he wordlessly stepped towards Li Yuan.
Li Yuan stared at Lin Chen, frowning. In his perception, Lin Chen’s sharp aura abruptly retracted, not disappearing, but accumulating.
In the next moment, Lin Chen stepped forward.
Boom!
With that step, Lin Chen’s aura surged significantly.
One step, two steps, three steps...
Ninth Grade, Eighth Grade, Seventh Grade...
Lin Chen didn’t stop, his aura continued to climb.
Li Yuan’s expression remained unchanged at first, but as Lin Chen took the fifth, sixth step, disbelief filled his eyes.
Fourth-Grade Martial Artist aura!
How long has it been, and this kid has stepped into the Fourth Grade Realm already.
After cultivating for over twenty years, I’d only reached the Fourth Grade Realm.
This kid was a cultivation monster, catching up to half my life’s cultivation in less than three years.
After the sixth step, Lin Chen equally stepped onto the river surface, merely ten zhang from Li Yuan.
"No wonder you have the courage to come alone. But don’t think just because you broke into the Fourth Grade, you’re my match. Even within the Fourth Grade, there are different levels."
Faced with Li Yuan’s words, Lin Chen didn’t respond. At this moment, he circulated his entire qi blood, which flowed like lava, endlessly, ultimately gathering between his legs.
Lin Chen stomped his right foot, ripples spreading across the water’s surface. Using this ripple as momentum, his form shot out like a red lightning, reaching Li Yuan in the blink of an eye.
The Gale Leg swept through, with wind howling, each gust like a wind blade slashing towards Li Yuan.
"Utter arrogance."
"Today’s where you meet your end."
Unexpectedly, Lin Chen dared initiate the attack; in a rage, Li Yuan struck with successive palms.
The collision of the two forces caused the water surface below, spanning dozens of feet, to explode, sending countless water splashes flying. When the water droplets finally settled, the river was scattered with the corpses of many fish.
In their first clash, a trace of astonishment appeared in Li Yuan’s eyes. He originally thought that even if Lin Chen had broken through to the Fourth Grade, he had only just done so recently and could not compare to himself. However, after this first exchange, he discovered a hard-to-bear truth.
Lin Chen’s strength was not any weaker than his own.
Li Yuan quickly retreated, not intending to engage in close combat with Lin Chen’s physical body.
Rumors had it that Lin Chen’s physical strength far exceeded others at the same realm, and now it seemed that the rumors were not exaggerated.
Though he didn’t know how this young man had trained his body to be so strong, battles of Grade-Entering Martial Artists weren’t won through physical bodies alone.
Lower Grade martial artists, because they had only recently entered the grade, didn’t have a deep understanding of Martial Path Will. But at his realm, having entered the grade for more than twenty years, he was already highly proficient in utilizing Martial Path Will.
"Jade Scale Bone-Eroding Spear!"
With a light shout, a green spear appeared in Li Yuan’s hand. The tip was entirely emerald green, but within the spear shaft, a red liquid could be faintly seen flowing, accompanied by an eerie red glow at the spear’s tip.
Demon Light!
Lin Chen was no longer a novice in the Martial Path. Just from the eerie red glow, he could determine that the red blood flowing inside Li Yuan’s spear was of some Demon Race origin.
"To think he’s colluding with the Demon Race."
"Lin Chen, this is my greatest secret, but it doesn’t matter now, because you’ll be the first to die beneath this spear."
Li Yuan swept his spear horizontally, and several green venomous python phantoms burst forth, emitting a piercing wail. Finally, as Li Yuan swung his spear, the python phantoms merged into one, carrying the terrifying might of the spear tip and striking towards Lin Chen.
This blending of his Martial Path Will with Demon Race bloodline was Li Yuan’s breakthrough in Martial Path Will over the years.
In Liang, martial artists were not allowed to possess Demon Race bloodlines, nor were there such cultivation techniques, but Zheng Kingdom had them, and years ago, he had procured a cultivation technique from Zheng Kingdom.
Facing this spear of Li Yuan, Lin Chen suddenly stood still. Seeing this, Li Yuan’s expression turned serious; he didn’t believe Lin Chen was scared stiff by his strike.
There’s always a monster when something unusual happens.
In Li Yuan’s sight, he saw Lin Chen form a gesture with his hands, then take a step forward, actively heading toward the spear tip.
In the next moment, to Li Yuan’s shock, flames appeared on Lin Chen’s body, instantly turning him into a human torch.
The flames engulfed him, leveraging the storm to grow.
In an instant, the flames reached a height of over a dozen feet.
The next moment, the flames vanished, and as they disappeared, a giant took a step forward, its broad hand slapping towards the spear tip.
Slap!
The spear shook, and the venomous python phantom was directly shaken off the spear shaft, dissipating into nothing without even making a sound in mid-air.
"What kind of cultivation technique is this?"
The vibrating power from the spear shook his tiger’s mouth until it burst open, but at this moment, most of Li Yuan’s attention was on the giant, his pupils constricting as the scene before him surpassed his Martial Path understanding.
He had never heard of any technique in the Nine Kingdoms that could transform someone into a giant over ten feet tall.
Even Xiang Kingdom’s Divine Elephant Body, at its peak, could only reach a stature of three feet, even if the State Preceptor of Xiang Kingdom performed it personally.
Boom!
Transformed into a giant, Lin Chen gave Li Yuan no time to breathe, pressing down with one giant palm, red flames faintly visible between the fingers, even making a hissing sound as it burned through the air.
Li Yuan retreated frantically, but his speed wasn’t fast enough to outpace the giant, and the palm directly covered him.
Slap!
The giant hand descended, slamming Li Yuan directly onto the river surface, causing water to splash dozens of feet high.
Whoosh!
Three breaths later, the soaking-wet Li Yuan emerged from the water surface dozens of feet away, but as soon as he surfaced, Lin Chen’s figure flashed, and despite his enormous size, his speed was not slow, appearing above Li Yuan’s head once more.
The enormous palm descended like a mountain.
At this moment, dozens of figures appeared on both banks.
This was the border between Liang and Zhao Kingdoms, not far from where the armies of the two countries were camped. Hearing the commotion, the martial artists in the barracks had all rushed over.
They didn’t recognize Li Yuan, but they were captivated by the ten-foot-tall giant figure on the river, each of them dumbfounded.
Demon Beast?
They had never heard of such a demon beast.
Martial Artist?
The Nine Kingdoms had never heard of a martial artist ten feet tall.
If they reported this to their superiors, their superiors probably wouldn’t believe it.
"Sir, should we take action?"
On the Zhao Kingdom’s side, a martial artist asked in a low voice.
"What action? Are you trying to get yourself killed? The one being slapped into the water is a Middle Grade martial artist, conservatively estimated to be at least Fifth Grade, as for this giant... if you want to die, go ahead."
The leading martial artist curled his lips; he was only at the Sixth Grade realm, and his few subordinates were only Seventh Grade. Altogether, they probably wouldn’t withstand a single slap from this giant.
The Liang side, likewise, had a few martial artists discussing in low voices at this moment.
"This giant is obviously toying with that martial artist."
"As soon as that martial artist pokes his head out, he gets slapped back down. This is mental torture."

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