"Clan rules? Lin Wang ambushed him first, and you have the nerve to talk to me about clan rules!"
Lin Mingsong kept his smile, then shook his head. "Besides, I didn’t come here to discuss clan rules with you. I came to settle a score. It’s time to clear the slate, new grudges and old."
As his voice fell, Lin Mingsong moved.
There was no gathering of power, no warning sign, not even a preparatory stance. The light of his blade had already slashed out.
A torrent of blade light, carrying an incomparably sharp aura, shot straight toward Lin Mingguan.
There was nothing fancy about this strike. It was simply fast, precise, and ruthless.
It was the epitome of speed.
Lin Mingguan’s pupils shrank. He never expected that Lin Mingsong’s first target would be him.
He was at the Blood Exchange First Transformation, by no means a weakling among the Ming generation of the Third and Fourth Branches. But facing Lin Mingsong’s strike, he couldn’t even form the thought to block.
He retreated instinctively.
But the blade light was faster.
PFFT!
The blade light sliced across his right shoulder. His Protective Blood Gang shattered in an instant, as if it were made of paper mâché.
A gash deep enough to reveal bone ran diagonally from his shoulder blade to his chest. Blood sprayed out, dyeing half his lapel red.
Lin Mingguan let out a pained scream as his entire body was sent flying. He landed heavily below the Combat Platform, his face a mask of agony and terror.
One strike, and Lin Mingguan was severely injured.
The entire crowd was in an uproar.
Lin Mingtang’s face was deathly pale. He was the closest and had seen it most clearly. He wouldn’t have been able to take that strike from Lin Mingsong either.
The gap between the Peak of Blood Exchange Third Transformation and the First or Second Transformation was an insurmountable chasm.
"Your turn."
Lin Mingsong turned, his gaze falling upon Lin Mingtang.
Lin Mingtang froze. He subconsciously wanted to back away, but his feet felt as if they were nailed to the ground, impossible to lift.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to run; it was that under Lin Mingsong’s gaze, he didn’t dare.
He knew that the moment he moved, Lin Mingsong’s blade would be faster than his feet.
’If I don’t run, Lin Mingsong probably won’t kill me. But if I do run and his blade light goes astray, I might actually lose my life.’
It was a humiliating thought, but it was what he truly believed in that moment.
The blade light flashed again.
The second strike was even faster than the first.
Lin Mingtang subconsciously raised his hands to block. He was wearing a pair of Spirit Weapon-level gloves, but the moment the blade light touched them, the gloves were covered in a web of cracks and instantly disintegrated into dust.
His body was also sent flying. While still in mid-air, he spat out a mouthful of blood that splattered across the stone ground in a shocking display.
Just two strikes.
Both Lin Mingguan and Lin Mingtang were severely injured.
Below the platform, there was dead silence.
Everyone stared blankly at the scene, as if they hadn’t yet processed what had just happened.
A glint shone in Lin Yan’s eyes. ’Brother Song’s two strikes... they were so fast I couldn’t even track them. Is this the power of the number one talent of the Third Branch’s Ming generation? He’s too strong!’
After sending Lin Mingguan and Lin Mingtang flying with two strikes, Lin Mingsong’s gaze shifted to Lin Mingchuan, who was currently fighting Minghai.
"Enough!"
Seeing that Lin Mingsong was about to strike again, Lin Shouhe could no longer hold back. He could accept Mingtang and Mingguan being injured, but Mingchuan was one of the most promising talents of the Fourth Branch’s Ming generation. He had a chance to step into the True Gang Realm before the age of thirty; he absolutely could not be injured by Lin Mingsong.
However, at the same instant he let out that soft cry, a streak of white light shot through the air from a distance.
Before anyone could see clearly what the white light was, it had already slashed across Lin Shouhe’s abdomen. Then, his figure was carried away by the light, slamming into a large tree outside the Combat Platform.
This time, everyone saw what the white light was.
It was a silver spear, run through Lin Shouhe’s abdomen, pinning his entire body to the tree trunk three feet off the ground.
Lin Shouhe looked down at the spear piercing his abdomen, then raised his head to look in the direction it came from, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Below the platform, a deathly silence fell.
Everyone was stunned.
No one spoke. No one dared to speak. It was as if even breathing had stopped.
An elder of the Shou generation, a member of the Law Enforcement Hall, had just been pinned to a tree with a spear.
Like pinning a butterfly.
Effortless.
Casual.
No one had even seen where the spear had come from.
Lin Mingsong raised his head and looked into the distance, and everyone followed his gaze.
Dozens of yards away, a figure was striding toward them.
Dressed in gray robes with a full, thick beard, the figure strode closer. Lin Yan stared, his mouth slightly agape. ’Isn’t that... Uncle Qi?’
Lin Mingchuan froze in place, not daring to attack Lin Minghai again, a chill running through his body.
Lin Mingguan and Lin Mingtang lay below the platform, not even daring to groan. They could only bite down hard, terrified of making the slightest sound that might displease that person.
"Uncle Qi actually came out of the ancestral hall."
Lin Mingshan and the members of the other branches stared wide-eyed. This was Uncle Qi, after all.
Being ranked seventh didn’t mean Uncle Qi’s true strength was only seventh.
Nine years ago, Uncle Qi was already ranked seventh. After that, he spent six years in the Third Branch’s ancestral hall and never made a move again.
With Uncle Qi’s talent and strength, it was impossible for him not to have improved in those six years!
The crowd voluntarily parted, creating a path.
Uncle Qi stepped onto the Combat Platform and first glanced at Lin Yan. "Not bad."
Lin Yan nodded. Even though he felt he’d become cautious enough not to get easily excited, hearing Uncle Qi’s "not bad" still made his heart surge with emotion.
"As the referee, since you chose to stand by and do nothing, you should have stayed on the sidelines. Now you want to interfere? This spear is my response. Lin Shouhe, are you unconvinced?"
Uncle Qi’s gaze fell on Lin Shouhe, who was pinned to the tree. As a Peak of Fourth Transformation Martial Artist in the Blood Exchange Realm, Lin Shouhe could have blocked Lin Wang’s attack for Lin Yan earlier.
Since Lin Shouhe had pretended not to react in time then, he had no right to interfere now!
His words weren’t just for Lin Shouhe; they were a warning to certain others as well.
Lin Shouhe’s expression was grim. Being pinned to a tree by a spear was a great humiliation for him. But if he were to say "I am unconvinced" right now, knowing Lin Shouchen’s temperament, he feared the next spear would pierce his chest.
"It seems you are unconvinced."
Lin Shouchen shook his head. Lin Shouhe’s pupils shrank. At that moment, he sensed true danger. ’This Lin Shouchen... he really dares to kill me.’
"Old Qi, let it be."
On the Combat Platform, a middle-aged man in black robes abruptly appeared, his body seamlessly moving to block the path to Lin Shouhe.
"It cannot be. My Third Branch is owed an explanation!"
Lin Shouchen raised his right hand. With a SWOOSH, the spear that had pierced Lin Shouhe flew back and landed in his grip.
Blood dripped from the tip of the spear.
"The last time in the Law Enforcement Hall, I didn’t make a move, which led you to believe you could quell this matter."
Lin Shouzheng’s mouth twitched. He knew Old Qi wasn’t targeting him personally, but if he really let Old Qi go on a killing spree, things would spiral out of control.
"Lin Shouhe, as the presider, you failed to maintain order during the duel. You will be confined in the Reversed Lake for five years."
"Not enough."
Lin Shouchen shook his head, slowly raising the spear in his hand.
"Lin Wang ambushed him first; death was too good for him. The Thunder Armor on Lin Wang’s body will belong to Lin Yan."
The tip of the spear rose a little higher. Lin Shouzheng’s eyelid twitched, and he shot an imperceptible glance at the people from the Fourth Branch.
"Lin Mingguan and Lin Mingtang disrupted the order of the branch competition. They will be confined in the Reversed Lake for one year!"
SWOOSH!
The spear in Lin Shouchen’s hand shot forward with a roar, and the temperature on the entire Combat Platform rose sharply in that instant.
"Lin Mingchuan will enter the Reversed Lake for three years, and the Fourth Branch will relinquish its stewardship of the Yantian Mountain Range."
The surging temperature instantly dropped. Seeing Lin Shouchen withdraw his spear, Lin Shouzheng could only give a wry, helpless smile.
’There’s nothing I can do. If I don’t satisfy Old Qi, not a single one of these people from the Fourth Branch will leave here alive. As for whether the Fourth Branch will be dissatisfied... so what?’
Who told the Fourth Branch to do something so disgraceful?
To be so calculating in a simple branch competition, and to have failed so miserably at it.
"Fifth Uncle, I refuse to accept this! That Lin Yan killed my..."
Lin Mingchuan craned his neck to protest, but before he could finish his sentence, Lin Shouzheng raised a large hand and slapped him. The blow sent Lin Mingchuan flying, and he was already unconscious by the time he hit the ground.
Lin Shouchen gave Lin Shouzheng an amused look, not even sparing a glance for Lin Mingchuan. He said coolly, "Let’s go."

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