80: The man in black escaped.

"Pfft—!"

High in the air, a sudden change occurred again!

Lin Lingshan seemed unable to keep up, his movements a beat too slow, and he was savagely torn on his left shoulder by a vicious, tricky, pitch-black ghost claw from the Man in Black that struck like a viper's tongue.

His protective spiritual light shattered completely with a "crack," like fragile glass.

He violently spat out a large mouthful of golden blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs; the blood even contained faint, dim specks of spiritual light.

His body, like a kite with a broken string, could no longer maintain its flight, and he staggered as he plummeted heavily from mid-air!

"Family Head!" the clansmen below let out desperate cries of sorrow.

However, at the very moment of his fall, a flash of suicidal madness flickered in Lin Lingshan's eyes!

He summoned his last ounce of ruthlessness, ignoring the danger of his Meridians rupturing, and forcibly reversed his spiritual power, pouring every bit of his remaining strength into his right palm. A handprint, condensed into a substantial, brilliant golden light—like a final strike of one nearing death—slammed into the swirling black mist of the Man in Black!

"Ugh!" The black mist churned violently, like boiling ink! The two points of scarlet light dimmed suddenly, and a muffled groan was heard.

The Man in Black clearly hadn't expected Lin Lingshan to be so fierce and brave; caught off guard, he too suffered a non-trivial injury, his balance faltered, and he also landed on the ground.

The playfulness in his eyes vanished, replaced by an even more intense resentment and killing intent!

"Damn it, you dare to hurt me! I will extract your soul and refine your spirit!" This single strike might take him half a month of recovery to heal!

"Die! Golden Great Handprint!" As the falling Lin Lingshan was about to hit the ground, he actually forced himself to gather another mouthful of his nearly dissipated spiritual power and slammed both palms into the ground!

The movement carried a tragic sense of finality, as if he meant to shatter the very earth itself!

"Boom—!"

A sound even more terrifying than before erupted! A massive golden handprint, condensed into substance and instantly expanding to a diameter of a zhang, erupted with the Aura of destroying heaven and extinguishing earth, like a sleeping golden Dragon suddenly awakening!

The handprint grew in the wind, its golden light brilliant and dazzling, illuminating the entire burning night sky. Its terrifying pressure made the rubble on the ground tremble, and it instantly expanded to the size of five zhang, like the palm of a deity, about to descend directly upon the Man in Black!

A trace of genuine apprehension finally flashed in the scarlet eyes of the Man in Black.

The black mist around his body surged and compressed frantically, like a black sphere about to explode; he was clearly brewing an even more terrifying and sinister counterattack!

The cold, evil Aura permeating the air surged suddenly, making the clansmen watching from afar feel dizzy and nauseous!

Lin Jingyu was anxious to the point of burning.

His heart was beating wildly in his chest, and his blood felt like boiling magma rushing through his limbs and bones.

He pushed the spiritual power beneath his feet to the limit, increasing his speed by another thirty percent.

With every step he took, he left shallow indentations on the ground!

It was hateful that the small courtyard where he lived was too far from the ancestral hall; there was still nearly a hundred zhang of distance to cover!

The violent thunder power within the thunder fiend talisman in his hand was raging frantically, like an enraged Vicious Beast; purple lightning coiled around the surface of the Talisman paper, emitting faint "crackling" sounds, as if it were about to break free from its restraints and fly through the air at any moment.

Releasing a violent and irresistible heavenly might.

But he simply couldn't reach it; this final hundred zhang distance felt like a chasm of heaven, cutting off all hope!

"Faster! A little faster!" he roared in his heart, biting his lip until it broke, the taste of blood spreading in his mouth.

His sister's terrified and helpless little face flashed through his mind, and an inexplicable power, mixed with the ultimate control brought by his clear Mental Energy, erupted from the depths of his body.

His speed, already at its limit, was forced even higher.

At this critical juncture, the very moment the Golden Great Handprint was about to collide with the terrifying black sphere brewed by the Man in Black!

A sudden change occurred!

The black mist swirling and compressed to the limit around the Man in Black, whose Aura was climbing and about to erupt, suddenly stalled!

Immediately after, like dust scattered by the wind, it eerily transformed into countless wisps of tiny black smoke, dissipating into the night sky, thread by thread!

Only a blurry afterimage remained in place!

From far away in the air came a hoarse, grating, mocking laugh that sounded like fingernails scraping against a rotting coffin, filled with triumph and derision:

"...Hehehehehe... Head of the Lin family, you burned your Origin, you are at the end of your rope... Spiritual power backlash, your Foundation is destroyed... You have become a useless person... My goal for this trip has been achieved... Hehehe... Until we meet again..."

The voice drifted and faded, growing more distant. The Man in Black had seen the situation was unfavorable and, fearing greater injury, chose to escape at the final moment!

Clearly, his purpose for this trip was only to destroy Lin Lingshan's hope of advancing to the Late Stage Qi Refining, to severely damage his Foundation, rather than to fight him to the death.

No one had expected this outcome.

The Cultivator in black, who had been arrogant and unstoppable just a moment ago, like a demon destroying the world.

Had actually fled.

The massive, golden handprint behind Lin Lingshan, with its overwhelming Aura and brilliant golden light, rapidly dimmed and dissipated, like a candle burned to the end.

He could no longer hold on, and with a "thud," he fell heavily to one knee, his knee smashing into the hard bluestone slab and making a dull sound.

He braced himself with his hands, panting heavily; every breath brought with it thick blood foam and fragments of internal organs, his chest heaving violently like an old, dilapidated bellows that might fall apart at any moment.

Fresh blood continuously overflowed from the corners of his mouth, staining the ground in front of him red, as well as his tattered clothes.

After a long while, the mad, blood-red color in his eyes slowly receded like a tide, revealing an exhaustion that reached the point of grayness. He lifted his head with difficulty and looked in the direction where the Man in Black had disappeared.

The corners of his mouth curled into a miserable arc mixed with endless mockery and monstrous rage, his voice hoarse and intermittent, like a leaking bellows:

"Cough, cough... Thief... Good scheme... Taking advantage of my critical breakthrough moment... to destroy my path of cultivation... cough, cough..."

He suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of blood, his body swaying violently, before continuing with a trace of self-deprecating sorrow, "However... you never... imagined... that I... was also... bluffing you!"

He gasped a few times, gathering his last bit of strength, his voice carrying the desolation of a hero at the end of his road: "If I... really had... cough, cough... such... easily deployable means... I would have used them long ago... how would it have come to this... Hahaha... cough, cough..."

The laughter aggravated his injuries, causing him to cough up a few more mouthfuls of blood foam mixed with internal organ fragments; his body teetered, and finally, no longer able to hold on, his vision went black, and he collapsed forward heavily!

Lin Jingyu breathed a sigh of relief; the black-clad demonic Cultivator had fled, so at least the Family Head had survived.

He walked forward quickly, helped the Family Head up from the ground, took out various healing Medicinal Pills from his Storage Pouch, and stuffed them into his mouth.

At this moment, the others finally reacted, wailing and crying out to heaven and earth; some gathered around the Family Head, while others headed to the ancestral hall to put out the fire!