Chapter 29: The King of Hell Calls in to Collect Unresolved Debts, Cleaving the Crimson Purgatory in One Strike.

Just as the word "guilt" left Lin Chen's mouth...

The muddy ground beneath his feet caved in, leaving a clear outline.

The Qi of the Divine Movement Step circulated through the Meridians of his lower limbs at full speed.

His black martial arts attire trailed behind like a dark whirlwind weaving through the mountain forest.

In the blink of an eye.

He unhesitatingly crashed into the forest of blades and spears formed by the more than three hundred men ahead.

The young gang members in the front didn't even have time to thrust their spears.

Before they were met head-on by a faint blue cold light!

The blade, forged from ten-refined steel, drew a short arc in mid-air.

It smoothly sliced through the flesh of the man's throat.

Warm blood gushed out from the incision.

Splashing directly onto the face and head of the man holding a blade next to him.

"Everyone, charge together!"

"Hack this government lackey to pieces!"

Someone in the crowd howled at the top of their lungs.

Over a dozen long weapons immediately thrust in unison toward Lin Chen's position!

Lin Chen's back folded backward at an extremely exaggerated angle.

The sharp spear tips narrowly missed the tip of his nose, only shearing off a few stray hairs from his forehead.

He didn't need to watch the chaotic trajectories of these weapons at all.

The True Qi of the Xuanhuang Immovable Body had already constructed a solid layer of protection beneath the surface of his body.

Two short axes swung from his blind spots and slammed into his shoulders.

Far from cutting through bone and flesh, they were sent flying out of their users' hands by the powerful counter-shock force!

Lin Chen gripped the brass hilt with one hand.

At the Perfection stage, the Gale Blade Technique had completely discarded those complex Move variations.

He simply guided the long blade in his hand along the direction of power from his waist.

And swept it outward in a horizontal circle.

A shrill sound of breaking air echoed through the narrow mountain path, a piercing noise that made one's scalp tingle.

The five burly men trying to surround him were sliced in half at the waist by this single strike!

Severed limbs and bright red organs mixed into the mud, emitting a pungent stench of blood.

[Host punished the armed thugs of the Black Tiger Gang. 20 points settled instantly.]

[Host punished the armed thugs of the Black Tiger Gang. 20 points settled instantly.]

The deep blue characters scrolling continuously on the System panel.

Became Lin Chen's abacus for measuring his gains in this slaughter.

Even his breathing frequency didn't change in the slightest.

Carrying the dripping long blade, he stepped directly over the corpses on the ground.

The open space in front of the stronghold gate was soon dyed a slippery dark red.

Every time the faint blue blade light flashed.

A member of the Black Tiger Gang would inevitably collapse into a pool of blood, clutching their neck or chest.

These outlaws, who usually oppressed the local gentry and had countless lives on their hands.

Finally experienced profound terror before this living Yama who could swallow them whole.

A fat man holding an iron hammer saw his companion's head roll across the ground.

He was so terrified that he dropped his weapon and turned to run frantically toward the stronghold's main gate!

Fear is contagious.

Once the first person fled.

The remaining two hundred-plus gang members, whose courage had long been shattered, began to retreat in a rout.

They pushed and trampled each other.

Just to get one step further away from the youth in black with the black blade.

Lin Chen stepped on a warm corpse and pointed his long blade diagonally toward the ground.

Blood droplets on the blade gathered along the fuller to the tip, dripping onto the bluestone slabs with a rhythmic tap.

He crossed the originally impregnable stronghold gate, leaving a bloody footprint with every step.

Alone, he pressed into the inner plaza of the Black Pine Stronghold.

"You little bastard!"

"Stop right there!"

A roar filled with brutality and fury.

Thundered out from the stone path behind the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness.

This soundwave carried a dense vibration of True Qi.

Causing sparks to fly from several burning torches around the plaza.

Lin Chen stopped and looked up toward the high steps of the Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness.

A one-eyed burly man, nine feet tall with knotted muscles.

Was striding down, carrying a heavy Ghost-Head Greatsword.

This man was the leader of the Black Tiger Gang, Ma Biao.

A veteran Blood Refining Realm expert who had been entrenched outside Qingxi County for five years.

With every step he took down the stairs.

His heavy boot soles would cause fine cracks to spiderweb across the stone slabs beneath his feet.

A surge of thick blood and energy, far exceeding that of an ordinary Martial Artist, surged outward from his chest.

Forming a visible dark red halo in the air.

The pressure of the Middle Stage Blood Refining Realm was released without restraint, covering Lin Chen in the center of the plaza.

The grey-robed elder, Uncle Zhou, who walked out with Ma Biao.

Stopped at the top of the steps, resting his hand on the short blade at his waist.

Uncle Zhou looked at the mangled corpses of the gang members scattered across the ground.

His withered face twitched uncontrollably.

The gang members who had managed to flee back to the plaza saw their leader appear.

They all began to wail and crawl toward the steps.

But Ma Biao didn't spare a single glance at those useless subordinates.

His remaining right eye was bloodshot as he stared directly at Lin Chen's face.

"I really couldn't tell!"

"You wet-behind-the-ears brat!"

"Your methods are even more ruthless than those of notorious bandits!"

He slammed the Ghost-Head Greatsword heavily onto the final step.

The tip of the blade forcibly gouged through the granite surface.

A ripple of dark red blood energy followed the impact of the blade.

Spreading across the floor tiles in all directions.

The surviving gang members nearby were oppressed by this blood energy.

Even breathing became difficult, and they were all forced to lie prostrate on the ground, clutching their chests.

Lin Chen stood at the very center of that ripple.

Without retreating even half a step!

The Xuanhuang Immovable Body True Qi circulating in his Meridians automatically formed a condensed, earthy-yellow protective layer on his skin.

Resisting the suffocating pressure completely within three feet of his body.

"I said I would sentence you to death."

"The ledger of the Great Qian Laws allows no room for me to bend the law for personal reasons."

Lin Chen's voice echoed in the oppressive air.

His tone was as matter-of-fact as if he were reviewing files in a courtroom.

Ma Biao laughed out of extreme anger.

The old scar crossing half his face twitched, making him look particularly hideous.

"What kind of bullshit is the law!"

"In this Qingxi Mountain Range!"

"The blade in my hand is the law!"

He folded his thick arms across his chest.

Looking at the earthy-yellow True Qi halo on Lin Chen's body, a scrutinizing ruthlessness appeared in his eyes.

"A couple of days ago, I heard reports from the brothers that there was some commotion in the county magistrate's office."

"I didn't believe such a backwater place could produce any kind of freak."

Ma Biao shifted half a step forward.

The blood energy halo behind him grew even denser.

"Looking at it now, you really did break through that barrier within a few days."

"And stepped into the threshold of the Middle Stage Blood Refining Realm."

Hearing this, Uncle Zhou, standing above the steps, tightened his grip on his short blade.

His knuckles turned white from the force.

Uncle Zhou sized up Lin Chen a few times.

Trying to confirm the truth of the leader's words.

Ma Biao cracked his stiff neck.

His bones ground together, producing several crisp pops.

"So what if you made a last-minute Breakthrough to the Middle Stage of the Blood Refining Realm!"

"Do you think my ten-plus years of living on the edge of a blade were just for show!"

As he spoke.

Ma Biao grabbed the hilt of the Ghost-Head Greatsword and yanked the heavy piece of steel out of the rock crevice!

Even more violent blood energy poured into the blade through his thick arms.

The outline of a blood-colored tiger began to take shape, circling and gathering above his head.

This was the unique blood energy manifestation of the Yellow Rank Low Grade Cultivation Technique, Black Tiger Seven-Kill Blade, once practiced to Major Achievement!

For a Martial Artist before Core Formation, this blood energy manifestation alone.

Was enough to make ordinary people lose the courage to draw their blades before the fight even began.

"Today, I'll skin you alive right out of that official uniform!"

"And hang you on the flagpole of our Black Pine Stronghold for that Magistrate Pei Qingxue to see!"

Ma Biao held the blade in one hand, pointing it straight at Lin Chen's forehead.

His massive body radiated terrifying heat under the enhancement of his blood energy.

Carrying the absolute confidence of crushing him.

Lin Chen raised his right hand.

Using his thumb, he slowly wiped away the remaining streak of blood on the blade.

From beginning to end, he hadn't wavered in the slightest due to the other's terrifying Aura.

Looking at Ma Biao, he saw only a bad debt on a ledger waiting to be cleared.

"This Black Tiger Seven-Kill Blade has a bit of a fierce momentum when fueled by your blood energy."

Lin Chen flipped the standard-issue steel blade in his hand—which wasn't even ranked—half a turn.

The tip pointed diagonally downward.

"Unfortunately, your blade only has the brute force of a brawler; it lacks even the most basic sharpness."

Ma Biao's remaining eye widened instantly.

His chest heaved violently once.

"You're looking for death!"

Accompanied by a deafening roar, Ma Biao leaped into the air!

Gripping the Ghost-Head Greatsword with both hands, he delivered a mountain-splitting strike from above toward Lin Chen's position.

This strike carried the massive power of the Middle Stage Blood Refining Realm.

The air it passed through was compressed into visible white shockwaves.

Seeing this earth-shaking strike from a distance, the tension in Uncle Zhou's face finally relaxed slightly.

He was certain the youth could never withstand the leader's long-prepared killing Move.

But Lin Chen did not use his movement technique to dodge as they expected.

He took a breath of the heavily blood-scented air.

And withdrew all the earthy-yellow True Qi of the Xuanhuang Immovable Body into the Meridians of his right arm holding the blade.

A power entirely different from Ma Biao's violent blood energy.

Emerged from Lin Chen's not-so-broad body.

It was an extremely chilling sense of oppression.

This was not simple True Qi externalization, nor was it the pressure brought by a Cultivation Technique.

It was a mysterious and profound Realm that could only be birthed after tempering a blade technique to Perfection.

Blade Intent.

Though it was only in its embryonic form.

That extremely restrained sharpness pierced through the blood-colored Domain Ma Biao had created in an instant!

Lin Chen's wrist flipped upward.

The standard-issue long blade met the heavy descending axe-like strike with an upward slash!

Small fallen leaves in the surrounding air, drawn by this invisible Blade Intent.

Were all sliced in two in mid-air, the cuts as smooth as a mirror.

This pure sharpness transformed into an invisible blade.

Easily slicing along the edge of Ma Biao's blood energy manifestation.

In Ma Biao's originally arrogant and self-assured single eye.

Panic finally surfaced for the first time in five years.

He could clearly feel his proud blood energy suppression disintegrating inch by inch.

Forcibly split open by an exceptionally sharp force, exposed before that humble steel blade!

"What kind of blade technique is this!"

Ma Biao in mid-air tried to withdraw his force and change his Move.

Only to find that his path of retreat had already been completely locked by that chilling sharpness.

Lin Chen didn't respond to the other's scream at all.

His heel ground into the bluestone slab on the ground.

The muscles on his arm tightened into an explosive, streamlined state, as he prepared to listen to the sound of the blade slicing through the other's bone and blood.