Chapter 73: A Powerful Kill of a Core Formation Old Dog! Five Thousand Points for an Instant Feast!

The light from the phosphorescent stones in the secret passage grew dimmer and dimmer.

The cold light receded along the stone walls toward the end.

Lin Chen dragged the third black-robed man, who had been knocked unconscious, up from the ground.

He propped the man against the stone wall and struck his chest with one palm.

True Qi from the Tongmai Realm Middle Stage poured into the opponent's Dantian, surging upward along his Meridians.

The black-robed man's body jerked, and he coughed up a mouthful of saliva streaked with dark green blood.

His eyelids twitched several times before he finally managed to open them.

When his pupils met Lin Chen's face, his entire body shrank back.

"Don... don't kill me."

Lin Chen squatted in front of him, his right hand resting on the hilt of black abyss.

His thumb rubbed over the scale patterns of the ray skin, circle after circle.

"Answer whatever I ask, and you will live once you've finished answering."

The black-robed man's Adam's apple bobbed twice.

He glanced behind Lin Chen and saw the corpse of the leader near the altar, which had been sliced diagonally into two halves.

His lips began to tremble.

"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything."

Lin Chen's thumb stopped.

"Who is your superior at this stronghold?"

The black-robed man swallowed, his voice thin and trembling, as if squeezed out from a pinched throat.

"Evil... Evil Doctor."

"What's his name?"

"No one knows his real name; we all call him Medicine Elder."

The black-robed man shrank back another half-inch, his spine pressing tightly against the stone wall.

"He is the person in charge of all our strongholds in the Prefecture, a Ningdan Realm Early Stage Cultivator."

Nangong Yao stood at the entrance of the secret passage with her arms crossed over her chest.

When she heard the words "Ningdan Realm," her brows furrowed slightly.

Lin Chen's expression remained indifferent.

"Where is he?"

The black-robed man opened his mouth twice, his face full of hesitation.

Lin Chen's thumb began rubbing the scale patterns again.

The black-robed man immediately dared not delay.

"West of the city, the slums in the west of the city!"

"In the innermost dead-end alley of Jianfang, at the end of the alley, there is an abandoned pharmacy."

His fingers frantically gestured in the air to indicate the direction.

"Three layers of cellars have been dug beneath the pharmacy, and the bottom-most layer is where the Main Altar is located."

"Medicine Elder usually lives in the Main Altar and rarely shows his face."

Lin Chen looked at the black-robed man, then at Nangong Yao.

Nangong Yao nodded slightly.

She knew of Jianfang.

Lin Chen turned his head and asked again.

"How many people are in the Main Altar?"

The black-robed man's eyes rolled twice, his fingers unconsciously calculating in the air.

"There are about forty or fifty cultists."

"They are all ordinary people brainwashed by Medicine Elder using secret arts, with no cultivation."

He swallowed, his voice dropping another notch.

"But there are also seven or eight Cultivators like me, ranging from Blood Refining Realm Middle Stage to Late Stage."

"Medicine Elder has a personal bodyguard by his side, a Tongmai Realm Late Stage Cultivator."

Lin Chen went over these numbers in his mind.

One Ningdan Realm Early Stage, one Tongmai Realm Late Stage, seven or eight Blood Refining Realm Cultivators, and forty or fifty brainwashed cultists.

He stood up and walked over to Nangong Yao, leaning in close to speak in a hushed voice.

"To what extent have you recovered now?"

Nangong Yao turned her right hand over, palm facing up, her five fingers slightly curled.

A wisp of True Qi floated up from her fingertips.

A dark silver light circulated between her knuckles twice, its texture dense.

"Seven tenths."

She withdrew the True Qi into her palm and curled her fingers.

"My Meridians have eased, and the True Qi in my Dantian has mostly recovered."

She turned to look at Lin Chen.

"But against a Ningdan Realm Early Stage, even with the two of us from the Tongmai Realm joining forces, we have little chance of winning."

Lin Chen's thumb rubbed half a circle on the hilt.

"It's too late to go back to the Patrol Division to call for reinforcements."

Nangong Yao raised an eyebrow.

"It's not a question of time."

Her voice dropped even lower.

"There are people from the Wang family in the Patrol Division; going back to call for reinforcements will inevitably be detected."

Lin Chen's fingers stopped at the edge of the scabbard.

Nangong Yao continued, speaking slowly, enunciating every word clearly.

"If that Medicine Elder gets wind of the news and flees, it will be difficult to catch him in the future."

Lin Chen looked at the wisp of dim green light at the end of the secret passage.

He didn't speak for a long while.

"Then we won't call for reinforcements."

Nangong Yao narrowed her long, slender eyes.

"You're going directly?"

"If it's only a Ningdan Realm Early Stage, the two of us should be enough."

Nangong Yao felt admiration in her heart and could only voice her agreement.

"You really are exactly as Qingxue described."

"What did she say?"

"She said that once you set your mind on something, you'll charge at it head-on and never turn back until you break your head."

Lin Chen was expressionless.

"If the situation is impossible, we should naturally prioritize our own safety."

He straightened his body.

He unfastened black abyss from his waist and re-hung it, the bronze buckle fastened tightly.

"Let's go."

He looked back at the entrance of the secret passage guarded by Shen Yue.

"Shen Yue."

Shen Yue's response came from above the secret passage.

"Here."

"This living captive is yours. Tie him up securely, take him back to the Patrol Division, and find Zhao Gang to watch him together."

"Don't give him to anyone who asks; only hand him over to the people from the Governors Mansion."

Shen Yue's voice drifted down from above, filled with efficiency.

"Understood."

Lin Chen took Nangong Yao out of the secret passage, climbed over the courtyard wall, and landed in the alley.

Twilight had completely descended.

The eaves on both sides of the alley carved out a narrow sliver of sky above their heads.

The last bit of daylight was stuck in the crevices of the tiles, revealing a faint lingering light.

The two walked west along the old alley.

Nangong Yao's pace was much steadier than when she had just come out of the cage.

The soft sound of her footsteps was even and measured.

They turned past three streets and passed through two neighborhood gates.

The further west they went, the more desolate the scene on the streets became.

Shop signs became sparse, and the white plaster on the walls grew old.

The air was filled with the sour stench of overnight slop mixed with rotten vegetable leaves.

Jianfang.

The plaque on the neighborhood gate was missing a corner, and the remaining characters were yellowed by smoke.

Two old men were squatting in the gateway playing chess.

The chessboard was placed on a crooked stone slab, and the chess pieces were all broken tile fragments.

Lin Chen walked into the neighborhood gate and proceeded along the main alley.

The alley became narrower and narrower, and the houses became shorter and shorter.

By the time they reached the entrance of the final dead-end alley, the width was only enough for two people to pass side by side.

At the end of the alley, there was indeed an abandoned pharmacy.

The door panels were nailed shut, and the windows were half-blocked with bricks.

A half-faded shop banner hung under the eaves, with the character "Medicine" still barely discernible on it.

Lin Chen and Nangong Yao stopped at the corner of the alley entrance.

His palm pressed against the alley wall, and wisps of True Qi seeped toward the pharmacy.

After a while, he withdrew his hand.

"There are indeed people underneath; the Qi signatures are very chaotic, possibly dozens."

He looked at the door panels and windows of the pharmacy.

"There is an aura in the deepest part that is thicker than all the others combined."

Nangong Yao leaned against the wall.

The two rope marks on her wrists were particularly striking in the twilight.

"That should be Medicine Elder."

She didn't respond, pondering for a moment.

"I suggest we divide the work this way."

Her fingers traced a simple route in the air.

"You launch a frontal assault and draw everyone's attention to yourself."

"I will sneak in from the back and seal off their retreat."

She withdrew her fingers.

"Can you handle that Tongmai Realm Late Stage bodyguard plus seven or eight Blood Refining Realm Cultivators by yourself?"

Lin Chen's thumb rubbed over the edge of black abyss's scabbard.

The rasping sound of metal rubbing against ray skin spread throughout the entire alley.

"Not a big problem."

Nangong Yao looked at him.

"Good, I leave it to you."

Her figure leaned into the shadows of the alley wall, and she melted into the depths of the twilight.

Her aura was retracted to the limit.

Her footsteps were light and agile, skirting along the alley wall toward the backyard of the pharmacy.

Lin Chen stood alone at the alley entrance.

He drew black abyss three inches from its scabbard.

The dark golden halo on the blade ebbed and flowed in the twilight, exuding a chilling, murderous aura.

He counted thirty breaths.

Time for Nangong Yao to circle to the back.

When the thirtieth breath fell, Lin Chen stepped toward the main entrance of the pharmacy.

He lifted his right foot, pouring True Qi into the sole of his shoe.

He kicked hard at the nailed-shut door panel.

The entire door panel flew off the door frame.

It flipped three times in the air, carrying two rusty iron nails, and smashed heavily into the counter of the pharmacy hall.

Dust mixed with wood splinters flew everywhere.

Seven or eight figures in gray robes were squatting in the pharmacy hall.

Each held a weapon in their hands, obviously perimeter guards.

At the moment the door panel flew across, everyone turned their heads simultaneously.

Lin Chen had already stepped over the threshold.

black abyss left its sheath.

Before the first gray-robed man could stand straight, the blade had already sliced across his chest.

The dark golden blade light carved an arc in the dim hall.

Slicing the two Blood Refining Realm Middle Stage gray-robed men in front of him into two halves from left shoulder to right waist.

Fresh blood splattered onto the wall.

Before it had time to drip down, Lin Chen's second strike had already arrived.

A horizontal slash.

Three gray-robed men raised their blades to block, but when their blades touched black abyss, the weapons in their hands snapped in unison.

The cuts were smooth and radiated an eerie heat.

Lin Chen did not retreat a single step; his Blade Intent was like a chain, clearing out the gray-robed men in the hall within three strikes.

A burst of chaotic footsteps came from behind.

A group of ordinary people wearing linen clothes poured out from the direction of the cellar entrance.

Holding sticks and kitchen knives, their eyes vacant, they shouted incoherent slogans.

They swarmed toward him.

They were all brainwashed cultists.

Lin Chen did not use his blade.

He sheathed black abyss, turned by grinding his left foot, and pushed horizontally with his right palm.

A wave of True Qi surged out from his palm, not to harm anyone.

It only knocked over the dozen or so cultists rushing at the front, slamming them against the counter and walls, knocking most of them unconscious.

The remaining cultists were terrified by this wave of True Qi.

They squatted on the ground, trembling all over, and no one dared to rush forward again.

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

On the steps of the cellar entrance, a burly figure slowly walked up.

A fierce, fleshy face, bald, a string of Bone Beads around his neck, his aura was thick and heavy.

Late Stage Tongmai Realm.

Medicine Elder's personal bodyguard.

The bald man looked at the gray-robed corpses scattered everywhere, then at the unconscious cultists on the ground.

Finally, his eyes locked onto Lin Chen.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking loudly.

Lin Chen pushed the crossguard of his blade with his thumb.

The bald man took a step forward, and with a crunch, two shards of debris crumbled from the cracks in the floor tiles.

He lunged forward.

Thick, dark green True Qi wrapped around his fist as he smashed it toward Lin Chen's face with a foul-smelling wind pressure.

Lin Chen did not meet it head-on.

Shifting half a step to the right, he drew his blade from his waist and slashed diagonally.

The edge of the black abyss sliced through the True Qi shield on the outer edge of the bald man's fist.

A burst of dark green sparks erupted.

The bald man's fist-wind brushed past Lin Chen's left shoulder.

It smashed into the wall behind him, shattering a section of the brickwork.

Lin Chen's Blade Intent flipped, and the Xuanyue Shield lit up in front of him.

The dark gold light membrane forcibly repelled the bald man's counter-elbow strike.

Thirty percent of the counter-shock force poured into the bald man's elbow joint.

His right arm trembled, and his fingers went numb.

In that brief moment of hesitation.

Lin Chen's blade had already reached his neck.

The black abyss swept across from left to right in a single horizontal slash.

The bald man's head spun once in the air.

The string of Bone Beads snapped, and the beads scattered across the floor with a pitter-patter.

The headless body fell backward, crashing heavily onto the steps of the cellar entrance.

It crushed two bricks at the edge.

Lin Chen flicked the blood off his blade and did not linger.

He stepped directly onto the stairs and headed down into the cellar.

At the end of the stone steps was an iron door.

The iron door was slightly ajar, with a cluster of dark green light leaking through the crack.

The concentration of light was more than ten times stronger than the phosphorus stones in the secret room above.

Lin Chen pushed open the iron door.

The Main Altar was far more spacious than he had estimated.

The four stone walls were covered with dense runes and formation lines.

Dark green light seeped from the formation lines, illuminating the entire hall with a sense of Death Qi.

On a stone platform in the center sat a withered old man cross-legged.

Gray robes, white hair, a sallow face, and high cheekbones.

His hands rested on his knees.

The nails on his ten fingers were all dark green, nearly half an inch longer than the tips of his fingers, curving like hooks.

His eyes were open.

His pupils were an extremely unnatural dark green, sharing the same source as the color of the runes on the altar.

Medicine Elder.

Early Stage Ningdan Realm.

Four black-robed men of the Late Stage Blood Refining Realm stood on either side of the stone platform.

But Lin Chen looked past them.

In the furthest corner of the hall, Nangong Yao was emerging from behind a hidden door.

She silently stood behind the four black-robed men.

She held a longsword she had picked up conveniently.

Her gaze met Lin Chen's across the entire hall.

Medicine Elder's eyes were open, his withered old face full of Death Qi.

His voice emerged from deep within his throat, carrying a nauseating stench of decay.

"Another person from the Patrol Division coming to their death?"

Lin Chen held the black abyss horizontally in front of him.

"Before I came here, I already wiped out your branch altar in the north of the city and killed your Branch Master."

The sole of his boot ground forward a step.

"Guess what I'm here for."

The dark green luminescence in Medicine Elder's pupils flickered.

"A mere Middle Stage Tongmai Realm, such boastful words."

He slowly stood up, his gray robes rustling in the windless hall.

His aura was released, and the entire hall suddenly became bone-chillingly cold.

The True Qi suppression of the Ningdan Realm, carrying a pressure like Mount Tai, bore down directly on Lin Chen's shoulders.

The four black-robed men on either side of the stone platform lunged forward simultaneously.

Behind them.

Nangong Yao moved.

Her longsword unsheathed, dark silver True Qi surging on the blade.

One strike pierced through the heart of the hindmost black-robed man.

A second strike swept horizontally, cutting the black-robed man next to him in half at the waist.

As the remaining two black-robed men turned around, Lin Chen had already closed in on the stone platform.

The black abyss slashed upward.

A single strike severed both arms of the third black-robed man lunging at him at the wrists.

He reversed his blade and stabbed it into the throat of the fourth black-robed man.

Four black-robed men—each of them handled two, taking less than half a cup of tea's time in total.

Medicine Elder's eyelids finally twitched.

He pushed both palms forward, his ten fingers spread wide.

His dark green nails glinted with an eerie luster in the dim light.

Two clouds of dark green mist surged from his palms, more than five times thicker than the Blood Devouring Technique of that Branch Master in the north of the city.

The mist, carrying a shockwave that acted directly on the spirit, bore down toward Lin Chen's face.

Lin Chen's mind suffered a heavy blow; with a buzz, his vision briefly blurred.

A mental attack.

He gritted his teeth, and Middle Stage Tongmai Realm True Qi erupted violently from his Dantian.

It poured into the Meridians of his head, forcibly repelling that mental shockwave.

Simultaneously.

The Xuanyue Shield expanded rapidly on the surface of his body, blocking the dark green Bloodthirsty Mist three inches away.

He did not retreat.

He thrust his blade forward.

The edge of the black abyss split through the layer of dark green mist.

True Qi collided with evil Qi, and the sound of sizzling corrosion filled the entire underground hall.

Medicine Elder's palm power and Lin Chen's Blade Intent twisted together in mid-air.

Early Stage Ningdan Realm against Middle Stage Tongmai Realm; the quality of their True Qi differed by an entire major Realm.

For every inch Lin Chen advanced, a large chunk of True Qi in his Dantian was consumed.

The edge of the black abyss was still three feet from Medicine Elder's chest.

Yet it felt mired in a swamp, unable to be pushed further.

Medicine Elder smiled, his parched lips cracking open to reveal a few traces of blood.

"Die for me."

His ten fingers curled and closed.

The mist in his palms compressed rapidly, turning into two dark green chains that coiled toward Lin Chen's right arm holding the blade.

Lin Chen didn't look at those two chains at all.

He looked past Medicine Elder's shoulder and saw that Nangong Yao had already circled to the exact rear of the stone platform.

Her longsword was charged with True Qi, and dark silver light gathered at the tip into a fist-sized point of light.

Lin Chen's lips moved slightly.

No sound came out, but Nangong Yao understood.

Now.

Nangong Yao thrust her sword.

A dark silver Sword Beam pierced directly toward Medicine Elder's heart from behind.

Medicine Elder's pupils constricted.

He withdrew half of the force from his palms in front and flipped them backward.

The dark green mist transformed into a shield wall, blocking Nangong Yao's Sword Beam.

The Sword Beam collided with the shield wall, spraying out a shower of intermingled silver and green light.

Medicine Elder's figure swayed a few times before stabilizing.

A cold snort escaped his mouth.

"Mere parlor tricks."

But he was wrong.

Nangong Yao's strike was never meant to kill him.

What she wanted was to force him to be distracted.

To force him to withdraw half of his power from the front.

This was the moment Lin Chen had been waiting for.

This was the Blade Intent he had been accumulating since he stepped out of the Patrol Division.

Since he stepped out of the Patrol Division this morning.

True Qi had been layered and compressed in his Dantian, one level after another.

When dealing with that Early Stage Tongmai Realm Branch Master at the North City Branch Altar, he hadn't used it.

When killing the bald bodyguard, he hadn't used it.

When slaying those four black-robed men, he still hadn't used it.

He had been accumulating this Blade Intent all along.

Now, as this slash was unleashed.

The dark gold True Qi core in his Dantian spun like crazy.

All the accumulated True Qi poured entirely into the body of the black abyss.

On the Black Gold Profound Iron blade surface, the dark gold halo surged to its limit.

Thunder Markings spread frantically along the spine of the blade, one after another in a dense pattern.

The crackling sound of thunder ricocheted back and forth in the underground hall.

It shook the runes on the four stone walls until they began to tremble.

One strike.

From bottom to top.

The blade edge split through the remaining mist wall in front of Medicine Elder, penetrating without any resistance.

The dark green mist collapsed into a flurry of debris before the dark gold thunder intent.

Medicine Elder's pupils dilated to their maximum.

He wanted to withdraw his palms to defend.

But that half-palm's worth of power was still stuck on the shield wall behind him, dealing with Nangong Yao.

It was too late.

The edge of the black abyss sliced into his lower abdomen, cutting all the way up through his sternum and collarbone.

When the blade light burst out from above his left shoulder.

It carried a spray of dark green liquid and bone fragments.

Medicine Elder's body was frozen mid-air.

He lowered his head, looking at his own body which had been slashed open diagonally from abdomen to shoulder.

His mouth opened and closed twice, but not a single word came out.

The dark green light in his pupils extinguished.

He fell backward, the back of his head hitting the edge of the stone platform.

His whole body slid off the stone platform and slumped onto the ground, his gray robes soaked through with blood.

The hall fell silent.

The dark green runes and formation lines on the stone walls flickered two last times.

Then they rapidly receded and dissipated, darkening circle by circle.

The hall completely turned into an ordinary underground stone chamber.

Nangong Yao sheathed her longsword.

She stood behind the stone platform, looking at Lin Chen across Medicine Elder's corpse.

Her chest was heaving slightly, her breathing twice as hurried as usual.

But her eyes were terrifyingly bright.

Lin Chen wiped the foul liquid off the black abyss using the corner of Medicine Elder's robe and sheathed his blade.

At the edge of his vision, a ghostly blue light spread out.

**[Slew the Early Stage Ningdan Realm evil leader, eradicated the evil Cultivator organization, maintained the security of the Prefecture. Achievement evaluation: Peerless!]**

**[Points +5000!]**

**[Current System accumulated total points: 7800.]**