171: The Lin family ambushed them! They raised their hands and killed them!

Liu Yunsheng was stunned.

He looked at that slightly stooped back.

A chill inexplicably rose in his heart.

Comparing the Lin Family, which has dominated Zhenyuan City for hundreds of years, to flies? He even wants to 'restock' from them in return?

Was this person truly fearless, or had his arrogance truly reached a boundless level?

“Qian Tong.”

Liu Yunsheng watched the direction Chen Xu had left for a long time before slowly speaking: “Pass down the order. No one from the Tianbao Pavilion is allowed to interfere in this matter. Additionally... send out all our scouts in the city.”

“Pavilion Master, your meaning is?”

...The night was as dark as ink, with neither stars nor moon in sight.

Although the streets of Zhenyuan City remained brightly lit, the oppressive and murderous atmosphere was several times heavier than during the day.

The originally bustling night market had closed early, and the pedestrians on the road were all in a hurry, not daring to linger at this moment.

Everyone knew that tonight, there would surely be a bloodbath in Zhenyuan City.

Amidst this suffocating atmosphere, one figure appeared particularly out of place.

Chen Xu was still wearing his tattered black robe!

Behind him, Xiao Hei held half a roasted chicken in his mouth, eating until his Face was covered in grease. His tail was held high, and his carefree appearance was indeed cute!

The man and the dog walked down the main road leading to the city gate with great swagger.

They neither concealed their figures nor sped up, as if they were taking a stroll in their own back garden.

“He's out! That mysterious person is out!”

“He actually didn't use the teleportation array? He didn't even use a disguise?”

“This is too arrogant! Doesn't he know the Lin Family is waiting to tear him into ten thousand pieces?”

In the shadows of the dark, countless Divine Senses probed over, tightly locking onto Chen Xu's figure.

These were not just scouts from the Lin Family, but also eyes sent by the city's major powers to gather information, and even many Loose Cultivators and bandits wanting to fish in troubled waters.

After all, Chen Xu was now a walking human treasure vault.

Twenty-five million tai xu realm stone, a five-million-Spirit Stone Fragmentary Map, plus the massive wealth he likely possessed... as long as they killed him, they could ascend to heaven in a single step!

This kind of temptation was enough to drive people mad, enough to make them ignore the fear of the unknown.

Chen Xu turned a blind eye to the greedy, prying eyes around him.

The news spread as quickly as a plague.

Outside the city gate.

In a seemingly peaceful stretch of wild forest.

Lin Overlord sat cross-legged on a giant rock, his eyes slightly closed, with a dark red long saber resting across his knees.

Around him, dozens of Lin Family elites in black armor had already formed a Formation. Every one of their Auras was as deep as an abyss, with the weakest being at the Early Stage of Origin.

Furthermore, three Elders at the Peak of the Nascent Soul Stage Late Phase stood in three directions, forming a horn-like Formation that completely blocked the only road to the outside world.

“Family Head! That person has left the city!”

A scout emerged from the darkness and knelt on one knee to report: “Just as the Family Head expected, he took no shortcuts and is walking this way along the official road! There is only that dog by his side; no other helpers were found!”

Lin Overlord snapped his eyes open.

“What courage!”

Lin Overlord slowly stood up, the long saber in his hand emitting a hum: “Since you refuse the path to Heaven and instead barge into the gateless Hell, then don't blame me for being ruthless!”

“Pass down the order, activate the ‘Spirit-Severing Dragon-Trapping Formation’! I want to make it so he cannot escape even with wings!”

“Yes!”

With the command given, the Spiritual Qi within a ten-mile radius suddenly stagnated.

Countless Formation runes lit up on the ground, turning into a giant cage that completely sealed off this piece of heaven and earth.

Half a cup of tea later.

A faint sound of footsteps, accompanied by the crunching of a dog gnawing on bones, came from the end of the official road.

Chen Xu's figure finally appeared within the sight of the Lin Family crowd.

Facing this certain-death trap composed of thousands of people, and facing that soaring murderous Aura.

Chen Xu didn't even miss a single step.

He stopped a hundred zhang away from the Lin Family camp.

“Heh, such a large display?”

Chen Xu's gaze swept over the battle-ready Lin Family Cultivators, finally landing on Lin Overlord, and said indifferently: “Family Head Lin knew this old man was leaving and specially brought people to see me off?”

Looking at that Face which, though masked, still radiated a thick sense of mockery, Lin Overlord's new and old grudges instantly surged into his heart.

“See you off?”

Lin Overlord gave a cold laugh and raised his long saber, pointing it straight at Chen Xu: “Old thing, death is at your doorstep and you still dare to be stubborn! Today, this will be your burial ground!”

“Hand over the tai xu realm stone and all your wealth, then break your own arms and kneel to kowtow and apologize to my son. Perhaps then I can leave you an intact corpse!”

“Otherwise...” A cruel expression appeared on Lin Overlord's Face: “Don't blame me for making you beg for life and death in vain!”

The surrounding Lin Family Cultivators shouted in unison, their momentum shaking the heavens, as Killing Intent surged toward Chen Xu like a tide.

If it were an ordinary Soul Transformation Cultivator facing such a display.

Their mind would likely have collapsed long ago.

But Chen Xu gave a light laugh: “I gave you all a chance. Since you don't want to live, then leave your lives behind!”

“Heh, arrogant! Take him down!”

With Lin Overlord's command, the air within a ten-mile radius seemed to instantly freeze.

Around the originally dark wild forest, twelve incredibly thick pillars of light suddenly rose, piercing into the clouds.

Light flowed between these pillars, quickly converging overhead into a massive semi-transparent light dome.

It completely inverted over this piece of heaven and earth.

“Buzz—!”

The dull humming sound made one's eardrums ache. Chen Xu clearly felt the surrounding space become extremely viscous.

The circulation of Spiritual Qi within his body even suffered a hint of suppression.

“Spirit-Severing Dragon-Trapping Formation!”

Standing on the giant rock, Lin Overlord looked at the man and dog trapped in the center of the Formation, his savage grin becoming increasingly wild: “This is one of my Lin Family's trump card Formations!”

“Even if a Cultivator at the Great Perfection of Soul Transformation falls into it, they shouldn't hope to mobilize even a shred of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi! Now, you are nothing but a turtle in a jar!”

Behind him, dozens of Lin Family elites shouted together, waving their command flags as the Formation's light intensified.

A terrifying pressure, enough to crush mountains, descended upon Chen Xu's head.

Chen Xu stood in place, the hem of his robe flapping loudly under this pressure.

But the expression on his Face remained relaxed.

The next moment, he looked down at Xiao Hei by his feet.

“Finished eating?”

The last piece of chicken bone in Xiao Hei's mouth was chewed with a loud 'crunch'.

Then, he licked the grease from his mouth with lingering satisfaction.

He looked up, his eyes full of disdain.

“Since you're full, then get to work.”

Chen Xu placed his hands behind his back and said nonchalantly, “This cage is too stuffy; I don't like it.”

“Woof!”

Xiao Hei responded, his voice no longer a simple bark.

Instead, it carried a hint of clashing metal.

The next moment, his mutt-like body suddenly leaped forward.

The instant he was in the air, an ancient and extremely fierce Aura erupted from within his body!

Black mist billowed like ink dripping into clear water, instantly dyeing half the sky black.

His originally mutt-sized body swelled against the wind... and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant beast ten zhang tall!

It was none other than the ancient Vicious Beast, the Sky-Swallowing Roar!

“This... what kind of monster is this?!”

The Lin Family Elders presiding over the Formation only felt a chill instantly spread through their entire bodies.

The command flags in their hands almost slipped from their grasp.

Before they could react, that terrifying giant beast let out a roar toward the heavens.

“ROAR————!!!”

This roar did not utilize any Spiritual Qi.

It was purely the sound waves produced by the vibration of physical strength against the air.

The sound waves were like a literal black tsunami... with Xiao Hei at the center, they crazily expanded in all directions.

The ‘Spirit-Severing Dragon-Trapping Formation’, which was claimed to be able to trap a Cultivator at the Great Perfection of Soul Transformation, under the impact of these sound waves...

Only held on for less than half a breath.

“Crack! Crack!”

On the light curtain, countless cracks spread.

Immediately after, it shattered with a bang!

“Pfft!” “Pfft!” “Pfft!”

The Formation was forcibly broken, and the backlash force instantly erupted.

The dozens of Lin Family elites surrounding them all spat out a mouthful of blood, their bodies flying backward like broken kites, crashing heavily to the ground, their lives uncertain.

Even the three Elders at the Nascent Soul Stage Late Phase were shaken back several steps, their Faces as pale as paper.

The smile on Lin Overlord's Face instantly froze... his eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

He never imagined that this dirty-looking mangy dog would actually be such a terrifying ancient Vicious Beast!

With just a single roar, it had disabled his Lin Family's grand Formation!

The dust cleared.

The giant beast shrank once more, returning to the form of that mutt, wagging its tail as it returned to Chen Xu's feet.

It rubbed against his pant leg as if claiming credit.

Chen Xu reached out to pat its dog head, then slowly lifted his eyelids, looking at the completely dumbfounded Lin Overlord not far away.

Following that, he took a step forward.

Boom!

As this step landed, Chen Xu no longer suppressed the cultivation within his body.

An unfathomably terrifying pressure was released from his body.

If the Aura of the Lin Family crowd just now was a rushing river, then at this moment, the Aura on Chen Xu's body was a boundless ocean that swallowed everything!

Soul Transformation Stage... Nascent Soul Stage Late Phase... Great Perfection of Soul Transformation... staying at this Realm for only an instant, that Aura then broke through the shackles with unstoppable force.

Stepped into a completely new Realm!

Void Refining Stage!

The heavens and earth changed color, and the wind and clouds rolled back.

Within a hundred zhang of Chen Xu, the space began to show visible distortions, as if this piece of heaven and earth were submitting at his feet.

“Thump!”

The three Elders who could still barely stand now felt their knees go soft under this heaven-like pressure.

They knelt directly on the ground, the sound of their kneecaps shattering clearly audible.

And Lin Overlord, this formidable figure who had dominated Zhenyuan City for hundreds of years.

He was now in an even more pathetic state.

The long saber in his hand had already fallen to the ground, and his entire person was pressed flat against the earth, his cheek touching the mud.

“Void... Void Refining...”

Lin Overlord struggled to lift his head, his eyes full of despair and disbelief: “Mighty Figure... you are actually a Mighty Figure of the Void Refining Stage...”

If he had known earlier that the other party was a Mighty Figure of the Void Refining Stage, even with a hundred times more courage, he would never have dared to harbor any thoughts of murder and robbery!

“Only now do you know to be afraid?”

Chen Xu walked up to Lin Overlord, looking down from a height at the ant-like Lin Family Head, his gaze indifferent.

“Senior... Senior, have mercy!”

Lin Overlord completely disregarded his dignity as a Family Head, desperately trying to kowtow and beg for mercy: “It was this Junior who had eyes but could not see! It was this Junior whose heart was blinded by greed!”

"As long as Senior is willing to let me go, all the Lin Family's wealth... all our treasures... I will offer them all up with both hands!"

"My Lin Family is an affiliate of the Tianyu Holy Land... Senior... for the sake of the Tianyu Holy Land's Face, please spare us..."

"A misunderstanding... this is all a misunderstanding!"

The remaining few Elders who were still alive also wailed and begged for mercy, weeping bitter tears.

There wasn't a single trace left of their previous high-and-mighty appearance.

Chen Xu looked at these people who were making such a spectacle of themselves, a look of disgust appearing on his Face.

"Misunderstanding?"

He shook his head gently. "When you laid down a killing Formation intending to put me to death, it was no longer a misunderstanding."

"And..."

Chen Xu slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers spread open.

"I have a habit of pulling up weeds by the roots. Since I've already made a move, I'll send you all on your way together."

Before his voice had even faded, a terrifying suction force suddenly erupted from his palm.

"Universe in the Palm!"

As Chen Xu's palm struck down, an invisible giant hand that seemed to blot out the sky appeared in the void.

Whether it was Lin Overlord crawling on the ground or those Elders kneeling and begging for mercy...

...or even the elite Disciples who had fainted in the distance, everyone's bodies flew uncontrollably toward Chen Xu's palm.

They struggled desperately in mid-air... but before the Divine Ability of a Void Refining Stage powerhouse, their resistance was utterly futile!

"No! I am not reconciled!"

Lin Overlord let out a shrill roar, and was then tightly restrained by a massive surge of spiritual power.

Along with the others, he was suspended before Chen Xu like lambs waiting for slaughter.

Chen Xu didn't waste any words; a golden light flashed at his brow, and his boundless Divine Sense forcibly pierced into their Seas of Consciousness.

Soul Search!

Moreover, he was performing a Soul Search on dozens of people simultaneously!

Such an overbearingly peerless method... only Chen Xu, with his powerful Divine Sense, dared to do this.

"Ah——!!!"

Shrill screams rose and fell, echoing through the desolate forest.

Countless chaotic memory fragments... flooded into Chen Xu's mind like a torrent.

Expressionless, he quickly discarded useless daily trifles, capturing the core secrets concerning the Lin Family and the Starfall Secret Realm.

A moment later.

The members of the Lin Family suspended in the air all rolled their eyes back, bleeding from their seven orifices, their life force completely extinguished.

Their Divine Souls had been completely shattered during the violent search just now.

Even if an immortal came, they could not be brought back to life.

Chen Xu slowly opened his eyes, a look of realization flashing through them.

"So that's how it is."

Through the Soul Search, he finally understood why the Lin Family had been so frantically accumulating wealth recently, even going to any lengths to obtain the tai xu realm stone.

The Lin Family's so-called Old Ancestor wasn't in closed-door cultivation to Breakthrough, but rather his Lifespan was nearing its end.

And in the deepest part of the Starfall Secret Realm, there was a forbidden zone called the 'Star Core Land'.

According to the ancient records left by the Lin Family ancestors, a 'Star Spiritual Liquid' that had not yet fully cooled was hidden there.

If it could be obtained and refined, it would not only extend the Old Ancestor's Lifespan by five hundred years...

...but it was even more likely to help him break through the Refinement Void Bottleneck and perhaps even touch the threshold of Body Integration!

But the Star Core Land was surrounded by extremely unstable spatial cracks.

Ordinary means could not get close at all.

Therefore, they urgently needed tai xu realm stone and a large amount of void star crystals to forge a top-tier Magic Treasure capable of stabilizing spatial tunnels—the Star-Fixing Plate.

With this, they intended to forcibly open a safe passage to the Star Core Land.

"A good plan."

Chen Xu gave a cold laugh. "Unfortunately, this Opportunity now belongs to me."

With a thought, he stripped away all the storage rings from their hands.

He paid special attention to the Family Head ring on Lin Overlord's hand.

Sweeping it with his Divine Sense, he found that besides the mountain of Spirit Stones and Heaven And Earth Treasures...

...there was also an ancient-looking black medallion emitting astral power.

This was the key to opening the gates of the Starfall Secret Realm.

"This saves me quite a bit of trouble."

Chen Xu satisfiedly put away all the spoils of war.

He looked up toward Zhenyuan City.

With Lin Overlord dead, the remaining members of the Lin Family were just a few insignificant remnants.

They no longer posed any threat to him.

However, if he simply walked away, Zhenyuan City would surely fall into chaos with various forces fighting, and the entrance to the Secret Realm might be affected or even attract the attention of experts from other great domains.

That would instead increase the difficulty of him entering the Secret Realm.

"It seems I'll have to put on another act."

Chen Xu already had a plan in mind.

He glanced at the corpses scattered across the ground and nodded toward Xiao Hei, who was still standing by.

"Don't let them go to waste; clean them up."

"Woof-woo!"

Xiao Hei gave an excited low growl, opened his large mouth, and took a sudden, massive breath toward the pile of corpses.

Whoosh—!

A black whirlwind rose out of thin air, and the corpses of those Lin Family experts, along with the bloodstains on the ground...

...instantly transformed into streaks of pure blood-qi essence, which were swallowed into Xiao Hei's belly like a whale gulping water.

In just a few breaths of time.

The desolate forest, which had been littered with corpses, became completely clean.

It was as if no battle had ever taken place here.

Even the residual smell of blood in the air was devoured by Xiao Hei's bottomless pit of a stomach.

This was the terror of a Sky-Swallowing Beast—destroying corpses and erasing traces was their specialty.

Having finished this, Xiao Hei gave a satisfied burp, his body shrinking back into the harmless appearance of a local mutt.

Only his fur looked a bit more glossy and smooth than before.

Chen Xu was in no hurry to leave.

He took out a spare set of dark red python robes from Lin Overlord's storage ring and changed into them, then performed a hand seal.

The muscles on his Face shifted, and his bones emitted a series of crisp popping sounds.

In the blink of an eye.

The old man in the tattered Daoist robe disappeared, replaced by a man with a dignified Face.

A middle-aged man with slightly graying temples.

Whether it was his appearance, physique, or that gloomy and overbearing Aura, he was identical to the deceased Lin Overlord!

This was the brilliance of the Eternal Azure Cloud Art; as long as one had seen the target or even searched their Soul...

...one could imitate them perfectly, even simulating seventy to eighty percent of their Soul fluctuations.

Unless it was someone extremely close with a very high cultivation, it would be extremely difficult to see through.

Chen Xu then forced out several mouthfuls of stagnant blood onto his robes, adjusting his Aura to seem weak and listless, creating the appearance of having survived a tragic battle and being heavily injured.

"Let's go, home."

Chen Xu imitated Lin Overlord's tone, speaking coldly, then his figure flickered as he sped toward Zhenyuan City... At this very moment.

Zhenyuan City, Lin Family Ancestral Hall.

This was a grandly constructed hall, with incense burning year-round.

In the depths of the hall, the tablets of the Lin Family's past ancestors were enshrined, and on the offering table below, hundreds of Soul Lamps burned eternally.

Each Soul Lamp represented a core member of the Lin Family. If the lamp lived, the person lived; if the lamp died, the person perished.

A young Disciple guarding the ancestral hall was leaning against a pillar dozing off, his saliva pooling on the floor.

Suddenly.

"Crack!"

The sound of something shattering echoed in the silent hall.

The Disciple opened his eyes groggily and muttered, "Where did a rat come from..."

However, in the next moment.

"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The shattering sounds rang out in rapid succession, like beans popping in a pan!

The Disciple was startled awake and looked up.

With just one look, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his blood freezing in that instant.

He saw the dozens of Soul Lamps representing the Family's elites.

They were being extinguished one after another at a terrifying speed!

Before he could recover from his extreme terror.

The three Soul Lamps located high up representing the Elders also shattered simultaneously!

Following that.

In the very center, the largest and brightest purple-gold Soul Lamp, representing Family Head Lin Overlord, trembled without warning.

Then, under the young Disciple's incredibly shocked gaze.

Puff.

It was completely extinguished!

Dead silence.

The entire ancestral hall fell into silence.

The Disciple's mouth hung wide open, wanting to scream, but he found he had long since been rendered speechless by fear.

The Family Head... is dead?!

All the high-level members who went out to intercept were wiped out?!

After a full half-moment, a shrill wail broke the silence of the Lin Family estate.

"This is bad——!!!"

"The Family Head... the Family Head's Soul Lamp... has gone out!!!"

This shrill wail traveled extremely far in the quiet of the late night, instantly stirring up a thousand waves.

"Dong—! Dong—! Dong—!"

The Lin Family's internal alarm bells rang frantically, urgent and chaotic.

The entire Lin Family mansion was instantly brightly lit as countless figures were startled from their dreams, rushing out of their rooms in disarray.

Their Faces were filled with panic and unease.

"What happened?"

"The alarm bells are ringing incessantly; is a great enemy invading?"

"I heard... I heard the Family Head's Soul Lamp has gone out!"

This news spread at an unbelievable speed.

Not just the Lin Family, but all the major forces in Zhenyuan City were alarmed by this sudden turn of events.

Countless Divine Senses probed toward the Lin Family's direction... all trying to confirm the truth of this shocking news.

Lin Overlord is dead?

That Lin Tiger, who covered the sky with one hand and was so insufferably arrogant in Zhenyuan City, actually died just like that?

Who did it?

Could it be that mysterious person who spent money like water at the auction?

If it's true, then the sky over Zhenyuan City is likely about to change!

For a time, undercurrents surged in the city.

Those families who were usually suppressed by the Lin Family until they couldn't breathe now had the light of ambition flickering in their eyes.

The Zhou Family, Secret Room.

The Zhou Family Head, listening to the scout's report, was so excited his beard was trembling. "Good! Excellent! With Lin Overlord dead, the Lin Family is a leaderless host. This is the perfect Opportunity for our Zhou Family to rise!"

"Pass down the order: assemble all Guest Elders and be ready to move at any time!"

The Sun Family, Main Hall.

The Sun Family Head's expression was solemn, but deep in his eyes was a hidden trace of wild joy. "The Lin Family has monopolized the Starfall Secret Realm for so many years; it's time to spit it back out."

"Contact the other families immediately. We will go to 'offer our condolences' to Family Head Lin tonight!"

The entire Zhenyuan City seemed to have turned into a powder keg about to be ignited.

And in the Lin Family's main hall, at the center of the storm, everything was currently in total chaos.