67: Sorry, I'm late.

War Emperor's Mausoleum, main tomb chamber area.

This was the core of the entire ancient ruin, and also the area with the most concentrated 'meme contamination' and the highest density of dangers.

As Lin Tian led his core team into this area, the System prompt, which had been silent in his mind for a long time, suddenly rang out like the most precise navigator!

"Ding! Detected that the Host has arrived at the final check-in location — 'War Emperor's Mausoleum' main tomb chamber!"

"Would you like to check in?"

"Check in."

Lin Tian had no hesitation in his heart.

"Ding! Check-in successful!"

"Congratulations to the Host for obtaining a five-star rare reward — SSS-Class Forbidden Art, the War Emperor's renowned ultimate skill that he used to sweep across ancient times and sever star rivers —"

"Dimensional Slash!!!"

Boom!!!

A vast torrent of information, far more profound than the God Slaying Sword Canon and filled with the Origin aura of space Law, surged into his mind like a bursting cosmic sea!

This was an utterly unsolvable, terrifying attack method that directly acted on the 'dimension' level!

Ignores defense!

Ignores distance!

With a single thought, invisible Dimensional Slashes could be unleashed, cutting the target, along with the space it occupied, and banishing it into eternal nothingness!

This was the most precious and core… supreme treasure within this "War Emperor's Mausoleum"!

However, just as Lin Tian was immersing his mind, preparing to receive this vast Legacy —

Drip! Drip! Drip!

An extremely urgent, blood-red alarm, signifying the highest level of crisis, suddenly blared wildly from his team communicator on his wrist!

That was… Dragon Snow Phoenix's emergency distress signal!

The signal was filled with intense energy interference, hundreds of hair-raising monster roars, and… Jiang Luoling's scream, full of terror and despair!

"Brother Tian — Help!!!"

The signal abruptly cut off.

Lin Tian's deep eyes, which were receiving the Legacy, suddenly… opened!

Two streaks of icy, bone-chilling Killing Intent, substantial enough to distort space, flashed through his eyes!

He didn't even have time to fully digest the immense Legacy information before he had already taken a step forward!

His figure transformed into a golden, brilliant strea of light that tore through space, and he shot towards the direction of the signal like lightning!

...At the other end of the main tomb chamber, in a huge plaza filled with countless ancient soldier skeletons and permeated with an aura of death and chaos.

A desperate, unwinnable fight for survival was unfolding.

"Ice Phoenix… Guardian!!!"

Dragon Snow Phoenix's pretty face was pale, a trace of crimson blood at the corner of her mouth. She pushed all the remaining power of her abilities in her body to the extreme without reservation!

A hundred-meter-tall, lifelike phantom of an ice Phoenix, entirely constructed from ten-thousand-year-old profound ice, firmly protected her and Jiang Luoling, who was already terrified and pale, within it!

However, outside this ice Phoenix, there were hundreds of "Infected Leaders," whose strength was comparable to Peak A-rank, and who fought without fear of death!

Their scarlet eyes, filled with endless slaughter and chaotic desires, were fixated on this last "pure land"!

Like the most frenzied black tide, they repeatedly slammed their claws, sharp enough to tear through alloy armor, onto the seemingly indestructible ice crystal shield!

Crack! Crack crack crack!

The crisp sounds of shattering were incessant!

The huge ice Phoenix phantom was already covered in dense, terrifying, spiderweb-like cracks! It looked as if it was about to completely… collapse!

"Sister Xuehuang… Are… are we… going to die here?"

Jiang Luoling hid behind Dragon Snow Phoenix, looking at the distorted, hideous monster faces outside, like demons from Hell. Her delicate body trembled violently, and her voice was filled with sobs and despair.

"Shut up!"

Dragon Snow Phoenix turned her head and glared at her with a stern and determined look. "Even if a member of my Long family dies, they must die standing! What kind of behavior is this, crying and whimpering!"

Although her words were stern, the hand that tightly gripped Jiang Luoling's, slightly whitened from excessive force, revealed her inner unease and… a hint of fear.

She knew that she was about to collapse.

She was unwilling!

She was unwilling to die so inexplicably at the hands of a group of monsters without even intelligence!

Even more, she was unwilling to… die under the despicable scheme of a peer, full of calculations and conspiracies!

"Bai Feng…"

She gritted her teeth, uttering the name, her ice-blue beautiful eyes filled with endless hatred!

Just then —

Boom!!!

Accompanied by a deafening roar!

The ice Phoenix phantom protecting them finally, under the endless siege, succumbed to the pressure and violently… exploded!

Turning into a sky full of sparkling ice shards!

"Roar —!!!"

Hundreds of "Infected Leaders" let out a roar filled with greed and bloodlust, like a bursting black flood, surging madly towards the two exquisite young girls, who had lost all their defenses and were like lambs to the slaughter!

The shadow of death, at this moment, completely… enveloped them!

However, just 0.01 seconds before the sharp, blade-like claws of the foremost "Infected Leader" were about to tear Dragon Snow Phoenix's unwilling and resolute face —

A golden, brilliant stream of light, as if transcending time and space dimensions, descended like a divine soldier without warning!

Blocking their path!

It was Lin Tian!

He had arrived!

At the most crucial, most desperate, and most critical moment, he had finally… made it!

"Noisy."

He looked at the black tide of monsters before him, enough to make any Martial Emperor Rank expert's scalp tingle, yet his face, as handsome as a god, only showed a cold, emotionless indifference.

He slowly raised his right hand.

He didn't even glance at those monsters.

He simply calmly displayed the SSS-Class Forbidden Art, capable of severing dimensions and annihilating all things, which he had just obtained from the check-in System, for the first time before the world.

"Dimensional Slash."

Rip —!!!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling special effects.

Only a faint, invisible, pitch-black Dimensional Slash, as if capable of completely devouring even light and sound, flashed past in a fan shape, centered on Lin Tian's body!

Instantly, it swept across the vast, fan-shaped area in front of him, covering several thousand square meters!

Immediately after.

The entire world seemed to have been muted.

The hundreds of "Infected Leaders," still baring their fangs and claws, charging madly, their ferocious, bloodthirsty movements instantly… froze.

Then.

Their bodies, from the middle, were silently split in two by a smooth, mirror-like, perfectly flat cut.

The upper body and the lower body slowly… separated.

No blood, no internal organs.

Only a pure… nothingness, representing the complete erasure of "existence."

One move!

Just one move!

He had cut and banished hundreds of terrifying monsters, enough to wipe out any top Prodigy team, along with the space they occupied, into eternal nothingness!

An overwhelming… rescue!

After completing all this, Lin Tian slowly turned around.

He retracted all his chilling Killing Intent, enough to freeze Divine Souls.

He walked in front of the two beautiful young girls, who were already stunned and completely lost in awe by the miraculous scene before them.

He looked at Dragon Snow Phoenix's still bleeding, deep, hideous wound, and a trace of imperceptible… heartache and self-reproach flashed in his deep eyes.

He spoke softly in an apologetic, unprecedentedly gentle tone:

"Sorry."

"I'm late."

These simple words, however, were like the warmest sunlight, instantly dispelling all the coldness, fear, and despair in Dragon Snow Phoenix's heart.

She looked at the young man before her, who was outwardly as ruthless and decisive as an Asura, yet inwardly so gentle and responsible.

Her heart, which had been frozen for more than ten years, completely… melted at this moment.

Lin Tian didn't say anything more.

He stretched out his hand, and in his palm, the power of the Heart of God slowly activated. A soft, golden Holy Light, filled with endless life aura, completely enveloped Dragon Snow Phoenix's wound.

Under Jiang Luoling's surprised and disbelieving gaze, the deep, hideous wound healed rapidly at a visible speed, finally recovering as before, without even leaving a scar.

After confirming that both of them were safe and sound, Lin Tian slowly raised his head.

He looked in the distance, in the direction where Bai Feng and the others had left, and a smile once again appeared on his face, as handsome as a god.

However, this time, the smile no longer held any gentleness.

Only a cold… chilling Killing Intent, enough to make even gods tremble!

"Bai Feng…"

He muttered softly to himself, his voice so faint that even he could barely hear it.

"It seems I underestimated you before."

"You, this 'leek (metaphor for harvestable resource/easy target),' are 'fatter' and more 'interesting' than I imagined."

"So next…"

"— Let me personally… harvest you."

A final showdown, triggered by a 'battle of wits' and filled with revenge and slaughter, was about to unfold!