76: Phantom strikes, the dust settles

Kunlun Airport.

The atmosphere was as solid as iron. A deathly silence, like a vacuum.

Wang Zhenshan, an Elder of War God Academy and an S-Class Expert, was like a thoroughly enraged lion. The energy storm swirling around him pressed down on the hard superconducting alloy ground beneath his feet, creating a dense web of spiderweb-like cracks. His questions, each word imbued with the supreme pressure of an S-Class Expert, transformed into tangible sonic battle hammers, fiercely smashing towards Lin Tian and the Long Family entourage.

"Lin Tian! Hand over my disciple's arm and the Legacy of the War Emperor's Mausoleum! Otherwise, none of you will leave here today!"

He was aggressive, his hair and beard bristling, as if he had already occupied the dual high ground of morality and strength. Today, he intended to reclaim justice and salvage some face for War God Academy in front of all the forces of the world.

Long Zhanye, the Clan Chief of the Long Family, took a step forward. It was a small movement, yet it was as if an ancient divine mountain, silent for billions of years, had moved with a rumble. The terrifying Aura, also belonging to an S-rank Peak, did not leak out in the slightest, yet it was as solid as an invisible, heaven-reaching divine wall, effortlessly blocking all of Wang Zhenshan's violently unleashed pressure, standing as firm as a rock.

The air within the airport shrieked in unbearable agony from the clash of the two top experts' Auras. Some Martial Artists with weaker cultivation even felt their spiritual cores tottering under this clashing pressure, forcing them to retreat in terror.

"Wang Zhenshan, are you threatening my Long Family?" Long Zhanye's voice was calm, showing no emotion, yet it carried an absolute, unquestionable majesty. "Competition among peers, life and death are left to fate. This is an iron rule that all top forces have jointly observed since the Martial Dao Era began. If your disciple's skill is inferior and he lost, he must accept it! To bully the young and flaunt your age here, you are not qualified!"

The final standoff had formed.

A great battle was on the verge of breaking out!

All Martial Artists watching this scene through various channels held their breath. They knew that today's matter would likely not end peacefully. An S-Class Expert battle, capable of shaking the entire Huaxia and even the Global Martial Arts Alliance, seemed unavoidable.

Just as Long Zhanye cornered Wang Zhenshan, whose old face was flushed red, and he was about to act recklessly.

An anomaly suddenly occurred!

Boom—!

An invisible, sub-sonic attack, as if from the abyssal depths of the Nine Hells, without any warning or energy fluctuations, like a ghost not existing in this dimension, instantly crossed the spatial barrier and precisely pierced into Wang Zhenshan's spiritual core!

"Puff—!"

Wang Zhenshan, this S-Class top expert, who was aggressive and arrogant a second ago, was now as if hit head-on by a maglev train traveling at thirty times the speed of sound. He was completely thunderstruck!

He violently spat out a large mouthful of blood mixed with spiritual fragments, his face instantly turning ashen white, his body trembling violently as if all his bones had been pulled out. He stared fixedly at the empty Void Realm with an expression of utter horror, as if he had seen a ghost!

What happened?!

Everyone was stunned, their minds blank.

Long Zhanye also looked bewildered. He had even prepared to go all out and clash with the opponent, but he never expected that his opponent would be defeated so inexplicably… and he didn't even know who or where the opponent was!

Immediately after.

A cold, specially encrypted electronic synthesized voice, impossible to tell if it was male or female, like a judgment declaration from the depths of Hell, resounded directly in the depths of every person's Soul Sea within the airport.

"You dare to covet what belongs to my master?"

In this voice, there was no anger, no mockery, only an absolute, unquestionable dominance and cold killing intent that regarded S-Class Experts as mere ants!

"Next time, death."

These three short words, however, were like three sharp swords tempered with ten thousand years of profound ice, fiercely piercing into the depths of everyone present's Soul, making them feel cold from head to toe!

My… master?

Long Zhanye, Clan Chief Rothschild, and a group of other magnates, after a brief moment of bewilderment, instantly understood something. They simultaneously cast gazes filled with extremely complex emotions—shock, inquiry, and even a hint of apprehension—towards the young man, Lin Tian, who had remained calm throughout, as if none of this concerned him.

This young man… besides the Long Family and the Rothschild Family, these two colossal backing forces standing at the Peak of the world, actually hid a hidden guardian whose terrifying strength was loyal only to him and capable of severely injuring a peer expert in one move?!

This… what an terrifying trump card this was! Who exactly was he? Was he a death warrior cultivated for him by the three ancestors? Or was it a contingency left behind by his missing parents?

Wang Zhenshan no longer had time to ponder the origin of this power. He only knew that if he stayed for another second, he would truly die! That death threat, originating from the deepest part of his Soul, felt like being targeted by a natural predator, making every cell in his body scream frantically to escape!

He endured the excruciating pain of his spiritual core on the verge of collapse, used all his strength, and left a blustering remark that even he felt lacked conviction: "Long Family… Lin Tian… you are very good! War God Academy will remember this!"

With that, he dared not linger any longer, transforming into a disheveled, even somewhat stumbling streak of light, and fled the airport in a hurry, as if a life-reaping evil spirit was chasing him from behind.

A top-tier conflict, capable of stirring up monstrous waves, was thus completely suppressed by a mysterious voice in the most unreasonable and overbearing manner.

[Global Martial Arts News Flash: Thus, the three-day War Emperor's Mausoleum exploration operation has officially concluded.]

[Lin Tian, the Long Family's number zero heir, at the age of fourteen, defeated all Prodigies and suppressed the current era within the War Emperor's Mausoleum. His feat of directly confronting and ultimately purifying the polluted SSS-rank Martial God remains has been collectively witnessed by tens of billions of people worldwide through the Heavenly Eye System.]

[After an emergency meeting of the Global Martial Arts Alliance Council, national Martial God Temples, and major hidden aristocratic families, it was unanimously determined: Lin Tian's strength, potential, and Heart-Nature have all surpassed the era, making him the undisputed leader of this generation. His reputation as the 'Only King of the Golden Generation' is well-deserved!]

[An era belonging to him has arrived!]

The concluding remarks of the news broadcast, like the heaviest pen in the hand of a historian, provided the most magnificent and undeniable footnote to Lin Tian's performance in this thrilling epic chapter.

His reputation, after this battle, was completely deified… Under a dark bridge in a bustling city, cold rainwater mixed with the stench of the sewer, forming puddles of foul water.

Ye Fan huddled in the dampest corner, exuding the sour smell of rotting food.

His cultivation crippled, publicly betrayed by his fiancée, expelled from his sect… In just a few days, he had fallen from a highly anticipated Prodigy to a waste that even stray dogs would bare their teeth at and beggars would find in their way.

Hunger, cold, humiliation, and despair, like countless cold, venomous leeches, gnawed at his last will and life.

He felt like he was about to die. His consciousness was already blurring, and everything in front of him had turned into swirling, gray patches.

Just as his consciousness was about to plunge into eternal darkness.

A pair of calloused yet unusually warm and dry hands offered a steaming hot bun, emanating a pure wheat aroma, to his mouth.

Ye Fan used his last ounce of strength, struggling to open his eyes.

In his blurry vision, a mysterious old sweeping man appeared, dressed in a simple sanitation worker's uniform, cleaning up trash. The old man's face was covered in furrow-like wrinkles, but his eyes were so murky that no emotion could be discerned.

He looked at Ye Fan, and in his murky eyes, a subtle, brilliant glint, like discovering a peerless unpolished jade, inadvertently flashed.

"Child, do you want to live?" The old man's voice was hoarse, yet it carried a strange power to soothe the heart.

Ye Fan's lips moved, but no sound came out. However, the instinct to survive made him nod desperately.

The old man smiled, tucked the bun into his arms, and then asked another question.

"Do you… want revenge?"