162: Chapter 162 Blood Mist Seals the Valley, A Battle That Shocks the Enemy

The moment the gray mist solidified like stagnant water, Lin Fan knew the enemy had arrived.

He did not look back, merely raising his hand in a signal.

The three hundred War Guards instantly formed a formation, with the Eighteen Guards positioned in eight directions, protecting Xia Qingyue and Su Zhiqing in the center. This formation was the result of repeated drills on the battlefield over the past few days; no words were needed, only a single gesture to complete it.

Xia Qingyue's hand holding her sword tightened slightly. "How many?"

"Many." Lin Fan looked toward the valley entrance, a gray light swirling in his eyes. "At least fifty, all at the World Lord stage or above. The one leading them..."

He paused. "His aura is very strong, stronger than the Demon General I killed before."

Su Zhiqing's brow furrowed slightly. "A Blood Kill Envoy?"

"You know them?"

"The highest-level assassins of the Shadow Kill Tower, twelve in total, each with a record of killing Peak World Lords." Su Zhiqing's voice was cold. "I didn't expect the Huangfu Family to be able to mobilize an existence of this level."

Lin Fan was not surprised.

He had long known the Huangfu Family would spare no expense.

But what he hadn't expected was for the other side to arrive so quickly.

"What do we do now?" Lin Pojun asked in a low voice.

Lin Fan did not answer.

He just stood quietly, gray currents of air slowly swirling around his body.

After three breaths, he spoke:

"All units, hear my command."

"Defend your positions; do not attack."

"No matter what happens, do not leave the battle formation."

Lin Pojun was startled. "Young Lord, you're going to..."

"They're coming for me," Lin Fan interrupted him. "If I don't go out, they will take action against you."

"But—"

"No buts." Lin Fan turned to look at him, his gaze calm but brook no argument. "Your staying alive is the greatest help you can give me."

He stepped forward.

Su Zhiqing suddenly spoke: "I'm going with you."

Lin Fan's footsteps paused.

"You're a Sword Cultivator, are you skilled in direct combat?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then stay here," Lin Fan said. "I need someone to protect them."

Su Zhiqing was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

Xia Qingyue wanted to say something, but was stopped by a look from Lin Fan.

He walked alone toward the valley entrance.

The gray mist closed behind him, cutting the three hundred War Guards off from his sight.

Outside the valley entrance, Blood Butcher stood with his hands behind his back.

He saw Lin Fan walk out alone, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"Alone?" he asked.

"Alone is enough." Lin Fan stopped ten feet away, looking at him with a calm gaze. "For a Blood Kill Envoy to take action personally, you certainly think highly of me."

Blood Butcher laughed.

That smile looked exceptionally terrifying on his withered face.

"Kid, you've got some guts. Pity..."

He raised his hand, his fingers curling into a hollow grip.

The ground beneath Lin Fan's feet suddenly exploded as five streaks of blood light shot out from underground, transforming into five blood-colored longswords that sealed off all his paths of retreat.

"Pity guts can't buy back a life."

Lin Fan did not dodge.

He didn't even move.

The five blood-colored longswords stabbed toward him, coming to a sudden halt an inch from his skin.

The sword blades vibrated, yet they could not advance another fraction.

Blood Butcher's pupils constricted slightly.

"This is..."

"Nirvana True Intent." Lin Fan raised his hand, his fingertip lightly touching one of the blood swords. The sword instantly disintegrated, turning into blood-colored mist that was swallowed by the gray air current.

"The essence of your Blood Fiend Power is to strip away life and return it to death."

He looked at Blood Butcher, gray light swirling in his eyes:

"But my Nirvana is to return everything to nothingness."

"Your death is utterly fragile before me."

Blood Butcher's expression changed drastically.

He had been famous for eight thousand years and had killed no fewer than ten Peak World Lords; no one had ever dared to evaluate his Blood Fiend Power like this.

But at this moment, facing this young man who was only at the Late Stage of the World Lord realm, he felt fear for the first time.

The power contained within that gray air current indeed countered his Blood Fiend energy.

And it was an absolute counter.

"What are you standing there for? Everyone, attack!"

He shouted harshly, and the fifty-plus Shadow Kill Tower assassins behind him attacked simultaneously.

Blood-colored blade lights, shadow thrusts, and permeating poison mist—fifty attacks surged toward Lin Fan like a tide.

Lin Fan moved. He took a step forward, his figure weaving through the gaps in the attacks like a ghost. Those seemingly lethal attacks were full of flaws in his eyes—the Eternal Annihilation Body granted him more than just power; it gave him ultimate perception of 'existence' and 'nothingness'.

Any attack, as long as it was launched by an 'existing' thing, had a traceable trajectory. And he could see those trajectories.

Three breaths.

Merely three breaths.

Of the fifty-plus assassins, thirty-seven fell.

Each person had a gray dot on their brow, their pupils instantly dilating as they collapsed and died.

There were no screams, no struggling, and not even a drop of blood flowed.

It was as if they had never existed at all.

Blood Butcher's face turned ashen.

The remaining dozen or so assassins retreated one after another, their eyes filled with terror.

"You're a devil!" someone said with a trembling voice.

Lin Fan ignored them.

He looked at Blood Butcher and said indifferently, "Do you still want to fight?"

Blood Butcher gritted his teeth.

He had lived for eight thousand years and had never suffered such humiliation. But reason told him that if he continued to fight, the one who died would definitely be himself. This kid's gray power was too bizarre, as if it naturally countered all Cultivation Techniques related to death. His own Blood Fiend Power before him was like snow meeting a scorching sun, unable to exert its power at all.

"Retreat!" he ordered through gritted teeth.

"Retreat?" Lin Fan smiled. "Did I give you permission to retreat?"

He raised his hand, and the gray light in his palm flared brilliantly.

In the next instant, the world changed color.

With Lin Fan as the center, the gray mist within a hundred-foot radius suddenly boiled, transforming into countless gray threads that shrouded the entire battlefield like a spiderweb.

Those threads were as thin as hair, yet incredibly sharp.

One assassin failed to dodge in time, and a thread swept across his arm—

The entire arm slid off silently, the cut as smooth as a mirror, without a single drop of blood.

"Ah—" He screamed, but the cry came to an abrupt end.

Another thread swept across his neck.

His head fell to the ground.

Blood Butcher's expression finally changed.

He had lived for eight thousand years and seen countless experts, but he had never seen such a bizarre method.

Those gray threads were not formed from spiritual power, but were woven directly from 'nothingness'—their very existence was a negation of 'existence'.

To be hit by them was not to be wounded or to die.

It was to be 'erased'.

"Stop!" he shouted harshly.

Lin Fan stopped.

The threads still hung in the air, trapping the remaining dozen or so assassins in the center.

"Hand over all information on the mastermind," Lin Fan said calmly. "I can let you leave alive."

Blood Butcher gritted his teeth. "In your dreams!"

"Then die."

Lin Fan raised his hand, and the threads began to contract.

A flash of determination appeared in Blood Butcher's eyes.

He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood. The essence blood burned in the air, transforming into a blood-colored portal.

In the next instant, his figure flashed and vanished into the portal.

This was the life-saving secret technique of the Shadow Kill Tower's Blood Kill Envoys—Blood Escape of a Thousand Miles. At the cost of burning thirty percent of one's cultivation, one could instantly escape a thousand miles away.

Lin Fan's brow furrowed slightly.

He did not give chase.

It wasn't that he couldn't catch up, but at the moment the blood-colored portal dissipated, he saw a figure through the crack.

That person stood behind the door, Devilish Qi churning around them, with a vertical line on their brow facing him.

The Three-Eyed Demon Lord.

"So you're here too," Lin Fan murmured.

The threads dissipated, and the remaining dozen or so assassins slumped to the ground, shivering uncontrollably.

Lin Fan did not kill them.

"Go back and tell the Master of the Shadow Kill Tower," his voice was flat but clearly reached everyone's ears, "Send more people. However many come, I will kill them all."

"Blood Butcher was able to run because he was lucky. Next time, he won't have such good fortune."

The dozen or so assassins fled Burial King Valley as if they had received a great pardon, scrambling and crawling away.

Lin Fan stood where he was, looking toward the sky.

There, the third demonic eye was slowly closing.

He did not make a move.

Because he knew the real enemy had not yet acted.

The Three-Eyed Demon Lord was waiting.

Waiting for him and the Shadow Kill Tower to fight to a mutual destruction, waiting for all his trump cards to be exposed, waiting for the moment he was weakest.

"Then wait," Lin Fan turned and walked back into the valley.

"Let's see who can outwait the other."

Inside the valley, the three hundred War Guards all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Lin Fan return.

Xia Qingyue stepped forward quickly. "How was it?"

"Blood Butcher escaped, and I let the rest go," Lin Fan said calmly. "In the short term, the Shadow Kill Tower won't send anyone else."

Su Zhiqing looked at him, hesitating to speak.

She sensed that Lin Fan's aura was a bit weaker than before he left the valley.

Although he had won that battle easily just now, the exhaustion was definitely not small. Those gray threads seemed effortless, but in reality, they required extremely strong Divine Soul power to sustain.

"Do you need to rest?" she asked.

Lin Fan shook his head. "There's no time."

He looked toward the depths of the valley floor.

There, the gray mist had completely dissipated, revealing a path leading into the heart of the mountain.

"The true burial place of the Sovereign is inside."

"What happened just now was only the appetizer."

He stepped forward. "Let's go."

"The true Opportunity is still waiting for us."

The three hundred War Guards followed closely behind.

No one looked back at the thirty-seven corpses outside the valley entrance.

Those corpses were slowly fading, as if being erased bit by bit by something.

Finally, they disappeared completely. It was as if they had never existed.

The gray mist churned again, covering everything up.

Burial King Valley returned to its silence of ten thousand years.

Only the third demonic eye in the sky still coldly watched it all.