“A cripple?”
“If I’m a cripple, then what are you? An ant? A maggot?”
Lin Chen’s gaze was indifferent as he stepped forward, one step at a time. A suffocating shadow of death completely enveloped Lin Hu.
“Impossible… impossible!”
Lin Hu’s voice twisted as his Dao heart nearly collapsed.
He could not accept it. The Lin Chen who had clearly been crippled had suddenly erupted with the power of the 7th stage Spirit Realm and completely crushed him.
In his original plan, he only needed one punch. Just one punch, and Lin Chen would be obliterated.
The whole process wouldn’t even take two breaths.
After that, he would ascend to the position of Young Patriarch.
Then his father would make a move against Lin Zhan, using his incompetence, lack of successors, and serious injuries as reasons to force him to step down.
If he refused, they would suppress and kill him!
From then on, the Lin Family would be completely controlled by their father and son.
That was the future he had envisioned.
But Lin Chen’s earlier punch had not only crippled him, it had shattered his dream of becoming Young Patriarch.
At this moment, Lin Chen stood there with overwhelming momentum, declaring that the once unrivaled genius of Luoyun City… had returned!
He cultivated the heaven-defying ancient technique, Chaos Devouring Heaven Art. Though he was only at the 7th stage Spirit Realm, Lin Hu’s foundation and spiritual energy, built upon the high-grade Yellow-tier Canglang Art, could not compare to Lin Chen’s solid foundation.
That was the fundamental reason Lin Chen could crush Lin Hu with a single punch.
Lin Hu had always lived in Lin Chen’s shadow.
Now, as he watched Lin Chen approach step by step, it was like seeing a demon from hell. Faced with Lin Chen’s kingly return, his eyes filled with fear and dread, and even the will to resist began to fade. “Lin Chen, don’t come any closer!”
“Have you forgotten? This is a life-and-death battle, not a game,” Lin Chen said coldly.
He had not originally intended to kill Lin Hu. But Lin Hu and his father had pressed him step by step, dragging him from despair into even deeper darkness.
What truly ignited Lin Chen’s killing intent was their plan to eliminate him completely, leaving him no path to survive.
Now, on this life-and-death arena, with Lin Hu in his grasp, how could he repay evil with kindness and spare him?
He asked himself, if the situation were reversed, would Lin Hu spare him?
The answer was obvious.
No.
Therefore, Lin Hu must die.
No one in the crowd dared to make a sound, afraid of disturbing this terrifying figure.
Despair surged endlessly within Lin Hu’s heart.
Facing Lin Chen, he knew he had no chance to resist.
“Father, save me!”
He placed his final hope of survival on Lin Xu.
“Grand Elder, if I don’t kill him, will you spare me?” Lin Chen asked in return.
Lin Xu had always treated him as a thorn in his side. Their conflict had long become irreconcilable.
If Lin Xu gained power, he would not hesitate to kill Lin Chen.
Realizing this, a trace of madness and resolve flashed through Lin Xu’s eyes.
He suddenly pulled out a jade bottle and flicked his finger.
A streak of light shot toward Lin Hu on the arena.
“Hu’er, swallow it!”
Lin Hu instinctively caught it with his remaining left hand.
The moment the bottle touched his palm, a violent energy fluctuation spread out.
He looked down. Inside was a blood-red pill the size of a longan, its surface covered in strange patterns.
Rageburst Pill!
This pill could forcibly unleash one’s potential in a short time, greatly boosting cultivation. However, once the effect ended, the user would suffer severe backlash, at best losing cultivation, at worst damaging their meridians.
It was a pill meant for desperate survival.
But now, driven to the brink, Lin Hu’s fear and hatred for Lin Chen overwhelmed everything.
“Lin Chen! You forced me into this!”
A sickly flush spread across Lin Hu’s face as he swallowed the pill without hesitation.
Boom!!!
A far more violent aura erupted from his body like a long-suppressed volcano.
Veins bulged across his body, his skin turning blood-red. His previously weakened aura surged upward, instantly breaking through the 8th stage Spirit Realm and reaching the 9th stage Spirit Realm.
That power even faintly surged toward the Spirit Master Realm!
“Rageburst Pill! The Grand Elder gave Lin Hu a Rageburst Pill!”
“9th stage Spirit Realm! My heavens!”
“They’ve gone mad! Are they trying to die together?”
“Lin Chen is in danger!”
Shocked cries erupted throughout the arena as the situation suddenly reversed.
A ferocious grin spread across Lin Xu’s face as he shouted, “Lin Chen, forcing my son to use the Rageburst Pill is already your greatest honor! Now, feel despair!”
Lin Hu felt the surging power within him, so overwhelming it seemed ready to tear him apart. He let out an inhuman roar as his remaining left fist clenched. The starlight of the Shattered Star Fist appeared once more, but this time its power had multiplied several times over.
As the punch moved, the air itself screamed under the pressure.
“Lin Chen! Die!”
Like a crazed blood-colored beast, he charged forward once again, carrying an aura of total destruction.
Even facing Lin Hu at the 9th stage Spirit Realm, Lin Chen did not dodge.
He would show everyone in the Lin Family that he alone was the strongest of the younger generation.
Only he was the true Young Patriarch!
“Let me show you what a real Shattered Star Fist looks like.”
Facing Lin Hu’s earth-shattering strike, Lin Chen showed not a trace of fear. Instead, a hint of mockery flashed in his eyes.
The Shattered Star Fist was a high-grade Yellow-tier technique of the Lin Family.
If Lin Hu could learn it, so could Lin Chen.
And Lin Chen had learned it earlier, mastered it more thoroughly, and long since perfected it to the level of transcendence.
At this moment, Lin Chen’s five fingers tightened as all his spiritual energy gathered into his fist. Silver starlight swirled around it, radiating an extremely terrifying aura.
The air itself seemed to retreat, forming a vacuum around his fist.
The sheer power left no room for even the air to exist.
Boom!!!
The two fists collided once again.
But the result was completely different from what everyone expected.
There was no stalemate. No suspense.
Before the horrified eyes of the crowd, Lin Hu’s punch, containing the full power of the 9th stage Spirit Realm and capable of killing ordinary Spirit Master cultivators, shattered instantly upon contact with Lin Chen’s fist, like ice meeting the blazing sun.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
The sound of bones breaking rang out like exploding beans.
Lin Hu’s left arm, from fist to wrist, elbow, and shoulder, shattered completely. The violent force pierced through his body, breaking several ribs in his chest.
“Pfft—”
Lin Hu spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. His body flew backward like a ragdoll, crashing heavily at the edge of the arena, his aura instantly dropping to its lowest point.
The power granted by the Rageburst Pill faded like a receding tide, while the backlash began to ravage his meridians.
He had lost.
Even after consuming the Rageburst Pill and forcibly rising to the 9th stage Spirit Realm, he was still crushed by Lin Chen with a single punch.
The entire arena fell into absolute silence.
Only the heavy breathing of the crowd echoed throughout the Training Ground.
Everyone knew…
Lin Chen had returned!
That unparalleled genius had returned!
The king had returned!!!