The crimson blade of qi tore through the mountain pass.
It was like a river of blood descending from the heavens, splitting the earth apart as it advanced. Ancient pine trees were reduced to splinters, and boulders cracked in two before the attack had even reached them.
The pressure alone was enough to make an ordinary cultivator lose the will to resist.
Lin Yuan did not move.
His gaze remained fixed on the incoming slash.
Within his dantian, the First Chain shone brighter than ever before.
It did not pour raw strength into his body.
Instead...
It spread a strange warmth through his meridians.
The voice from the inheritance echoed through his soul.
"The Nine Chains do not exist to overpower the world."
"They exist to break the shackles that bind it."
"Fear is a shackle."
"Despair is a shackle."
"Limits are shackles."
"Break them."
The world suddenly became silent.
The roaring qi...
The howling wind...
The terrified cries of the bandits...
Everything faded away.
Lin Yuan could see only one thing.
The flow of spiritual qi within the captain's attack.
It wasn't perfect.
The enormous blade was powerful, but it had a single unstable point where the captain had forced too much qi into the technique.
That point was no larger than a grain of rice.
To anyone else, it was invisible.
But to the bearer of the First Chain...
It was as bright as a star.
Lin Yuan inhaled deeply.
Then he stepped forward.
Only one step.
The bandit captain burst into laughter.
"He has lost his mind!"
"He's walking into my technique!"
The two surviving bandits watched with bloodshot eyes.
The old man hidden among the pine branches leaned forward slightly.
For the first time since the battle began...
His calm expression disappeared.
"He noticed it?"
"No..."
"Surely not..."
Lin Yuan threw a simple punch.
There was no martial technique.
No dazzling spiritual light.
No earth-shaking explosion.
Just...
One perfectly timed punch.
His fist landed on the weakest point of the crimson blade.
For an instant...
Nothing happened.
Then—
CRACK!
A thin fracture spread across the enormous qi blade.
The captain's smile froze.
"What?"
The fracture multiplied.
One became ten.
Ten became a hundred.
The entire attack trembled violently.
Lin Yuan calmly whispered,
"Break."
BOOM!
The Blood Moon Severing Slash exploded into countless fragments of spiritual qi, scattering harmlessly across the mountain pass like crimson rain.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The captain stood rooted to the ground.
His strongest technique...
Had been destroyed by a single punch.
His mind refused to accept what his eyes had witnessed.
"T-That's impossible..."
"No one..."
"No one below the Soul Palace Realm could break that technique..."
Lin Yuan slowly lowered his fist.
His right arm trembled violently.
Blood dripped from his knuckles.
Destroying the technique had placed an enormous burden on his body.
The First Chain was still far too weak.
He could not use such power repeatedly.
The captain finally recovered from his shock.
His disbelief transformed into terror.
"He must die."
"Whatever he inherited..."
"It cannot be allowed to exist."
With a roar, he charged once more.
This time there were no techniques.
No elaborate attacks.
Only desperation.
Lin Yuan rushed forward as well.
The distance between them vanished in an instant.
The captain slashed downward.
Lin Yuan sidestepped.
The blade grazed his shoulder.
Ignoring the pain, he stepped inside the captain's guard.
The captain tried to pull back—
Too slow.
Lin Yuan's fist drove into the man's abdomen.
BOOM!
The captain coughed blood.
His feet left the ground.
Before he could recover—
A second punch.
Then a third.
Each strike landed with greater precision than the last.
Not stronger...
Smarter.
The captain staggered backward.
His vision blurred.
His ribs had shattered.
His internal organs felt as though they had been crushed.
"No..."
"I can't lose..."
"I cultivated for twenty years..."
"I won't lose to a child!"
With his remaining strength, he raised his saber one final time.
Lin Yuan looked into the man's eyes.
There was no hatred.
Only resolve.
"If I spare him..."
"He'll continue killing innocent people."
The captain roared and lunged.
Lin Yuan stepped forward.
His fist met the captain's chest.
CRACK!
The sound of breaking bones echoed through the valley.
The captain's eyes widened.
He looked down.
Lin Yuan's fist had pierced through his spiritual defenses.
The saber slipped from his fingers.
"I..."
He tried to speak.
Blood filled his mouth.
Slowly...
He collapsed.
His body struck the ground with a dull thud.
The mountain pass became quiet once more.
The two surviving bandits stared at their fallen leader.
For several heartbeats, neither of them moved.
Then one screamed,
"Run!"
They abandoned their weapons and fled into the forest in blind panic.
Lin Yuan did not pursue them.
He had no strength left.
The moment the danger passed, his legs gave way.
He fell to one knee, breathing heavily.
Every muscle in his body screamed in pain.
He had won...
But only by the narrowest margin.
High above, the old man finally climbed down from the pine tree.
His footsteps were soundless.
When he landed on the ground before Lin Yuan, the young man instinctively tensed.
The old man looked at the corpse of the bandit captain, then at Lin Yuan.
After a long silence, he smiled.
"You fought like a beast cornered by hunters."
"But you survived..."
He took another sip from his wine gourd.
"Tell me, young man..."
"Who taught you to throw a punch capable of breaking another cultivator's technique?"
Lin Yuan's heart tightened.