The night was deep, and moonlight flowed like water over the Qinglong Mountain Range. From time to time, the roars of Demon Beasts echoed through the forest, shaking the surroundings.
Inside a ruined cave, Lin Huang sat cross-legged, looking as if he were in great pain. The power of the Thousand Mechanism Bone-Cleansing Flower surged through his body like a ferocious flood, forcibly and brutally widening his meridians and tempering his bones and muscles.
Lin Huang brought his palms together. His face was contorted, resembling a sorrowful Buddha. The Spell of the Great Vajra Technique circulated rapidly within his body, working in tandem with the power of the Thousand Mechanism Bone-Cleansing Flower to madly temper his flesh.
Faint CRACKLING sounds came from within him, as if a pair of giant golden palms were slapping his entire body, causing his bones and muscles to undergo a gradual metamorphosis.
This process continued for half the night.
When a vast rumble echoed from within and spread to every part of his body, Lin Huang opened his eyes and let out a long breath. He stretched out his body, feeling as if he possessed boundless strength. Turning around, he threw a punch at the stone wall of the cave. The originally sturdy rock instantly fractured, cracks extending outward like a spiderweb.
"The Great Vajra Technique is indeed extraordinary!" Lin Huang muttered. Now that his Great Vajra Technique had reached the Minor Achievement Realm, his current strength was enough to contend with someone at the Human Element Fourth Heaven.
At this thought, Lin Huang shook his head again. His cultivation speed was still too slow. Even though he had cultivated the Great Vajra Technique to the Minor Achievement Realm, his base cultivation realm was still too low. The Human Element Second Heaven was a full seven realms below Crown Prince Lingyun. The gap between them wasn’t something the Great Vajra Technique could completely make up for.
Just as Lin Huang was deep in thought, faint footsteps suddenly sounded outside the cave. He frowned, instantly on high alert. There were no fewer than ten people outside right now, including one with a powerful aura. Clearly, they had come for him.
"Stop hiding, kid. I know you’re in there!" A sinister voice suddenly echoed from outside the cave, sounding like a ghost. Dozens of dark figures also emerged in the surroundings, staring fixedly at Lin Huang.
"Crazy Cui!" Lin Huang furrowed his brows. He had been so focused on cultivating the Great Vajra Technique these past few days that he had forgotten about this ruthless bastard.
"It really wasn’t easy finding you. It cost me a full thousand Night Vision Flies!" Crazy Cui stared at Lin Huang, who was walking out of the cave, a fierce look naturally present on his face. "As long as you dare to show your face at night, you can’t escape my eyes!"
"What? You want to kill me? This few people aren’t enough!" Lin Huang chuckled softly.
"You’ll know if it’s enough once you try. Be a good boy and welcome your death!"
Crazy Cui waved his large hand, and the people around him immediately charged forward. They were all veteran Mercenaries who had survived long in the jungle. Letting Lin Huang escape last time was undoubtedly their greatest humiliation, and they wouldn’t make the same mistake again. This time, Lin Huang would certainly die!
"Then let’s see what you’ve got!" Lin Huang looked at Crazy Cui with an indifferent expression. His body rapidly retreated before he suddenly changed direction, charging toward a member of the Violent Bear Mercenary Corps. He targeted the weakest one, who was at the Human Element Third Heaven!
"You dare to look down on your grandpa? You’re courting death!" the Mercenary laughed savagely. His iron-ape-like body launched forward, crashing head-on toward Lin Huang. Although his realm was the lowest, his physical strength was the strongest among these people.
SWISH!
The moment the two were about to collide, Lin Huang’s body suddenly twisted, brushing past him. The dark, sharp dagger in his hand swiped across the man’s throat. The sound of flesh tearing like cloth echoed in the dark night.
Crazy Cui watched helplessly as the burly man fell. Bone-chilling killing intent seeped from his eyes as he leaped forward to pursue Lin Huang.
In the mountain range shrouded in moonlight, a night of assassinations slowly unfolded.
Lin Huang darted through the forest like a phantom at extreme speed. However, the Violent Bear Mercenary Corps pursuing him was even faster. The RUSTLING of leaves behind him told Lin Huang that Crazy Cui was not far behind.
"Kid, there are thousands of Night Vision Flies in this mountain range. You can’t escape. Why put up a dying struggle?" Crazy Cui laughed, rapidly pursuing Lin Huang and closing the distance between them.
"A dying struggle? I struggled like this for ten years!" Feeling the sound of the air being torn by the pursuit behind him, Lin Huang grit his teeth fiercely, his eyes blazing with killing intent.
He suddenly doubled back, charging toward the Mercenary closest to him.
This unexpected fatal move made the man’s expression change, but he quickly sneered. Did he think a sneak attack would work? That was severely underestimating the strength of the Human Element Fourth Heaven.
The Mercenary reacted extremely fast, quickly drawing his broadsword and slashing at Lin Huang.
In the next moment, Lin Huang grabbed the broadsword in the Mercenary’s hand with his left hand, blood streaming down his palm. Meanwhile, the dagger in his right hand directly pierced the latter’s throat. Killing the enemy in a single strike, he then fled far away!
Crazy Cui’s face turned gloomy. Watching Lin Huang’s fleeing back, a chill suddenly rose in his spine. He hadn’t expected that Lin Huang, while being chased by over ten people, would still dare to turn back and counter-kill, trading injuries for lives. "Hmph, let’s see how many injuries you can endure," Crazy Cui said hatefully.
A chase and counter-ambush lasted for two hours. During this time, Lin Huang turned back to counterattack three times, succeeding twice. He also vanished very briefly four times, quietly killing another four Mercenaries. By this moment, Lin Huang had no more room to retreat. Behind him was the Thousand Feet Cliff.
Lin Huang was now covered in wounds; the price for every attack he made was a new gash. Under the moonlight, the pale bones on his chest were vaguely visible.
"You damn brat, you really deserve to die!" Crazy Cui slowly approached Lin Huang, his face incomparably gloomy. There was a deep, bloody gash on his arm. He had paid a heavy price to kill Lin Huang: two at the Human Element Third Heaven, and four at the Human Element Fourth Heaven!
There had even been an explosion midway through that leveled an entire mountain col, wiping out all the Mercenaries below the Human Element Fourth Heaven. The rest were also heavily injured. Even he himself had been stabbed. Lin Huang’s dagger was just a hair’s breadth away from cutting off his head. Such losses were enough to severely cripple the Violent Bear Mercenary Corps’ vitality.
"Trying to kill me in the jungle comes with a price!" Lin Huang grinned. The mountains and jungles had always been his battlefield. If he had a higher cultivation realm supporting him, or if he had cultivated the Great Vajra Technique to the Middle Level Realm, killing Crazy Cui would have been far too easy.
"Beg for mercy, and I’ll leave your corpse intact!" Crazy Cui pressed closer to Lin Huang step by step. Glancing at the cliff behind the boy, he let out a long sigh and laughed presumptuously. "This is your last chance. Otherwise, the dignified Young Master of the Divine General’s Mansion will be chopped to pieces by me. Tsk, tsk..." Crazy Cui licked his lips, his face full of bloodlust.
"Do you think I’m dead for sure just because you’ve backed me up to a cliff?" A brilliant smile suddenly appeared on Lin Huang’s face.
"Hmph, don’t tell me you can fly?" Crazy Cui snorted coldly, looking arrogant. He now held the winning ticket; Lin Huang definitely couldn’t escape even if he were given wings.
"You chased me all this way just to force me into this dead end by the cliff, didn’t you?" Lin Huang looked composed, calmly speaking the thoughts in Crazy Cui’s mind.
"And the facts prove that I’ve succeeded!" Crazy Cui smiled faintly, looking quite pleased with himself.
Lin Huang gave a soft chuckle and said, "It’s just a pity. You thought you were the one who forced me to the cliff, but little did you know I was the one who lured you all here. I even have to thank you for giving me a way out."
The smile on Crazy Cui’s face froze. He furrowed his brows and ordered ruthlessly, "Slaughter him!"
Watching the group charge forward, the corner of Lin Huang’s mouth twitched up, revealing a hint of mockery. Before they could get close, Lin Huang burst into laughter, then turned and leaped off the cliff.
"I will definitely repay the favor you’ve shown me today twofold in the future!"
Crazy Cui and the others’ faces changed. They immediately rushed to the edge of the cliff, only to see Lin Huang grabbing a massive vine and sliding down toward the bottom of the cliff.
"Bastard!" Crazy Cui was boiling with rage. He knew in his heart that Lin Huang must have known about the vine’s existence when he was picking the Thousand Mechanism Bone-Cleansing Flower a few days ago.
"Boss, are we still chasing him?" a Mercenary asked apprehensively.
"Chase, chase, chase, my ass! Just the few of us going down there? Do you not know what’s at the bottom of the cliff? Have you ever seen anyone come back up after going down?" Crazy Cui snorted coldly.