Chapter 119: Lin Fan's Resolve

Clang!

The sound of a zither echoed. Sun Hao, a scholar-like youth, wore a smile as he listened to the words of Xiao Shuihan, Li Ji, and Ou Hu. He laughed and called out loudly, "Not bad! If you want our points, come up and take them yourselves. What is the matter? Are you afraid that if you all attack at once, our points will be scattered and divided among all your heads, leaving you with too little, or perhaps even sparking a chaotic brawl?"

"So, you choose to use your influence to pressure us into handing over our points. That way, they fall into the hands of you leaders without any risk. As for whether you provide compensation to the others, that likely depends on your mood, doesn't it?"

"You might even join forces to eliminate the rest of the small fry, securing yet another impressive haul of points..."

Sun Hao’s words instantly caused the expressions of the ten most powerful leaders to change. This was indeed what they had intended, and they were shocked that Sun Hao had exposed it so bluntly.

"Shut your mouth!"

One of the ten bellowed. He made a move as if to leap onto the embankment to finish off Sun Hao, but he hesitated and remained still. If he moved, the others would move too, and if they moved, the vast crowd behind them would inevitably surge forward.

He knew that even without the other eight leaders, he risked being eliminated by the sheer weight of the crowd. He was not yet powerful enough to survive an assault from over ten thousand people.

"Peace brings wealth! Peace brings wealth!"

Seeing the man’s fury, Qian Jin said with a beaming smile, his chubby face scrunched up. "Old Sun is exceptionally bright; he has the best mind among us, so it is no surprise he saw through your intentions."

As he spoke, Qian Jin’s smile faded. He reached out a plump hand to touch the blood on his arm and glared gloomily at the man. "However, I have remembered this slash you gave me. A peak Qi Pulse realm expert ambushing me, a peak Qi Induction realm practitioner? Pfft."

With that, Qian Jin spat a thick glob of phlegm, looking at the man with utter disdain.

"Come!"

Shangguan Feihong’s face was deathly pale. Among the group, he was the most severely injured. He was a man of few words, and he simply spat out that one syllable as he pointed his sword at the man.

Yet, whether it was Xiao Shuihan, Li Ji, Ou Hu, Sun Hao, Qian Jin, or even Princess Mu Xia, they all subtly positioned themselves to shield Lin Hongyi behind them.

"Since you refuse to hand over your points, we have no choice but to eliminate you first!"

The peak Qi Pulse realm expert was furious, but he was held back by a youth in a black robe who addressed the Qin family and the others.

The black-robed youth exchanged glances with the other leaders. Since these people refused to surrender their points, there was no better way than to eliminate them, even if it meant the points would be scattered among the ten thousand. At worst, the top teams could join forces afterward to eliminate the rest—it would just take more effort and carry a bit more risk.

Seeing the black-robed youth’s gaze, the other leaders nodded. There was no other choice.

"Prepare!"

The black-robed youth commanded in a deep voice. In an instant, ten thousand blades were drawn, and essence energy surged. They waited only for the command to unleash their most devastating attacks.

Seeing this, Xiao Shuihan and the others tensed, stepping back to fully block Lin Hongyi from view. They hoped that the moment the attack hit, they could absorb as much of the damage as possible for her. Even if they were eliminated, they wanted to ensure she would not suffer serious injury.

They knew that while an attack from ten thousand people would eliminate them instantly, it would come in waves. If the first wave wasn't enough to kill them outright and trigger the formation within their tokens, it would leave them severely wounded before the subsequent waves forced the tokens to teleport them out of the trial space.

They never considered taking Lin Hongyi’s token to make her forfeit. She hadn't asked to quit, so they could not make that choice for her.

In that instant, essence energy billowed like clouds. The momentum of ten thousand people was immense; even ten thousand people without cultivation could shake the heavens with a single shout, let alone a crowd where the weakest was at the early Qi Induction realm.

The sky changed color, the sea of clouds churned, and the terrifying pressure was something even a mid-stage Pulse Circulation realm expert could not hope to match.

"Don't force me to kill!"

Lin Hongyi clenched her small fists, her face turning pale. Her older brother had told her not to use poison and not to kill indiscriminately, and she had kept those words firmly in her heart.

She had only eliminated those others before because they had tried to kill Qian Jin and their words had been too hateful. But now, these ten thousand people only wanted to eliminate them. If she didn't use poison, she and these "brothers" would be eliminated. These men were her older brother’s friends, and she did not want them to be hurt.

But if she used poison, the concoctions she had prepared were insufficient; she would have to use the virulent toxin within her own body. That poison flowed with her essence energy, but it was so vicious that it could claim the lives of ten thousand people in an instant.

Her cultivation was still too low to control the poison to merely incapacitate them; once released, it would result in a massacre. She was afraid of causing trouble for her older brother!

Lin Fan had underestimated her maturity. Had she been a child who had experienced nothing, she might have already acted on impulse and poisoned them all. But she was different. She had endured too much, and she regarded Lin Fan as the most important person in her life. His words were like divine commands, etched into her soul.

*Must not kill indiscriminately!*

Those six words were a boundary she could not cross. Yet, standing before her were her brother’s friends. She was caught in a dilemma. Because she cared for her brother, she obeyed his words; because she cared for her brother, she did not want his friends to suffer.

Lin Hongyi’s palms were white from her grip, and her pupils began to turn pitch black.

"My, it’s quite lively here, isn't it?"

Suddenly, a calm voice rang out. Lin Hongyi felt her body relax, her eyes returning to normal. She looked toward the source of the voice and a sweet smile bloomed on her lips.

"Who’s there? Come out!"

The black-robed youth shouted. In that moment, a violent aura erupted from him—he was at the Pulse Circulation realm!

"Brother Fan!"

"Brother Fan!"

A white-robed figure appeared at one end of the Eternal Embankment. In the blink of an eye, he arrived before Xiao Shuihan and the others.

It was Lin Fan himself. At the very last second, he had finally arrived!

"Alright, leave the rest to me. I’m late," Lin Fan said. Hearing the voices of Xiao Shuihan and the others, he gestured for them to stand down. He pulled Lin Hongyi to his side, patted her head, and said, "You did well."

He then turned to face the black-robed youth.

"You are at the Pulse Circulation realm. Among these ten thousand, there are a dozen peak Qi Pulse realm experts, hundreds in the late stage, over a thousand in the early stage, and eight or nine thousand in the Qi Induction realm. Don't you feel ashamed to surround them like this?"

"With your cultivation, you could easily become an official student of the Heavenly Book Academy just by hunting beasts or waiting until the end. Why go to such lengths?"

Hearing this, the black-robed youth sneered. "Who do you think you are? Do I need you to teach me how to act?"

*Cough!*

Lin Fan coughed lightly, blood staining his palm. His expression, however, remained earnest. "I advise you to take these people and leave at once. Regardless of you, these peak and late-stage Qi Pulse realm experts could easily pass the test. I don't want to ruin your futures."

"What a joke! A sickly brat at the Qi Induction realm dares to spout such madness?"

The black-robed youth had noticed the blood at the corner of Lin Fan’s mouth and sensed his low cultivation level. He was so angry he laughed.

"Exactly. With your cultivation, I could take ten of you with one hand. Ruin our futures? It’s a question of whether I’ll even let you go!"

The peak Qi Pulse realm expert who had spoken first also sneered, holding up ten fingers and looking at Lin Fan with contempt.

"How dare you!"

"You dare speak to Brother Fan like that?"

"Die—!"

Seeing this man disrespect their revered Brother Fan, Xiao Shuihan and the others roared in anger. Shangguan Feihong was the most direct, gripping his sword and preparing to leap off the embankment.

But no matter how fast they were, how could they be faster than Lin Fan?

Before the man had even finished speaking, Lin Fan’s figure vanished. When he reappeared, he was standing directly in front of the man, his palm already striking the man’s face.

*Slap!*

A crisp sound echoed. Before the man could react, he was sent flying by Lin Fan’s strike. Blood and teeth sprayed from his mouth as he tumbled through the air, his cheek swelling instantly.

Lin Fan moved again, returning to the embankment. He looked down at the man sprawled on the ground and scoffed, "You can take ten of me?"

In that moment, Lin Fan didn't need to release any aura to silence the crowd.

It was too powerful. That was Jiang Long! A peak Qi Pulse realm expert, a man with one foot in the Pulse Circulation realm, someone ranked in the top three hundred out of seventy thousand trial-takers. And he had been sent flying by a single slap?

For a moment, the noisy crowd fell into a deathly, short-lived silence.

"What astonishing speed, what astonishing power!"

The black-robed youth felt a jolt of fear, his expression shifting. This was no mere Qi Induction realm practitioner; even he would have to be cautious against such speed and force. This was definitely an opponent as strong as himself. He had only just barely tracked the boy’s movement, with no time to intervene!

"You can take ten of me?"

The calm voice echoed in the mind of the fallen Jiang Long, whose face flushed with shame and anger. He had been slapped across the face in front of ten thousand people!

"I’m going to kill you! Everyone, attack! Kill him together!"