A man stood there, his posture as straight as a sword and his eyes like a hawk’s.
The savage glint in his eyes was completely unconcealed. As he stared at Lin Hao, all the dragon-head knockers on the vermilion gates began to rattle violently.
Yet, Lin Hao not only turned a deaf ear to the sound, he completely ignored the man’s presence.
Before and after the man’s strange appearance, Lin Hao’s movements remained uncannily consistent, without the slightest hesitation.
At first, the man watched Lin Hao with a cold smirk, but that smirk gradually twisted into a look of anger.
He had assumed Lin Hao was just bluffing, that there would surely be a moment when he would stop.
But Lin Hao’s steps remained steady, showing no sign of stopping.
Hmph!
A cold snort escaped the man’s lips, transforming into a sharp arrow that shot toward Lin Hao.
’There’s no way he can maintain that pace,’ he thought.
But once again, Lin Hao did the unexpected.
Lin Hao’s pace didn’t falter. The sharp arrow vanished bizarrely in mid-air, just as the man himself had bizarrely appeared.
This time, the man’s expression changed.
That arrow had only been a probe, but an ordinary Martial Artist at the First Layer of the Yin-Yang Realm would have been unable to block it.
Lin Hao was even stronger than he had imagined.
Exhaling a tense breath, the man’s eyes narrowed, his expression instantly becoming incredibly grave.
Lin Hao had, of course, noticed the man. But everything the man had done so far—from his Body Technique to his probing attack—was simply too crude. To Lin Hao, he posed no threat whatsoever.
But as the man’s eyes narrowed, a rare flicker of surprise appeared in Lin Hao’s own.
’This man was looking down on me just a moment ago,’ Lin Hao thought. ’But he’s already shed his contempt and is now treating me like a formidable foe. That’s a quick turnaround.’
Moreover, Lin Hao sensed a powerful aura spreading from him.
The aura was silent, spreading from the air, from the ground... It was closing in on him from every conceivable direction.
Lin Hao even sensed the aura linger for an extra moment at the dragon-head knockers as it passed through the vermilion gates.
’This is an astonishing technique,’ he mused. ’It requires more than just a terrifying Spiritual Sense.’
It was no exaggeration to say that even among those at the mid-stage Yin Yang Realm, practitioners capable of such a feat were as rare as morning stars.
But Lin Hao, at the Second Layer of Yin Yang Realm, was aware of it all.
Lin Hao paid it no mind and continued to walk forward.
When Lin Hao closed the distance between them to a mere fifty feet, the man saw he had no intention of stopping and involuntarily took a step back.
Fifty feet was his optimal combat range; any farther and his power would be drastically reduced.
That single step back, however, gave Lin Hao an opening to take a step forward himself.
This was no ordinary step—it was the Heaven-Stepping Step.
The Heaven-Stepping Step was blindingly fast. Before the man could even react, Lin Hao’s fist was upon him.
It was an incredibly simple straight punch, yet in that instant, every pore on the man’s body seemed to erupt.
He realized there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from Lin Hao’s punch.
And yet, the man managed to escape.
He had vanished without a trace.
Lin Hao froze.
His formidable Spiritual Sense had detected the man’s aura.
It was everywhere.
The man’s aura filled the empty space around him.
’This is a form of Dao,’ Lin Hao realized.
WHOOSH!
Lin Hao executed the Heaven-Stepping Step, his speed reaching its absolute limit. In an instant, the area was filled with his afterimages, making it impossible to tell which was real.
Muffled thuds echoed through the air, mingling with the continuous rattling of the dragon-head knockers on the vermilion gates.
BUZZ!
A sonic attack, fine as silk threads, sliced through the air, cutting several of Lin Hao’s manifested afterimages in half.
The ones on the ground, meanwhile, were subjected to an attack of unimaginable force.
The moment the dragon-head knockers rattled, Lin Hao’s afterimages instantly disintegrated into dust.
BOOM!
Suddenly, an aura powerful enough to collapse space itself erupted. In the next moment, all of Lin Hao’s afterimages vanished, leaving only his true form.
It was a bizarre method of attack.
Just then, a majestic aura surged from Lin Hao’s body, powerful enough to pierce the very heavens.
Immediately, the space above them collapsed and was annihilated.
Amid the chaos, Lin Hao suddenly struck, his hand grabbing at a specific point in the void.
When Lin Hao pulled his hand back, he was holding someone—the elusive man.
He was caught in Lin Hao’s grasp, completely unable to move.
The color drained from the man’s face.
In that single instant, he had tried countless techniques, but he still had no power to resist.
He was a Martial Artist at the First Layer of the Yin-Yang Realm! Knowing how terrifying Lin Hao was, he had used his strongest attack from the very beginning. Yet, not only had Lin Hao effortlessly shattered his attack, but he had also captured him, leaving him powerless to resist.
He tried to speak, but Lin Hao gave him no such chance.
BOOM!
With a clench of his fist, Lin Hao crushed the man into nothingness.
’If you try to kill me, you must be prepared to be killed.’
This was the Li Long Dynasty, a place of unfathomable depths. Lin Hao knew that from the moment he had entered that first gate, his every move was being watched.
Therefore, there was no difference between killing him and not killing him.
Of course, the reason he hadn’t killed the Sealed Martial Realm Martial Artists was that there was no need. They were merely pawns sent to test the waters.
Besides, they posed no real threat to him.
It was no exaggeration to say that even if Lin Hao stood perfectly still, it would be next to impossible for two Martial Artists at the Sealed Martial Realm Peak to even injure him.
But the man who had just attacked was different; his cultivation was at the Yin-Yang Realm.
That wasn’t the main reason, of course. The real reason was that he was a man of the Li Long Dynasty.
To be more specific, he was a pawn of the Li Long Dynasty.
Regardless of the Li Long Dynasty’s attitude toward him, a pawn’s life was insignificant.
That was why Lin Hao acted without restraint.
Having just killed a Martial Artist of the Yin-Yang Realm, Lin Hao remained utterly nonchalant as he calmly strode forward.
With a single step, he reached the end of the street.
Before him lay a maze of countless branching paths.
The outer streets of the Li Long Dynasty were like a labyrinth, constructed according to the principles of Qimen Dunjia.
But this was hardly a challenge for Lin Hao.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lin Hao vanished down one of the paths.
As he moved, Lin Hao pushed his Divine Sense and Spiritual Sense to their absolute limits.
But the surroundings were unnervingly quiet. The atmosphere was oppressive, yet no attack came.
As a man of great skill is a man of great courage, Lin Hao never broke his stride. In a flash, he was drawing ever closer to the heart of the Li Long Dynasty.
The path ahead was still empty, but this time, Lin Hao stopped.
One more gate stood between him and the true heart of the Li Long Dynasty, a place teeming with hidden dangers.
Lin Hao could even feel a murderous intent churning in the air.
This intent wasn’t being controlled by a Martial Artist; it was more like the area’s own consciousness.
For space itself to possess killing intent was a horrifying concept. It meant that a terrifying number of Martial Artists must have perished here.
Yet Lin Hao was unafraid. With a faint smile, he stepped forward.
P.S. Many thanks to my friend, "Time Little Bear," for the 100 book coins.