Hundreds of super-class masters had challenged Lin Dan. At first, they were concerned about maintaining their dignity, so they took turns battling her one by one. However, when they realized that she could injure one of them with a single strike, they completely abandoned any pretense of righteousness and swarmed at her like a pack of wolves.

Lin Dan, troubled by having no outlet to release the deathly energy within her, slashed at whoever came her way. When one opponent came, she cut them down. When a group approached, she unleashed a flurry of blade shadows. Her brutal internal energy transformed into a blade aura, striking the crowd like a fierce storm. The energy then formed thunderous explosions within their wounds, tearing their flesh apart. While others could only inflict a deep gash with a strike, her blade could instantly shred weaker opponents into pieces. Even those with strong internal energy protecting them could not withstand the invasion of her deathly aura.

After she withdrew her blade, the many experts who had retreated beyond the perimeter were already covered in wounds. Some of them couldn’t even stand properly. Before they knew it, their bodies were riddled with bloody holes, causing them to collapse within moments. No one noticed that the steel blade in Lin Dan’s hand was slowly absorbing the blood on its surface, gradually turning from silver to a faint red.

This blade was also entrusted to Lin Dan by the old sect master and was also called the Asura Blade. It was part of the same set as her martial arts technique. The technique was demonic, and naturally, the blade was as well. However, the previous owner had never progressed in martial arts, so they hadn’t discovered the peculiar properties of the blade.

Lin Dan gripped the handle tightly, but despite her bloodstained face, there was no trace of madness in her eyes. She stepped forward, her toe firmly pressing against the boundary line.

Only then did the fourth elder of Lianyun City leap down from a high point, shouting sternly, “The technique you’re practicing is so violent that if we let you go today, you will surely become a scourge on the martial arts world in the future! Today, I will rid the righteous path of your poisonous presence!” Before he even finished speaking, he launched a palm strike.

Lin Dan sliced through the palm wind and said in a deep voice, “I have never killed anyone without reason, so how could I be a scourge? I’ve already made it clear, if you all honor your promise and leave voluntarily today, we’ll have no problem. But if you seek death by coming after me, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

The fourth elder didn’t bother with more words. He snorted coldly and continued his relentless palm strikes. He had been stuck at the half-step grandmaster level for many years so his aura was more stable than Lin Dan’s, and his combat experience far surpassed hers. Soon, he dispersed Lin Dan’s fierce blade aura, landing palm strike after palm strike on her body.

Lin Dan was repeatedly hit backward with blood spewing out of her mouth. However, there was no fear in her eyes. Instead, she shouted, “Great timing!” and continued to slash out with her blade. Even though every strike was deflected by the fourth elder, she did not give up her attacks.

The stronger her enemy, the more she wanted to fight with all her might, and the more deathly energy she had to channel. At the same time, the life force within her body circulated through her limbs and bones, relieving her pain and making her feel at ease. The internal injuries caused by the palm strikes were nothing compared to the pain of being cut into a thousand pieces.

She then made a startling discovery. Since all her deathly energy was being used for combat, her body was filled with an abundance of life force. The sword wounds inflicted by those earlier experts were healing rapidly, without leaving a single scar. Even if her internal organs were shattered by the strikes, they would also quickly recover. The fiercer the battle, the faster her wounds healed.

In other words, if she fully mastered the Asura Blade, she would become an indestructible monster.

This astonishing revelation didn’t shake Lin Dan’s resolve. Instead, it made her even more fearless and fierce. She was repeatedly struck by the fourth elder’s palm strike, driving her into the ground and creating deep craters. Yet, she would charge up again and continue her attacks. In just a short time, her battered form had created more than a dozen large craters in the ground. But at the same time, her blade aura grew stronger and more forceful with each strike.

At first, the fourth elder was able to skillfully confront her head-on, but as the fight progressed, he found himself forced to dodge her attacks. Eventually, he was struck multiple times, his body covered in blood. Ever since he had advanced to the level of a half-step grandmaster, it had been a long time since he had been injured, let alone been forced into such a sorry state. It was only then that he realized Lin Dan was a berserker-type warrior whose improvement in battle was exponentially greater than in regular training.

In other words, he had now become Lin Dan’s whetstone, and if the fight continued, he would gain nothing from it. On the contrary, it would only facilitate Lin Dan’s breakthrough. Even though he had stood at the pinnacle of the Eastern Tang Continent and had encountered countless peerless masters, the fourth elder still believed that this seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl, who hadn’t even made a name for herself yet, was the most terrifying opponent he had ever faced. He was already showing signs of defeat as his internal energy was running low. He doubted he could last more than half an hour. Meanwhile, Lin Dan was growing stronger with every move. Her once pale face was now flushed with a healthy color and her deep black eyes were glowing with intensity. It seemed she could keep fighting for three days and nights without any trouble.

It was clear that her internal energy was far more powerful than the fourth elder’s, as if the life-and-death struggle earlier had only been a warm-up for her. When they first met, she had seemed to have just advanced, her internal energy still unstable, but now she had achieved harmony within herself, and her moves were forceful and relentless. Even a peerless master like the fourth elder was being driven back.

Seeing Lin Dan unleash a barrage of fierce blade shadows, aiming to tear him apart, the fourth elder hurriedly launched a palm strike to slow down her attack. Then, using the force from his palm, he quickly retreated, only to find himself, by sheer coincidence, outside the boundary line. Lin Dan had originally aimed a fatal strike at him, but upon seeing this, she unleashed an even sharper blow. The energy from this strike was faster than the previous one, slightly altering its course, and it landed on a rock beside the fourth elder. The massive rock, several feet tall, was split in half, and a huge cavern was blasted open.

The flying debris posed no threat to a top-level master and everyone quickly dodged it. The fourth elder retreated several more feet, his face filled with a mix of suspicion and uncertainty. He knew that Lin Dan could have killed him just now. The first strike was aimed directly at his neck and he hadn’t even been steady on his feet, let alone capable of dodging. If Lin Dan hadn’t delivered that second blow, his head would have been separated from his body, and he would be unquestionably dead by now.

“Why did you spare me?” He asked. Accepting defeat was something the fourth elder could handle. He had reached this level of cultivation after all, so if he couldn’t see through something as common as victory and defeat, he could forget about advancing any further. But what he really wanted to know was why Lin Dan had spared him at the critical moment. After all, he was one of the few half-step grandmasters on the Eastern Tang Continent and the renowned fourth elder of Lianyun City, with considerable prestige in the martial arts world. If Lin Dan had killed him today, she would have instantly made a name for herself and shaken the entire continent. And with the Eastern Sacred Sect growing increasingly rampant and expanding rapidly in recent years, wasn’t this exactly what they wanted? No sect would refuse the chance to become a dominant power, and no warrior would turn down the opportunity to become a figure revered by all.

Lin Dan couldn’t fathom the complex thoughts running through the fourth elder’s mind. She slowly walked to the boundary line, stood her ground with her blade, and repeated each word clearly, “Anyone who crosses this line will be killed without mercy.” Her words were ruthless, but her actions were merciful, leaving the fourth elder unable to grasp her true intentions.

Lin Dan’s thoughts were simple. When she said ‘be killed without mercy’, it applied not only to others but also to herself. If she ever crossed this most basic boundary, she wouldn’t wait for these so-called righteous people to come after her. She would sever her own heart meridian and die. She could live a life worse than death or a lonely existence, but she would not live in a state of confusion or madness. If she couldn’t live true to herself, what was the point of living at all?

The fourth elder glanced at the line she had drawn earlier and finally understood why he had escaped death. Lin Dan truly meant what she said. As long as one didn’t cross the line, she wouldn’t strike a killing blow. In fact, she was more committed to her word than those from the so-called righteous sects.

With this realization, the fourth elder’s old face flushed with shame and he felt deeply embarrassed. He then discreetly glanced at the crowd opposite. Hidden among them, Bai Yan subtly nodded, and the fourth elder immediately clasped his hands together and said, “Thank you, valiant heroine, for showing mercy. We have offended you today.” With that, he waved his wide sleeve and swiftly departed.

Since Lin Dan had managed to force the fourth elder to cough up blood repeatedly, she was naturally also an expert at the half-step grandmaster level. The remaining righteous sect members, let alone kill her, wouldn’t stand a chance against her even if they all joined forces, so they quickly dispersed.

The once-majestic entrance to the Eastern Sacred Sect, standing tall beneath the mountain, was now mostly destroyed. Scattered corpses lay all around and blood covered the ground, leaving almost no place for people to step on. Lin Dan plunged her Asura Blade into the pool of blood and let it absorb it while she sat cross-legged and began to cultivate.

As the deathly energy gathered and clashed with the life energy within her, the familiar excruciating pain began to ravage her body once more, tearing apart her meridians and flesh inch by inch, only to repair them inch by inch. This process was, of course, extremely painful, but she didn’t even furrow her brow. However, the flush on her cheeks slowly faded and her complexion returned to a pale snow-white.

The disciples of the Eastern Sacred Sect didn’t dare disturb her and quietly cleaned up the battlefield.

He Yufei stood hesitantly at a distance, wanting to approach but not daring to, her expression incredibly conflicted. She had betrayed Lin Dan and taken away the person Lin Dan cherished most, so she had no idea how Lin Dan would exact her revenge.

Before this, He Yufei had never imagined that Lin Dan would become so powerful. Now, Lin Dan was a half-step grandmaster, a top-level expert second only to a grandmaster. If she called out to the world, the once-precarious Eastern Sacred Sect could immediately gain a high standing in the Jianghu^[1]martial arts community, and within a few years, it might even become a colossal force like the Qing City or the Tianjian Sect. If Lin Dan clung to the past, He Yufei would have no choice but to flee the Jianghu, living a life on the run.

“Master, we should leave while she’s still recovering.” He Yufei urged, more worried about Bai Yan being imprisoned by Lin Dan again than her own fate.

“Wait a bit.” Bai Yan replied, slowly approaching Lin Dan, who was sitting in the pool of blood. Before he could get too close, Lin Dan opened her eyes and said, without a trace of emotion, “You tried to kill me just now.” She hadn’t forgotten that before she had killed He Chongling, someone had tried to assassinate her with a hidden force. And at that time, the most suspicious person standing in that direction was Bai Yan.