Chapter 41

“You there, was it you who destroyed Black Tiger Fort?”

The Elder Spirit Serpent narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Lin Xuan with a gaze as venomous as a snake’s. Though it sounded like a question, his tone was unmistakably certain.

“Only such means could leave not a single bone of the Black Tiger bandits behind.”

“Yes, and what of it?” Lin Xuan looked at the Elder Spirit Serpent, feeling threatened for the first time.

“What? It was Xuan’er who destroyed Black Tiger Fort?”

Lin Baye and the Lin family elders were dumbfounded, staring at Lin Xuan in shock. Was he the one who obliterated Black Tiger Fort? Seeing his terrifying aura now, and having witnessed him wipe out all the elite forces of the Chu family, one of the three great families of Tai’an City, it suddenly didn’t seem so hard to believe that he alone could crush the entire Black Tiger Fort.

They had thought he was just a youth they could help along, yet he had already grown to a level they couldn’t hope to reach.

The Lin family elders wore bitter expressions but were secretly relieved they hadn’t hidden away in the family’s darkest hour.

The Elder Spirit Serpent licked his lips, a small, vibrantly colored snake on his shoulder glaring at Lin Xuan with chilling malice.

“A Qi Sea Stage cultivator!”

“Kid, to forcibly raise your cultivation to the Qi Sea Stage must have cost you dearly. How much strength do you even have left?”

The Elder Spirit Serpent sneered, his eyes glinting with greed. Such a young Qi Sea Stage cultivator surely carried significant secrets—maybe some miraculous fortune. If he could seize it, then the whole world would be within his grasp!

Lin Baye and the others looked at Lin Xuan anxiously.

Lin Xuan’s expression remained unchanged. He shook his sleeve, letting snow fall from his sword blade, and said simply, “To kill you? Enough.”

A pale white flame danced in his dark eyes, and the sword in his hand hummed with sharp, ringing vibrations.

In that moment, every Lin family member’s sword responded, pulling free from their hands as if drawn by an invisible force.

“What is…?”

Under everyone’s astonished gaze, all the swords rose into the sky, gathering together into a long dragon of hundreds of blades!

This scene surpassed what the young men and women of the Lin family had ever imagined.

“So… martial arts can really reach this level!” This thought imprinted itself deeply in the minds of all the young Lin family members.

A thousand swords rising, the sky itself altered—this was like the grand powers described in old tales.

Even the elders of the Lin family, looking at this impossible spectacle, found themselves gazing at Lin Xuan with something akin to reverence for a martial deity.

It was as if they were witnessing the birth of a legend, a legend that would rise to greater realms and leave an eternal mark.

…

In Tai’an City:

“Look toward the Lin family—what’s happening over there?”

A shout drew everyone’s attention upward, where they saw a sight they’d never forget.

Hundreds of swords had gathered into an immense, towering blade, appearing like divine judgment from afar.

“Isn’t that… toward the Lin family?”

Everyone stared in shock, uncertain of what was unfolding.

“Why… why do I feel as if I missed something important?”

Tai’an City’s governor, Wang Jun, gazed at the colossal blade forged of countless swords, a surge of regret filling his heart. It felt like he had let a great opportunity slip by. Many years later, whenever he thought of this day, he would see that massive blade piercing the sky. If only he’d been… just a little more resolute.

…

Looking up at the massive sword hovering above him, its aura locked firmly onto him, even the Elder Spirit Serpent felt a slight pressure.

“Hmph! When I was a force to be reckoned with in the Great Yan Dynasty, you were still drinking milk, boy!”

“Green Snake Ten Thousnd Poison”

With a harsh shout, the small, colorful snake on his shoulder began to grow rapidly, transforming into a giant serpent several yards tall, its massive body thicker than several men combined. Its rainbow scales glimmered with a chilling gleam, and its green eyes struck terror into all who saw them.

“Green Snake Ten Thousnd Poison”

“You’re the Elder Spirit Serpent from the top fifteen of the Fierce List?”

Lin Baye’s face went pale.

Everyone recorded on the Fiend List was a notorious fugitive in the Great Yan Dynasty, and the Elder Spirit Serpent was ranked fifteenth, known for monstrous crimes. It was said he’d once been a disciple of Green Serpent Valley, and, in his quest to possess the valley’s ultimate venomous art, the Green Serpent Venom Art, he poisoned and killed everyone there, even his own family and master. And he carried a fearsome creature—a rare fourth-level Rainbow-Scaled Python—and had even escaped the clutches of a Celestial Stage cultivator.

“Xuan’er, be cautious of that serpent! It’s a fourth-level monster!” Lin Baye warned urgently. Facing such an enemy, he and the Lin family elders could only stand by, watching a young man face this alone. Lin Baye felt a mix of emotions, but worry prevailed.

“Kid, if you hand over your secrets, I might just leave you with an intact corpse!” The Elder Spirit Serpent boasted. With his peak Qi Sea Stage strength and a fourth-level monster at his side, how could he lose to a mere boy?

“So much talk.”

“If that’s the extent of your power, then die.”

Lin Xuan looked at the babbling Elder Spirit Serpent, wondering if all villains here talked so much. While he prepared, what had his opponent even been doing?

“Descend!”

With a soft utterance from Lin Xuan, hundreds of sword energies cascaded down in a roaring river, slicing through the heavens like divine judgment.

“Roar!”

The Rainbow-Scaled Python beside the Elder Spirit Serpent opened its maw, spewing a green mist. The sharp swords touching the mist corroded quickly.

Yet there were not just one or two swords, but hundreds!

One sword would dissolve, clearing the mist layer by layer, while countless others pierced into the massive Rainbow-Scaled Python. Most of the swords were ordinary weapons, with only a few reaching the first or second rank, not enough to completely penetrate a fourth-level monster’s defenses.

But… sheer numbers made up for it!