If he had come to Qingshan town before fully understanding all the details about Zhou Donghuang, Lin Hantian would have been quite threatened by Zhou Donghuang.
However, now that he had come to Qingshan town, fully cognizant of Zhou Donghuang’s background, he could only think that this Zhou Donghuang was a very lucky man.
He could only become the man he was today, because of the essence left behind by a mighty adept who was a Primordial Soul adept, or more.
As for the murder of the Divine Light Sect’s 17th elder, Liu Xuanyu, at the Black Market, he thought it was nothing but a coincidence and had nothing to do with Zhou Donghuang.
Liu Xuanyu was a mid Primal Core adept after all, and even if that was not much compared to what he was now, it would not have been possible for Zhou Donghuang and the early Primal Core stage adept who was with him to have killed him quite so easily.
“Isn’t it good to be alive?”
Under the gaze of the crowd, Zhou Donghuang cast a lazy glance at Lin Hantian, shaking his head and sighing.
Everyone who was watching him, including Lin Hantian, were invariably stunned by Zhou Donghuang’s words.
In that instant, Lin Hantian seemed to return to his senses once more. His eyes filled with cold, murderous intent, and he called out, “Zhou Donghuang, you little brat, barely weaned from your mother’s breast, you have absolutely no say over what becomes of me, Lin Hantian, my life or death!”
“Is that so?”
The fan in Zhou Donghuang’s hand trembled a little, and in the blink of an eye, it shot out like a flash of lightning.
Before Lin Hantian had time to keep up his defenses, the 18 bones that made up the structure of the folding fan spread out like 18 lethal sword blades, suspended above Lin Hantian’s head.
“A spirit weapon?!”
Perceiving the energy that was being transmitted through the fan bones, Lin Hantian’s face froze for a minute, then his eyes became more and more radiant, and their inherent greed became more intense.
“Zhou Donghuang, I never would have thought that you would possess a spirit weapon… I, Lin Hantian, will claim this weapon as my own!”
As soon as Lin Hantian’s voice fell, he rose into the air like a gust of wind. While his hands were raised, a vast amount of white inner Yuan emanated from his body like a torrent and seemed to transfigure into a giant beast, its large jaws wide open and ready to swallow whole the eighteen blades that surrounded him in mid-air.
“This Zhou Donghuang is but an early Primal Core adept, to think he would be so presumptuous as to dare challenge a mid Primal Core adept… He is just courting his own death!”
Now, as Yang Yunji seemed to have sobered up from the shock of realizing that Zhou Donghuang had entered the Primal Core stage, his face was full of mocking pleasure as he surveyed the fight between Zhou Donghuang and Lin Hantian.
Seeing that Lin Hantian coveted and wanted to forcibly take hold of his spirit weapon, Zhou Donghuang’s eyes were as calm as ever, but the corner of his lips involuntarily raised with the slightest sign of disdain.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
…
Under the gaze of everyone, the eighteen fan blades, like sharp daggers, moved in unison, turning into a rain of swords and whistled in the direction towards Yang Yunji.
As the swords started to rain down upon him, closing in on him, Lin Hantian could feel the terrible energy contained within the deathly blades.
Even though this was but the inner Yuan of an early Primal Core adept, the amount of power that it seemed to contain, was way beyond that which his own inner yuan could ever produce on its own.
“This is not possible!”
Between these flashes of lightning, Lin Hantian’s first thought was, “Impossible! There must be a cover-up here! How could an early Primal Core adept ever compete with me, Lin Hantian?”
However, as the rain of swords fell upon him and collided with the giant beast formed of his own essence, he felt the pressure of his energy being crushed.
Even at this moment, he just felt as if he was about to suffocate.
The smell of his own death closing in on him was also eminent.
“No!”
“No!”
“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”
On the brink of death, Lin Hantian’s pupils rounded with intensity, trying to urge every bit of inner Yuan from his body to fights as best as he could to stop the rain of blades that seemed to cover the sky around him.
Crash!
Crash! Bang! Bang!
…
However, as the terror of swords rained from the sky, and even with Lin Hantian doing his utmost best, he was still unable to resist the attack, and his face became red with anxiety. Blood started to flow from his eyes from the strain.
“No!”
“No!”
Before Lin Hantian’s inner voice could scream out any further, the white rays of light around his body started to rise in an instant, and earth-shaking changes started to take place.
And they became…
Silver in color!
“Hahahaha… Hahahaha…”
Lin Hantian, who was still desperate at the close call with death a moment ago, laughed wildly for a moment.
At the same time, the milky white rays of inner Yuan that once resisted the rain of swords was replaced by silver Yuan in an instant, and it blocked any further attacks from the blades in one fell swoop.
“What a breakthrough.”
The scene before him surprised Zhou Donghuang, but at the same time, he realized that although Lin Hantian was only a mid Primal Core adept, he would have been infinitely close to reaching the next level.
This time, under the oppressive force he was raining upon him, and on the brink of death, Lin Hantian took advantage of this opportunity to make a breakthrough, and entered into the late Primal Core stage, to become a Silver Essence adept.
“This is… a late Primal Core adept?”
Just now, Yang Yunji had thought that Lin Hantian was finished, and his eyes started to show an increasing amount of despair. If Lin Hantian was done, he would definitely not end well.
After all, Lin Hantian had brought him to Qingshan town himself.
But now, seeing that Lin Hantian’s inner Yuan had turned to silver, he realized that Lin Hantian had entered the late Primal Core stage and became an even stronger Primal Core adept!
Based on the lowly state of the Yang family, Yang Yunji naturally could not even begin to understand the affairs of a Primal Core adept through his familial ties.
The fact that he could understand so much about a Primal Core adept right now was all due to the conversations he had had with Lin Hantian while they were making their way to Qingshan town. While Lin Hantian was making investigations into Zhou Donghuang’s background, he had become exposed to a new universe of knowledge about the adepts.
Because of this, he had known from before that Zhou Donghuang was an early Primal Core adept and Lin Hantian was a mid Primal Core adept. Even now, he could see for himself that Lin Hantian had entered into the late Primal Core stage!
“Congratulations, Big Brother!”
At this time, the giant eagle at Yang Yunji’s feet also expressed his congratulations to Lin Hantian. The color of despair in his sharp eyes that had been there just moments back disappeared and was replaced with a burst of excitement.
Despite this, Lin Lan and others were not quite clear about the distinction between both of the Primal Core adepts.
Just now, Lin Hantian was almost killed by Zhou Donghuang, and they all had been flushed with excitement.
Now that Lin Hantian was able to make a breakthrough and block Zhou Donghuang’s offensive, the excitement on their faces disappeared and was replaced by silent, severe looks.
“Zhou Donghuang!”
Lin Hantian, whose entire body was now wrapped in a silver glow, looked at Zhou Donghuang as he smiled darkly.
“It is all thanks to you that I was able to break through the next stage of the Primal Core to become a late Primal Core adept.
“So what, then?”
Zhou Donghuang was a picture of calm, and he was completely unfettered as he said, “Even so, it would only have delayed your death by just a little longer.”
Hearing the words of Zhou Donghuang, Lin Hantian first froze, but then laughed more and more fervently. “Zhou Donghuang, I have to say that the strength you exhibit is indeed rare but bizarre.
“For an early Primal Core adept, with the help of a spirit weapon, demonstrating a level of attack that is comparable to a late Primal Core adept…! However, can’t you see it at this point?
“Your attacks can’t stop me now.
“Even with this spirit weapon that you have now drawn… If I were to guess, this would be your most powerful means of attack at this point, am I right?
“Be thankful that I don’t have sufficient inner Yuan left. Otherwise, if we were to continue, I would wipe out all of your inner Yuan! And then, I could easily kill you.”
As he said this, Lin Hantian’s voice seemed to contain the slightest bit of pity.
“But, even so, my remaining inner Yuan can still stop your strongest means of attack… even if I want to escape, I could do so quite easily!”
Lin Hantian’s eyes brimmed with self-confidence. “Today is the day that I have escaped death and made a full comeback, and it is also the same day that you and those around you will die.
“Unless you leave Ziyun with them… but then, do you have that ability? With your current strength and even with the servants next to you, how many people can you take with you out of Ziyun?”
As he finished, Lin Hantian’s face was one of mocking disdain.
“Now, I shall take my leave… I shall wait for my inner Yuan to be fully restored and then come back to you!”
As Lin Hantian said this, he prepared to leave.
While he was saying all these, he was completely confident that he would be able to make his leave successfully.
“Who said that this was my strongest means of attack?”
Just as Lin Hantian was about to leave, Zhou Donghuang said, “Out of the 18 fan blades… You were just able to stop only eight of them.”
“Eight fan blades?”
Considering the rain of swords that he was fighting, Lin Hantian’s face was unbelieving. “Do you think… that just by saying this, you can scare me?”
“Aren’t you just an ignorant frog in the well!”
When Zhou Donghuang shook his head, in the space just at Lin Hantian’s feet, ten flashes of light shot out suddenly, and along with that were clearly the ten fan blades that he spoke of.
When the 18 fan blades had shot out of the folding fan, ten of them silently lurked beneath him, while the other eight formed the rain of attack on Lin Hantian.
In this Ambush of Flying Daggers technique, eight would rain down in attack, while ten lay in wait.
And since this was an ambush, how could they be easily discovered?
“This is no good!”
With all his strength, Lin Hantian had barely been able to defend against the attack of the eight fan blades. How would he be able to spare enough power to resist the offensive attack of ten?
Plop! Plop! Plop!
…
In a blink of an eye, Lin Hantian’s whole body was penetrated by the ten fan blades, and as they went straight through him, the blood that filled the air was a sight to behold.
Of the ten wounds, none had hit the man’s vital points.
To say that Zhou Donghuang had not done this intentionally would have been unbelievable.
Whoosh!
While Lin Hantian was still gritting his teeth, trying to resist the rain of swords that was coming from all sides, Zhou Donghuang flashed forward, appeared in front of him like a phantom, and then aimed for his essence point with the palm of his hand.
“No—!”
As Lin Hantian guessed what Zhou Donghuang was going to do, his face changed rapidly, and his eyes were stricken with fear.
Boom!
With just a swipe of his hand, Zhou Donghuang had penetrated his inner Yuan and purged Lin Hantian of his powers from his essence point. He had completely destroyed Lin Hantian’s inner Yuan, rendering him useless as an adept.
After he had rendered Lin Hantian completely handicapped, Zhou Donghuang raised his hand, and the 18 blades from his fan turned back into a folding fan and returned to his hand.
At the same time, Lin Hantian, who had lost all means of attack and was seriously injured, fell from the air, seven or eight meters to the ground.
Boom!!
Lin Hantian slammed heavily on the ground and coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood. When he looked again at the young man, clothed in white and still in mid-air, his eyes were full of both despair and hatred.
