After only a few minutes of regrouping, the caravan resumed its journey.
Xia Wanshan even prepared a horse specifically for Lin Ye. The wagons were gone—every cart had been smashed beyond repair.
Lin Ye rode with the Wind-Piercing Crossbow strapped to his back, while his consciousness drifted once again into the Asura Blood Sea.
That vast sea felt like a living beast.
It did not give freely.
It demanded offerings.
Only when Lin Ye "fed" it would it return power in response.
And the deeper Lin Ye went, the more he sensed something terrifying beneath the surface.
This Blood Sea was not simply a cultivation artifact.
It carried intent.
It carried history.
It carried secrets.
Even so, Lin Ye's gaze remained calm and unwavering.
"Even if there is a heaven-shaking conspiracy behind this… so what?"
"I, Lin Ye, do not fear it."
And he continued cultivating the Nine Revolutions Asura Art without hesitation.
The Bandits Reveal Themselves
After Lin Ye and the caravan left, the masked raiders in the forest did not retreat far.
They gathered in the shadows and removed their masks.
One man spat on the ground, eyes burning with rage.
"Damn it… where did that vicious brat come from?"
"Wind Thunder Sect… Earth Blaze Sect will remember this!"
Another asked cautiously, voice low.
"What do we do now? Do we chase them?"
Their Earth Transformation cultivator had been killed instantly.
If they rushed in again, it would be nothing but suicide.
The leader, clearly an elder from the Earth Blaze Sect, cursed under his breath.
"Withdraw."
"Find out who that kid is."
"We can let the goods go… but this humiliation will be repaid."
With that, the remaining men vanished into the wilderness.
They had intended to harvest a fortune.
Instead, Lin Ye had appeared like a demon from nowhere, overturning everything.
That Sky-Star Ore alone was worth tens of millions of spirit stones.
Da Fu Auction House occasionally sold items for that price, but auction profits were mostly commissions—hundreds of thousands at best, often less.
If they had seized the ore and sold it themselves, the return would have been enormous.
That was why even the Earth Blaze Sect had been tempted.
They did this often—ambushing caravans while masked, then throwing the blame onto "mountain bandits."
Everyone usually knew who was responsible.
But without evidence, nothing could be proven.
After all, the Earth Blaze Sect itself had been founded by thieves.
That kind of culture ran in its blood.
Night Camp
The caravan traveled without further incident.
At dusk, the group finally chose an open clearing and set up camp.
Moving through the wilderness at night was more dangerous. It attracted beasts and invited ambush.
Resting before darkness fully fell was the correct choice.
They were now less than thirty li from Ray River City.
At dawn they could reach it within an hour.
Lin Ye spent the time modifying the Wind-Piercing Crossbow.
It could now hold five bolts at once, though it still fired only one at a time.
Xia Wanshan, sensing the city was close, finally allowed himself to relax slightly.
The fatigue of constant vigilance over the past few days had begun to weigh on him.
No one lit a fire.
They ate dry rations quietly.
Lin Ye sat on a stone and cultivated, until—
he suddenly opened his eyes and stared forward.
The horses around them became restless.
"What is it?"
Xia Zhan immediately became alert.
The sun was nearly gone. In fifteen minutes, darkness would swallow everything.
Then Lin Ye spoke, voice cold.
"They're here."
Straight ahead, dozens of mounted riders thundered toward them.
The vibration shook the earth.
Everyone in the caravan turned pale.
"That's—"
"Those look like Wind Thunder Sect riders!"
"Are they here to escort this young hero?"
But the closer they came, the colder the air felt.
Every rider wore a black mask.
Their aura was heavy.
Oppressive.
Their presence carried the chill of executioners.
And they arrived exactly at sunset, when shadows were deepest.
Their killing intent seemed to drag the sky lower.
The West Mountain Unit
Lin Ye raised his crossbow and fired in rapid succession.
His bolts did not target riders—
they targeted the horses.
But those warhorses wore thick black armor.
Only three mounts were forced to stop.
Then the first rank of riders raised their own Wind-Piercing Crossbows and returned fire.
A storm of bolts screamed through the air.
Explosions erupted around Lin Ye like cannon blasts.
The stone he had been sitting on shattered into fragments.
"Defensive formation!"
Xia Zhan shouted.
The remaining guards formed ranks immediately.
But then they realized something terrifying—
the riders were not targeting them.
They were targeting Lin Ye alone.
Lin Ye drew his Cold Iron Sword.
Facing thirty-six black-armored riders, he showed no fear.
He already knew who they were.
The West Mountain Unit of the Enforcement Hall.
A special force whose purpose was not to capture.
Only to kill.
Lin Ye smiled faintly.
"Finally."
"Something worthy of slaughter."
Dragonstride
Lin Ye dashed forward.
His movements suddenly shifted.
His footwork became unreal, like a dragon weaving through clouds.
It was a Heaven-grade movement art:
Heaven Strategy Dragonstride.
In the past, his cultivation had been too low to unleash it fully.
Now, having stepped into Earth Transformation, he could draw upon earth-vein energy endlessly.
Earth Transformation cultivators were terrifying because they could borrow power from the ground itself.
The only difference was:
who could draw faster,
who could draw more.
Lin Ye stabbed repeatedly.
More than a dozen armored warhorses collapsed.
The remaining riders circled him, kicking up dense clouds of dust.
Their formation created pressure, chaos, and visual obstruction.
It was a basic battlefield suppression technique.
It worked on ordinary opponents.
But they had made one fatal mistake.
They did not understand what kind of monster Lin Ye truly was.
The Caravan Watches in Terror
"What should we do, Elder? Should we help?"
Xia Zhan asked anxiously.
Xia Wanshan glared at him like he was insane.
"Are you stupid?"
"Do you see what kind of people those are?"
Every single rider was an Earth Transformation cultivator.
Not only that—they were trained, uniform, disciplined.
Thirty-six Earth Transformation cultivators in a single killing squad.
That kind of force could crush any clan in Ray River City.
Even the Zhang Clan could not survive such an assault.
So the question became—
could Lin Ye?
Two Secrets Unleashed
Lin Ye's eyes sharpened.
"Blood Frenzy Curse!"
"Asura Blood Armor!"
A thin crimson armor formed around him instantly.
Every strike that hit him was absorbed and deflected.
At the same time, the Blood Frenzy Curse ignited his blood.
His aura exploded upward.
In a blink, Lin Ye's cultivation force surged into Earth Transformation Fifth Realm.
Then he struck.
"Blood Slaughter Nine Carnages!"
Nine blood-scorched sword energies detonated outward like a blooming lotus.
The riders closest to him were blasted away.
Armor cracked.
Blood poured out in streams.
In the next instant, Lin Ye flashed forward.
His sword swept up—
and a head flew.
One strike.
Five heavily wounded.
Six lightly injured.
One killed.
Even the commander of the West Mountain Unit felt his breath tighten.
"Triangular Heart-Piercing Formation!"
The unit attempted to form a killing array.
But before they could finish—
Lin Ye vanished.
He ignored the formation entirely.
And charged straight at their commander.
"Protect the commander!"
Five elite riders rushed to intercept.
Lin Ye swallowed a single pill mid-charge.
A Breath-Flash Pill.
His energy surged again.
He smashed through their combined attacks with the Blood Armor and forced his way directly into the commander's range.
Then—
"Blood Slaughter Nine Carnages!"
Nine sword arcs swallowed the commander whole.
The commander's feet remained in the stirrups—
but his upper body exploded into powder.
Blood sprayed like rain.
West Mountain Unit Commander: Dead.
Breakthrough
With the leader gone, the remaining riders were nothing but prey.
They never imagined Lin Ye would be this brutal.
This decisive.
This insane.
Lin Ye swallowed another Breath-Flash Pill.
The Blood Frenzy Curse faded.
But at that exact moment—
from within the Asura Blood Sea, an immense surge of power rushed into him.
His cultivation broke through instantly.
Earth Transformation Second Realm.