Nine figures arrived in an instant, surrounding Lin Ye completely.
"Kill!"
Nine stone steles were thrown out one after another.
A formation instantly expanded, enveloping everything within a thousand meters.
No matter how fast Lin Ye was, he could not escape the Soul-Locking Blood Formation once it sealed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The nine steles slammed into the earth.
Lin Ye walked to one of them.
He did not shatter it.
Instead, he channeled Qi into the stele and began rewriting the formation inscriptions carved upon it.
Then he struck the stele with his palm—
shifting its placement slightly.
His body blurred.
In only a short moment, Lin Ye had altered the inscriptions on all nine steles.
The nine Blood-Stele Legion members believed their formation was complete.
So they did not attack him.
They simply poured all their power into trapping Lin Ye inside.
Once the main force arrived, they would kill him together.
After all, the death of the previous three had already proven how terrifying Lin Ye was.
Underestimating him meant paying in blood.
Lin Ye held a spirit stone in his palm.
On its surface, he carved a small, intricate formation mark in the blink of an eye.
"Formation…"
"Invert."
Lin Ye's voice dropped like a blade.
He crushed the spirit stone.
Instantly, the spirit stone's power flowed outward like a key—
and the positions of the nine steles shifted.
Outside the formation, the nine men froze.
Their faces changed dramatically.
Because they suddenly realized—
the steles were no longer responding to their control.
"Not good!"
"The formation has been altered!"
One of them screamed.
And in the next second, all nine of them felt it—
they had completely lost authority over the formation.
The nine steles rapidly enlarged.
In moments, they became towering hundred-meter giants—
and the formation expanded outward to engulf them instead.
"How… how is this possible?!"
BOOM!
Suddenly, chains burst from the steles.
Chains like iron serpents shot out in every direction—
wrapping toward the nine men.
SHK! SHK! SHK!
"Soul-Locking Chains!"
"That effect normally requires twenty-four men forming the array together!"
"Everyone—move! Don't let them bind you!"
But before the warning even ended—
two of them were already caught.
The chains tightened—
and with a violent jerk, both were dragged straight into the stone stele.
"No!"
"No—!"
The remaining men turned pale.
Once you were sealed inside the stele—
you would never escape.
"This is insane…!"
"Who the hell is he?!"
"How does he know the Soul-Locking Blood Formation?!"
In all their years of missions, the Blood-Stele Legion had never seen something so terrifying.
Their own formation—
used against them.
It felt like their enemy had stolen their soul.
"Save me!"
"SAVE ME!"
Another man was caught.
A chain coiled around his body—
and he vanished into the stele with a single scream.
In the blink of an eye, the nine Blood-Stele Legion members were reduced to three.
The remaining three huddled together.
Even their breathing became uneven.
They were scared.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Their formation was supposed to be invincible.
Had this boy once been one of them?
A figure appeared atop one of the steles—
standing like a judge over a graveyard.
It was Lin Ye.
"What is the name of your sect?"
The three stared at him, trembling.
A mere teenager…
yet he had rewritten their formation silently, inverted it, and slaughtered six of them instantly.
One of them gritted his teeth and answered:
"We are of the Nether Heavens Sect—the Blood-Stele Legion!"
"Boy… you have no path to survival!"
"No one escapes the Nether Heavens Sect's pursuit!"
Lin Ye nodded calmly.
"Nether Heavens Sect."
"I understand."
"If you want to be my enemy…"
"then don't blame me for disappointing you."
Lin Ye's eyes sharpened.
"I just learned a new move."
"If the three of you can withstand it…"
"I'll spare your lives."
He wanted to test Cataclysm-Shattering Claw.
A technique's true power could only be understood through real combat.
The three men's expressions turned cold.
Then they sneered.
"One move to kill all three of us?"
"Hah!"
"Even a Moonwheel Realm cultivator couldn't do that!"
Lin Ye stepped forward.
Then leapt.
The third stage of the Ninefold Asura Art erupted.
BOOM!
Blood-asura aura surged from the earth in every direction—
gathering into Lin Ye like a storm.
At that moment, he looked like an Asura King descending into the mortal world.
The pressure alone made the three men's pupils shrink.
Star River Realm…
fifth stage!
Lin Ye's aura had reached Star River fifth stage!
They had assumed this mission was a joke.
A target in the Lower Rivers?
At most Heavenly Phenomenon Realm.
Yet their lord had dispatched thirty-six Blood-Stele Legion elites—
which now seemed like a desperate necessity.
Could this be the Mystic Vein's power?
If not…
how could a boy in the Lower Rivers reach this realm?
Lin Ye didn't care what they thought.
They attacked him.
So they would pay.
"Cataclysm-Shattering Claw!"
He formed a claw with five fingers.
Blood-asura Qi exploded outward—
condensing into a gigantic blood claw nearly thirty meters long.
Like the talon of an ancient divine eagle.
Their bodies and auras were all locked onto in an instant.
"Fight!"
"Blood Armor—condense!"
Sensing death, the three men fused their Qi together.
They weren't weak.
They were Star River Realm cultivators.
They could resist.
Their combined power condensed into a massive Qi armor shield.
They wagered everything on it.
BOOM!
The blood claw descended.
The moment it touched—
their Qi armor shattered like glass.
"NO!"
Their bodies were crushed instantly.
BOOOOM!
Cataclysm-Shattering Claw pulverized them into dust.
And the power was so horrifying—
that when one of them was torn apart, his consciousness was still intact for a moment.
His eyes rolled in disbelief.
"N-no… impossible…"
Then finally—
his eyes went blank.
Dead.
They carried only standard mission-grade storage rings.
No personal fortune.
A squad of disposable killers.
"Not even worth looting."
"A waste of my time."
Lin Ye shook his head.
He summoned the Blacksteel Panther.
He had no time to wait here.
The Nether Heavens Sect…
would be exterminated sooner or later.
Lin Ye mounted the injured panther and disappeared into the forest—
heading back toward the Fenglei Mystic Sect.
About half an hour later—
twenty figures tore through the sky and arrived.
They had been searching across the entire Wind-Thunder Riverlands.
Reaching this place so quickly was already difficult.
Now the remaining twenty-four stood together.
Two of them—both Star River sixth stage—exchanged glances.
They were the two deputy commanders of the Blood-Stele Legion.
This time, the Legion had dispatched thirty-six.
Including the two deputy commanders.
They were personal confidants of the Great Protector.
The Nether Heavens Sect's Blood-Stele Legion numbered more than one hundred twenty elite killers.
This was only a fraction.
But when these two deputy commanders saw the disaster—
their expressions sank.
"This is bad."
"This target is terrifying."
"We are not his match."
The other deputy commander frowned.
"But if we return like this without even seeing him…"
"How do we report to the Great Protector?"
The two argued.
One suggested caution.
The other refused.
"Fear what?"
"He's alone."
"They must have walked into an ambush."
"From now on, all squads move together."
His eyes flashed.
"Unless he's Moonwheel Realm…"
"If we form the Soul-Locking Blood Formation with full force…"
"He will die."
The other deputy commander hesitated.
Then finally nodded.
"…Fine."
At that moment, their subordinates had already tracked Lin Ye's direction.
"Sir—he went that way!"
"Chase!"