“He is Lin Xiao. Run!”
One of the Ji family youths reacted first and shouted loudly, then turned and fled at once.
The other two quickly snapped out of their shock and immediately ran for their lives.
Ji Dong was dead. They stood no chance against this opponent, and now that Lin Xiao’s identity had been exposed, he would certainly silence any witnesses.
“Don’t let them escape!”
Wu Chuo roared, gritted his teeth against his injuries, and launched attacks at the three fleeing men.
At this moment, Lin Xiao still hovered in mid-air, refining the two strands of Buddhist light.
“Lin Xiao. That’s Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao has come to the Domain of Evil.”
“No wonder he’s the figure who shook the entire region. His strength is terrifying, so ferocious!”
“Truly bold. So many Ji family experts are here, yet he still dared to show up.”
“He killed a ninth-layer Martial Emperor of the Ji family, then right in front of their half-step Martial Saint, he struck down a prefecture-level genius of the Ji family. If the Ji family finds out, they’ll hunt him down with everything they have.”
“Now he’s even killed a heaven-level genius!”
“No, run! Once they free their hands, they’ll silence us too.”
Shocked exclamations rose one after another. After someone yelled to run, the dozen or so onlookers who had been watching from the periphery scattered in panic, fleeing in all directions.
Wu Chuo and the others were busy attacking the three Ji family youths and had no energy to chase the fleeing crowd, so they could only let them go.
“Lin Xiao! Lin Xiao is here!”
“Help!”
Two desperate shouts rang out, then the three Ji family youths fell dead in quick succession. One of them did not even manage to finish his cry.
However, their shouts did not travel far and failed to draw any other Ji family members over.
The odds of more Ji family experts being nearby were simply too low.
After killing the Ji family members, the group turned their gazes towards Lin Xiao. Demonic qi swirled around him. One puzzled disciple from the Azure Dragon Gate asked, “What’s going on with him?”
By rights, forging a golden body should produce a radiant, sacred appearance, shouldn’t it?
How had he ended up shrouded in demonic qi instead?
Wu Chuo ignored the question and sighed with feeling. “I never imagined he was Lin Xiao. Truly frightening. At this point, I’m afraid even I am no longer his match.”
As one of the Azure Dragon Gate’s top geniuses, apart from the few who ranked above him, he had never truly submitted to anyone. Yet this fellow before him had completely convinced him.
A single sword strike had cleaved Ji Dong in two. Even now, Wu Chuo still felt shocked.
“Ch!”
At that moment, Lin Xiao’s eyes flashed. All the demonic qi around his body instantly withdrew and vanished.
He swept his gaze across the area, finally fixing it on Ji Dong’s corpse below. With a stir of spiritual power, he summoned the man’s storage ring into his hand and immediately put it away.
The Yaoguang Broken Sword was extremely special. It could easily slice through almost anything.
That was why he had decided to risk exposure and use the Yaoguang Broken Sword to kill his opponent.
He had deliberately shown weakness, pretending to fear close combat, luring the enemy to charge in. Unexpectedly, the ploy had worked perfectly.
No golden body could withstand an attack from the Yaoguang Broken Sword.
Had he not used it and instead unleashed his full power, he would never have taken the opponent down.
Unleashing his full strength would still have exposed him, so it was simpler to cleverly use the Yaoguang Broken Sword. Who knew what life-saving tricks Ji Dong might still have had.
All the same, refining those two strands of Buddhist light made exposing his identity worthwhile.
After absorbing them, his demonic physique had advanced yet another step.
If he continued devouring more, his Nine Nether Demonic Body might even reach the “Second Nether” stage.
Reaching the first Nether had been relatively easy, but the second was far harder. Legend said that attaining all nine Nethers transformed one into a true devil, with each stage exponentially more difficult than the last.
He was still a long way from the Second Nether.
After putting away the Yaoguang Broken Sword, Lin Xiao descended towards Wu Chuo and the others. “Senior brothers, are you all alright?”
“We’re fine. You’re Lin Xiao?”
Wu Chuo asked in astonishment.
Lin Xiao nodded. “I hope the senior brothers will keep this secret.”
Before they could reply, he continued, “My identity is exposed now, so this place is no longer safe. I need to leave quickly and change my appearance. Take care, senior brothers!”
With that, Lin Xiao turned and departed.
The group stood stunned. Change his appearance?
How many masks did he have?
Moreover, how were these masks so lifelike that none of them had seen through the disguise?
“It must have been given to him by the First Peak Master. Why didn’t I think of that!”
Wu Chuo thought to himself. “Still, this fellow really is favoured by the First Peak Master, even receiving a human-skin mask.”
In another location, Lin Xiao found a secluded spot, removed the mask from his face, stored it carefully, and put on a different one.
This new face belonged to a middle-aged man who looked around thirty years old.
At that age, even if he displayed extraordinary combat strength, it would arouse less suspicion.
What troubled him, however, was that once he used evil energy, demonic essence, spiritual power, the Nether Heaven Demonic Pillar, or the Yaoguang Broken Sword, people would still recognise him. Only when he refrained from acting could he conceal his identity.
Or he would have to fight only in remote areas where he held absolute certainty.
Otherwise, the Ji family would continue hunting him.
Even people from the Sacred Heaven Sect might take action.
Still, having masks removed one huge problem. He would not be chased wherever he went.
After changing into an extremely ordinary grey robe, Lin Xiao shot out from beside an ancient tree and flew towards another area.
He flew more than a thousand li before encountering people and ancient temples again. One could imagine how vast this region truly was.
This time, Lin Xiao saw three ancient temple ruins spaced roughly a hundred zhang apart. Around the ruins, more than a dozen people were locked in fierce combat.
Three of them were being besieged by a larger group.
From the looks of it, those three had obtained some fortune from the temples.
Among the attackers, Lin Xiao saw no disciples from the Azure Dragon Gate.
Instead, there was one disciple from the Sacred Heaven Sect and two Ji family youths.
The Sacred Heaven Sect disciple and one of the Ji family youths were unremarkable in strength, blending into the crowd as they each helped attack two of the besieged trio.
The third member of the besieged group was facing a Ji family youth at the fifth-layer Martial Emperor realm.
Among the attackers, that youth’s combat power was already top-tier. Even when facing several opponents at once, he showed no sign of being overwhelmed.
Probably for that reason, the other Ji family youth had gone to contest the fortune instead of protecting him.
“Twenty-three or twenty-four years old, fifth-layer Martial Emperor realm. That fellow should count as a prefecture-level genius of the Ji family, right?”
Lin Xiao silently murmured. A faint killing light flickered in his eyes.
The Ji family wanted to kill him, did they?
With his current strength, he could absolutely set a trap and eliminate a fifth-layer Martial Emperor.
Although the opponent was not especially strong, he was still a rare genius. Killing him would definitely cause the Ji family considerable pain.
“First, get rid of the others.”
Lin Xiao drew his black profound iron staff and charged towards the Sacred Heaven Sect disciple and the three others who were surrounding a middle-aged man.
This middle-aged man had also reached the fifth-layer Martial Emperor realm and possessed decent strength. Although he was at a disadvantage, the four attackers had not managed to subdue him. He continued retreating steadily.
Now, seeing yet another person join the fray, the middle-aged man’s brow instantly furrowed.
Resisting four opponents was already pushing him to his limit. If a fifth arrived, he probably would not hold out much longer.
“Hand over the fortune,” Lin Xiao said indifferently as he flew forward. “Otherwise, you won’t withstand our attacks!”
The four attackers faltered in confusion. Where had this idiot come from?
Asking the man to hand over the fortune?
If he were willing to do that, why would they still be fighting so hard?
And even if he did hand it over, would it be this newcomer’s turn to take it?
