Fang Biao, a seasoned veteran, refrained from recklessness for the sake of caution. Instead, he ordered his two hundred-plus men to charge forward.
If anything went wrong—for example, if a powerful expert suddenly appeared in front of Lin Yu and eliminated his underlings—he would immediately flee without looking back.
He had suspected from the beginning that Lin Yu's background was extraordinary, possibly that of a scion of a powerful family. If a powerful expert did emerge, he would undoubtedly be their protector.
Someone who could become the protector of a scion of a powerful family was definitely not someone a mere Soul Venerable like himself could afford to offend.
It was better to have his men stall for time. If he escaped this calamity, wouldn't there finally be hope for the rebuilding of this stronghold?
Fang Biao thought to himself, gripping his simple, unadorned longsword with unwavering composure, calmly watching his men being slaughtered in a one-sided massacre.
There were too many people in this mountain stronghold. To complete this trial, Lin Yu conserved his soul power as much as possible. The Frost Sword in his hand flashed with dazzling light, its movements ever-changing, and almost every swing of the sword took a life.
Being bandits, only a dozen or so fell to Lin Yu's sword. The lackeys, devoid of soul power, began to collapse, retreating incessantly.
(This is analogous to the collapse of an ancient army; one-tenth of the bandits was considered quite good, and this was only because Lin Yu killed them quickly.)
As the bandits fled, Lin Yu no longer concealed himself and directly released his martial soul. The phantom of the Giant-Winged Emerald Demon Bird appeared behind him, its azure wings manifesting.
Two soul rings, one yellow and one purple, appeared, and Lin Yu immediately used his second soul skill—the Twin Phoenixes—creating two clones with eighty percent of his strength.
Under Lin Yu's control, one clone pursued the remaining bandits, while the other dealt with the dozen or so soul masters and great soul masters.
As a result, Lin Yu's soul power and mental energy consumption increased sharply, forcing him to fight quickly.
As Lin Yu's mind shifted, the bandit leader Fang Biao sensed something amiss. Having spent many years navigating the world of soul masters, he was utterly horrified upon seeing Lin Yu's second-generation soul ring.
Without hesitation, he turned and fled.
Had he run earlier, Lin Yu might not have been able to stop him, but now it was too late.
While controlling his two clones to kill the bandits, Lin Yu flapped his wings, wielding the Frost Sword. The sword intent concentrated on the blade merged with his activated soul power, unleashing a surge of sword energy that blocked Fang Biao's path.
Faced with Lin Yu's sword energy, Fang Biao could only defend with his longsword.
Fortunately, Lin Yu's sword energy wasn't very strong, and Fang Biao managed to withstand it with his longsword martial spirit.
But now he understood that Lin Yu was clearly aiming to kill him. His already somewhat ferocious expression turned even more ugly. "Boy, you're courting death!"
Three spirit rings—white, yellow, and purple—appeared, and Fang Biao, wielding a longsword, charged directly at Lin Yu.
Unlike Lin Yu, whose predecessor inherited from a prestigious sect, Fang Biao had spent his entire life struggling in the spirit master world, only learning some basic sword techniques. Although he was quite skilled, they were full of flaws in front of Lin Yu.
With a few deliberate moves, Lin Yu, who had achieved perfect harmony between form and intent, intent and energy, put Fang Biao in grave danger. The fear of death instantly gripped Fang Biao, causing him to lose his composure.
"Ah, you're going to die!"
The third spirit ring on Fang Biao's body, the purple one, shone brightly, and a white light surged from the longsword as it slashed directly at Lin Yu.
Little did he know, his deadly strike was far too slow against Lin Yu, who combined strength and agility with powerful attacks.
With a simple dodge, Lin Yu avoided Fang Biao's full-force attack, and then unleashed a horizontal sword strike with unparalleled force, slashing directly at Fang Biao's head.
How could Fang Biao possibly dodge this attack? A flash of sword light, and the blade of the Frost Sword pierced directly through his neck, yet remained untouched by blood.
The next moment, Fang Biao's head was severed, blood gushing forth, causing She Long, hiding in the shadows, to grit his teeth. "This kid, how could he be so cruel? He should have just chopped off his head."
While She Long was secretly criticizing Lin Yu, Lin Yu had just discovered a bracelet-shaped storage soul tool containing a trace of soul power on the dead Fang Biao's body.
Removing the bracelet from Fang Biao's corpse, Lin Yu channeled a wisp of soul power into it, discovering that half of the six-cubic-meter storage soul tool was filled with gleaming gold soul coins, and the rest were various valuable items.
Lin Yu estimated that these items were worth at least 300,000 gold soul coins.
Three hundred thousand gold soul coins—and that's just for Fang Biao, the bandit chief. If you add in those great soul masters and soul masters…
he realized that this bandit stronghold was truly incredibly wealthy!
However, Lin Yu temporarily ignored this vast fortune, his gaze suddenly falling on an envelope with the sealing wax still intact.
There was no name on the envelope, which piqued Lin Yu's curiosity. He then took it out of his storage bracelet and tore off the sealing wax.
A letter, densely covered with writing, was inside. After reading it through, Lin Yu felt a slight surge of joy. "Ah, I was just worried about finding a way to make trouble for you, but you've handed me the knife."
Ever since Qian Renxue's incarnation, Xue Qinghe, gradually gained the attention of Emperor Xue Ye, Xue Xing inevitably chose to support Xue Beng, openly and secretly opposing Qian Renxue.
Unlike the two princes before, who were of noble status but lacked real power, Xue Xing held the military power of the Heavenly Dou Empire. He couldn't be dealt with simply by killing him; otherwise, even if Xue Ye was slow-witted, he would sense something was amiss.
Therefore, to bring down Xue Xing, only concrete evidence was available.
The letter's contents were simply Xue Xing's warning to Fang Biao: if Fang Biao wanted to continue robbing and pillaging here, he had to hand over 80% of his spoils.
This letter, which came from Xue Xing's palace, had only recently reached Fang Biao's hands. If Lin Yu hadn't arrived so quickly, given Fang Biao's cautious nature, Lin Yu would never have obtained this evidence.
While collusion between the military and bandits wouldn't bring down Xue Xing, it would certainly annoy him.
After putting the letter away, Lin Yu immediately dealt with all the bandits on the mountain and ransacked the entire stronghold.
Looking at the storage bracelet in his hand, overflowing with gold and silver jewels, Lin Yu sighed, "Murderers and arsonists wear golden belts; the ancients were right about my youth!"
"Alright, all packed up? Let's get going, what are you babbling about!"
Hearing She Long's somewhat impatient voice, Lin Yu quickly walked out of the unremarkable hill and headed back towards Tian Dou City.