Li Chen pursued his quarry to Yuhua Mountain, arriving as dusk descended.
The setting sun westward bound, clouds at the edge of the sky already dyed a piercing blood-red.
At that moment, the rustling of movement came from behind the mountain.
Following that, a group of tall and burly men from Northeast China, dressed in black, with dark and threatening eyes, started to appear one after another from the bushes and behind rocks.
Each of them wielded a gleaming, sharp short knife, shining brightly under the setting sun—clearly those who had undergone special training.
Judging by their formidable aura and fierce gazes, many were desperate fugitives with a heavy debt of blood on their hands.
These were the elite enforcers that Wang Long had raised over thirteen years in the Jiangnan Underground World.
To curry favor with the Yuann Family, he had practically gambled his entire fortune on this move.
Had Wang Long been more capable and known that Li Chen had once singlehandedly defeated an army of ten thousand and destroyed an ace Mountain Division from Tianzhu, he might not have committed such an unfathomably foolish act.
Witnessing this scene, Li Chen’s lips curled into a disdainful sneer.
"Hehe, just with these, you still delude yourselves into thinking you can kill me?"
Before Li Chen’s words even hit the ground, a fierce man with a scar-laden face, pointing at his nose, bellowed angrily, "Kid, you sure are arrogant!"
"I’ve always been arrogant. Also, I don’t appreciate it when others point their fingers at me. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?" The fierce man, wielding a long knife, asked menacingly.
Li Chen’s chillingly murderous words still lingered in the air when he formed a blade with his fingers, slicing through the air with a stunning Light Blade—a Sky Breaking Slash.
Before the fierce man could even react, his throat was slit, gushing blood like a fountain, as he collapsed into a pool of blood.
The others, witnessing Li Chen’s devilish execution, were struck with terror in their hearts.
"There are many of us; we shouldn’t fear him. Everyone, kill him, kill him!"
Wang Long, after all, was not from the Martial Arts World and unaware of the horror of the one at the top of the Heavenly List. He intended to apply the crude methods from his early days in worldly society to Li Chen.
Hearing their boss’s order, these desperados exchanged glances. Seeing they definitely numbered over a hundred against but a single foe, they let out wolf-like ferocious roars and rushed forward, brandishing their weapons en masse.
Confronted by this group of fierce desperados, Li Chen’s expression was unchanging.
He stood with hands behind his back, looking up at the sunset, sighing softly, "Ah, seems like I’ll have to bring slaughter to this picturesque place again!"
As the word "again" dropped, about a dozen thugs charged at him.
With a casual flick of his finger, Li Chen conjured an arc of light that enveloped all of them.
It was as if an invisible, untouchable yet exceptionally sturdy glass had trapped these desperados, cutting them off from escape.
Before they realized what was happening, Li Chen’s lips slightly curled upward, revealing a sinister smile reminiscent of the Death God.
"A bunch of ants oblivious to death, all go to hell and repent!"
Even before his murderous words touched the earth, he flexibly flicked his fingers.
In a flash, hundreds of blades burst forth within the arc of light, crisscrossing back and forth as if a Death God Scythe was madly reaping the lives of these desperados.
In a moment, the ground was littered with rolling heads. The gushing blood pooled into a stream in a depression, exuding a suffocating stench of gore.
As a formidable overlord, Wang Long had never witnessed such a brutal method of killing.
In the blink of an eye, over a hundred men fell lifeless. Was this even a human? He was simply a devil, a Killing God!
Li Chen clapped his hands, commanding sternly, "Since you’ve all come, no need for hiding anymore. Come out, all of you!"
Before his words settled, another dozen shadows burst forth from the distant thicket.
Compared to those desperate fugitives from before, the momentum of these people was significantly stronger. Clearly, they were all genuine martial artists, among them, no lack of masters at the peak of inner strength.
At last, escorted by a crowd of martial artists, six figures appeared.
Yuann Yutong, four elders with profound energy, and a girl whose beauty had paled.
This girl was none other than Lan Huanxi, whom they had taken hostage.
Seeing Li Chen arrive, a glimmer of light flashed through Lan Huanxi’s somber eyes.
Then, as if recalling something, she cried out urgently.
"Brother Li Chen, they’ve set a trap to kill you here. Hurry and leave, don’t worry about me!"
Upon seeing Lan Huanxi, Li Chen’s eyes flashed with a cold intent to kill.
"Release her, or else none of you will leave here alive today!"
Before Li Chen finished speaking, an elder with gray-and-white hair stepped forward.
"As expected of Immortal Master Li, who has shaken Huaxia, your arrogance is truly beyond my reach!"
Li Chen’s gaze sweeped over each of them from the corner of his eyes.
"Four Transformation Realm Grandmasters, the Yuann Family really has gone all out. Too bad, you are still not enough in my eyes!"
"What if my Tang Family joins in?"
Before the words fell, three more figures emerged from the mountain ravine on the flank.
It was Tang Yulin, and two Grandmasters from the Tang Family!
Upon seeing two more Grandmasters arrive, Li Chen’s brows furrowed ever so slightly.
"Six Grandmasters all at once, it seems you’ve really spared no expense this time!"
Tang Yulin’s eyes were filled with raging fury, and he bellowed, "The vengeance for my father’s murder cannot coexist under this sky. Immortal Master Li, did you expect this day would come for you?"
Li Chen looked surprised, raising an eyebrow to ask, "Vengeance for your father? Who is your father, Tang Qianqiu or Tang Leiting?"
Saying this, he casually pointed to a valley not far away, commenting, "I guess it’s Tang Qianqiu, he died right there. Now, you and your father will soon be buried together!"
Without waiting for Tang Yulin to reply, Li Chen turned his attention to Yuann Yutong.
"That’s right, and then there’s you. Your Sixth Uncle, Yuann Jinsan, died in that patch of grass over there. But he wasn’t killed by me, because he didn’t even qualify for me to take action personally. You don’t qualify either, but I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll make an exception for you!"
Li Chen spoke with ease and nonchalance, as if he were a Fengshui Master selecting gravesites for someone.
However, these words struck terror into the hearts of the six Grandmasters listening.
They were all venerated elders nurtured by the Yuann and Tang Families with vast resources, kept hidden to strike a fatal blow at the enemy at the right moment.
Usually secluded deep in the mountains, practicing meditation, they seldom interfered with worldly affairs. Hence, they were unaware that in this past year, Immortal Master Li had already turned the worldly society of Huaxia into a storm of blood and violence.
Seeing how a few words from him had already disturbed their minds, Li Chen let out a disdainful sneer.
"Hmph, a year ago, six Grandmasters joining forces might have given me a headache. Unfortunately, you’re not even qualified to scratch an itch for me now!"
"Immortal Master Li, you are on death’s doorstep, stop speaking wildly!"
Both Grandmasters glared with rage, as Grandmasters who reigned over territories and overlooked domains, when had they ever suffered such humiliation?
The tension-filled words had barely settled when a quick-tempered gaunt elder, acting rashly, made the first move against Li Chen.
However, Li Chen did not even bother to glance at him. With a flick of his finger, like cutting fruit, a strand of Spiritual Power True Yuan sliced through the air.
Before the gaunt elder could react, his head rolled on the ground like a ripe watermelon.
And from the gaping neck wound, blood spurted out like a fountain in a park, staining the night sky with a glaring crimson hue.