Chapter 146 - 15: Slay You
"I’ll say it again. Leave the Purple Essence Fruit and you can go. I’ll give you ten breaths."
He raised one finger. He wanted to apply extreme pressure, giving Lin Yan no time for rational thought, and at the same time... capture Lin Yan’s full attention.
"One."
Lin Yan didn’t move.
"Two."
"Three."
The word "three" had just left Lin Mingyu’s lips, its sound still echoing in the air, when two cold glints of light erupted from his left and right.
On the left, the sullen-faced middle-aged man silently drew his long blade. The edge of the blade, like a viper’s tongue, shot straight for Lin Yan’s waist.
On the right, the grizzled-bearded man who had spoken earlier struck out with both palms. A whistling Palm Wind aimed straight for Lin Yan’s head, intending to kill him with a single strike.
Both men knew in their hearts that Young Master Yu had no intention of letting this person leave alive.
Young Master Yu had given them these instructions on the way here: no matter who the other party was, they were not to be left alive.
The so-called countdown was just a ploy to lower their target’s guard, allowing the two of them to launch a successful sneak attack.
The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, coordinated seamlessly.
However, Lin Yan’s reaction was faster.
Almost at the exact moment the two men struck, his feet slid. He executed the Smoke-Stepping Technique, his entire body drifting like a wisp of green smoke between the blade’s edge and the Palm Wind.
The blade and the Palm Wind didn’t even touch the hem of his clothes.
At the same time, his right hand fell upon his scabbard.
SHING!
The Longsword was unsheathed.
The glint of the sword was like a silk thread, as fine as a wisp of smoke, as faint as a smear of mist. Its trajectory was almost impossible to see in the dim light of the forest.
The moment the blade-wielding man saw the glint of the sword, he knew something was wrong.
As a peak Third-Time of Skin Smoothing Martial Artist, his sense for danger was etched into his very bones. ’Something’s off about this sword glint.’
Without the slightest hesitation, he brought his long blade up horizontally to block.
Blade and sword met with a sharp ring.
The blade-wielding man felt a strange force transmit from the sword’s edge. He was driven back several steps, the flesh between his thumb and forefinger completely bursting open. Blood streamed down the hilt, and he could barely hold onto his weapon.
"Sword Intent?"
The blade-wielding man’s voice was laced with horror, his eyes filled with disbelief.
’To have mastered Sword Intent at such a young age!’
Lin Mingyu’s brow twitched slightly, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
’So Lin Yan managed to master Sword Intent. That’s a bit unexpected.’
’But that’s all it is.’
The corner of Lin Mingyu’s mouth curved up. He crossed his arms and watched coldly, with no intention of intervening.
The reason he had the two men launch a sneak attack was his fear that their opponent might destroy the Purple Essence Fruit in a moment of desperation.
Now it seemed Lin Yan intended to fight like a cornered beast, so he no longer had to worry about the Purple Essence Fruit being destroyed.
As for his two subordinates, he had no intention of letting them leave the mountain alive either. He couldn’t possibly leave evidence of him killing a clansman in their hands.
On the battlefield, Lin Yan had forced back the blade-wielding man with a single sword strike, and now the other man’s palms were attacking once again.
But when he saw his companion’s hand split open and his long blade nearly fall from his grasp, the ferocity in his eyes instantly turned to fear.
He hadn’t expected Lin Yan to have mastered Sword Intent, let alone cripple most of his companion’s fighting ability with a single strike.
He wanted to retreat, but it was too late to pull back his attack.
His palms were now just a foot from Lin Yan’s body, the Palm Wind already rustling the hem of his robes.
’At this point, all I can do is press on and gamble that Lin Yan’s second strike won’t come so quickly.’
"Die!"
With a furious roar, the grizzled-bearded man poured all his Qi Blood into his palms. As long as this strike landed on Lin Yan—even if it just grazed him—his power as a peak Third-Time of Skin Smoothing expert was enough to inflict a serious injury.
When his palm was only half a foot from the back of Lin Yan’s head, a hint of joy appeared in the man’s eyes.
’My gamble paid off! Lin Yan really couldn’t react in time.’
But just as his palm was a mere three inches from Lin Yan, he sensed that something was wrong. From beginning to end, Lin Yan hadn’t turned around or even glanced back. It defied all logic.
A powerful sense of crisis welled up in his heart. And at that very moment, Lin Yan’s feet slid once more as he executed the Smoke-Stepping Technique.
His body drifted three feet away like a wisp of green smoke. He turned, and the sword struck.
The movements were perfectly fluid!
PFFT.
A soft sound.
The grizzled-bearded man’s body was still in a forward-charging posture. His eyes were wide as he looked down at the tiny, bleeding hole in his chest. His mouth opened as if to say something, but he only coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam.
His body swayed, then pitched forward onto the ground. After a few twitches, he went still.
Seeing his companion fall, the hair on the blade-wielding man’s body stood on end.
His right hand was useless; he had no way of stopping Lin Yan’s Sword Intent. His gaze frantically shot toward Lin Mingyu as he cried out, "Young Master Yu, save me!"
His voice was filled with a desperate will to live. However, Lin Mingyu didn’t even spare him a glance. He remained standing with his arms crossed, his expression impassive, as if the one dying wasn’t his subordinate, but a useless dog.
A flash of despair crossed the blade-wielding man’s eyes as he had a sudden realization.
’In Lin Mingyu’s mind, killing Lin Yan is about silencing a witness. And my companion and I... we’re also on his list to be silenced.’
Understanding this, he whirled around without a moment’s hesitation and bolted toward the dense forest.
Unfortunately, Lin Yan’s sword was already upon him.
A flash of sword light.
A blood-red line, as thin as a hair, appeared on the blade-wielding man’s throat.
His body continued its forward leap through the air, but after a few breaths, it plummeted straight down and crashed to the ground.
Two bodies, in less than five breaths from start to finish.
Lin Yan stood holding his Longsword, not a single trace of blood on the blade, and calmly met Lin Mingyu’s gaze.
"Those two were useless. It’s better that they’re dead. Saves me the trouble of silencing them myself in a bit."