Chapter 050: Gravely Wounded

Lin Zhan’s Fiery Fist technique had been tempered for a long time on the icy rocks of the secret cave, and had undergone further intensive training under the guidance of Ning Wanqing, the master of Crimson Refinery Palace. But this was the first time he had truly tested its effectiveness in real combat.

At this moment, the veins on Lin Zhan’s right fist bulged, his tendons stood out, his knuckles were as solid as meteorites from the stars, indestructible. The very air trembled wherever his fist passed. Crimson light flickered at the center of his fist, bursting forth in silence, yet gathering a suffocating, terrifying power.

“It’s you who will die! Anyone who bullies the members of Chrysanthemum Hall must die! Haaah—!”

With Lin Zhan’s furious shout, his punch collided with Cheng Zhi’s double palms, producing a deep, muffled boom.

Boom!

Lin Zhan was instantly thrown back like a kite with its string cut, sent flying backward. The taste of blood in his chest could no longer be suppressed, and he spat it out uncontrollably, casting a startling mist of red in the air. His clothes were shredded, revealing skin covered in gashes and blood, torn and battered beyond recognition.

Thud!

He felt his back slam heavily into a hard block of ice, embedding him deep within it. For a moment, his body no longer belonged to him—not just numb, but entirely beyond his control. Only the faint, proud curve at the corner of his lips remained—a trace of satisfaction after a wild battle. “Ha ha ha, if I’m in this bad a state, I bet you aren’t faring any better!”

Indeed, Lin Zhan’s estimation was correct. He himself was nearly crippled, lodged in the icy wall and unable to move for the time being. But as for Cheng Zhi, it was not a matter of whether he was well, but rather if he was even still whole.

The scene of their collision was a ruin. The air was thick with the smell of burning, and large icicles continued to crash down, ringing sharply as they struck the ground.

Wei Tielong’s body had long since ceased twitching. Lying on the ice, the blood flowing from his neck had nearly frozen into black, his head turned sideways, eyes wide open, staring lifelessly toward Cheng Zhi. In his dying gaze, there must have been boundless disbelief and terror.

And the spot where his eyes fixed—Cheng Zhi, or rather, only half of Cheng Zhi, still stood there.

Why only half? Cheng Zhi’s lower body had vanished, his body buried from the waist down in the earth, yet still upright.

His hands were still slightly raised, his head tilted up, but above the waist, there was nothing left but charred blackness. No other colors remained. The Fiery Fist had not only driven Cheng Zhi into the ground like a tree, but the blazing flames had roasted him to a crisp, leaving no trace of life—dead beyond all doubt.

Lin Zhan struggled to turn his eyes, finally seeing both Cheng and Wei. His taut nerves relaxed slightly for the first time. “So my Fiery Fist technique is this powerful!”

With that relaxation, he nearly fainted. Waves of pain swept over him from every part of his body.

“Argh, I’m going to die—my body’s broken again!”

He hurriedly called upon the power of the Nine-Star Diagram, focusing his mind completely as he began a race against time to heal. This was the Wind Bell Cable passageway, and there was no guarantee someone wouldn’t pass by. If anyone discovered what had happened here, Lin Zhan would have no way to explain it.

With trembling hands, he fumbled for a pill bottle, poured out a handful, and swallowed them all at once. Though these pills he had taken from others weren’t particularly miraculous, they were better than nothing. Lin Zhan hoped to recover mobility as quickly as possible.

Still, it was the Nine-Star Diagram that played the primary role in his healing, working in concert with the dragon-shaped lights leaping and surging in his dantian. After half an hour, his wounds had miraculously begun to heal.

“This healing isn’t fast enough. If another enemy shows up, I’ll be done for.” As Lin Zhan rose, his wounds about thirty percent healed, he muttered to himself.

If anyone had overheard, they would probably have spat blood in frustration, for this rate of healing was nothing short of supernatural—yet Lin Zhan still found it too slow.

But at this moment, Lin Zhan was in grave danger. Having lured Cheng and Wei to their deaths, he had set himself on a path of no return. Facing an uncertain future, it was only natural to feel anxious.

This anxiety did not slow Lin Zhan’s actions. He quickly collected several storage rings and other items—including those from Cheng and Wei—and then tossed their corpses into a mountain hollow, covering them with ice and snow.

Here, with snow year-round, no one would find the bodies unless they dug on purpose.

To think, Cheng and Wei had coveted Lin Zhan’s possessions, yet ended up with nothing, losing both their lives and their spoils.

To be fair, if they hadn’t fallen out and let their guard down over how to split the loot, Lin Zhan would not have succeeded so easily. At best, he might have fought one of them to mutual destruction, and would surely have died in the end.

But the outcome now was that Lin Zhan survived, while the two of them lay buried beneath the earth.

Once everything was in order, Lin Zhan glanced back, then leapt away. With a few bounds, he disappeared into the far end of the Wind Bell Cable.

Healing, reflecting on the battle, and inspecting his spoils—these were the tasks awaiting Lin Zhan upon his return to the hero’s pool cave.

The hero’s pool cave had become his last refuge.

He had already decided: after this, he would head to the Northern Forest to temper himself. There, amid savage beasts and fierce battles among cultivators, though brutal, it was the best place to temper both spirit and body. Only by facing death and growing stronger quickly could he hope to increase his strength and give his senior brothers even the slimmest chance of returning home one day.

“I must become stronger!”

These words were now everything to Lin Zhan.

That very day, rumors spread through the land: the masked man who had attacked the Ding family was ambushed and gravely wounded by the family head, Ding Zhennan, who led over a hundred masters in a frenzied assault. Yet at the critical moment, a woman in white appeared and rescued the masked man, whose fate remained unknown...

The next day, Ding Zhennan led many masters to gather before the Crimson Refinery Palace at Flame Peak, demanding an explanation from its master—accusing her of sheltering the criminal. Ning Wanqing, the palace master, refused to receive them...

That same day, the master of Flame Peak issued an order closing the menial Chrysanthemum Hall, declaring it abolished. Its members were dispersed into other halls. No one dared ask why, nor inquire after the fate of its master...

Meanwhile, Steward Cao Jin finally noticed that Cheng Zhi and Wei Tielong were missing, flew into a rage, and sent several teams to search the Spirit Medicine Valley...

All these events signaled that Flame Peak and the Ding family were on the verge of unleashing a bloody storm. Countless factions were about to descend into a new phase of mortal strife. For a time, all those who walked the martial path were left in fear and uncertainty.