Chapter 233: The Sky Is About To Change
Inside the intermediate training room of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
As Lin Qi raised the club in his hand high, at that moment Fred, who had just turned to flee, suddenly felt as if his whole body was being pulled, constantly dragged toward Lin Qi, and this pulling force was growing stronger and stronger.
Even Dona, standing dozens of meters away at the door, had to grab the wall to avoid being sucked over by this powerful pulling force.
“What martial skill is that?”
Fred saw as if the air of the entire world was converging toward Lin Qi, and the space around Lin Qi warped at this moment, setting off sharp alarms in his heart.
This felt just like when he had still been at the bone forging intermediate level, facing a high-level lord, an extreme danger.
“No! I have to stop him!”
Fred barely hesitated and no longer held anything back. He gripped his four bone blades tightly, preparing to unleash on Lin Qi the signature technique of his four-armed blade demon.
Second level of the super-tier martial skill Blood Shadow, Falling Rain!
This move could be called his strongest martial skill, a technique famed throughout Wanxing City, known to all.
Originally, as an assassin, he absolutely could not use this move. Once it was recorded, it would basically be ironclad proof of his identity. But compared to his own life, whether his identity was exposed was no longer important.
However, just as Fred mobilized his internal force and prepared to swing his blades, he suddenly found it extremely hard to lift them, as if he were embedded in reinforced concrete. He could not even breathe.
Far away, Dona watched Fred pinned to the ground, unable to move at all, and could not help but stare in shock.
An extreme advanced level bone forging realm expert, and wearing tier 2 battle armor, yet in front of Lin Qi he could not even stand.
Dona could no longer imagine how high the atmospheric pressure gathered around Lin Qi must be to leave an extreme advanced level bone forging realm expert with no power to resist.
Once Lin Qi finished compressing, with Lin Qi as the center, a radius of ten meters of space displayed visible optical distortion. From the outside, it looked as if a huge dome was wrapping around Lin Qi, while Fred had already collapsed on the ground, utterly unable to move.
Seeing this scene, Fred was filled with boundless terror.
This had drawn who knew how many kilometers of surrounding air together into one point, and the internal pressure alone made him unable to move. If this were unleashed, he did not dare imagine how terrifying the destructive power would be.
Just as Fred was about to say something, Lin Qi did not give him the chance. He suddenly gathered all his internal force, compressing all the air within a radius of ten meters further into his palm, then struck down at Fred’s back in one breath.
Extraordinary martial skill, Divine Might!
Boom!
In an instant, a pillar of light soared into the sky from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. The terrifying impact spread for several kilometers beyond the hall, and everyone felt the earth violently shake once.
Inside the hall’s intermediate training room, the entire space had been utterly transformed. The rooftop was completely gone, and the second-floor and third-floor rooms above the intermediate training room had vanished, with moonlight shining straight down.
As for the ground, there was now a pit dozens of meters deep, with Fred’s corpse lying at the bottom, dead beyond any doubt.
Although the tier 2 battle armor Fred wore showed only a few dents on the back, the terrifying impact had already shattered his internal organs and brain.
“Is he dead?”
Dona looked at Fred at the bottom of the pit, unable to calm down for a long time.
Although she and her brother had already felt that Lin Qi was very strong, and that his strength might have reached the advanced bone forging realm, they had not expected him to be this strong.
A fully armed extreme advanced level bone forging realm martial artist had been utterly crushed. This level of strength clearly was no longer that of an ordinary advanced bone forging realm martial artist.
The move Lin Qi had just used was also obviously no ordinary martial skill. It was very likely the legendary extraordinary martial skill; otherwise there was no way to instantly kill an extreme advanced level bone forging realm martial artist with one strike.
Extraordinary martial skill!
Even in the entire Wanxing City, there were very few who had mastered such martial skills, and anyone who had was without exception at vice city lord level.
According to the information they had gathered, Lin Qi should be around twenty-five years old. A vice city lord level expert around twenty-five years old was something they had never even heard of.
On the other side, after using Divine Might, Lin Qi’s face was a bit pale, but his spirit felt extremely refreshed.
“This Divine Might really is a fine martial skill. It not only consumes a large amount of internal force, but the mental consumption is also extraordinarily great.” Sensing that he could now only perceive a radius of eight meters, Lin Qi could not help wanting to use it a few more times.
Right now his spirit was too powerful, severely overloading his brain. Earlier, he had been troubled about how to deal with this issue. Now he realized that using Divine Might from time to time should resolve the overload problem.
However, Divine Might also consumed his internal force enormously. With his current level, he could only use it twice; after two uses he would be drained. This was not a martial skill that could be used casually.
After Lin Qi checked his own condition, he jumped into the pit as well, learning from players how to strip loot.
“Luckily this battle armor and these weapons are still usable, otherwise this would have been a real loss.” Lin Qi looked at the dark blue battle armor and four snow-white bone blades he had stripped off and could not help glancing at the very dead Fred, feeling that this man was truly poor.
From head to toe, he carried nothing of real value. Just a set of dark blue tier 2 battle armor and four decent-looking tier 2 bone blades, and nothing else worth money. He did not even have a single energy crystal, even poorer than Lin Qi himself.
Just as Lin Qi finished collecting the loot and was about to leave, Dona also jumped down from the edge of the pit, curious who would dare attempt to assassinate a bone forging realm martial artist inside the city.
When Dona saw Fred’s face, she froze entirely.
“Four-armed Blade Demon Fred!” Dona stared fixedly at Fred on the ground, her eyes full of disbelief. “How is this possible! How could it be him!”
“You know him?” Lin Qi looked at the stunned Dona and asked curiously.
“Know him? I’m afraid there isn’t a single martial artist in Wanxing City who doesn’t know him.” Dona spoke with a slight tremor. “He is a legend of the Sub-demon Race, the genius who passed the assessment to the domain city three years ago!”
The domain city was the dream of countless martial artists who had graduated from the genius training camp. Among her Half-Beast Race, no one had passed the domain city assessment for many years.
Those who made it into the domain city were beings far beyond the reach of genius training camp graduates, with limitless future prospects. If they chose to return to develop in a city, at the very least they could become grand regiment leader of a city guard, or a vice city lord. It was just that very few were willing to come back.
Now a legend who had passed the domain city assessment had been killed. Dona did not dare imagine what might happen if this news spread.
“A genius who made it into the domain city, huh?” Lin Qi looked at Fred, bleeding from all seven orifices, not expecting his background to be this impressive.
Since arriving in this world, he had heard a bit about the domain cities. Although information in this regard was very scarce, ordinary people only knew the name and that a domain city was like a provincial capital on Blue Star, the core city of a domain.
But one could not enter a domain city just because one wanted to. Only those who passed the domain city assessment could enter, or else the city lords of the major cities. Other people should not even think about it.
As for what the domain city was actually like, almost no one knew. Even people who came out from there were extremely rare, as if it was isolated from all other cities.
But one thing was certain: in the region where the City of Light Chasing was located, the domain city was the number one major power. All the cities had to obey its orders, and city lords were no exception.
“This matter absolutely must not be revealed to anyone else. Before the garrison arrives, we have to destroy the corpse and erase all traces!” Looking at Lin Qi’s calm expression, Dona did not know what to say. She quickly warned, “Although he was an assassin and, according to the iron rules of all cities, no one will blame you, he is not an ordinary bone forging realm expert. And I never heard any news that Fred returned to develop in the city. That means he still belongs to the domain city. If the people of the domain city find out, even the City of Light Chasing might not be able to keep you.”
She knew all too well how great the domain city’s power was. Back then, a vice city lord of Wanxing City offended a bone forging realm martial artist from the domain city; as a result, that vice city lord was assigned to a critical frontline stronghold the very next day and still had not been able to return.
She had not received any news about Fred returning to develop in the city, which meant that Fred still belonged to the domain city and had likely returned on some mission. Such things were quite common in all cities.
Now that Fred was dead, if the domain city found out, they might not say anything openly, but if they privately ordered the City of Light Chasing to do something, the city would have no way to refuse.
After listening, Lin Qi pondered for a moment, then shook his head with a smile. “No need. Let everyone know.”
“Are you crazy?” Dona stared at Lin Qi, completely unable to understand what he was thinking.
Leaving aside how this would infuriate the Sub-demon Race of Wanxing City, just making the domain city lose face like this would very likely ruin the future of both Lin Qi and the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
“Enough. It seems the garrison has arrived.” Lin Qi just smiled and glanced at the few flying transport vehicles appearing in the sky.
He was not worried about the domain city attacking him directly, because the iron rule that martial artists could not fight each other inside the city had been issued by the domain city in the first place. The domain city would not slap its own face.
And with his current strength, as long as he did not face someone at the level of a city lord, he truly did not fear anyone.
Even if a city lord level expert really wanted to target him, at worst he would run early.
Previously, as a player, he had been restricted to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in the City of Light Chasing and could not leave. But now he could establish branch halls.
He had not thought much of the branch hall reward at first, only seeing it as a way to create a place elsewhere with training rooms and a gravity room.
But after a closer look, he realized that a branch hall was not just what he had imagined; it also had the ability to bring in players.
In other words, now, as long as he established a branch hall anywhere, he could directly bring in players, no longer confined to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall in the City of Light Chasing.
And as long as he had players, at worst he could hide deep in the mountains and wilderness to slowly develop. He did not believe that city lord level experts had nothing better to do than search for him in remote mountains every day.
Furthermore, for his current strength to rise quickly, he first needed the players to rise quickly, which required a large amount of martial resources. Obtaining such resources was extremely difficult for him as the master of a single martial arts hall.
But if he became the expert who had slain a domain city genius, his influence and the things he could do within the city would greatly increase. This was especially true for the development of Chiyue Town. Those vagrants and city residents who had previously worried whether a newcomer to the bone forging realm like him could defend it would no longer have any doubts.
Put plainly, fame would allow the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to develop faster, and in turn his own improvement would accelerate.
One could say that killing Fred was not trouble at all, but rather a good thing.
Above the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, a few B6-class flying transport vehicles had barely come to a stop when several figures leapt down, landing directly in the martial hall. The vagrants on the street were filled with fear and curiosity.
“What’s going on? Why is the city guard here?”
“Damn! Those look like the city guard leaders!”
“Why would such big shots come to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? Did something major happen?”
Many apprentices and faction members familiar with the City of Light Chasing’s situation gasped as they looked at the figures landing in the martial arts hall training ground.
Besides handling monsters in the wilderness, another task of the city guard was to maintain public order in the city.
But under normal circumstances, when the city guard was dispatched, having even one captain-level expert was already impressive. Yet now, three leaders of the city guard had arrived in person. Such a major response had not appeared in the City of Light Chasing for decades.
“This is where the bone forging realm experts fought?” A Half-Scale Woman in dark red tier 2 battle armor looked around the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and asked the bald Three-eyed Tribe man beside her.
“Drone scans show that bone forging realm martial artists fought here, with extremely intense fluctuations. A preliminary estimate of the qi and blood suggests at least intermediate bone forging realm.” The bald Three-eyed Tribe man nodded solemnly. “But for some reason it has stopped now, and the surrounding drones have not detected any other bone forging realm experts. They should not have left.”
“In any case, we should be careful. Since someone dared to make a move inside the city, his skills must be impressive.” The one-eyed Ape Clan man beside them reminded. “If we let anyone escape, the three of us will be utterly humiliated.”
The Half-Scale Woman and the bald Three-eyed Tribe man both nodded and followed the one-eyed Ape Clan man cautiously into the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
As the three of them, each a leader stationed in the City of Light Chasing, every one an extreme advanced level bone forging realm expert, advanced together, if they still allowed the fighting bone forging realm martial artist to escape, it would be a huge disgrace. The Lord City Lord might not let them remain on city duty next time.
Carefully making their way to the intermediate training room of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, they saw the ruins within and became even more certain that the battle had been intense and that both sides had formidable strength, at least at the bone forging intermediate level.
When they finally saw Lin Qi and Dona in the pit, all three focused completely, nerves taut.
“Were you two the ones fighting just now?” The Half-Scale Woman looked at Lin Qi and Dona. The device in her hand immediately scanned them to check their identities.
“No.” Lin Qi shook his head and pointed at the Sub-demon Race man lying on the ground beside them. “This Sub-demon Race man just tried to assassinate me in my martial arts hall. Dona is a guest of our hall and has recorded what happened.”
“So it was an assassination.” The Half-Scale Woman nodded; what Lin Qi said matched their speculation. She then praised him, “Master Lin, you are impressive. Rumor has it you have only just entered the bone forging realm, yet you managed to withstand an assassination attempt from a bone forging realm expert.”
“Since the assassin has been dealt with, once we confirm his identity we can head back.” The bald Three-eyed Tribe man spoke with a poor attitude toward Lin Qi.
Recently, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had been in the limelight, even rising to fame over the corpses of monsters hunted by his Three-eyed Tribe garrison, which left him with a bad impression of this hall master, Lin Qi.
Just as the bald Three-eyed Tribe man was about to leave, the Ape Clan man who was checking the assassin’s identity suddenly spoke.
“You two, get over here, now! This is big!” The Ape Clan man stared at the Sub-demon Race man on the ground in shock. “This man is Four-armed Blade Demon Fred!”
