Chapter 88

"Fine, but first you have to tell me—there's no grudge between us, so why are you stalking me?"

Suppressing his panic, Lin Feng asked calmly.

As he spoke, he also sneered inwardly.

Although he truly didn't know the old man's background, if he really handed over the Furious Lion Roar, the other side would certainly not let him go.

But he still needed to ask about the origin first, so that if he ever sought revenge later, he could locate the place.

After all, the old man clearly didn't seem like a lone wanderer; he looked more like a member of some faction.

At the same time, he used his soul‑sensing ability at full strength to probe the old man, preventing him from vanishing from his perception.

After all, he hadn't noticed this person at all along the way, which made him especially nervous.

"Kid, you seem dim‑witted; today I'll show you that a Battle Spirit is not comparable to a great Battle Master like you!"

When he heard Lin Feng probing his background, the old man realized his intent had been uncovered and roared angrily.

Suddenly, a set of dark armor materialized over his body.

He had originally intended to swindle the combat technique, but now he could only think of killing the kid in front of him first, then see if he could find it inside the Naji.

"Shadow Swipe Palm!"

As the old man's words fell, a dark palm imprint several meters tall abruptly floated in the air and then pressed down toward Lin Feng a short distance away.

"Dark attribute! No wonder!"

Seeing this, Lin Feng instantly understood why he couldn't detect the old man.

Dark attributes excel at concealment, and families or factions of this attribute usually possess hiding techniques; the two together make detection extremely difficult.

When the palm imprint approached, Lin Feng didn't dare to delay; he swiftly activated his cultivation method to gather his entire Battle Qi.

As his internal Battle Qi surged, a massive purple lion suddenly reappeared in the air.

"Boom!"

When the purple lion collided with the dark palm imprint, the former's Battle Qi mass and quantity were clearly inferior to the latter's.

Lin Feng could only hold on for less than three seconds before being blasted backward by that force, then he used his body‑movement technique to dodge to the side.

The palm imprint also thinned out a bit, and the remaining energy continued to assault forward.

In the end, aside from turning a patch of forest into a clearing, the palm imprint had no further effect.

"Swoosh~"

When he saw Lin Feng leap away, the old man realized his technique couldn't hit a person, so he immediately left his spot and blasted toward him.

"Piercing Heart Thrust!"

As the old man approached, a flash of golden light suddenly appeared on Lin Feng's fingertip, which he then pointed at the old man.

"Boom!"

As the two combat techniques clashed, both sides' Battle Qi began to collide violently.

In the instant of confrontation, a massive amount of Battle Qi sprayed outward toward the surroundings.

Not only did it strip a layer off the ground, but the surrounding trees also snapped and fell.

Although Lin Feng's technique quality temporarily peaked, the gap in Battle Qi levels was still considerable.

When the penetrating force subtly merged with the opponent's Battle Qi and entered his body, it quickly withdrew.

However, the withdrawal came at a price; a surge of powerful Battle Qi slammed into Lin Feng's chest, sending him flying ten meters away.

"Puff~"

Wiping the blood from his mouth corner, protected by his Sea‑Heart Internal Armor, he only sustained a light wound.

But the pain radiating from his back due to the impact made him grimace and bitterly laugh, saying, "Indeed, the gap between a Battle Spirit and a great Battle Master isn't so easy to bridge, let alone this guy in front of me, who is at least a mid‑rank Battle Spirit."

"Kid, die... what is this thing?!"

The old man, just after leaping, felt a sharp force emerge inside him, tearing through his body.

He could no longer pay attention to Lin Feng and hurried to suppress the force.

Fortunately, although these things were hidden, he could expel them completely within a few seconds.

"Good opportunity!"

Lin Feng naturally knew this force couldn't kill a Battle Spirit, but it gave him a chance, so he hurriedly swallowed a few Respiration Pills.

"Burst Step!"

Ignoring the pain of Beast Fire, he clenched a jade vial in each hand, and propelled by an explosion of Battle Qi at his feet, he raced toward the Battle Spirit.

"Crack."

The jade vials collided forcefully in Lin Feng's hands and shattered instantly.

Inside, the two precious fifth‑grade Beast Fire Seeds collided heavily.

Sensing the foreign power, the Beast Fires began to repel each other's flames.

But Lin Feng quickly used Battle Qi to press them tightly together, preventing escape.

"Damn, luckily I had a few Respiration Pills in my mouth beforehand; the Battle Qi needed to suppress these fifth‑grade Beast Fires is terrifying..."

Feeling his internal Battle Qi drop sharply, Lin Feng hurriedly swallowed another Respiration Pill.

As time passed, the two Beast Fires, under pressure, slowly merged together...

"Such violent energy—what the heck is that?"

The Battle Spirit, feeling threatened, immediately exclaimed in shock.

Staring at the raging bicolored flames, he promptly turned and fled.

But Lin Feng wouldn't let him escape; he hurriedly used Burst Step to chase after him.

As they chased each other, after Lin Feng swallowed the last Respiration Pill in his mouth, the fireball in his hand reached a critical point.

The energy within the two flames also began to grow increasingly violent.

Immediately, Lin Feng could no longer suppress the violent energy inside, and his hands were quickly forced open.

Looking at the rapidly expanding fireball in his hand, having endured multiple explosions, the experienced Lin Feng knew it was about to burst.

And that old man, seeing the extremely unstable violent fireball, shouted angrily: "You little bastard, if you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"

However, Lin Feng had no time to bother with him; seeing the Beast Fire about to explode, he quickly hurled the fireball toward the old man not far ahead.

Then he quickly took out the Black Xuan Rock Shield, unfolded the Purple Cloud Wings, and began to retreat rapidly...

"Boom!"

Not long after, a thunderous roar like a thunderclap echoed from within the forest.

All the energy contained in the two fifth-tier Beast Fire Seeds was released all at once in this instant.

The force generated by the joint explosion instantly blasted the ground soil up to tens of meters in the air.

And the originally flat road suddenly revealed a large pit several meters deep.

The nearby trees also could not escape; the once dense forest vanished completely, leaving only wood chips flying everywhere.

Although Lin Feng had already tried to stay as far from the blast point as possible, he still suffered a violent impact.

First, the Black Xuan Rock Shield in front of him shattered; then the shield formed by his outward Dou Qi broke; after that, his Dou Qi armor.

Finally, waves of scorching energy struck his body, slamming him heavily against a giant tree.

"Cough cough, indeed worthy of a fifth-tier Beast Fire; this power is far stronger than my previous experiments with third- and fourth-tier ones. Fortunately, I have the Sea Heart Inner Armor Yun Yun gave me, otherwise I'd be suffering for a while."

Lin Feng looked at the devastation before him and couldn't help muttering.

He then sat down on the ground and took a healing pill.

Touching the revealed light-blue inner armor, he couldn't help thinking of the Flame Technique that could neutralize fire's repulsion.

If he had that scroll of technique, he could also remotely control whether the fire explodes.

He wouldn't have to rely solely on blast‑survival experience and a bit of luck as he does now, where in battle he blows up others and himself alike.

"Ah! You little bastard!"

The Dou Ling nearest the blast point was now lying limp on the ground, constantly cursing Lin Feng as the instigator.

Due to lack of proper protection, his skin was split and flesh torn all over, and the fat inside his body had also become exposed.

Furthermore, due to the high temperature, the exposed flesh and blood had turned black.

Moreover, because of the explosion, the penetrating force inside him could not be fully suppressed, causing severe damage to his internal organs.

All these injuries piled together, resulting in this miserable state...

Lin Feng, seeing this scene, sighed again.

If he couldn't control the timing of the fire's explosion, he wouldn't have allowed that Dou Ling to run a short distance at the last moment.

In that case, he could probably have blown the opponent to ashes, leaving no trace.

"Chirp~"

Xiao Cai, who had appeared in the air at some point, angrily flicked its tail a few times at Lin Feng, indicating that, as a five-star Dou Ling, it could now take one down with a single tail swipe.

"Hehe, I can't rely on you for everything either; the gap isn't that huge, so I'll handle it myself—just to gain experience."

Lin Feng gently stroked the other's little head and smiled softly.

But thinking of the two Beast Fires destroyed in the explosion, his heart involuntarily clenched.

Millions of gold coins vanished in an instant.

Especially the Beast Fire he had just bought, which hadn't even been warmed up yet, was destroyed like that.

"Hiss~"

While Xiao Cai was enjoying Lin Feng's petting, it suddenly sensed an approaching aura, quickly raised its head, and warned him of imminent danger.

"Someone's coming?"

Lin Feng followed Xiao Cai's gaze toward the empty sky, then quickly got up.

Since his legs lacked inner armor protection, Lin Feng endured the burning pain shooting up from his legs and stood up, trembling slightly.

He then quickly walked over to that Dou Ling, killed him with a palm strike, took off the space ring from his hand, and left with Xiao Cai.

Not long after Lin Feng left, a black‑clothed person flew rapidly from afar to the place where he and that Dou Ling had fought.

"A nine‑star Great Dou Master plus a five‑star Dou Ling, and you still can't handle this? Trash!"

That person gave a low snort, his Dou Qi wings slowly dissipated, and he landed beside the Dou Ling's corpse.

Sensing the aura still lingering in the air, he said slowly: "His strength is no more than Dou Ling, he has three Beast Fires, though one should be fifth tier or higher... that direction... Peace Town!"

Gazing toward the Jia Nan Academy, the black‑clothed person's eyes flashed with a hint of solemnity.

Suddenly, the black‑clothed person stared at the corpse's empty fingers, his pupils constricting slightly.

"Damn it, the concealment technique is lost—how am I to explain this to the Sect Leader?"

Seeing the havoc wrought by this Dou Ling, the black‑clothed person wished he could kill him again.

Their Shadow Squad usually takes care of killing some unfamiliar customers, then "takes" their belongings back and sells them later.

Although these actions, the major powers are well aware of them.

But since everyone does it, naturally no one would speak of it.

However, the Shadow Squad's concealment method is that scroll which their Sect Leader often used when he was a Dou King.

If this were leaked, surely many would recall it.

If the escaped person were to claim that they secretly waylay customers in Black Seal City,

some low‑ranked people would dare not come to their auction house.

then the profits of their Black Seal City auction house would plummet greatly.

In that case, the Sect Leader might possibly have him, the Shadow Squad captain, taken out and burned as a sky lantern!

"No way, I'll send people to search everywhere right now—I must have that person killed as quickly as possible."

Thinking of this, Hei Yi Ren spread his wings and quickly flew to Black Seal City.