Chapter 564: The Entire Plain Falls Silent

Lin Chen spoke softly, his voice flat and ripple-free, yet the entire bustling plain froze into deathly silence.

No one expected that, facing over a dozen disciples of the Eight Wilderness Sect—including two Qian Tian fourth-rank experts—Lin Chen would strike first.

No dazzling techniques, no brilliant light—Lin Chen simply punched forward, plain and unadorned.

Yet that seemingly ordinary punch seemed to ignore spatial distance, even surpassing the limits of many observers’ vision.

All saw only a blur streak past, then came a muffled boom that made their scalps prickle.

“Boom!”

The Eight Wilderness Sect youth’s sneer had barely hardened when his protective aura shattered like thin ice thrown into a furnace the instant it met the invisible fist imprint.

A soft *puff*—not a crack, but annihilation!

The entire man simply vanished!

As if evaporated into thin air, only a few drops of blood splattered onto the ground.

The scene was utterly silent.

The waves of fire that had been surging forward now seemed to halt mid-flow.

From Lin Chen’s punch to the annihilation of the Eight Wilderness Sect’s Qian Tian third-rank disciple, it was so fast that many cultivators couldn’t react—or even comprehend what had happened.

Lin Chen’s punch had surpassed their understanding.

That was a Qian Tian third-rank expert—how could he react not at all, just vanish like that?

On the plain, the expressions of the many cultivators were uniformly stunned, filled with shock and bewildered incomprehension.

“Brother Chu!”

Wan Xingyao’s eyes burned red—Brother Chu was the Elder’s son; the Elder had specially granted him a set of armor for this Sacred Flame Realm expedition, armor forged by a master from the Thousand Mechanisms Domain, capable of withstanding several blows even from a Qian Tian fourth-rank cultivator.

Yet against Lin Chen’s punch, it had simply melted away.

“All brothers, attack together!”

Wan Xingyao’s roar jolted the Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators out of their shock and confusion; they scrambled into action, panicked and disoriented.

But Lin Chen was faster.

After delivering his first punch, Lin Chen turned instantly, motion unbroken, striking at another Eight Wilderness Sect cultivator beside him.

In panic, the cultivator turned pale as his body exploded into a mist of blood, following the fate of the first.

Yet at the same moment, the other Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators’ attacks arrived.

Wan Xingyao’s eyes blazed crimson; he roared as he unleashed all his Qian Tian energy, a jet-black halberd wreathed in terrifying malevolent aura materializing in his grasp—the Eight Wilderness Sect’s sect-defining technique: Creation Halberd.

“Die!”

Vast, primordial malevolent energy surged skyward as if tearing the heavens apart; the halberd ripped through air like a roaring monstrous dragon, slashing straight at Lin Chen.

This was his full strength.

Combined with the attacks of several other Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators, the space around Lin Chen now churned in chaos, choked with swirling energy light.

The cultivators watching saw Lin Chen surrounded by torrents of energy; many sighed inwardly—Lin Chen was too reckless. He shouldn’t have kept attacking the Eight Wilderness Sect disciples; now he was trapped in their group assault, likely to suffer grave injury.

Facing Wan Xingyao and the combined assault of several Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators, Lin Chen remained expressionless, showing no intention to dodge.

If he had to dodge attacks from these few, then forty years of hardship in the Thousand Layers Secret Realm would have been in vain.

*Boom!*

Terrifying energy capable of shredding all struck Lin Chen precisely; countless beams of light erupted. Seeing Lin Chen stand his ground, Wan Xingyao exhaled inwardly—this blow… Lin Chen would either die or be gravely wounded.

As long as Lin Chen died, even if two brothers perished, he could explain it to the Elders.

But the expected scene of Lin Chen’s body exploding into blood mist never came.

When the energy light faded, a collective gasp erupted across the plain.

Lin Chen stood there, unharmed.

Not entirely unharmed—his robes were torn, but only his robes; the skin beneath showed not a single wound.

“How is this possible?”

On the plain, Meng Bing, Jiang Chen, and others narrowed their pupils, disbelief in their eyes—if they were Lin Chen, facing Wan Xingyao and several Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators’ full-force assault, they wouldn’t die, but they’d surely be injured.

As for Wan Xingyao himself, his face now wore profound, incomprehensible confusion.

His full-power Creation Halberd, upon striking Lin Chen, felt as if it had hit a towering mountain—an overwhelming, crushing force surged back along the halberd and up his arm, making his limbs tremble violently.

If he suffered this, the other Eight Wilderness Sect disciples who struck were far worse—each spat blood as they were thrown back by Lin Chen’s recoil, staggering uncontrollably.

The cultivators who had just been stunned by Lin Chen’s defense now sank into absolute silence once more.

But Lin Chen gave them no more time to think—he moved again, like a demonic god, each punch striking down an Eight Wilderness Sect cultivator.

Like mowing down weeds!

The Qian Tian cultivators present watched this scene with complex expressions; no matter how humble their past demeanor, they all carried the pride of Qian Tian cultivators—having reached Qian Tian meant surpassing countless cultivators of the Yan Emperor Dynasty, and even among Qian Tian, there were strong and weak, yet once one entered Qian Tian, one entered the privileged class of the martial world.

Now they saw a Qian Tian cultivator, equal or even stronger than themselves, being cut down like weeds; their hearts were filled with bitter complexity.

Six Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators dead in succession; the remaining ones were utterly consumed by terror—in their eyes, Lin Chen was now an invincible demon god.

Run!

Even knowing that fleeing now, once word reached the sect, would enrage the Elders—for they had shamed the sect before so many factions—

Still, better to live in shame than to die. No punishment could be worse than death.

*Shhh!*

One Eight Wilderness Sect cultivator fled first; Wan Xingyao’s face darkened instantly: “Filthy coward! No disciple of the Eight Wilderness Sect fears death!”

He swept his gaze over the remaining four brothers, his eyes heavy with threat.

With both sects now at war, and so many factions watching, what happened in the Sacred Flame Realm could never be hidden. Losing to Lin Chen would indeed damage the sect’s reputation—but to die fighting despite knowing defeat versus fleeing in fear had entirely different consequences for morale.

If cowards fled, when news reached the Eight Wilderness Domain, their cultivators would always choose to run rather than die in battle against the Canglan Domain’s warriors.

If even our sect’s disciples act this way, what hope is there for us?

Wan Xingyao could already imagine the excuses the Eight Wilderness Domain warriors would make—and the sect would never allow such a thing.

He glared at his brothers, silently reminding them: think of your families, think of your kin—if any of you dares flee, the sect will not spare you.

The Eight Wilderness Sect cultivators who had been about to flee now forcibly suppressed their urge to run—they could escape, but their families would pay the price.

Lin Chen, meanwhile, cared nothing for the Eight Wilderness Sect’s thoughts. The two sects were enemies; there was no right or wrong, only sides.

*Puff!*

*Puff!*

*Puff!*

Blood mists bloomed across the plain as Eight Wilderness Sect disciples fell one by one; their desperate last stands looked to the watching cultivators like a mantis trying to stop a cart—hopeless and absurd.