Chapter 31 - 30: Breaking the Array and Slaying

A faint smile touched Qin Yue’s lips. "Qin Feng, you’re a smart one. How could you not have guessed her fate?"

Qin Feng slowly raised his head, a deadly cold glint flashing in the depths of his eyes. "You killed her?"

Qin Yue sneered. "Oh, it was more than that. Not only is she dead, but so is her entire family of twelve. The men were all executed on the spot. The women met an even worse fate. Her daughters and daughters-in-law were all sent to the Spring Rain Tower to be defiled day after day! This is all because of you. Anyone connected to you has become a target of their frenzied revenge! They want you to live a life of torment and die with lingering regrets!"

He demanded coldly, "Do you finally realize the magnitude of the disaster you’ve caused? Do you still think that fortuitous encounter of yours was a stroke of luck? Hand it over! Otherwise, your torment will never end!"

Qin Yue’s words were brutal, the information he revealed so vicious it was appalling. ’Aunt Lan’s family never defied or betrayed the family. They were wiped out, their home destroyed, simply because they had a slight connection to me. The Qin Family is even more malicious and sinister than I ever imagined.’

After a moment of silence, Qin Feng suddenly looked up and laughed, a peculiar expression on his face. "Is that all?"

Qin Yue’s heart sank, a sense of unease creeping over him. He demanded, "Have you no shame? These people suffered such a terrible calamity because they were connected to you!"

Qin Feng smiled faintly. "Why should I feel guilty? Once I’ve slaughtered those beasts from the Qin Family, I will have avenged them, won’t I? And if that’s not enough, I will round up their descendants and raise them like livestock for generations. For all eternity, the men will be slaves, and the women will be whores!"

As those chillingly calm words reached Qin Yue, he drew a sharp, cold breath. The way he looked at Qin Feng had completely changed.

’This man is insane! Utterly insane!’

A profound sense of unease gripped Qin Yue. Although he believed Qin Feng was just bluffing—that the might of the Qin Family was far beyond what Qin Feng could possibly challenge—his heart hammered in his chest. It felt as if something terrifying and ominous was beginning to stir.

This ominous feeling made it impossible for him to suppress his killing intent any longer. He roared, "Use the Four Spirits Combined Attack! Kill this unrepentant little bastard!"

’This Qin Feng must die. He’ll be an absolute menace if we let him live!’

With a savage expression, Qin Yue brandished his long saber. A glint of light flashed as he unleashed four swift strikes, which manifested as four faint, shadowy blades. As he swung a fifth time, the five blade-shadows merged into one and cleaved through the air.

The ferocious blade light slashed down, its chilling glint whistling as it clove the Void. It was like a thunderclap streaking across the sky, powerful enough to split the very earth in two.

At the same time, the other three men repeated the exact same movements. Almost simultaneously, all four drew their long sabers and slashed out from four different directions.

The light from the blades was like a raging tide, growing larger and larger in Qin Feng’s vision, converging on him from all directions and leaving him with no place to run!

Qin Feng looked up, a sharp, cold glint in his eyes. The incoming slashes exerted immense pressure on him, a pressure that sent a reflexive, primal urge through his entire body. His Qi and Blood began to vibrate instinctively. These vibrations rapidly synchronized, achieving a state of Unity that drove his internal organs, sinews, bones, and all of his Qi and Blood to oscillate at a single, perfectly coordinated frequency.

In the world of Martial Arts, there’s a principle of channeling all strength to a single point. This essentially means using one’s Qi and Blood as the core to mobilize the power of every muscle in the body simultaneously. It is a state that cannot be achieved voluntarily under normal circumstances.

Only in a moment of life or death can one’s potential erupt, allowing them to mobilize and condense their body’s entire power.

Qin Feng felt the pressure, but it wasn’t quite strong enough. ’It’s close,’ he thought. ’Just a little more, and I can reach that Realm.’

’Perhaps this has something to do with my attainments in the dao of Profound Arrays,’ Qin Feng concluded. To his four opponents, the Four Spirits Battle Array seemed seamless and perfect, but to him, it was riddled with flaws.

He was a Grandmaster in the dao of Profound Arrays. A Battle Array was a Martial Arts Secret Skill built upon the principles of Profound Arrays; in essence, it was still a Profound Array. And there was no Profound Array he did not understand.

The Four Spirits Combined Attack they had unleashed seemed incredibly powerful and terrifying, but to his eyes, it was teeming with weaknesses!

’The Four Spirits Battle Array is ever-changing. The flow of qi interconnects them, moving like a single entity. The four-way formation combines their strength, allowing them to exert several times their individual power. However, it’s not difficult to break the Four Spirits Demon Suppression Battle Array. All I need to do is interrupt their combined attack and sever the connection between their qi. The best way to do that is to turn their four-man Battle Array into a five-man one and let them fall into disarray!’

Various methods for breaking the Array flashed through Qin Feng’s mind. A cold, murderous glint appeared in his eyes. His Qi and Blood surged, and with a flicker of movement, he activated the Phantom Clear Wind Body Technique, transforming into a phantom that weaved through the formation.

He was incredibly fast, like a wisp of Qingfeng gliding through a dense bamboo forest, his steps graceful and unhurried.

Then, something miraculous happened. Just as the four arcs of blade light were about to strike him, he took a single step, landing precisely on a key qi node. He was clearly still within the blades’ trajectories, but in the next instant, a sluggish pulse of qi rippled out. The entire Battle Array faltered; its flow of qi stagnated and fell into chaos, causing the blades that were about to hit him to go ever so slightly astray.

BANG!

The errant slash struck empty ground, its energy disrupting the trajectories of the other three sabers and turning the four attackers against one another.

SCHLICK!

With a pained scream, an arm went flying! One of the men, dressed in warrior’s attire, clutched his bleeding stump in agony, the gushing blood instantly soaking his clothes.

Qin Yue’s face was ashen with disbelief. He had just lopped off his own subordinate’s arm. He distinctly remembered aiming a slash at Qin Feng’s rear, and then...

...then a strange pulling force had appeared. In the confusion, the other swordsman had shifted his position slightly, and as a result, Qin Yue’s blade had cut off his arm!

Meanwhile, Qin Feng moved like a bolt of lightning. He pounced like a leopard, landing beside a dark-faced man. Before the man could even process his surprise, Qin Feng’s hand shot out like a striking talon. He seized the man’s saber-wielding wrist, his fingers clamping down like an iron claw. In a single, fluid motion, he guided the captured blade into the abdomen of the third man, a pale-faced, middle-aged warrior. As the victim stared in disbelief, Qin Feng flicked the blade upward, slicing him clean in two.

A spray of blood erupted, reflecting on the dark-faced man’s face and turning it as white as snow.

In a single instant, the Four Spirits Demon Suppression Battle Array, the Qin Family’s pride and a core technique of the clan, had been completely broken. The result: one dead, one maimed.

Qin Yue could scarcely believe his eyes. A mere boy at the Third Heaven of Martial Arts had not only shattered the Law Enforcement Hall’s secret Battle Array in a single exchange but had also killed one and wounded another of his subordinates, both of whom were at the Fourth Heaven of Martial Arts.

He knew that with the Four Spirits Demon Suppression Battle Array, the four of them could trade blows head-on with a Martial Artist at the Sixth Heaven for a hundred rounds.

’Could Qin Feng be even stronger than a Martial Artist at the Sixth Heaven?!’

Qin Yue’s eyes were bloodshot, filled with rage, shock, and utter disbelief!

"Brother Qin Yue, he... he seems to understand the Battle Array Technique!" the uninjured, dark-faced man stammered, his face ghastly pale.

This was the man who could understand the language of birds and beasts. Just moments ago, Qin Feng’s iron-like hand had seized his, using it to kill a Law Enforcement Hall disciple at the Early Stage of Martial Arts Four Heavens.

"Qin Feng... understands the Battle Array Technique?" Qin Yue’s gaze flickered wildly. He stiffly turned his neck to look at Qin Feng, who had landed nonchalantly beside the dark-faced man, his eyes filled with incredulity.

The Battle Array Technique was a secret art. The only ones who could master it were Mystic Masters with profound skill in the dao of Profound Arrays. On the Spirit Sea Continent, there was the Mystic Master Hall, with a branch in every major city. Every Mystic Master officially recognized by the Mystic Master Hall was an expert with exceptionally high attainments in the dao of Profound Arrays.

The dao of Profound Arrays required a nimble mind and vast knowledge; it was not a path for just anyone. It was incredibly difficult to become a Mystic Master.

Every Mystic Master held a revered status. Even a Junior-level Xuan Master, upon receiving official certification from the Mystic Master Hall, would immediately be flooded with offers from countless powerful factions.

Qin Yue absolutely refused to believe that Qin Feng was a Mystic Master—not even an Apprentice Xuan Master!

But then, how could a mere Martial Artist at the Third Heaven break the Four Spirits Demon Suppression Battle Array?

Even some of the Qin Family’s Elders, masters with profound attainments in the Martial Dao, would have to resort to brute force to break this Array. They could never have shattered it with such ease!

Qin Yue trembled. He dared not imagine what kind of calamity the Qin Family would face if Qin Feng turned out to be a Mystic Master—even an Apprentice Xuan Master.

’The status of a Mystic Master seems to be unexpectedly high here,’ Qin Feng mused, puzzled by their drastic change in expression. The mere hint that he understood the dao of Profound Arrays seemed to have left them utterly stupefied.

In the next instant, he appeared behind Qin Yue. It was time to strike while his opponent was vulnerable and deliver the killing blow!

His arm shot out like an ape’s as he unleashed the Profound Turtle Sea-Suppressing Fist, his fist erupting with a cyan-colored force. The sudden attack snapped Qin Yue out of his stupor. Absolutely terrified, a savage look came over his face as he grit his teeth and twisted his torso to evade the brunt of the attack. He had a secret Heart-Protecting Mirror on his chest. He was confident that with it, he would at most suffer a light injury. A smile even began to form on his lips.

’Once I evade this strike, I’ll immediately blow the whistle around my neck to call for reinforcements,’ Qin Yue thought viciously, a malevolent glint in his eyes. ’When the experts from the Law Enforcement Hall arrive and capture this little bastard, I absolutely won’t let him off easy!’

CRACK!

Qin Feng’s Fist Seal shot forward like a cannonball, carrying a terrifying cyan force. The immense power shrieked through the air. With a sound like steel grinding against a Vajra diamond, his fist slammed into Qin Yue’s chest, instantly shattering the Heart-Protecting Mirror worn underneath his robes. The rampaging force didn’t stop there; it punched clean through his abdomen, erupting out his back in a spray of blood.

"You..." In searing agony, Qin Yue’s eyes widened. He looked down in disbelief at the slender arm protruding from his stomach, then tilted his head back to stare miserably at Qin Feng, unable to form another word.

"...So... much... power... No... wonder..." he managed to choke out. A flash of dawning comprehension filled his eyes as he recalled the sight of Fang Tong and the others, dead with their eyes wide open in regret. His own eyes burned with such hatred it seemed they might drip blood.

"I hate this! I was too careless!" In a final burst of lucidity before death, Qin Yue stared fixedly at Qin Feng, his voice dripping with venom. "If I had just summoned the other Law Enforcement Hall experts the moment I found you, you would be the one dying right now!" His face was a mask of utter regret and bitter resentment.

"If you must blame someone, blame your own greed."

SQUELCH. Qin Feng snorted coldly and yanked his arm out of the man’s stomach. With a violent tremor, Qin Yue’s head lolled to the side, and he collapsed to the ground.

Feeling the surging Qi and Blood within him, Qin Feng closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he sighed with a hint of regret. ’My potential wasn’t fully unleashed. I’m still just shy of grasping Qi Sensing.’