Bao Yan’s hands jolted, and a thunderous sound rolled from his lips, blasting Xu Yunfan backward. His fingers trembled, recalling his scattered swords to form a defense around him.

Xu Yunfan twisted around, slinging the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer onto his back and using the momentum to land in front of Mo Shisan.

The instant the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer knocked the Poisoned Sword away, Xu Yunfan spun and shouted, "Brother Mo, can your Mechanical Armor fly?"

Mo Shisan was taken aback and answered subconsciously.

"There are Mechanical Wings three inches below my ribs. One flap can carry me three..."

Before he could finish, Xu Yunfan kicked him squarely in the lower back.

The moment the Mechanical Wings sprang open, he plummeted toward Celestial Craft City below like a kite with a snapped string.

As he fell, Mo Shisan watched Xu Yunfan’s figure shrink rapidly from view. His heart lurched, a whirlwind of emotions churning in his chest.

He never imagined Xu Yunfan would cast him aside to face Bao Yan alone. Bao Yan’s power may have declined to the Half-Step Blood Exchange Realm due to old age and withered Blood Qi, but he was still far too strong for a Third Level Martial Master to handle—even one at the Second Level Perfection of Muscle and Skin Training.

A sudden warmth surged through his heart.

"Xu Yunfan, you..."

The howling Gang Wind swallowed Mo Shisan’s anguished cry.

He stared at the shrinking figure on the Celestial Craft Corridor Bridge, his eyes starting to burn.

’The nuisance is finally gone.’

Xu Yunfan let out a soft sigh of relief. He looked at Bao Yan, his expression turning cold.

On the Celestial Craft Corridor Bridge, Bao Yan’s Black Gold Threads had already formed a Heaven and Earth Net.

He looked at Xu Yunfan standing alone on the flying eaves, a hint of surprise on his face.

"I seem to have underestimated your sense of honor."

"Honor?"

Xu Yunfan was dumbfounded. He strode forward like a shooting star and slapped the opening of the Fine Steel Box on his back. The moment the Gilded Mace’s Dragon Swallowing Mouth ejected, he seized it.

The Fine Steel Box flew wide open, and the Gilded Mace emerged with a dragon’s roar. This Divine Heavy Mace, once wielded by a great general of a past dynasty, had a body covered in dense scale patterns. As the Divine Weapon was brandished, it hummed on its own, and strands of liquid gold seemed to flow from it.

Instantly, due to the Divine Weapon’s spiritual resistance, the Inverted Scale pattern on the hilt cut into the webbing of his thumb. The veins on his arm bulged and throbbed like writhing pythons.

Bao Yan’s Black Gold Threads shot forward in pursuit, but Xu Yunfan used the recoil to launch himself thirty feet into the air.

"Lin!"

A nine-layered thunderclap erupted from Xu Yunfan’s throat.

The knuckles of Xu Yunfan’s left hand cracked like a string of firecrackers. The great tendons in his arms suddenly twisted into spirals, and the blood vessels beneath his skin bulged like green snakes coiled around a tree.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, a divine effigy manifested. Its face was identical to Xu Yunfan’s, but its eyes were downcast like a clay idol in a temple.

A torrent of distracting thoughts billowed forth as black mist, only to be suppressed and vanquished by the effigy, which formed the Linn Character Seal with its hand. A mere instant passed in the outside world, but three years went by in his Sea of Consciousness. In the Linn Character State, he achieved the absolute control of the Supreme Forgetting Emotions, transforming all passions and desires into puppets on a string.

His muscle fibers boiled like magma. Before the Blood Beads seeping from his pores could even touch the ground, the intense heat radiating from his body vaporized them into a scarlet mist.

Xu Yunfan’s back muscles rippled like a Furious Tide.

Within the arc of the Gilded Mace’s swing, his muscles contracted and condensed like a Hundred Rivers Returning to the Sea. Amidst the phenomenon of Golden Skin and Jade Veins, the Blood Qi seeping from his pores spread across the surface of his skin, tracing the bulging, diamond-shaped patterns that appeared there.

The Linn Character State, achieved through the Great Perfection of the third level of training bone, tendon, and skin, pushed his physical strength to an unimaginable degree. In this state, all his power was rapidly compressed and unleashed, erupting with force far beyond his normal limits. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"A Divine Weapon?! Third Level Perfection?!"

Bao Yan was shaken to his core. He never imagined Xu Yunfan could produce a Divine Weapon, let alone that he was a fully realized Third Level Perfection Martial Artist.

In that instant, all of his schemes and his arrogant, superior mindset were utterly shattered by the tyrannical Blood Qi that erupted from Xu Yunfan’s Secret Technique and the desperate, all-or-nothing way he wielded the Divine Weapon.

BOOM!!

As the air hummed, the wind from the mace tore Bao Yan’s Silk Net to shreds.

As Bao Yan retreated, he flung out seven Bone-Piercing Nails. But the Gunpowder Bags tied to their ends were instantly ignited by the Gang Qi erupting from the Gilded Mace.

Through the explosive blast wave, the Gilded Mace struck like a furious dragon bursting from the sea!

Xu Yunfan stomped on a Flying Ridge Dragon Head, the roof tile beneath shattering into dust under the immense force as he charged headfirst through the flames.

Within the golden, flaming arc of its swing, the Gilded Mace, weighing over sixty jin, felt as light as a feather.

Flames shot along the Black Gold Threads toward him. Bao Yan decisively abandoned the threads and tried to flee.

The immense, surging aura radiating from Xu Yunfan was like a furnace from Celestial Craftsmanship, making Bao Yan’s very soul tremble.

However, before the mace even reached him, the Qi Force from its swing came crashing down with the force of an avalanche, leaving him no room to evade.

"XU YUNFAN!!!"

Bao Yan roared, his hair and beard standing on end, his expression one of utter madness.

The diamond-patterned muscles bulging on his body instantly shattered his Profound Armor. He spread his arms wide then snapped them back, and the swords scattered on the ground shot up, flying at Xu Yunfan from all directions.

Nine Profound Dragon Whip’s Ninth Force—Apex Dragon!

Xu Yunfan let out a sharp cry. His abdominal muscles rippled like a Furious Tide as he put his full force into the motion, the Divine Gilded Mace in his hand moving as one with his twisting body.

The Ninefold Force of the Nine Profound Dragon Whip erupted from the Gilded Mace as a torrent of Qi Force, twisting the incoming sword blades into mangled shapes.

The Heavy Mace’s momentum didn’t slow, trailing streaks of light like molten gold. It descended with the crushing weight of a mountain, the Gilded Mace wrapped in the power of wind and thunder as it fell.

The Black Gold Threads Bao Yan hastily threw up to defend himself snapped one by one.

Meeting Bao Yan’s despairing gaze, Xu Yunfan’s own expression was devoid of all emotion as he put even more force into the Heavy Mace’s descent.

CRACK!

Bao Yan’s entire body instantly crumbled, and the golden flames that erupted from the Gilded Mace incinerated his remains completely.

’You have used the Nine Profound Dragon Whip to kill a higher-realm enemy. You have gained insight into its force emission, and your Skill Level has increased significantly.’

’Your Nine Profound Dragon Whip has reached Minor Achievement.’

’...’

After a glance at the system notifications floating in his vision, Xu Yunfan quickly withdrew the Gilded Mace and deactivated the Linn Character State.

The battle’s dust settled.

Xu Yunfan’s fingernails were black and purple from burst capillaries, and crimson streaks still appeared all over his body, a sign of his potential having been pushed to its absolute limit. He staggered and collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, letting the section of the Celestial Craft Corridor Bridge beneath him continue to shift and change position.

Beyond the physical toll of unleashing such an explosive, overwhelming power, there was the aftermath of the Linn Character State itself. Each time he used it, as his emotions returned, he would recall the state of absolute apathy he had just experienced—a mind like a stone, without the slightest ripple—and it always left him feeling hollow.

He felt an urgent need to be around people to fill the void.

After a while, Xu Yunfan took the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer from his back and rose to his feet. He swayed as he walked to the edge of the corridor bridge, looking down at the slaughter unfolding in Celestial Craft City.

Of the thousand soldiers of the Celestial Craft Cave’s Quenching Blade Army, nearly half were gone. The remainder, led by the experts and Stewards of the various halls, had split into squads to hunt down the city’s Incense Followers, as well as... the disciples of Celestial Craft Cave who had been trapped in a hypnotic slumber by the Ming Venerable’s Dream-Entering Technique.

RUMBLE!!

As the Celestial Craft Corridor Bridge completed its rotation, the whole of Guniu Mountain began to tremble before Xu Yunfan’s stunned eyes. The Cyan Dragon Winch had finally finished reversing.

The metallic shriek of the reversing Cyan Dragon Winch pierced through the mountain, and the whole of Guniu Mountain shuddered as if a colossal beast were stirring in its sleep.