At this moment, all of Lin Tian’s senses pulled back.

He couldn’t feel the cold wind, nor the chill in the air, as if he had blocked out everything from the outside world.

He was fully devoted to distributing the Spiritual Qi absorbed through his pores, sensing every detail of the fusion between his Sea of Qi and Golden Core.

This was, for him, the most important matter at this moment.

Anyone attacking him now would find him utterly defenseless. This is why one needs protection during a breakthrough.

The Golden Core greedily absorbed the Spiritual Qi from the heavens and earth; suddenly, it started to spin rapidly, emitting a faint halo.

Lin Tian didn’t know why this was happening, he just felt his body becoming as light as a hydrogen-filled balloon, vulnerable to the whims of any passing breeze.

However, Lin Tian couldn’t be bothered with any of this.

"Ha!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The elder bellowed as he swung his fist, imbued with Inner Strength, targeting Lin Tian’s Dantian once more.

Whoosh~

Accompanied by a slicing wind sound, the elder’s fist reached its full extension, but it struck nothing.

His eyes widened as he watched Lin Tian’s body lift into the air!

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi hoisted him up, then horizontally moved him ten meters in the blink of an eye. The elder instantly felt a sense of helplessness.

"That kid!" he muttered through gritted teeth, then unsheathed the Black Dragon Dagger from his waist and hurled it fiercely at Lin Tian!

At all costs, even if it meant killing him, he had to stop Lin Tian’s breakthrough. Just imagining Lin Tian’s eventual power growth made the elder’s scalp go numb.

Whoosh~

The Black Dragon Dagger transformed into a black shadow as it flew away, vanishing from sight, even the elder couldn’t manage to track it in the dim night.

Clang~

A metallic clashing sound rang out as the imposing Black Dragon Dagger was suddenly deflected by dense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The elder’s eyes widened in shock as he hurriedly retreated several steps, looking startled.

A clear dragon’s roar echoed from above as the Black Dragon Dagger transformed into a black shadow again, stabbing fiercely into the ground.

Cold sweat dripped down the elder’s forehead; the spot where the dagger landed was exactly where he had just stood!

"Damn it!" the elder cursed, unable to suppress his anger, shifting his attention to Mei Ruyan lying on the snow.

"You can protect yourself, but I don’t believe you can save another!"

The elder moved, gliding towards Mei Ruyan gracefully.

For him, an ordinary person could be easily killed without Inner Strength or weapons.

"Die!"

His left hand formed a gesture, striking towards Mei Ruyan’s throat.

His mere finger force could shatter the blood vessels in Mei Ruyan’s throat.

Pop!

A snow-white snowball hit the elder’s finger. The powerful snowball directly broke the elder’s finger; if not for his abnormally enhanced physique, both fingers would surely have been fractured.

The silent arrival of this snowball was something the elder found unbelievable.

He was a Golden Core Stage expert, his awareness of his surroundings had reached its pinnacle; how could he miss such a large object?

He turned his head towards the direction the snowball came from. As expected, it was Lin Tian whose hand had thrown it; at this moment, he was standing there with an annoyingly smug smile.

"Old man, tonight you have no more chances. I advise you to leave quickly, or else you’ll end up dismembered," Lin Tian said casually.

The elder snorted heavily, then disregarded Lin Tian, raising his palm to strike down on Mei Ruyan’s head.

He controlled his strength to perfection; he wouldn’t crush Mei Ruyan’s skull but would cause all his cranial nerves to collapse, turning his brain to pulp.

Suddenly, more snowballs hit him on his ears, waist, and knees.

All three snowballs shattered; inside the elder’s head, a buzzing resounded, even his supposedly toughest knees burned with pain!

He turned his head, glaring fiercely at Lin Tian.

Besides Lin Tian, he also saw three or four more snowballs flying towards him.

"Damn it!"

The elder cursed furiously, then frantically retreated three meters, safely dodging the snowballs.

"Kid! You’ve already reached Golden Core?"

The elder already knew the answer; if not for Lin Tian being a Golden Core expert, he couldn’t have inflicted such injuries, much less repeatedly throw snowballs he couldn’t detect.

Once might be negligence, twice could be accidental, but a third time is just impossible!

Lin Tian nodded nonchalantly.

"How, how could it be so fast?!" the elder questioned, as if Lin Tian must have cheated to achieve this.

"What else did you expect? Just ascended to Golden Core," Lin Tian replied nonchalantly.

Muscles twitched on the elder’s face; hearing this, he felt an intense urge to strike Lin Tian. Such arrogance, how pretentious!

He glanced again at Mei Ruyan before him, realizing he could no longer make a move now. How could a mere twenty-something kid be so difficult to deal with?

"I have a curious question."

"Ask."

The elder eyed Lin Tian up and down and asked, "Why can you directly absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi?"

Lin Tian tilted his head, pondered for a few seconds, shrugged, "Isn’t it normal? Just absorb directly. You, a Golden Core expert, asking such a childish question?"

"Ch-childish..."

The elder’s expression turned extremely sour. At seventy years old, being called childish by a twenty-year-old was enough to make him almost burst a vein.

Moreover, this question has been a well-guarded secret everyone wanted to discover for thousands of years!

As for the Xu Family, even they need to refine the Spiritual Qi before using it.

The elder was becoming increasingly reluctant to kill Lin Tian; this person was truly an anomaly in the cultivation world, so distinct from others, the elder merely lamented that he wasn’t him—such treasures were lost to the dogs!

"Old man, cut the crap, I’m letting you go today, don’t come looking for trouble again, or I’ll come to Luoyan Dock and tear your old bones apart!" Lin Tian said casually.

"Hahaha, what arrogance!" After a couple of laughs, the elder’s eyes glowed like lightning as he stared at Lin Tian, muttering, "You’ve just stepped into Golden Core, and you’re this conceited. If you seek death, I’ll oblige."

Before his words finished, the elder’s figure flickered, instantly shifting towards Lin Tian.

This old man, stark naked, though only a remnant image, was still very conspicuous.