Stronger with Crimson Modifier

The ruined temple itself was not small, despite the many missing tiles that let the rain leak through.

Still, if everyone squeezed in, it was manageable.

Seeing this, the maid in the green skirt arched a delicate brow, a trace of unconcealed disdain flashing in her eyes.

"Qi Storage Realm? With that paltry level of skill, you dare to bargain with me.

You can stay, and I’ll make sure you regret it. Or you can take your men and get out, now!"

Wu Yidao’s expression turned ugly when he heard her words.

He glanced at the green-skirted maid and the figures clad in armor, their bodies radiating a murderous aura.

If this were any other time, it would be fine; at worst, he would just take his brothers and find another place to stay.

But right now, a violent storm raged outside. If they spent the night soaked in the rain, he feared that all the Darts Masters, except for himself, would fall ill.

Besides, they had Hu Qi, an Inner Qi Realm expert, with them.

Whether he would be willing to leave was another matter entirely.

"Tsk tsk! How truly impressive."

Just as everyone was locked in a stalemate, a slightly hoarse yet mocking voice drifted over from the side.

Everyone followed the sound and saw that the old man in ragged clothes, who had been feigning sleep in the hay pile all along, had sat up at some point and was now watching the scene with a wry smile.

"Hmph? Where did this stinking beggar come from? Why waste words on them? Get them! Throw them all out!"

At that moment, the young man addressed as "Young Master" seemed to be growing impatient.

He spoke, his voice cold.

As his words fell, the six armored figures behind him moved instantly. In perfect unison, they drew the Long Sabers from their waists. The cold glint of the blades flickered, reflecting the storm outside the ruined temple and appearing all the more chilling.

Their gazes were like daggers, and their bodies radiated a murderous aura.

It was as if the temperature inside the temple had dropped several degrees.

Seeing this, Wu Yidao was just about to say something.

But just then, the old man vanished.

In a flash, he crossed a dozen meters to appear before one of the armored figures.

His hands spread open, like a white crane spreading its wings.

The heads of two armored guards flew high into the air as blood sprayed from their necks. Their headless bodies crumpled to the ground.

This sudden turn of events left everyone utterly stunned.

After the remaining four guards snapped out of their shock, they hastily raised their Long Sabers and slashed at the old man.

Upon closer inspection, their temples bulged high—a clear sign that these guards were all Martial Artists who had reached the Micro Level.

Moreover, their movements were perfectly synchronized, indicating they had trained in some kind of joint-attack technique.

The four struck simultaneously. For a moment, flashing Sword Light filled the air, weaving an inescapable net of death.

Faced with such might, even an ordinary Breath Storage Realm Martial Artist would likely be unable to defend themselves and would be cut down in an instant.

Yet, faced with this seemingly hopeless and deadly situation, the old man’s expression remained calm, without a trace of panic.

He simply dipped his body slightly, as light and graceful as a willow catkin in the wind.

Then, his arms blurred into motion, fast as lightning, moving like two afterimages that were too quick for the eye to follow.

In the blink of an eye, with four dull thuds, four sprays of blood erupted into the air.

The old man’s hands had mercilessly pierced through the chests of the four guards.

The thick armor they wore was like thin paper before him, utterly fragile.

It all happened too fast. In a mere instant, all six guards, experts at the Micro Level, were dead.

After doing all this, the old man didn’t stop. He reached directly for the young man, who was frozen in terror.

Before his fingers, like withered branches, could touch the young man’s collar, a green afterimage suddenly interposed itself between them.

BAM! BAM! BAM...

A series of seven palm strikes, like muffled thunder, exploded in the small space, sending visible ripples through the air.

In the blink of an eye, the two figures separated.

The old man’s expression was calm, his breathing as steady as ever.

The maid in the green skirt, on the other hand, was stumbling backward.

As she took her third step back, the silver pin in her hair suddenly snapped. A few Blood Beads trickled down from her pearly white earlobe, blossoming like dark plum flowers on her green collar.

Her face was as pale as paper. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and thin lines of it flowed slowly from her nostrils.

She had clearly suffered extremely grave injuries in that brief exchange.

"A Half-step Inner Qi Realm?"

The old man said with a wry smile.

"Your aura is so unstable and chaotic. I’m afraid you must have taken some forbidden medicine to forcibly squeeze out your potential.

But to reach this level of strength at your age... given time, you might have even broken through to the Inner Qi Realm. How tragic."

Forbidden medicine was a type of drug that squeezed out one’s own potential.

While it could accelerate the speed of one’s power progression, it came at the cost of drastically shortening one’s Lifespan.

Under normal circumstances, those who took forbidden medicine rarely lived past the age of thirty-five.

This type of medicine was extremely expensive, and only the true aristocratic families had the means to produce it.

It was usually given to death-sworn retainers.

The woman before him was clearly one of them.

However, even with the aid of forbidden medicine, reaching her current level at such a young age was a testament to her immense aptitude.

"You... You’re the Nine Nether Elder—Gongsun Jin?"

The green-skirted maid ignored the mockery in his words. With a look of shock, she stared at the old man’s face and felt the frigid Inner Energy emanating from him. As if struck by a sudden realization, her expression changed dramatically.

The Nine Nether Elder was a top-tier Inner Qi Realm expert who had been famous for a long time.

In terms of strength alone, he was ranked in the top ten of the Da Ye Dynasty’s Dragon and Tiger List.

The peerless Martial Arts he practiced was the ’Netherworld Ghost Claw’.

When used, his palms would be covered in what looked like black frost, wreathed in a chilling aura.

The claw strikes were fierce and tyrannical. Anyone hit would not only have their body pierced by the immense force but would also have their meridians invaded by a frigid, malevolent energy that would freeze their blood, as if they had been cast into the Netherworld itself.

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