"Watch out!"
Seeing this, Lily Liang grew frantic. She shouted at Lin Yi from across the way, her voice hoarse with worry.
She instinctively tried to rush forward, but Master Daniel Ward grabbed her arm and held her back.
"It's useless."
Master Daniel Ward's expression was especially grim. As he watched the scene unfold, he felt utterly numb inside. "I've been with the Rowe clan for so many years, and I've never seen them mobilize like this."
"There was a time when I even thought the Rowe clan's foundation wasn't as deep as other Old Martial Houses."
"But now, it seems I was ignorant—just peeking through a crack in the door, really."
Daniel Ward let out a long sigh, but his gaze never left the shocking scene before him.
Lucy Sun, Chloe Cheng, and the others beside him were completely speechless.
Everyone just stared blankly, listening in stunned silence.
The wind howled past their ears as the earth and stone churned, and before their eyes, a massive blade-like slab of rock rose from the ground.
Stretching nearly a hundred meters, the stone tore a giant trench across the ground.
A thousand-pound stone shot up from the earth, soared into the air, then crashed down toward Lin Yi with thunderous force.
"Lie down! Lie down!"
First Elder Rowe's face was icy, his voice even colder. As he watched the stone rise, he didn't hesitate for a second—he stepped forward at lightning speed, his phantom shadow moving with him.
Everyone saw First Elder Rowe stomp the ground and leap upward, landing atop the stone slab suspended in midair. The next moment, he reached down and grabbed fiercely at the earth.
His five fingers dug into the rock, clenching tight—and his phantom did the same.
And in the next instant—
That hundred-meter stone was forcibly seized by him, wielded as a weapon!
Streams of inner force poured from First Elder Rowe into the massive stone in his hand. The blade of earth rushing toward Lin Yi glowed with a yellow sheen.
All the earth and stone grew more condensed, looking for all the world like a blade forged from metal—cold, sharp, and utterly chilling.
"Let's see what tricks you have left to block this!"
First Elder Rowe roared, his voice hoarse and desperate. He attacked with everything he had, determined not to lose.
Like a sky falling overhead, slabs of earth and stone crashed down from above, layering over Lin Yi from every direction. There was nowhere to run—the blade of stone closed in from all sides!
"With power like this, does it even matter if you block or not?"
Lin Yi just smiled faintly. This time, he didn't even bother to lift Worldleaver—his sword tip rested against the ground.
The next moment, everyone saw it with their own eyes: the hundred-meter stone blade, infused with inner force, smashed down on Lin Yi without any fancy tricks.
Boom!
The blow landed—First Elder Rowe's expression was wild with excitement. His inner force surged endlessly from the stone, flooding toward the young man like a tidal wave, holding nothing back.
Third-grade Pointing-to-Mystery inner force, plus the boost from the Rowe Patriarch.
This formation—terrifying beyond belief!
A series of thunderous booms echoed through the air.
It was the sound of nearby trees being dragged down by the earth and stone.
Whole swathes of forest collapsed, the ground littered with broken stones, cracks, and ravines everywhere.
Dust and smoke began to rise.
First Elder Rowe's phantom had completely merged into the earth and stone, sending out waves of terrifying energy that made hearts tremble.
He landed on the ground, and the Rowe Patriarch, quick and alert, caught the now utterly weakened First Elder Rowe as he fell.
Compared to before, First Elder Rowe now looked especially aged—his body had shrunk by three inches, a symptom of burning his potential to the limit.
"Even if he's some kind of divine master, so what?"
First Elder Rowe coughed, his face aged but his spirit still wild with excitement. He stared at the spot not far away, where earth and stone had piled up dozens of meters high, like a small mountain.
"In the face of absolute power, every trick is just a joke!"
"This Master Lin from Haizhou really overestimated himself. If he had dodged in time, he might not have been able to escape hundreds of meters in just a few breaths, but he didn't even try—he didn't dodge, didn't resist!"
"He clearly just accepted his fate!"
First Elder Rowe laughed heartily, then coughed again after a few laughs.
"Elder, you should rest. Don't get too excited. That Master Lin from Haizhou has probably joined Second Elder Rowe on his journey—at least Second Elder won't be lonely in the underworld."
The Rowe Patriarch held his breath and focused, searching for a long time, but couldn't detect any inner force waves from beneath the earth and stone.
It seemed that Master Lin from Haizhou had been completely crushed by the thousand-pound stone and the combined inner force of First Elder Rowe and the Rowe Patriarch.
"He lost?"
"Is Master Lin from Haizhou really finished?"
Chloe Cheng and Lucy Sun spoke instinctively, turning to Master Daniel Ward beside them. Daniel Ward said nothing—he honestly couldn't see what was happening either.
Looking around, within hundreds of meters, aside from the small circle where they stood, there wasn't a single patch of undamaged ground.
Everywhere, earth and stone churned; everywhere, broken trees lay scattered.
Even where the Rowe clan members stood, many had stumbled and fallen, unable to dodge in time—some were badly injured.
"First Elder Rowe's all-out attack really has the power to make the earth change color."
Daniel Ward hesitated for a moment, then looked over at Lily Liang, who stood frozen nearby.
Lily Liang bit her lip, her face pale as a sheet.
"Clean up. And spread the word—Master Lin from Haizhou died here at the Rowe estate today. There will be no more Master Lin from Haizhou, and no one else in the world will dare provoke the Rowe clan!"
The Rowe Patriarch waved his hand, preparing to leave with First Elder Rowe.
The Rowe clan members began to handle the aftermath.
But then—
Not far away—
From the quiet mound, deep within the dozens-of-meters-high pile of earth and stone, a faint rustling sound suddenly began.
"What was that sound?"
The sound was soft, but at this moment, more and more people focused their attention on that spot. As the noise appeared, many stared intently in that direction.
Daniel Ward turned his head; Lucy Sun and Chloe Cheng's faces changed, Lily Liang was stunned for a while, then stared fixedly at the spot.
All the Rowe clan members focused their gaze, their hearts suddenly on edge.
And then—
A voice quietly rang out.
"Even your full-force strike was only this much. First Elder Rowe, I'm very disappointed in you."
"Third-grade Pointing-to-Mystery—just like a dog?"
"Third-grade Pointing-to-Mystery, not even as good as a dog."
"If you're not even as good as a dog, why not join your brother in the underworld?"