"Kid, it's a tremendous honor for you to face me personally. As the Lord of Coldriver City, I love recruiting talented people, but you missed your chance because you don't know what's good for you. Since you can't be a friend, you'll have to be an enemy. Here in Coldriver City, our rule is to kill enemies at any cost. Show me your strongest skills—let's see just how powerful you really are!" the middle-aged man declared.
Evan Lin just laughed and said, "Early Da Luo Golden Immortal is pretty decent strength for Coldriver City, right? But I wonder—what's the highest cultivation among Coldriver City's top experts? Anyone reached the Ninth-Heaven Arch-Immortal realm yet?"
The middle-aged man paused, confused why this guy was asking such pointless questions even when facing death, then chuckled, "Coldriver City is packed with experts—at least five Da Luo Golden Immortals, and yes, we do have Ninth-Heaven Arch-Immortal powerhouses. Not that you'll ever get to see them, since you're about to die by my sword."
"Oh, is that so? Thanks for the info. I'll make sure to leave your body whole as a reward—that's the best I can do for you. As for killing me, you're not qualified." Evan Lin smiled, but the murderous intent surging from him instantly flooded toward the middle-aged man, whose face changed dramatically.
That killing intent had been forged through countless life-and-death battles, and it gave the man a dangerously ominous feeling. For the first time, he felt genuine fear in his heart. He couldn't understand how an Immortal at late Golden Immortal realm could possess such bloody, domineering killing intent, and he couldn't help but stare at Evan Lin.
Evan Lin tightened his grip on the Frostbane Sword and grinned, "I hope you show me your full Da Luo Golden Immortal power, or you'll regret it. If you've got artifacts, you'd better use them quick—otherwise, you might not even get the chance."
Being publicly insulted by a mere youth in front of so many people from the City Lord's Mansion made the middle-aged man furious. "Kid, you talk too much! Today I'll show you what real strength looks like!" With that, his longsword slashed toward Evan Lin in a flash.
As a Da Luo Golden Immortal, the man's attack was truly formidable. The surrounding space shook violently, and powerful sword-qi formed in the air, weaving together into a massive sword net that shot toward Evan Lin.
The sword net reminded Evan Lin of the sword-qi attacks that Shangguan Luoyang once used, though Shangguan's sword net was much higher quality than this man's. The others just watched as the Lord of Coldriver City's elder tried to kill Evan Lin, convinced the fight would end any second.
"Overestimating himself, daring to challenge an elder—he really is a newborn calf unafraid of tigers. He has no idea how close to death he is," someone muttered.
"You should pay attention to who he's fighting. That kid actually has late Golden Immortal strength—pretty surprising, honestly. But against a Da Luo Golden Immortal, no matter how strong he is, he's still going to get killed," someone else commented.
At that moment, the sword net had already reached Evan Lin. Just as everyone thought he'd be shredded to pieces, something unbelievable happened—Evan Lin simply punched out with his bare hand and scattered the powerful sword-qi, breaking the massive attack with a single blow.
With his other hand gripping the sword, Evan Lin swung out a slash—this time using Heaven-Cleave. He wanted to see if his current Heaven-Cleave could directly kill a Da Luo Golden Immortal.
The middle-aged man was shocked that Evan Lin could shatter his sword net with a single punch. As he tried to turn around, he suddenly saw Evan Lin's sword coming down—a strike even stronger than his own, with true Da Luo Golden Immortal-level power.
He tried to block in a panic, but there was no way he could defend against Evan Lin's Heaven-Cleave in such a rush. The sword-qi pierced right through his defenses and struck him, sending him flying dozens of meters before he finally stopped. Deep, bone-revealing wounds appeared all over his body, bleeding profusely.
At that moment, Evan Lin gained a deep realization: if he used Star-Cleave against a Da Luo Golden Immortal, he could probably kill them outright. Just now, his Heaven-Cleave was only at eighty percent power—if he'd used his full strength, that guy would already be dead.
Evan Lin himself didn't think much of the sword strike, but the rest of the City Lord's Mansion experts in the air felt as if they'd been struck by lightning. They stared at Evan Lin and the middle-aged man in disbelief. Two people hurried over to support the injured man, eyes wide with shock. "Elder, are you alright? How is this kid so strong?" one of them asked.
"This kid's actually a Da Luo Golden Immortal—we all misjudged him. No wonder he dares to act so arrogant here. To really kill him, it'll take a true expert from the City Lord's Mansion. I'm not his match," the middle-aged man admitted, taking out a golden pill and swallowing it.
Seeing everyone's shocked faces, Evan Lin laughed, "So this is what Coldriver City is capable of—just a bunch of braggarts. Da Luo Golden Immortal, huh? What a disgrace."
He knew that to draw out stronger opponents, he'd have to kill most of these people—even if he didn't wipe them all out, at least more than half had to die. The survivors would run back to the City Lord's Mansion to sound the alarm. Although the mansion was right below, Evan Lin knew the Lord of Coldriver City thought these underlings could handle him and wouldn't bother to intervene himself, so no stronger experts would show up—unless things got much worse.
With a flicker of movement, Evan Lin's Frostbane Sword swept out a blade-light as he charged into the crowd above. In his eyes, these people were just like radishes—almost every swing took out one. In just a few breaths, he'd killed more than half; many didn't even have time to react before being cut down.
Evan Lin never forgot to destroy their Immortal Infants after killing them. Since they were City Lord's Mansion people, they were his enemies—if they wanted to blame someone, they should blame the master they chose. In the blink of an eye, only five people were left in the air, all staring at Evan Lin in terror. They wanted to escape, but realized it was impossible.
One person tried to flee but was instantly killed by Evan Lin's Heart-Sword. Evan Lin then said to the middle-aged man, "I know you've still got some fight left in you. Take out your artifact—otherwise, don't regret it when you die later."
The middle-aged man glanced at Evan Lin, then quickly told someone beside him, "Go notify the City Lord! I'll hold this kid off for a bit—he's way too strong. Only if the City Lord personally takes the field can we kill him."
The subordinate immediately flashed into the City Lord's Mansion, and Evan Lin didn't kill him—this was exactly the effect he wanted. The opponents were just too weak; it was getting boring. "Come on, show me how strong your artifact really is," Evan Lin said, floating directly in front of the middle-aged man.