"So, I've heard, you've been waiting for , huh? What? Got enticed by our product? Dear custor, do you know there are more peaceful ways to negotiate? You've sieged the city and the employees under my protection are being hurt by you." Lin Mo continued, each word becoming colder by the second.
"Shopkeeper!" Tie Zha gasped, hope flooding back into his veins as he tried to stand up.
"Shopkeeper! You've returned!" Luo Lanyi also exclaid, stopping just short of sprinting towards him. She curtsied deeply, a gesture of profound respect. "We… we have failed you. We never expected that the effect of your heavenly products would easily attract such a calamity. The Seven Valleys Alliance... they are a force that has always been ruling within the region."
Lin Mo waved his hand, a gentle breeze of spiritual energy lifting Luo Lanyi from her bow. "Mhm. There is no failure in attraction, Miss Luo. Good marketing always draws a crowd. The only failure is being unable to manage the queue. And it seems..."
He glanced down at Tie Zha, who was struggling to stand, his silver armor dented and his breath ragged.
Lin Mo flicked his wrist, and a packet of [Fruity Healing Tablet] soared through the air, landing perfectly in Tie Zha's gauntleted hand.
"...you've just run out of stock. Take that and heal yourself. Consider it a performance bonus."
Tie Zha didn't hesitate. He pulled out the mat and pricked open one of the tablets inside, tossing it into his mouth. In an instant, a verdant light flushed through his veins.
The groaning tal of his armor seed to quiet as his own body surged with renewed vigor and his inner energy refilled like a dam bursting open.
He stood tall, the dent in his breastplate popping back out as the Aetheric resonance restabilized.
"Gratitude, Shopkeeper!" Tie Zha roared, his voice returning to its thunderous volu.
Hei Feilong watched this exchange and his face twisted into a mask of unadulterated fury.
He ripped the strip of cloth from his belt and bound his bleeding shoulder. The muscles bunched up as he forced the wound closed with sheer will and inner energy.
"Ignore , will you?!" The Warlord bellowed. "You treat this battlefield like a marketplace? You heal your dog while standing before a dragon?!"
He kicked his massive guan dao up from the ground, catching it with a seamless, spinning motion.
The blade humd, glowing with a dark, blood-red light that seed to devour the surrounding air.
"Dragon?" Lin Mo turned his gaze back to the warlord, his expression one of mild amusent. He took a sip of his soda, the fizz echoing in the sudden silence. "I see only a bandit with a loud voice and a bad temper. But if you wish to dance, I suppose I can spare a mont, dear custor. It would be inconvenient to leave trash on my doorstep."
"I'm not your custor. Die!"
Hei Feilong launched himself into the air. He exploded upwards, the stone street beneath him shattering into a crater. He was a Transformation Stage expert. A master who opened his 7th Gate. He's a being who has transcended the limits of mortal flesh. He could probably beat down a few Foundation Establishnt cultivators without relying on spells and just his martial techniques.
His inner energy coalesced around him, taking the form of a roaring, phantom tiger bathed in blood.
"[Seven Valleys Art: Blood Tiger Ascends the Mountain]!"
The guan dao slashed down as a crescent of red energy tore towards the roof of the pavilion where Lin Mo was standing. It was a strike ant to cleave the building in two.
Lin Mo stared at his descent and didn't move his feet.
He holstered the repeater and extended his right hand.
Qi Solidification!
Starlight qi flooded from his dantian, condensing instantly into a hexagonal barrier of translucent silver light.
BOOM!
The red crescent slamd into the barrier. The impact created a shockwave that blew the tiles off the surrounding roofs and sent clouds of dust billowing into the streets.
The pavilion groaned, its timber fra seemingly protesting. However, the barrier he conjured held firm. Not a crack appeared on its surface.
Hei Feilong landed on the roof, his boots crunching through the tiles. He stared at the barrier, his eyes wide with shock. "You blocked it? With... projected inner energy?"
"Correction. Solidified energy," Lin Mo corrected, dissolving the shield with a wave of his hand.
The [Starlit Dragon Spear] materialized in his grasp.
"You are a master, alright. But from where I was, your technique could be considered nothing but crude. Powerful, yes, but you waste so much energy on the spectacle. All that roaring and glowing... it's inefficient."
Lin Mo wasn't just bullshitting him. He had seen great techniques, especially from his prodigious assistant. Even if Hei Feilong's strength reached the sa height as a Core Formation Stage cultivator, his usage of it was too inefficient.
Lin Mo, with his mid Foundation Establishnt Stage cultivation, could match it even without using the [Decanus Set]
"I will show you inefficient!" Hei Feilong snarled. He spun his guan dao, the heavy blade creating a vacuum shield around him.
Then, he charged again, closing the distance in a blur of motion that seed intent to crash through Lin Mo.
He unleashed a flurry of strikes. Overhead chops, sweeping slashes, thrusts aid at the heart. Each blow carried the weight of a falling boulder, enhanced by his martial qi.
But Lin Mo t him without even opening his [Stellar Domain].
He matched martial technique to his own martial technique.
[Flowing Star Combat Style]!.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The spear and the guan dao clashed in a shower of sparks. Lin Mo moved like water, flowing around the warlord's brutal strikes.
He parried a chop with the shaft of his spear, redirecting the force into the roof tiles, then riposted with a lightning-fast thrust towards Hei Feilong's throat.
Hei Feilong jerked his head back, the spear tip nicking his chin and drawing blood.
He roared and countered with a poml strike, but Lin Mo had already faded back, leaving a crimson afterimage.
"You are fast for a ghost!" Hei Feilong grunted while breathing heavily. "But you lack weight! You cannot crush !"
He slamd his foot down. "[Earth tremor]!"
A pulse of martial qi shot through the building's fra, shaking the roof violently. Lin Mo lost his footing for a second.
Seizing the opening, Hei Feilong swung his blade horizontally. "[Tiger Sweeps the Plains]!"
The attack was unavoidable. It covered the entire width of the roof.
Lin Mo's eyes narrowed. "Impressive reaction."
This ti, he activated his domain.
The ten-ter radius around him instantly turned into a zone of heavy, serene gravity.
The red martial qi coating Hei Feilong's blade sputtered as it entered the domain, suppressed by the higher-tier starlight energy.
The swing slowed. It was minute, barely perceptible to a normal eye, but to
Lin Mo, it was enough.
He raised his spear vertically. "[Celestial Millstone]."
He spun the spear, creating a rotating shield of grinding force.
CRASH!
The guan dao hit the spinning spear. But instead of overpowering it, the blade was caught in the rotation. The grinding force ate away at the martial qi, dissipating the attack's montum.
Lin Mo twisted his wrist, locking the warlord's weapon against his own. They stood face to face, the bandit's savage, scarred face inches from Lin Mo's calm, glowing features.
"Do all of the masters in this plane always resort to violence to get what they want? No wonder there's no innovation in sight." Lin Mo said softly, his voice filled with disappointnt. "You lead your n to siege this city. Killing its residents. For what? To seize our products? Do you believe a few crates are all we have?"
"Shut up!" Hei Feilong headbutted him.
It was a dirty, desperate move. His forehead, hardened by decades of iron-head training, slamd into Lin Mo's.
THUD.
Lin Mo stumbled back, seeing stars for a mont. He touched his forehead.
It was stinging but not broken. His [Stillwater Body] and the physical enhancent from his Perfect Foundation had saved him from a concussion.
"You turn a deaf ear," Lin Mo chuckled, rubbing his head. "I like it. I'll drop you to the level of a troublemaker then. No store products for you."
Hei Feilong didn't wait for a review. He capitalized on the distance, spinning his guan dao overhead to build montum. The air began to howl, a vortex of red energy forming around the blade.
"I will grind you to dust and take everything you own! [Secret Art: Seven-Headed Hydra Strike]!"
The warlord thrust his weapon forward. The red energy split, forming seven distinct phantom serpent heads that struck from seven different angles. It was an attack that blended illusion with crushing force, designed to overwhelm any defense.
Below, in the street, the battle had paused. Both the defenders and the invaders were staring up at the roof, srized by the clash of titans.
"That's the Warlord's ultimate technique!" Dojo Master Iron, who had just been freed from his own perilous fight, exclaid. "No one has ever survived the Hydra!"
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