The training grounds fell into dead silence, broken only by the sound of heavy breathing.
Lian Qiguang walked forward with slow, measured steps, silently heading toward the patch of crimson deep within the thorns. Wherever he passed, the stone brambles shifted aside, opening a path for him.
In the middle of the thorn patch, Qi Ying lay limp.
The iron-like spikes had pierced through her shoulders, arms, and torso. There was almost no intact skin left on her body. Her breathing was faint, nearly imperceptible, as though she could become a cold corpse at any second.
Scarlet blood dripped from the thorn branches, drop by drop, onto the ground, slowly forming a small pool. The sweet metallic scent of blood spread through the air—familiar as ever.
Lian Qiguang looked down at Qi Ying, who lay in the thorns like a blood sacrifice.
The wind blew aside the messy hair covering his eyes, revealing a pair of dark, abyss-like pupils.
Cold as hell itself.
Deep within that darkness seemed to lie endless piles of bones. In those eyes, there appeared to be nothing left except cold corpses.
A pale green glow gathered in his hand.
Green represented life and hope.
But now, in everyone’s eyes, it had become the color of slaughter.
Lian Qiguang raised his hand, and the green light slowly wrapped around Qi Ying.
“You… what are you… doing…”
Her weak voice was barely audible.
“Do you know?” Lian Qiguang said flatly, without even the slightest fluctuation in tone. “I’ve killed many people.”
“I am not a good person.”
“You could even say I’m more ruthless and merciless than anyone else.”
“I have never forgotten how I survived back then.”
“But you people don’t know.”
“That’s why you dare to act however you please.”
As the green light enveloped her, Qi Ying suddenly felt a tearing agony spreading through her body inch by inch.
Along with that pain, the power inside her body slowly began disappearing.
“No… no!! Don’t!! AHHHH!!”
As if realizing something, Qi Ying’s eyes widened in terror.
She suddenly began struggling violently.
The thorns piercing her body tore her wounds wider with every movement, causing even more blood to gush out, staining the surrounding thorns a demonic crimson.
But she no longer cared.
She could not let Lian Qiguang continue.
Even if it meant death.
She feared death.
But what she feared even more was a fate worse than death.
“No! Don’t!! Please! Please!! I’ll never dare again! Spare me! Don’t! AHH!! Don’t—!”
Her shrill screams echoed through the silent training grounds, sending chills down everyone’s spine.
Lian Qiguang suddenly clenched his outstretched hand into a fist.
The green light dissipated from Qi Ying’s body, carrying away faint traces of red.
Qi Ying collapsed limply among the thorns.
Her breathing was weak.
Her empty eyes stared at Lian Qiguang.
Her blood-soaked body and twisted face were filled with hatred and curses, making her look horrifying and grotesque.
“She…”
Jin Anqi stared blankly at the bloody mass in the thorns, lips dry.
“She no longer has any energy fluctuations.”
Qing Murong opened his eyes and stared solemnly at Qi Ying.
“Her ability… has been destroyed.”
One sentence stirred up a thousand waves.
The entire training ground erupted in gasps.
Everyone’s expression toward Lian Qiguang changed.
Disgust.
Fear.
Suspicion.
Having one’s ability destroyed was worse than death.
And how had he done it?
“Lian Qiguang! You’ve gone too far!”
A furious shout filled with restrained “grief” rang out in the silence.
Ji Renlin stepped down from the stands, looking at Lian Qiguang with disbelief and anger.
“Qi Ying already lost, and she’s been severely injured! Why wouldn’t you spare her? Why destroy her ability?”
“Do you know what abilities mean to us?”
“You’ve completely ruined her! This is worse than death!”
Lian Qiguang slowly turned around and looked expressionlessly at Ji Renlin’s grief-stricken face.
He only felt disgust.
“Lian Qiguang! Return Qi Ying’s ability! I’m sure everyone will forgive you!”
After his angry outburst, Ji Renlin’s expression softened into false gentleness.
He began persuading him.
“I don’t know how you did it, but since you could destroy her ability, you must also be able to restore it, right?”
“Qi Ying’s ability is fire-type. It’s useless to you.”
“Give it back to her.”
“Everyone won’t treat you like some monster.”
At this point, everyone understood what Ji Renlin meant.
Their gazes toward Lian Qiguang grew even more hostile.
Ji Renlin’s meaning was obvious.
Lian Qiguang was an anomaly.
He could steal others’ abilities and make them his own.
Lian Qiguang stared at Ji Renlin expressionlessly.
After a long silence, he spoke.
“What are you?”
“You— Lian Qiguang! Stop being childish!”
First came hurt over Lian Qiguang’s rudeness, then righteous indignation.
Lian Qiguang stared at Ji Renlin without expression and slowly stepped down from the platform.
As he drew closer, Ji Renlin’s expression changed slightly.
His feet unconsciously moved backward.
He secretly gathered his power, ready to strike at any moment.
Lian Qiguang stopped three meters away.
His lifeless gaze slowly swept across the training grounds.
After a brief silence, his eyes sharpened.
He lifted his head and locked onto Ji Renlin.
The pressure and authority belonging to humanity’s strongest warrior were no longer restrained.
Like a raging storm, they swept across the entire training ground.
In an instant, everyone felt their bodies grow heavy.
Their chests tightened.
An overbearing, icy pressure crushed them so completely that none could move.
Fear.
A fear rising from the deepest part of their souls filled their entire bodies.
Cold energy swirled around them, mixed with overwhelming bloodlust and killing intent.
It felt as though death could claim them at any second.
Ji Renlin, standing closest to Lian Qiguang, suffered the most.
The power he had gathered was forcibly crushed back into his body.
Cold energy seeped into him, carrying dense killing intent and deathly aura.
Pain tore through his chest.
A sweet metallic taste rose in his throat.
His soul trembled.
Every fiber of his being screamed at him to kneel.
And he did.
Lian Qiguang looked expressionlessly at Ji Renlin, kneeling and trembling before him.
Then he spoke.
“What are you?”
“If I want to kill you, no one can stop me.”
“You…”
“Do not provoke me.”
“Because the price is not something you can afford.”
After speaking, Lian Qiguang stepped past Ji Renlin and walked toward the exit.
“When you become as strong as I am, you may destroy my ability too.”
“But right now…”
“You’re nothing more than a jumping flea.”
“I can crush you with a single hand.”
…
Watching Lian Qiguang’s retreating figure, Qing Murong dispersed the energy within his body.
His expression darkened.
But his heart churned with shock.
Such heavy killing aura.
No…
It could no longer even be called killing aura.
It was death aura.
“He actually has an ability?”
Jin Anqi finally calmed her violently pounding heart, staring in shock at Lian Qiguang’s departing back.
“And just what rank has his ability reached?”