Chapter 40 Encounter

  "What a strong archery!"

  Xia Lin secretly admired, the first two times were stronger than before, and this time, Xia Ming couldn't hide and could only harden his heart, so he released a seemingly weak and slow move, but in reality, its power was several times stronger than before! That is to say, the previous two moves were actually Xia Ming's probing attacks, and this one was the killing move!

  "If it were before, I would have been helpless against this move, but now..."

  "What a pity."

  Xia's lips curled up with a hint of a smile, his right palm swung out without hesitation, Lingfeng Palm Ninth Form!

  "Boom!"

  With a burst of full-body strength, Xia Lin unleashed the ninth palm of Lingfeng Palm, releasing the strongest blow in history. The surging palm wind directly struck the sharp arrow, and the two powerful forces began to confront each other head-on. After a brief entanglement, the sharp arrow, made of unknown material, was actually broken by Xia Lin's single palm!

  The broken arrow fell to one side after losing its momentum.

  The third arrow, snapped!

  Just then, Xia Lin approached Xia Ming's side, gently stretched out his palm, patted him lightly on the chest, and then retreated.

  "You lost."

  Xia Ming looked at Xia Lin's calm appearance and the emotions on his face finally changed, now staring at Xia Lin in shock, "Your strength..."

  Xia nodded slightly, "Ninefold Body Refining."

  "It's indeed the case." Xia Ming let out a bitter laugh, revealing a hint of sadness, and sighed, "In the end... I still let everyone surpass me."

  Xia Lin smiled slightly, "But don't forget your promise."

  Xia Ming nodded: "Even if it's me surrendering, Xia Cheng won't let me off that easily."

  Xia Lin smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about this. Since you've come over, let the two teams merge together. Otherwise, your subordinates will be looked down upon."

  The two men's battle seemed endless, but was actually extremely swift, yet each time it was so thrilling.

  Whether it was Xia Lin's fellow disciples of the Black Wind Gang or Xia Ming's fellow disciples of the Black Wind Gang, they all watched this duel with trepidation.

  During this time, Xia Ming made three moves. Sun Zhong compared them and realized that if he were to compete with Xia Ming, he would definitely lose!

  If he were to let him take the lead as before, and get close to launch a melee attack, there might still be a glimmer of hope. However, if Xia Ming takes the lead, he will absolutely have no power to resist. The three arrows that Xia Ming shot out just now, he could only barely withstand the first arrow, and the last two were impossible to block.

  Xia Ming's strength was so powerful that it shocked everyone.

  It's probably because of Xia Ming's words, but Xia Lin's move was much more low-key. From start to finish, Xia Lin only made one move, and with a light pat of his palm, he broke Xia Ming's strongest arrow into two pieces. No matter how you look at it, there's a sense of eeriness to it.

  Too discordant!

  If Xia Ming shocked everyone, then Xia Lin brought heart-palpitating fear.

  That hidden palm wind under the peaceful appearance seems even more terrifying, and no one recognizes what kind of martial skill that palm is. It's a bit similar to Lingfeng Palm, but it's fundamentally not Lingfeng Palm, and can only be explained as a mysterious and powerful martial skill.

  Sun Zhong led his men to surrender, and it was indeed very swift.

  The disciples of Heifeng Gang, who were shocked by Xia Lin's strength, easily joined Xia Lin's camp without encountering any resistance. No way, even their boss Xia Ming had lost to him in the past and became his subordinate, what else could they do? In the mountain stronghold trial, losing means having no chance to become the gang leader, taking this opportunity to choose a bright master is not bad either.

  While the original Xia Lin subordinates, at this time one by one also became small leaders, and took these groups of only three or four heavy armor birds under their command, each and every one of them was abnormally excited. Especially since everyone was originally very familiar with each other, looking at the guys who were originally showing off in front of themselves, suddenly becoming subordinates whose strength was much weaker than their own, wasn't this a thrilling thing?

  Xia Ming silently watched as his subordinates were absorbed, only then did he look at Xia Lin with some confusion, "Their strength..."

  Xia Lin smiled and said: "Very curious?"

  Xia Ming remained silent, indicating his consent.

  "Go ahead and ask, how would I know you're curious if you don't say so? Although you're looking at me with sincerity, your curiosity still needs to be asked. Are you really curious? If you're curious, just ask. Are you really that curious? If you are, of course, I'll tell you. It's not like you'd ask and I wouldn't answer, or you wouldn't ask but I'd still tell you. We're all from the same village, so..."

  "I want to know!"

  Xia Ming's face suddenly turned sour, and he abruptly interrupted his words, then said very bluntly.

  "Haha!" Xia Lin finally burst out laughing, "Let you pretend to be a cool kid for nothing, this is not Earth, what's with the act of being an absolute beauty? Saying such a long tongue twister, it's disgusting to death!"

  Shaking his head, after teasing the cold and aloof young man, Xia Lin's mood suddenly became much more pleasant. He glanced at him and said, "Just wait a bit and you'll know where the resources you robbed this time are."

  Xia Ming took him to the only horse-drawn carriage, inside which were numerous precious spiritual grasses, and even Xia Lin found a fragment of a mysterious treasure.

  "Wow, you've grabbed a lot of stuff!" Xia Lin exclaimed.

  Xia Ming remained silent, he had never realized that this young master, who was two years younger than him, would be so detestable at this moment. What's the point of saying anything? Even if you grab more things, in the end, they will still belong to you. Isn't this a blow to people?

  "The secret of our strength lies right here."

  Xia Lin let out a sigh of emotion, causing Xia Ming to suddenly focus his attention, looking at these spiritual herbs, what does it mean?

  "Disciples of Heifeng Village, assemble!"

  Xia Lin stood on the carriage, let out a loud shout, and everyone quickly gathered around. All of Xia Lin's disciples who were originally following him now had excited expressions on their faces, apparently they knew what was coming next.

  "Sun Zhong, bring all your disciples and distribute all the spiritual herbs in the horse carriage!" Xia Lin said calmly.

  "Yes!"

  Sun Zhong nodded in response, then cleared up the number of spiritual grasses and began to distribute them. Looking at his appearance, it was obviously extremely familiar.

  Xia Ming stared at him in shock on the side, "Xia Lin, what are you...what do you want to do? Don't you want to be the number one mountain bandit anymore?"

  "Of course," Xia Lin smiled and said, "The number one in the village will definitely be mine."

  "You're still..." The cold and cruel boy suddenly became tongue-tied as well, unsure of what to say.

  Xia Lin shrugged: "Among the participants, it's just us few people. If I defeat all of you, my resources will naturally be the strongest. What's the point of keeping so many? Can't take them away anyway."

  Xia Ming's mouth opened slightly, wanting to say something but ultimately didn't say it out loud.

  This method is actually very simple, but no one has ever dared to try it. Why? Because these resources are handed over and left for the elders to use! They are used as reserve resources for Heifeng Gang! All Xia family disciples are terrified when facing the elders, afraid of offending them, let alone using these resources.

  But for Xia Lin, it didn't matter anymore, he was going to drill into the loopholes of the mountain stronghold rules!

  Since you want these resources, but don't write them out, what's with the pretentiousness? If you don't write it out, I'll just pretend you didn't. What's with the unwritten rules? Let's talk about it when you've put it in writing.

  Another reason, due to the Small Mountain Village task event, Xia Lin was fed up with these Elders' cunning. A dignified Mountain Village task, yet it was still outsmarted by the Elders. If not for him gradually releasing the power within his body and fortunately encountering the villagers of the small mountain village, he might not have returned.

  So now he can't wait to be disgusted to death by these elders, let alone show filial piety to them.

  As for the deeper things, let his old man consider them. After all, he is also the leader of Heifeng Gang, and 20 years ago, he became the leader after a fierce battle. Now that 20 years have passed, not to mention the Condensed Sea Realm, at least he should be a strong master in the Vortex Realm, and it shouldn't be a big problem to deal with these things.

  Of course, it must be said that Comrade Xiaoming was thoroughly shocked by Xia Lin. Following such an unruly young master, it's hard to say whether it's good or bad.

  Everyone who got the spiritual grass started their excited cultivation again, and this time, Xia Lin only left them one day.

  It was night, inside a manor far away from Linjiang City.

  Xia opened a note excitedly, on which was written a thrilling message: Xia Ming and Xia Lin's battle, Xia Lin suffered a crushing defeat, the team's strength was left with only half.

  "Haha, looks like I didn't underestimate you after all. You actually managed to win against Xia Ming that guy! Although your strength isn't great, it seems that the subordinate you recruited this time is pretty good."

  Xia Cheng coldly smiled and instructed the person beside him, "Pass down the order to the people around Xia Yan and Xia Yang, telling them to get closer to Xia Lin's troops. This time, let them have an absolute collision."

  "Yes!"

  The man retreated quickly after receiving the order.

  Xia Chen smiled faintly: "Xia Lin... this time, I don't know if you can still win, although it's very slim, but I really hope you win... really want to see, when we meet again, how much strength you have left by your side, haha."

  A loud maniacal laugh startled the few crows in the courtyard, some of which cast a gloomy glance at Xia Cheng before flying away dispiritedly.

  Mountain Stronghold Trial, 22nd day. There are still eight days until the trial ends.

  "Young master, young miss, a large group of people and horses have been spotted ahead, they seem to be disciples of our Black Wind Fortress." A scout reported after finishing his reconnaissance.

  "Who is it?" Xiaoyan's eyes lit up and she quickly asked.

  "The subordinate doesn't know, and I don't dare get too close." The scout shook his head with a bitter smile, indicating that he wasn't clear either.

  "Hmph, didn't expect to run into you, but there aren't many days left anyway." Xia Yan said indifferently, turning her head to face Xia Yang who had been smiling beside her: "Brother, do we want to fight him or wait until the last two days?"

  Xia Yang smiled foolishly and said after a moment of thought: "Let's get it over with, the longer we drag this out, the more disadvantageous it is for us."