"Qian... Qianjin... You..." Mu Gui Wuxin stood frozen, clutching the flask from which fiery oil poured, staring at Qianjin, who, despite being severely wounded, was sitting up and clearly not dead: "You... you weren't killed by the burning Battle Soul? You... you're alright..."

Qianjin wasn't dead? Li De Yueke's heart seized with alarm, and the sword he thrust forward involuntarily trembled, slowing its advance. "Lei Zhen's heart hammered even harder. How is this possible? I burned a fraction of his Battle Soul!"

Both parties were astonished. The slowed sword strike from Li De Yueke possessed more lethality than his previous rapid attack, precisely because Lei Zhen was equally stunned, causing his reaction time to lag further. The longsword pierced the bone of his right shoulder, the surge of Battle Qi dissipating only after blasting through the thick wall of the room.

Pfft! Lei Zhen grasped the sword, raised his hand to cover the incessantly bleeding wound, and stared in disbelief at Qianjin, who had managed to sit up, his face pale, blood still slowly oozing from his body. The segment of burning Battle Soul injected into his body was gone.

The Battle Soul... it had truly vanished from within Qianjin's body!

H-how could this be? Lei Zhen was so shocked that he couldn't feel the pain of his shoulder blade being pierced. His eyes were fixed on Qianjin, speechless. His self-immolating Battle Soul had failed to kill this opponent, a Demon Extermination Warrior level fighter?

"He didn't die. He actually didn't die," Li De Yueke abandoned Lei Zhen as an opponent and rushed to Qianjin’s side, repeatedly touching Qianjin’s shoulder and arm with hands that trembled uncontrollably: "Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"

The door to hope, which had been slammed shut by Lei Zhen, had unexpectedly creaked open again.

Li De Yueke ignored how Qianjin had managed to dissipate the burning Battle Soul, and momentarily dismissed the problem of eliminating Lei Zhen: "Apothecary! Doctor! Hurry and find them! What are you all still standing around for?"

Li Li Tuote nodded repeatedly and turned to run out. Hearing Li De Yueke roar again behind him: "The Apothecary Guild! Go directly to the Apothecary Guild! Take my token and request the Guild Master personally to come."

Li Li Tuote turned and caught a small sword Li De Yueke tossed to him, stealing a confused glance at the blood-drenched Qianjin. What exactly was the background of this new Guild Master?

Not only were the President of the Torrent Fortress and the City Lord rushing to save him, but they showed him such immense regard? This level of importance surpassed even the regard shown to the former Guild Master.

"Luck. I was this close to dying," Qianjin managed to stand with the support of Mu Gui Wuxin, secretly counting his blessings for obtaining half of a strange shield; otherwise, Lei Zhen's last strike would have been enough to kill him instantly.

"You... you're actually not dead?" Lei Zhen’s look of astonishment twisted into a hint of fear. Although time had been too short for him to burn his entire Battle Soul, it was still a Battle Soul burning at a level several tiers above Qianjin's. Yet, it hadn't killed him? And he had even shattered the Heavenly Thunder Flash battle technique in the process.

Qianjin managed a slight smile. This misfortune had turned into a blessing. Not only did he strangely acquire three Battle Hearts, with one situated precisely in his brow, but he had also picked up a new battle technique—a killing-blow level technique, though he didn't know its name yet.

The Heavenly Thunder Flash, which had sustained cracks, was quickly absorbed into the Heart of Earthly Fire, now forming a relatively complete sequence of battle techniques within it.

"Why did you only shatter one battle technique?" Qianjin's voice, lacking much strength, carried a faint hint of complaint. If he had shattered a few more techniques during the explosion—and still hadn't died—wouldn't he now possess several new techniques for free?

The feeling was akin to tripping on a cobblestone while walking down the street, getting a bump on the head, only to discover ten million in cash lying there that you could pick up for nothing.

Only one technique shattered? Lei Zhen frowned. Was this guy trying to mock him?

"Since President Qian is fine, then..." Lei Zhen gripped his longsword, his left hand covering the wound on his right shoulder. He rotated the sword lightly in front of him, retracted it into his Battle Realm, and started walking toward the courtyard gate: "I shall take my leave. Our Lei family will certainly not default on a single copper coin for the medical expenses and compensation."

"Medical expenses? Save that money to buy yourself a grave."

Qianjin’s cold words drifted out as his eyes locked onto Lei Zhen, who had lifted his leg to step forward, now frozen in mid-air: "Trying to leave?"

"What? Can this Family Head not leave?"

Lei Zhen retracted his raised foot and puffed out his chest slightly. Even with his right shoulder drenched in blood, the innate, overbearing aura of a Family Head was undeniably apparent. He stared coldly at Qianjin, a haughty smile curving his lips.

Lei Guangming looked at Qianjin with surprise. What was the meaning of this? After all, this was the head of the Lei family. If Qianjin had died, Li De Yueke and Mu Gui Wuxin stepping in to avenge him would be one thing. But now that he wasn't dead, the Lei family would pay an absolutely immense sum for medical fees, so what more dissatisfaction was there?

Yun Xinghuai stood silently to the side, his eyes narrowed into slits as he nodded repeatedly. As a blacksmith, he only needed to focus on forging. But as the leader of a faction, if he were beaten and didn't dare utter a sound, that Guild Master had no future.

How much would he extort from the Lei family? Yun Xinghuai was quite curious. How much wealth would Qianjin demand from the Lei family by leveraging his injuries this time? Some treasured forging materials? Or something else?

"Qianjin, what do you want the Lei family to compensate?" Li De Yueke’s despair had vanished, but his hatred for the Lei family intensified. What the Lei family did this time was truly too much. If they weren't made to bleed heavily, there was no way to quell the anger! Asking for a mere compensation for medical fees? A pipe dream!

Mu Gui Wuxin, carrying his wheel-sized battle-axe, glared menacingly at the Lei family. Whatever Qianjin demanded as compensation, if the other party refused, he would chop until they agreed, and then double the original demand.

"What do I want?" Qianjin surveyed the surrounding ruins of the buildings, his eyelids barely lifting: "Call out the warriors you brought this time as well. What's the point of hiding?"

The blacksmiths looked around in astonishment. There were still hidden personnel in this ruin?

Countless shades of apprehension crept into Lei Zhen’s haughty eyes. This group he brought were all specially trained by the Lei family for years, specializing in hiding in the shadows and striking lethally at any moment. Their concealment skills were so effective, especially amidst the extreme chaos, that even Mu Gui Wuxin and Li De Yueke hadn't noticed them. Yet, this young man had discovered them.

"There are others?" Mu Gui Wuxin’s expression turned even gloomier. Lei Zhen had been stopped, and then he tried to leave. It turned out he was trying to use this departure as a distraction, intending to keep assassinating Qianjin without anyone noticing. Otherwise, he should have called his men out earlier to leave together.

Ruthless! Li De Yueke looked at Lei Zhen with admiration. This old head of the Lei family truly intended to finish the job before backing down. Even under these circumstances, he refused to truly let go, hoping to use his departure to draw everyone’s attention, allowing his hidden assassins another chance.

"Uncle, help me by splitting that large rock over there,"

Qianjin pointed toward a seemingly ordinary large rock within the ruins.

"Got it! No problem! You wait here!"

A savage grin crossed Mu Gui Wuxin's lips as he headed towards the rock, hefting his massive axe.

"Fine, you win," Lei Zhen raised a hand, his voice laced with helplessness: "No need to hack at it. All of you, come out."

Clatter... clatter... Six warriors, clad in various uniforms, stood up from the ruins. The look of surprise on their faces was somewhat stiff, clearly accustomed to maintaining blank expressions for so long that they almost forgot how to show emotion. Now, faced with this situation, their instinctive surprise resulted in stiff expressions.

"Now, can we go?"

Lei Zhen waved his hand, and the six warriors leaped almost simultaneously to his side, showing that this was an elite force of the Lei family, comparable to the elite troops of the Torrent Ten Battles.

"Go? Who agreed? Did you ask me?"

Qianjin’s chilling voice, like frozen magic, seemed to lock the raised legs and feet of the seven people in place.

Lei Zhen turned, his brow furrowed with confusion mixed with a threat: "What do you mean? Do I need your permission to leave this place?"

"You trying to kill me, you didn't ask for my permission either!"

Qianjin's frail body suddenly roared, his blade-like gaze slashing fiercely across Lei Zhen and the six others.

Lei Zhen’s face turned so grim it looked like water could be squeezed from it. He slowly took a step toward Qianjin. The power of his Battle Soul mixed with his Family Head's aura formed a massive, invisible field pressing down on Qianjin: "Then, what do you want? Are you suggesting you intend to leave even one member of the Lei family behind?"

"One member?" Qianjin's blade-like gaze grew colder. His broken right arm pointed at Lei Zhen: "Your attempt to kill me today—it was only because I was fated to live! Keep your medical fees for your own grave! Today, if a few members of the Lei family don't die, no one is leaving! And you, Lei Zhen, if you don't die today, this matter absolutely won't be over!"

These cold, yet measured words hammered down like heavy sledgehammers, striking the ground and echoing fiercely in everyone's ears.

Lei Guangming felt a sudden difficulty in breathing as he watched Qianjin. In an instant! This young man, clearly suffering grievous injuries and destined for a long recovery, exuded an indescribable, tyrannical aura!

This aura made his own somewhat fragile body seem suddenly imposing!

Overwhelming authority! Yun Xinghuai trembled. He had assumed Qianjin would leverage his injuries to extort a massive fortune from the Lei family, but Qianjin intended to take things this far.

Li De Yueke stared at Qianjin dumbfounded. He... this kid... truly dared to dream and act big. Extorting money? Why stop there? He intended to kill them outright! He was establishing dominance! No! More than just dominance!

Li De Yueke surveyed the six warriors flanking Lei Zhen and instantly understood Qianjin’s entire plan: he saw the strength of these six men as a major threat and intended to eliminate them while he had the chance, preventing future troubles for himself.