Night was as dark as ink, the mountain forest deathly silent.

  Lin Chen stood three zhang away, his Stellar Eye quietly activated. Under the moonlight, spiritual power surged wildly within Zhao Hu's body—Condensation Stage Level 6 peak, his chest violently heaving, eyes mixed with shock and fury.

  "Impossible..." Zhao Hu roared lowly, clutching his left chest, dark red seeping through his fingers, "You were clearly only Condensation Stage Level 3, how dare you wound me?!"

  Lin Chen raised his right hand, his fist edge flickering with gold-red radiance. Three days ago, he was still a waste being chased; three days later, with one fist he shattered the opponent's ribs.

  "You're right," Lin Chen's voice was calm, "Three days ago, I indeed was only Condensation Stage Level 3. But now—"

  He stepped forward one step, his Star-shifting Steps flowing, his body emitting a pale silver radiance.

  "I am the one who climbed out from the abyss."

  Before his words finished, Lin Chen's figure suddenly moved.

  Star-shifting Steps "Three Stars Reflecting Moon"—three afterimages simultaneously appeared to his left, right, and front, each carrying genuine spiritual power fluctuations.

  Zhao Hu's pupils constricted violently. His combat experience prevented him from attacking blindly; instead, he roared loudly, both palms crimson like fire—

  "Blazing Fire Palm·Sky Incineration!"

  Boom! A crimson fire wave exploded, engulfing five zhang. The ground scorched black and cracked, grass and trees turned to ash. This palm Zhao Hu had bitterly cultivated for twelve years, relying on it to defeat three same-stage cultivators.

  The essence of Blazing Fire Palm lies in "Spirit Incineration"—fire attribute source spirit qi erodes the opponent's spiritual power, causing continuous damage. Zhao Hu's mouth corner curled into a cruel arc—he wanted to completely incinerate Lin Chen's meridians.

  But Lin Chen advanced instead of retreating.

  His Stellar Eye fully opened, the spiritual power flow within the fire wave clearly visible. He saw the flaw—after each Blazing Fire Palm burst, there was a three ten-thousandths of a breath stagnation, that moment when Zhao Hu switched palm techniques.

  Now was the time.

  The chaos star vortex madly rotated, Lin Chen mobilized water attribute source spirit qi.

  Water overcomes fire.

  "Meteor Descent·Water Mirror!"

  His fist edge flowed with dark blue wave light, precisely piercing the fire wave's weakest point.

  Hiss—A scorching steam hiss exploded. The crimson fire wave collapsed, as if doused with extreme cold ice water. Zhao Hu's palm power was forced back, backlash power surging reversed along his meridians.

  "Pfft!" Zhao Hu vomited blood wildly, staggering backward. His right palm was scorched black and cracked—the fire attribute suppressed by water attribute, rampaging backlash within his body.

  The meridian scorching pain made his vision darken, but more fearful was that fist's "timing."

  How could someone see through the Blazing Fire Palm transition gap? How could they switch attributes within a ten-thousandth of a breath?

  "You... just how much strength are you hiding?" Zhao Hu rasped, his voice for the first time revealing genuine fear.

  Lin Chen didn't answer. He advanced again, his fist power more fierce.

  Zhao Hu gritted his teeth, shouting to his three subordinates: "Attack together!" Simultaneously pulling out a blood-colored pill and stuffing it into his mouth.

  Those three forced themselves to charge. Blade lights, sword shadows, four people surrounding him.

  Lin Chen sneered coldly. Stellar Eye activated, the four people's movements slowed tenfold. Spiritual power trajectories, movement directions, attack landing points... all clearly visible.

  He side-stepped to avoid a blade, kicked the right enemy's wrist. The weapon flew out of hand, Lin Chen caught it smoothly, then slashed backward.

  Clang! Metal clashing sound. The ambusher was forced back, the skin between thumb and index finger cracked and bleeding.

  Then Zhao Hu's aura surged wildly.

  The Blood-igniting Pill took effect. His cultivation temporarily climbed to Condensation Stage Level 7 early stage, his spiritual power total doubled. Both palms turned from crimson to dark red, palm wind passing places, the air emitting a corrosion hiss.

  "Blood Fire Palm!" Zhao Hu sneered, "This is a modified version of the Netherworld Palace secret technique I sought from my father. Lin Chen, you can suppress ordinary fire attribute, but can you suppress blood fire fused with demonic energy?"

  Dark red palm shadows transformed into two blood pythons, carrying a foul corrosive stench as they pounced. Where they passed, grass and trees withered and blackened, rocks developed cracks.

  This was Zhao Hu's true trump card—an incomplete demonic technique acquired by Zhao Executive from Netherworld Palace dealings. Its power far exceeded the same stage, moreover carrying an eroding spiritual power with sinister characteristics.

  Lin Chen's eyes slightly focused.

  Under Stellar Eye observation, the blood fire palm mixed with black demonic energy, like a living thing devouring source spirit qi and growing. If this invaded his body, the consequences would be unimaginable.

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  But he didn't retreat.

  Instead, he stepped forward a third step.

  Star-shifting Steps third layer—Seven Stars Treading Moon.

  His figure transformed into seven afterimages, stepping on the Big Dipper's seven star positions moving. The blood fire palm hit two illusions which dissipated. The real Lin Chen appeared three chi to Zhao Hu's left.

  Fist out.

  On his fist edge, no gold-red, no dark blue, only pure silver-white.

  Stellar power, the chaos star vortex's most primal power.

  Boom! Fist and palm collided.

  Time seemed to solidify.

  Zhao Hu's blood fire palm power surged like a tide toward Lin Chen, but when contacting the silver-white radiance, like ice and snow meeting a blazing sun, rapidly melted and disintegrated. The black demonic energy emitted a silent screech, attempting to erode the stellar power, but was backlash purified.

  "This... what kind of power is this?!" Zhao Hu exclaimed in terror.

  He felt his own palm power being "assimilated"—the opponent's spiritual power level was far higher than his, forcibly transforming the demonic energy into pure source spirit qi!

  Chaos Stellar Body, one of the nine ancient sacred bodies, innately suppresses all evil demonic techniques.

  "Break."

  Lin Chen uttered one word.

  The silver-white fist power exploded, transforming into seven stellar lights, racing backward along Zhao Hu's seven main meridians. Where they passed, the blood fire palm power collapsed completely, the black demonic energy vanished without a trace.

  Pfft pfft pfft pfft—Consecutive seven muffled sounds came from Zhao Hu's body.

  Left arm broken, white bone piercing skin and flesh, blood spurting. Right leg knee bone shattered, his figure knelt crookedly on the ground. Then his dantian qi sea—the stellar lights pierced like drills, fiercely twisting.

  Shred—A cloth tearing-like sound.

  Zhao Hu felt his twelve years of bitterly cultivated cultivation, like a floodgate opening, wildly flowing away. Condensation Stage Level 6, Level 5, Level 4... within several breaths, dropping to Condensation Stage Level 1.

  Then, even this level couldn't be maintained, completely reduced to an ordinary mortal.

  The feeling of emptiness from having his cultivation abolished made him collapse to the ground, utterly dejected. For a cultivator, having his cultivation destroyed was worse than killing him. This meant that from now on, he had no connection with the Great Dao, he could only be a mortal for his entire life, struggling at the very bottom of the sect.

  "Ah... ah ah ah..." Zhao Hu sobbed, tears mixed with blood covering his face.

  Lin Chen walked before him, looking down from above.

  Under the moonlight, the Star Pattern on the youth's glabella clearly emerged, emitting an ancient mysterious aura. The pattern lines were like living things, flowing with his breath, as if establishing an invisible connection with the stars in the night sky.

  "Go back and tell your father," Lin Chen's voice icy cold, "This is just the beginning. The debt from ten years ago, I will calculate it with him one by one."

  He bent down, leaned to Zhao Hu's ear, his voice lowered extremely:

  "Tell him, the Star Pattern left by my father, I have awakened. Tell him, what the Netherworld Palace wants, is here with me. Tell him—"

  He paused, word by word:

  "Wash his neck and wait."

  After finishing, he straightened up, no longer glancing, turned and left.

  Moonlight shone on his body, casting a long shadow on the ground. At the edges of the shadow, there were sparkling stellar glimmers, as if every step trod on star trajectories.

  Zhao Hu lay in a pool of blood, gazing at the gradually receding back figure.

  He finally understood just what kind of existence he had provoked.

  That youth was no longer a waste to be bullied at will.

  He was a revenge seeker who had climbed out from the abyss, destined to stir up a storm of blood and violence in Azure Cloud Sect—

  The Stellar Child.

  The mountain forest returned to silence.

  But Zhao Hu knew, this was just the calm before the storm.

  He struggled to stand up, dragging his broken arm and crippled body, staggering toward the Outer Sect.

  Every step, the empty intense pain in his dantian made his vision darken. But he dared not stop, because he knew Lin Chen's words weren't a threat, but a proclamation.

  Father Zhao Wuji had participated in persecuting Lin Xiaotian ten years ago, taking away the "Star Pattern secret." Now Lin Chen had awakened, and the first matter was to destroy his own son's cultivation.

  Then the next step?

  Zhao Hu shivered coldly.

  He must quickly meet his father. He must let his father make preparations in advance, mobilize all resources, even... seek help from the Netherworld Palace side.

  Because the next meeting might not be as simple as abolishing cultivation.

  The killing intent that flashed in Lin Chen's eyes just now, Zhao Hu saw clearly.

  That was the gaze of someone who had truly experienced life and death, who had climbed back from hell.

  Icy cold, cruel, without the slightest pity.

  "Father... save me..." Zhao Hu murmured, his eye sockets again welled up with tears.

  This time, it wasn't anger, it wasn't humiliation.

  It was fear that went deep into the bone marrow.