The leader was Lin Bo. He was a hulking boy of fifteen, wearing the silk robes of an Inner Disciple, though they were strained against his bulk. His face was twisted in a permanent sneer.
Behind him was a lackey, a thin, rat-faced boy named Lin Gou, who was at the 9th Stage of Blood Awakening.
But Lin Kai's eyes were fixed on Lin Bo.
Lin Bo radiated the aura of the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation.
It wasn't just a title. It was a physical pressure. Lin Bo didn't even need to flex; the air around him felt heavier, denser. His skin had a faint, metallic sheen—the sign of passive Body Tempering. Even without activating a defensive art, his skin was as tough as cured leather.
Lin Kai swallowed hard. 'He's strong. If I try to punch him in the chest, I'll break my wrist before I break his ribs.'
"Well, well," Lin Bo sneered, kicking a stone toward Lin Kai. "Look at this. The trash is having a picnic. Enjoying your last days before you rot here forever, Lin Kai?"
Lin Kai's expression remained impassive, though his mind was racing, calculating distances. "What do you want, Lin Bo? The wilderness isn't a place for 'geniuses' like you."
"Watch your tongue, cripple!" Lin Gou, the lackey, barked, eager to impress his boss.
Lin Bo waved a hand dismissively. "I didn't come here to talk to a ghost. I came for something else."
His greedy eyes swept over the clearing, ignoring the destroyed tree, and landed squarely on Xiao Bai.
The fox was sitting on the wooden stump, watching them with eyes that held a dangerous glint.
"That," Lin Bo pointed a thick finger at the fox. "Give it to me."
Lin Kai's eyes narrowed. "Xiao Bai is not a thing. She is my companion."
"Companion?" Lin Bo laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "A trash master with a trash pet. It fits. But you see, I have a use for it."
Lin Bo took a step forward, a lecherous grin spreading across his face.
"Yesterday, at the ceremony," Lin Bo gloated, "I saw the Goddess, Lin Xue, looking at your shoulder. She was staring right at this little rat. Everyone knows girls like cute, fluffy things."
He cracked his knuckles.
"I'm going to catch it, skin it—or maybe keep it in a cage—and gift it to Lin Xue. Imagine her face when I present it to her. She'll surely thank me. Maybe she'll even let me walk her to the library... hehehe."
Lin Bo was lost in his delusion. He was an average talent at best, but in his mind, he was the protagonist of a romance novel. He saw Xiao Bai not as a living creature, but as a ticket to a brighter future with the Ice Beauty.
He didn't notice the temperature in the clearing drop.
He didn't notice that Lin Kai's hands had dropped to his sides, his fingers curling into loose fists.
"You want to skin her?" Lin Kai asked. His voice was very quiet.
"Or cage her. Whatever Lin Xue prefers," Lin Bo shrugged. "Now, hand it over, or Lin Gou will break your legs. Again."
Lin Gou stepped forward, cracking his neck. "Heh. It'll be a pleasure, Boss."
Lin Kai looked at them.
In his mind, he ran the simulation.
'Lin Bo is Rank 3. He has an Aether Shield, but he hasn't activated it because he thinks I'm a mortal. However, his passive defense is too high. My Phantom Strike is powerful, but against his chest or head, it might only bruise him. I need a soft target. A target that cannot be trained.'
His gaze flickered downward for a fraction of a second.
'Suction... Activate.'
Without a word, Lin Kai channeled his will. The air around both of his fists and his calves began to distort silently. He didn't wait for five seconds. He had already started gathering the Qi while they were monologuing, hiding the vibration behind his back.
"Get him," Lin Bo ordered lazily, turning his head to look at the fox again, completely disregarding the threat.
Lin Gou lunged. "Eat dirt, trash!"
He threw a sloppy punch, relying entirely on his superior cultivation base.
He hit nothing but air.
Whoosh!
Lin Kai vanished.
Using the Explosive Step variant of his Phantom Art, Lin Kai propelled himself forward. He moved low to the ground, a blur of grey robes.
"What—?" Lin Gou's eyes widened.
Lin Kai didn't aim for the face. He aimed for the center of gravity.
"Phantom Strike."
His left fist, coated in a layer of unstable, vibrating Dark Qi, slammed into Lin Gou's solar plexus.
THUD.
It sounded like a sledgehammer hitting a sack of wet sand.
Lin Gou's eyes bulged out of his sockets. The blow bypassed his meager defense and shocked his diaphragm. He didn't even scream. The air was forcefully evicted from his lungs. He folded in half like a broken chair and collapsed, foaming at the mouth. One hit. Total incapacitation.
Lin Bo spun around, his delusion shattering. "You—!"
He instinctively tried to raise his arms, his Qi surging to form a barrier. But he was too slow.
Lin Kai used the momentum of the first strike to pivot. He was already inside Lin Bo's guard.
Lin Kai looked up. He saw the metallic sheen on Lin Bo's skin. He knew a chest strike would fail.
"You wanted a gift?" Lin Kai whispered.
He drove his right fist—the one he had been charging the longest, the one pulsating with compressed Dark Qi—straight upward.
The target: The Groin.
It was a dirty move. It was a street-fighter move. It was the move of someone who fought to survive, not to score points. No amount of passive Body Tempering could protect the softest organs of the human body.
CRUNCH.
The sound was distinct. It was the sickening sound of soft tissue being obliterated against the pubic bone.
Time seemed to freeze.
Lin Bo's face went through a spectrum of emotions. Confusion. Shock. Realization. And finally, absolute, blinding agony.
His mouth opened in a silent 'O'. His face turned a shade of purple that matched Xiao Bai's secret mist.
"AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
The scream ripped through the Southern Quadrant, sending birds scattering from the trees. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated suffering.
Lin Bo collapsed. He didn't fall gracefully. He crumpled, clutching his crotch with both hands, curling into a fetal position on the dirt. He rolled back and forth, making high-pitched whimpering noises that sounded like a dying pig.
Lin Kai stood over him, his chest heaving slightly. The coating on his hands dissipated, leaving his knuckles smoking.
He looked down at the "genius" writhing in the dust.
"This is a harsh world, Lin Bo," Lin Kai said, his voice devoid of pity. "You demanded the one thing precious to me. Did you think I would let you take it just because you have a higher rank?"
He stepped closer, and Lin Bo flinched, scuttling backward on his butt, terror in his eyes. The arrogance was gone. He looked at Lin Kai not as trash, but as a monster.
"Stay away from my hut," Lin Kai warned, his violet-tinged aura flaring for a brief second. "And stay away from my fox. Or next time, I won't aim for the treasures you have below. I'll aim for the throat."
Lin Kai turned his back on them. He walked over to the stump, picked up Xiao Bai, who was looking at him with a satisfied glint in her golden eyes, and walked into his hut.
Behind him, the groans of the defeated echoed in the clearing, a testament to the birth of the Dark Sovereign.