At this moment, the man wielding the great sword had already broken through the barrier net woven by Mu Lin’s Yuan force, reaching right in front of him and swinging the sword fiercely toward Mu Lin’s body. The fireballs, water blades, wind blades, and ice daggers launched by the others also converged on Mu Lin at the same time, placing him in immediate danger.
Since entering the cultivation world, Mu Lin had never faced such a perilous situation. Now, after his opponents brought out several magical treasures, he found himself in grave danger. Until now, he had never encountered any cultivators or foreign powerhouses, so deep in his subconscious, he always believed there was no one in the world who could rival him. Driven by carelessness and laziness, he had never bothered to refine any magical treasures for himself. Now, faced with unfamiliar magical weapons, he was caught completely off guard.
With no other choice, he pulled out his refined silver needles and with a flick of his wrist, launched four of them—not aiming for a decisive strike, but simply to disrupt the enemy’s momentum, targeting the bearded swordsman’s wrists in hopes of slowing his attack speed. With his other hand, he wielded a silver needle charged with Yuan force to parry the incoming great sword. At the same time, he swiftly dodged the fireballs, water blades, wind blades, and ice daggers.
With a sharp whistle, the enemy’s great sword sliced through Mu Lin’s silver needle, sliding past his body and cutting his clothes with the force of the wind. However, the four silver needles Mu Lin had launched struck true, hitting the swordsman’s wrists. The bearded man’s hands went limp, and with a clatter, the great sword fell onto the deck.
But among the attacks, although Mu Lin managed to dodge the fireballs and water blades, the wind blades and ice daggers still cut into his body despite his full Yuan force defense, leaving several deep gashes. Though not severe, blood trickled down his clothes.
Seeing the great sword drop, Mu Lin ignored his wounds—this was the first injury he had ever sustained since his debut. But the enemy’s great sword was a magical treasure he had never seen before. In a flash, he snatched it up, feeling its immense energy, unlike anything he had encountered before. No wonder it had easily sliced through his Yuan-charged silver needle.
But there was no time to examine the sword further. With a flick of his wrist, he stuffed it into his ring. The enemy group, seeing the sword now in Mu Lin’s possession, cried out in horror. They wanted to rush forward and reclaim their weapon, but they were too slow. When they saw the sword vanish from Mu Lin’s hand, their faces turned pale with fear.
“Heaven forbid! Sir Anguis, the demon has destroyed our Holy Light Sword! What do we do now?” One of the men shouted in panic, believing Mu Lin had destroyed the sword.
“What else can we do? We must fight this demon to the death! Even if we all perish here today, we cannot let this demon escape again. Don’t you know? This demon has not only disgraced our monarchy and government but also brought suffering to our people!
This demon sabotaged our currency system, forcing our nation out of the European Monetary System. This demon spread the mad cow disease virus across our country. Tell me, can we allow this demon to seize our warship again, escape into the distance, and bring further shame upon the Royal Navy in the eyes of the world?”
Sir Anguis, the bearded holy knight, shouted fiercely, his face filled with determination.
Before his words had even finished echoing, a blinding light suddenly pierced through the porthole of the submarine, followed by several deafening explosions. The entire vessel shook violently from the blast waves.
The expressions on everyone’s faces changed again in shock. Before they could even recover, the submarine was rocked by several more violent tremors. Then came even brighter flames and even louder explosions.
Then came the shockwaves and massive waves they triggered. This time, the waves seemed even more violent than before, causing the submarine to lurch violently.
Before the submarine had even stabilized, Sir Anguis’s scream pierced everyone’s ears once more. “Heaven forbid! Oh my God! How is this possible! Our four frigates! You damned demon, look at what you’ve done! Our four frigates have all been sunk by our own submarine! There were nearly 800 souls aboard! All destroyed by you, you demon! You murderer! I swear upon God, I curse you to burn in hell!”
Screaming, he lunged forward like a rabid dog, but was quickly restrained by his companions. Then, Anguis disappeared among them, beginning to confer. Mu Lin, seeing their expressions, realized they had resolved to fight to the death. However, their magical treasures seemed to block his Yuan force from penetrating, so he could not hear their conversation.
Mu Lin assumed they were likely planning their tactics against him. He would not allow himself to be careless again with enemies capable of harming him. Since he couldn’t hear them, he simply prepared for whatever came next—meet force with force, and water with earth.
With a few quick finger movements, he stemmed the bleeding from his wounds. Then, he pulled out a vial of poison from his ring—a new toxin he had refined over the past two months. Colorless and odorless, it would paralyze anyone who inhaled even a whiff.
With a surge of Yuan force, a faint, invisible gas began to seep from the vial, creeping toward the enemy group. After putting the vial away, Mu Lin took out several protective talismans and held them in one hand, while gripping his silver needles in the other, ready to strike.
He knew the enemy relied on a protective magical treasure. Seeing his attacks fail, they had grown arrogant and fearless. But Mu Lin knew that even the strongest defense could not withstand continuous assault—dependent on both the treasure’s function and the user’s strength.
“Hmph. These fools still think I only have a few tricks up my sleeve. Looks like I need to show them who the real master is,” he muttered. Channeling his Yuan force into his right hand and gripping the silver needles, he launched a punch straight at the enemy’s cross-shaped protective shield.
With a thunderous boom, his fist collided with the shield’s energy. Though it didn’t break through, the silver needle in his hand tore a small rift in the shield’s energy field. The toxic gas and paralyzing talismans drifted through the gap and into the enemy ranks. As Mu Lin retracted his fist, the shield sealed itself once more, but the damage was done.
Inside the shield, the group quickly realized something was wrong—they could no longer move. They had been tricked. As they collapsed, more soldiers behind them, armed with heavy weapons, also fell to the ground.
But it was already too late. If they had faced Mu Lin head-on, they might not have fallen so quickly. In a panic, one of them shouted into his radio, “This is Anguis! We’ve lost mobility! Initiate Plan B immediately! Initiate Plan B now!”
Mu Lin continued pounding the shield with his fists, though he couldn’t hear what they were shouting. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. This was the first time he had been injured in battle, and the thought made him clench his teeth in fury. He had also encountered magical treasures unlike anything from the Central Plains. Regardless of their motives, he had no intention of letting them escape. Only by breaking through this shield could he use his mental senses to scan the entire ship and uncover their true plans.
After relentless strikes, the energy of the shield finally shattered. The cross-shaped treasure in the priest’s hand cracked. Mu Lin quickly snatched it and stuffed it into his ring without even glancing at it.
Examining the fallen enemies, he noticed they showed no fear—only calm and serenity. The priest murmured prayers of the dead, blessings for ascending to heaven. This eerie scene unsettled even the composed Mu Lin, and a sense of foreboding grew stronger in his heart.
With the shield gone, Mu Lin’s mental senses spread like mercury through the entire submarine. He found all the crew standing calmly at their posts, dressed and ready, their expressions resolute—prepared to die.
In the captain’s cabin, the captain stood still as the self-destruct countdown on the submarine’s control panel ticked down: 10… 9… 8… 7…
It was over. Mu Lin had not expected them to go this far—to destroy themselves along with him. These two “Swift”-class SSN nuclear attack submarines were the most advanced joint-developed vessels of the U and Y nations. Designed during the Cold War, they were equipped with self-destruct mechanisms to prevent capture, especially to protect the nuclear reactor. The explosion would be equivalent to a small atomic bomb. Such a command was never issued lightly.
There was no time to dismantle the device now. Once activated, the self-destruct sequence could only be halted by a command from the Y nation’s naval headquarters.
Quickly, Mu Lin swallowed a few Yuan-preserving and energy-gathering pills, then pulled out a water-escape talisman from his ring and crushed it. As he started to move, a deafening explosion roared in his ears. A massive impact struck his body like a sledgehammer, pain coursing through him like wildfire. Then, everything went black.
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