75: Chapter 75 Slaying the Fierce Cloud

Lie Yun was completely stunned, his mind a blank. He just stared with wide eyes, locked onto the figure that shouldn't have appeared here, as if trying to confirm whether his eyes were deceiving him.

How could Lin Tian be here? How could he possibly have come out of the county office unscathed?

Was that old fox, Magistrate Zhou Wenhai, completely incompetent?

Countless questions churned and collided in his mind like boiling water, nearly overwhelming his reason.

Just as he lost his composure and stood there dumbfounded, Lin Tian strode over and stopped directly in front of him.

The two were less than three paces apart.

No wasted words, no questioning.

Lin Tian raised his right arm, and in the midst of Lie Yun's unfocused, terrified gaze, a loud slap, carrying cold rage and tremendous force, struck fiercely across his left cheek!

"Slap!" The crisp, loud sound exploded across the slightly empty drill ground, sounding exceptionally jarring!

Lie Yun felt an irresistible, tremendous force strike him. His face burned with intense pain, his head buzzed, and stars danced before his eyes. He was spun half a circle in the air by the slap, crashing to the ground like a broken sack. His cheek swelled up at a visible rate, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Ahhh!" The intense pain and humiliation finally jolted Lie Yun awake from his extreme shock. He let out a beast-like roar mixed with pain and fury, struggling to crawl up while staring at Lin Tian with venomous eyes. "Lin Tian! You dare hit me?! You f***ing dare hit me?!"

The commotion here had already alerted others on the drill ground. Senior Sister Chen Yu, along with several other new Imperial Guard members and some official Imperial Guard members handling nearby duties, were all attracted by the crisp sound of the slap and Lie Yun's roar. They gathered around, their faces full of astonishment.

"What's going on?" "Why did Captain Lin suddenly take action?" "What did Lie Yun do?"

"Hit you?" Lin Tian looked down at the struggling Lie Yun, his eyes as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice, a corner of his mouth curling into an undisguised, grim sneer. "So what if I hit you? As an Imperial Guard, colluding with outsiders, betraying colleagues, and framing a superior—such actions are unforgivable! Me slapping you is already being lenient!"

"Clang!" Before the words even faded, the long blade at Lin Tian's waist had already been unsheathed!

The brilliant blade reflected a bone-chilling cold light in the sunlight. A Killing Intent, condensed to the extreme, spread out from him like an invisible ice storm, causing the surrounding newcomers and even some official Imperial Guard members to shiver involuntarily and subconsciously take half a step back.

"What? Betraying colleagues? Framing a superior?" Senior Sister Chen Yu's expression changed. Although she didn't know exactly what had happened, seeing Lin Tian's undisguised Killing Intent and hearing his words, she knew the situation was likely dire.

She quickly stepped forward and said urgently, "Lin Tian! Calm down! Do not be impulsive! Even if he is at fault, he should be dealt with according to the rules of the guard station! You are now an Acting Minor Flag Officer; you should conduct yourself with integrity. How can you resort to private punishment? Slapping him is one thing, but if you actually draw your blade, it is a serious crime!"

"That's right, Captain Lin, think twice!" "Let's talk this out, why draw a blade?" "It's not too late to report this to our superiors first before making a decision!"

The other newcomers also chimed in to persuade him. Although they might not have much affection for Lie Yun, they didn't want to see Lin Tian, who had just been promoted, make a huge mistake due to a moment of impulse and ruin his future.

However, facing everyone's dissuasion, Lin Tian acted as if he didn't hear them. His gaze, like two cold, sharp blades, remained locked onto Lie Yun.

As for Lie Yun, the moment Lin Tian drew his blade, released his Killing Intent, and especially when the words "colluding with outsiders, betraying colleagues, framing a superior" were spoken, his face turned deathly pale in an instant, and an undisguisable panic and guilt flashed in his eyes!

"He... he knows? How does he know? Did that old bastard Magistrate Zhou Wenhai turn on me? Or..." Lie Yun's heart pounded wildly; a massive fear gripped him.

Seeing Lin Tian's undisguised Killing Intent, he had no doubt that the other party truly wanted to kill him!

"What's going on?" "Why is this guy so guilty?" "Could what Captain Lin said be true?"

Lie Yun's instantaneous change in expression and panic did not escape the eyes of some sharp-minded people, and the looks everyone gave him immediately became suspicious and uncertain.

"Damn it! What exactly happened?!" Lie Yun was both shocked and angry, almost going insane. The plan was completely out of control! Not only was Lin Tian unscathed, but it seemed he had also figured everything out!

He now had only one thought: he absolutely could not be captured or executed by Lin Tian on the spot! He had to resist!

"Lin Tian! You are spouting nonsense! It is clearly you who behaved improperly, embezzled treasures, and are now trying to kill me to silence me because you fear I will expose you!" Lie Yun roared with a fierce exterior but a cowardly heart, attempting to bite back and confuse the situation.

At the same time, he slowly moved his feet, looking for a chance to escape or counterattack.

Lin Tian's eyes grew colder; he would no longer engage in a verbal dispute with him. "I will give you a chance to make a move," he said in a calm voice, yet it carried an unquestionable dignity and a sense of judgment. "Lest you say that I am bullying the weak and executing you without warning."

Before the words had even faded, Lin Tian suddenly pushed off with his feet! With his Wind-Chasing Footwork at Perfection, he became like a gray bolt of lightning tearing through the air, instantly crossing several yards and rushing straight at Lie Yun with an incomparably sharp Aura!

The long blade in his hand transformed into a brilliant, vision-tearing streak of light, carrying a sharp, piercing whistle as it slashed fiercely at Lie Yun's head! It was still the "Slash" from the Basic Blade Technique, but the speed, power, and the unyielding, resolute Killing Intent contained within it far exceeded the ordinary!

"Oh no!" Senior Sister Chen Yu and the others exclaimed, wanting to intervene but it was already too late. Lin Tian's speed was too fast!

"Damn it! I'll fight it out!" Lie Yun's pupils shrank. The sense of imminent death sent his adrenaline soaring. He didn't care about anything else, roared, and his long blade fiercely unsheathed from his waist, holding it horizontally above his head in an attempt to forcefully withstand this "Slash of Mount Hua" strike!

He also steeled his heart; as long as he could block this strike and take the opportunity to counterattack, even if he couldn't kill Lin Tian, he could severely injure him and win a chance at survival! After all, the other party attacked first, and he was in the right!

"Clang!!!" The two blades collided solidly! Sparks flew, and the ear-piercing sound of metal clashing made people's eardrums ache!

Lie Yun only felt a terrifying force, heavy as a mountain and solid as iron, travel from the blade. His arms went numb, his blood and Qi roiled, and he stumbled back three steps, "clomp, clomp, clomp," before barely dissipating the massive force. The blue bricks beneath his feet had already developed fine cracks.

But his heart relaxed, and a surge of wild joy even welled up—he had blocked it! His "Proficient" level blade technique was indeed not weak! Although the other party's strike was fierce, he wasn't without the power to fight back!

"Haha! Lin Tian, is that all you've got?!" Lie Yun's confidence returned. He gave a sinister laugh and prepared to take advantage of the moment when Lin Tian's old strength was exhausted and new strength had not yet arisen to swing his blade and counterattack!

He even started calculating how to "accidentally" injure Lin Tian; he could take his revenge and pin the charge of "embezzling treasures and killing to silence" back on him!

However, just at the moment his blade technique was about to start—Lin Tian's figure, like a ghost, blurred in his vision.

The next instant, a cold star, condensed to the extreme, had silently pierced to within three inches of his throat! Fast! Accurate! Ruthless! It was exactly the "Thrust" from the Basic Blade Technique!

This thrust's timing was mastered to Perfection; it was the exact fatal moment when Lie Yun's confidence was inflated, he was preparing to counterattack, and his focus had momentarily slackened!

"What?!" Lie Yun's soul almost left his body. In his haste, he only had time to desperately tilt his neck back while instinctively raising his long blade to parry.

"Rip!" The blade light grazed his collarbone, tearing a long gash in the front of his clothes and leaving a wound on his skin that was neither deep nor shallow. Blood instantly welled out, staining his clothes!

Although it didn't hit a vital point, that cold touch of death instantly broke Lie Yun out in a cold sweat! "This speed... this angle..." The confidence that had just risen in Lie Yun's heart was extinguished as if by ice water. The other party's blade was too fast, too tricky!

Before he could catch his breath, Lin Tian's third blade strike arrived! This time it was a horizontal sweep. The blade light was like a streak of silk, sealing off his space to dodge left or right, forcing him to block it head-on again!

"Clang!" Lie Yun gritted his teeth and blocked with his blade again, but the heavy blade force from the horizontal sweep shattered the web between his thumb and index finger, and his long blade almost flew out of his hand. He stumbled backward again, his blood and Qi roiling in his chest, almost vomiting blood, and another shallow blade wound appeared under his right rib.

"How is this possible?! His blade technique... how is it faster than mine? More accurate? Heavier?!" True fear and disbelief finally appeared in Lie Yun's eyes. He was clearly already at the "Proficient" level of blade technique, so why, in front of the other party, was he like a child wielding a sword, full of openings and restrained at every turn?

Could it be... A thought that made his scalp tingle rose uncontrollably: Could the other party's blade technique Realm be far above "Proficient"?! Is it... Major Achievement?!

"No! Impossible! How long has he even been practicing?!" Lie Yun roared madly in his heart, refusing to believe it.

However, reality gave him no chance to catch his breath. Lin Tian's fourth blade strike, already carrying the accumulated momentum of the previous three strikes and an even greater Killing Intent, crashed down! It was still a seemingly simple "Slash," but this strike was faster, heavier, and there was even a faint sound of wind and thunder upon the blade's edge! It was as if all the previous probing, pressure, and cold Killing Intent were condensed into this one strike!

Lie Yun's eyes were bloodshot. He let out a desperate roar, pouring all his remaining blood, Qi, and strength into his arms, and swung his long blade upward frantically to meet the descending blade light!

"Snap!" The ear-piercing sound of breaking and metal collision rang out almost simultaneously! The standard long blade in Lie Yun's hand, forged from hundred-refined steel, was actually hacked in two by this powerful strike from Lin Tian! The broken blade flew off, trailing sparks!

Lin Tian's blade edge, its momentum slightly reduced, still carried unparalleled sharpness and power as it slashed fiercely onto the right arm Lie Yun had hastily raised to block!

"Pfft!" Blood splattered! An arm, still gripping half of the broken blade, flew away from his body, trailing a beautiful, tragic spray of blood!

"Ahhh!! My hand! My arm!!" Lie Yun let out a heart-wrenching, unearthly, shrill scream. His whole body felt as if its spine had been ripped out, and he stumbled backward and collapsed. Blood gushed from his severed arm like a fountain, instantly staining a large area of the ground beneath him red. His face was as pale as paper, and his eyes were filled with boundless pain, fear, and... confusion.

He had lost, lost so thoroughly, and so miserably!

The whole place was deathly silent. Everyone was stunned by this exchange, which had happened in a flash, as swift as a rabbit and as fierce as a falcon, yet was so bloody and cruel. From when Lin Tian suddenly took action to when Lie Yun fell with a severed arm, it had only been a few seconds! Many people hadn't even fully reacted before the battle was already over!

Senior Sister Chen Yu covered her mouth with her delicate hand, her beautiful eyes full of shock and reluctance to watch. Liu Yunfeng, Wang Yu, and the others were also dumbfounded. Those official Imperial Guard members also wore expressions of gravity and horror. The blade technique cultivation and the ruthless decisiveness Lin Tian had displayed far exceeded their expectations!

"Stop!!" "Audacious! Who dares to commit violence in the guard station?!" "Take him down!"

After a brief, deathly silence, several sharp shouts of shock and anger suddenly rang out from behind the crowd! Several figures with deep, steady Auras, dressed in official flying-fish robes or light clothing, parted the crowd and rushed over rapidly. Their faces were livid, their gazes like blades, locked onto Lin Tian, who stood in the field holding his blood-stained blade. Several more had already pressed their hands to the hilts of their blades, ready to act at any moment!

They were the Imperial Guard Minor Flag Officers, General Flag Officers, and even a Trial Centurion who had arrived upon hearing the news! Within the guard station, private fights were strictly prohibited, let alone such a bloody injury resulting in a severed arm! Lin Tian's actions had already violated the ironclad rules of the guard station!