Lin Feng closed the leather ledger, placing it back onto the mahogany desk. "State your specific terms, Lady Bing'er."Ye Bing'er smiled, pulling a heavy velvet pouch and a gold-stamped merchant identification token from her desk drawer."I will provide you with a VIP cover identity as the Senior Escort Officer of the Silver-Leaf Consortium, which grants you official immunity at all provincial border checkpoints," Ye Bing'er proposed clearly. "I will also provide a private luxury coach, ten High-Grade Qi Stones for your personal cultivation, and full access to our consortium's medical supplies during the journey."Lin Feng looked at the gold-stamped merchant token, evaluating the strategic advantages of the offer. Traveling under an official merchant escort cover would allow him to cross three regional provincial borders without engaging every minor bounty hunter along the road, preserving his internal kinetic energy for his ultimate target in the Great Tianwu Empire."In exchange, I

The rear coach door opened slowly as Lin Feng stepped down onto the damp gravel road, carrying his thirty-five-pound black iron sword horizontally across his right shoulder. His dark pupils remained completely motionless, scanning the physical stance, joint alignment, and internal Qi distribution of the three syndicate leaders with absolute precision.Lin Feng walked past Captain Zhou's horse, stopping ten feet ahead of Ye Bing'er's carriage while resting his left hand casually on his leather sword hilt.The thirty surrounding bandits laughed loudly as they observed Lin Feng's frayed cotton tunic and empty lower meridian, finding zero Dantian Qi within his physical frame.Blood-Mace lowered his one-hundred-pound iron mace, pointing the steel shaft directly at Lin Feng's collarbone with a sneer."The Silver-Leaf Consortium must be desperate for security if you hired an unranked mortal cripple to guard ninety pounds of Blood-Ginseng," Blood-Mace mocked, his yellow 8th Layer Qi surging a

Lin Feng bent his knees by two inches, drawing twelve hundred pounds of physical kinetic output force from his 6th unlocked spinal vertebra. He lunged across a twelve-foot distance at a movement velocity of fifteen feet per second, driving the solid iron pommel of his thirty-five-pound black iron sword directly into the central structural seam of the eastern granite pillar.The twelve hundred pounds of physical kinetic force transferred instantly into the granite pillar, disrupting the ninety-hertz energy vibration running through the array conduits.The eastern granite pillar shattered into hundreds of fine stone fragments, destroying the primary anchor node of the Shadow-Array field.The dark purple energy field collapsed instantly, returning the local gravitational pressure and air movement to normal atmospheric levels across the gorge. The draft horses stood back up on the gravel road, while the timber carriage frames ceased their structural groaning.Executioner Two stumbled back

Fifty golden armored guards leaped simultaneously from the deck of the five-hundred-foot warship, descending through two hundred feet of empty air before landing on the stone highway in a tight thirty-foot circle around the Silver-Leaf Consortium carriages.Each guard wore three-millimeter golden steel plate armor over leather garments, carried a four-foot refined steel broadsword, and radiated four hundred pounds of purple 9th Layer Sword Meridian Qi that forced the damp road dust to disperse in all directions.Ye Bing'er stepped off the wooden footboard, her indigo silk tunic fluttering in the downward air currents as she looked up at the bow platform. "The Silver-Leaf Consortium operates under official imperial transit licenses, so we will not violate our escort contract by surrendering a Senior Officer!""Your consortium trade licenses hold zero value against the authority of the Holy Sword Sect," Lu Xiao replied.Lu Xiao stood at the bow railing of the golden flying warship, hold

Lin Feng drove his two fingers directly into the carotid nerve cluster beneath Lu Xiao's jawline, unleashing six hundred pounds of concentrated kinetic output force into the arterial vessel.The physical pressure ruptured Lu Xiao's carotid artery and shattered his upper cervical vertebrae, terminating his life functions instantly.Lu Xiao's physical body collapsed face-down onto the stone highway, blood pooling around his golden robes while his broken sword hilt rolled into the road ditch.High above the highway, the three hundred golden inner guards standing along the upper deck of the five-hundred-foot flying warship watched their Young Master's execution in absolute horror."Young Master Lu Xiao has been executed! Turn the helm and fire the auxiliary propulsion arrays immediately!" Commander Jin shouted, grabbing the wooden railing of the bow platform while his face drained of all color.The three hundred inner guards ran frantically across the wooden deck, pulling heavy iron lever