If he couldn't use martial arts, he wouldn't be able to control others' minds, which meant he couldn't force players to kill one another.
Zuo Lin'an suddenly realized this.
It seemed his dozen or so unsolvable specters were about to sprout wings and fly away!
He looked at Zhang Tinglei with a trace of anxiety.
He saw the older man slowly raise a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes fixed in a death glare on Zhong Cheng.
“Good, good, good.”
“I truly underestimated you. I never expected you to have such a trick up your sleeve!”
“Then again, you are a general who has fought on the battlefield for years. How could you submit to me so easily?”
Zhong Cheng stood far off, completely unresponsive to these words. He merely stared back warily, his left hand grasping a black, square object tightly in his palm.
It looked like a specter item.
Zuo Lin'an knew Zhong Cheng was holding it to prevent Zhang Tinglei from suddenly lunging forward to harm him.
After all, the title of Heavenly Master of Divine Punishment was not just for show.
Yet only Zhong Cheng knew that the special effect of the item in his hand was actually targeted at specters.
Not long after Zhang Tinglei had spared him earlier, a streak of fire had cut through the dark sky in the distance and rapidly descended.
Zhong Cheng knew that Zhang Tinglei had used his talent at that moment to repel the specter.
And that talent was effective against humans as well.
Therefore, if Zhang Tinglei were to make a move on him, he would surely die.
He had to gamble now, betting that Zhang Tinglei would absolutely refuse to drag them both to the grave together.
“There is no need for anger. I was merely acting in self-defense.”
“Whatever you plan to do, leave me out of it.”
“I know your talent is powerful—powerful enough to kill me whenever and wherever you wish—but are you sure you want to use it on me?”
Zhang Tinglei breathed heavily, using both hands to support himself as he slowly sat upright.
Although his heart burned with intense resentment, he had to admit that Zhong Cheng was right.
Before confirming that he could leave the dungeon, he would absolutely not make a move on Zhong Cheng.
Unless it was the very moment right before he departed.
“Heh.”
He let out a cold laugh and said nothing more, beginning instead to regulate his injuries.
To anyone else, a shattered dantian and severed meridians were indeed irreversible, crippling injuries.
But for Zhang Tinglei, there was still room for recovery.
He possessed a secret technique. At the cost of his own lifespan, he could temporarily restore his strength to the Houtian Rank!
Although this method drained immense life force, it was perfect for his current situation.
After all, he was currently inside a dungeon. It did not matter how much he ruined his own body here.
As long as he cleared the dungeon, any damage he sustained would be fully restored.
As for Zhong Cheng...
Even if the man managed to clear the dungeon, Zhang Tinglei would definitely find an opportunity to kill him once they returned to the real world!
Zhong Cheng stared unblinkingly at the cross-legged, meditating Zhang Tinglei, a sense of unease rising in his heart.
Could he actually recover?
Was it the effect of a specter item?
No!
Zhang Tinglei held no specter item in his hands.
Furthermore, if it were truly the special effect of a specter item, he wouldn't need to meditate at all; he would have recovered instantly.
So... was it some kind of secret technique?
Zhong Cheng grew somewhat anxious, but worrying did him no good.
Zhang Tinglei would absolutely not give him another chance to get close.
Just then, he suddenly noticed that Zhang Tinglei's aura was beginning to surge at an incredibly rapid pace.
Third-Rate Rank!
Second-Rate Rank!
Then, he reached the First-Rate expert level, and his aura did not even stop climbing after reaching the First-Rate Rank.
Was this... the Houtian Rank?!
Zhong Cheng felt his scalp go numb and involuntarily took two steps back.
However, he did not flee. Instead, he stood ready for a fight.
If Zhang Tinglei truly managed to return to the Xiantian Rank, he would have no choice but to grit his teeth and drag the man down with him. Even if he died, he would make sure Zhang Tinglei died with him!
Fortunately, after climbing to the Houtian Rank, the older man's aura finally came to a halt.
Only after confirming this repeatedly did Zhong Cheng let out a massive sigh of relief.
Even Zuo Lin'an, who had been watching from the sidelines, relaxed considerably.
For him, as long as Zhang Tinglei could still use that obscure secret technique, nothing else mattered.
Zhang Tinglei slowly withdrew his energy and stood up to leave, not sparing a single glance at the highly vigilant Zhong Cheng in the distance as he walked straight toward Wu Zhao.
Wu Zhao and the others were not far away.
They had naturally witnessed everything that had just occurred, but they assumed it was merely infighting between two top experts and would have nothing to do with them.
Now that they saw Zhang Tinglei walking toward them, however, they couldn't help but feel tense and afraid.
This was especially true for Wu Zhao.
He realized that this Xiantian Rank senior was actually staring right at him.
Could...
Could he be coming for him?
With a respectful expression, Wu Zhao quickly rose and bowed.
“Sen—”
Before he could finish the word, Wu Zhao noticed something strange about Zhang Tinglei's eyes, and his consciousness suddenly plunged into utter chaos.
He became dazed and muddled, losing all control over his own body.
“Kill them all!”
An ethereal, illusory voice echoed in his ears, lingering and reverberating continuously in his mind.
Wu Zhao's body reacted instinctively.
He spun around immediately, killing the defenseless elderly Jin Qianwen with a single palm strike. Then, he reached out toward the nearest people, directly clamping his hands around their necks.
With two sharp cracks, two more lives were snuffed out in the blink of eye.
Gone was his fawning, sycophantic demeanor; he was now like a cold, heartless killing machine.
Although he was only a Third-Rate martial artist, these ordinary people were no match for him.
Screams, wails, attempts to flee, and desperate struggles were all completely futile.
On the other hand, the two female disciples from Mount Yinxian still possessed a sliver of ability to fight back.
However, the elder senior sister had been severely injured when caught in the wake of Zhang Tinglei's palm wind earlier, and she had yet to recover!
While the younger junior sister was in better shape, she had consumed a vast amount of true qi to treat her sister and couldn't hold out for long in a fight.
Thus, even with their combined efforts, they could not hold off Wu Zhao for long.
In the end, both inevitably lost their lives.
As for the other two Houtian Rank martial artists?
They had already been crippled by Zhang Tinglei earlier and remained unconscious.
Wu Zhao walked over to the unresponsive Jin Youwu and Zhou Shan lying on the ground, striking each of them on the crown of their heads with his palm!
At the sound of fracturing skulls, the two died without ever regaining consciousness.
With this, Wu Zhao had successfully killed thirteen players.
Two of them had been Houtian Rank powerhouses, making this the absolute peak moment of his life.
After all, he himself was only at the Third-Rate Rank.
Of course, there should have been one more—Zhong Cheng.
But due to the unexpected turn of events earlier, Zhang Tinglei could only temporarily give up on him.
Zhang Tinglei watched this unfold, nodding in satisfaction.
In truth, this obscure secret technique of his was somewhat useless in most situations; it could only be used on those whose cultivation realms were far below his own, and their willpower could not be too strong.
Therefore, in his eyes, Zhong Cheng had never been a good target for control.
The person he had chosen from the very beginning was Wu Zhao.
Rate on N.U.
