Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

"Hehe! No need to search, I already know where it is. Kill him." Lin Feng moved, and Jiang Hu also followed suit. A pair of fiery red gauntlets instantly appeared on Jiang Hu's fists. The spirit tool *Flame Kill* was a middle-grade spirit tool with moderate attack power, but each punch could release a massive fireball with temperatures reaching thousands of degrees. A punch in close combat could sever steel and melt iron. Most cultivators couldn't withstand even one blow.

"Die, brat!" Jiang Hu roared, his nearly two-meter-tall frame moving like lightning toward Yan Huo.

"Ah!" On the surface, Yan Huo seemed terrified and frantically tried to escape, but his soul power was closely watching Lin Feng's movements. "Perfect! He's gone into the house." Yan Huo was waiting for this opportunity.

"Hmph! A middle-grade spirit tool, do you have something I don't?" Yan Huo sneered to himself. Though Jiang Hu was fast, Yan Huo, whose cultivation level was far higher, was even faster. His figure flickered and he appeared behind Jiang Hu in an instant.

"Where is he!?" Jiang Hu cursed.

"Idiot! I'm right behind you!" Yan Huo quickly seized Jiang Hu's neck with his left hand. At the same time, his right hand held the white, middle-grade flying sword *Xue Ning*.

Yan Huo's favorite weapon, *Xue Ning*, was a pristine white sword that never left any trace when it killed, so Yan Huo had named it with the elegant name *Xue Ning* ("Snow Condensation").

"I can't move, ah! You..." Jiang Hu's eyes widened, struggling to turn his head to look at Yan Huo in disbelief.

"Idiot!" Yan Huo didn't give him any chance to speak. With a swift motion, he split Jiang Hu's head with a single sword. Now, only one remained. Yan Huo wasn't in a hurry, instead choosing to wait for Lin Feng to come out.

"You little brat, dare to deceive me!" An angry voice came from the wooden house, followed by Lin Feng hurrying out.

"Third Brother, don't kill him yet..."

"Hehe! Are you asking him not to kill me because you haven't found the formation manual yet? Didn't I say the manual is in the house? Why can't you find it? Could it be that you're just as much of an idiot as him?" Yan Huo smiled and pointed at Jiang Hu's corpse lying nearby.

"In the blink of an eye, you killed Jiang Hu without even a sound. What kind of cultivation level is this..." Lin Feng's face turned pale with shock. His expression twisted, realizing the danger. He looked at Yan Huo and then cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, calling out loudly, "I didn't know a senior expert was here. I'm Lin Feng, disciple of the Golden and Silver Saints of the Nine Sect, sent by my master to borrow a formation manual. If I've offended you in any way, I ask for your forgiveness."

"This fool! He really doesn't take me seriously." Yan Huo was both angry and amused. There was nothing he could do—Lin Feng couldn't see his true strength! Was Yan Huo supposed to force the Nine-Five Gold Ball out of his dantian again and tell Lin Feng, "Haha! It's me who killed them. I'm at the Gold Core stage!"? No way, Yan Huo wasn't that reckless.

Though they were fellow disciples, Lin Feng didn't care much about Jiang Hu's death. What mattered to him now was his own survival. He quietly thanked himself for not doing anything too "excessive" since entering the cave.

"Jiang Hu died near that kid, which means it's impossible for me to capture him from this distance as leverage. Perhaps before I even get close, the hidden expert will strike first and kill me. Unless..." Lin Feng's sharp eyes began to dart around as he considered the situation.

No one responded, and the silence only made Lin Feng feel more anxious. The clever Lin Feng started thinking rapidly.

"Since the senior doesn't wish to reveal themselves, I'll respect that and won't disturb you further. My senior brother already offended this little junior disciple first, and I don't want to say more about that, but I do want to take his corpse back with me."

Lin Feng continued, thinking that no one would respond, but just then, a deep, resonant voice came from the stone tower.

"Then you can take him." 

"Thank you, senior!" Lin Feng cupped his hands in gratitude. He then walked towards the place where Yan Huo and Jiang Hu's corpses lay. Yan Huo seemed unbothered by Lin Feng's approach and just smiled, looking toward the direction of the stone tower.

This was the perfect opportunity, and Lin Feng wouldn't let it go. With lightning speed, he drew the middle-grade flying sword *Snow Condensation* that his master had "borrowed" and pointed it at Yan Huo's throat. A large hand infused with soul power and mixed with genuine energy pressed against Yan Huo's back.

"Haha! Senior, I've already taken control of your disciple. If you want him to live, immediately hand over the *Du Tian Wu Yuan Formation*. Once I safely leave here, I will definitely release him," Lin Feng laughed.

After all, Lin Feng was just a small cultivator in the cultivation world. He had never fought a true master before—usually, he only sparred with other cultivators at his level. He couldn't fully comprehend the power and mystery of a real expert in the cultivation world. If the cultivator hiding in the shadows truly was an expert beyond the Gold Core stage, then he could certainly kill Lin Feng in an instant without harming Yan Huo in the slightest.

Moreover, Yan Huo wasn't someone he could control.

"Senior! If you don't speak, then you leave me no choice but to take action," Lin Feng threatened. He prepared to strike at Yan Huo's arm to demonstrate his resolve. His sword was about to descend toward Yan Huo's arm when suddenly a flash of white light streaked across his vision.

"Ah! My hand!" Lin Feng let out a painful scream.

"You... How can you move? Impossible! I clearly restrained you!" Lin Feng gritted his teeth in disbelief. Losing both his arms was a crushing blow, and the pain nearly drove him mad.

"Hmph! That's what you thought," Yan Huo said coldly.

"Impossible! You only have the cultivation of the Dao Solidification stage. How?" Lin Feng could not accept that a cultivator with such low cultivation could have injured him.

"I told you, that's what *you* thought. If I wanted to kill you, you'd be no match for me. If you want to survive, then answer my questions honestly," Yan Huo echoed Lin Feng's earlier words.

"Did you kill Jiang Hu too? Your cultivation isn't Dao Solidification? Are you lying to us?" Lin Feng suddenly began to understand.

"Hehe! What do you think?" Yan Huo continued to smile.

"Fine! You... ask!" Lin Feng realized that he was now at the mercy of his captor. He had no choice but to comply. Without his arms, he was as good as a cripple. Even if he tried to escape, there was no way he could outrun the flying sword in Yan Huo's hand.

"What did you do to the Liu family?" Yan Huo asked, his face cold.

"We didn't do much. We just killed a few dozen of the Liu family's servants, and Liu Yiqing obediently told us the location of the cave," Lin Feng replied.

"You only killed a few dozen servants!? Did you harm the Liu family's immediate family?" Yan Huo inquired further, his tone colder.