With a crisp CRACK, Di Bu was sent flying sideways, blood spewing from his mouth. His head plunged into the snow, and after twitching a couple of times, he went still.

Tuzha and the other three paled in shock, not expecting Zhao Lin to be so formidable.

Their intelligence indicated Zhao Lin’s cultivation was in the initial stages of the Blood Realm, but he now appeared to be at the First Layer of the Blood Realm. That, however, was a minor detail; to them, the difference was negligible. But why was he so physically powerful?

What surprised them even more was that Zhao Lin, facing an attack from all five of them, remained calm and composed, completely unfazed. In just a few moves, he had beaten Di Bu to within an inch of his life.

’And he’s not even twenty?’

’No wonder the Grand Elder wants him dead...’

Though shocked, the four men didn’t slow down in the slightest. Using the momentary delay Di Bu had bought with his life, the two in front moved to flank Zhao Lin, while the two behind attacked his ribs from the left and right.

These two also used the palm energy of the Fiery Flame Saber technique. Tongues of fire flickered as blazing flames surged!

Blocked from the front and pursued from behind, Zhao Lin recalled a move commonly used by the Baitou Mountain bandits. He dropped and rolled, dodging the attack from the two men behind him.

He then sprang to his feet and dashed diagonally for several steps, attempting to break through the gap between the men in front and behind him.

He didn’t dare leap into the air to fly. Against opponents of this caliber, he’d be turned into a living target before he could even build up speed. He had to escape the encirclement first.

The one guarding this position was Tuzha. His figure blurred as he swung his palm, unleashing a red arc of light.

The force of the palm strike arrived before the man himself.

’What powerful energy!’

Seeing this, Zhao Lin stopped in his tracks. He blasted a burst of energy from his chest, forcing his body to a sudden halt.

From this brief exchange, he could tell that the burly man opposite him was the strongest of the four.

Although he had retreated, he had no intention of staying put and defending passively. With a series of rapid kicks, he sent a great cloud of snow into the air.

In an instant, a white haze rose up, and a frosty mist filled the air.

’I have the advantage of echolocation; I should play to my strengths.’

Tuzha suddenly spoke a word that Zhao Lin didn’t understand. The Weizi martial artists simultaneously fell back, widening the encirclement. They moved their feet rapidly, forming a diamond pattern.

Zhao Lin noticed their positioning, and his heart tightened.

’A joint attack formation!’

Joint attack formations originated in the military. They are a tactic for fighting a superior number of enemies, using a small group of soldiers to form a battle array.

Such arrays are best suited for three to five people and are divided into Three Powers, Four Symbols, and Five Elements formations. With any more people, the difficulty of coordination increases dramatically, and the additional members do little to increase combat effectiveness, instead tending to disrupt the formation.

Nowadays, with the great increase in the power of martial artists, the emphasis is on individual strength. Very few people still practice joint attack formations. Zhao Lin himself had only learned the basics from the notes of a predecessor and never expected to witness one in person.

Tuzha’s group of five specialized in assassination and had always practiced these joint attack formations. They had originally intended to use the Five Elements Array, but having lost a man right at the start, they switched to the Four Symbols Array.

The Four Symbols Array is based on the five cardinal positions of the elements—East, South, West, North, and Center—but with the central Earth position removed.

With the Array deployed, the four men each occupied one of the four positions—Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire—leaving the central Earth position for their enemy.

And that central position was the focus of all four of their attacks.

A chill went through Zhao Lin. He had beaten one of their men to within an inch of his life, yet these four didn’t even glance his way. It was clear that killing him was more important than saving their comrade.

Fortunately, he had not neglected his footwork practice over the past year. He immediately stepped onto the "Guan" position, then slid his right foot out to land on the "Gen" position.

With another turn, he headed straight for the "Sui" position of the Four Symbols Array.

Tuzha and the others were secretly astonished. They were just about to tighten the formation and finish off Zhao Lin, but they hadn’t expected that with a few casual advances and retreats, he was already about to break through.

"Expand!"

Tuzha shouted the command, and the four men immediately moved in sync with Zhao Lin’s steps, widening the encirclement.

Judging by the Body Technique Zhao Lin had displayed, if they let him break out of the formation, catching him again would take a monumental effort.

At that moment, the Weizi martial artist in the Array’s Fire position stepped forward and launched a kick straight at the center of Zhao Lin’s back.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Zhao Lin half-turned, slapped the kick away with his palm, and then shot forward, darting toward the opening.

The man hurriedly returned to his original position to cover the gap, terrified that Zhao Lin would use the opportunity to escape the formation.

To maintain the integrity of their formation, Tuzha’s men engaged Zhao Lin only one at a time.

Seeing this, an idea sparked in Zhao Lin’s mind.

’A fight to the death isn’t like a spar. To survive, you don’t just rely on martial strength, but also on the smart use of terrain, weather, light, and even your opponent’s psychology.’

He was intimately familiar with the terrain of Ancient Rock Mountain and knew that not far from here was a natural sinkhole, over a hundred feet deep. Both herb gatherers and the beasts of the mountain knew to steer clear of it.

Now, the heavy snow had filled in the sinkhole, and these four men, unaware of the situation, could be led right into it. It was the perfect way to use the terrain to escape.

In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, Zhao Lin had exchanged more than a dozen blows with each of them. Constantly shifting his footwork, he led the four men higher up the mountain.

Seeing Zhao Lin move up the mountain, Tuzha and his men patiently kept him surrounded, periodically sending one man to trade blows with him, intending to drain his energy.

Zhao Lin played along, letting a look of anxiety appear on his face.

Before long, the five of them had moved to the vicinity of the sinkhole.

Zhao Lin glanced over and saw that the burly man—the one second in strength only to Tuzha—was closest to the sinkhole’s edge. He immediately feinted an attack at the man to the burly one’s right.

Then, before that man could even make a move, he threw a punch at the burly man’s chest.

Seeing this, the four men were secretly pleased, thinking Zhao Lin had finally lost his patience.

In the Four Symbols Array, one was relatively safe as long as they didn’t attack rashly. But the moment one did, it was like pulling a single thread that unraveled everything. The Four Symbols Array would activate, and the four men would immediately shift according to their positions, attacking in a relentless, unending cycle.

The burly man was overjoyed, but in his excitement, he failed to watch his footing. Suddenly, he stepped on empty air and plummeted into the sinkhole.

Zhao Lin had been waiting for this exact opportunity. He accelerated and charged for the opening.

The other three immediately leaped forward, shouting, "Ku Lie!"

"Stop him!"

Ku Lie, half-buried in the snow he’d fallen into, knew he absolutely could not let Zhao Lin escape. He raised his hand and threw a punch straight up at the sky.

Zhao Lin had never intended to pass over Ku Lie’s head. He took two quick steps, leaped into the snowy pit, and suddenly vanished from sight.

Tuzha and the others didn’t know the size of the pit. Worried that if they jumped in, Zhao Lin might escape from another side, they could only carefully tread on the snow’s surface around the edge, testing to determine its size.

After landing at the bottom of the pit, Zhao Lin was about to move to the other side to find a chance to escape when he suddenly heard a series of THUMPING sounds.

It turned out that just before Ku Lie had been buried in the snow, he had seen Zhao Lin jump in as well.

Unable to see his surroundings, he was swinging his fists and kicking with all his might in self-defense, trying to prevent a sneak attack from Zhao Lin.

Zhao Lin gritted his teeth and had a change of heart.

’I can emit ultrasonic waves and still pinpoint my enemy’s location in the snow, but he’s completely blind. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of such a golden opportunity?’

’If I try to leave the pit now, I’ll have enemies above and below. I could be attacked from both sides, which would be troublesome. It’s better to eliminate this guy first.’

"Since you’ve come down here, you can leave your life behind."