Bonning, shrouded in a black halo, was like a man possessed.
He stomped hard on the ground, and the surface of the mountain instantly cracked open, revealing deep crevices as sand and stones tumbled down. Bonning himself shot toward Lin Lei and the other three like lightning, a black longspear materializing in his hand. The spear writhed like a massive serpent, madly devouring toward Lin Lei's group of four.
Bonning's eyes were crimson, his killing intent surging wildly.
The Blackblade heavy sword appeared in Lin Lei's hand, its earthy-yellow glow swirling within. Lin Lei swung it casually toward Bonning. The strike appeared slow, yet the Blackblade moved several times faster than the longspear, slamming directly into Bonning's body.
Crack!
Bonning, who had been charging forward at full speed, was smacked into a somersault and sent crashing down onto the mountain rocks, the impact shattering the stone beneath him.
"Impossible." Bonning stared at Lin Lei in shock. Then his expression turned grave, and with a low growl, he thrust his longspear through the air at Lin Lei—
Whoosh!
A transparent spear-shaped ripple shot toward Lin Lei.
A minuscule void sword wave burst forth from the space between Lin Lei's brows, easily shattering the transparent spear-shaped ripple. But because the void sword wave was so small, after annihilating the spear-shaped ripple, it dissipated as well.
Beside him, Bei Bei gave Lin Lei a puzzled look. "The Boss's soul is the strongest there is. His Soul Power is more than ten times greater than Chief God's Power. With the force of will infused... though there's a gap in profundity. But the Boss's soul attacks are barely any different from Magnus's. Killing that Bonning should have been effortless. So why did the Boss deliberately let him off?"
Bei Bei had been with Lin Lei for far too long and knew his true strength all too well.
That void sword wave just now — had it been a fraction larger, it would have been enough to kill Bonning. But Lin Lei hadn't done so.
"This is bad." The guards were all on edge.
But their strength was far too weak. They couldn't even match Bonning, let alone challenge Lin Lei.
"Haha..." Bonning threw his head back and laughed wildly upon seeing this. "No wonder, no wonder! So you two contemptible traitors hired such a powerful fighter. I'd wager that among Prefecture Lord-level powerhouses, this one ranks near the top! Haha — come, then, kill me if you will. Dying at the hands of a powerhouse like you is no dishonor!"
Bonning actually stopped fighting.
"Hm?" Lin Lei was somewhat surprised.
But the moment Bonning finished speaking—
Whoosh! He suddenly dove into the ground, his escape so swift that even Lin Lei was taken aback. The speed Bonning displayed now was actually somewhat faster than when he had attacked. Lin Lei mused inwardly, "This Bonning may appear mad, but he's a cunning one."
Lin Lei didn't rush. He simply dropped downward.
Lin Lei's right foot slammed down onto the ground. Hummm~~ An invisible ripple spread through the mountain, propagating toward the depths below. Bonning, who was desperately fleeing through the mountain interior at that very moment, had no way to dodge it. The invisible ripple's range was far too wide — it reached him directly!
Bam! Bonning's body shuddered, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his lips.
Lin Lei vanished from the surface entirely, then reappeared — right at Bonning's side. It was the Earth Drift Technique!
"You can't escape." Lin Lei reached out, seized Bonning by the shoulder, and shot skyward.
"Hmph." Bonning furiously thrust his longspear at Lin Lei's chest.
Clang. Ripples spread across the surface of Lin Lei's body. That strike didn't harm Lin Lei in the slightest.
"This — how is this possible?" Bonning's face drained of color.
He was, after all, a Six-Star Demon, and he was using Chief God's Power at that. Yet Lin Lei hadn't even used his armor — a mere defense formed by the Earth God's Power had blocked his attack. This was far too terrifying.
"Let alone you — even if your father came, he couldn't harm me." Lin Lei regarded Bonning with cold indifference. At the same time, he carried Bonning out of the mountain.
A defense imbued with the force of will was exceedingly terrifying. Back then, Lin Lei hadn't been able to kill Magnus at all — he could only banish him. That should give one some idea of its defensive power.
Lin Lei's force of will was even stronger than Magnus's. Though his defensive profundity was slightly weaker, the gap was negligible. The energy defense Lin Lei had formed was truly as he said — even if the Tianshan Prefecture Lord came and Lin Lei allowed him to attack, that Prefecture Lord still couldn't hurt him.
"He — who exactly is he?" Bonning was completely stunned.
This level of power was like a small stream facing a boundless ocean — he could no longer summon even the thought of resistance.
Lin Lei tossed Bonning to the ground, and Olivier and Dana hurried over.
Bonning, who had already been deflated, caught sight of Dana and Olivier and instantly flew into a rage again. He surged to his feet, lunging to attack. Lin Lei frowned at the sight and raised his hand... Instantly, 108 earthy-yellow azure dragons flew forth, binding Bonning tightly together.
A circular prison formed around him, pressing Bonning inside.
"Aaargh..." Bonning roared madly, trying to break free.
"It's useless," Lin Lei said coolly. "A Six-Star Demon like you couldn't escape even with Chief God's Power."
Originally, this prison only possessed binding and crushing effects. But after Lin Lei modified it and combined it with the Blackstone Prison, the resulting circular cage not only had tremendous binding and crushing power — its surface defense was also extremely formidable. There was absolutely no way Bonning could escape.
"Bonning, you've finally met your end." Dana said furiously.
"Father, kill him — avenge big brother!" Daiya said urgently.
Olivier's eye twitched with barely contained fury as he strode toward Bonning.
From within the prison, Bonning erupted into a roar: "Dana — has Bonning ever done anything wrong to you? Whatever you wanted, I gave you! Whatever you said was wrong with me, I changed! To make you happy, I was willing to swallow my pride and beg my father for enough money to buy you whatever you desired! Dana, tell me — tell me... why did you betray me?!"
Dana merely looked at him with cold indifference.
"Haha — you ran away from home, and I searched every corner of the continent for you. The Bloodridges Continent is vast enough. And when I finally find you, you've married this worthless Olivier and even have children?" Bonning laughed through his rage. "I didn't kill you. I brought you home. I tried to win you back. And what did you do?" At this point, Bonning had gone completely mad.
"When we got married, did I force you? You came willingly!" Bonning roared in fury.
Dana glared at Bonning: "Bonning — fine. I did marry you. But what about you? Every time you took a fancy to some woman, you brought her home! And... you didn't even spare my sister! Before the wedding, I was deceived by the mask you wore. But after we married, I saw your true face. Of course I left — and I left far away!"
Bonning was like a maddened tiger, his eyes gleaming with a savage light.
"Right — I took a fancy to those women, but that was nothing more than desire, you understand?" Bonning bellowed. "So what if I, Bonning, caught a woman and brought her back to serve me? I have only one wife! I didn't do what my father and others did — taking multiple wives. I have only one, you! Those other women were just desire — don't you understand? Which of those women did I keep by my side for more than a month? Was even this small desire so wrong?"
"You were far too domineering." Dana shook her head. "You think you did nothing wrong, but I could never accept it. Especially what you did to my sister."
"Fine — well said! I was domineering!" Bonning snarled with a bitter laugh. "But after I brought you back this time, I never touched another woman. Right?"
"It's too late."
Dana said coldly, "Not touching them now doesn't erase everything you did in the past. I've seen through you completely. What angered me the most... was that time I agreed to go with you. You promised to spare Olivier and those two children — but what did you do?"