The man's voice, sharp with anger, still echoed faintly.
"Courting death?!"
Lin Yi did not answer.
He stood where he had stopped, a few steps away, his posture relaxed, his breathing steady, as though the sudden burst of movement moments ago had cost him nothing at all.
His gaze rested on the man, calm, measuring.
Then—
His hand moved, and a blade appeared.
It did not flash into existence with overwhelming light, nor did it release a dramatic surge of aura that crushed the surroundings. Instead, it simply… manifested.
As though it had always been there, waiting.
The moment it entered the world, however—
Something changed.
The air shifted.
The dense, humid atmosphere of the rainforest seemed to part ever so slightly, as if acknowledging the presence of something that did not belong to this layer of existence.
The man's pupils contracted.
His instincts flared.
That blade—
"…What is that…?" he muttered unconsciously.
It was simple in form.
