As the four of them moved through the night, Lin Shu spoke.
"Jiang Yuyan should be hiding in a safe house inside an abandoned village. I'd assume there are formations or at least traps set around the area, so we'll need to be careful."
His team nodded in acknowledgment.
"I'll be the one taking on Jiang Yuyan," Lin Shu continued. "You three will fight the other clansmen with her. Stay alert and don't let yourselves get poisoned."
They kept moving swiftly. After traveling for a considerable period, they reached the designated location. Under the cover of darkness, the village loomed ahead—quiet, eerie, and desolate. Lin Shu turned to his group.
"We'll split up and take different positions. You three will slowly get closer to the house and wait nearby. I have a long-range technique—I'll use it to drive them out. The moment they come running, ambush them. Don't give them time to react. But if Jiang Yuyan joins the fight, fall back immediately. I'll be there in seconds to handle her."
He paused, then added, "Before we launch the attack, you'll need to check the surrounding houses. Make sure no one is hiding, waiting for us to strike. Be cautious. Understood?"
They nodded again and moved into position.
Lin Shu climbed up the tallest tree in the area and scanned the house through a window. It was dark inside, no light, but he saw shadows—four figures, he thought. Two boys, two girls. He couldn't make out their features clearly, and he wasn't even sure of the number. The darkness concealed too much.
"Those three should be sweeping the other houses by now," he thought.
Then he saw the signal. The area was clear. Time to attack.
Raising his arm and pointing at the house, he whispered,
"Thunderbolt Arc."
Lightning surged around his arm and a crackling bolt shot out, striking the house. A loud explosion followed, shaking the area—but the structure still stood.
"I'll need another shot."
He fired again, and this time the roof crumbled and part of the wall collapsed. People scrambled out in panic.
Without delay, Lin Shu activated Ivory Monolith, forming a custom armor he'd refined through endless battles and experimentation. The armor was his best defense against poison. While he couldn't block gaseous or liquid poisons entirely—since small gaps remained in the mask to breathe and see—this was still the most refined defense he could afford.
Lightning surged at his feet as he leapt from the tree, speeding toward the fray.
"I need to kill her. That way, my reward will be greater."
As Lin Shu arrived at the battlefield, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
"I saw four people earlier... why are there eight now?"
His teammates were already engaged, struggling to fend off the unexpected numbers and dodging poison techniques left and right.
"I guess they were using concealment or a formation. Doesn't matter. Most of them are at the lower stage of Rank 1. Two are at the mid stage… and the last two…" His eyes narrowed. "High stage? Wait, wasn't there supposed to be one high-stage Rank 1 cultivator—Jiang Yuyan?"
Doubt crept in.
"Should I run?"
But before he could decide, an attack came his way. One of the mid-stage cultivators, a boy, lunged at him. Lin Shu blocked the blow, then countered with a punch aimed at the boy's stomach—but the enemy caught his fist and locked it in place.
Startled, Lin Shu looked into the boy's eyes—only to sense another presence behind him. Another attacker.
A fist came crashing toward the back of his head. But Lin Shu didn't flinch.
He caught the second boy's hand with his free arm and, in the hand that was still pinned, tightened his grip.
From that hand, a long, sharp bone blade formed in an instant and stabbed through the first boy's stomach.
"How...?" the boy whispered, eyes wide in disbelief.
The second one screamed, "Let me go, you freak!" and tried to pull away, but couldn't escape Lin Shu's grip. The boy's hand started to bleed as sharp bone spikes pierced through his skin.
Lin Shu then lifted the boy effortlessly and slammed him into the ground, his armor gleaming in the moonlight. The other boy whimpered, clutching his stomach.
With ruthless efficiency, Lin Shu tore the blade free, dissolved it, then formed sharp claws on his fingers. In a single brutal motion, he grabbed the boy's throat and ripped it out.
Blood sprayed across the broken ground.
Then, he saw the real threats.
The two high-stage cultivators were running toward him.
"I can leave the rest to those three. They're doing better now that these two stopped looming over them. They only have to deal with four low-stage enemies, and between Yu Xuan and Wang Muchen—who are both mid-stage—and Yong De at the low stage, they'll hold their ground."
His gaze returned to the two high-stage foes.
"But these two… they're mine."
Lightning surged once more through his bones and feet. Ivory blades extended from the back of each hand.
"I've got one Thunderbolt Arc left… and one more Ivory Monolith armor if I need it. After that, my Qi reserves would reach a critical level and i will be forced to run away. I have to make this count. I can't let them break my defense. And my thunderbolt—it has to kill one of them."
He dashed forward. The ground cracked beneath his feet.
The final stage of the battle had begun.
Here's your scene rewritten to be clearer, more dramatic, better structured, and emotionally sharp while keeping all the content, logic, and order the same:
Lin Shu clashed blades with the boy wielding a sword. The young cultivator grinned coldly.
"So you're the one who survived Jiang Liechen… and two of my other brothers. You're getting quite the reputation. But let me assure you—"
He took a step forward, sword raised.
"—you're also one of the most wanted dead."
Lin Shu gritted his teeth and kicked off the ground, backing away. As another attack came hurling toward him—this time a wave of corroding poison—he crossed his arms and braced himself.
But nothing happened.
The poison sizzled on contact… and vanished. Not a single mark was left on his armor.
Jiang Yuyan, watching from the distance, furrowed her brows in disbelief.
"Why didn't his armor corrode? Isn't it made from bone? Was the intel wrong?"
Her voice trembled with doubt.
"We crafted this ambush around that very fact. I was even given a high-tier poison specifically meant to destroy bone. One that targets his technique directly."
A voice called from behind her—Jiang Junxi.
"Yuyan, did you mess up the poison?"
She shook her head, her tone clipped and defensive.
"No. I didn't even touch it until now. The intel must be wrong… or that armor of his is far stronger than they told us. It resisted a high-tier bone-melting poison like it was nothing."
She paused, then added grimly,
"We'll have to use the other methods instead."
Lin Shu narrowed his eyes.
"I don't like this," he thought. "If they went to such lengths just to eliminate me, that means I'm seen as a serious threat."
A flash of irritation passed through his mind.
"Why me? Why not Han Yi or Xie Lang? They're far more valuable targets. I'm sure of it."
His expression darkened.
"They even prepared a custom poison just for my Ivory Dominion... If my technique hadn't been specialized against poisons like that, I would've died. If this is what the Jiang Clan is willing to invest into killing me… then I need to repay the favor."
Then, another realization struck him like lightning.
"But he said I escaped from his brothers… that means this guy is another young master. Not from the main branch, judging from his strength."
Lin Shu's eyes gleamed.
"That means I can kill him. And if I do—"
He tightened his fists, lightning rippling along his limbs.
"—I'll earn more than just survival. I'll earn massive Rewards.
Without another thought, Lin Shu launched forward like a thunderbolt.
"I have to take them down now. The only other threats are poison gas or liquid—and brute force. But I doubt they can overpower me directly."
His gaze locked on Jiang Yuyan, who had begun forming a technique with both hands, her Qi flaring like a warning.
"Stop him until I'm finished!" she shouted.
"You don't need to tell me," Jiang Junxi replied, stepping in front of Lin Shu with a savage grin.
The battle had only just begun.