Chapter 311: Do You Submit!

“It’s about time to end this.”

Lin Xiao suddenly took a few steps back, his expression calm.

“What did he say? End it? Is he planning to admit defeat?”

“Admit defeat? Our Gold Claw Sect isn’t a place you can come and go as you please!”

“Yeah, yeah! He has to pay the price!”

The Gold Claw Sect disciples were startled by Lin Xiao’s sudden action, but they quickly broke into sneers and mockery.

Yet, before they could finish speaking, a scene unfolded that left them in disbelief.

Lin Xiao’s figure flickered. He launched forward in an instant, appearing right before Wang Changguang. Both fists struck out together, the air crackling with a thunderous boom.

Wang Changguang, who had just begun to steady his internal energy, was met with an incoming fist, growing larger in his vision.

In his haste, Wang Changguang crossed his arms to block the strike. The impact, as heavy as a mountain, sent his body skidding backward, carving two deep trenches into the polished floor.

“Pfft!”

Unable to suppress it any longer, Wang Changguang coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face turning ashen.

Having forced Wang Changguang back with a single punch, Lin Xiao did not pursue. He stood still, exhaling a long breath.

The breath shot out like a straight sword, traveling nearly two meters before dissipating. White steam rose from his head and body, as though a furnace burned within him.

“Master Wang, do you wish to continue?” Lin Xiao asked, his gaze steady on Wang Changguang, who stood three meters away.

In the span of mere seconds, Wang Changguang appeared to have aged more than a decade. His once tall and robust frame shrank and withered, his face deeply lined, his eyes dull and lifeless.

“Cough… cough…”

Wang Changguang clutched his mouth, coughing up several more streaks of blood. Despite his unwillingness, he knew he no longer had the strength to continue fighting Lin Xiao.

In that fleeting moment, a bitter feeling rose within him—a warrior’s lament at the end of his path.

Lin Xiao’s punch had shattered any illusions—before this, Lin Xiao had been toying with him. The gap between their abilities was insurmountable.

“I’ve lost,” Wang Changguang said at last, his voice carrying a long sigh. He waved his hand, his tone subdued as he looked at the still-calm Lin Xiao, who didn’t even have a drop of sweat on his brow.

“Surrendering is a wise choice,” Lin Xiao replied flatly. Then he turned his head slightly and said, “And you? Do you still want to fight me?”

The second half of his sentence was directed toward Duan Changhan and the others standing to the side.

Duan Changhan and the others had yet to recover. Their eyes were dazed with disbelief. How could their sect master, Wang Changguang, be defeated?

The disbelief extended beyond them. The Gold Claw Sect disciples, watching from afar, also stood frozen.

The vast martial hall fell into a silence so profound that a pin drop would be deafening.

A single thought circled endlessly in every heart.

“This… this can’t be real! How could it be! The Sect Master… lost?”

“Cough… cough…”

Wang Changguang’s sudden, violent cough broke the silence.

The sound snapped Duan Changhan and the others out of their stupor. Aside from Zhao Changlei and Yang Changtai—both gravely injured and unable to move—Duan Changhan and Xu Changjun rushed to support Wang Changguang. Their eyes, filled with fear, flicked toward Lin Xiao.

The rage that had once burned within them had vanished entirely, replaced only by terror and confusion.

If even Wang Changguang had lost, who in the Gold Claw Sect could possibly stand against Lin Xiao?

“Master Duan,” Lin Xiao’s cold gaze landed on Duan Changhan, “Do you wish to settle this with life and death?”

Duan Changhan’s body trembled.

Now that Wang Changguang had truly lost, the thought that he had previously dismissed as absurd and impossible came roaring back into his mind—this time, stronger and more terrifying than ever.

Legend… The Flowing Force Grandmaster—only a Flowing Force Grandmaster could possess such terrifying strength.

Even considering Lin Xiao’s age, it felt utterly mythical.

Lowering his head, Duan Changhan dared not meet Lin Xiao’s eyes. He spoke softly, “Are you truly planning to kill us all without mercy?”

“Whether or not I show mercy depends on your attitude.” Lin Xiao’s gaze swept across Zhao Changlei, Yang Changtai, and the others. “Now, let’s talk reason.”

Everyone looked stunned.

No one expected Lin Xiao, after turning the Gold Claw Sect upside down, to suddenly want to talk reason with them.

Wasn’t it common sense to talk reason first and only resort to violence if reasoning failed? Yet Lin Xiao had flipped the script entirely—entering with his fists, flattening everyone, and then proposing to talk reason.

What they didn’t understand was that, to Lin Xiao, fists spoke reason more effectively than words.

In the ancient martial world, strength was reason.

“You all know why I’m here today,” Lin Xiao said calmly. “So I’ll skip the nonsense and ask you one thing. Do you submit?”

Zhao Changlei glared fiercely and spat out, “Submit to your—”

Slap!

Before he could finish, Wang Changguang’s figure blurred—he appeared before Zhao Changlei in an instant and struck him across the face.

Blood spattered. Teeth flew. Zhao Changlei’s cheek swelled grotesquely.

“Master… you…”

“Shut up!” Wang Changguang snapped coldly, his eyes icy.

The battle just now had made everything clear—Lin Xiao’s cultivation far surpassed his own. He had also considered the suspicion in Duan Changhan’s mind, but the thought was too frightening to entertain for long.

As a late-stage Dark Force expert, Wang Changguang deeply understood the gap between Dark Force and the legendary Flowing Force stage. He was already at the pinnacle of Dark Force, yet the step to Flowing Force was a chasm wider than the gap from an ordinary man to a Dark Force master.

If Lin Xiao was truly a flowing grandmaster, then the fate of the Gold Claw Sect lay entirely in his hands.

But Flowing Force or not, Lin Xiao was clearly someone the Gold Claw Sect could not afford to provoke.

Seeing Zhao Changlei still trying to defy Lin Xiao, Wang Changguang didn’t hesitate to silence him with a slap.

“We submit,” Wang Changguang said, his voice low as he looked at Lin Xiao.

“That’s good. Since you all submit, then from now on, we’ll mind our own business.” Lin Xiao’s voice remained indifferent. “I’ll walk my single-log bridge, and you’ll stick to your main road.”

Lin Xiao didn’t care if their submission was genuine or false. His only goal was to plant a seed of terror deep in their hearts—one that would prevent them from ever daring to oppose him again.

Finally, his gaze swept across the room. “Anyone else with objections?”

Wang Changguang shook his head bitterly. “None. I agree.”

He knew that after today, the Gold Claw Sect’s reputation would plummet, but there was nothing he could do.

At this moment, he only wanted one thing—for this calamity, this monster, to leave.

Revenge? The thought never even crossed his mind.

Lin Xiao had crushed him with sheer strength, utterly and completely.

“I know you all would love to tear me to pieces,” Lin Xiao said flatly, “But remember this. Next time, before you think about laying a hand on me, consider the consequences.”

He raised a single finger. Blood dripped from his knuckle, sliding down his hand and falling to the floor.

“If there is a next time…” Lin Xiao’s voice turned cold, “I won’t come here to challenge you, I’ll come to wipe you out. I’ll level the sect and leave none alive.”

The moment the words “wipe you out” left his lips, a terrifying, murderous aura erupted from Lin Xiao’s body, surging into the air like a roaring tide.

During the fight, he had kept his bloodlust suppressed, careful not to kill anyone outright and annihilate the sect entirely.

The Gold Claw Sect was guilty of many crimes, but wiping them out completely was not his intent—Lin Xiao was, after all, a man who preferred to talk reason.

But now that the battle was over, he let his darker side show. His voice, his gaze, and the air around him carried a chilling, tangible killing intent that seeped into the bones of everyone present.

A wave of cold terror spread through the room.

Duan Changhan’s entire body went cold, his heart pounding with fear.

“This man…” Duan Changhan’s chest tightened, his hatred dissolving into dread. “…is a monster to his core.”

His voice trembled within his heart.

“How many people has he killed to carry such murderous intent?”