CHAPTER 898: KILLING NELL

Max’s sword surged with an overwhelming brilliance as he channeled all of his power into a single strike. The blade overflowed with the combined force of his level 2 concepts—sword, flames, lightning, and even the faint rippling of space itself. The surrounding air trembled violently, unable to withstand the oppressive force of his intent.

Whish!

A condensed arc of sword light burst forth from his blade, tearing through the void like a radiant comet. Its edges crackled with lightning, its center burned with black flames, and faint distortions warped around it as space itself seemed to bend in its wake. It was fast, far too fast for someone like Nell to react in time.

Caught completely off guard by the sudden eruption of such terrifying power, Nell’s eyes widened, panic flashing across her beautiful yet venomous face. "No!" she screamed, disbelief and terror in her voice as she instinctively tried to retreat. But there was no time—the sword light was already upon her.

Shhk!

The arc of energy struck cleanly, slicing through her like a hot knife through paper. Her body stiffened, her expression frozen in shock as the sword light ripped her apart, splitting her body cleanly into two halves. Blood scattered through the air, the scent of iron spreading instantly, but Max didn’t flinch.

With a cold wave of his hand, black flames roared to life, enveloping her bisected corpse before it even hit the ground. The dark fire devoured her remains hungrily, reducing them to nothing in moments, leaving only ashes carried away by the wind. Max bent down briefly, plucking her storage ring from the scorched remnants before leaping away once more.

A quick probe of the storage ring with his soul force revealed more than a dozen Human-Faced Spider King eggs—valuable beyond measure. Max’s lips curled slightly, but he didn’t stop moving. He tucked the ring away and looked back briefly at Arnold and his companions, who were closing in fast but were still far behind.

Then, without hesitation, he invoked his movement art to its limit. "One Mile Step!" His figure blurred, vanishing like a streak of black lightning, his speed reaching an almost instantaneous burst.

Within moments, the distance between him and Arnold’s group had doubled, then tripled, until his presence could no longer even be sensed.

Arnold and the others came to an abrupt stop, their expressions a mixture of shock and fury. They hadn’t expected Max’s speed to be so monstrous. "Damn it!" Devon cursed, his face pale with anger, while Rick’s eyes darkened, his expression twisted in frustration.

Arnold’s face was equally ugly, his teeth clenched. Max had taken everything: the Pure Yang Flower, the dragon’s corpse, even Nell’s belongings. But despite his anger, Arnold forced himself to stay calm.

He took a deep breath and said in a measured tone, "Don’t worry, two senior brothers. The secret domain doesn’t close for another forty days. We have time... we will find him."

"Good," Devon and Rick responded, their voices still tinged with frustration but steadied by Arnold’s assurance. The three of them turned back toward the bloodstained clearing, their faces grim.

Kyle, who had been seated on the ground healing, slowly opened his eyes after a cup of tea’s time. His aura surged briefly, bright and sharp like a blade, and the bloodstains on his snow-white clothes faded as his energy cleansed them, leaving him spotless once again.

His face, however, was gloomy and cold as he looked at Arnold’s group. "Didn’t catch him?"

Arnold bowed his head slightly. "Yes, Senior Brother Kyle. He escaped." Even someone like Arnold, proud and arrogant in his own right, had to lower his tone in front of Kyle.

Kyle’s gaze hardened, his eyes flashing with killing intent before he exhaled sharply. "Forget it. Recover your strength first." He waved his hand dismissively, his expression icy, but then a sneer crept onto his lips. "As long as Max is still in this secret domain, he can’t leave alive."

Arnold and his companions nodded quickly, relief washing over their tense faces at Kyle’s words. Devon and Rick, in particular, felt their hearts ease slightly, confident that with someone like Kyle hunting Max, their humiliation would not last long. Max’s days, in their eyes, were already numbered.

---

To the west of the secret domain lay an ancient forest, vast and eerily silent, where sunlight barely touched the mossy ground. Towering trees, each as thick as half a foot in diameter and soaring high into the clouds, formed a canopy so dense that even birds avoided flying too deep within.

The air here was damp and heavy, carrying the faint scent of old wood and decaying leaves, while the distant rustle of unseen creatures echoed like whispers in the shadows.

In the middle of this silent wilderness stood a broken, hollow tree, its trunk scarred from years of battles and storms. Inside this natural shelter, Max sat cross-legged on a mat of dry leaves, calmly resting and focusing his energy.

Nearby, his little rat companion gnawed happily on a piece of lingshi, the soft cracking sounds of its chewing echoing faintly within the hollow. Its cheeks were stuffed full, and its eyes shone with greedy satisfaction, making Max shake his head helplessly and mutter under his breath, "You’re going to get fat at this rate."

He turned his palm, and two blood-red beast cores, each the size of a clenched fist, appeared floating above it, their surfaces faintly glowing with a rich crimson aura.

These were no ordinary cores—they belonged to the two beast pets of the trio from the Void Soul Tower he had slain. Their power radiated faint waves of energy, the kind that could shake lesser experts to their knees.

For a moment, Max’s expression softened into one of lingering awe. He had been lucky, extremely lucky, to acquire such treasures. If circumstances had been slightly different, he wouldn’t even have stood a chance.

"If it wasn’t for that stroke of luck... I couldn’t have handled Kyle," he muttered, remembering the fierce battle vividly.

But these cores were not his greatest harvest.