Stop

Dust swirled in the air.

A deathly silence hung over the pier.

The clash between Shen Xiuhan and Tu Xiaotian had caused an uproar far beyond anyone's imagination!

The smile on Tang Jin's face had completely vanished, his large hand resting on the hilt of his blade at some point.

Pang Yi's triangular eyes narrowed into slits as he stared intently, trying to peer through the thick dust.

The dozens of river bandits all looked horrified. They exchanged bewildered glances, completely stripped of their earlier arrogance and clamor.

On the Ji family's side.

Li Han, Yan Chuan, Hu Zhi, and the others were incredibly tense, their lips trembling.

Wang Jindao's eyes were wide with utter shock as he anxiously rubbed his hands together.

Luo Feng's breathing was shallow and rapid, his chest heaving as he stared unblinkingly at the clearing.

Everyone stood rooted to the spot, tensely awaiting the outcome of this clash.

Suddenly!

Tang Jin's expression shifted slightly. He suddenly rose to his feet, his gaze burning like torches as he stared into the distance.

“Fifth Brother...”

“Quiet!” Tang Jin raised a hand to cut off Pang Yi's confusion. “Listen! There's a sound!”

Pang Yi froze, then quickly perked up his ears to listen closely.

Aside from the cold wind howling over the lake and the waves lapping against the shallows, there was a faint, rhythmic, muffled thudding sound echoing eerily from the depths of the dust cloud.

“What is that sound?”

On the other side, Wang Jindao and the others suddenly heard the noise, and their faces filled with confusion.

Instinctively, they craned their necks to look toward the source of the sound.

Finally, the dust slowly settled and dispersed.

And they could clearly see the scene inside.

Under the old locust tree, several hundred paces away.

A towering, bear-like figure was half-kneeling on the ground, his back against the tree trunk. His head hung limply, looking like a sack of skin stripped of its bones.

He had clearly lost consciousness, his body tilting forward uncontrollably.

But just as he was about to hit the ground!

A tall, straight figure suddenly raised a leg, his instep striking like an upward-swinging sledgehammer, slamming brutally into the man's face!

The massive impact sent the towering body flying backward again, his head cracking heavily against the tree trunk behind him.

Then, the blue-robed figure lowered his leg expressionlessly, waiting for him to tilt forward once more.

And kicked again.

Tilt forward.

Kicked again.

Repeat—

The fifth kick, the sixth kick, the seventh kick...

Every single kick was steady and powerful, like a pile driver. There was not a single wasted motion, a cold-blooded display that sent shivers down everyone's spines.

Finally...

Tang Jin was the first to react. His eyes instantly turned blood-red as he let out a furious, lion-like roar.

“Stop!!”

Beside him, Pang Yi also snapped out of his daze. His ugly face twisted instantly, and he shrieked:

“You little beast! Stop right there!”

Before his voice even faded, his bamboo-thin body turned into a ghostly shadow, lunging frantically toward the figure that was still tirelessly kicking!

As if sensing the killing intent, Shen Xiuhan shifted his steps. His body swayed slightly like a falling leaf, easily retreating into the distance.

As for Tu Xiaotian, who had been kneeling and repeatedly kicked back up, he finally crashed face-first onto the ground with a dull thud, landing like a heap of rotten meat.

Pang Yi's eyes twitched violently. He bent down, his hands trembling as he forced the body over.

But when he saw the face, the fierce bandit suddenly jerked his head away, unable to bear a second look.

Tu Xiaotian now looked like a ruptured blood-bag. Thick blood gushed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth like a spring.

His face was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, his facial features completely unrecognizable.

One of his eyeballs had popped out of its socket, sent flying to some unknown corner.

The other was still dangling from his cheekbone by a few pale, bloody tendons, but it too had been kicked into a flat mush.

His internal organs were shattered, his bones completely broken, and all signs of life were gone.

“Good... Good... Very good!”

Pang Yi slowly stood up. His thin, bony fingers dug deep into his palms, his nails sinking into his flesh as blood dripped down.

He raised his head inch by inch, glaring at Shen Xiuhan in the distance, his gaze as sharp as a poisoned blade.

“You little bastard...”

With intense murderous intent locked onto Shen Xiuhan, Pang Yi lowered his body and arched his back, growling through gritted teeth:

“Today...”

“I will slice the flesh off your bones, piece by piece! Three thousand cuts! I will skin you alive right here on the shores of Cloudwater Lake!”

The moment the words left his mouth, the ground beneath Pang Yi's feet exploded. His figure turned into a bolt of lightning that streaked across the ground, kicking up a wave of air that tore through the wind as he charged to slaughter Shen Xiuhan!

“Pay for Old Nine's life with yours!”

Amidst Pang Yi's furious roar, his footwork became incredibly swift and tricky. He darted left and right, his trajectory completely unpredictable.

He pressed his five fingers together like a sharp dagger, resembling a mantis hunting in the grass, aiming straight for Shen Xiuhan's heart!

【Black Mantis Fist: Heart-Piercing Hand】!

The wind from his fingers was biting, filled with unmistakable killing intent.

Yet Shen Xiuhan acted as if he had heard nothing. His hands hung at his sides, standing firm as a mountain, not even blinking once, completely indifferent to the lethal strike closing in on him.

Until Pang Yi closed within thirty feet...

A figure suddenly burst out from the bamboo forest at an incredible speed, as if shrinking the distance between them. A faint afterimage flashed through the air, accompanied by a sharp, whistling wind.

In the next breath, an arm that was not particularly thick—even looking somewhat slender—lightly struck Pang Yi's chest.

The punch seemed slow, but it carried the weight of a thousand tons. It contained a devastating force, crashing down like an invisible mountain.

Pang Yi's pupils dilated instantly, his eyes nearly splitting.

A wave of agonizing pain surged through his chest. His ribs shattered piece by piece, and he spat out a massive mouthful of dark blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.

His body was sent flying backward at several times the speed of his initial charge.

Like a hurled stone projectile, he flew dozens of yards away and crashed into the shallow waters of the lake, kicking up a splash several feet high with a loud splash.

“Sixth Brother!”

Tang Jin's eyes nearly split from rage, blood vessels bulging in his eyes as he gritted his teeth so hard they clicked.

The crowd of lackeys and river bandits around him panicked, shouting and scrambling into the water to rescue him, splashing around in a chaotic mess.

Tang Jin snapped his head around, staring dead at the figure walking out of the bamboo forest.

The newcomer appeared to be around twenty years of age, with clean-cut features and a hint of youthfulness still lingering in his expression.

He wore a beast-hide coat with rough edges, a grayish-white fur collar draped over his shoulders, and deer-hide boots on his feet. He walked with steady, measured steps.

Slung across his back was a black longsword. The scabbard was made of some unknown material, dark and completely devoid of luster.

The style of the longsword was unlike the ornate and complex weapons of the current dynasty.

The hilt was plain and unadorned, lacking any intricate engravings or embedded jewels.

The blade was shaped like a slender willow leaf, about three feet and two inches long, with smooth, ancient lines, looking like an antique passed down from ancient times.

Tang Jin stared blankly at him, his pupils trembling as he muttered:

“Ji Ning... You, you have opened the Taichong acupoint and broken through to the Anjin Rank?!”

In the distance, Ji Ning remained silent. He simply walked forward unhurriedly, his steps as steady as a mountain.

A wave of vital force surged around him like a lingering mist.

That fluctuation of blood qi had already surpassed the fierce, externalized force of the Mingjin Rank, reaching a state that was restrained yet concealed a deadly danger.

It was the hallmark of the Anjin Rank!