...
Pang Wei, Xiong Laosan, and Hu Jiu watched helplessly as Chen Hongyuan's corpse sank to the bottom of the water, a few ripples spreading across the river's surface before finally returning to nothingness.
Pang Wei's face twitched violently, and his fists clenched so hard his joints popped. He still could not believe it:
Sixth Brother... is just gone like that?!
He was a mid-stage Anjin Rank cultivator! He had immersed himself in the White Bone Soul-Consuming Hand for years, tearing open the throats of countless experts!
Yet in front of this kid, he couldn't even last three moves before his neck was crushed by a single claw, just like... slaughtering a chicken!
The three of them looked ash-faced, their hearts filled with shock and rage, yet they hesitated to move. They had already grown deeply wary of the youth's strength.
Not far away, a deafening boom erupted as Duan Hongling and Ding Hong clashed, their Anjin forces colliding with a fury that blasted a water curtain dozens of feet high into the air.
Both of them stumbled back three steps, the reefs beneath their feet shattering into pieces under the residual force they discharged.
Duan Hongling caught her breath, her chest heaving. Her beautiful eyes darted around in astonishment, her mind flooded with sheer disbelief.
This Junior Brother Shen... is actually this powerful!
His identity token clearly stated he had opened three Anjin acupoints, but the combat power he just displayed is definitely not that simple!
Only now did she realize...
Only five of the Six Cangwu Demons had appeared here.
The remaining one...
Was likely the corpse beside the carriage earlier, the one Shen Xiuhan had instantly killed with a single claw strike.
Ding Hong and the others are all here, so that must have been...
Weng Gui?!
Horror flickered in Duan Hongling's eyes as she thought in disbelief:
First, he eliminated Weng Gui, and now he has slain Chen Hongyuan!
Of the Six Cangwu Demons, he has personally taken down two of them!
Just what is this Junior Brother Shen's background?!
“What nerve!”
Ding Hong's gaze was also locked onto Shen Xiuhan.
Fierce light flashed in his pupils, the flesh on his face quivering violently with rage. Making a split-second decision, he roared, “Second Brother! Forget about going onto the island to snatch the Precious Fish for now. Let's work together to slaughter this brat and avenge Sixth Brother!”
A trace of anxiety had already risen in his heart.
Even by fast boat, it would take nearly two hours to travel from Thousand Pools Island to Tingquan Island, the nearest island belonging to the Star-Plucking Sect.
Originally, this amount of time was more than enough.
Once they took the Precious Fish and slaughtered the pursuers, they could easily make their escape. The world was vast, and no one would be able to track them down.
But who could have expected that an unheard-of, reckless youth would suddenly charge in halfway?
He looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, with an ordinary appearance, yet his strikes were horrifyingly ruthless and decisive.
For the first time, a faint sense of unease rose in the depths of Ding Hong's heart.
We must end this quickly. We cannot delay any longer!
The three men on the boat clearly understood Ding Hong's intention as well.
Pang Wei took a deep breath, turned his head, and barked, “Lu Zhaoyuan! You will come with us to—”
He cut himself off mid-sentence.
Pang Wei's face was instantly filled with utter bewilderment.
Lu Zhaoyuan, who had been standing right behind them, had vanished without a trace!
Pang Wei's heart leaped, and he whipped his head around to scan the distance.
Several hundred paces away on the lake, a figure was running frantically across the water, kicking up long, white trails of splashing foam.
Without even looking back, the figure blurred into a tiny black speck after a few leaps, on the verge of disappearing into the dense forest on the opposite shore.
Lu Zhaoyuan... had fled!
Pang Wei's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Trembling with rage, the veins on his forehead bulging, he roared toward the sky, his voice echoing across the wilderness, “Lu Zhaoyuan! I will kill you!!”
The fury in his chest erupted like a volcano, completely burning away his previous wariness.
Pang Wei reached back and drew the broad blade from his back. The blade let out a menacing, soul-shaking ghostly wail.
Xiong Laosan's face was dark as water. He brandished his fine-iron long spear, its tip pointing straight at Shen Xiuhan from afar.
Hu Jiu unfastened a pitch-black chain. The meteor hammer at the end of the chain whirled above his head, its densely packed barbs glinting with a cold light as it let out a sharp, whistling sound through the air.
“Attack together!”
The three demons moved simultaneously in an instant!
Blade-glow, spear shadows, and the whistling hammer swept toward Shen Xiuhan like a violent tempest.
The three demons had worked together for years, and their coordination was seamless.
This combined assault was powerful enough to strangle any Anjin Rank expert on the spot!
Duan Hongling's expression changed dramatically.
Ding Hong stepped forward again, his iron fists enveloped in thick black energy. He unleashed a barrage of strikes, pinning her down completely.
Unable to free herself to help, Duan Hongling hurriedly shouted at the top of her lungs, “Junior Brother Shen, leave quickly! I will hold them off. Return to the sect immediately for reinforcements!”
Her intention in shouting was merely to buy Shen Xiuhan a brief moment so that he wouldn't be instantly killed by the three demons.
But who could have expected that upon hearing her words, Shen Xiuhan's eyes would flicker, and without saying a single word, he would turn around and plunge straight into the river?
With a loud splash, water sprayed everywhere. His green robes vanished into the water in the blink of an eye, and his aura disappeared completely without a trace.
Duan Hongling's face if stiffened, and she froze right where she stood.
Wait, you... you're really leaving?!
Just moments ago, she had been marveling at this junior brother's strength, thinking that with him around and her tying down another, they might actually be able to hold out until reinforcements from the sect arrived.
Who would have thought that while this kid said nothing, he would flee even faster than Lu Zhaoyuan? He dived in headfirst, without even leaving many bubbles behind.
Seeing this, Ding Hong burst into wild, contemptuous laughter. “So he's just a gutless coward! He only killed my sixth brother through a sneak attack. I will definitely avenge this in the future!”
His fists did not stop. He unleashed eight consecutive strikes, each fist carrying dark, malevolent energy, forcing Duan Hongling to retreat repeatedly.
Watching the panic flicker in Duan Hongling's eyes, he licked his thick lips and smiled lewdly, “Hahaha! You're a spicy little mermaid, aren't you? Once I capture you, I'll make sure to taste every bit of you!”
A fierce light flashed in Duan Hongling's beautiful eyes, and she barked coldly, “I doubt you'll live to try!”
Though she spoke defiantly, she already had the intention to retreat.
Lu Zhaoyuan colluded with the demonic path; the evidence is irrefutable, and he has already defected.
Junior Brother Shen slew two of the Cangwu Demons. This contribution is already enough to report back to the sect.
Although as the overseer, I will still face some blame... with the connections I've built, I can pull some strings to turn a major issue into a minor one, and a minor one into... Wait?!
Her train of thought cut off abruptly.
Duan Hongling's beautiful eyes flew wide open, and she and Ding Hong turned their gazes toward the lake almost at the same instant!
On the lake, Pang Wei and the other two missed their target, their attacks blasting the reef where Shen Xiuhan had been standing, shattering the stone within a several-foot radius into dust.
Just as the three of them were struggling to regain their balance and looking at each other in confusion, a sudden change occurred!
Beneath the water, the deep blue bubble of the Overturning Sea Bead popped silently.
Shen Xiuhan's aura suddenly materialized... right beneath Hu Jiu's feet!
Mystic Ice Force!
Crack, crack!
The rippling lake surface suddenly froze, forming a pale, basin-sized block of ice.
The ice solidified silently from within the water, instantly creeping up Hu Jiu's legs at a frenzied pace.
The bone-chilling cold caused Hu Jiu to lose all sensation in his legs in an instant.
Hu Jiu's expression warped with shock, a deep dread welling up in his eyes. He let out a raspy, furious roar, “What the hell is this!”
Six acupoints within his body vibrated simultaneously as his Anjin force surged wildly, attempting to shatter the ice.
Yet this ice was completely different from ordinary frost!
It was freezing to the bone, even causing the blood qi in his meridians to stagnate, making the circulation of his Anjin force incredibly sluggish!
“Not good!” Pang Wei's face fell. Brandishing his blade, he rushed to assist.
But this split second of delay was more than enough.
With a loud splash, a figure burst out of the water like a dragon emerging from the sea, rising fiercely amidst a sky of spraying droplets!
Shen Xiuhan was drenched from head to toe, his eyes as cold as frost. In his hand, he now held a longsword that shimmered with a biting, cold light—Hanlin!
The sword let out a long, clear hum, echoing like a dragon's roar in the highest heavens.
Thousand-Wave Sword: First Wave Overlapping the River!
The sword-glow was like overlapping waves, stacking upon one another with unstoppable momentum.
As the sword slashed out, it felt as if the waters of a great river were being cleaved in two. The sword force was continuous and unending, like waves crashing one after another.
The sharp sword-glow flashed across Hu Jiu's neck, so fast that it left only a silver streak of an afterimage.
Hu Jiu's body stiffened abruptly, the terror and rage on his face freezing in an instant.
In the next moment, a thread-thin red line emerged on his neck.
Immediately after, scalding blood erupted from the red line like a fountain, launching his head over two feet into the air.
The head spun through the air before both it and the headless corpse crashed into the river with a loud splash, kicking up a massive spray of crimson water.
The ripples spread outward, stained with a diffusing crimson.
One of the Six Cangwu Demons, the Fifth Demon Hu Jiu... fell!
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