"Shu Wanjuan! You work for the imperial court! Don't you forget who you are!" Bloodfang Monster knew Shu Wanjuan had arrived, but she had yet to spot where he was.
"The court has tasked me with a great many things. Which one are you referring to? I can't quite recall." Shu Wanjuan flashed into view within the darkness of the night. With a casual flick of his hand, he reduced two stone cultivators to gravel.
As long as Shu Wanjuan showed himself, Bloodfang Monster had her chance to cast curses.
"Stop playing dumb! First you joined the peddler's rebellion, then you served as an official under the court, and now whose bidding are you planning to do? What makes an erratic turncoat like you any different from a servant of three masters?"
Having delivered this speech, Bloodfang Monster felt rather proud of herself. She believed she had used the phrase "servant of three masters" correctly, and that it must pack quite a punch against Shu Wanjuan.
"Heh!" Shu Wanjuan chuckled. "A servant of three masters? You're undercounting! Back when I followed Shan Chengjun, I had dealings with Tufang State as well. Shan Chengjun made friends in Wansheng Province, and I got to know plenty myself.
"You surely know what kind of place Wansheng Province is—warlords dividing the land, with far too many lords one could follow. Forget three masters; even thirteen wouldn't be an issue for me."
*Bang!*
Over a dozen stone cultivators crumbled and ruptured one after another under the penetration of inscribed characters. If Bloodfang Monster failed to find an opening to strike back, at the rate Shu Wanjuan was going, there wouldn't be enough of these stone cultivators for him to butcher.
Yet Bloodfang Monster was convinced Shu Wanjuan had already fallen under her curse.
He had just claimed that even thirteen masters wouldn't be an issue. Could such shameless words truly have come from his heart?
Was Shu Wanjuan really that sort of man?
He had to be trying to comfort his own conscience, right?
Bloodfang Monster hurled dozens of calamity tribulations in quick succession. "Old Shu, if you feel miserable inside, just say so! We know each other inside out—why bother trying to be tough?
"The court might not have treated you well, but rain or shine, hasn't it shown you favor? Since you swore loyalty to the court, how can you eat from your bowl while eyeing the pot, running to someone else's house to beg for food?"
Behind her, the four stone cultivators couldn't stop shaking their heads. No wonder Boss Lu called Bloodfang Monster coarse—this woman couldn't even speak properly, yet insisted on spouting idioms left and right.
Yet those half-baked idioms actually did make Shu Wanjuan feel a pang of shame.
Sensing she had planted the calamity tribulations, Bloodfang Monster swiftly unleashed her technique.
A technique created jointly by three paths—Stone Cultivation, Virtue Cultivation, and Curse Cultivation: Virtue Proclamation Stele Body.
The core principle of this technique was to carve moral reprimands into an opponent's consciousness like stele inscriptions, using the guilt in the opponent's heart to trigger calamity tribulations and petrify their entire body.
The technique struck home with a single blow! Immediately, a muffled thud rang out.
*Bang!*
*Crash!*
A vast spread of shattered stone littered the ground.
Bloodfang Monster froze for a good while.
Was this rubble Shu Wanjuan?
Bloodfang Monster had intended to turn Shu Wanjuan into stone, but she had never planned on shattering him like this.
Had Shu Wanjuan felt so ashamed that he blew himself up?
Of course not.
These stones were formed from ink.
Bloodfang Monster's curses were indeed formidable, but Shu Wanjuan possessed the Heavenly Harmony technique. The moment he was struck by the calamity tribulations, he immediately used ink to create a substitute body, and Hen Wuyou's curse had landed on the substitute instead.
With the curse having failed, Shu Wanjuan seized the chance to strike. His figure flickered in and out of sight, effortlessly slaying over a dozen stone cultivators.
Bloodfang Monster's tactic was to let the stone cultivators hold the front line while she ambushed from behind with curses. That approach was indeed effective, but if the opponent wasn't afraid of curses, that was an entirely different story.
"Shu Wanjuan, this old woman has calamity tribulations to spare! Let's see how many you can withstand!"
Shu Wanjuan smiled. "Hen Wuyou, keep your stubborn mouth running. If you have a thousand, I'll endure a thousand; if you have ten thousand, I'll endure ten thousand!"
Before his voice had even faded, writing appeared across all Four Stone Cultivator Prodigies.
He wasn't merely taking hits. This was Shu Wanjuan's fighting style: while constantly parrying Bloodfang Monster, his counterattacks against the stone cultivators had never ceased for a moment.
Bloodfang Monster grew a little frightened. Writing had begun appearing on her own body as well. If she were like Shan Chengjun and could clash with Shu Wanjuan head-on, there would still be a chance of victory.
Or if she were like Li Qi, constantly catching people off guard, she would also have a chance.
Yet Bloodfang Monster lacked the strength to fight Shu Wanjuan in a direct clash. She unleashed curse after curse, only to have Shu Wanjuan neutralize them one by one. Before long, her calamity tribulations were nearly exhausted.
Looking at the shattered stone and ink stains on the ground, Bloodfang Monster spotted many insects among them. These insects could still be reused.
"Pick them up!" Shu Wanjuan's voice sounded right beside her ear again. "Hen Wuyou, those are good insects. Pick them up and keep using them—don't let them go to waste!"
Bloodfang Monster didn't dare touch them. Who knew whether Shu Wanjuan had left something on them?
With fewer and fewer stone cultivators left, the battle seemed entirely beyond turning around. Yet Bloodfang Monster was a veteran of hundreds of battles after all. She carefully recalled the scene when Hong Ying had clashed with Shu Wanjuan.
Hong Ying's strategy was even simpler than Li Qi's: she struck in rapid succession, so fast that Shu Wanjuan could barely parry, giving him no room to breathe.
Could Bloodfang Monster use that strategy?
She couldn't copy it directly; it needed a twist.
Bloodfang Monster took out the remaining sixteen calamity tribulations, strung them together, and conceived a way to win.
"Shu Wanjuan, you lied to me, and you lied to Shan Chengjun! You stayed in Moxiang Shop for so long, always claiming you couldn't find the entrance to this place!
"You had Shan Chengjun bring Ji Xuanwei to open the door, and then you brought me to open it. In truth, you knew how to open it all along—you just refused to say!
"In the end, Shan Chengjun was killed by your hand, Ji Xuanwei was killed by your hand, Chang Jiuhai and Qi Wujian were killed by your hand, and even I nearly died because of you!
"You tricked me into going to Mount Qunying, claiming it was to seize a treasure, when in truth you wanted to bring back that Talented Literatus to serve as the local deity!
"The court ordered you to seize Moxiang Shop by force, but you never wanted to act. Yet you didn't dare openly disobey the court either, so you tricked us into marching to our deaths!
"You damn coward, you haven't got the guts to rebel, only to harm others! Don't you feel disgraced in your heart?
"You're two-faced, treacherous, deceitful from east to west, spewing nothing but ghost-talk! Are you even human? Do you have any damn shame left?"
These words flew out like rapid gunfire, laden with calamity tribulations, crashing into Shu Wanjuan in uninterrupted waves.
Bloodfang Monster was imitating Hong Ying's strategy, seizing upon the gaps between his Heavenly Harmony technique shifts. As long as Shu Wanjuan wasn't fast enough in switching techniques, the curse could hit his true body. Once he turned to stone, Moxiang Shop would belong to her completely.
The logic was entirely sound, and these words indeed struck straight at the core of Shu Wanjuan's heart.
"You're right. I have harmed a good many people!" Shu Wanjuan offered no defense. "Anything else could be done, and any other place could be surrendered, but not Moxiang Shop. I cannot hand Moxiang Shop over!"
By the twelfth calamity tribulation, Bloodfang Monster felt she had caught the gap in his Heavenly Harmony technique. With the very next one, the curse would take effect.
Yet the moment the thirteenth calamity tribulation left her hand, Bloodfang Monster vomited a mouthful of blood, and the curse was forcibly interrupted.
Casting curses came at a price; she had to endure the curse's backlash.
Bloodfang Monster's physical body was robust, but Shu Wanjuan's combat strength was simply too formidable. Using curses on him in relentless succession was more backlash than even the toughest physique could withstand.
What was more, Shu Wanjuan hadn't been idling either. Layers of writing had accumulated on Bloodfang Monster's body, and under this relentless erosion, not a single intact patch of flesh remained on her.
Turning around to look, two of the Four Stone Cultivator Prodigies were dead, and the rest of the stone cultivators were virtually all wiped out.
Zhou Wencheng shook off a bodyful of shattered stone, straightened his knees, and stood up.
Murong Gui had broken free of the curse, stirring the ink in the lake.
Bloodfang Monster didn't dwell on it any longer. She knew she had no chance of winning.
While Shu Wanjuan was still some distance away, Bloodfang Monster leapt into the lake, taking the two surviving Stone Cultivator Prodigies with her.
Relying on their thick hides and rugged flesh, the three withstood the ink's corrosion, swam to the exit, and escaped the local deity's dwelling.
The two Stone Cultivator Prodigies looked at Bloodfang Monster, resentment clouding their faces. "Our clansmen are all inside. Are we just going to abandon them?"
Bloodfang Monster gave a scoffing laugh. "What clansmen? Your clansmen died out long ago! Like you, they all came out of the Great Totem. Go negotiate with Old Qiao—as many of these clansmen as you want, Old Qiao can make for you."
At the mention of the Great Totem, the expressions of the two Stone Cultivator Prodigies twisted slightly. They seemed to hold some vague recollection of it, yet they couldn't recall the specifics at all.
The Great Totem ought to be very important to them, and the court's matters were equally important. Bloodfang Monster had just deceived the court; an explanation had to be given for this.
"You just told Qiao Yi that we took Moxiang Shop. Aren't you going to explain things to him? If he looks into it later, who will bear the blame?"
"Look into what? What's there to investigate? Did I say anything wrong?" Bloodfang Monster had an air of utter indifference. There was no way she would admit to submitting a false military report. "Moxiang Shop was taken long ago. All we're missing is a covenant deed! What difference does a deed make anyway? What does it matter whether that broken attic is brought down or not?
"Moxiang Shop is in our hands right now. Can Shu Wanjuan stop whatever we want to do? Can Zhou Badou stop us? The only place they dare act tough is inside that attic. Ask them if they dare chase us out!"
The two Stone Cultivator Prodigies kept staring at Bloodfang Monster's face. Bloodfang Monster frowned. "What are you looking at me for? Is there a flower on my face or something? Good-for-nothings, showing no skill in a fight, but when it comes to taking advantage of this old woman..."
Bloodfang Monster felt an itch on her cheek. She scratched at it a few times, only to find her fingernails coated in ink.
Several layers of skin had already peeled away—how could there still be ink?
Could it be...
"They really fucking chased us out!" Bloodfang Monster took to her heels and ran, the two Stone Cultivator Prodigies trailing behind her.
Shu Wanjuan was nearby, and Zhou Wencheng had followed along as well.
After running for a long time, Bloodfang Monster realized she couldn't break out of the Willow Garden.
She looked back at the two Stone Cultivator Prodigies. "Your path is certainly bound to go extinct a second time. If you two die, so be it, but see if there's any way to save my life!"
After a few more steps, Bloodfang Monster's torso crashed to the ground, while her legs remained standing stiff and upright behind her.
Her torso didn't rapidly regenerate; all she could see was the ink sinking deeper and deeper into her body.
The two Stone Cultivator Prodigies paid Bloodfang Monster no heed and continued fleeing for their lives.
Before they had run far, ink marks appeared on their bodies.
The correct response was to immediately detonate the outer stone layer of their bodies, which was the best way to shake off the ink's erosion.
Yet Zhou Badou was already closing in. If they were struck by his technique, it was very likely that, like those earlier stone cultivators, once they started detonating, they wouldn't be able to stop.
Between the two Stone Cultivator Prodigies, one showed no hesitation and promptly detonated his surface layer of stone.
The detonation didn't continue endlessly; he suppressed it with his own technique.
Yet even more ink appeared across his body than before.
This ink hadn't stained him from the outside; it was surging outward from within his body.
What else could be done now?
Detonate again?
Shu Wanjuan stood before them; Zhou Badou stood behind them.
The two Stone Cultivator Prodigies looked at each other in dismay, having no idea what else they could possibly do.
***
Murong Gui half-reclined in the attic, looking at the dozens of stone cultivators sprawled haphazardly on the floor.
These were likely the last remaining stone cultivators in the world. Now afflicted by the sloth cultivator technique, even knowing that death was imminent, not one of them could be bothered to make a move.
The Writing Brush Scholar held his brush, writing characters onto the stone cultivators. Once the ink thoroughly permeated their bodies, these stone cultivators would vanish completely from the world.
Murong Gui asked the Writing Brush Scholar, "Do you feel sad for them?"
The Writing Brush Scholar wiped away his tears, dipped his brush into the inkstone, and resumed writing on their bodies.
Once all the stone cultivators were slain, Murong Gui pulled himself up by the railing and stood in the attic. Pointing toward the dwelling's exit, he roared, "Pursue!"
He was reminding the Writing Brush Scholar that they couldn't leave behind a future threat; they had to hunt down Bloodfang Monster!
The Writing Brush Scholar nodded vigorously, returned to the desk, and continued writing.
Seeing that the Writing Brush Scholar wasn't pursuing, Murong Gui, wrapped in his quilt, didn't pursue either. He lay back down on the floor.
"I'm not pursuing not because I'm lazy, but because I cannot leave the attic."
The Judge's Brush earnestly explained this to the Writing Brush Scholar.
The Writing Brush Scholar nodded once more.
The entrance at the bottom of the lake had yet to be sealed; one must not abandon one's post. He felt Murong Gui was not in the wrong!
***
Qiao Yi walked along the mountain path of Sage Peak, awaiting the battle report from Puluo Province.
Bloodfang Monster had just captured Moxiang Shop; the tide of battle was looking better and better!
Nian Shangyou rushed up. Before the document in his hands could even be delivered, Qiao Yi asked outright, "Have the thirteen newlands been taken?"
"Replying to My Lord, there is no word from He Shengdong's side for the time being."
Qiao Yi frowned. "Then where is this battle report from?"
Nian Shangyou replied, "It's a report sent from Santoucha. The Underground City's port has fallen."
"Splendid!" Delight showed on Qiao Yi's face. "Inform the commander of the Quenching Battalion to attack the Soil Market first, and then the Mortal Market."
Nian Shangyou said, "My Lord, the Mortal Market is the core of the Underground City."
Qiao Yi shook his head. "The Soil Market has fertile land. If we leave the Soil Market intact, it would be tantamount to giving the farming cultivators a chance to strike back."
He had always maintained his guard against Xu Han and his disciples.
Nian Shangyou asked, "My Lord, once Santoucha is taken, should we dispatch our troops as well?"
Qiao Yi laughed. "There's no need to wait until Santoucha is captured. When Tufang State launches its full-scale advance, we will march alongside them. Even if that peddler had three heads and six arms, let us see where he could possibly run to provide support."
***
Xu Han carried the severely wounded Qiu Zhiheng, flying all the way toward the Soil Market.
Zhang Wanlong said, "Master, heading to the Soil Market now might be too late. If I want to grow a decent batch of crops, it will take at least two days. Otherwise, there's no holding off that Bandit Quelling Battalion."
Xu Han said, "Two days—I'll find a way to buy that time for you!"
Ling Baitao carried Liao Zihui and said, "We'll fight for it together. Two days will definitely be enough to hold the Soil Market!"
Liao Zihui said with his dying breath, "The Sinless Army... there's still the Sinless Army..."
Xu Han said, "I've already contacted Luo Zhengnan and told the Sinless Army to head for the Mortal Market."
Liao Zihui shook his head. "Don't divide the troops..."
Xu Han gritted his teeth. "The Soil Market must be held, and the Mortal Market must be held as well. I gave the peddler my word—I must hold Santoucha."
Zhao Lanmeng carried Lin Fojiao and sighed. "In a bit, I'll go check on the enemy's movements to see if we can fight them midway first."
Qiu Zhiheng clutched his pocket watch tightly, gritting his teeth to hang onto his last breath.
***
An arrowhead grazed past, striking Caoye in the shoulder.
Caoye didn't feel pain, only a sticky warmth spreading across her shoulder.
Blood flowed heavily. She took out some styptic powder from her medicine box, sprinkled it over the wound, and kept crawling forward.
She could only crawl; she couldn't stand up and walk. Youtao had told her before that crawling forward was the right thing to do, and that standing up would get her killed fast.
Sometimes Caoye forgot Youtao's warning. She had tried to stand up several times, but her legs were so weak that the moment she pushed herself halfway up, she fell flat on the ground again.
Ahead on the ground lay another person. She recognized him—he was from the Three Heroes Sect, nicknamed Xiao Jianzi.
Xiao Jianzi was a blade cultivator who knew how to cut hair. He was always saying he wanted to cut Caoye's hair, but Qin the Fatty never allowed it.
Fatty Brother had said Caoye was his sister, and no one was allowed to get any funny ideas.
"Jianzi Brother, don't move around. Swallow this pill first. Jianzi Brother, swallow hard, swallow it down..."
Xiao Jianzi held the pill in his mouth, unable to swallow it.
He extended two fingers and made a snipping gesture toward Caoye, still wanting to cut her hair.
Then he stopped moving.
"Jianzi Brother..." Tears streamed incessantly down Caoye's face. She knew Xiao Jianzi was no longer breathing, yet she kept frantically digging through her satchel for medicine.
A cloud of dust surged over, blinding Caoye's vision.
Youtao rushed forward, scooped up Caoye, and ran toward a tent.
"What were you doing staying there?" Youtao wiped the blood from her face and shouted at Caoye, "Cavalry are charging over, can't you see?"
Caoye's eyes were red, her gaze dazed.
Youtao pointed at the tent. "Told you not to come, but you just had to! Stay inside this tent and don't run around..."
Before her words faded, a spear impaled Youtao's chest from behind.
A cavalryman hoisted Youtao up on the spear, about to fling her to the ground, when He Yuxiu leaped into the air. She seized the spear first, saving Youtao, and swung her saber back around to cleave the cavalryman.
Youtao collapsed to the ground. He Yuxiu gripped the spear shaft and asked Caoye, "Can it be pulled?"
Caoye stood tongue-tied, unable to utter a word.
"Do you fucking know medicine or not?" He Yuxiu barked. "I'm asking if it can be pulled!"
Youtao was barely hanging on. Clutching her wound, she said, "Sister Xiu, give me a quick end!"
"Stop fucking talking nonsense!" He Yuxiu yelled at the top of her lungs, "Is there a healing cultivator around?!"
Feng Daiku arrived at Youtao's side, glanced at the injury, and first used threads of affection to sever the spearhead before saying to He Yuxiu, "Pull!"
He Yuxiu moved swiftly, yanking out the shaft.
Youtao passed out on the spot from the sheer agony. Feng Daiku treated the wound with her threads of affection and set her down beside the tent.
Whether she lived or died would depend on Youtao's own fortune.
She was considered lucky; Caoye quickly snapped out of her daze and knew to apply medicine to Youtao.
Across the battlefield, plenty of wounded soldiers could only lie on the ground, leaving their fates to the heavens.
Tufang State had dispatched ten camps in total, and the one Li Banfeng had ambushed this time was Camp One.
Camp One had eight thousand men, making it the largest camp. According to the tactic formulated by Hong Ying, Che Wushang feigned defeat to lure the enemy out of their camp, and once they reached the ambush zone, they wiped out the enemy in one fell swoop.
The entire engagement had gone exceptionally smoothly, and Camp One had been successfully annihilated.
Yet when Hong Ying led everyone into the camp to clear the battlefield, an accident occurred.
Tufang State's Camp Three and Camp Six arrived to rendezvous with Camp One, and with neither side prepared, an encounter battle broke out.
Such unplanned battles were the greatest test of combat readiness, and Tufang State's elite forces performed far better than scattered irregulars.
The battle grew grimmer by the moment. The Rickshaw Man said to Hong Ying, "How about we withdraw?"
"Nonsense!" Hong Ying shouted. "If we retreat now and let them strike our backs while pursuing, how many people will die?"
Jiu'er said, "I'll set up a formation! You lead everyone through it, and the enemy shouldn't be able to catch up!"
Tangyuan looked back at the situation and shook his head. "It's a total brawl right now. We can't even get military orders through, so how are we going to guide them through a formation?"
As they spoke, a roar sounded in the distance, and the Tufang soldiers parted to make way.
Ma the Fifth tightened the bandage on his arm. "Their commander is here!"
Across the eleven provinces and three thousand nations, in terms of individual combat strength, not a single land could rival Puluo Province.
Yet no one knew where Tufang State had found such a ruthless figure. In Camp Three, there was a bear-like commander riding a giant beast with a tiger's head and a serpent's body, charging back and forth through the camp, having injured both Ma the Fifth and Qin the Fatty in succession.
With a fractured left arm, Ma the Fifth was still intent on charging in to fight. Fatty stepped in front of him and said, "Fifth Brother, let me!"
He secretly popped a piece of coal into his mouth, only to hear He Yuxiu scold, "Both of you injured men get to the back! Don't stand in the way here!"
He Yuxiu took a swig from her liquor gourd and was just about to charge forward when she saw Hong Ying had already rushed in.
Earlier, this bear commander had charged in and out several times, and Hong Ying had never crossed paths with him. Today, she wanted to see just how formidable this man truly was.
The two clashed. Hong Ying first tested the waters with Tread Over Ten Thousand Rivers. Following a colossal boom, surrounding soldiers fell in swathes, and the bear commander was wounded as well. Yet swinging a pair of iron hammers, he could still counterattack.
How could such clumsy iron hammers hit Hong Ying? She easily dodged them with Free and Easy. The pair of iron hammers missed, their heads colliding to produce a tremendous crash.
*Clang!*
That single deafening roar shook Hong Ying's chest with acute pain, and numerous Tufang soldiers nearby collapsed dead on the spot.
Hong Ying was startled. Was this bear using sound cultivator techniques?
Amid her astonishment, the bear commander urged his mount forward into the charge, engaging Hong Ying no further.
This was the bear commander's set tactic: his mount charged straight ahead, never getting tangled in drawn-out fights with anyone. Against combatants from Puluo Province, this was an exceptionally sound strategy.
Feng Daiku recognized the bear commander. "Everyone, be careful! He's from Puluo Province—Body Cultivation Grandmaster Xie Bajian!"
Body Cultivation Grandmaster Xie Bajian had enjoyed immense renown in Puluo Province over a decade ago. Ma Junyang and Qin Tianjiu had both heard of this figure, yet seeing him today, they hadn't recognized him.
The reason he had become a grandmaster of his generation was that he brought innovations to the Body Cultivator path. Traditional Body Cultivators relied entirely on the physical advantages of their bodies to fight, but Xie Bajian had integrated artisan cultivator craftsmanship into his cultivation, amplifying his physical advantages while making up for many shortcomings.
Just like the mount beneath him, which effectively compensated for his lack of speed, and that pair of iron hammers, which could attack with sound even if they missed, compensating for his lack of precision.
As for why this mount and these iron hammers were so natural to use, it was because they were inherently part of his body. The giant beast beneath him was actually his legs, and that pair of giant hammers was originally his hands—artisan craftsmanship had thoroughly merged into his flesh and blood.
Xie Bajian had once received a silver dollar from the peddler and was a grandmaster recognized by the peddler himself. Later on, it was precisely by relying on this silver dollar given by the peddler that he had become a commander in Tufang State.
"Crab Bajian?" Lightbulb didn't quite catch the name. The man didn't look like a crab either, and he was wondering whether applying some oil to his mount's feet might bring him down.
Hong Ying raised her spear to pursue. Regardless of Xie Bajian's origins, she didn't want to give him another chance to strike.
Barely two steps into the pursuit, Hong Ying pulled back.
Che Wushang laughed aloud. "General Hong, so there are times when you feel afraid too!"
Hong Ying was indeed alarmed; she sensed imminent peril ahead.
Xie Bajian was charging forward with his pair of iron hammers when he suddenly saw dust rising ahead, and a troop of Tufang cavalry was smashed to pieces, men and horses overturned.
Looking closer through the dust, a train came charging out.
Li Banfeng was crouched atop the train, slaughtering anyone in his path.
Xie Bajian had no idea where Li Qi had procured a train, and he had no desire to clash head-on with a locomotive. He immediately veered aside, ducking to the roadside.
How could the companion dwelling let him slip away? The Old Master violently swung his head, slamming Xie Bajian right onto the ground. Li Banfeng leaped onto Xie Bajian, swung his scythe, and slashed furiously at Xie Bajian's face.
Xie Bajian's face was made of iron. Although scarred and battered by the cuts, his cultivation bore the brunt of it, and he suffered no grave injuries.
He struggled fiercely against Li Banfeng, looking for an opening to slam his two iron hammers together and produce a sound.
*Squelch!*
Amid the vicious struggle, the Glove plunged something unknown into Xie Bajian's right eye.
Xie Bajian's left eye was made of glass, but his right eye was made of flesh and blood. The agonizing pain was excruciating, and he quickly yanked the object out of his eye.
What on earth was this?
A key?
Before Xie Bajian could fathom Li Banfeng's intention, he realized his body was glowing.
Li Banfeng stared fixedly at Xie Bajian, watching his body grow brighter and brighter. Once the brightness reached a certain point, Li Banfeng kicked him far into the distance.
A burst of glaring light flashed. Xie Bajian struggled to his feet in the snow, initially sensing nothing amiss with his body.
Yet when he tried taking a step forward, he found that the "giant beast" beneath him could no longer move.
He had been struck by Li Banfeng's technique, To Look Down on All, losing nearly all of his cultivation. He could no longer bear the crushing weight of his own body.
As he was still pondering how to escape the battlefield, he saw Li Banfeng arrive before him and lop off his head with a single blade strike.
Deprived of cultivation, Xie Bajian offered no resistance whatsoever. His head struck the ground and was tossed by Li Banfeng to Hong Ying.
Hong Ying tossed the head to He Yuxiu, He Yuxiu tossed it to Ma the Fifth, and Ma the Fifth tossed it to Qin the Fatty.
Qin the Fatty caught the head, bit a chunk out of it, spat several times in disgust, and cursed, "This junk is made of iron!"
He turned and hurled the head to Che Wushang. Holding Xie Bajian's head, Che Wushang called out to the Tufang army, "Who among you wants it?"
The people of Puluo Province passed Xie Bajian's head along, ferocious smiles plastered across their faces.
The tall, burly Tufang men trembled, doing their best to avoid meeting the eyes of the Puluo folk.
With their commander slain, panic gripped many soldiers, and the battle formation began descending into chaos.
Li Banfeng leaped onto the train, roaring with wild laughter and shouting all the way, "Kill them! Chop off all their heads, and let's see whose skin is still made of iron!"
***
The King of Tufang State was riding a steam warhorse toward Huangtu Town when a soldier delivered a battle report: "Camp Three's commander, Xie Bajian, has been slain by Li Qi."
After all three heads read through the document one by one, the Demon Lord ordered, "Dispatch Camp Five to provide reinforcements and bog Li Qi down. All other camps, follow me to take control of Huangtu Town. Send word to Qiao Yi—it is time for him to make his move."
Chapter 832