Crushing Defeat!

Li Kui leaped through the woods, twisting and darting like a leopard as he swiftly reached Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing's face was deathly pale, a great gash had been torn across their abdomen, and more than half the robes beneath them were soaked red.

"Someone's ambushing us!"

Li Kui roared.

Before his voice had fully carried, countless flashes of saber light suddenly lit up the mist.

"All of you, die!!"

"Hahaha!"

The scene instantly descended into chaos.

The people from the Weiyuan Escort Agency had already armed themselves, weapons in hand and fully on guard, so they reacted quickly.

The Li Lineage guards, by contrast, were caught off guard because Zhu Qing and Chen Yue had paid it no mind. Many had their throats slit before they could even pick up their weapons.

"Ah!"

Chen Yue screamed as his left hand was chopped off.

"Senior Brother Chen!"

The other two junior brothers from the Tiger Martial Arts Academy rushed over, unleashing Tiger Palm strikes in succession and killing the enemies in the mist.

Black-clad corpses fell one after another.

The black-clad attackers varied greatly in strength. Some were martial artists, while others were ordinary people, but they all had one thing in common when they struck: they were vicious in the extreme and stopped at nothing.

A martial artist was ambushed with lime powder, and more than a dozen cleavers hacked into him one after another. After a frenzy of slashes, they hacked the Early Skin-Refining Realm martial artist into a bloody pulp.

"Clearwind Stronghold! They're from Clearwind Stronghold!"

Li Kui shouted.

Nearby, the black cloth covering a black-clad man's face was torn away, revealing one half of his face, disfigured by burns.

"Bloodhand, I never thought you'd still be alive!"

Li Kui's expression grew grave as he looked at the man before him.

"Li Kui, you're doomed to die today!"

A sinister voice came from behind him.

A hunchbacked old man leaning on a snake-shaped cane slowly emerged from the mist.

He coughed as he walked, his aged face covered in green venomous sores. Black pus constantly oozed from them, giving off a pungent stench.

"Viper, I never thought even you'd come!"

Li Kui's pupils abruptly contracted.

Bloodhand and Viper Elder were both at Skin-Refining Realm Perfection, just like him.

Both had made names for themselves long ago and were minor leaders of Clearwind Stronghold, each capable of holding his own.

Viper Elder in particular looked like a candle flickering in its final days, but in truth, the pressure he put on Li Kui was even greater than Bloodhand's.

The man was well versed in the art of poison. A moment's carelessness could see Li Kui fall into his trap and die without even knowing how.

Bloodhand was no simple opponent either. He cultivated Clearwind Stronghold's demonic art, the Blood Art, and used the Bloodthirsty Palm. Several hundred martial artists had already died beneath his palms.

Few had managed to escape his grasp.

Li Feng was one of them.

"Bloodhand? You're the one who killed my brother?"

Li Shengnan flew into a rage and smashed the neck bones of the black-clad man before her with one punch.

"You're that brat's sister? I never thought you'd grow so big in the blink of an eye."

Bloodhand's gaze roamed over Li Shengnan, filled with undisguised greed.

"Not bad. You're my type. Your brother got away back then, but this time, don't even think about running."

Bloodhand gave a strange, cackling laugh.

He liked women, but he liked men even more, especially strong ones.

"Shengnan, run!"

Li Kui shouted and sprinted toward Li Shengnan.

The enemy had clearly come prepared and knew their strength inside and out. With the Li Lineage guards also badly hit, everyone would lose their lives here if they didn't leave now!

"Run? You're all going to die here today!"

Bloodhand burst out laughing, his palms blazing with bloody light as he blocked Li Kui. Viper Elder lightly tapped his cane on the ground, and countless rustling sounds instantly rose through the woods. Immediately afterward, venomous snakes came pouring out from every direction.

"Snakes! So many snakes!"

The Li Lineage guards and the Weiyuan Escort Agency were driven steadily back.

"Young miss, hurry and go!"

Two bloodstained escorts from the Weiyuan Escort Agency held Li Shengnan fast.

"Let go of me! The Li Lineage never flees in the face of battle!"

Force burst from Li Shengnan's body, and the bellow of a bull sounded within her as she sent the two flying.

"Catch her!"

Bloodhand coldly gave the order.

He and Viper were fighting Li Kui and couldn't break away for the moment.

Although he and Li Kui were both at Perfected Skin-Refining Realm, Li Kui had cultivated Horizontal Training Martial Arts.

Horizontal Training Martial Arts weren't as precious as internal cultivation or stance training, but ordinary martial techniques couldn't compare to them either.

Cultivating Horizontal Training Martial Arts greatly increased one's physical strength and defense.

Li Kui had already cultivated Savage Bull Strength to Minor Mastery. With savage strength bolstering him, a single punch numbed Bloodhand's palms and made his bones feel as if they were about to crack. If Viper hadn't been there to keep Li Kui occupied, Bloodhand would have been defeated long ago.

"What formidable body-hardening kung fu! Li Kui, hand over Savage Bull Strength and I can promise to spare your daughter. Otherwise, I'll slaughter everyone in your Weiyuan Escort Agency!"

Bloodhand shouted, coveting Savage Bull Strength.

A ninth-grade body-hardening martial art was already worth as much as an eighth-grade martial technique, if not more.

Savage Bull Strength was a body-hardening art that specifically increased physical strength, making it even more irresistibly attractive to Bloodhand. If he got his hands on it and combined it with his Bloodthirsty Palm, he would dare trade blows even with someone in the Flesh Refining Realm!

"You're a mere bandit. What gives you the right to lay hands on my Li Lineage's ancestral martial art?"

Li Kui sent Bloodhand reeling with a punch.

"I gave you face, but you refused it!"

Bloodhand drew a treasured saber, cold light flashing along its blade.

"A Cold Iron Saber?"

Li Kui's expression changed.

The Cold Iron Saber was forged from extremely cold iron and was incomparably sharp. A single one was worth three hundred taels of silver, and a Skin Refining Realm body simply couldn't withstand it.

Even Li Kui didn't dare take it head-on. After all, the body-hardening art he cultivated was Savage Bull Strength, not something like Iron Body Shirt.

"Hiss, hiss!"

A giant python as thick as a bucket lunged down from the canopy. Li Kui rolled across the ground like a donkey and narrowly dodged it.

"Today, I'll use you to fill my darling's belly."

Viper Elder chuckled.

With Bloodhand and his Cold Iron Saber in front of him and the great snake circling behind, Li Kui took a strip of cloth and tightly bound his palm to his saber's hilt.

On the other side of the mist, black-clad corpses littered the ground.

Qin Ming swung his pig-slaying saber, sweeping through the black-clad men like a whirlwind. Wherever he passed, heads rolled and whole bodies were cleaved in two.

On the panel before him, his Pig-Slaying Saber Technique was increasing rapidly.

Plus 5, plus 5, plus 20...

Killing an ordinary person gave him five points, killing a Mid-Stage Skin-Refining Realm martial artist at the same realm as him gave him twenty points, and killing an Early Skin-Refining Realm martial artist gave him ten points.

In a short time, Qin Ming had frantically harvested more than twenty heads.

[Life-Bound Martial Art: Pig-Slaying Saber Technique (430/500), Minor Mastery]

"There's a tough one over here!"

Two Mid-Stage Skin-Refining Realm martial artists spotted what was happening and charged Qin Ming together.

"Good timing!"

Qin Ming raised his pig-slaying saber and slashed it swiftly through the air.

With the attack speed bonus, the two saw only a blur before instantly losing consciousness.

Their heads rolled, turning into forty points.

[Life-Bound Martial Art: Pig-Slaying Saber Technique (470/500), Minor Mastery]

"Almost there! Just a little more!"

Qin Ming took a deep breath, forcing down his excitement.

Just then, a muffled grunt came from nearby, followed by what sounded like something heavy hitting the ground. Immediately afterward, laughter rang out.

"Come quickly, I've caught this woman!"

"It's Senior Sister!"

Qin Ming immediately rushed toward the voice.

The mist gradually dispersed.

Li Shengnan lay in a pit, covered in blood. Her eyes seemed to have been injured by some kind of medicinal powder; a trail of bloody tears ran from them, and she couldn't open them.

"Senior Sister!"

Qin Ming's heart jolted, and the shock turned into towering rage.

Since he'd entered the martial arts academy, only Lu Liu and Senior Sister had looked after him so much. Now, seeing Li Shengnan injured like this, Qin Ming's killing intent surged.

"You two hold them off first!"

As he spoke, Chen Yue clutched his severed hand and ran without looking back.

"Senior Brother!"

"Senior Brother, save me!"

The two inner-court disciples of Tiger Academy were soon chopped into several pieces.

Chen Yue shuddered and ran even faster, quickly darting into the dense woods without daring to look back.

Elsewhere, the Li Lineage's two guest elders were chopped to pieces. The Li Lineage guards had either died or fled, and almost everyone from the Weiyuan Escort Agency had been killed or wounded.

The covering over the cargo on the Li Lineage's luxurious carriage was then pulled away.

"Big Brother, there are spiritual herbs in the chests! And martial arts!"

When the words rang out, everyone's breathing grew heavier.

Spiritual herbs! Martial arts!

Either one was irresistibly attractive to them!

"Kill that brat first. I'll come and collect the goods later. Nobody is to touch them!"

Bloodhand licked his lips and looked at Viper Elder. "We'll split them down the middle afterward. No problem, right?"

"Fine!"