Disembowel and Take Demon Bone

Old Man Jiang pushed aside the snow and rescued the Cook, only to find him motionless, slumped on the ground, his eyes filled with grief.

"It... it might not be your wife, you know. Those ordinary iron thumb rings can be found anywhere," Old Man Jiang comforted him.

The Cook sat up. "My wife was wearing a blue tunic, and A Xue was wrapped in a red swaddling cloth with white flowers. Is that right?"

Old Man Jiang was speechless again. The two corpses were naked; their clothes had been stripped off. How could he possibly know?

However, his silence made the Cook let out another bitter laugh, taking it as confirmation.

Before Old Man Jiang could explain further, a roar echoed, and a burly man stomped towards them, his eyes bloodshot, his muscles terrifyingly knotted.

Both of them were stunned. On one hand, the man's appearance was terrifying, and his approach was aggressive.

On the other hand, they recognized him as one of the cannibal refugees who had escaped earlier. But how had he become so burly in just half an hour?

This... this was the real monster, wasn't it?

"Whoosh!" The red-eyed refugee, without a word, lunged forward, his large hands grabbing for Old Man Jiang's chest.

Old Man Jiang didn't hesitate. As he dodged to the side, he swung his cleaver upwards with his left hand!

"Ch-k!"

"Ugh!"

A gash, about a foot long, opened up on the red-eyed refugee's left flank, and blood gushed out.

He cried out in pain, but his steps didn't falter. His hands moved even faster, cutting through the air as he lunged at Old Man Jiang.

"So fast!" Old Man Jiang rolled frantically, his face filled with anxiety.

How had this refugee suddenly become so powerful?

Although he, Old Jiang, had fought in the army for many years and learned swordsmanship, able to take down three to five ordinary men, his skills were considered low-grade in the martial arts world!

In contrast, the strength and speed of this red-eyed refugee were beyond what an ordinary martial artist could achieve.

Now, Old Man Jiang was carrying two children, his right hand was injured, he could only use his left hand to wield the cleaver, and on top of that, he was old and frail, hadn't eaten for three days, and was utterly exhausted. How could he fight?

After only managing a few desperate struggles, he was caught by the refugee.

"My life is over..." Old Man Jiang sighed, offering no further resistance. At the last moment, he placed the two infants on the snow to avoid them being accidentally harmed.

Unexpectedly, this action saved his life.

The red-eyed refugee casually tossed him aside and grabbed the male infant, who was sucking his fingers.

"Don't you hurt my grandson!" Old Man Jiang's eyes bulged with rage. Had this guy inexplicably gotten stronger and come back just to eat this child?

"Ahhhhh! I'll fight you to the death!" Old Man Jiang's mind buzzed, his anger boiling, and he charged forward recklessly, plunging the cleaver into the refugee's chest.

His attack was swift and fierce, even knocking the refugee down!

Unfortunately, he was wielding a cleaver, its head bent and not sharp. It had narrowly missed the refugee's heart.

Even so, it still heavily wounded the opponent. The refugee's blood seemed to flow extremely fast, gushing out like a fountain with just this one blow.

"Idiot!" Chen Hu, observing from a distance, cursed under his breath when he saw the refugee so easily struck by an old man.

But there was nothing he could do. His apparent cultivation was comparable to a second-rate fighter, but in reality, he was low-grade. His actual combat effectiveness depended on too many factors.

That refugee knew no techniques, possessing only brute strength, but he was clumsy!

Not only could he not leverage his own advantages, but he also lost his composure. Did he really just go and kill the Demon Infant as ordered?

"Why did you let go of that old man? You could have just crushed him when you caught him?"

Chen Hu curled his lip. Fortunately, the refugee had still heavily wounded the Demon Infant. Its belly was torn open; wouldn't it reveal its true form now?

"I'll see what your true form is!"

"Huh?" Chen Hu watched for a long time, then was stunned. "What? It's still not revealing its true form?"

The Demon Infant lay on the ground, blood pooling around it. It was paralyzed and unable to move, gasping in pain, whimpering, and even crying tears.

"Waaah, waaaah, waaaah..." Old Man Jiang wept bitterly upon seeing his grandson disemboweled. He desperately wanted to hold the child.

But he had served in the military and knew that evil must be eradicated completely. He pressed down on the refugee, twisting the cleaver in his hand with all his might, determined to kill the villain.

The red-eyed refugee let out a sharp cry of pain. Suddenly, a surge of True Qi flowed through his chest, transforming into immense power that blasted Old Man Jiang flying.

He then used the momentum to spring up, surprisingly standing again.

His chest was still bleeding, but it only fueled his ferocity: "Old man... I'll kill you!"

Chen Hu, observing secretly, murmured, "Finally, you're using it. That's right, fight like that. There's my five years of cultivation within your meridians!"

At this moment, Old Man Jiang was sent flying over ten feet by the True Qi, his ribs broken. He spat out a mouthful of blood, his face deathly pale.

In this state, he could no longer stop the red-eyed refugee from approaching to take his life.

At the critical moment, the Cook rushed forward: "You bastard, die!"

He picked up a sharp stone and smashed it hard against the back of the refugee's head.

Then, while the refugee turned around, he circled around to the front, grabbed the cleaver stuck in the refugee's chest, and with all his might, he slashed.

The red-eyed refugee's wound widened again, blood flowing incessantly.

Chen Hu shook his head in exasperation, "Idiot, if it keeps bleeding like this, it'll only last another thirty breaths at most."

"Hmm?"

Chen Hu was also keeping an eye on the Demon Infant. In just this short moment, it had started moving on its own.

It retracted the ice shards and snowflakes into its belly, returning to its original position.

"Abomination!" Chen Hu exclaimed in surprise. He didn't know what kind of monster it was, but its powerful vitality was definitely not that of an ordinary being.

And what was even stranger was yet to come. The previously limp Demon Infant could move again, and it even stopped crying. It propped itself up on its soft, chubby muscles!

Its tear-filled eyes were innocent and full of curiosity, as if wondering what this was...

"Slurp!" It seemed hungry!

"Ah, this..." Chen Hu's rationality began to falter, his mind filled with confusion.

What was this monster doing?

Chen Hu had imagined the Demon Infant suddenly revealing its true form and ferociously slaughtering everything in sight.

He had also imagined the Demon Infant giving a cold smile and using magic to eliminate its enemies.

Even more so, he thought the Demon Infant might have profound Dao cultivation, its spiritual sense detecting his presence, and then striking directly at him.

But instead, the Demon Infant, like a truly ignorant infant, was just slurping away.

If you say it's still pretending to be a child... then in what way does it resemble a human now?

Why? Chen Hu couldn't understand. The only explanation was... this monster was playing.

This might be a powerful monster, deliberately toying with mortals.

Chen Hu really wanted to leave, but he was still unwilling to go without witnessing a truly powerful and irresistible demonic art.

"Idiot, hurry and get the Demon Bone!" Chen Hu's lips moved, and he transmitted his voice using True Qi into the Refugee's ear.

This was a secret sound transmission technique. With his cultivation, he could transmit his voice within fifty zhang in open terrain.

At that moment, the Red-eyed Refugee had already punched the Cook, who was sacrificing himself to entangle it, sending him flying. This punch had used True Qi and was incredibly powerful!

The Cook's chest was deeply caved in, blood gushing from his nose and mouth. His eyes were wide open, his face ashen, and his complexion visibly fading.

"Young man!" Old Man Jiang struggled to get up. Seeing the Cook on the verge of death, he couldn't help but feel grief.

The Red-eyed Refugee, having heard Chen Hu's command, stopped killing the old man. It quickly moved to the Demon Infant's side and was startled to see the Demon Infant sucking on itself.

Then, it grabbed the Demon Infant, pried open its belly again, and searched for the so-called Demon Bone.

However, after searching for a long time, rummaging and digging, it couldn't find any jade-like bone.

"There's nothing!" the Red-eyed Refugee shouted towards Chen Hu, its voice tinged with an almost unbearable pain and weakness, the after-effects of the forced infusion appearing.

"Idiot, don't shout at me..." Chen Hu flipped over and hid behind a tree, peeking out with half his face.

The Demon Infant didn't look over. It hung from the Refugee's hand like a broken rag doll that had been played with too much.

Its skin was deathly pale, its eyes were a bit hazy, and it was completely limp, without any strength.

Looking at it, was it also suffering from excessive blood loss and about to die?

"Impossible! If it were truly severely injured and on the verge of death, it would definitely reveal its true form..."

"This guy is clearly faking... Is it trying to lure me out?"

Chen Hu held his breath, ready to flee at any moment.

As expected, it moved as if commanded, but this time it didn't burrow back into its belly. Instead, it casually burrowed into the wound on the Red-eyed Refugee's chest! It was like an umbilical cord.

At the same time, the Demon Infant seemed to be fine again. Its skin regained its rosy hue, its limbs flailed, and it struggled in the Refugee's palm.

It looked extremely hungry, smacking its lips and licking its mouth. Combined with its harmless little face, it was truly terrifying!

"Ah! The monster is drinking my blood!" The Red-eyed Refugee was startled, thinking the monster was finally getting serious. It immediately exerted force with its arm, channeling True Qi along its meridians from its palm into the Demon Infant.

This was the only palm technique Chen Hu had taught him before sending him, capable of mobilizing True Qi into palm strikes that ravaged the Demon Infant's meridians, causing it to bleed profusely with constant popping sounds.

"Yiya!" The Demon Infant cried out in pain, opening its mouth wide and desperately inhaling.

This was an infant's instinct. When injured, besides crying, they would desperately suck, even if there was no milk.

Seeing the enemy tormenting his child, Old Man Jiang lost all reason. The sight of the blood-soaked infant twitching in the other's hands broke his heart.

Regardless of whether he could win, he charged into the Refugee's embrace like a mad bull, shoving one hand into the large gash made by the woodcutter's axe, while biting down on the Refugee's throat.

The Refugee instinctively raised its knee and kicked the old man flying.

"Cough, cough..." Old Man Jiang coughed up blood incessantly and finally couldn't get up.

"Hmph!" If the Refugee could have controlled its True Qi with both hands, it would have kicked the old man to death just now.

Its True Qi continued to assault the Demon Infant, its palm strikes like waves, one after another. The Demon Infant cried and struggled in its palm.

But for some reason, it no longer had the explosive power that had ruptured its meridians earlier. The Demon Infant even seemed to find it comfortable, stopped crying after a while, and smacked its lips with a satisfied look, as if it had just finished drinking milk.

"Ah?" In its shock, it raised its left palm and fiercely slapped the Demon Infant's forehead, using a two-pronged approach!

However, its True Qi couldn't cause the Demon Infant's meridians to explode and cry out like before. Instead, it was like a clay ox entering the sea.

"Tsk~" The Demon Infant's complexion actually improved compared to before, its eyes regaining their dazed, cute, and novel look. Its mouth even made a smacking sound.

Refugees generally don't know how to control their strength; their True Qi was like a dam bursting, and it was all being funneled to the Demon Infant.

"Damn it, I'll tear you apart!"

The Refugee felt immense pain all over his body. Ever since he started bleeding from his injuries, he had been in agony. The power that made him feel 'invincible in the world' was constantly waning, and his internal organs felt like they were being pierced.

He could have endured it before, but now, with all his True Qi depleted, the pain intensified.

He poured all his thousand pounds of strength into it. Forget a person, he could tear through steel! His intention was to rip the Demon Infant to shreds and find that Demon Bone.

However, this time, he couldn't tear it apart...

"What?" the Refugee exclaimed in shock. Before, with just a little effort, he had disemboweled the Demon Infant with ease.

Now, with all his might, why couldn't he tear it apart? Moreover, the Demon Infant's belly was already split open; it should have been easier to tear along the wound!

But in reality, his thousand pounds of strength couldn't even widen the wound by half an inch!

"Die, die, die!" The Refugee, having exhausted all his tricks, realized this Monster was serious. This wasn't some kind of sorcery, was it?!

The Red-eyed Refugee quickly let go of the Demon Infant and threw it to the ground.

As the Demon Infant was thrown, it actually showed a pained expression again, even rolling its eyes. Its back of the head hit a rock, and blood flowed from the wound.

Such powerful palm strikes were useless, but a simple rock could cause such a severe injury?

"Mon... Monster... I'll kill you!"

The Red-eyed Refugee pulled the woodcutter's axe stuck in his body, took a step forward, and swung down fiercely, intending to chop the Demon Infant into mincemeat.

"No!" Old Man Jiang's eyes were about to burst. He cried out, but was powerless to stop it.

But at this critical moment, the Red-eyed Refugee clutched his chest, his face bloodless.

"Ugh..."

He felt a piercing pain all over his body, and his heart... stopped!

"Uh-huh-huh..." His face contorted to the extreme, his eyeballs bulging, but his pupils were dilated. His robust body collapsed with a thud!

His strong muscles suddenly shriveled, becoming even thinner than before.

Blood slowly trickled from his seven orifices, and he was no longer breathing.