Get lost!
Lin Ningshuang drew a treasured sword in alarm and fury, stabbing it toward Ghost Face Butcher. Yet with a sweep of the massive axe in his hand, Ghost Face Butcher cleaved the sword cleanly in two.
In that instant, Lin Ningshuang's face turned deathly pale, and an expression of utter despair appeared on it.
She knew that if she fell into the hands of the vicious Ghost Face Butcher, her fate would be unimaginably miserable!
"Heh heh heh, what a tender little lady. I wonder what she'll feel like when I have my way with her."
Ghost Face Butcher gave a sinister laugh. His gaze brimmed with lust as it roamed over Lin Ningshuang's delicate body.
Then he abruptly reached out!
The callused, blood-reeking giant hand was about to touch the girl's snow-white neck when, at this critical moment—
Whoosh!
A Green-Robed Figure suddenly appeared before Lin Ningshuang as if teleporting through the night like a ghost!
It was Lu Changsheng!
Facing Ghost Face Butcher's heaven-shaking grab, Lu Changsheng showed no expression. He merely raised his right hand calmly, spread his five fingers, and, though moving later, arrived first, steadily meeting the giant palm reaching for him!
There was no earth-shattering burst of momentum, nor any dazzling spiritual light. Before Ghost Face Butcher's fan-sized palm, that slender hand looked so small and fragile.
Yet—
Slap!!!
An unnaturally crisp sound of flesh striking flesh rang out!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Ghost Face Butcher's grip, powerful enough to crush rock and packed with terrifying strength, was firmly and effortlessly... caught by the wrist in that fair, slender hand!
Like shackles cast from refined steel! It did not budge an inch!
The savage grin on Ghost Face Butcher's face froze abruptly, and the scarlet pupils beneath his mask shrank to pinpoints!
The hand clutching his wrist did not feel like a human hand at all, but like an immovable pillar of Divine Gold!
An overwhelming rebound force surged up his arm, numbing his entire limb!
"W-What?!"
"H-He caught Ghost Face Butcher's wrist?!"
"Am I seeing things?!"
Whether they were guards fighting desperately or bandits hacking away madly, even Uncle Fu, who had only just regained a shred of consciousness and struggled to lift his head, and Lin Ningshuang, who was so close she could nearly feel the foul heat exhaled from Ghost Face Butcher's mouth and nose...
Everyone was stunned by this inconceivable scene. Their gazes seemed drawn by magnets, nailed firmly to that Green-Robed Figure!
Ghost Face Butcher was both shocked and enraged. He suddenly exerted force, trying to break free, but the hand gripping his wrist seemed rooted in place, utterly unmoving!
Lu Changsheng slowly raised his head. His calm gaze pierced through the hideous ghost mask and settled upon the other man's blood-red eyes, widened in terror. The five fingers of his right hand tightened slightly around Ghost Face Butcher's wrist.
Crack!
Then a scalp-tingling sound of bone fracturing rang out clearly!
"Argh—!!!"
Ghost Face Butcher let out a shriek so miserable it changed pitch. The excruciating agony in his wrist nearly made him faint. The powerful body he had always taken pride in was as brittle as rotten wood beneath that seemingly casual grip!
Lu Changsheng's eyes were icy. Then, with the arm holding his opponent's wrist, he violently swung downward!
Boom!!!
Like flinging down a torn sack, Ghost Face Butcher's mountain-like body was smashed ruthlessly into the hard, icy gravel beneath the horrified gazes of everyone present by an irresistible, terrifying force!
Dust and shattered stones exploded upward!
The ground was instantly smashed into a clear human-shaped crater!
"This..."
At the sight, the entire scene fell silent!
Lin Ningshuang covered her slightly parted mouth with both hands, her eyes filled with indescribable shock.
Even the wind seemed to have stopped moving.
Only Lu Changsheng's indifferent voice echoed clearly through the stone forest:
"You wanted to touch her. Did you ask me first?"
Ghost Face Butcher lay in the pit, half his mask shattered, exposing half a face twisted by pain and terror. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth, and who knew how many bones throughout his body had broken. He lay there limp as mud, able only to twitch painfully and gasp hoarsely for air.
"B-Big Chief!"
Several fierce bandits finally snapped out of their extreme shock and screamed hoarsely, their voices full of terror.
They wanted to rush over, but Lu Changsheng's calm sweeping gaze nailed them in place. Like ants stared down by an ancient ferocious beast, they felt as if the blood throughout their bodies had nearly frozen!
Roar—!!!
At that moment, a roar mixed with boundless agony, endless humiliation, and berserk killing intent exploded from the pit like that of a wounded beast at death's door!
Ghost Face Butcher's remaining eye stared fixedly at Lu Changsheng through his shattered mask. The terror in that eye had been replaced by a madness that seemed ready to burn everything to ashes!
Enduring the agonizing pain that felt as though every bone in his body were splitting apart, he slammed his intact arm against the ground!
Boom!
Broken stones flew in every direction!
His hulking body actually tore itself out of the crater by sheer force. Staggering, he regained his footing, blood soaking through his tattered leather armor. Half his chest had collapsed and rose and fell violently, every breath accompanied by a rasp like a broken bellows.
"You little bastard... I'll... tear you into ten thousand pieces!!"
His voice was hoarse and distorted, filled with bloody froth. Then he roared,
"Second! Third! What are you waiting for?! Tear him apart together!!"
Whoosh!
At that moment, a blood-red figure flashed through the darkness like a ghost, moving with extreme speed and appearing instantly to Ghost Face Butcher's left.
She was a tall, thin woman clad in dark-red fitted leather armor. Her face was bewitching and pale, yet her lips were painted as though she had just drunk fresh blood. Her narrow phoenix eyes gleamed with the cold venom of a snake.
She held a slender chain in each hand, both glowing with faint blue chill—she was Blood Rakshasa, the second chief of the Demon Wind Bandits!
"Hee hee hee... what a handsome little brother. Such a shame. You're about to become big sister's collection."
Blood Rakshasa let out a spine-chilling laugh. The chains in her hands flicked out like Poisonous Snake Flicking Tongue, silently coiling toward Lu Changsheng's legs. At their tips were sharp barbs!
Boom!
At the same time, from atop a stone pillar on the other side, a short, round figure floated down like a weightless ghost.
He wore a deathly pale mask with a permanently wide, laughing mouth. The eyeholes were two pitch-black caverns, and he toyed with three throwing knives as thin as cicada wings, each glinting with eerie green light—this man was Laughing Yama, the third chief of the Demon Wind Bandits!
"Hee hee hee, don't worry, Big Brother. Let your little brother loosen this young fellow's muscles first!"
Laughing Yama's voice was shrill and eerie, like the cry of a night owl. With a flick of his wrist, the three poisoned throwing knives became three nearly untraceable green lines, silently ripping through the air toward Lu Changsheng's heart from behind, throat, and dantian in a triangular formation!
The angles were tricky and vicious to the extreme!
Boom!
Suppressing his injuries by force, Ghost Face Butcher unleashed the last of his savage might from his remaining right hand. His enormous fist was wrapped in violent earth-yellow spiritual power, descending like a falling meteor with the force to split mountains and shatter stone as it smashed toward Lu Changsheng's face!
The wind from his fist howled, making Lu Changsheng's green robes flap fiercely!
Blood Rakshasa's chains bound his legs and blocked his path, Laughing Yama's throwing knives launched a fatal sneak attack, and Ghost Face Butcher's heavy fist crushed him head-on! The three attacks sealed every path of retreat for Lu Changsheng, their coordination seamless as heaven's own garment, intending to kill him in one blow!
"Sir Lu!"
At that instant, Lin Ningshuang's heart leaped into her throat. Every trace of color drained from her lovely face as she cried out in alarm.
"Watch out!"
Wu Yan, who had just barely forced back a bandit leader, went pale in horror at the sight.
The combined force of the three chiefs vastly exceeded his imagination!
Even at his peak, he would never have lasted three breaths against them!
Everyone's hearts sank to the bottom. The power Lu Changsheng had displayed earlier was terrifying enough, but now he faced three desperadoes infamous for their savagery, working in perfect coordination and unleashing the full power of the fifth level of Divine Palace Realm.
Yet Lu Changsheng remained calm in the face of this killing formation, enough to leave even ordinary experts at the sixth level of Divine Palace Realm flustered.
He did not even look at the venomous chains winding toward him, nor did he bother with the silent deadly knives shooting at him. His gaze merely swept casually across Ghost Face Butcher's berserk fist as it came crashing toward his face.
Just as Ghost Face Butcher's fist was less than three feet from his face!
Just as Blood Rakshasa's chains were about to coil around his ankles!
Just as Laughing Yama's throwing knives were nearly touching the clothes on his back!
Dragon Elephant Golden Body!
Roar!
Lu Changsheng clenched both fists. A deep, majestic roar of dragon and bellow of elephant, as though from the depths of primordial wilderness, exploded from his chest!
Buzz!
Dazzling dark-gold radiance instantly burst from every pore of Lu Changsheng's body. His skin, flesh, and bones were covered in a heavy dark-gold hue like Divine Gold, flowing with ancient runes!
Beneath his skin, countless tiny dragon shadows and elephant patterns seemed to roam and roar!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Blood Rakshasa's barbed chains, capable of piercing refined steel, wrapped tightly around Lu Changsheng's calves, yet they only produced piercing sounds of metal striking metal!
The faint blue poison light on the hooks frantically corroded, but it could not penetrate even a fraction of that dark-gold skin!
The rebound force from the chains made Blood Rakshasa's arms tremble violently and split the web between her thumb and forefinger. For the first time, inconceivable horror appeared on her seductive face!
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Laughing Yama's three poisoned throwing knives, which killed at the sight of blood, struck precisely at Lu Changsheng's heart from behind, throat, and dantian!
Yet it was as if they had struck ten-thousand-year mystic iron!
The three cicada-wing-thin throwing knives were instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks upon touching that dark-gold skin. Then, with a mournful cry, they exploded into three clouds of green powder that drifted away in the wind!
They did not even leave behind a faint white mark!
"Impossible!!"
The smile beneath Laughing Yama's mask froze instantly, and he let out a shrill, strange cry!
Ghost Face Butcher, attacking from the front, sent his fist crashing down hard onto Lu Changsheng's chest.
Dong!!!
A muffled boom so heavy it seemed capable of stopping hearts rang out!
Ghost Face Butcher's fist, powerful enough to shatter mountain rock, struck Lu Changsheng squarely in the chest!
Violent earth-yellow spiritual power exploded wildly, forming visible ripples of impact!
Yet Lu Changsheng remained standing without moving an inch. The golden light covering his body did not even show the slightest red mark!
It was as though that terrifying blow, enough to split monuments and shatter stone, had merely scratched an itch!
Hiss!
Ghost Face Butcher's remaining eye widened until it was round. Reflected in his pupil were Lu Changsheng's calm, utterly unruffled eyes, which clearly showed his own face, twisted in absolute terror!
"My turn."
Lu Changsheng's voice was calm.
Ignoring the chains wrapped around his calves, he slowly raised his right hand, spread his fingers slightly, and lightly pressed it toward Ghost Face Butcher, who was within arm's reach, his punch spent and his old force gone before new force could rise.
The palm strike looked slow, yet it seemed to contain an utterly horrifying power that sealed every avenue for Ghost Face Butcher to dodge!
Ghost Face Butcher's soul nearly fled his body. The last of his ferocity made him roar as he tried to withdraw his fist and block, but his arm seemed to have fallen into an invisible bog, unbearably heavy!
Puff!
That dark-gold palm ignored the protective spiritual power Ghost Face Butcher had hastily gathered, passing through it as easily as a sheet of thin paper before lightly pressing against his collapsed chest.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only a teeth-grinding series of dense bone-cracking sounds, like beans being stir-fried, rang clearly from within Ghost Face Butcher's body!
"Urgh..."
All of Ghost Face Butcher's movements, roars, and expressions froze at once. He looked down in disbelief at the palm pressed to his chest, then slowly raised his head to look at Lu Changsheng's eyes, calm as a deep pool.
The next instant—
Boom!!!
An unimaginable force, like the trampling of a primordial colossal beast, erupted from that palm!
Ghost Face Butcher's mountain-like body flew backward like a boulder hurled from a catapult. Accompanied by a series of scalp-tingling explosions of bone, it became a blurred afterimage of blood and flesh, shooting backward even faster than it had come!
Boom! Crack!
He smashed through three enormous wind-eroded stone pillars that required several people to encircle. The hard rock crumbled like rotten wood. Finally, he struck the fourth stone pillar and formed a huge indentation in it, his body embedded there like a ruined rag doll!
Blood gushed wildly from every pore and his shattered seven orifices like fountains, dyeing the crimson stone wall an even more glaring dark red!
His body twisted at a grotesque angle, his life force rapidly extinguishing like a candle guttering in the wind!
Ghost Face Butcher, the chief of the Demon Wind Bandits—dead!
"Big Brother!!"
Blood Rakshasa and Laughing Yama let out shrieks so miserable they changed pitch, their voices filled with boundless terror and disbelief!
Only one palm strike!
A light, effortless palm strike had crushed the big brother they regarded as a demon god of immense strength!
This was not a battle at all! This was naked, one-sided crushing! An elephant trampling ants!
"Run!!"
Blood Rakshasa reacted first. With a scream, she abandoned her chains without hesitation, turning into a streak of blood-red light as she fled desperately toward the depths of the stone forest!
Laughing Yama was even more frightened out of his wits. His fat body burst forth with unprecedented speed, rolling madly in another direction like a ball of flesh! Where was even a trace of Yama's savage might now?
"Hmph!"
A cold snort rang out like death's judgment.
Lu Changsheng stood where he was and did not even chase after them. He merely raised his right foot and, seemingly casually, gave a light stomp in the direction Blood Rakshasa was fleeing!
Dong!!!
The sandy, stony ground beneath his foot sank violently, like a massive boulder dropped into a still lake!
A visible shockwave containing the immense strength of dragon and elephant, like a dark-gold tidal surge rushing close to the ground, instantly tore apart the earth, swept up a skyful of sandstorm, and surged toward Blood Rakshasa's back at a speed beyond sound!
"No—!!!"
Blood Rakshasa sensed the terrifying aura of destruction behind her and let out a despairing shriek, desperately activating a secret art as blood light flashed wildly around her body!
Yet it was useless!
Boom!!!
The dark-gold shockwave swallowed her in an instant. The blood-red radiance shattered like bubbles; she only had time to let out a brief scream before her bewitching figure was utterly torn apart by the violent power, turning into a plume of tragically beautiful blood mist that mingled with the sand and dust, scattering into the wind!
At the same time, Lu Changsheng raised a hand and flicked a finger again!
Whoosh!
A wisp of golden light, condensed to the utmost extreme and nearly imperceptible, flashed like lightning piercing through the void. Though launched later, it arrived first, instantly catching up to the fleeing Laughing Yama!
Pfft!
That streak of golden light precisely sank into Laughing Yama's back, then burst out through his fat chest!
Laughing Yama's mad dash abruptly stiffened, and the laughing mask on his face froze. He lowered his head and looked at the bowl-sized, bloodied hole running straight through his chest, his eyes filled with bewilderment and an extreme attachment to life.
He opened his mouth, as though wanting to let out his signature "heehee," but only streams of black blood mixed with chunks of organs gushed forth.
"Urgh... hee..."
He let out a strange rasp. His fat body, like one stripped of every bone, crashed heavily onto the cold sand, kicking up a cloud of dust. The eyes beneath his mask completely lost their light.
The three great leaders of the Demon Wind Bandits had all been executed!
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