Annihilating the Enemy

The Snow Ape was cleaved into two with a single slash. The sight sent chills rising from the depths of Shao Chengfeng and Feng Yi'an's hearts, and they involuntarily backed away. Once again, they doubted whether their group leader could truly handle him.

Fu Entao's expression changed slightly, but his attack was not affected in the slightest. Seizing the opening Qin Ming exposed when he turned sideways to evade the Snow Ape, Fu Entao's gleaming long blade split through the wind and snow in a waist-level slash, carrying incomparably tremendous force.

Qin Ming seemed to have anticipated it beforehand. He raised his spear in his left hand to block behind him, facing away from Fu Entao with the spear at his back. Then he leaped forward, using Fu Entao's fierce, heavy slash against the iron spear shaft to accelerate his charge.

Ordinary people would not dare do this. Even if they were not cleaved apart on the spot, that powerful force would still injure them badly enough to make them cough up blood.

Qin Ming was unharmed. With one leap, he reached his target.

The burly Mountain Patrol's hair stood on end. His opponent was coming for him, as fierce as a mountain beast. The instant Qin Ming landed, a gleaming blade flashed straight toward him.

He immediately swung his own blade to counterattack, intending to meet blade with blade. Yet in an instant, he felt as if he could barely hold onto the hilt. His opponent's strength was simply too great.

After two brief, rapid collisions, the soft flesh between his fingers had been split open by the shock. Blood streamed down, staining the hilt red, and he no longer had the strength to hold his blade.

Puff!

In the glow of the Fire Spring, a bright blade flash swept past. His head was cut flying, and his body crashed to the ground with a thud.

Qin Ming spun around sharply. He blocked Fu Entao's long blade with his iron spear, then looked murderously at Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng.

The two behind them panicked. Usually, they too were ruthless characters, with hearts like jackals and wolves, sinister, vicious, and full of tricks. But the youth before them was far too savage. Without saying a word, he had come up and started killing, making their scalps prickle.

A shadow also rose in Fu Entao's heart. This youth who had undergone Second New Life put immense pressure on him. Every spear strike and every slash left his arms slightly numb from the impact.

At that moment, he dearly wanted to leave at once and flee into the depths of the dark mountain forest. Yet he feared that if he showed cowardice and turned his back, his opponent would unleash a fatal chain of killing moves.

Qin Ming spoke. "There were seven heads awaiting the chop at the mountain stronghold. Four have already fallen. Only you three remain."

Fu Entao was startled, then his face darkened. This youth had counted the Golden Mastiff, the Snow Ape, and the five of them together. Was he treating them as no different from two beasts?

Shao Chengfeng and Feng Yi'an each tightened their grip on their iron spear and long blade. If anyone had dared belittle them like this in ordinary times, that person truly would not know how the word death was written.

Qin Ming wanted to provoke their anger. He sensed that the three were losing their will to fight and likely thinking of fleeing. He feared that he would be unable to catch Fu Entao after his Second New Life.

Sure enough, the shadow that had just risen in Fu Entao's heart was stirred away. In this region, even the veteran leaders of the other Mountain Patrol Groups would not dare humiliate him so.

After accumulating strength for so many years, Fu Entao had hopes of ascending another step. He was already close to touching that threshold.

"Is he Qin Ming from Double Tree Village?" Fu Entao asked the two behind him.

Earlier, when they had discussed the Blood Bamboo Forest, Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng had both mentioned Qin Ming. They had wanted to use this youth with a Golden Foundation to scout the way, then dispose of him in the process.

"It's him." Bearded Feng Yi'an nodded.

Fu Entao nodded, then said coldly, "Fine. Later, we'll bathe Double Tree Village in blood. Men, women, old, young—not one left alive. It's a special time. Once the Mountain Sweeping Operation begins, it would be perfectly normal for a Famous Beast beyond expectations to emerge from the deep mountains by chance and slaughter a village."

His smile was icy, carrying a hint of bloodiness, as he slowly raised his long blade.

Qin Ming was not provoked. He wanted their emotions to surge, so that they would not lose the courage to fight and flee in the short term.

He added more fuel to the fire. "Was I wrong about you? Red Haze City pays you generous salaries, and the villagers revere you. They would rather see the Fire Fields yield less than help the Mountain Patrol Group cultivate Black Moon. And what do you do? You drain the pond to catch every fish, scrape the bones to suck the marrow, wishing you could swallow every trace of spirituality in the Fire Spring in one bite. You do not care how many people will starve in next year's famine, and you casually kill innocent villagers to threaten and intimidate others. In your eyes, those human lives are worth less than a muntjac, far less than the Golden Mastiffs you raise. Do you still have human hearts or human nature? Is it wrong to place you alongside vicious dogs and Snow Apes? You are far more harmful than they are. Think of the late old group leader of the Mountain Patrol Group, and those responsible Mountain Patrols from the other groups. You are utterly unworthy of being mentioned in the same breath as them."

Qin Ming spoke calmly, without passion or anger. Even his voice was not loud.

Yet veins rose on Fu Entao's hand gripping the blade. Without a word, he pressed forward on his own initiative.

Even Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng became brimming with killing intent, wishing they could immediately kill this youth who spoke calmly yet stabbed straight into their hearts.

Qin Ming struck first. Even wielding the relatively heavy iron spear one-handed, he handled it as easily as an arm or finger. Its sharp tip stabbed out, leaving afterimages as it stirred up a sky full of goose-feather snowflakes. When Fu Entao tilted his head aside to evade, the spear tip pierced through a larch tree as thick as a bowl behind him. Qin Ming gave the shaft a slight swing, and the trunk snapped with a crack.

Then the Firewood Chopping Knife in his hand slashed out along with the motion.

In but an instant, blade flashes piled between them. Their exchanges were perilous in the extreme, and wherever they passed, great swathes of forest trees crashed down, the destructive power astonishing.

When they fought their way near the Fire Spring, a large wooden house exploded apart amid their blade flashes with a boom.

Fu Entao, nearly two meters tall, had originally been an imposing figure. But now he was gasping heavily, white mist steaming from his naturally curly long hair. He was alarmed. He was exhausted, his arms numb from the impacts, yet his opponent remained as fierce as ever.

If he had not been fast enough, he would certainly have already been defeated and killed.

He noticed something. His opponent's speed seemed to be lacking. He understood where his own advantage lay. At that moment, he found his chance. As Qin Ming thrust with his spear and swung his blade, Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng erupted with all their strength and suddenly attacked.

Clang!

A piercing crash of blade and spear erupted. Qin Ming used the Firewood Chopping Knife to block Shao Chengfeng's iron spear, then swiftly knocked aside Feng Yi'an's long blade with the back of his knife.

At that moment, Fu Entao was like a human-shaped tiger-wolf, incomparably ferocious. His hair flew wildly in the wind and snow, his gaze becoming razor-sharp. Gripping the long blade with both hands, he hacked down again and again, attacking with everything he had.

He discovered that when Qin Ming fought with the iron spear in one hand, he no longer had the immense strength from before. He seemed to be on the verge of being suppressed.

He shouted, "Give it everything you have! Surround and kill him!"

Qin Ming used the Firewood Chopping Knife to deal with the other two, while the iron spear in his left hand was suppressed by Fu Entao's repeated chopping strikes. He appeared to be in grave danger.

Several times, in especially perilous exchanges, he even chose a fighting style that would wound both sides. He allowed Fu Entao's long blade to slash down while continuing to thrust his spear forward, forcing Fu Entao to retreat.

Fu Entao revealed a cruel smile. When had he ever feared being ruthless? He leaped forward fiercely, caring only to avoid vital areas of his upper body as he swung his gleaming long blade down at Qin Ming in a vertical chop.

At the same time, savage grins appeared on Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng's faces. Their coordination was seamless as they sealed off all of Qin Ming's retreat paths. Long blade and iron spear rose together, forcing Qin Ming's Firewood Chopping Knife to be used solely to block their attacks.

Qin Ming could not retreat, nor did he have time to evade Fu Entao's blade ahead of him. Without the slightest hesitation, he chose to accelerate forward. There was no time to raise his spear high. Its trajectory remained unchanged as it plunged into Fu Entao's thigh with a puff, piercing straight through.

Although Fu Entao's face twitched, he became even colder. In this bloody exchange of injury for injury, he had only injured one leg. Yet the long blade he had brought down from midair could split his opponent into two.

At the critical moment, Qin Ming's Firewood Chopping Knife was still dealing with the other two. He abandoned the iron spear, raised his left arm, and took that sharp long blade head-on.

Fu Entao sneered disdainfully. In that case, he would cut off both Qin Ming's arm and body together.

Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng also laughed. No one knew better than they did how terrifying their nearly two-meter-tall leader's downward chop was. They could practically see the bloody scene already.

Yet a trembling metallic clang rang out, accompanied by a harsh scraping sound. Things turned out completely differently from what they had imagined.

Qin Ming's outer garment at the arm tore apart, revealing the armor exclusive to Mountain Patrol Group members. Moreover, he wore more than one layer.

Although this armor was not as fine as Fu Entao's, Qin Ming wore three layers of it, and that was enough to block the strike.

If not for the armor being too cumbersome, Qin Ming might have worn all the armor from the four men he had killed below the mountain.

With a thud, Fu Entao landed unsteadily. His thigh had been pierced through, and the iron spear had yet to be pulled out. Blood poured from the wound, and he could no longer stand firmly.

Feng Yi'an turned and fled without the slightest hesitation, decisively realizing that the entire Mountain Patrol Group would likely be wiped out.

Shao Chengfeng also realized that the youth's earlier disadvantage had merely been a deliberate lure. He immediately fled as well.

Qin Ming picked up an Iron Spear from the ground and leaped into the air. He hurled it forcefully from such close range, where he could be said to hit a hundred shots out of a hundred. The Iron Spear shot forward at extreme speed, pierced through Feng Yi'an's back from above with a puff, and nailed him to the ground!

"Ah..." He screamed in agony. He would not die immediately, but he could not break free where he lay.

The instant Qin Ming landed, he chased after the other man. His speed was slightly inferior to Fu Entao's, but catching Shao Chengfeng was effortless.

Shao Chengfeng could not possibly wait to die. He turned and fiercely swung his iron spear in resistance, but it was futile. Qin Ming slashed off his right arm.

The iron spear fell to the ground as well. Qin Ming picked it up, then mercilessly nailed Shao Chengfeng to the ground with it too. In an instant, the area was spattered with blood.

Standing in the middle of the field, Qin Ming said, "If none of us had fled and we had fought here to the death from the beginning, I think I would have dealt with all of you long ago. During the fight, I had to divide my attention, fearing that one of you might escape. Even if just one got away, this operation of mine would have failed."

"You..." Fu Entao used his long blade as a support. He was so angered that he nearly coughed up blood, believing Qin Ming was spouting wild nonsense.

"When fighting blades with you, I truly found it strenuous while distracted. But I only underwent New Life not long ago, so that is understandable." Qin Ming reviewed the course of the battle.

"What?!" Fu Entao's expression froze, and even his heart trembled. He did not believe Qin Ming had only just become a New Life Evolver. He could not accept such a reality.

"So you truly have not undergone Second New Life." Feng Yi'an spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and gave a miserable laugh. He knew it was completely over. They had actually encountered such an unbelievable monster.

Thanks to the Silver Alliance Leader: Dao Transforms Yellow Hair, Longevity Sorrow. Thank you for the support!

Thanks to Alliance Leaders: Dream That Never Wakes, Ye Chengmo. Thank you for the support!