At this moment, the medicinal power of the Soft Muscle Powder raged through her body. Huang Yao felt her blood and qi sluggish, while waves of weakness spread through her limbs.
Her strength had been forcibly cut by thirty to forty percent!
She was both shocked and furious. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would fall victim to such a despicable trick.
"What a crafty brat!"
Huang Yao gritted her silver teeth, the killing intent in her eyes nearly solidifying into substance.
Even poisoned, the foundation of her Third Blood Change remained.
Especially the blood and qi cultivated through the Huang Family's core martial art, the Sea Covering True Energy—it was vast and weighty, with endurance like an unending river, far beyond ordinary techniques.
She forcibly raised her blood and qi, and the sword in her delicate hand gleamed sharply once more.
Though her sword moves were no longer as swift as before, they gained an added measure of ruthlessness and precision, still driving Wang Yuan into one peril after another.
"This woman has such abundant blood and qi?"
The pressure on Wang Yuan abruptly soared. Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone and the Black Silkworm Silk Inner Armor had helped him withstand several fatal attacks.
But if this continued, his defeat and death would only be a matter of time.
His gaze sharpened. He knew he could no longer hold anything back.
"Blood Burning Technique—Major Accomplishment, activate!"
A low roar echoed in his heart.
The Blood Burning Technique at Minor Accomplishment could only increase one's strength by half, while Major Accomplishment could double it.
Wang Yuan no longer suppressed himself, fully activating the higher level of this life-risking secret technique.
Boom!
A surge of blood and qi far more violent and scorching than the Minor Accomplishment state erupted explosively within his body.
The skin all over Wang Yuan's body instantly turned crimson, and faint blood vapor even seeped from his pores.
His aura surged, nearly doubling his combat strength in an instant!
Yet this power was like cooking oil over raging flames, and the burden it brought was equally terrifying.
Wang Yuan could clearly feel that, with his current physique and reserves of blood and qi, he could maintain this state for no more than ten breaths.
Within ten breaths, life and death would be decided!
"Kill!"
Wang Yuan let out an inhuman growl. The Chasing Wind Leg erupted at full force, his speed skyrocketing as his figure nearly transformed into a blood-red afterimage.
At the same time, under the pressure of life and death and the stimulation of the Blood Burning Technique,
his understanding of the Chasing Wind Leg suddenly became clear, and he quietly broke through to the second level at this very moment.
His movement technique became even more elusive and unpredictable!
The Black Dragon Spear hummed as the Mountain Breaking Spear Technique was unleashed to its utmost limit in his hands.
Cloud Break, Mountain Collapse, and Moon Lift cycled in succession.
Every spear strike contained the terrifying force to shatter mountains and sever peaks, along with resolute killing intent.
Facing Wang Yuan, whose strength had soared and who looked like a mad demon, Huang Yao finally cast aside all contempt.
"Sea Covering Sword Technique!"
The Sea Covering True Energy circulated at full force, her blood and qi surging like pounding tides.
The slender sword in her hand turned into layer upon layer of sword waves, meeting the berserk shadows of the Black Dragon Spear.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Bang!
The clashes of metal and the impacts came thick as rain.
The two fought speed with speed and ruthlessness with ruthlessness. Their moves no longer held many flourishes; every strike went straight for the other's vital points.
Every blow was perilous beyond measure, each seeking to put the other to death!
It was as though a storm had swept through the forest. Soil flew everywhere, while grass and trees snapped apart.
The longer Huang Yao fought, the more alarmed she became. She discovered that even after using the Sea Covering True Energy,
she could only barely withstand Wang Yuan's tempestuous assault.
At times, she was even shaken by that unreasonable brute force until her blood and qi churned, her arms turning sore and numb.
"This brat absolutely cannot be allowed to live!"
The killing intent and wariness in her heart reached their peak.
Seven breaths, eight breaths, nine breaths...
The terrifying burden of the Blood Burning Technique at Major Accomplishment began to reveal itself.
Wang Yuan felt needle-like agony in his meridians, his blood and qi like boiling water on the verge of losing control.
The tenth breath had arrived!
The surging aura around Wang Yuan rapidly ebbed like a receding tide, while intense weakness engulfed him in an instant like icy seawater.
He stumbled, and a fatal sluggishness appeared in his spear technique!
"Just as I thought! Your enhancement has a time limit."
"Die!"
Huang Yao gave a vicious smile, ruthlessness and triumph flashing through her eyes.
This was the opportunity she had been waiting for.
Her slender sword then shot forth like a viper leaving its den, seizing the opening caused by Wang Yuan's exhausted strength and stabbing directly at his heart.
This strike was fast, accurate, and vicious!
Wang Yuan's old strength was spent, while new strength had yet to arise. He was about to be pierced through the heart.
At that very instant, when a thousand pounds hung by a single thread!
Whoosh!
A black shadow carrying a sharp whistle tore out from the forest at the side like lightning!
It was a small crossbow bolt coated in deadly poison.
The timing was exquisite to the finest hair—it came at the very moment Huang Yao struck with all her strength, her entire focus fixed upon Wang Yuan.
Pfft!
The poisoned arrow struck precisely into Huang Yao's completely unguarded back.
"Argh!"
Huang Yao's thrust abruptly froze, and she spat out a mouthful of blood carrying a sweet, fishy stench.
Her face was filled with utter shock and agony.
She turned her head with difficulty.
Not far away, the battered Zhang Mingyuan leaned behind a tree, holding an exquisite hand crossbow in one hand.
His face was pale as paper, yet he wore a resolute smile as he nodded slightly at Wang Yuan.
Wang Yuan instantly understood!
"While you're sick, take your life!"
He forcibly drew upon the last remnants of strength in his body, squeezing out the final trace of potential from Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone and even ignoring the stabbing pain in his meridians.
The Black Dragon Spear in his hand let out a tremor like a mournful cry.
He seized the perfect moment when Huang Yao was wounded and distracted, with both the Soft Muscle Powder and the arrow poison erupting within her body at once.
He delivered the simplest and most direct thrust.
Pfft!
The Black Dragon Spear pierced through Huang Yao's chest without the slightest resistance, entering through her back and emerging from the front of her chest.
Huang Yao's body shuddered violently. She lowered her head to look at the blood-stained black spearpoint protruding from her chest.
Her eyes were full of unwillingness, venomous hatred... and a trace of disbelieving confusion.
Huang Yao opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, only more blood poured out.
This genius of the Huang Family, an elite of the Third Blood Change, had ultimately underestimated her opponent and fallen within this desolate forest.
Wang Yuan yanked out the spear, and Huang Yao's corpse collapsed limply to the ground, her beauty vanishing like jade shattered in death.
"Ha... ha..."
Leaning on the Black Dragon Spear, Wang Yuan panted violently. He was drenched in sweat as though he had just been dragged from water, and the overwhelming weakness nearly swallowed him whole.
He looked at Huang Yao's corpse.
Then he glanced at Zhang Mingyuan in the distance, who had fainted after revealing a relieved smile. At last, the tightly wound tension in his heart loosened.
At last... it was over.
In this battle, he had revealed every trump card and narrowly escaped death.
Had it not been for Zhang Mingyuan's crucial arrow, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
The intense weakness now battered Wang Yuan's will again and again like pounding waves.
But he knew full well that he absolutely could not collapse now.
With Huang Yao dead, this place had become a truly perilous ground. He had to clean everything up quickly, then leave.
Forcing his body, which was on the verge of falling apart, to move, he swiftly crouched down and began searching Huang Yao's still-warm corpse.
The first thing he found was a booklet wrapped in special silk, cold to the touch.
Wang Yuan opened it, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
"Sea Covering True Energy"!
It was actually the Huang Family's core inherited martial art.
This Huang Yao had truly been arrogant and self-assured to the extreme.
Such an important technique—even if it was only a copied edition—she had actually dared to carry it on her person?
Was she certain that no one could threaten her, or had she kept it with her for convenient study at any time?
Wang Yuan had no time to think further. His heartbeat quickened. This was absolutely an enormous harvest.
Without hesitation, he stuffed the booklet into his clothes.
Next, he found several porcelain bottles.
Opening one of them, he saw several pills the size of longans, golden in color.
The moment he removed the stopper, an indescribable fragrance rushed into his nose.
Wang Yuan merely took a light breath, and immediately felt a thread of coolness spread through the meridians that had been depleted and scorched by the Blood Burning Technique.
Even his roiling blood and qi seemed to settle somewhat, regaining a trace of vigor.
"Good treasure!"
Wang Yuan's spirits lifted. These pills were certainly extraordinary, with miraculous effects for healing, recovery, and perhaps even assisting cultivation.
He carefully put away the porcelain bottle.
Afterward, he found a thick stack of specially made bearer silver notes.
A rough glance showed that their combined value actually amounted to several thousand taels!
This undoubtedly solved his most pressing need.
Finally, there was an exquisite jade token, warm to the touch and engraved with complex cloud patterns, with the words "Huang Yao" carved at its center.
The token was exquisitely crafted and faintly seemed capable of calming fluctuations in blood and qi.
It was clearly a symbol of status and might even possess some special function.
The moment he saw the jade token, Wang Yuan's gaze turned cold, and he did not hesitate in the slightest.
He quickly concealed the other items against his body, then took out the Bone Dissolving Water and poured it generously over Huang Yao's corpse and the bloodstains around it.
Sizzle...
Pungent white smoke rose violently as the corpse dissolved at a visible speed.
After finishing all this,
Wang Yuan picked up the jade token, gathered his strength, and hurled it fiercely toward the deepest part of the dense forest, in the direction opposite to their planned escape route.
The jade token cut through the air in an arc and vanished instantly into the dark depths of the forest.
"This thing is a death warrant. It absolutely cannot be kept."
Wang Yuan's thoughts were clear. Even the token of a minor Huang Family steward had been too hot to handle.
If the personal jade token of Huang Yao, a core direct descendant, appeared, it would likely immediately bring the Huang Family's mad, relentless pursuit.
The entire underworld of Gaoye City would be turned upside down!
He quickly walked to the unconscious Zhang Mingyuan and checked his injuries.
Though severe, they were not life-threatening for the time being.
Wang Yuan hoisted Zhang Mingyuan onto his back. Feeling wave after wave of emptiness and stabbing pain from within his body, he gritted his teeth.
After identifying the direction, he staggered toward a concealed little cave he remembered passing earlier.
He had to find a safe place to regulate his breathing and recover as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, forget saving his sister—even protecting himself would be a problem.
Before you continue