A Human Head

Wang Yu's punch came with the force of thunder. The speed of the fourth layer of the Shadowless Fist was no joke.

Catching Fang Shihao off guard, he landed a punch squarely in Fang Shihao's abdomen.

The gut-wrenching pain made Fang Shihao cough up a mouthful of blood, his body instinctively curling up.

Wang Yu closed in and, following through, raised his palm and struck Fang Shihao beneath the chin.

Bang!

The soft, pliant palm force left Wang Yu with enough follow-through to exert force a second time, smashing into Fang Shihao's throat.

Three consecutive strikes to vital points—every move was lethal, without the slightest restraint.

The man before him was not as easy to deal with as the ordinary street thugs he had encountered before.

He was a Martial Artist at the same cultivation realm as Wang Yu, one qualified to leave his master's tutelage.

If Wang Yu did not strike, that was one thing. But once he did, he had to destroy his opponent completely, leaving no room for retaliation.

Fang Shihao's face twisted in agony. The excruciating pain in his throat in particular nearly made him pass out.

If not for the powerful physique of the Body Tempering Fourth Layer Realm supporting him, he would have breathed his last long ago.

With a hoarse roar, he gathered his breath. The blade in his hand turned, slashing upward from below at Wang Yu's waist and abdomen before cutting toward his chest and neck.

Clang!

Wang Yu's clothes tore as the blade struck the steel plate he wore beneath them.

Fang Shihao's expression froze.

Wang Yu's eyes gleamed with icy light as he threw another punch into Fang Shihao's neck.

This time, he heard the sound of bones shattering. A great mass of pooled blood spread through Fang Shihao's neck.

Blood sprayed from his mouth and nose, and his consciousness immediately blurred.

Wang Yu did not forget to step forward. Since he had already begun, he might as well see it through—he directly snapped Fang Shihao's neck.

The moment the other man had raised his saber to threaten him, this had been destined to become a fight to the death!

"Th-this, this..." Zhang Erdan stared at Fang Shihao's lifeless corpse dangling from Wang Yu's hand. So frightened that he dropped onto the ground, his face was deathly pale.

Wang Yu ignored him and carried the corpse of the Senior Disciple Brother of Duanhu Saber Hall to where the water had risen.

He loosened his hand and let the body drift out toward the sea.

Before long, the corpse would surely be devoured clean by the surging sea beasts.

He also found a small puddle and washed the blood from his hands and body.

"J-Junior Brother, you..." Zhang Erdan had yet to recover from witnessing Fang Shihao's death. He trembled so badly that he could barely speak.

"Senior Brother Zhang, this is your fish bag." Wang Yu casually returned the fish bag Fang Shihao had snatched to Zhang Erdan.

"I hope Senior Brother Zhang will not speak too much of what happened today. We were only instinctively defending ourselves after being threatened, weren't we?"

Wang Yu's voice remained calm and indifferent, as though he had merely done something insignificant.

"Th-thank you, Junior Brother. Don't worry, I won't say a thing," Zhang Erdan hurriedly said.

Wang Yu nodded, casually putting away his own fish bag and Fang Shihao's. Before leaving, he said, "Don't wander so far off alone next time. It's too dangerous."

Zhang Erdan nodded repeatedly. Next time, no matter what, he would not dare stray farther than a hundred meters from Sun Chengshan.

He had gotten carried away picking up fish, and by the time he came to his senses, he had already separated from the main group.

"Let's go."

Having obtained a huge haul of Fine Leaf Fish, this counted as their second wave of gains.

All the disciples combined had picked up seventy or eighty fish. At market prices, they could sell for tens of thousands.

The returns came much faster than mining at the mine.

Of course, mining carried no risk, while this quick money came with the danger of injury.

Even an expert at Sun Chengshan's level had been injured early on.

There was even less need to mention the other disciples. Someone as reckless as Zhang Erdan, wandering off so far, would most likely meet with disaster.

Without Fang Shihao, they might still have encountered other Martial Artists of unknown origins committing evil for profit, or suffered a sudden attack from sea beasts and become their food.

The group returned to the stone slope to rest briefly and wait for whatever sea beasts might appear next.

Behind them, two cargo crates had already been filled. One held the corpse of the Green Spotted Snake, while the other contained nearly a hundred Fine Leaf Fish.

After some thought, Sun Chengshan had Song Hezheng lead several disciples to use this opportunity to transport the two crates of loot back first.

This would keep them from attracting the attention of those with ulterior motives, and also prevent a sudden situation from arising where they would have no time to carry them away.

After spending so much time with Wang Yu, he had been influenced by what he saw and heard, becoming increasingly thorough and cautious in his considerations.

Before long, the day he put on those steel plates probably would not be far off either...

Wang Yu sat atop his crate, looking at the steel plate he had removed from his chest.

It bore the slash mark from Fang Shihao's desperate final strike. It was quite deep, having nearly cut through the plate.

"In the end, I was still too careless," Wang Yu said, shaking his head.

Though he had ultimately defeated his enemy, he was not satisfied with his own performance.

This was his first life-and-death battle against a Martial Artist—one at the same cultivation realm as himself.

It was completely different from his usual sparring sessions with Song Hezheng.

He lacked real combat experience in this regard, and he had underestimated the physical strength of a Body Tempering Fourth Layer Realm Martial Artist.

If not for the protection of the steel plate, Fang Shihao's final slash at death's door might have seriously wounded him directly.

The instinct to survive could often make a person unleash their most extreme strength. The further a battle went, the less one could afford to let down one's guard.

Wang Yu clenched his hand, deeply engraving this lesson into his heart.

As for the feeling of killing someone with his own hands for the first time, naturally, it was not pleasant.

But ever since Wang Yu had transmigrated here and learned about this world, he had been mentally preparing himself for this moment.

The world was different now. His understanding had to adapt with it, and he had to change as well.

Otherwise, survival would be difficult.

"Help, help!!"

"Run!"

Wang Yu abruptly rose to his feet and leaped onto a large rock nearby, looking down toward the distance.

At the waterline roughly a kilometer from where they stood, many tiny creatures emerged amid the waves. Even with Wang Yu's current eyesight, he could not see them clearly.

He only saw one Martial Artist who had been too slow to flee get caught by those tiny creatures.

The next moment, the Martial Artist was knocked to the ground. He struggled desperately as he let out screams of utter terror.

Those tiny creatures quickly crawled all over his body, and he stopped moving.

Besides those tiny creatures, a strange-looking, rather massive sea beast also emerged there.

Its body somewhat resembled that of a fish, but it had four thick crocodile legs. Even more bizarrely, an ugly ghostly face grew from its head, making it look eerie and chilling.

It did not seem hungry at the moment and showed no interest in the fleeing Martial Artists.

After coming ashore, it wandered about unhurriedly, as if exploring the area.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Sun Chengshan cried out in shock as well.

Even he seemed not to know what that strange creature was. It had never appeared in the previous sea tides.

"Leave first." Seeing it wandering about, along with the many tiny things crawling across the ground, Sun Chengshan made the swift decision to avoid them for now.

The group retreated several hundred meters. Only then did Wang Yu clearly see what those things rapidly crawling across the ground were.

They were Tiny Blue Spiders, each no larger than a thumb.