"Late Viscera Refining Realm? No wonder you have the confidence!"
At this sight,
Hall Master Feng let out a cold laugh, disdain written across his face.
The moment he finished speaking, his figure shot up from the ground, transforming into a gray bolt of lightning that streaked toward Shi Meng!
The several-zhang distance vanished in the blink of an eye,
and he thrust out a palm. Violent force surged as it descended toward Shi Meng's head!
A terrifying wave of air swept out with a boom, and the Black Tiger Gang thugs behind him were immediately driven back by the sharp gale rushing into their faces!
All of them wore looks of panic and horror!
Bang!
Facing the palm descending from midair, Shi Meng's gloomy face barely changed. His fists clenched, the muscles and veins on his arms bulging as he punched skyward!
Rumble!!!
Fist and palm collided. A terrifying impact erupted, and the air seemed to explode at that instant, kicking up visible waves of force that swept in all directions!
In the clash between fist and palm, Hall Master Feng ultimately held the upper hand.
Shi Meng's burly body staggered back several steps.
"Oh? You've got some skill after all!"
A trace of surprise appeared on Hall Master Feng's face. He was somewhat astonished that Shi Meng had taken his palm so easily.
"But it's still not enough!"
Before his voice had even faded,
Hall Master Feng struck again!
Boom!
His figure shot out like lightning once more, a fist crashing toward Shi Meng. As his Qi and Blood roiled, the faint sound of wind and thunder seemed to rumble within it!
Shi Meng still said nothing.
Falling Stone Fist!
He punched straight ahead. A gloomy blood-colored radiance faintly shimmered around his fist, like a massive mountain rock crashing down as it slammed into Hall Master Feng's fist!
Rumble rumble rumble!
Terrifying force erupted once more,
and even the ground cracked apart!
"Hiss! Is this the terror of the late Viscera Refining Realm?! The shockwaves from such a terrifying clash are enough to shatter even the floor. If an ordinary person came within three zhang, they'd probably be shaken to death on the spot by the scattered force!"
The terrifying aftershocks of the battle left everyone nearby crying out in shock, their faces filled with astonishment.
"That's only natural. You should know that as long as a Viscera Refining Realm martial artist's Qi and Blood aren't exhausted, their Bronze Skin Iron Bone defense allows them to slaughter a heavily armored army made up of ordinary people!"
"What's more, these two have both reached the later stage of the Viscera Refining Realm, just two steps away from the Blood Changing Realm!"
"Rumor has it that martial artists in the Blood Changing Realm above the Viscera Refining Realm are even more terrifying. They can project their Qi and Blood, making them impervious to anything. Unless a powerhouse of the same level holds them back, it wouldn't be impossible for one person to breach a city! Such powerhouses only exist in county cities, and usually there are no more than one or two in each place. They rule supreme within the city, wielding unimaginable authority!"
"Hiss, one person breaching a city?! That can't be possible, can it?"
"Heh, what's impossible about it? Once you can project your Blood Essence, even a thousand-jun gate forged from pig iron could be blasted open!"
"Without a martial artist of the same level to contend with them, killing people would be as easy as mowing grass!"
a passerby remarked.
At the same time,
while everyone was discussing the matter,
Hall Master Feng and Shi Meng exchanged several more blows.
Shi Meng's burly figure was driven backward again and again.
The shattered stones and dust along the way were swept up by the exploding force, raising thick clouds of smoke!
"How is it?"
Hall Master Feng flicked his sleeve, sweeping the dust from his clothes. He looked at Shi Meng and spoke blandly.
However,
"Is that all you've got?"
As the dust gradually dispersed, Shi Meng's burly body emerged.
Other than the clothes on his arm being shattered,
his entire body
was completely unharmed!
He bared his teeth, revealing a ferocious, icy grin.
"It seems this gang leader hasn't felt anything called despair!"
In an instant,
Hall Master Feng's fury soared.
"Very well. Since you're so eager to die, this Hall Master will grant your wish!"
Boom!!!
The power of the late Viscera Refining Realm erupted completely, the Qi and Blood in his body surging and gathering in both palms.
Soaring Wind Mountain Palm!
With an angry shout, Hall Master Feng's twin palms carried a sky full of force. In an instant, they descended toward Shi Meng like a mountain crashing down under terrifying pressure!
"Soaring Wind Mountain Palm? It's actually Soaring Wind Mountain Palm?!"
"Not good! Everyone, retreat! That's a Human Tier beginner martial technique!!!"
As the vast Qi and Blood around Hall Master Feng stirred the surrounding airflow and gathered into an invisible mountain that ground downward, a terrifying invisible pressure swept out with a boom.
Those present who had some knowledge cried out in horror and swiftly withdrew.
In fact, there was no need for him to shout.
The moment those closest felt the rolling, crushing aura descend, an intense sense of danger arose in their hearts, and they all retreated!
Almost in an instant, everyone nearby fled backward at top speed.
At the same time,
the air shook violently, and Hall Master Feng struck toward Shi Meng with one palm!
At this moment,
Shi Meng showed no fear. Instead, a provocative, savage grin appeared on his face!
Between his fists, phantom flames of crimson fire suddenly rose, impossible to comprehend. As his Qi and Blood steamed, the air seemed to twist, producing a fluctuation that made everyone's hearts tremble with fear!
Boom!!!
Shi Meng drove both fists forward. Surging power rolled like an endless tide as he fearlessly met Hall Master Feng's killing move head-on!
Rumble rumble rumble!!!
The two peerless attacks collided at that moment. A violent explosion burst through the air, and the terrifying boom nearly left everyone's ears ringing!
The entire ground plaza trembled,
an unprecedentedly violent force swept outward,
and the ground within several zhang shattered into rubble one stretch after another, dark cracks spreading farther into the distance!
"Hiss! What terrifying martial techniques! Even from twenty or thirty zhang away, you can feel that sharp gale striking your face!"
"Exactly. After that strike, even a martial artist who has entered the realm would suffer severe injuries if they got close!"
"That's only natural. These are tiered martial techniques! They're on a completely different level from those so-called low-, mid-, and high-grade martial techniques!"
"I've heard that tiered martial techniques are extremely difficult to cultivate. Usually, only Blood Changing Realm powerhouses, after gaining deeper control over their own Qi and Blood, can master a portion of them. Moreover, even in the Blood Changing Realm, such techniques are extraordinarily powerful! For Hall Master Feng to master a tiered martial technique despite being only in the late Viscera Refining Realm is truly astonishing!"
"I hear this tiered martial technique was personally transmitted by the Great Dragon Head of the Sifang Society. The Great Dragon Head of the Sifang Society once said that with this move, one could threaten even a Blood Changing Realm expert!"
Many passersby were shaken.
No wonder,
no wonder Hall Master Feng had shown such confidence from the very beginning.
Even after Black Tiger Gang Leader Shi Meng revealed that he too was in the late Viscera Refining Realm, Hall Master Feng had remained completely unafraid, looking utterly certain of victory.
He had mastered a tiered martial technique capable of threatening Blood Changing Realm experts!
With such strength,
he naturally had reason to be proud.
"It's a pity. Shi Meng reached the late Viscera Refining Realm in a tiny place like Huangshi Town and could almost be called the greatest expert in Huangshi Town in several hundred years. Unfortunately, he ran into Hall Master Feng!"
"Exactly. This is a tiered martial technique, one capable of seriously injuring even Blood Changing Realm experts. How could he possibly withstand it? What a pity!"
Many people sighed aloud.
Smoke churned across the battlefield, obscuring everyone's view and making it impossible to see Shi Meng's final fate.
But under such terrifying divine might,
few people believed that Shi Meng could still turn the tables!
The level of the experts in the county city and the world accessible to the rural towns were like two entirely different heavens and earths!
Their inheritances, martial techniques, and experience—the gaps between them were simply too vast!
Just as the surrounding passersby were sighing,
suddenly,
a quiet voice drifted from deep within the smoke.
"Are you scratching an itch for me?"
Hall Master Feng's expression abruptly changed.
The passersby who had been discussing the matter fell silent all at once. The entire plaza suddenly became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop!
Boom!
A wave of force swept out with a roar,
blowing away the smoke that filled the surroundings and revealing Shi Meng's figure!
At that moment,
wisps of strange, blood-red mist and flame rose around Shi Meng's tall, burly body.
White mist poured from his mouth, and his eyes turned scarlet, filled with an utterly mad expression!
At the same time,
on his palm as large as a cushion,
his nails had turned dark black, as sharp as the claws of a beast!
From head to toe,
apart from a wound on the back of his hand, the rest of his body was completely intact!
"How could this be?!"
Hall Master Feng's eyes widened in disbelief, and his body could not help taking a step backward!
Everyone around him
fell silent.
"Heh heh!"
Shi Meng split his mouth in an icy grin, revealing beastlike fangs.
Then,
whoosh!
His entire body transformed into a lightning-fast phantom and suddenly charged into the crowd behind him before anyone could react.
Hiss hiss hiss!!!
Amid a series of muffled sounds, the chests of several Black Tiger Gang thugs behind him suddenly burst open, revealing bowl-sized holes. Blood gushed out as they fell stiffly to the ground, eyes wide open!
As those Black Tiger Gang thugs died, visible flames swept over them and began to burn.
The vital essence of those corpses seemed to be seized by some invisible force, gathering into a tangible torrent that poured into Shi Meng's body!
After just a few breaths,
the wound on the back of his hand inflicted by Hall Master Feng had already healed rapidly, without leaving the slightest trace!
"As expected, only human heart's blood is the best material for cultivation!"
Shi Meng licked the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at the people around him with a covetous gaze.
It was the desire of one who regarded humans as prey!
The surrounding passersby and onlookers retreated in terror once more. Even the Black Tiger Gang thugs stumbled and scrambled away on all fours.
Some timid people, sensing that something was wrong, had already left ahead of time.
"Are you Shi Meng, or what kind of thing are you?!"
Looking at Shi Meng, whose appearance and bearing had completely changed, Hall Master Feng sucked in a cold breath. An intense sense of danger rose in his heart as he asked in horror.
"I'm the one who's going to eat you!"
Before his voice had even faded,
Shi Meng's figure transformed into a blood-colored bolt of lightning and suddenly appeared before Hall Master Feng!
Terrifying claws tore through the air. They moved so quickly that Hall Master Feng could barely see them as they carried a sky-shaking Killing Intent and reached for his heart!
At that moment,
Shi Meng's speed and strength had both increased by more than twofold!
Hall Master Feng only had time to raise his arm in front of himself before the claw wrapped in sharp force slammed into him!
Bang!
Vast power erupted.
With just one strike,
he was blasted away like a cannonball, utterly powerless to resist!
The terrifying power of that instant had even surpassed the peak Viscera Refining Realm!
Hall Master Feng's Qi and Blood were instantly shattered!
Seeing this scene,
Everyone present sucked in a cold breath.
"Power! This is power!"
"Yeah, I shouldn't have resisted this power!"
The long hair behind Shi Meng swelled and stood on end amid the flames, as he went completely berserk.
Like a god, like a demon!
Deep within his pupils, a huge azure bird let out a strange cry. It twisted and surged like a living creature, igniting raging crimson flames before plunging into his mind with unparalleled madness!
In the space of a breath, it drowned out the last of his reason!
In an instant,
a certain shackle within Shi Meng's heart shattered. He was completely engulfed by the burning crimson flames, and the last trace of reason in his pupils was wholly transformed into madness!
"Strength! Strength is everything!"
Shi Meng roared. The flames formed from the crimson Qi and Blood enveloping his entire body began burning even more fiercely!
Boom!!!
One foot stomped into the ground, and the earth suddenly collapsed into a pit. Shi Meng's burly figure abruptly turned into a blur, darting into the crowd like a streak of lightning!
Bang, bang, bang!!!
The hearts of one figure after another exploded in succession. Blood sprayed out and seemed to be ignited in midair by the flames surrounding Shi Meng.
Visible blood energy rose from the fallen corpses, converging toward Shi Meng's darting body!
Vast amounts of Blood Essence and Vital Qi seemed to transform into a crimson flood. Under the influence of some strange power, they converged toward Shi Meng's body!
"Ah! A demon! A demon! This guy's a demon! Run!"
"Bastard, Shi Meng, have you gone mad?"
"Damn it, this guy must have been possessed!"
The crowd practically exploded in that instant,
Shi Meng's slaughter was almost completely indiscriminate. Whether they were lackeys of the Black Tiger Gang or spectators and passersby, so long as they appeared in his sight, he killed them without exception!
In the brief span of a few breaths, dozens of people had already fallen!
Large numbers of people fled outward in terror like headless flies.
But there were simply too many people, and the congested roads could not clear quickly.
Some even erupted in fierce resistance, raising their weapons to fight back. Yet when the crimson claw-shadow flashed, the resisters were severed in two along with their weapons.
Boom!
As the slaughter continued and the flames of more and more people's Qi and Blood poured into Shi Meng's body,
the aura within him
was rapidly rising,
closing in on the level of the peak Viscera Refining Realm—and it was still accelerating without end!
"Martial artists, blood, stronger."
After slaughtering over a hundred people, Shi Meng, already more like a demon than a man, seemed dissatisfied with the blood from their hearts.
He suddenly turned his head,
and the frenzied gaze in his scarlet pupils abruptly shot toward the nearby members of Weilong Martial Arts School, who were at a loss after Hall Master Feng had been sent flying by a claw, as well as toward the direction where the martial artists of the Datong Escort Agency, Wu Family, and others had gathered!
"Not good! Prepare to engage!"
Zhou Weilong was shocked and cried out in alarm.
Shi Meng gave a hideous grin. His body burst forward, transforming into a violent crimson blur that came charging straight at them amid terrifying momentum!
Under that terrifying pressure, the ground along his path cracked apart one section after another!
"Master Zhou, don't panic! We've come to aid you!"
"This Shi Meng has gone mad! If he continues like this, then unless he's stopped, the entire Huangshi Town will become a living hell! Everyone from the Wu Family, attack with me!"
"We must kill this fiend here!"
An aged roar from Wu Yuan, the Wu Family Patriarch, rang out in midair.
Xia Youming of the Datong Escort Agency and Wu Yuan leaped up one after another, launching attacks toward the place where Shi Meng's blur was headed.
The bloody scene of Shi Meng slaughtering even members of his own gang without regard for kinship or affiliation had already shocked everyone!
Especially the frenzied sight of him killing people, seizing their hearts, and rapidly increasing his aura—everyone had witnessed it with their own eyes!
That Shi Meng
had already been possessed and lost his reason!
He killed anyone he saw!
No one was a fool.
Whether it was Xia Youming, the chief escort chief of the Datong Escort Agency, or Wu Yuan, the Old Patriarch of the Wu Family, both understood clearly that if they allowed this crazed Shi Meng to continue, then the entire Huangshi Town would soon face a catastrophic disaster of annihilation!
As the only two remaining forces in Huangshi Town possessing the battle power of Viscera Refining Realm martial artists, the Datong Escort Agency, which had been rooted here for twenty or thirty years, and the century-old prestigious Wu Family could not easily abandon the foundations of their factions.
"All martial artists, attack! We must kill this demon here! Otherwise, if his strength breaks through again, it'll all be over!"
Bang, bang!!
Xia Youming and Wu Yuan leaped forward first. Taking advantage of Shi Meng's attention being focused on Zhou Weilong, they struck from the side with their respective killing techniques!
Powerful gusts swept across, and streaks of force tore through the air!
However,
Whoosh!
Shi Meng's huge, burly body was still in midair when he twisted around, easily dodging the two men's killing techniques!
"What?!"
Their attacks missed, and both men's expressions changed drastically!
But that was not the end of it.
Boom, boom!!!
In midair, Shi Meng thrust out both fists. Crimson energy erupted like rolling boulders surging forward and piercing the air, sweeping toward the two men from afar!
These two Viscera Refining Realm experts standing at the pinnacle of Huangshi Town were utterly powerless to resist for an instant. They were blasted away, spewing a great mouthful of blood in midair!
"Eagle Claw Hand—die!"
Fortunately, Xia Youming and Wu Yuan's attacks had not been meaningless. Almost at the same moment, Zhou Weilong unleashed his strongest killing technique, Eagle Claw Hand. His fingers tore through the air as they clawed straight toward Shi Meng's head!
After advancing to the Viscera Refining Realm, the power of this Eagle Claw Hand had become even more terrifying. Even steel plates could probably be pierced with ease by the eagle claw formed from gathered Qi and Blood!
However,
Clang!
When Zhou Weilong's claw, condensed from the full strength of his Qi and Blood, struck down upon Shi Meng's head,
it rang out with the sound of metal colliding!
The Eagle Claw Hand, powerful enough to shatter steel plates, could not advance even an inch against Shi Meng's head!
"This!!"
Zhou Weilong sucked in a terrified breath.
Shi Meng, his entire body wreathed in crimson mist, raised his head. He bared his sharp teeth and revealed an extremely ferocious grin.
Boom!
Shi Meng reached out with one hand.
The crimson claw-shadow shot toward Zhou Weilong's chest like lightning!
"My life is over!"
Terror appeared across Zhou Weilong's face.
At that moment,
he no longer had the ability to dodge!
He was about to die at Shi Meng's hands!
However,
at that very moment,
suddenly,
a blade-light, sharp as a lightning-forged spike, tore through the sky. Carrying a streak of brilliant, vivid crimson radiance, it abruptly thrust across and blocked the path of the terrifying claw-shadow!