The old crone's eyes nearly split with rage. She immediately realized she was in trouble, her feet shifting rapidly as she tried to turn and flee. At the same time, the poisoned sand in her sleeve was just about to scatter when Xu Yunfan withdrew his hammer and reached out with his clawed hand.
His blood surged, and his fan-sized palm clamped around the end of her staff. The old crone felt a searing pain in the web between her thumb and forefinger as the hundred-year ironwood staff was crushed into cracks by his five fingers.
The ringed muscles in Xu Yunfan's arm suddenly contracted, and the old crone was swung up and smashed against the rock wall. Before the crisp crack of her skull striking stone had faded, a sweeping kick broke the left wrist she had intended to use for poison.
Enduring the agony, the old crone spat blood and spun her staff in a circle to shield her face. But the ironwood staff could not withstand the immense force of the heavy hammer that followed, snapping into four pieces with a crack.
Xu Yunfan spun and kicked up a broken staff segment from the ground. The three-foot splinter pierced through the old crone's chest, pinning her to a cypress tree with a spray of blood.
She was clearly beyond saving.
Knowing he could not outrun Xu Yunfan and that fleeing meant death, the Iron Masked Man suddenly burst open the Judge's Brush in his left hand. Twelve bone-piercing awls shot forth like scattered heavenly maidens.
"Again?"
Xu Yunfan laughed, shaking pine needles from the branches. His skin glowed with a bronze sheen as he charged straight into the hidden weapons without dodging.
The bone-piercing awls scraped sparks from his copper body. His cushion-sized feet stomped the frozen