The moment he finished speaking.
The surging roar of the crowd was suddenly cut off.
The thousands of lights before them remained, but that thick atmosphere of human life vanished in an instant.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The crowds disappeared, leaving only the vigilant Old Jiao and Lu Chen.
Old Jiao opened the guitar case.
Inside were a Beheading Blade and a sword.
After handing the sword to Lu Chen, he immediately said, "You report in. Qingzi, keep an eye on your surroundings."
"Got it."
Lu Chen replied at once.
Fang Qingyu also took a deep breath and looked around.
The Alertness icon showed no abnormalities yet.
Lu Chen stood between the two of them, speaking constantly into the radio.
"No Life Spirit spotted so far. It's highly likely to be a solitary species."
The other team members were also on their way.
Once a Life Spirit was discovered.
All team members had to assemble.
Once a transcendent Life Spirit was discovered.
All other team members had to retreat.
It was indeed a rule that was both incredibly united and incredibly contradictory.
Time trickled by.
Lu Chen's reports were especially clear in the deathly silence.
The positions reported by the others came through the radio one after another.
Just then, a sudden sting spread across the back of Fang Qingyu's neck.
It was a chill resembling a sixth sense, spreading from his tailbone all the way to the crown of his head.
The Alertness skill icon flashed wildly across his retina.
"It's here!"
Fang Qingyu instinctively called out a warning.
It was exactly the same as what had happened in the rain-drenched alley that day.
Only this time, there was no Great Terror of certain death.
Hearing this, Old Jiao slowly backed up and moved closer to the two of them.
Lu Chen's report abruptly stopped.
Fang Qingyu was the first to hear the crisp sound of bones growing.
"Prepare for battle!"
Old Jiao immediately turned around and growled.
Dozens of abscess-like bulges swelled across the surface of the buildings before them.
Where the wall plaster flaked away with a rustle, tar-like slime seeped from between the bricks.
The instant the first brick was knocked away, Fang Qingyu saw the monster being born.
Half of a human spine pierced through the wall like a seed sprouting.
Each protruding vertebra was frantically growing barbs.
The section of spine suddenly arched like a living snake, and its bone spurs tore through the wall, dragging out large chunks of cement.
When it finally broke free of the building, the black umbilical cord still attached beneath it dripped amniotic fluid mixed with marrow.
The place where its hindbrain should have been split open lengthwise. Two rows of hooked teeth rolled out from the depths of the opening, still dangling with half-digested scraps of flesh.
More strange noises surged in from all directions.
The surrounding sewer covers clanged as they were pushed upward, and a spine covered in excrement slowly rose from the filth.
"Qingzi, get back!"
Old Jiao held his blade horizontally before his chest.
As if responding to his warning, the umbilical cord in the creature's enormous mouth suddenly shot out from the building.
The barbs, coated in marrow, ripped through the air. Fang Qingyu could even see scraps of bone clinging to their tips.
Lu Chen's sword blade stirred an invisible current of air and severed the umbilical cord the instant it struck. The amniotic fluid spraying from the cut instantly corroded half his sleeve.
Fang Qingyu used the momentum to move behind the two of them.
He stared at the black occupational title before him.
He didn't know whether to feel happy or helpless.
Life Spirit Gu
They had actually encountered a Mother-Child Symbiotic Type Life Spirit, the same type as the Umbilical Fiend he had killed last time.
Contemplation Method required for entry, martial arts minor mastery, 400 kg required to contend!!
Fang Qingyu had opened another meridian today.
He wasn't sure exactly how much strength he had.
But it should have been around 350 kg.
With his minor mastery of Baji Quan, it wasn't as if he couldn't fight it.
Still, he had promised Old Jiao that he would first familiarize himself with the procedure tonight.
If he acted rashly.
It probably wouldn't be appropriate.
There were more Marrow Gu than he had expected, about four or five of them, surrounding them from all directions.
Although Old Jiao and Lu Chen were extremely cautious, they weren't particularly worried.
They both knew the Marrow Gu's strength.
The two of them were more than enough to handle them.
Four Marrow Gu arched their spines in the distance, their hooked teeth gleaming coldly beneath the lights.
Old Jiao's Beheading Blade was the first to cleave through the slime.
The blade collided with the bone spurs, sending sparks flying.
Lu Chen's sword stirred the airflow, turning the splashing corrosive amniotic fluid into a spiraling barrier.
"Three o'clock!"
Old Jiao suddenly growled.
The third Marrow Gu swooped down from the top of a streetlamp. With a series of explosive cracks from its vertebrae, its tail split into three branching sections.
Lu Chen spun and swung his sword.
The severed tail sections writhed in midair, spraying foul-smelling marrow.
Fang Qingyu simply stood behind them and watched.
The battle between the two of them could be summed up in one word.
Clear division of labor, calm and composed, a pleasure to watch.
They handled everything in the most correct way amid life and death. This was completely different from an ordinary sparring match.
Watching them made Fang Qingyu itch to try it himself.
When the fourth Marrow Gu burst from underground.
Rotting soil and broken bones erupted together. Fang Qingyu instinctively leaned back to avoid the flying gravel, while Old Jiao smashed the crack in the Marrow Gu's skull with the back of his blade.
Before Fang Qingyu could recover.
Both temples began throbbing violently.
The Alertness icon on his retina flashed frantically.
Above Old Jiao and Lu Chen's heads.
The final Marrow Gu had already extended half its body from the shadow beneath a billboard.
Its umbilical cord wound around the steel framework as it silently crept closer.
Its hooked teeth were less than half a meter from the back of Lu Chen's head!
"Get out of the way!"
As Fang Qingyu roared, he activated his breathing-method state.
He then stomped through the paving stones and shot into the air.
The stance of Baji Quan slammed into the umbilical cord with the sound of cracking bones, while the five fingers of his right hand plunged straight into its marrow cavity.
The Marrow Gu immediately shrieked like a crying baby.
Fang Qingyu followed through by rushing into the monster's embrace. His left elbow struck the Marrow Gu's skull, and the bone gave a crisp crack under the unbearable pressure.
The Marrow Gu shrieked and struggled.
Its twisted spine suddenly wrapped around Fang Qingyu's waist and abdomen.
The barbs tried to stab frantically into his flesh.
But Fang Qingyu had already used the force of the constriction to launch himself into the air.
His legs clamped around the Marrow Gu's split skull.
The muscles of his waist and abdomen contracted like a python strangling its prey.
Carrying the full weight of his body, he crashed to the ground.
Crack—
When the pain of his back striking the ground hit him, the two rows of hooked teeth in the skull's fissure had already been ripped off by sheer force.
But Fang Qingyu still didn't stop.
Foul-smelling blood spread across the ground.
He rolled through the pool of blood to evade the dying umbilical cord, then his surging knee strike launched the Marrow Gu's broken body into the wall beside them.
The instant it struck, it exploded into a shower of bones.
"What the hell..."
"He really is a natural-born madman."
Old Jiao and Lu Chen had already finished dealing with their own battlefields.
They stood behind Fang Qingyu, watching with their scalps tingling.
"Are you all right?"
Seeing that there was no further movement around them, Old Jiao stepped forward.
Only then did Fang Qingyu come back to his senses.
The madness in his eyes gradually faded, and he looked a little embarrassed.
"Uh, I'm fine. Sorry."
They had agreed that he would only follow along and go through the procedure this time.
But when he saw that Marrow Gu was about to succeed in its sneak attack.
He couldn't hold himself back from acting.
"It's nothing. Actually, I'm the one at fault. I shouldn't have treated you like a newcomer."
Old Jiao gave a faint, bitter smile.
He had previously assumed that Fang Qingyu had managed to kill the Umbilical Fiend at the cost of his life because the Great Terror between life and death had awakened his potential.
But what he had just witnessed.
Had completely changed his mind.
Not only had Fang Qingyu intervened in time to save his teammate.
His seasoned combat skills and exceptionally proficient Baji Quan had actually kept the Marrow Gu suppressed from the very beginning.
In the end, relying on sheer ruthlessness.
He had directly tortured the Marrow Gu to death!!!
What kind of newcomer was this?
He was practically a madman who had spent more than a decade walking along the edge of life and death.
A madman who specialized in hunting Life Spirits!
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