A Tiger Among the Sheep

He lowered his head and muttered to himself, "Especially after this time, I'm afraid I won't be able to hide anymore. I have no choice but to take a desperate gamble. Boss Pang, don't blame me; I am also forced into this..."

The next moment, his tone shifted, becoming intense:

"Boss Pang, the imperial court is already rotten. I've worked myself to the bone in Six Doors for over a dozen years, and I've lost count of how many times I've been injured, but what have we received in return? It doesn't even come close to what we've sacrificed!!"

"Heh, no matter how hard we fight or how much we struggle our entire lives, we can't compare to the effortless stride of a noble's son. Look at An Pingsheng—the moment he entered Six Doors, he became our direct superior! What does he know? He knows nothing! He only knows how to order us to do this and that. Boss Pang, are you really content to be stepped on by An Pingsheng, who is barely older than your own son?"

The many Six Doors Constables were left speechless.

Boss Pang let out a long sigh toward the sky and shook his head. "Since it has come to this, I have nothing more to say."

As he spoke, he pulled out a porcelain bottle, poured out a medicinal pill, and swallowed it. Without a moment's hesitation, he pulled the sword from his chest. The wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his aura, which had plummeted to rock bottom, began to recover rapidly.

"Not good! What pill did he take? His wounds are healing! Everyone, attack!"

Huo Jian's expression shifted slightly.

"Yes!"

With a unified response, dozens of martial artists swarmed in from all directions.

"Such a thick scent of blood!"

Lu Yuan frowned as he caught a pungent, overwhelming smell of blood.

He moved, lowering his body, and hurried in the direction the scent was coming from.

After traveling a hundred meters, the view opened up. In the middle of the jungle, dozens of corpses lay scattered in disarray. Bodies covered the field, limbs were strewn everywhere, and the stench of decay was nauseating.

Among the sea of corpses, a dozen or so people were still standing.

On one side were fifteen people; on the other, three.

One of the three was none other than Xu Ziyi.

The three from Six Doors were covered in wounds from head to toe, their faces smeared with blood, and the blades in their hands were notched from overuse.

After the intense battle, Huo Jian's breathing was slightly ragged. He said, "Lord Pang, my superiors appreciate you. As long as you are willing to defect to us, we will be on the same side, and your life will be spared."

Pang Tianlong's hair was disheveled. His left arm was twisted backward, bent at nearly a ninety-degree angle, exposing ghastly white bone. One of his legs dragged on the ground, and he stood on only one leg.

"Hahahaha..."

Pang Tianlong's entire body trembled from the pain, and cold sweat poured down his forehead, but upon hearing Huo Jian's words, he still laughed wildly in mockery:

"Defect? Defect to you, you son of a bitch? Go screw yourself! A bunch of inhumane cultists wanting me to defect to you? Keep dreaming! If you want to kill me, then do it. If I even frown, I'm your grandson!"

Xu Ziyi sneered as well. "Well said! In any case, taking down dozens of you lot, it wouldn't be a loss even if we died! Bring it on!"

Huo Jian was not provoked by them. He shook his head in disappointment and said, "Pang Tianlong, you are at such an age, yet you remain this foolishly loyal to the imperial court?"

As soon as his words fell, the hearts of the Taiping Sect members suddenly trembled. Huo Jian turned his head abruptly to see a fierce wind howling and grass and trees rolling in the distance. A figure was sprinting toward them with an extremely ferocious posture.

Boom! Boom!

The person charging over was incredibly fast, his footsteps landing with such immense weight that it was as if an elephant were running at full speed. The sound of his feet hitting the ground was no longer like footsteps, but like someone beating a war drum.

Seeing this display, even a master like Huo Jian, whose Qi and Blood were like a Tiger, could not help but feel his heart skip a beat.

"A master! Have people from the Six Doors come to save Pang Tianlong?"

Huo Jian's eyes narrowed. He scanned the surroundings with the utmost speed, and upon seeing only one person, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"It's only one person. Kill him! You three, kill Pang Tianlong and the others!"

Bang!!

The ground within a ten-meter radius shook violently. Lu Yuan stomped down hard, and the terrifying reactive force surged up through his legs.

In the blink of an eye, the long saber in his hand let out a whistling sound, kicking up a massive, shimmering arc of light.

Facing a group of inhumane Taiping Sect members, he did not feel the slightest urge to hold back.

There was only killing!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The saber light poured down like flowing mercury.

His primary target for this strike was Huo Jian, but he also encompassed every enemy within the reach of his blade.

The force of the energy hit their faces, and the saber light felt bone-chillingly sharp. The intensity of the killing intent made Huo Jian and the others feel as if they had jumped into a sea of blades, with sharp edges threatening to slice their bodies from every direction.

At this moment, everyone's hearts pounded wildly.

Only now did they understand why Huo Jian had reacted so strongly. Before they had even crossed blades, they already felt that this masked man was outrageously ferocious.

"Kill!"

Huo Jian let out a low roar. With a flick of his wrist, his sharp sword stirred up a chilling radiance.

Clang!!

The next moment, that cruel, bone-chilling blade light descended, accompanied by a colossal force.

At this moment, Huo Jian suspected that the person before him was a giant beast wearing human skin.

His strength.

It was too formidable!!

Rip!!

Huo Jian felt a sharp pain in the web of his hand as it tore open, and a dense flash of sword light was extinguished.

He seemed to have blocked Lu Yuan's blade momentum, but he could not block that force, which surged like a raging sea.

That power was like a wild wave, instantly rushing up the sword blade, spreading from his wrist and arm to his shoulder and his entire body with the force of a mountain collapse and a tsunami.

The immense power detonated like dynamite.

Huo Jian was sent flying over a dozen meters like a broken doll, fresh blood staining his clothes red.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!

His shoulder collided with and shattered the chest of the person behind him. Lu Yuan stretched out his arms, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. As he swung his long blade, his hands and feet remained busy; he had transformed into a killing machine.

Wherever he went, there was no one who could withstand a single blow. Everyone who collided with him either died or was maimed, their bones crushed into powder.

Even two experts who had undergone Three or Four Blood Changes could not withstand his overwhelming strength and were all beaten to death.

At this moment, Lu Yuan was like a warrior on the battlefield, charging through the enemy lines and trampling their camps, slaughtering from start to finish. No one could block such pure, violent, and explosive power.

If his strength was already this terrifying after fusing with only a portion of the Taisui Divine Ability, to what extent would his power reach if he fused with it completely?

Lu Yuan simply could not imagine it.

The three Taiping Sect members who were besieging Pang Tianlong and the others heard the screams and looked over, only to see their companions being slaughtered like lambs.

Their sole enemy's blade light was like a storm mixed with hail; wherever it passed, severed limbs and blood flew through the air.

Even Huo Jian lay not far away, life or death unknown.

Horror gripped them, and a chill ran through their entire bodies. Ignoring the need to finish off Pang Tianlong and the others, they turned and fled without a second thought.

"Want to escape? Did you ask me first?"

Lu Yuan unleashed his movement technique, catching up to the three fugitives in just five or six seconds, and finished them off in a few swift strokes.

Pang Tianlong and his two companions watched the masked man walking back, carrying a dripping blade, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.