The mine tunnel was narrow and gloomy, the roar of battle shaking the heavens as torchlight flickered wildly across the rock walls.
"Kill!"
With a thunderous shout, Lu Chen charged at the Red Fish Gang's elite.
But he wasn't charging to his death.
As he surged forward, he swept his gaze over the surroundings. The long, narrow terrain allowed only two or three people to stand abreast. It was ideal for someone like him, who trained in hard-body arts—but for his wounded brothers behind him, it was a dead end.
"Wang Xiaoliu! Take everyone beneath that collapsed boulder! Form a circle! Guard your backs!"
Without looking back, Lu Chen roared. His voice made the mine tunnel rumble.
Wang Xiaoliu clutched his bleeding arm and stared at Lu Chen's iron-tower of a back, his eyes reddening.
He knew his leader planned to shoulder this alone and carve out a path for them to survive.
"Do what the leader says! Fall back! Hurry!"
Wang Xiaoliu shouted through gritted teeth, dragging several badly wounded brothers as they stumbled into a corner. With their backs against the rock wall, they raised their battered shields and weapons, keeping their eyes fixed on the way ahead.
By then, Lu Chen had already crashed into the crowd.
"Die!"
Two Red Fish Gang fighters used the momentum of their charge to bring their Ghost Head Sabers down hard on Lu Chen's shoulders.
Both were at the Flesh Refining Realm. Their strikes packed enough force to cleave rock.
There was no way to dodge.
Lu Chen had no intention of dodging, either.
He drew a deep breath, and a layer of dark, bluish metallic sheen spread across his skin.
Iron Cloth Shirt, fully activated!
Clang! Clang!
Two sharp impacts rang out, sparks flying everywhere.
The two men's hands went numb. Their sabers nearly flew from their grips, as if they'd struck an iron lump.
When they looked closely, their eyes nearly bulged out of their heads.
There were only two faint white marks on Lu Chen's shoulders. His skin hadn't even broken!
"W-what kind of hard-body art is this?!"
Before the man could finish his cry, Lu Chen's counterattack was already upon them.
He tossed aside his notched Mountain Splitting Saber. Both hands, black as ink, shot out with a rush of wind.
Stone Crushing Palm, Third Realm—Iron Hand! Vibrating Force!
Splurt!
His left hand hooked into one man's throat like an iron claw. His fingers clenched, crushing cartilage.
The man didn't even have time to scream. His throat was torn open, blood spraying across the ground.
At the same moment, Lu Chen drove his right palm into the other man's chest.
A dull thud.
The man's back suddenly bulged. His eyes popped, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood before collapsing limply to the ground.
In a single exchange, two men at the Flesh Refining Realm were dead!
The two club-wielding guards charging up behind them halted in terror, their faces stricken.
What kind of person was this? He was a ferocious beast wearing human skin!
"What are you afraid of? He practices hard-body arts. His weak point has to be under his arms or between his legs! Attack his lower body!"
Li Qingyi shouted sharply.
She had seen through Lu Chen's methods. Her figure flashed, and she darted out from the side like a red streak.
"Go! Kill him!"
With their leader backing them, the two guards steadied themselves and swung their Brass Clubs, aiming straight for Lu Chen's knees and ankles.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The clubs howled through the air.
Lu Chen's expression was cold, his stance steady.
As the Brass Clubs swept toward his legs, he relied on Bronze Skin and Iron Cloth Shirt, neither dodging nor retreating as he raised his leg to take the blows head-on.
Thud! Thud!
Both clubs slammed squarely into his shinbones.
Pain drilled through him, as though his bones were about to split.
But Lu Chen didn't even furrow his brow. He used the force to stride forward, closing the distance.
He fixed his gaze on Li Qingyi.
This woman was the greatest threat.
Li Qingyi's twin swords were like venomous snakes, thrusting from tricky angles, their tips rippling with inner energy.
A flash of cold light.
Lu Chen dodged a strike to the throat, but a cut opened across his cheek, and blood trickled down his chin.
"Let's see how long you can take this!"
Li Qingyi sneered. Her twin swords became a blur of silver light, surrounding Lu Chen.
Szz, szz, szz...
The blades scraped against his body with a grating hiss, throwing off sparks.
Iron Cloth Shirt was tough, but under the inner energy of a Meridian Connecting Realm expert, more than a dozen bloody gashes soon opened across Lu Chen's body, his flesh torn and twisted. It was a gruesome sight.
Yet he seemed not to feel the pain. He kept his head and neck protected, letting the blades slash wildly across his body.
He was waiting.
Waiting for an opening.
Seeing Lu Chen suppressed, the two guards grew bolder. Their Brass Clubs rained down, aimed squarely at his joints.
One club slammed hard into Lu Chen's back.
His body lurched. His throat turned sweet as blood surged up, but he forced it back down.
Now!
Using the force of that blow, Lu Chen ignored the attack behind him and lunged forward, closing the gap with another guard who was swinging his club.
The guard was in the middle of raising his club to smash Lu Chen's head. He never imagined Lu Chen would charge straight at him through the blow to his back.
His guard was wide open.
Lu Chen's right hand, black as ink, slammed into the guard's crown.
It was like smashing an overripe watermelon.
Red and white matter sprayed everywhere.
The guard died on the spot.
"Third Brother!"
The last guard was so terrified he nearly lost his soul. He could barely hold on to his club before turning and running.
"Trying to run?"
Lu Chen snatched the Ghost Head Saber from the ground and hurled it without even looking.
The Ghost Head Saber became a streak of black light, piercing the man clean through the back and pinning him firmly to the rock wall.
The man struggled a few times, then went still.
In just a few moments, all four of the guards at Li Qingyi's side had been wiped out.
The mine tunnel fell silent.
Only heavy breathing and the sound of blood dripping remained.
Drip. Drip.
Lu Chen was drenched in blood, his clothes shredded into strips. Wounds covered his body, and his back was swollen high, clear evidence of internal injuries.
But he still stood firm, looking at Li Qingyi coldly across the bodies.
His gaze was terrifyingly bright.
Like a lone wolf trapped in a desperate corner, vicious and hungry.
Li Qingyi stared at the demonic young man before her. The hand gripping her sword trembled uncontrollably.
She had killed many people.
She had met plenty of ruthless men, too.
But she had never seen anyone as ruthless toward himself—or as efficient at killing—as Lu Chen.
The ferocity with which Lu Chen had just taken a club strike head-on to kill his enemy chilled her to the bone.
"Y-you... are you human or a ghost?"
Li Qingyi's voice was hoarse, most of her arrogance gone.
Lu Chen grinned, revealing a mouthful of bloodied teeth. The sight was savage.
"Lu Chen of the Black Water Gang."
He stepped over the bodies and advanced, one step at a time.
With each step, his presence grew stronger.
That Killing Intent forced Li Qingyi to take half a step back before she could stop herself.
"Now it's your turn."
Lu Chen spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something trivial.
Li Qingyi gritted her teeth and forced down her fear.
She was the leader of the Red Fish Gang, an expert at the Meridian Connecting Realm. How could she let some brat at the Flesh Refining Realm scare her?
If word got out, how could she ever show her face in Nujiang County again?
"Quit your smoke and mirrors! I refuse to believe your Iron Cloth Shirt has no weak point! Even if you're made of iron, I'll grind you into iron dust!"
Li Qingyi shrieked, pouring inner energy into her swords until they hummed.
"Kill!"
She charged at Lu Chen again.
This time, she held nothing back. She unleashed her ultimate technique, Red Fish Sword Dance.
Swordlight fell like rain, dense and unbroken, swallowing Lu Chen whole.
Lu Chen stood where he was, his feet as firmly rooted as trees.
He slowly raised both hands, the black palms gleaming with a metallic sheen.
"Come on."
He murmured silently to himself.
On the panel, his Body Immunity talent was active, suppressing his agony and exhaustion.
As long as he didn't die, he could keep fighting!
In the corner, Wang Xiaoliu and the other brothers stared wide-eyed, not daring to breathe.
They watched that blood-soaked figure standing tall and unyielding, their eyes burning with fervor.
That was their leader.
That was Lu Iron Skin, the man who had made a name for himself in a single fight at the Training Ground.
"Leader Lu... truly a god among men!"
Wang Xiaoliu muttered, gripping his saber. In his heart, he swore that if he survived this, his life would belong to Lu Chen.
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