In a dark corner, Chu Ge went all out as soon as he attacked the corpse driver, immediately activating Crimson Scale Claws in an effort to kill him with one strike.
As strange power surged into him, a dense, ant-bite-like sensation quickly surfaced in both hands. Beneath his sleeves, the muscles bulged and swelled, and patches of hard, pale-red scales appeared.
A mighty, surging sense of power filled both arms at once, and his muscles rose in ridges.
Unexpectedly, the corpse driver across from him seemed to sense the danger in an instant. As he shook the great banner, a shriveled head with wild, disheveled hair suddenly shot out, opening its fanged mouth to bite viciously at Chu Ge.
"Flying Head Zombie!?"
Chu Ge was instantly startled. He had never expected another Flying Head Zombie to be lurking beside the corpse driver. The hairs all over his body stood on end, and he quickly changed the course of his attack.
Whoosh, whoosh!
His sharp Crimson Scale Claws sliced through the air like swords, their force sweeping across the room. They instantly knocked aside the Flying Head Zombie's entrails, which had whipped around like a long lash, then clashed viciously with its fangs.
A metallic clang rang out.
The Flying Head Zombie's fangs snapped, and the sharp Crimson Scale Claws sliced open half its face. Chu Ge's violent strength sent it flying, crashing heavily into the courtyard outside.
Chu Ge was taken aback by how easily he had succeeded.
He immediately realized that this Flying Head Zombie might not be as powerful as the one currently entangled with Tian Youji and Hu Xuezhi.
"A demonic martial artist?"
The corpse driver, who had been about to charge forward, was also startled by Chu Ge's sudden appearance. He stared at Chu Ge's powerful, demonic-looking arms in astonishment, wariness and coldness surfacing in his eyes as he asked in a low voice,
"Who are you?"
In his eyes, the person before him had a dark face and a weathered visage, lined with wrinkles that seemed to record every hardship life had dealt him. He looked like an utterly unremarkable old man.
But beneath the night sky, the old man's arms were covered in pale-red scales, thick and fierce like a demon's, and shrouded in mystery.
"So you know about demonic martial artists."
Chu Ge's expression remained calm.
He had heard of martial artists imitating the sinister, bizarre beings of legend—such as exotic beasts and Exotic Demons—to develop Demonic Martial Arts.
But he had never seen any.
Judging by the corpse driver's reaction, he seemed to know quite a lot.
Though he said this, Chu Ge did not pause for an instant. He shot forward.
He gave the other man no chance to command the Flying Head Zombie. His sharp, pale-red-scaled claws flashed out like blades, aiming to tear the man open.
"Do you think this old man is afraid of you?"
Soul Chasing Old Man's face turned cold. Though he did not understand the situation, he was a Blood Change Realm martial artist himself, and naturally had nothing to fear.
Whoosh!
He planted a foot and charged forward, releasing a shocking aura that pressed toward Chu Ge and nearly suffocated him. He suddenly raised the great banner in his hands and thrust it forward!
Boom!
Force burst outward, and a mighty, surging impact slammed toward Chu Ge. The air exploded like thick porridge!
Before their attacks even met, their surging auras clashed, and streams of force already swept in every direction.
With a bang, force exploded.
The great banner, forged like metal, struck the claws and sent sparks flying, leaving a gash in its surface.
The instant their blood and qi collided, Chu Ge sensed that his opponent's reserves were far deeper than his own.
But Chu Ge cultivated Tiger Crouching Technique, a body-tempering martial art, and Crimson Scale Claws greatly amplified his strength. Even as he clashed with his opponent, he did not fall behind in the slightest.
When his opponent's force surged into the meridians of his arms, the strange power within Crimson Scale Claws naturally neutralized it.
Caught off guard by their first exchange, Soul Chasing Old Man's hand, gripping the banner, went numb from the impact. His expression changed.
"What terrifying strength!"
He could tell that although this demonic martial artist's blood and qi were clearly weaker than his own, his strength was frighteningly immense, and his body was like an iron tower.
He had no choice but to rapidly circulate his blood and qi, give it everything he had, and roar again and again.
In an instant, fierce winds howled in the darkness, and the thunderous cracks of fists colliding with flesh and bone rang out without end.
The spreading force swept in every direction, splintering the tables and chairs inside the tower and shattering vases and porcelain bowls.
Battles between Blood Change Realm martial artists were devastating.
In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged countless blows.
The longer Soul Chasing Old Man fought, the more furious and alarmed he became. The web between his thumb and forefinger, wrapped around the banner, had split open and was bleeding, and his arm had gone numb.
He had entered the Blood Change Realm many years ago, but his Spiritual Aptitude was too low to reach the Force Condensation Realm.
Even now, in old age, his blood and qi were clearly far more abundant than his opponent's, yet he still could not gain a decisive upper hand.
"Haah!"
He suddenly roared. As he swung the banner, it cut through the air with a fierce whistle. The Flying Head Zombie that had fallen into the courtyard earlier came hurtling back, joining the attack.
He was resorting to an underhanded two-on-one assault against Chu Ge.
At that moment, a glint flashed in Chu Ge's eyes. He suddenly retreated, yielding ground to gain the advantage.
His figure shifted from a fierce tiger into a nimble cat. With one retreat and one bound, he instantly circled behind a pillar inside the tower.
"Where do you think you're going!?"
Soul Chasing Old Man roared. The sound waves shook the air in every direction with a muffled rumble as he and the Flying Head Zombie rapidly gave chase.
Whoosh!
He had barely rushed after Chu Ge when he saw a figure leap from behind the pillar into the air.
He immediately swung the banner on instinct, sending force surging wildly toward the figure.
But that figure suddenly changed direction at impossible speed, shifting sideways by a whole zhang in midair.
A midair turn!
Such footwork was positively ghostlike, utterly inconceivable.
"What?" Soul Chasing Old Man's eyes widened in stunned disbelief.
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. By the moonlight, he could just make out several nearly invisible, transparent threads connected to the figure.
But before he could figure out what they meant, a terrifying aura, like a demonic beast emerging from a cave, surged toward him from another direction, its presence utterly intimidating.
"There's someone else!?"
Soul Chasing Old Man's hair stood on end.
He had just swung the banner, and his force had already been spent. His old strength had faded, while new strength had yet to rise.
His blood and qi churned as he pulled back. At the same time, he held the banner in front of him to intercept the attack and kicked out, like a rabbit kicking an eagle, fighting for his life in a desperate situation.
In the darkness, a burly figure lunged forward and thrust out a claw. Like a horn propping up the heavens, it met Soul Chasing Old Man's incoming kick head-on.
Crack, crack, crack!
Chu Ge's spine rolled forward joint by joint, like an earth dragon turning over.
The power of Hardened Tiger Skill surged to its utmost, and the Beast Power Paper Talisman on his back lit up in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, the muscles across his back knotted like a dragon's spine, swelling and bunching like risen dough. His clothes pulled taut in an instant, on the verge of bursting.
"Argh!"
Soul Chasing Old Man let out a scream. It felt as if a pointed hammer had smashed into the sole of his foot; his foot seemed pulverized, and his leg bones were close to breaking.
An even more terrifying force, like sharp steel needles, stabbed into his meridians.
Boom!
A chaotic burst of force blew apart his long boots and shredded his trouser leg into tatters. His body flew away with the momentum.
Whoosh, whoosh!
He turned in midair to disperse the force. His right leg had already gone numb.
But before he could land, another figure came gliding toward him.
"Die!"
Soul Chasing Old Man roared furiously and suddenly threw a punch, surging force bursting from it.
At almost the same moment, the Flying Head Zombie under his control lashed out with its entrails, long as a whip, and wrapped them around the figure suddenly lunging toward him.
With a hiss, the figure was blasted apart by the force, bursting into fragments.
A cloud of powder with a mushroom-like odor and poisonous fluid suddenly splashed toward his face.
"Poison?!"
Soul Chasing Old Man staggered to the ground, limping. His expression changed, and he immediately held his breath as he surged with blood and qi, then shoved both hands forward with all his strength.
Boom!
A violent burst of force exploded like a solid, circular shield, scattering all the poisonous powder and fluid. As they hit the ground, they corroded it with a sizzling hiss.
"Clack."
Soul Chasing Old Man stumbled backward, nearly losing his footing and collapsing to the ground.
A piercing pain drilled up from his right foot. His sole was a bloody mess, the bones pulverized, and his lower leg had gone numb.
A fierce force churned through his meridians, trying to bore its way inside, but he stubbornly resisted it with his abundant blood and qi.
Rustle, rustle.
The shredded fragments of Shadow Puppets fell all around him.
Soul Chasing Old Man scanned the ground, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.
He immediately looked up and saw the mysterious old man approaching through the darkness, expression wooden, cloak-clad, and radiating an oppressive aura with every step.
"That old bastard! What a vicious sneak!"
Soul Chasing Old Man's face darkened. His heart was filled with wariness, even the urge to flee.
His opponent was mysterious, despicable, and treacherous to the extreme. He used surprise attacks and poison, and practiced Demonic Martial Arts—he would stop at nothing.
He gritted his teeth. "Who are you, exactly!? This old man admits defeat. I can leave of my own accord!"
Chu Ge, wearing a porter's Shadow Puppet Face Pattern, did not reply. He glanced at the large amount of poisonous powder and fluid scattered across the ground, feeling helpless.
Ordinary poisoning methods like this still could not pose much of a threat to a Blood Change Realm martial artist.
However, his opponent had probably inhaled some of the poisonous powder just now, and Chu Ge had injured his leg with a sneak attack. His threat had been greatly reduced.
The only thing Chu Ge still needed to be wary of was whether his opponent had some other secret art involving strange power.
He said nothing. While the Beast Power Paper Talisman was still taking effect, he suddenly surged with blood and qi and charged forward again like a tiger about to devour its prey.
Bang!
The Flying Head Zombie that came hurtling toward him was punched apart by Chu Ge.
With the Beast Power Paper Talisman amplifying him, his strength was astonishing. The immense impact made the shriveled head's eyes bulge and its skull burst, sending it rolling far away.
Soul Chasing Old Man let out a mournful, furious howl. He suddenly turned and sprang backward, about to leap off the tower and flee.
Chu Ge pursued swiftly, leaping like a fierce tiger across a ravine.
Unexpectedly, just as Chu Ge rushed forward, a sinister, terrifying aura suddenly approached through the night sky from ahead.
A Flying Head Zombie came hurtling toward him. Its build and features were clearly much larger and more ferocious than those of the one before.
"A giant Flying Head Zombie. Is that the one from the county offices?"
Chu Ge saw the flying head in the distance, far more ferocious and imposing than the others, and felt a jolt of alarm.
Whoosh!
Beneath the night sky, the hulking Flying Head Zombie had not yet reached him when the slick entrails dangling from its neck stretched across the distance.
With a whoosh, its shadow rolled through the air like a wicked dragon emerging from the sea, sweeping toward Chu Ge.
Chu Ge did not dare to take it lightly. He knew the Flying Head Zombie's entrails were its most insidious and poisonous weapon. Lin Hongtu of the Demon Suppressing Division had fallen to them.
He quickly surged with blood and qi and dodged to the side. Then he sprang into the air, his form like a tiger with wings, arms spread wide as he suddenly soared across the sky.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The whip-like entrails swept past his belly, giving off a foul stench. A bone-chilling cold made all his muscles tense, and in an instant his abdominal muscles hardened into blocks of iron.
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