Crushed to Death, Child's Head

Realizing that Little Sprite Qian had already used her bewitching ability to daze Dark Poison Child, Chu Ge immediately raced over.

Suddenly, he drove an elbow forward like a horned bull charging at the heavens.

Crack, crack, crack—

In an instant, his spine rolled forward joint by joint like an earth dragon turning over, while the muscles across his back knotted as if he were unfurling a dragon's spine.

Ten fists couldn't stop one elbow!

With the Crimson Scale Claws augmenting it, Chu Ge's elbow strike was even more fierce and forceful. His qi surged, almost condensing into a sharp cone.

Hum!!

The terrifying threat of death jolted Dark Poison Child awake.

"No!"

He roared and spun around, hastily raising both arms to block, his blood and qi surging throughout his body.

Boom-crack!—

The elbow tore through the air and met his crossed arms head-on. The impact made a bone-rattling crash that shook the eardrums.

"Ah—!"

Dark Poison Child screamed. His iron-hard arms snapped under the blow, twisting at an unnatural angle, and the force sent him flying through the air.

The violent qi unleashed by their collision burst outward, sweeping Little Sprite Qian—whose spirit was inhabiting the paper puppet—off her feet as well.

The blast struck Chu Ge with savage force, ripping his clothes to shreds and revealing a powerful, solid physique, as hard and imposing as craggy rocks.

Yet none of the poisonous qi could penetrate his sturdy body, where his blood and qi surged and his own qi covered every inch.

With the heat of boiling blood coursing through him, Chu Ge let out a long howl and charged again, bounding like a tiger and racing like a wolf.

He drove the Tiger Crouching Technique to its limit, his blood and qi raging. The qi filling his body burst forth like a catapult launching a stone.

His qi shot forward like a steel bolt, solid as metal!

It struck Dark Poison Child from a distance, smashing him hard into the ground.

"Ah—!"

Dark Poison Child cried out. The qi blasted through his clothes, tearing them to ribbons and exposing the armor beneath.

But before he could clear his head and react—

Chu Ge was already upon him. He seized Dark Poison Child by the ankle and swung him around with brutal force.

In his iron-body state, the muscles in Chu Ge's arm had grown to more than twice their usual size. They knotted like the roots of an ancient tree, while dark-blue veins bulged beneath the scales and coiled like earthworms.

Whoosh—

Dark Poison Child's hundred-plus-pound body flew around like a stalk of straw, soaring through the clouds.

Boom-crack!—

The ground collapsed and shattered beneath the tremendous impact, bursting apart in every direction.

"Blegh—!"

A huge mouthful of blood sprayed from Dark Poison Child's mouth. His head rang and spun, and blood ran from all seven orifices.

If not for the bones of a Blood Change Realm martial artist being like steel, and his internal organs shielded by his abundant blood and qi, that one blow would have turned his entire body into a pool of blood.

But he was still in grave danger. Sensing his life at risk, he instinctively opened his mouth to beg for mercy. "Wait..."

Chu Ge's arm tensed again, and Dark Poison Child's body was flung into the air once more.

Boom!—

The ground shook, and a ring of powerful qi blasted outward, sweeping away the dust.

A ghastly crack of shattering bones rang out.

Almost at the same time, blood abruptly spread across the ground in a pool.

Boom—boom—

The ground shuddered twice more.

Only after confirming that Dark Poison Child's five viscera were shattered and he was utterly dead did Chu Ge finally relax. The boiling blood and qi coursing through him began to settle.

The vitality of a Blood Change Realm martial artist was truly terrifying.

Blood and qi protected the five viscera and six bowels, even the brain. As long as that energy did not disperse, it was difficult to inflict much damage on the organs or the brain.

Chu Ge had nearly worn his arm numb from swinging him before he finally beat Dark Poison Child to death.

"Other martial artists in the Blood Change Realm don't seem this strong.

"His blood and qi were exceptionally abundant, and his hidden weapons and poison arts were sinister and dangerous. If I hadn't caught him off guard and used unorthodox methods and the Crimson Scale Claws..."

"Dangerous. That was truly dangerous. Without the Crimson Scale Claws, poison would've invaded me the instant our palms met."

Chu Ge looked down at Dark Poison Child, whose seven orifices were bleeding, then at his arms, which were covered in pale-red scales.

He felt a tingling layer of poison held back by the scales. Somewhat vexed, he fell into thought.

"Am I too weak, or was my opponent too strong?"

He suddenly remembered that his opponent had seemed to admit he was on the Blood Ranking.

At once, Chu Ge felt a little better. He had found some comfort.

Blood Change Realm martial artists were formidable, but not all of them made the Blood Ranking.

Anyone who made the list, even the one ranked last, was powerful.

"Right, Little Sprite Qian!"

Thinking of Little Sprite Qian, Chu Ge immediately turned to look for her, skipping even the usual ritual of offering the corpse.

Fortunately, the little one had only been blasted away by the qi. Her Shadow Puppet body had been torn into several pieces.

She was sitting on the ground, silently crying as she held the purple-robed paper puppet, now torn into pieces. Tears glittered on her delicate face like shimmering rain, and her pitiful expression broke the heart.

Seeing Little Sprite Qian like this, Chu Ge couldn't help smiling. He went over to comfort her. "All right, it's okay. I'll make you an even prettier paper puppet later."

At his words, Little Sprite Qian lifted her tear-streaked face. Her beautiful eyes were filled with melancholy, and her two little feelers trembled as she conveyed her thoughts with a look.

"Little Qian likes Little Purple!"

Little Purple was the name the little one had given the purple-robed paper puppet.

Chu Ge laughed in spite of himself and nodded. "All right, all right! Little Purple it is. I'll make you another Little Purple."

Little Sprite Qian's tear-streaked, oval face brightened with a smile. She nodded coyly.

"Yay, yay! Little Qian thanks you, Pillar."

Chu Ge's face darkened. Now that the little one was familiar with him, she liked teasing him. She even dared to stop calling him master and had started calling him Pillar!

Still, thinking of how bravely she had stepped in to help just now, he felt touched. He said,

"You can have any kind of paper puppet you like, but remember this: you're worth far more than a paper puppet. Next time, don't be so reckless and rush out alone!"

She had given him a fright. He'd been terrified something might happen to Little Sprite Qian.

Her abilities were precious to him, especially the way she could help him cultivate. They could carry him much farther along the path of martial arts.

Little Sprite Qian's emotions were simple: her joy and anger showed on her face; when she was sad, she cried, and when she was happy, she smiled.

Hearing Chu Ge's concern, she burst out laughing again. Two little dimples appeared in her lovely cheeks as she gave him a sweet glance. Then she noticed that his clothes had been torn away, leaving his strong, muscular body completely bare. Her face turned shy, and she lowered her head, nodding gently.

Seeing how innocent and endearing she looked, Chu Ge shook his head with a laugh. After wiping the poison from his hands, he held them out and let her hop onto his palm.

Then he walked over to Dark Poison Child's corpse.

After thinking it over, Chu Ge made sure to wrap his hand in a piece of his torn clothing before searching the body.

In the end, he found more than five hundred taels' worth of Silver Notes, along with some hidden weapons and bottles of poison.

"Dead broke! You risked your life for just a few hundred taels of silver?"

Chu Ge shook his head.

There was no miraculous secret manual from the Yellow Turban Sect, which was only to be expected.

In this world, sects and Lineages kept their "arts" firmly in their own hands to draw people into their ranks.

Arts were not passed on lightly, let alone carried around in a book by every member.

He bundled up the Silver Notes and poison bottles in a piece of cloth and put them away. Then he cut off Dark Poison Child's head and offered the corpse to the Dragon Clock.

After offering Soul Chasing Old Man to the Dragon Clock last time, he had learned that the old man was on the Blood Ranking and wanted by the authorities. By the time he realized he could claim the bounty with the man's head, it was too late.

Anything swallowed by the Dragon Clock would not be spit back out after ten breaths.

This time, Chu Ge cut off the head first, then made the offering.

A Blood Ranking expert from the Yellow Turban Sect had to be a wanted criminal of Great Zhou. Even a fool could have guessed that.

Sure enough, once Dark Poison Child's corpse had been offered to the Dragon Clock, his full details appeared.

"Fei Shouquan: Introduction: Deacon of Qishui in Jiangcheng Prefecture, Yellow Turban Sect; ranked one hundredth on the Blood Ranking; alias Dark Poison Child; Class D Fugitive wanted by Great Zhou. Proficient in Great Accomplishment Poison Rain Palm, Essence of Poison Cultivation, Perfected Sky-Filling Rain, and Perfected Soaring Crane Body Technique."

Looking at the information on Dark Poison Child displayed inside the Dragon Clock, Chu Ge exclaimed in admiration.

"He really was a Class D Fugitive wanted by Great Zhou! I wonder how much money and merit his head is worth!"

Chu Ge felt that he wanted to learn every one of the old man's martial arts, especially Essence of Poison Cultivation and Soaring Crane Body Technique.

The former might be combined with the Five Poisons arts in his Five Mao Mountain Marvelous Skill, greatly improving his ability to cultivate and deploy poisons while giving him another weapon to use.

The latter would make his movements faster and more powerful.

He had already witnessed Dark Poison Child's speed. Knowing he couldn't match the man's movement technique, Chu Ge had stayed still and waited for an opening to ambush him.

"I wonder what abilities the Dragon Clock will extract in the end."

Chu Ge was thinking when he suddenly noticed new information appear in the golden heart of the clock.

It turned out that Soul Chasing Old Man and the smaller Flying Head Zombie he had offered a few days earlier had both finished being refined.