Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade

Wang Quan walked along the desolate path outside the city, his brows slightly furrowed. The night was unusually quiet. The low-level Corpse Clan members that usually wandered about were few and far between, as if some force had deliberately swept them away. After casually slaughtering a few shambling corpses that had failed to recognize the danger, he received only sporadic notifications of skill increases in his mind, totaling no more than 10 points. This strange calm instead carried the oppressive air of a storm about to break.

"Found you, test subject."

A cold voice devoid of the slightest emotion abruptly rang beside Wang Quan's ear, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

Wang Quan halted and slowly raised his head. At some point, three figures had appeared silently ahead. All of them wore tight black clothes, their faces shrouded in shadow. Only a pair of utterly emotionless eyes glittered with a ghostly light in the darkness, locked onto him.

The corner of Wang Quan's mouth curled into a mocking arc, but his gaze was cold as a blade. "You found me?" He slowly drew the Blood Drinking Saber from his waist. Its blade shimmered with a dark-red sheen beneath the faint moonlight. "Or was it that I... found you?"

"Hm?" The three black-clad men were plainly taken aback, seemingly having expected a different reaction from their prey.

In the instant they were distracted, Wang Quan moved!

His figure blurred like a ghost, and a flash of saber light burst forth! There were no elaborate techniques, only a bleak arc so swift it surpassed the eye's ability to follow, like the Grim Reaper's scythe, silently sweeping across the neck of the black-clad man on the far left.

The astonishment had not yet faded from the man's face when his head separated from his body and rolled across the ground. The headless corpse swayed before collapsing in a gush of blood. Not a drop stained the edge of the Blood Drinking Saber.

"Fuck! Don't hold back!" The remaining two roared in fury and alarm. They violently tore open the black clothes on their upper bodies, revealing their powerful physiques.

In the next moment, a dense series of bone-cracking sounds rang out, setting one's teeth on edge! Their bodies swelled wildly as though being inflated, their muscles bulging and twisting. Thick gray-black fur rapidly spread across their skin, their limbs deforming into enormous wolf claws and powerful, backward-bending hind legs. In the blink of an eye, they became two terrifying Monsters standing upright on their hind legs, nearly three meters tall, with the complete bodies of giant wolves!

Yet the most spine-chilling part was that atop those enormous wolf bodies brimming with savage power sat not wolf heads, but their original human heads! Those two familiar faces were now twisted by agony and frenzy. Their eyes were blood-red, their mouths stretched wide to reveal stark white teeth as drool streamed down, and they bellowed in voices that no longer sounded human. This bizarre fusion of human body and demon form radiated suffocatingly violent Monster Qi.

"What the hell are you? Half-human, half-demon?" Wang Quan raised a brow, the surprise in his eyes deepening. He stepped forward and viciously swept a powerful whip kick toward the waist and abdomen of one Wolf Demon!

The Wolf Demon did not dodge. A huge wolf claw covered in coarse fur shot out as fast as lightning and seized Wang Quan's sweeping ankle with pinpoint accuracy!

"Roar!" The Wolf Demon with a human head let out a roar mingled with human speech and beastly howls. Its arm muscles knotted as it grabbed Wang Quan's leg and smashed him hard into the ground!

Boom—!

The earth shook violently, and clouds of dust billowed.

As the dust thinned, Wang Quan rose as though nothing had happened and brushed the dirt from himself. "Not bad strength." He rolled his neck. "Unfortunately, it's still not enough."

The two Monsters with human heads and wolf bodies roared and pounced! Their claws tore through the air, their assault savage and frenzied!

Yet Wang Quan remained where he stood, unmoving. The Wolf Demons' claws struck his body with the clang of metal colliding with metal!

"You two aren't much." Wang Quan shook his head. "Looks like I still have the upper hand. I wanted to ask you something... but with you looking like this, I doubt you can speak human words anymore. Forget it."

Killing intent suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he drew his saber once more. Yet the Wind Slaying Saber Technique hacked into the Wolf Demons' tough bodies and failed to inflict a fatal wound! The technique isn't enough, Wang Quan thought, his mind turning rapidly.

He simply abandoned the saber. With a shake of both arms and his five fingers pressed together, his blood and qi surged. A metallic sheen spread across the skin of his hands, and his fingers instantly grew sharp as swords! His body flashed like lightning as he crashed straight into one Wolf Demon's embrace. His right hand struck like a venomous dragon bursting from its lair. With a wet squelch, it easily pierced the chest that was harder than refined steel and precisely gripped a scorching heart still beating madly within!

"Your hearts sure beat fast." A sinister, icy smile appeared on Wang Quan's face as he looked into the Wolf Demon's crimson eyes, filled with fear and disbelief. "Did the General of the Middle Army send you? What scheme is he plotting?"

At that, Wang Quan suddenly shook his head. "Forget it. I don't want to hear your nonsense." His five fingers clenched violently!

"You...!" The heart was crushed by brute force! Scalding demon blood splashed across Wang Quan's hand. Before the Wolf Demon could finish its sentence, the light in its eyes instantly dimmed, and its massive body crashed to the ground.

Seeing this, the other Wolf Demon let out a despairing, frenzied roar and pounced without regard for anything. Without even turning his head, Wang Quan thrust backward. His left hand likewise pierced into its chest like a sharp sword and crushed the second heart.

The Wolf Demon's enormous body froze in place. A wheezing, leaking sound came from its throat. Its crimson eyes glared fixedly at Wang Quan, as if it wanted to say something, but in the end it could only collapse feebly and die.

Wang Quan shook the blood from his hand and looked at the two Wolf Demon corpses rapidly losing their warmth on the ground. He froze for a moment, then slapped his forehead in annoyance. "Tsk, you should've said you could still stay conscious... I thought you'd completely lost your minds. Ah, what a blunder, what a blunder. I should've kept one alive to question."

[For killing 3 half-demonized modified bodies (Mortal Transformation Realm), obtained Skill Points: 30.]

[Current accumulated Skill Points: 61.]

"The saber technique can't keep up anymore. Time to try a new flavor." Wang Quan formed a thought and communicated with the system in his mind. "Deduce the Wind Slaying Saber Technique. Make it fiercer, more vicious—a path born solely for slaughter!"

[Instruction received. Consuming 10 Skill Points to deduce the Wind Slaying Saber Technique... Deduction in progress...]

[Deduction successful! Obtained Mortal Transformation Realm saber technique Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade!]

[Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade: A saber technique that pursues lethality and destruction to the extreme. Its moves are ruthless and sinister, containing multiple traits such as tearing, Armor Break, and blood devouring. It possesses additional destructive power against the Demon Race and those with powerful physiques. Cultivation requires tempering with killing intent; those whose wills are not steadfast may suffer backlash.]

"That's the one!" A sharp glint flashed through Wang Quan's eyes. "Raise Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade to Initiation!"

[Consumed 10 Skill Points. Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade raised to Initiation!]

"Raise it to Minor Achievement!"

[Consumed 12 Skill Points. Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade raised to Minor Achievement!]

"Raise it to Major Achievement!"

[Consumed 14 Skill Points. Extreme Breaking: Demon Slaying Blade raised to Major Achievement!]

After three consecutive advancements, an ocean of saber insights and killing intent surged into Wang Quan's mind, as if he had experienced hundreds or thousands of bloody battles! The aura around him grew even sharper and more dangerous. Whenever his eyes opened and closed, faint blood-colored saber light seemed to flicker within them.

[Remaining Skill Points: 15.]

Wang Quan returned the saber to its sheath, his fingertips brushing across the cold guard. The saber intent of "Extreme Breaking" lingered within his sea of consciousness. The exhilaration of shattering shackles flashed by in an instant, replaced by a clearer perception of his own limits.

His gaze swept over the assassins' remains rapidly rotting on the ground, then pierced toward the hazy outline of Anping County in the dusk. Wang Quan's eyes were sharp as blades.

"This is the second time." He muttered under his breath, his voice especially cold and hard in the silent woods. "Li Chongshan's claws grow harder every time. The next one may not be able to withstand them."

He clenched his fist, the joints making a faint sound. "My strength... still isn't enough." He voiced the conclusion, and the last trace of hesitation in his eyes was ground completely to dust.

He needed nourishment. He needed more battles, fiercer battles. He needed the pouring nourishment of demon essence-blood and souls, and he needed more Skill Points!

With his thoughts clear, he crouched and searched the assassins' remains, retrieving the tokens: glossy black ox hair, ghostly green snake slough, translucent spider silk, and beast hide etched with flame patterns. Four names ignited cold flames in his heart:

"Black Wind Cave, Ten Thousand Snakes Den, Thousand Threads Cave, Burning Heart Ridge..."

How could these be places of certain death? They were plainly the fastest stairway to heaven!

"Li Chongshan..." Wang Quan cast one last glance at the city seemingly shrouded in ill omen, as if he could see through the walls to that hypocritical—or perhaps already twisted—face.

"No matter what kind of trick you're pulling in the city..."

He turned and strode without hesitation toward the territories occupied by the four great demon clans. His pace shifted from a brisk walk to a headlong charge, like a ringing cry from a blade leaving its sheath.

"...once I cut down all these claws, take in enough nourishment, and sharpen my blade."

"When I return to Anping—"

His figure merged into the thickening night, leaving only one decisive whisper that scattered into the wilderness with the wind:

"That will be the day you and I settle everything once and for all."