Great Battle

That gaze was cold, indifferent, like a butcher looking at livestock awaiting slaughter.

The cunning and cruel look in the Donkey Monster's human-like eyes was instantly drowned in boundless fear! It let out a strange cry, its slender body twisting violently, intending to flee with its speed.

But it was too late.

Commander Chen's left hand moved for the second time. This time, it wasn't to vibrate the scabbard.

His thumb completely pushed open the retaining spring.

"Clang!"

A wisp of chilling, bone-piercing cold, as if condensed from ten thousand years of profound ice and boundless night, flowed out from the narrow scabbard.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, no dazzling splendor. Only a wisp of light, a light so fast it surpassed vision, surpassed thought, a light that seemed to be slashed from a rift in time.

Where the blade light passed, space seemed to be silently cut open.

The Donkey Monster, which was about to escape, froze abruptly. A thin, faint red line appeared on its slender neck, topped with a human head.

The next moment, the donkey head and body slowly slid apart, the cut as smooth as a mirror. The massive donkey carcass crashed to the ground, blood erupting from the severed neck like a fountain. On the rolling human head, an expression of extreme terror and confusion was still frozen.

Commander Chen's figure had, at some unknown time, appeared beside the Donkey Monster's corpse. In his hand was a knife. The blade was narrow and straight, without a guard, its form ancient and simple to the extreme. It was a dim, profound black all over, as if it could absorb all light, with only a wisp of condensed, unmoving ethereal glow flowing at the edge. On the blade, faint, ancient patterns like fine scales could be seen, now exuding a chill that made the soul tremble.

The hand holding the knife was steady, without the slightest tremor. The tip of the blade pointed diagonally to the ground, and a drop of viscous Monster Blood slowly slid down the cold edge.

"Moo!!!"

On the other side, the Ox Monster, struggling free from the rubble, witnessed its companion being instantly killed. Instead of fear, it only ignited its ferocity. Its human-like face let out a sky-shattering roar, its blood-red eyes locked onto Commander Chen. Its muscles bulged, its Monster Energy mixed with violent human essence boiling to the peak. It lowered its head and charged again, more ferociously and recklessly than before! Its hooves struck the ground like thunder, shaking the entire ruined hall. It was like a mountain of flesh and Monster Energy, intending to shatter the hunched old soldier before it into dust!

Facing a charge several times more intense than before, Commander Chen finally raised his right hand holding the knife.

He did not dodge, nor did he block.

He simply raised the profound black, narrow, straight knife in his hand, its tip forward, level with the charging Ox Monster's brow.

The movement was simple, even somewhat clumsy, like someone who had never practiced with a knife, raising it forward in a panic.

However, the instant he raised the knife, his hunched back seemed to straighten infinitesimally. The dormant aura of twenty years, like a frozen volcano, showed a faint, minuscule loosening. Just this slight loosening leaked an aura that caused the temperature of the entire ruined hall to plummet, and tiny ice crystals formed in the air. The scorching demonic wind brought by the charging Ox Monster was frozen and repelled!

The Ox Monster charged! Its black, curved horns, glinting with metallic coldness, were less than three feet from Commander Chen's level blade! The violent airflow whipped Commander Chen's worn robes and danced his graying hair.

Commander Chen's wrist, holding the knife, moved forward with extreme stability, a gentle push.

The action was still slow, straight, and without any flourish.

"Pfft."

A soft sound, so faint it was almost drowned out by the Ox Monster's charge and the wind.

Like a red-hot iron skewer piercing solidified lard.

The profound black, narrow, straight knife, its tip glowing with ethereal light, precisely landed on the very center of the Ox Monster's human-like brow. This was the core where its Monster Energy and human essence mixed and circulated, and also the hardest part of its skull in its mutated body.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The charging Ox Monster, its mountain-like massive body, suddenly stiffened! It maintained its lowered charging posture, its four hooves deeply embedded in the ground, plowing deep furrows, yet it could not move forward an inch. In its blood-red ox eyes (human eyes), the ferocity rapidly faded, replaced by boundless emptiness and confusion.

A tiny crack, starting from the point where the blade tip met the brow, quietly appeared.

Immediately, the crack spread as if alive! In an instant, it covered every inch of skin on the Ox Monster's human-like face, even extending into its thick neck and broad shoulders...

"Crack... crackle..."

Dense, teeth-grinding cracking sounds echoed.

The Ox Monster's massive body, along with its ferocious human-like head, like a glass sculpture struck by a heavy hammer, began to crack and disintegrate from the inside! There was no gushing blood, no flying flesh and blood. All the flesh, bone, and Monster Energy, within the silently spreading cracks, turned into the finest, gray-black dust, falling away.

In its place, only a small pile of ash in the shape of a human figure remained, along with a pair of dull, black curved horns that clattered to the ground.

Commander Chen slowly sheathed his knife. The blade remained dark, unstained by any dust. He flipped his wrist, and the long knife silently returned to its scabbard. The faint "click" of the retaining spring was exceptionally clear in the dead silence of the ruins.

He hunched his back again, as if his brief straightening, like a sword drawn from its sheath, had been an illusion. He raised his cloudy eyes and looked at Li Chongshan, who was in the main seat, his voice hoarse:

"You've been messing around for so many years, and this is all you've come up with?"

His tone was plain, yet carried a bone-deep contempt.

"Using this... trash that doesn't even qualify as defective, who are you trying to report to?"

Li Chongshan's face had turned from ashen to an unhealthy pale. He stared intently at Commander Chen, at the seemingly ordinary profound black straight knife in his hand, the corner of his eye twitching uncontrollably. Commander Chen's words were like a poisoned dart, piercing deep into a most hidden and untouchable corner of his heart.

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"Retire," Li Chongshan's voice was somewhat dry, ignoring the pile of ash and the headless donkey corpse in the corner. "Two useless things."

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, the paleness on his face gradually replaced by a morbid flush. The last trace of feigned gentleness in his eyes completely peeled away, leaving only naked, wildly surging malice and... an extremely suppressed excitement.

"It seems that ordinary works indeed do not meet Commander Chen's discerning eye," Li Chongshan slowly stood up, casually tearing off his luxurious brocade robe to reveal a dark purple tight-fitting outfit underneath. He twisted his neck, his joints cracking loudly.

"Very well," he grinned, his smile twisted and ferocious, completely different from his usual gentle demeanor. "Let Commander Chen personally appreciate Li's true 'achievements' over these years."

Before his words could fall, a sudden change occurred!

From within Li Chongshan's body came a chilling, bizarre sound, like countless exoskeletons rubbing together, bones rearranging, and internal organs shifting! His back arched violently, and dark purple, metallic-glinting hard carapaces pierced through his tight-fitting clothes, rapidly extending and unfolding! These were not simple carapaces, but eight terrifying, segmented limbs, each over ten feet long, covered in barbs, with reversed joints, resembling giant spider legs!

His head was still a human head, but below his neck, his chest and abdomen swelled and deformed drastically. His skin turned into a dark, almost black chitinous material. A massive, terrifying maw, lined with spiral teeth, split vertically down the center! Deep within the maw, Li Chongshan's original head could be vaguely seen connected to twisted muscles below. This giant mouth occupied nearly half his torso, emitting a strong, sweet, and corrosive odor.

This was not all! From his back, the carapace split open, and a terrifying stinger, like a scorpion's tail, shot out! The stinger was dark and shiny, its tip not a simple poison needle, but a bizarre structure resembling a flower bud, yet covered in fine holes, opening and closing slightly, emitting a faint green poisonous glow.

In the blink of an eye, Li Chongshan had transformed into a terrifying monster with a human head, spider legs, a giant mouth for a torso, and a scorpion's tail stinger! Nearly two zhang tall, eight long spider legs supported him off the ground, his gaping maw dripping with highly corrosive saliva that scorched the ground, producing sizzling white smoke. His scorpion tail swayed slowly in the air, locking onto Commander Chen below.

From the monster's head, Li Chongshan's face, a smile mixed with pain, madness, and extreme pleasure appeared. His voice became hoarse and layered, as if countless voices were speaking at once:

"Commander Scarface... this form is called the Spider Scorpion. It fuses the sturdy legs and stealth of the Cave Demon Spider, the spirit-devouring kiss of the Rotten Swamp Great Mouth Demon, and the 'Bone Corroding Tail Needle' of the Netherworld Poison Scorpion... supplemented by the bloodline essence of seven different monster races, taking eight years to achieve this body."

He slightly lowered his terrifying, giant-mouthed torso. Eight pairs of eye-like lights flickered faintly around his head, staring intently at Commander Chen:

"You, be careful."

The instant the last three words fell, the scorpion tail that had been swaying slowly moved without warning!

It wasn't a sting, but a whip-like lash! It moved so fast it left only a ghostly green afterimage, tearing through the air with a wail like a crying ghost, lashing towards Commander Chen's waist! Before the tail whip even arrived, a pungent, sweet, and nauseating poisonous wind swept over, causing dizziness.

The moment the scorpion tail moved, Commander Chen had already sidestepped. His movement, though seemingly not fast, narrowly allowed the tail whip, capable of shattering stone, to graze his waist. The tail whip missed, smashing fiercely into a nearby bluestone corridor pillar.

"Boom!"

The thick, sturdy corridor pillar was struck, sending碎石 flying and breaking in half! The break wasn't a simple fracture, but a melted appearance as if corroded by strong acid, sizzling and emitting poisonous smoke.

Missing its target, the Spider Scorpion, Li Chongshan, did not pause. Its eight long spider legs stomped on the ground, its massive body displaying terrifying agility incongruous with its size. It instantly sprang up and pounced from above! Its frontal maw opened like an abyss, its spiral teeth spinning madly, generating a terrifying suction that enveloped Commander Chen, intending to swallow him along with the surrounding bricks and stones to be crushed and digested in its spirit-devouring kiss! Simultaneously, the two foremost, sharpest spider legs, like giant scythes, swept left and right towards Commander Chen's neck and abdomen! The scorpion tail, like a venomous snake, waited for its chance, its ghostly green stinger slightly adjusting its angle, sealing off all possible escape routes for Commander Chen.

A net of heaven and earth, a deadly trap!

In Commander Chen's cloudy eyes, a hint of solemnity finally appeared. He no longer relied on his uncanny, minute evasive maneuvers. For the first time, he truly swung the blade in his hand.

The blade was still in its sheath.

He gripped the blade and sheath with both hands, using the sheath as the blade, slashing upwards diagonally! His movement was ancient and heavy, carrying a brute force capable of splitting mountains and rocks.

"Clang!!!"

The sheath and the left-hand spider scythe-leg collided fiercely! A deafening clang of metal against metal erupted, sparks flying! The sharp scythe-leg, capable of cutting gold and jade, was actually blocked by this seemingly crude wooden and stone sheath (which actually contained profound iron), unable to advance an inch!

Using the recoil, Commander Chen spun like a top. The sheath swept horizontally, smashing into the side of the other scythe-leg attacking from the right, knocking it away. At the same time, using his left foot as an axis, he channeled blood and qi into his right foot and stomped fiercely on the ground!

"Boom!"

The ground shook violently. A condensed force penetrated the earth and exploded ahead, disrupting the suction field generated by the giant mouth. Commander Chen's figure, like a phantom, escaped through the fleeting gap, narrowly avoiding the maw's engulfment and the scorpion tail's silent backstab.

"Chii!" The scorpion tail stinger grazed Commander Chen's shoulder, drawing a streak of blood. The flesh there instantly turned black, and the blackness rapidly spread outwards, emitting a faint sizzling sound of corrosion.

Commander Chen didn't even frown. His left hand, fingers together like a blade, struck several points around the wound on his shoulder with lightning speed. Blood and qi surged, forcefully expelling the invading poisonous blood and temporarily halting the blackness. However, his movements slowed by half as a result.

"Haha! How does it feel to be poisoned by my Netherworld Scorpion Venom?" Li Chongshan's monstrous laughter came from his head. His eight legs danced, and his massive body pressed forward again, his attacks like a tidal wave, giving Commander Chen no chance to breathe. The scythe-legs chopped, the giant mouth bit, and the scorpion tail stung and poisoned. The three attack methods were bizarre and unpredictable, seamlessly coordinated, fully displaying the insidious cunning and ferocious power of an insect predator.

Commander Chen wielded his sheathed long blade, his moves broad and powerful. Though seemingly clumsy, he always managed to avoid fatal attacks by a hair's breadth, or block the scythe-legs he couldn't dodge with the sheath. His swordsmanship had no fixed style; sometimes heavy as a mountain, sometimes light as the wind, completely adapting to the Spider Scorpion's attacks. The sounds of the sheath colliding with the carapace and scythe-legs were dense like rain, and sparks continuously flew.

He no longer moved evasively. Instead, he used the ground three feet beneath his feet as his foundation, like a reef in a raging torrent. No matter how fierce the Spider Scorpion's assault, he remained unshaken. But the scorpion venom was clearly no trivial matter. Although temporarily suppressed, it was still slowly eroding his blood and qi, causing his reactions and strength to decline by an imperceptible degree.

The battle entered a brutal stalemate.

The Spider Scorpion's carapace and scythe-legs were incredibly hard. Commander Chen, using the sheath as a blade, found it difficult to inflict significant damage, at most leaving shallow white marks. While the Spider Scorpion's attacks were ferocious, they were all neutralized by Commander Chen's near-prescient combat intuition and simple, effective blocks and dodges. When hits did occur, they were not fatal. Only the elusive scorpion tail stinger posed the greatest threat, having already inflicted several wounds on Commander Chen. Although he managed to expel the poison in time, the accumulated toxins and blood loss were gradually weakening him.

"Bang!" Commander Chen once again deflected a cross-scythe slash with his sheath. His body swayed slightly, and his footing showed obvious signs of instability for the first time.

"Got you!" A fierce glint flashed in Li Chongshan's eyes. His long-poised giant mouth suddenly spewed a thick, dark green venom, covering a vast area and sealing Commander Chen's left and right escape routes. At the same time, two spider scythe-legs, one above and one below, blocked the heavens and earth, while the scorpion tail stinger, like a lurking viper, silently stabbed towards Commander Chen's exposed back opening as he blocked the scythe-legs!

A deadly blow appeared again!

Commander Chen seemed to have no strength left to simultaneously deal with these fatal attacks from three directions. A sharp light flashed in his eyes. He ignored the scythe-legs above and below him, and did not dodge the encroaching venom. Instead, he instantly poured all his blood and qi into his arms, using the sheath as a staff, and with a straightforward, unadorned "Mountain Splitting Chop" that condensed all his strength, he smashed fiercely down towards the giant mouth spewing venom directly in front of him! It was a mutual destruction tactic!

"Want to trade lives? Dream on!" Li Chongshan roared with laughter. His giant mouth snapped shut, his two scythe-legs accelerated their descent, and the scorpion tail stinger's speed increased even further! He was confident in his carapace's defense; a direct hit from this blunt attack would be no problem, while Commander Chen would surely be dismembered and poisoned to death!

"Clang!! Crack!!"