Ungrateful Treachery

Seeing that help had arrived, the four youths looked delighted. But when they realized that Zhou Heng's aura hadn't even reached the Bone Refining Realm, disappointment immediately clouded their faces.

Zhou Heng swept over in a flash and unleashed the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique. Countless sword shadows surged out, each like a waterfall plunging from the sky. Faintly, the thunderous roar of crashing water seemed to echo through the air!

This showed that his understanding of the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique had reached an extremely high level. He had nearly mastered the essence of the entire style!

As sword shadows danced through the air, even the Golden-Crowned Snake dared not meet their edge. It coiled its thick, lengthy body, raising its head high as it launched attacks from above.

Zhou Heng's thoughts raced. Though he wasn't using the Heaven-Soaring Sword Technique, he instinctively brought a trace of sword intent into play, creating an invisible pressure on the Golden-Crowned Snake. Combined with his ability to anticipate the situation and the wondrous Flying Cloud Steps, this let him escape danger time and again.

The four youths stared at the scene in shock!

One of them could barely stand up to the Golden-Crowned Snake, but Shi Gang was in the Eighth Layer of Body Refining! This boy was only in the Sixth Layer of Body Refining, yet he could still do this. It was almost impossible to believe.

"What a divine sword!"

"His movement technique is uncanny!"

After exchanging glances, the four quickly came to their conclusions. They would never know that Zhou Heng possessed an even more astonishing ability to control the flow of battle. That was what allowed him to face a Ninth Layer of Body Refining beast while only at the Sixth Layer!

"Brother Gang, what do we do?" one of the youths asked Shi Gang.

Shi Gang furrowed his brow. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Even with him here, we still can't kill this Golden-Crowned Snake! While that beast is tied up by the boy, let's get out of here!"

"Brother Gang, someone came to help us. Isn't it a little dishonorable to do this?"

"Hmph. Then stay here and die with him!" Shi Gang said coldly.

"That's not what I meant—"

"If we stay, we'll all die together. Better to save our precious lives and come back to kill this stinking snake once our cultivation is great enough. Then we'll have avenged him! What would be the point of all of us dying here?" Another youth found them an excuse for their shamelessness.

"Exactly. We're the future hope of the Shi Family. We can't die here! Let's go!"

"Brother Gang, that boy's weapon is a divine weapon. Wouldn't it be a waste to let him be buried with it?" the third youth said reluctantly, his greedy gaze fixed on the Frost Cold Sword.

"Are you an idiot?" Shi Gang snorted. "Do beasts know how to use weapons? Once that boy's been eaten by the Golden-Crowned Snake, all we have to do is come back and pick up the sword!"

"Right!"

The other three brightened. Together, they retreated, then abruptly turned and bolted. In moments, they had vanished from sight.

Zhou Heng knew how treacherous people could be, but he had still believed that everyone had a line they wouldn't cross. The four youths' actions left him dumbfounded. At last, he realized he had overestimated just how shameless some people could be.

No wonder no one in this world was willing to be a good person anymore!

He snorted inwardly. It didn't bother him much, since he hadn't been counting on their help in the first place. And now that they were gone, he could use the Heaven-Soaring Second Style without holding back!

End this quickly!

After some time, those four would surely come back to check. He had to kill the Golden-Crowned Snake and leave as soon as possible. Once he had recovered, he would have nothing to fear.

Heaven-Soaring Second Style!

Zhou Heng came to an abrupt halt, holding his long sword straight out. A terrifying aura burst from him, forming a shockwave that slammed into the Golden-Crowned Snake.

The Golden-Crowned Snake's movements faltered. An indescribable pressure enveloped its mind!

Beasts were savage, so the time its mind could be controlled would surely be extremely brief!

Zhou Heng seized that instant. Shing! His sword flashed out in a sweeping strike!

Boom, boom, boom! He poured out every last bit of strength in his body. As the sword moved, heaven and earth answered, and countless forces that weren't his own converged on the blade, continuously magnifying the power of his strike.

The Golden-Crowned Snake was, after all, a Ninth Layer of Body Refining beast. The instant the sword came at it, it finally reacted. Whish! Its tail lashed toward Zhou Heng with tremendous force.

"Slash!"

Zhou Heng roared. The Frost Cold Sword fell, its sharp edge backed by a burst of frenzied power. It tore through the Golden-Crowned Snake's scales without slowing, cut through its dense, sinewy body, and severed bones harder than a hundred-fold-refined steel!

Whoosh! The snake's enormous head soared through the air.

Its tail struck!

Flying Cloud Steps!

Zhou Heng forced a breath of strength into himself. In midair, his body made an impossible turn. Whoosh! He shot more than ten meters to the left before slamming hard into the ground. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and intense weakness flooded his entire body.

The Heaven-Soaring Second Style had drained every bit of his strength. Forcing out the Flying Cloud Steps as well had only made his injuries worse!

Now, he couldn't even move a finger!

—That was despite his body having already endured the Heaven-Soaring Second Style once and developed some ability to adapt. Otherwise, his injuries would have been far worse.

The Golden-Crowned Snake's headless corpse thrashed wildly, its tail like an iron whip. Each strike left a deep mark in the earth! One blow from that tail would shatter every bone in his body!

All Zhou Heng could do was pray that the tail wouldn't strike him as he used the Moon Shadow Heart Art, trying to recover his ability to move.

He was lucky. Without its head, the dying Golden-Crowned Snake thrashed blindly. But snakes had incredible vitality, and it took nearly ten minutes for the body to finally go still. Slightly green blood pooled across the ground.

Zhou Heng hurried to recover his strength. He knew the four from the Shi Family would definitely come back.

One minute, two minutes... ten minutes... fifteen minutes!

Zhou Heng stood up. He had recovered only two tenths of his strength, but he couldn't wait any longer.

The Frost Cold Sword came down, and he slowly cut open the Golden-Crowned Snake's body. Zhou Heng panted heavily. Without enough strength, even a divine weapon struggled to pierce a beast's tough hide and flesh.

He didn't know where the gallbladder was, so he cut along the body, inch by inch, from head to tail. Only after slicing it open for three meters did he finally find the Golden-Crowned Snake's gallbladder. It was only half the size of his fist, and a deep green all over.

Every part of a beast was incredibly tough. The gallbladder, too, was springy; even when squeezed between his fingers, it only deformed, showing no sign of bursting. Zhou Heng tucked the snake gallbladder safely against his body, then pulled out the fangs as well. They could fetch a high price, though nothing close to the gallbladder.

He was about to skin the snake when a sense of unease came over him, like a stone tossed into a still lake, sending ripples racing in every direction. He immediately turned toward the source of that feeling—and saw the four members of the Shi Family emerge from the woods.

In their minds, Zhou Heng should have been swallowed whole by the Golden-Crowned Snake by now. All they had to do was come back and pick up the sword he'd dropped. But the scene before them left them utterly stunned!

The Golden-Crowned Snake was dead!

How was that possible?!

When they saw the icy look in Zhou Heng's eyes, their first thought was to run—to get as far away as possible!

"Hmph, he's at the end of his rope!" Shi Gang sneered at once, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Put down your sword and leave behind what you took from the Golden-Crowned Snake. Do that, and I'll spare your life!"

His reminder made the other three from the Shi Family see the situation clearly. Zhou Heng was only in the Sixth Layer of Body Refining. Killing a Golden-Crowned Snake was certainly unbelievable, but it wasn't something he should have been capable of. He must have paid a terrifying price!

The boy was merely forcing himself to stand. Otherwise, why hadn't he reacted at all to the four ungrateful wretches standing before him?

Bah! They weren't ungrateful. None of them had asked the boy to save them, had they?

Zhou Heng smiled faintly. Why get angry over petty people like these? It wasn't worth it! He raised the Frost Cold Sword and said, "I saved your lives, and I killed the Golden-Crowned Snake on my own. What gives you the right to demand that I hand it over?"

"If we hadn't already worn down most of the beast's strength, do you think you could've killed it?" Shi Gang sneered. "Don't even think about stalling to recover. Killing a Ninth Layer of Body Refining beast while only in the Sixth Layer isn't something that can be done in a moment!"

"Brother Gang, why don't we just kill him?" one of them asked quietly. If the boy got away alive, wouldn't he expose their wicked deeds?

"You idiot. The boy killed the Golden-Crowned Snake. Who knows how terrifying he'll be if he fights for his life? If you want to die, go ahead!" another man cursed just as quietly.

Shi Gang sneered. He wasn't letting Zhou Heng go out of kindness. If he made a move, he would never show mercy. But since he was wary that Zhou Heng might still have some hidden trump card, he wouldn't let such a genius escape—someone who could kill a Bone Refining Realm beast while still in the Sixth Layer of Body Refining!

Born cruel, despicable and shameless!

Zhou Heng smiled coldly and gave the sword in his hand a sharp shake. His icy gaze swept over the four closing in step by step. "I swear here and now: I will kill all four of you. If I break this oath, I'm worse than a dog or a pig!"

Shi Gang and the other three all turned pale. They could hear the undisguised killing intent in Zhou Heng's words! For some reason, it sent a chill through their bodies!

"Then you leave us no choice!" Shi Gang leaped forward, swinging the Green Blade in his hand and scattering a swath of cold light.

"Wash your necks and wait for death!" Zhou Heng didn't parry. He launched himself away with the Flying Cloud Steps, his figure gliding through several graceful turns before slipping effortlessly past the four men's encirclement. In an instant, he was a hundred meters away.

Shi Gang charged after him. As a Bone Refining Realm expert, his top speed surpassed Zhou Heng's. But the instant his body shot forward, he saw Zhou Heng, who had been rushing straight ahead, make a bizarre turn!

By the time Shi Gang stopped and turned around, Zhou Heng had already run more than a hundred meters and darted into the woods.

There was no way they could catch him now!

"Brother Gang, what do we do?"

"Take care of the Golden-Crowned Snake and return to the family! With this Golden-Crowned Snake, we'll definitely be able to beat Shi Qingfeng this time!"

"Yes!"

The other three answered in unison, their faces bright with excitement. Shi Qingfeng was another genius of the Shi Family, and his talent was a cut above Shi Gang's. The next head of the Shi Family would almost certainly be one of those two. As Shi Gang's followers, they naturally hoped to see him outshine Shi Qingfeng.