Gem Space

As Toby pointed toward where Chen Qiang stood, countless hands suddenly appeared in the darkness and slipped into Chen Qiang's body as if it were nothing.

The moment those hands entered his body, Chen Qiang felt a powerful force spread throughout him. It seemed to seize the blood and bones in his body all at once.

With the slightest tug, the force pulled the bones inside Chen Qiang away from his flesh. In an instant, blood burst from his body, staining the ground beneath him with a pool of red.

As the force continued, his skeleton was yanked straight out of his body in a gruesome, violent display.

"Poison Gem!"

While Chen Qiang was still enduring the agony of having his bones torn from his body, the dark-green gems that had been floating around him suddenly exploded one after another. Thick poison gas engulfed him completely.

"The Undying Chen Qiang! Let's see how you escape this time!" Toby said, nodding in satisfaction as the poison gas he had unleashed swallowed Chen Qiang.

"Are you stupid? You dragged my entire skeleton out of my body. My organs were crushed in the process. Without organs or nerves connecting them, what good is your poison going to do?"

Just as Toby was about to disperse the poison gas and admire Chen Qiang's miserable state, Chen Qiang's hoarse voice suddenly rang out from within it.

As the poison gas slowly dissipated, the scene inside came into view.

By then, the corrosive gas had completely eaten away Chen Qiang's flesh, leaving behind only a mangled mass.

But the voice had come from the skeleton that had been torn from Chen Qiang's body.

A blood-red flame burned in the skull's eye sockets. It held a long, blood-red blade, and the chains wrapped around its bones had also turned crimson. Step by step, it advanced toward Toby.

With every step, a little flesh grew back onto its body. But the poison gas quickly rotted it away, and it fell from the bones.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter."

Before Toby could recover from his shock, Chen Qiang's left hand seized the chains around his body and gave them a slight shake. They rattled as they shot toward Toby.

The skeletal Chen Qiang didn't remain where he was, either. He pushed off the pool of blood beneath him and shot toward Toby.

As his feet struck the blood, it surged toward him, coating his bones as it rushed alongside him toward Toby.

The sight of Chen Qiang walking around as a skeleton had been so shocking that Toby only reacted once Chen Qiang had reached him.

But by then, it was too late. The Seastone chains Chen Qiang had flung earlier had already wrapped around him. When Chen Qiang reached him and raised his blade to strike, Toby's body had come into contact with the Seastone, leaving him completely drained of strength. He couldn't possibly dodge Chen Qiang's blow.

"Swish!"

A streak of crimson light cut through the pitch-black space, cleaving Toby in half.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

As Toby was cut in two, the emerald-green gems scattered through the space exploded one after another. A surge of powerful life energy appeared, instantly enveloping Toby and healing his injuries.

Taking advantage of the moment after Chen Qiang's strike, while his blade was still extended and he hadn't recovered his stance, Toby quickly kicked Chen Qiang's skeleton and sent him flying. By the time Chen Qiang got back up, the two of them had already been separated by some distance.

"That recovery ability is a real pain! But if I can cut you once, I can do it again!"

For the first time, Chen Qiang found such rapid healing truly troublesome. Still, it hadn't occurred to him that when it came to recovery, who could possibly surpass him?

After grumbling a little, Chen Qiang raised his blade again and charged at Toby.

"What a monster. Only an idiot would keep fighting you!"

Toby, who had just gotten back to his feet, couldn't help muttering about Chen Qiang's abilities. The man had been reduced to a skeleton, yet acted as if nothing had happened and charged over to attack him.

Toby had powerful regenerative abilities, too, but he knew his own limits. Once he ran out of stamina, he wouldn't be able to heal his injuries. When that happened, he would surely die. As for Chen Qiang's regenerative ability, Toby couldn't even see where its limit was.

The man had become a skeleton and was still bouncing around, charging at Toby. Just how powerful did his regenerative ability have to be for him to pull that off? If this continued, Toby was sure to lose.

It wasn't that he lacked confidence in himself. His opponent was simply too abnormal. Even if he used his trump card, he might not be able to defeat him. In that case, he was better off running and alerting his superiors so they could send reinforcements.

When Chen Qiang charged toward him again, Toby didn't hesitate. He turned and became a streak of black light, vanishing from the space.

"Pathetic. You ran just like that? And they call you the Underground Emperor? What an insult to the word 'emperor'!"

Chen Qiang had only just charged forward when Toby turned into black light and fled. Chen Qiang curled his lip in disdain, then waited where he was for his body to heal. Though he could still fight as a skeleton, he was much weaker than he was in the flesh.

He had only managed to cleave Toby in half earlier by using the blood he had left on the ground. Now, he was about to leave, and he had no idea what awaited him outside. What if Toby hadn't run away, but was lying in wait to ambush him?

It was safer to wait until his body had healed before going out.

"Tiger Rend!"

In just a minute or two, Chen Qiang's skeletal body quickly returned to normal. He walked back to where he had stood earlier, picked up the pants that had fallen to the ground and put them on. Then he held his blade across his chest again. A gigantic blood-red tiger appeared and slammed into the wall of the Gem Space.

"Boom!"

A massive shock wave erupted from the black gem in the center of the plaza. Apart from the magnificent palace, the buildings in the front row all collapsed beneath its force.

"Crack!"

After the shock wave passed, the enormous black gem began to crack, inch by inch. At last, it shattered into wisps of black smoke and disappeared completely.

In the middle of the cratered plaza, Chen Qiang stood alone where the gem had once been, chains wrapped around his body and a blade in one hand.

As for Toby, he had already used the yellow gems scattered throughout the city to flee. No one knew where he had gone.