Zhou Kuang was pinned to the spiderweb, covered in blood, staring at the place where Li Pingsheng was hiding.
He screamed with the last of his strength:
"Li Pingsheng! You useless piece of trash! Aren't you so damn great? Come out if you've got the guts!!"
"If I'm going to die, I'm taking you down with me! You beast! Those two useless fools are over there! Go kill them!"
Zhou Kuang struggled, trying to lure the returning Phantom Face Spider toward Li Pingsheng and Lu Qingshan.
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One of the Phantom Face Spider's eyes remained fixed on Zhou Kuang.
Lu Qingshan charged out from behind a stalactite and shouted, "You beast!"
He poured all the strength he had left into his arms. His muscles swelled, and the veins on his arms bulged.
"Die!"
He fired three Armor Piercing Nails in a triangular formation at the Phantom Face Spider.
At the same time, he scattered a large cloud of white powder, covering the entire Phantom Face Spider.
The white powder touched its shell and began to corrode it, billowing white smoke.
As the powder ate away at its shell, the three Armor Piercing Nails pierced the other compound eye on the human face on its back.
The Phantom Face Spider's compound eye was nailed blind, and green fluid splattered out.
It shrieked, sending loose stones tumbling from the cave ceiling.
Lu Qingshan's attack had gravely wounded the second-rank demon beast—and enraged it completely.
The frenzied Phantom Face Spider swung its head and struck at Lu Qingshan with one massive leg.
It was too fast.
Lu Qingshan had exhausted all his strength and had no time to dodge.
The blow sent him flying. He spat out a stream of blood and slammed into a stone wall more than ten meters away before sliding down.
Every bone in his body was broken. Blood mixed with chunks of his organs gushed from his mouth, leaving him with no strength to fight.
"Big Brother Lu!"
Li Pingsheng cried out.
Enraged by the loss of one eye, the Phantom Face Spider abandoned Zhou Kuang, turned around, and fixed its gaze on Lu Qingshan.
It was going to tear apart the "bug" who had hurt it.
Its eight legs crushed the ground as it lunged toward Lu Qingshan.
Just then, a roar burst from Li Pingsheng's throat.
The effect of the second Pulse-Suppressing Pill had completely worn off.
The blood and qi that had been suppressed for so long erupted through his fragile meridians.
Excruciating pain tore through him. The capillaries beneath his skin burst, and blood streaked his entire body until he looked like a man drenched in gore.
His meridians were on the verge of rupturing. At this life-or-death moment, Li Pingsheng pulled the last Pulse-Suppressing Pill from his clothes, shoved it into his mouth, and swallowed.
The pill's icy medicinal power locked down the blood and qi that were about to run wild.
Li Pingsheng didn't choose to suppress them. Instead, he seized the brief respite and turned that power into his own strength.
An invisible ripple spread outward from Li Pingsheng.
The air around him warped from the heat.
Li Pingsheng slowly straightened up.
A surge of blood and qi shot skyward from his body.
His scorching blood and qi evaporated the pink poisonous fog all around him, creating a three-meter-wide patch of clear air.
Half of Zhou Kuang's body, tangled in the spider silk, lay there as he witnessed the scene.
His eyes widened, and his mouth hung open.
Li Pingsheng—the "cripple" everyone had laughed at and believed to have completely ruined his meridians—had such astonishing power of blood and qi.
Th-this couldn't be!
Absurdity, shock, and fear shattered Zhou Kuang's reason.
But Li Pingsheng, at the eye of the storm, was utterly calm.
The Martial Wisdom talent activated.
In his eyes, the Phantom Face Spider became a collection of lines and data.
The thickness of its shell, the weak points in its joints, how it sprayed its venom, the range of its legs—every detail poured into his mind.
He fixed on its only weakness: with one compound eye destroyed, its cracked shell had exposed the nerves in its neck.
There!
Li Pingsheng activated his Wind Treading movement technique. His body became a blur, his movements impossible to follow.
Halfway to Lu Qingshan, the Phantom Face Spider sensed danger from behind and to the side. It immediately turned and sprayed a cloud of green poison.
But Li Pingsheng was faster than it could react.
He kicked off the stone wall at an odd angle, veered around the poison, and reached the Phantom Face Spider's blind spot.
"Just... die already!"
Li Pingsheng roared inwardly.
He poured all the blood and qi and all the force of the Awakening of Insects Technique in his body into his right fist.
The muscles in his right arm bulged, and the veins beneath his skin stood out clearly.
Red lightning flickered between his fingers.
This punch held every ounce of strength he had.
The next instant, his fist drove straight into the crack in the Phantom Face Spider's neck shell.
Fist met flesh with a muffled thud.
A wave of force exploded inside the Phantom Face Spider.
Thunderclap Explosion!
A silent thunderclap.
The force twisted its internal organs, nerves, and bones into a mess of pulp from the inside.
The Phantom Face Spider's charge toward Lu Qingshan came to a halt.
The expression on the human face on its back rapidly faded.
Its eight massive legs went limp.
Its enormous body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
It died without letting out so much as a scream.
The entire limestone cave fell silent.
The expression on Zhou Kuang's face froze.
He watched the demon beast fall.
Then he glanced at Li Pingsheng, who slowly lowered his fist.
He wasn't even hurt.
One punch.
Fear and disbelief overwhelmed him.
All this time, the man he'd taunted and provoked was a monster wearing human skin.
He was the real clown.
"N-no... this isn't fair..."
The words rasped from Zhou Kuang's throat. Trembling, he stared in Li Pingsheng's direction, his eyes filled with terror and bitter resentment.
Li Pingsheng slowly walked over to Zhou Kuang.
Remembering what Zhou Kuang had said not long ago, he teased, "Brother Zhou, do you still remember what you said earlier?"
"You said... if someone could kill it... I'd... I'd call you dad... before I die!!"
"Come now, Brother Zhou. You're almost on your way, and I've come all this way just to hear you say it!"
Zhou Kuang opened his mouth and used the last of his strength to squeeze a single word from his throat: "Dad..."
Li Pingsheng said regretfully, "Good boy!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhou Kuang spat out a mouthful of black blood, his head lolled to the side, and he stopped breathing.
On the other side, Lu Qingshan lay in a pool of blood, watching the scene. The shock in his heart nearly blew his mind apart.
The inner demon that had tormented him for five years had been killed with a single punch.
Five years of regret, resentment, and pain vanished like smoke.
Li Pingsheng exhaled a stream of white vapor, calmed the roiling blood and qi in his body, and walked deeper into the lair.
On top of a pile of bones, a blood-red vine that looked like a vein glowed.
It was the Red Marrow Vine!
Li Pingsheng tore it off. A medicinal fragrance filled the air.
He took a breath, and the violent blood and qi within him settled a little.
[ Ding! ]
[ Killed the second-rank demon beast "Phantom Face Spider"; gained 1.5 potential points! ]
[ Total potential: 2.5! ]
Li Pingsheng was delighted. He immediately turned and ran to Lu Qingshan's side.
They couldn't stay here any longer.
He carried Lu Qingshan on his back, activated his Wind Treading movement technique, and raced toward the cave entrance.
"Big Brother Lu, please lead the way quickly. The best plan is to run for it!"
Just as they had rushed out of Black Mist Forest, a deep, weighty roar filled with furious authority rang across the entire forest.
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