The Newborn Calf

As soon as Hong Tai finished speaking, the practitioners from the Dark Ghost began to close in on the group.

Upon learning that the arrivals belonged to the Dark Ghost, the three families scattered across the Blackwater Pool were thrown into a panic, immediately racking their brains for a way to break the deadlock.

"Old Han, I'm afraid we'll have to split up and flee."

Seeing the intruders slowly approaching, Zhou Qingchen's expression turned grave, the relaxed ease he had displayed earlier completely vanished.

He had just learned from Han Duping that this leader, Hong Tai, actually possessed the cultivation of the Xisui Realm.

In the Fourth Realm, the Xisui Realm was already the pinnacle of strength. While he would eventually reach that level himself, he was currently only at the Pulse-Opening Realm.

Since the enemy had used Zhang Heng to uncover their background and still dared to bring men to surround them, they must have been absolutely certain of victory.

"Hmm, I understand."

Han Duping's eyes flickered.

"Thump! Thump!"

Pang Jian suddenly bolted, sprinting toward the fallen warhorses.

The Dragon-Patterned Spear with its rough texture that Zhou Qingchen had gifted him, along with his long saber and bow, were all still with the horses.

He knew nothing of the Dark Ghost and could not discern the cultivation levels of the intruders; all he could do was retrieve his familiar weapons as quickly as possible to prepare for the bloody battle ahead.

"Everyone!"

Zhou Qingchen suddenly raised his voice, shouting as if taking an oath: "Do not worry about me; flee this place with all your might!"

"I, Zhou Qingchen, promise you all here: as long as I survive today, I will not set foot in Red Mountain in the Upper Realm to cultivate until I have slaughtered every single member of the Dark Ghost present!"

Those loyal to the Zhou Family felt their spirits stir, their morale bolstered by his words.

"Kill these rats from the gutter!"

"They're just some Dark Ghost scum who can't even show their faces? Why fear them!"

The Zhou Family practitioners gripped their weapons tightly and, fearing no death, charged headlong at the Dark Ghost members.

The area outside the Blackwater Pool was shaped like an open fan, and the group was currently positioned at the point where the ribs of the fan converged.

Under Hong Tai's orders, the Dark Ghost members had almost completely filled the space leading outward, making a confrontation inevitable if the group wished to break through.

Soon, the servants loyal to the Zhou Family met the Dark Ghost forces, and the battle erupted in an instant.

Having just retrieved his bow, saber, and the Dragon-Patterned Spear, Pang Jian looked up to see the bloody fray already underway.

"Little Brother Pang Jian, I can barely save myself this time, so I'm afraid I cannot look after you." Zhou Qingchen, from a distance, glanced at the frowning Pang Jian and sighed: "All I can do is draw their fiercest firepower onto myself. Take care of yourselves, and I hope we meet again!"

After dropping these words, he charged out with the force of a hunting leopard.

Seven consecutive beams of deep crimson light erupted from the Heart-Protecting Mirror on his chest, striking like ferocious, bloodthirsty dragons and blasting several surrounding Dark Ghost members to death on the spot.

The bodies of the fallen Dark Ghost members shattered, their bones pulverized into piles of mangled flesh.

Zhou Qingchen's ferocity and dominance immediately intimidated the Dark Ghost attackers; those who had not reached the Pulse-Opening Realm scrambled to get out of his way as if avoiding a venomous snake.

Zhou Qingchen laughed heroically, stepping over piles of gore and charging forward as if walking through an empty field.

"I knew this brat would be the most troublesome."

Having expected as much, Hong Tai squinted at the Heart-Protecting Mirror Zhou Qingchen displayed, smiling greedily: "It looks like a treasure bestowed by Red Mountain. Not bad, not bad at all!"

"Hiss!"

The python he rode slithered toward Zhou Qingchen, crushing countless plants and trees in its wake.

Wherever the python passed, the forest floor was plowed into a rugged trench, sinking several feet into the earth.

By drawing in the majority of the Dark Ghost members and even luring away their leader, Hong Tai, Zhou Qingchen used his own strength to shoulder the brunt of the enemy's force, greatly boosting the morale of the others.

In the midst of the chaos, Ning Yao also reached the dead chestnut-colored warhorse, kicking it to make the carcass roll over.

At this moment, she didn't care about the bloodstains on the leather pouch containing the spirit stones; she snatched it up and slung it over her back.

"Uncle Yuanshan, let's leave at once!"

She didn't even look at Pang Jian, who stood nearby, but joined Ning Yuanshan and broke toward the end furthest from Zhou Qingchen.

That was where the Dark Ghost's defenses were weakest.

As for Pang Jian, in her mind, he was already a dead man, destined to be unable to escape the Dark Ghost's slaughter.

"Your money is returned to you. From now on, I have no obligation to do anything for your Ning Family."

Watching her and Ning Yuanshan sprint away, Pang Jian took the bag of loose silver from the very bottom of his bamboo basket and, not caring whether Ning Yao wanted it or not, threw it directly at her.

Ning Yao didn't hear him, nor did she look back.

Her gaze and attention were fixed on Zhang Heng, who was blocking their path. With a murderous glint in her bright eyes, she shouted: "Zhang Heng, my Ning Family treated you well, yet you dare to betray us!"

"Treated me well?"

Zhang Heng, riding one of the warhorses he had taken, watched the two approach and sneered: "In your eyes, all dependents who don't share the Ning surname are just cannon fodder you can sacrifice at will. When has a young lady of the Ning Family ever looked at me with respect?"

His eyes grew increasingly sinister as he stared at Ning Yao's heroic face, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard.

"You have rendered great service; later, we shall let this little wench look at you properly from beneath your crotch."

In that seemingly unguarded area, a giggle erupted from the depths of a dense, leafy tree: "Elder Hong already promised, let this little wench be yours to enjoy first."

As the voice rang out, Ning Yao's face sank like water; she knew the situation was far from as simple as she had imagined.

Ning Yuanshan suddenly shrieked, "Watch out!"

Numerous long spears and short javelins shot out from the bushes and tree trunks ahead of Ning Yao and her companion, transforming into streaks of fierce, rainbow-like electricity.

The two scrambled in a panic, dodging and parrying, their speed in breaking through the heavy encirclement forced to a crawl.

"Han Duping, if you can get me out of here alive, I... I'll let you have your way with me!"

Seeing the situation turn dire, Shangguan Qin's face drained of color. She finally deigned to address the persistent fat man, offering a condition that made her feel sick to her stomach.

Compared to falling into the hands of the Dark Ghost and suffering inhumane humiliation, she could grit her teeth, close her eyes, and barely accept Han Duping for once.

"Compared to my precious life, those few pounds of flesh on you aren't really that important."

Han Duping, who had long coveted Shangguan Qin's body, could hardly care about her at such a life-or-death moment.

The bloated Han Duping was suddenly encased in shimmering silver armor; he crouched down, retracting his limbs, and began to roll across the ground like a polished iron ball.

The weapons of the attacking Dark Ghost members struck the iron ball, merely splashing sparks in their wake.

Crouched within the sphere, Han Duping took the opportunity to thrust out needle-like blades, killing several of the Dark Ghost pursuers.

"Han Duping! You dog, you'll die a horrible death!"

Mocked, Shangguan Qin cursed loudly while gritting her teeth, yet she still chose to follow Han Duping in the breakout.

At this very moment, all those attempting to break through were being intercepted and surrounded by the Dark Ghost, save for Pang Jian, who stood among a pile of warhorse carcasses, looking around and waiting for the right moment to emerge.

"To think there's still a fool standing there, not even trying to run."

A short, thin member of the Dark Ghost, whose movements were exceptionally swift, approached slowly, clutching a Wolf-Tooth Beacon Club that was longer than he was tall.

The man suddenly leaped into the air, bringing the Wolf-Tooth Beacon Club down toward Pang Jian's head, intending to finish him off before chasing after Shangguan Qin.

The voluptuous and sexy Shangguan Qin was exactly his type, and he had long been itching for her.

"A Qi Refining Realm practitioner."

Facing the man leaping from above, Pang Jian suddenly recalled Zhou Qingchen's words: a practitioner who had not yet broken through to the Pulse-Opening Realm could not circulate spiritual energy through their entire meridian system, and their combat power was not much stronger than an ordinary person's.

His heart settled, and every trace of tension and fear vanished; he watched the man approach with cold eyes.

From childhood, he had never been an "ordinary person" to be slaughtered at will. In these mountains he knew best, it had always been he, Pang Jian, who hunted the beasts!

After a deep breath, he quickly entered a combat state. His heart was as calm as his eyes, and a biting chill of killing intent seemed to swirl around him.

Seeing the Wolf-Tooth Beacon Club drawing closer, he chose to discard the Dragon-Patterned Spear he was holding, opting instead to use his long blade with both hands to block the descending club.

"Clang!"

After a crisp ringing sound, his hands went numb from the shock, and he saw his long blade deform under the impact.

He realized in a flash that the rigidity and quality of this blade were far too poor; it was simply incapable of handling combat between practitioners.

The next moment, he decisively gripped the Dragon-Patterned Spear!

Once he truly wielded the long spear as a weapon, he suddenly discovered that the spear, which had felt incredibly heavy when he first lifted it, was now light beyond belief.

He knew full well the weight of the Dragon-Patterned Spear had not changed, so the only thing that could have changed was himself!

"That dream... the cleansing of my hand bones and sternum..."

In a trance, he felt a powerful force surge from the joints of the hands gripping the spear!

"Eh?"

After the strike, the Dark Ghost attacker was stunned to see that Pang Jian had not been crushed to death along with his blade.

He adjusted the angle of the massive Wolf-Tooth Beacon Club, which was completely disproportionate to his own stature, and prepared for the next wave of bombardment.

By then, Pang Jian, who was much younger but tall and lean, had already charged over with the spear.

"You dare to strike back at me?"

His eyes turned cold, and he immediately swung the Wolf-Tooth Beacon Club until it whistled, intending to smash Pang Jian's skull first and then shatter every bone in his body.

"Bang!"

The moment the Wolf-Tooth Beacon Club collided with the Dragon-Patterned Spear, a savage, brute force erupted. The spikes on the club's head suddenly exploded, spraying into his face and body, leaving him covered in bloody puncture wounds.

His hands, gripping the club, could not withstand such a violent impact and burst open with fine, bloody lacerations.

"Is this what a Dark Ghost practitioner is? Not much to look at, are they?"

Having succeeded in his strike, Pang Jian muttered to himself as he looked at the wretched state of the Dark Ghost attacker.

Without waiting to see if the man was dead, he followed up with a thrust of the spear tip into his neck.

With a "squelch," the Dark Ghost attacker's throat was pierced through by the Dragon-Patterned Spear.

Seeing the man die so easily, Pang Jian felt that Zhou Qingchen was indeed right: practitioners who had not entered the Pulse-Opening Realm had not achieved a qualitative breakthrough, and their combat power was indeed limited.

"Zhang Hu!"

Zhang Heng, riding the last surviving warhorse, let out a grief-stricken roar the moment the man died instantly.

At this moment, he abandoned the encirclement of Ning Yao, and Ning Yuanshan actually spurred his warhorse to charge straight at Pang Jian!

"Brother!"

Zhang Heng's eyes were split with rage; even as he approached, he stared at Zhang Hu, who lay amidst the corpses of the warhorses, attempting to catch a glimmer of life.

Unfortunately, just like the Ning Family warhorses he had poisoned, his younger brother Zhang Hu was thoroughly dead.

"Pang Jian!"

Zhang Heng, who had only joined the Dark Ghost because of Zhang Hu, was driven beyond the brink of fury, howling Pang Jian's name while frantically whipping his mount.

Having just finished his first battle, Pang Jian saw Zhang Heng galloping toward him on the maddened warhorse and immediately nocked an arrow to his bow.

The longbow, which usually required great effort to control, was pulled to its full draw in an instant. He fired arrow after arrow at Zhang Heng, but they were all either dodged or deflected by Zhang Heng's longsword.

Seeing the warhorse and Zhang Heng drawing closer, Pang Jian suddenly shifted his target, choosing to aim at the charging steed instead.

"Thwip! Thwip!"

The warhorse's eyes, neck, and forehead were pierced by several arrows in the blink of an eye.

The warhorse, which Zhang Heng had regarded as a partner, struggled frantically after being blinded, throwing Zhang Heng from its back.

Before Zhang Heng could land and recover from his loss of control, Pang Jian lunged forward like a bolt of lightning, thrusting his Dragon-Patterned Spear upward repeatedly, leaving bloody holes all over Zhang Heng's body.

By the time Zhang Heng finally hit the ground, he had met the same fate as his younger brother, Zhang Hu.

"So bold, yet I thought you were something special."

Looking at Zhang Heng's corpse, from which blood was still bubbling out, Pang Jian muttered with a strange expression.