Bones Like Gold and Iron

After killing Zhang Heng and his brother Zhang Hu, Pang Jian's confidence soared. He realized that newly initiated cultivators weren't invincible.

At that moment, he didn't rush to break through the encirclement. Instead, he continued studying the situation before him, as well as the battles unfolding elsewhere.

Zhou Qingchen, whose fighting prowess was exceptionally formidable, had broken through on his far left. By now, he was nowhere to be seen.

Faintly, Pang Jian could hear the sound of Hong Tai, the Dark Ghost leader, riding a python and speeding across the ground.

Straight ahead, in the direction where the snake rider Hong Tai had been, Han Duping had chosen his route to break through.

Having transformed into a gleaming silver orb, Han Duping had enjoyed a smooth start, but now someone had intercepted him.

Several Dark Ghost attackers held up enormous black iron shields, using them to block their bodies and bar the way of the orb Han Duping had become.

Each time the silver orb slammed into the black iron shields, the men behind them braced together, making it difficult for Han Duping to get past.

The appearance of those black iron shields had left Han Duping, who had thought he could escape amid the chaos, at a loss.

Shangguan Qin, who had hoped to escape by following him, had also been intercepted by three Dark Ghost attackers. As they surrounded her, they taunted her with insults.

Shangguan Qin wielded a Red Jade Staff and was the weakest of them, at the Pulse-Opening Realm. One of her opponents was also at that same realm, but stronger than her, leaving her secretly lamenting her bad luck.

If Hong Tai hadn't said from the outset that he needed her and Ning Yao alive, she might already have been badly wounded and on the verge of collapse.

The other servants loyal to the Zhou Family, whose fighting spirit Zhou Qingchen had roused, were also being battered by Dark Ghost fighters across the battlefield.

The Dark Ghost attackers outnumbered them by far, and their cultivation realms were roughly equal. Each servant had to face two or three opponents, so they were naturally defeated in short order.

Fighting spirit and courage couldn't do much in a battle where the strength of the two sides was so uneven.

Elsewhere.

Ning Yao and Ning Yuanshan had made no progress in breaking through, despite Zhang Heng's departure. If anything, the fighting there was even grimmer.

Ning Yuanshan had been pinned to the trunk of a large tree by a golden short spear. His eyes, filled with unwillingness, were fixed on Ning Yao.

Ning Yao, whose body was surrounded by tiny starlike glimmers, was being besieged by a Pulse-Opening Realm cultivator and four subordinates at the Qi Refining Realm. They intended to exhaust her spiritual energy and capture her alive.

"Pulse-Opening Realm."

After watching for a moment, Pang Jian immediately picked out which fighters had reached the Pulse-Opening Realm.

Those at the Pulse-Opening Realm could release a hazy glow of spiritual energy from their limbs, or let it flow outward through the implements in their hands.

By contrast, those at the Qi Refining Realm mostly had to rely on the brute strength of their flesh and blood. No spiritual glow flowed over their bodies.

It was easy to tell at a glance during battle who was at the Qi Refining Realm and who was at the Pulse-Opening Realm.

"The Zhang brothers are dead."

As Pang Jian studied him, a Pulse-Opening Realm leader directing his subordinates to attack Ning Yao suddenly noticed him too. He beckoned and called, "Two of you, go kill him. Be careful. There's something strange about that kid."

"Got it!"

Two men answered in unison and immediately charged at Pang Jian.

Pang Jian had no more time to study the situation. He focused at once, ready to face the next fight.

He tried to draw his bow and shoot again, but the two Dark Ghost attackers weren't dull-witted warhorses. They darted and dodged nimbly, and his arrow missed.

It didn't take long for them to reach Pang Jian and attack him from both sides without a word.

The deaths of Zhang Heng and Zhang Hu had made them extremely cautious. They didn't dare act rashly.

One was short and wielded a dagger. He immediately lunged for Pang Jian's heart, while the other gripped a long whip and lashed it around Pang Jian's legs to throw off his balance.

The two worked together with practiced ease, clearly no strangers to fighting in tandem. Pang Jian had only just started to raise the Dragon-Patterned Spear when the whip wrapped around his right ankle. A powerful yank made him stagger.

"He didn't fall?"

The man pulling hard on the whip stared in disbelief as Pang Jian swayed and then steadied himself again.

The short dagger-wielder seized the chance to close in. With their distance so short, Pang Jian couldn't use the Dragon-Patterned Spear.

The dagger stabbed toward his chest. His lower leg was bound by the whip, leaving him little room to dodge, so he could only block with his left arm.

"Pfft!"

The dagger immediately pierced the flesh of his raised left arm, spraying blood.

But the bone beneath his flesh didn't break under the dagger's thrust. It held firm, as hard as gold and iron.

"It didn't break?"

The skinny dagger-wielder refused to believe it. In a flash, he slashed twice more at the wound.

"Clang! Clang!"

A metallic clanging rang from Pang Jian's arm bone.

The searing pain jolted Pang Jian into action. Before the man could stab again, Pang Jian—so close his face was practically against his opponent's—grabbed the attacker and hauled him in, then slammed his head into him with all his strength.

With a thud, the attacker's nose broke, and blood covered his face.

Pang Jian's hand was like an iron hook. He seized the attacker's arm and yanked hard, wrenching the man's bones out of joint until both arms hung limp.

Ignoring the blood running down his own arm, Pang Jian pinned the attacker's shoulder with one hand and hammered at his chest with the other.

"Crack."

The attacker's breastbone shattered. A mouthful of blood gushed out, splattering Pang Jian's face and neck.

With his face instantly drenched in blood, Pang Jian made sure the man was dead, then crouched and grabbed the whip wrapped around his ankle. He pulled the other attacker toward him.

Seeing his companion die, the second Dark Ghost fighter was dragged toward Pang Jian by his terrifying strength, stumbling as he went.

Much taller than others his age, Pang Jian had a strong, lean build. His blood-spattered face was set with a pair of cold, vicious eyes, making the Dark Ghost attacker feel a chill in his heart.

Just as he was about to reach Pang Jian, he suddenly came to his senses. He hurriedly dropped the whip and turned to run.

Freed from the restraint, Pang Jian said nothing. He quickly gave chase, caught up at an even faster pace, and punched the man in the back.

"Thud!"

The second Dark Ghost attacker fell dead on the spot, meeting the same fate as the Zhang brothers.

"Two useless fools."

At the spot where Han Duping had tried to break through, someone sat on a leafy tree, legs dangling as he sneered.

He was a young man dressed with considerable refinement. Leaves hid his face, so it wasn't visible at first.

Before he spoke, neither the people fighting nor Pang Jian, who had a moment to survey the situation, had noticed him at all.

"Pulse-Opening Realm."

At a glance, Pang Jian could tell that this man was different from the four who had attacked him. He was definitely not at the Qi Refining Realm.

The man's dangling legs seemed to be tracing circles in midair, sending out distinct ripples of spiritual energy, as if sketching a flower just about to bloom.

Both his feet could release spiritual energy. That meant he had spent a long time at the Pulse-Opening Realm, and his cultivation was sure to be exceptionally refined.

Pang Jian had never faced an opponent at the Pulse-Opening Realm. Although his brute strength had surged recently and his breastbone and arm bones had been tempered, he still lacked the confidence to take on an opponent of this level.

He studied the man in the tree, quietly remaining on his guard as he looked for an opportunity to exploit.

"There's something strange about you."

The man suddenly drifted down from the tree. He landed as lightly as a feather, then walked straight toward Pang Jian.

"Not a single meridian in your body carries spiritual energy, so you haven't reached the Pulse-Opening Realm. Yet some of your bones are as sturdy as those of a great cultivator at the Xisui Realm. That's quite a surprise."

After he landed, the Dark Ghost cultivators attacking Shangguan Qin scattered away in fear.

They acted as if he were some terrifying beast.

He ignored Han Duping, who had been intercepted, and Shangguan Qin, whose hair was disheveled and whose features were striking. He simply strolled toward Pang Jian.

"Jin Yang, don't take any risks."

From behind the black iron shields came a hoarse, heavy voice. "You're too important. Let me test the boy's strength, all right? If he's a great cultivator at the Xisui Realm pretending to be at the Qi Refining Realm, I won't be able to answer to the leader!"

A man stepped out from behind the shields. He wore a golden robe and a Golden Mask of the same color.

The mask's mouth was lined with sinister fangs. Its fearsome, savage appearance made him look like a demon from the depths of hell.

"I think I've heard your voice before!"

Inside the bright silver orb, bristling like a giant hedgehog, Han Duping watched the powerhouse who had been hiding behind the shields finally step out. His expression changed. "Maybe we've met before!"

A trace of surprise flickered in the eyes visible through the mask, but the man neither confirmed nor denied it.

"If everyone at the Xisui Realm were this young, they wouldn't be from the Lower Realm." Jin Yang smiled, unconcerned, then waved the man off. "Relax. He isn't some heaven-blessed genius."

Seeing that Jin Yang was determined, the man stopped trying to persuade him.

Listening to their conversation, Pang Jian felt a strong sense of unease. He realized that the young Dark Ghost named Jin Yang might not be as deeply cultivated as Hong Tai, the snake rider.

Yet Jin Yang's standing in the Dark Ghosts seemed even higher than Hong Tai's. He held a more exalted position.

Jin Yang hadn't been the one who initiated this operation. He seemed to be there only to watch, and should have had no reason to make a move himself.

Now that someone like him had set his sights on Pang Jian and grown curious about him, it could hardly be a good thing.

Pang Jian's gaze shifted as he tried to find a way through the encirclement, but he soon realized that Dark Ghosts were lurking in every direction.

A helpless feeling gradually took hold of him, as if no matter how he fled, Jin Yang would still catch up.

"Blackwater Pool, bones, forbidden land!"

At this critical moment, a few words flashed like lightning through the depths of Pang Jian's mind.

While everyone else was still trying to break through and escape the besieged Blackwater Pool, Pang Jian suddenly turned around and desperately ran toward the pool, where a Heavenly Phoenix Remains stood planted.

"Interesting. Instead of seeking that last thread of life, you're retreating into a dead end."

Jin Yang laughed as he glided lightly over the weeds, as boneless as a wisp of smoke, closing in on Pang Jian without haste.

He even teased him. "There's nothing special about this Phoenix Bone. I examined it long ago. We were the ones who had Zhang Heng lead you here in the first place."

They had discovered the remains long before and had explored them carefully.

Knowing the remains were here and that the terrain made it easy to surround people, they had arranged for Zhang Heng to bring the Zhou Family and the others here using the remains as bait.

He truly didn't think Pang Jian could stir up much of a fuss by the Blackwater Pool and that Phoenix Bone.