Bone Like Gold and Iron

After killing the brothers Zhang Heng and Zhang Hu, Pang Jian's confidence surged; he realized that newly initiated practitioners were not invincible.

For the moment, he did not rush to break through, continuing to survey the situation and the status of the other battlefields.

Zhou Qingchen, whose personal combat prowess was incredibly fierce, had broken through from his far left and was already nowhere to be seen.

Faintly, he could hear the sound of the Dark Ghost leader known as Hong Tai, who was riding a python and moving rapidly across the ground.

Directly in front of him, in the original position of the snake-rider Hong Tai, was the route Han Duping had chosen for his breakout.

Han Duping, who had transformed into a ball of silver light, had only experienced a brief moment of smooth sailing before being intercepted.

Several Dark Ghost attackers, holding large black iron shields to protect their bodies, had blocked the sphere that Han Duping had become.

Every time the silver ball slammed into the black iron shields, the men behind them would brace themselves in unison, making it impossible for Han Duping to break through.

The appearance of those black iron shields left Han Duping, who had thought he could escape in the chaos, momentarily helpless.

Shangguan Qin, who had hoped to use him to escape to safety, was also intercepted by three Dark Ghost attackers who took the opportunity to surround her, taunting her with words while they launched their assault.

Shangguan Qin, clutching a Red Jade Staff, was only at the Pulse-Opening Realm, the weakest of them all, and one of her opponents was also at the Pulse-Opening Realm but possessed greater strength, which made her suffer in silence.

If not for Hong Tai's earlier order that she and Ning Yao must be kept alive, she might have already been severely wounded and collapsed.

The remaining servants who were loyal to the Zhou Family and had been inspired by Zhou Qingchen's fighting spirit were also being pummeled by the Dark Ghosts in various sectors.

The number of Dark Ghosts far exceeded theirs, and their cultivation levels were generally on par; with each of them having to face two or three opponents, they were naturally defeated in short order.

Fighting spirit and courage could not play much of a role in a battle with such a disparity in strength.

On the other side.

The breakout attempt by Ning Yao and Ning Yingshan had made no progress since Zhang Heng's departure; on the contrary, the situation there was even more dire.

Ning Yingshan had been pinned to the trunk of a large tree by a short golden spear, his eyes staring toward Ning Yao's direction with deep unwillingness.

Ning Yao, surrounded by tiny starlight, was being besieged by a Pulse-Opening Realm practitioner and his four Qi Refining Realm subordinates, who intended to exhaust her spiritual energy and capture her alive.

"Pulse-Opening Realm."

Pang Jian watched for a moment and immediately distinguished whose cultivation had reached the Pulse-Opening Realm.

Those in the Pulse-Opening Realm could either release a hazy glow of spiritual energy from their limbs or emit it through the implements in their hands.

In contrast, those in the Qi Refining Realm mostly relied on the brute force of their own flesh and blood, with no spiritual luster flowing from their bodies.

Who was Qi Refining and who was Pulse-Opening was clear at a glance during combat.

"The two Zhang brothers are dead."

The Pulse-Opening leader directing the siege on Ning Yao noticed Pang Jian while he was being appraised, and reached out to summon his men: "Two of you, go kill him. Be careful, that brat is a bit strange."

"Understood!"

Two men answered in unison and immediately lunged toward Pang Jian.

Pang Jian no longer had the luxury of observing the situation; he braced himself, preparing to meet the next battle.

He tried to draw his bow and shoot, but the two Dark Ghosts were not dull-witted horses; they dodged and weaved nimbly, rendering his arrow ineffective.

Before long, the two were in front of Pang Jian, choosing to attack him from both sides without a word.

The deaths of the Zhang brothers had made them extremely cautious, and they dared not be reckless in the slightest.

One short man with a dagger tried to strike at Pang Jian's heart, while the other grabbed a long whip to entangle Pang Jian's lower body, preventing his torso from remaining stable.

The two coordinated skillfully, clearly not their first time fighting together. Just as Pang Jian raised his Dragon-Patterned Spear to meet them, the whip coiled around his right ankle, and a powerful force caused him to stagger.

"He didn't fall?"

The one pulling the whip with all his might looked on in disbelief as Pang Jian stood firm again, despite his unsteady posture.

The short man with the dagger seized the opportunity to close in; because they were so close, Pang Jian's Dragon-Patterned Spear was suddenly useless.

Watching the dagger thrust toward his vitals, and unable to dodge while his leg was bound by the whip, he could only block with his left arm.

"Pfft!"

His raised left arm was instantly pierced by the dagger, blood spraying everywhere.

Yet, the bone beneath his flesh showed no signs of breaking under the thrust, blocking the strike as if it were made of metal.

"It didn't break?"

The thin man with the dagger refused to believe it, and in a flash, he slashed twice more at the wound.

"Clang! Clang!"

A metallic ringing sound echoed from Pang Jian's arm bone.

In the midst of the excruciating pain, Pang Jian suddenly reacted. Before the man could strike again, Pang Jian—who was practically pressed against the man's face—pulled the attacker toward him and slammed his head into him with a brutal strike.

With a dull thud, the attacker's nasal bone shattered, and his face was covered in blood.

Pang Jian's hand, like an iron hook, gripped the attacker's arm and yanked it with force, dislocating the man's bones and leaving both arms hanging limply.

Ignoring his own bleeding arm, Pang Jian pressed one hand against the attacker's shoulder and hammered his other fist into the man's chest.

"Crack."

The attacker's sternum shattered with a wet crunch, and a mouthful of blood sprayed out, drenching Pang Jian's face and neck.

With his face instantly masked in gore, Pang Jian confirmed the man was dead, then immediately crouched down, grabbed the long whip coiled around his own ankle, and yanked the second attacker back toward him.

Seeing his companion perish, the second Dark Ghost operative was dragged off balance by Pang Jian's terrifying strength, stumbling helplessly toward him.

Pang Jian, who stood much taller than his peers, possessed a sturdy and capable frame. At this moment, his blood-smeared face, framed by a pair of cold, ferocious eyes, struck a secret tremor of fear into the Dark Ghost attacker.

Just as he was about to reach Pang Jian, the man suddenly snapped to his senses, hurriedly dropped the whip, and turned to flee.

Unburdened, Pang Jian gave chase without a word, closing the distance with superior speed before slamming a fist into the center of the man's back.

"Thump!"

The second Dark Ghost attacker collapsed and died on the spot, meeting the same fate as the Zhang brothers.

"Two useless things."

From a dense, leafy tree near where Han Duping was attempting to break through, someone dangled their legs and sneered.

It was a young man dressed in rather exquisite attire; his face was obscured by the foliage and remained hidden at first.

Before he spoke, neither the people locked in combat nor Pang Jian, who had been taking the time to assess the situation, had noticed the presence of such a person.

Pulse-Opening Realm.

Pang Jian took one look and determined that this man was different from the four who had attacked him; he was definitely not a Qi Refining Realm practitioner.

Because the two legs dangling in mid-air seemed to be tracing circles, rippling with distinct spiritual energy as if sketching a flower about to bloom.

The fact that he could emit spiritual energy from both feet indicated he had been immersed in the Pulse-Opening Realm for a long time; his cultivation was undoubtedly profound.

Pang Jian had never faced a Pulse-Opening Realm opponent before. Although his raw strength had surged recently and his sternum and arm bones had been tempered, he lacked the confidence to deal with an opponent of this caliber.

He studied the man in the tree, maintaining a cautious stance while searching for an opportunity he could exploit.

"There is something strange about you."

The man suddenly drifted down from the tree, landing as lightly as a feather before walking straight toward Pang Jian.

"None of the meridians in your body show any circulation of spiritual energy, so you are not yet in the Pulse-Opening Realm. Yet, some of your bones are actually as sturdy as those of a Xisui Realm grandmaster. This is quite a surprise to me."

After he landed, the Dark Ghost practitioners who had been attacking Shangguan Qin scrambled away in terror.

It was as if he were some kind of flood dragon or wild beast.

He ignored both Han Duping, who had been intercepted, and the disheveled but beautiful Shangguan Qin, pacing steadily toward Pang Jian instead.

"Jin Yang, do not take risks."

From behind the massive black iron shield, a hoarse, heavy voice rang out: "Your status is noble; let me go and test the depth of this brat. What if he is a Xisui Realm grandmaster pretending to be in the Qi Refining Realm? I would have no way to answer to the leader!"

A man stepped out from behind the giant shield, wearing a golden robe and a matching golden mask.

The mask featured savage fangs at the corners of the mouth, looking grotesque and terrifying, like a demon from hell.

"I think I have heard your voice before!"

Inside his silver, hedgehog-like sphere, Han Duping looked at the powerhouse who had finally emerged from behind the shield, his expression shifting slightly. "Perhaps we have met before!"

The masked man's only visible eye flickered with a strange light; he neither admitted nor denied it.

"If Xisui Realm experts were all this young, they wouldn't be figures from the lower realms." Jin Yang chuckled, waving his hand dismissively as he spoke to the man: "Rest assured, he is not that kind of heaven-gifted prodigy."

Seeing his insistence, the man ceased his attempts to persuade him.

Listening to their conversation, a sense of intense unease welled up in Pang Jian. He realized that the young Dark Ghost named Jin Yang might not have the depth of cultivation of Hong Tai, the man who rode the snake.

Yet, this person's status within the Dark Ghost seemed even higher than Hong Tai's; his identity was clearly more prestigious.

Jin Yang was not the initiator of this operation; he seemed to be here only to observe, and it should never have been his turn to act.

For such a person to have set his sights on him, having had his curiosity piqued, was certainly not a good thing.

Pang Jian's gaze flickered as he tried to find a direction to break through, but he quickly realized that every area leading outward seemed to have Dark Ghost operatives lurking in wait.

He gradually developed a feeling of helplessness, as if no matter how he fled, Jin Yang would be able to catch him.

Blackwater Pool, withered bones, forbidden ground!

At this moment of crisis, several words flashed like lightning through the depths of Pang Jian's mind.

While everyone else was still trying to break through, attempting to escape the besieged Blackwater Pool, Pang Jian suddenly turned around and sprinted desperately toward the Blackwater Pool where the Heavenly Phoenix bone was embedded.

"Interesting. Instead of seeking a final sliver of survival, you retreat into a dead end."

Jin Yang laughed as he glided over the weeds, light as if he had no bones, closing in on Pang Jian without haste.

He teased, "This Phoenix Bone has no supernatural properties; I checked it earlier. Even this Blackwater Pool is a place we let Zhang Heng lead you to."

Long before this, they had discovered the withered bone and explored it thoroughly.

It was precisely because they knew the bone was here and that the terrain was easy to blockade that they had arranged for Zhang Heng to bring the Zhou Family and the others here under the pretext of the bone's existence.

He truly did not believe that Pang Jian could stir up any trouble beside the Blackwater Pool and that bone.