Evil Barbarians

"A Barbarian Warrior from another tribe, and he's alone! Judging by the spread of his blood energy, he's only at the second level of the Blood Condensation Realm... Killing him will be easy! Since we're near our tribe and there are two of us, I'm not worried about any traps. Still, for him to dare challenge us, he must have some tricks up his sleeve, but with my third-level Blood Condensation strength, it's all of no consequence."

The slightly short, burly man from the Black Mountain Tribe, who was at the third level of the Blood Condensation Realm, gave a savage grin. He didn't care about Su Ming at all; in his eyes, the gap between them was too vast, and Su Ming's thin, frail frame didn't look like it possessed much offensive power.

More importantly, aside from Fengzhen, the Black Mountain Tribe never hesitated to slaughter any lone travelers they encountered from nearby tribes. There was no reasoning to be had; it was simply a world where the strong preyed upon the weak.

Just like before, if Xiao Hong hadn't gone out to lure away the danger, they would have cruelly killed Su Ming upon entering the cave, taking his head to exchange for a reward.

"Yu Chi, I'm going to kill this man. You wait here." As the burly man spoke, his body surged forward like a fierce tiger, the distance between him and Su Ming closing in an instant.

Yu Chi, the burly man from the Black Mountain Tribe who was holding the Little Monkey, didn't dare harbor any thoughts about this arrangement. Even though he knew that killing a Barbarian Warrior from another tribe and taking his head for a reward would earn him a bounty, he didn't dare compete for the credit.

Fine, this man is at the same second level as me; if we were to fight, it would waste time. If he goes, he'll have it done quickly. With this credit, perhaps I'll get a small share of the spoils. Yu Chi's eyes darted around. In his mind, this was a battle without the slightest chance of an accident. A cruel look appeared in his eyes; he could almost imagine the scene to come—a display of bloody, delightful carnage.

The burly man at the third level of the Blood Condensation Realm, who was closing in on Su Ming, shared the same sentiment. He took long strides, rapidly approaching until he was less than a hundred zhang away.

Eighty zhang, seventy zhang, sixty zhang!

As he drew closer, the burly man could clearly see Su Ming's features. He let out a low, savage roar, and at the sound of it, the surrounding snow suddenly trembled. The snowflakes were tossed into the air, exploding as they rose to form a mist of snow that obscured his vision.

In that very instant, the burly man pulled a long spear from his back with his right hand and, exerting his full strength, hurled it at Su Ming, who was sixty zhang away.

A sharp whistling sound erupted, and Su Ming immediately felt a fierce aura bearing down on him. Without a second thought, he stepped to the side; the spear whistled past his ear, grazing his hair.

After throwing the spear, the burly man didn't even look to see the result. Instead, wisps of black energy coiled around his feet, causing his speed to multiply instantly. The sixty-zhang gap between him and Su Ming quickly closed to thirty.

"Die!" The burly man raised his right hand, pulling out a second spear. Just as he was about to throw it, the snow mist began to dissipate, and as his vision cleared, an arrow suddenly pierced through the haze, streaking toward him like lightning.

The burly man laughed wildly, casually swatting at the incoming arrow with the spear in his right hand. With a bang, the arrow shattered completely. But just then, several more whistling sounds echoed, and three more arrows came rushing toward him.

These arrows were shot with incredible speed and aimed at extremely tricky spots, causing the burly man to frown. However, he let out a cold snort as a massive amount of black energy released from his feet, swirling around his entire body like a fog. As the three arrows hit this black energy, they melted into black water at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Even so, the black energy dissipated significantly, revealing the burly man's body.

"A second-level Blood Condensation, daring to strike before me." The burly man leaped into the air; the distance to Su Ming was now only twenty zhang.

Su Ming's face was pale, but his legs remained motionless. There was no panic in his eyes—only the same dead silence as always.

He reached for another arrow and shot it at the burly man with rapid speed. One arrow, two arrows, three arrows—he fired five arrows in quick succession!

The five arrows formed a near-perfect straight line, whistling through the air with seemingly immense power as they surged toward the burly man. Seeing this, the burly man frowned; in their tribe, few warriors could achieve such a feat with a bow.

"Five-Arrow String!" The burly man raised his spear to meet the first arrow. With a bang, his spear shattered, exploding simultaneously with the first arrow.

The second arrow streaked forward, but the burly man let out a low roar, and the black energy surrounding his body caused the second arrow to melt upon contact.

The third arrow flashed near, but the burly man swayed his body and dodged it. As the fourth arrow arrived, the burly man let out a growl, his expression savage as he clenched his right fist and punched the arrow directly. The arrow collapsed, but his right hand was left with a wound.

Just then, the fifth arrow struck like a bone-seeking maggot. The burly man tried to dodge, but the arrow still grazed his shoulder, leaving a shallow cut and drawing blood.

"I'm going to tear your head off!" The burly man wasn't bothered; such a minor wound meant nothing to a member of the Barbarian Tribe. He didn't even look at it, grinning as he strode forward, closing the distance to Su Ming to ten zhang.

He had the victory in his grasp. To him, this battle held no danger; he had merely been briefly pestered by those arrows.

In the distance, Yu Chi licked his lips. He quite enjoyed watching such bloody scenes; it made him feel a thrill from the inside out.

Just as the burly man took his steps to close the final distance, Su Ming's face remained pale, but his eyes were still dead silent. He made a move that left both the burly man and the distant Yu Chi stunned.

He abandoned his bow and arrows, clenched his right fist, and charged toward the approaching burly man.

No one noticed that inside Su Ming's right hand, the red Medicine Stone had already been crushed into fine powder!

"Courting death!" As the burly man and Su Ming closed in, the distance between them narrowed to a few zhang—three, two, one...

The burly man clenched his fist, his blood energy surging with immense power as he unleashed a punch toward Su Ming's head. If that blow landed, Su Ming would be unable to withstand it and would surely die!

In that very instant, Su Ming suddenly looked up. The dead silence in his eyes vanished, replaced by a monstrous killing intent—a level of intensity that shocked even the burly man.

But it was too late. As Su Ming looked up, he swung his right hand toward the burly man. A cloud of red powder scattered into the air, some of it landing on the wound on the burly man's fist and some on the shallow cut on his shoulder.

The burly man's entire body shuddered. There was no shrill scream, no struggle. Before Su Ming's eyes, his body seemed to boil, as if being erased by the heavens themselves. He dissolved into a red mist that rose and vanished, leaving behind only a skeleton stripped of flesh, which crumbled into dust at the first gust of wind.

Among the bone dust lay a strange, black-and-white herb, emitting a faint glow.

This sudden turn of events left Yu Chi, not far away, completely frozen. He couldn't accept what he had seen; he couldn't even believe it. He stood there, dazed, staring at the cold face and chilling gaze of the frail youth from the outer tribe as he began to move toward him.

"This Fire Ape corpse is a great tonic once processed! It's mine!" Su Ming's eyes flashed as he spoke while approaching.

Yu Chi shuddered violently. Jolted awake, he broke out in a cold sweat. The youth's words made him subconsciously forget his plan to use the Little Monkey as a hostage, replaced by the terrifying thought that the youth was coming to snatch the prize.

The moment that thought took hold, he turned and fled in a frantic, desperate run. He still couldn't understand how his companion had died, especially in such a gruesome manner; the sheer horror of it was more than he could bear.

"Evil Barbarian!!! You are an Evil Barbarian!!!" Yu Chi shrieked, his face deathly pale. Fear had completely consumed him. He couldn't face the reality of the situation, and his spirit was broken. He didn't dare confront Su Ming and fled with all his might. Since Su Ming was blocking the path back to the Black Mountain Tribe, Yu Chi couldn't return home and could only flee toward Black Flame Peak.

Su Ming started to give chase, but he felt a wave of dizziness and extreme exhaustion. He shook his head, forcing himself to stay alert.

He glanced at the skeleton on the ground. This was his first time killing a man, but now was not the time for hesitation. He didn't immediately pursue; instead, he quickly tidied the area, picked up the usable arrows, and retrieved the strange herb from the remains. Then, looking in the direction Yu Chi had fled, his eyes flashed with killing intent once more.

"Xiao Hong is still in his hands, and since I've already killed one, I might as well kill the other so that this place of Blood Powder won't be exposed!" Gritting his teeth against the exhaustion, Su Ming gave chase.

The two of them raced through the mountain forest, one after the other. Yu Chi didn't dare look back to face Su Ming, only fleeing at top speed, trying to widen the gap. However, when it came to familiarity with Wulong Mountain, even though Yu Chi wasn't a stranger to it, he couldn't compare to Su Ming.

Furthermore, he couldn't outpace Su Ming. Although he had gained a head start, Su Ming gradually tracked him down by following the faint traces he left behind.

Su Ming endured his fatigue, his eyes locked on the burly man from the Black Mountain Tribe leaping through the forest ahead. He knew the man was terrified by his previous actions and didn't dare engage in a fight—this was exactly what Su Ming had planned.

With the Blood Powder, as long as he could cleanly kill one person, the other would inevitably be struck with terror. After all, most people would be horrified upon seeing such a bizarre death for the first time.

Su Ming didn't push too hard. During the pursuit, he would occasionally let himself be blocked by obstacles, making it so that just as the man felt he was about to be caught and was on the verge of turning back to fight for his life, he would see the distance widen again, causing him to hesitate.